80,000 tons of flexible plastic packaging are manufactured each year in Indonesia. Thanks to environmental activist Ann Wizer, that trash is both the inspiration and material behind a line of everyday items (think credit card holders, mini make-up bags, shopping bags, shoulder totes and laptop holders) fashioned out of consumer waste. All items give new meaning to the term “eco chic,” and a portion of each purchase goes to the XS Project, a nonprofit organization that raises environmental awareness and helps trash pickers—those who source the raw material— and their families.

Indonesian trash pickers are a mostly “invisible” group in the work force, surviving on little more than $35 a month per family.  XSProject buys consumer waste from the trash pickers, giving them additional income, and then trains craftspeople to clean and sew together pieces of the packaging to make new items.

I was absolutely flabbergasted when I watched this video that shows the amount of plastic trash floating in Jakarta’s waterways, and the huge sacks stuffed with non-recyclable plastic that each trash picker was carrying. Please, take a minute and watch:

And now, take a minute and visit the XSProject Shop. Not only are the prices really reasonable, these are really stylish items you’ll be proud to carry. There are three lines – Minis, Classic, and Fresh. I received a Secret Business card holder and a Beauty and the Beast Small makeup bag (my choices from the Minis line) from XSProjectUSA for my review, and now I am telling EVERYONE that they need to buy them!

Secret Business holder, $12.00

Beauty and the Beast Small, $16.00

Check out the Classic and Fresh lines for Totes, Laptop Bags and Sleeves, Pencil Cases, Homework Folders, Lunch Bags, and more. This is a company that needs to be encouraged and supported!  I hope you’ll consider it for your next purchase.

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Stroll down the haircare aisle at any store and the word “natural” will jump right off the packaging at you. And why not? Ingredients made from natural sources like essential oils are better for your skin and for the environment.  There’s now a product you can use to wash your dog that is made with natural ingredients, and I just love this name– Dogosuds.

Formulated with essential oils like coconut, tea tree, olive, and jojoba, Dogosuds Gentle Cleansing dog shampoo is perfect for dogs that have itchy coats, are shedding excessively, and even for dogs that have been sprayed by a skunk.  We unfortunately have skunks living in our neighborhood and our dog has met up with them twice. We used a fancy shampoo sold at a local vet’s office and it made him smell worse!

Itchy dogs have irritated skin, and switching to a soothing, gentle, essential oil-based dog shampoo can help. Dogosuds also claims to rinse easily, which means no residue left behind to flake and cause scratching.

There are four varieties of  Dogosuds- Essential Oil Blend and Peppermint Tea Tree Oil which are both natural flea and tick deterrents and will soothe and heal your dog’s coat, Lavender which is great for the skin and coat, and an Unscented blend which has the same base oils without a fragrance.

Check out Dogosuds and other products for your dog at Dinovite. Whatever your pet’s problem, they seem to have a solution!

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A KitBook combines the visual features of a textbook with hands-on learning through a complete kit. We received an Electric Circuits KitBook to review, which contain alls the instructions and parts needed for each experiment, plus a “PowerPage” for building actual working circuits. I handed my boys (who are 12 and 10)  the KitBook and asked if they needed any help with it. “No no, we got it” I was assured.

I waited maybe five minutes and went back to check on them. They had already hooked wires up to a battery and were powering a spinning plastic disk! This is a sample photo that shows what they had built:

The Electric Circuits KitBook includes nine cool experiments:

- Turn on lights, spin motors, buzz buzzers.
- Make series and parallel circuits.
- Build a circuit to test insulators and conductors.
- Learn about and use two different kinds of switches.
- Discover the difference bewteen primary and secondary batteries.
- Send Morse Code with a series circuit and
a buzzer.
- Detect magnetic fields in wires using a
compass.
- Make an electromagnet with a battery,
a wire, and a nail. See what you
can pick up… and what you can’t.
- Learn fun facts about electricity!

KitBooks are terrific for teachers to use in classrooms and for homeschooling parents as well. Kids can use them as part of lessons or just for fun. They include everything needed including batteries and are safety tested.  There are other “toy” science kits available, but this is the real deal based on my experience with other types of home kits.  Check out KitBooks Electric Circuits for yourself at www.kitbook.com!

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I’ve written before about how much I love VistaPrint.  I’ve been using them for business cards since 2007, taking advantage of  sales and even free offers. I’ve also purchased custom magnets that I handed out at BlogHer last year, and I even bought a t-shirt with the old header from my blog Table for Five on it. Everything I get from VistaPrint is always high quality, and one time when an order of magnets was the wrong color, they replaced them for free immediately.

One category of items I haven’t purchased from VistaPrint yet is party invitations. Which just goes to show that I need to throw more parties and actually invite people to them! LOL For my daughter’s birthday this November, we are planning to have her first real “big” party, which means I’ll need birthday invitations. VistaPrint has a great selection of party invitation designs that can be customized with all of your information. I made up a sample for you to see:

There are 34 PAGES of party designs you can pick from. Whether you need to send an invitation for a graduation, barbecue, bridal shower, family reunion, Sweet 16 party, 4th of July party, even just a party at the beach, VistaPrint has a design you can use.

You can order your design as a flat card or a folded card, you’ll get envelopes that fit them as well. VistaPrint also sells customizable address labels that you could buy to coordinate with your party design.  You can get thank-you cards too so that you can thank your guests for coming to your party (and bringing you presents!)

I wouldn’t recommend that you buy from VistaPrint if I hadn’t done so myself. The prices are great, the customer service is exceptional, and of course, you are getting great quality products.  I hope you’ll check out the site!

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This is a guest post from Michael Brown:

A washing machine can only be filled up by a washing machine fill hose. That may sound a little obvious but when you have an appliance repair experience like I did you will understand why I am making the statement. I learned painfully that using anything but proper appliance parts, in this case proper Whirlpool parts, will lead to disaster. In my case, it led to a flood in my basement.

Here’s the story. The fill hose connected to my washing machine broke when we were moving and my brother-in-law dropped the machine on top of it. I suppose I should be grateful that he didn’t break the entire washer, but I really don’t like my brother-in-law so I’m going to be inexplicably angry with him for as long as I can. We were moving the machine off the truck and he put it down on top of the fill hose which was still attached (my fault there). This led to a need for a replacement fill hose.

This is the part where the adventure begins. Needing to get a load of laundry done as soon as possible, we put the washer in the basement and looked around for something we could use as a fill hose. Two guys who don’t like each other very much, a couple of six packs, and an angry wife who wants to get the move done are factors that do not lead to intelligent problem solving. We rigged it with a garden hose, turned the machine on to do a load, and left it. An hour later when I came down to check it there was water everywhere.

Without getting into too many details my wife (very angry), brother-in-law (blaming everything on me), and landlord (more angry than wife) let me have it for being an idiot. I knew it and I just let them all vent, then I took out my laptop and did what I should have done in the first place. I went to AppliancePartsPros.com and ordered the Whirlpool fill hose that my brother-in-law had broken. It only cost me $12.40 (good stainless steel hose, not the cheap rubber ones) but I made him pay me $25.00. Then I cleaned up the water in the basement. The hose arrived a day later and I made my wife happy by doing the appliance repair and then doing four loads of laundry. Next time I move I’ll hire movers and skip the drama with the in-laws.

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Just because Christmas is over doesn’t mean you don’t need to buy birthday presents or presents for other reasons, right? So I’m going to keep working my way through my list of products that I wasn’t able to review before Christmas, and I hope you’ll keep these items in mind for purchasing!

For the High-Fashion Traveler:

Trinabags has bags in all styles, shapes and sizes so you can pick up the perfect gift for girl who likes to travel in style! I like this “wool-like” blue plaid one called “Rae“, and right now it’s on sale for only $35.00 plus $5.95 shipping.

For the Treehugger

The Modella Fitted Junior Weekender ($8.92) is perfect for guys or gals. Made from recycled plastic bottles, this bag keeps the environment safe while keeping your products in line! You can find it at Walmart stores.

For the Little Ones

Tiny Tillia Plush Set ($12.99) is the perfect gift for children! A loveable animal accompanies a fresh-scented bubble bath or body wash, for good, clean fun any parent will love! Tiny Tillia products are available on their website and at Target.

For the Tweens/Teens

Kids are crazy about lip balms and Alba Botanica’s Hawaiian Lip Balm Trio ($9.99) offers three yummy flavors to keep lips hydrated and healthy! You can find these on the Alba website and at Target and CVS.

There are even more great items available on all of the above websites. Happy Shopping!

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