I wish that I could take credit for the brilliance of the following article. Alas, I can not. I can tell you that the practices mentioned here will bring peace to your life. Who can’t use some of that?

Get the kids ready for school. Pack lunches. Get yourself ready. Do banking on lunch break. Rush to supermarket before rushing home to cook, clean, do laundry, get kids ready for bed
and fall into bed yourself. It’s no wonder that the blurry line between the end of the workday and the beginning of the business of life can be overwhelming. And because fatigue and stress contribute to injury and illness, achieving a balance is a workplace safety strategy.

SPELL IT OUT
Some people seem to have limitless energy, both mentally and physically — and take everything in their stride. But others seem to backslide rather than stride. If you wish there
were more hours in the day, maybe it’s time for a reality check.  “It’s not about doing more in less time, but about doing more important things in the time we have,” says Kendrith Bentley, a corporate health promotion, fitness and wellness consultant.

Bentley says it all comes down to one word: balance.

B is for bringing balance to your life.
A is for allowing others to share the load.
L is for letting go of unrealistic expectations.
A is for acting upon your goals and priorities.
N is for “no” – an effective word when your plate is too full.
C is for communicating effectively to strengthen your relationships.
E is for expecting and planning for the unexpected.

According to Bentley, “To sustain performance, we must balance energy expenditure with energy renewal.”

Signs Your Life is IN BALANCE

• You feel a sense of control over your life and living conditions
• You feel lively and full of energy
• You are able to do things you enjoy
• You have a sense of purpose in life
• You experience a sense of connectedness to your community
• You have good social relationships

Signs Your Life is OUT OF BALANCE

• You miss appointments
• You’re late for meetings
• You have trouble sleeping
• You eat too little or too much
• You are argumentative and grumpy
• You tend to forget things
• You are sensitive and cry easily or are quick to anger
• You don’t find much joy in activities
• You feel you are constantly trying to catch up

RESTORE BALANCE
If you aren’t able to sort tasks in order of priority and let go of what’s really not important, you probably have some balance issues. Bentley offers these 10 tips for keeping balance in
your work and family life:

1. Avoid ‘energy vampires’ – people or things that suck the energy out of you. “Don’t get sucked into the vortex of other people’s busy-ness.”
2. Give 100 percent attention to one task at a time, rather than 20 percent attention to five tasks simultaneously.
3. Try to hang around positive, energetic people. Let their zest for living rub off on you.
4. Work on setting personal limits for both work and home and stick to them.
5. Set priorities. Look at what really needs to be done now and what can wait.
6. Don’t be a perfectionist. Is it really worth staying up until 1 a.m. getting everything perfect for guests who may not even notice anything except for the dark circles under your eyes?
7. Take time for yourself. Get up before anyone else and go for a walk, read or enjoy a cup of coffee.
8. Keep work at work. Some people check their work emails from home at 10:30 p.m. Hopefully you’re not one of them. Develop and nurture supportive social relationships at work and at home.
9. If you’ve been too “busy” to see good friends, pick up the phone and arrange to see them.
10. You’re doing the supper dishes again while your teenage kids are flopped in front of the TV or computer. What’s wrong with this picture? Get them to help you.

LEARN TO SAY ‘NO’
If someone blindsides you with an unexpected request, such as chairing a committee when you don’t have enough time, Bentley says it’s important to say: “Sorry. I don’t have time in
my schedule. I can’t do that.” If you say ‘no’ to activities that should not be priorities, you’ll have time to say ‘yes’ to what is important, whether it’s getting some stress-relieving exercise, spending fun time with your children or having a date night with your spouse.

Although I didn’t write this article, I will say that I agree with it. Completely.

We, of course, are speaking of cocktails. Anyone is capable of popping open a beer or pouring out a glass of wine but it takes some mighty fine talent to serve up a cocktail. It’s a great way to get a party rolling too. So, as a fellow eco warrior, how do you do that responsibly? We are going to tell you.

• Think local. There are plenty of local wineries, breweries and distilleries in this fabulous country. They may not be in your town, but I guarantee there is at least one within driving distance from you. It makes a fun trip to go visit these places and just about every one will have local buying available. Gather up some friends and hunt down the libations for the next gathering. Yes, even if they aren’t organic, you will still be saving on distribution efforts from the company and many places don’t offer organic products but are still making HUGE efforts to reduce their carbon footprints. Applaud their efforts.
• Serve Organic whenever possible. Check with your local liquor stores. Some will have a selection of organic spirits on hand. If they don’t have any available in the store, ask for them. They won’t know that there is a need unless you let them know. Keep in mind that organic liquors are often made in smaller batches so they are often are a bit harder on the budget but the eco rewards are worth it.
• Use fresh juices. So you have spent fine dollars to bring in the finest organic or locally purchased liquor. Now, do you really want to mess up that drink by using overly sweet, store bought mixes? I didn’t think so. Grab up some local produce and juice it yourself. You will ensure your guests get only the freshest and tastiest treats that way plus, you can use the pulp and peels as garnish, in cooking or you can add it to your compost bin.
• Be sure to recycle those bottles. We know we are being redundant in saying it but be sure that you recycle any bottles, cans and containers that you may use when you mix up the fabulously, green beverages.
• Be a responsible guest as well as a responsible host. It is fairly obvious that barfing isn’t fun. It isn’t green either. So drink responsibly. With wine & beer, you KNOW how much alcohol you are getting with each drink however, liquor is easy to disguise behind sweet juices and mixers. Alternate mixed drinks with water especially if you are at an all night celebration. Nothing says idiot bigger than passing out on a couch or falling down the stairs.

Fun facts about green drinks:

• When talking about liquor, there are 65- 75 calories per ounce of spirits.
• It has been about 2010 years since the pesky Mexicans discovered that the fermented juice of the agave plant was so darn yummy.
• Did you know that your liver can process a whopping 2 TEASPOONS of alcohol per hour. I will take pickling for 200 Alex.
• It takes 5 to 6 hours for your bod to metabolize 4 ounces of whiskey.
• You can make your own gin in 2 days time.

Summer is coming. Get those patio chairs ready and type up your E-vites. Plan that next big fiesta. You can do it with all the flair and style that a good eco warrior should.

This week, I am embarking on a new journey as a dog owner. I have been working for the past two years to get myself healthy – all the while, my best furry friends are still eating garbage. By garbage, I mean of course, bagged dog food. I have been reading many articles on whether or not our canine family members actually need meat in their diets. I mean, I stopped eating that stuff for a reason. Why should it be good enough for my dogs? Apparently the same jury that decides if humans need meat also decide if dogs need meat, because, I still can’t find any concrete evidence to support either side of the argument.

I spent some time researching a natural food to feed my dogs. You know, one of those foods that isn’t full of additives and junk that we can’t pronounce. The best that I could find was Halo. It has been developed by a team of experts and endorsed by Ellen Degeneres. While I absolutely LOVE Ellen. I do not love the price of the food. It runs about $27 for a 10 pound bag. When you have more than one puppy, and are an average Joe – this is a bit pricey for food. Currently, my pups are eating Iams at an average cost of 20 dollars for a 20 pound bag. I can grab it at my grocery store and at places like Walmart so its super convenient for a busy Eco Warrior like me.

I made my first step to rid my pups of the garbage in their life. I began MAKING their food. Yep. You read right. It was easy breezy and it makes me feel darn good to be able to do it. Dogs need very little in their life to be happy and healthy. They need love, shelter, exercise and of course – food. As I mentioned, the jury is still out on whether or not dogs actually NEED meat in their diets. Since I want the same things for my pups that I want for myself, I am giving them a diet like the one I eat. Packed full of protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals. That is what we are told is in that bagged garbage anyway right?

I began with a good protein base for their new diets – Green lentils and brown rice. Stewed them up in a big pot. I mixed in some carrots which my pups love anyway and they are packed full of all sorts of vitamins. I added in some fresh garlic because hellooo garlic is good for ridding them of fleas, keeping mosquitos away AND keeping their blood healthy. This yummy concoction was cooled to room temp and put into an airtight container in my fridge. I mix in their new diet with the old IAMS chunks to get their systems used to the new grub. Eventually, I will be phasing out the dry IAMS kibble and switching them over to the better quality kibble since they won’t be consuming quite so much of it.

I spent a whopping 15 minutes of prep time to cut up the veggies and press the garlic. It stewed on my stove top for about 2 hours on low while I swept floors, re arranged furniture and caught up on Facebook.

Total cost to me:

• 4 cups of green lentils – .89
• 4 cups of long grain brown rice – 1.35
• 3 carrots chopped – less than .20
• 4 sections of fresh garlic – less than $1.00

Total – $3.44

This should last us about 5 days as we mix it in with their current dry food. They of course will be eating less dry food which will cut our costs down with that. My goal is to cut the dry kibble intake to at least 50% of what it is currently while making my pups healthier in the process. I plan to utilize different beans as well as veggies. Giving them lots of variety and things to experience.

Total Cost to the Environment:

• Plant based products grown on local farms. No cost to truck these items to me. Low cost to package as most are purchased at a local farmers market.
• No operations cost to a factory/plant to manufacture the products.
• No cost for creating packaging for products since they are veggies.
• No waste. NONE! I cooked the entire veggie. (Worst case, the peels would find their way to my compost bin)
• Reduction of the processed product that we have been using with eventual phase out of these items from our lives.

Total – very minimal

Down to Business:

Since we are talking about dogs here, we also need to discuss poop. Only natural right?  Dogs poop to rid their bodies of waste. Have you ever noticed that a dog who is fed a diet of low grade, processed food will poop 3 – 4 times per day – sometimes even more. They also need to eat twice as much in order to fuel their bodies. If you feed a dog a higher quality food, they poop less. So what happens to dogs like mine when they are fed even less of the garbage food and more of the yummy fuel forming foods that I made for them? Yep, ONCE per day. One pile. Less waste to have to deal with as an owner and proof that my pups bods are loving the new food.

I am looking forward to a nice long and healthy life with my pups. Even longer now that they are official Eco Pups.