Green Options

Now that the weather is warm there is opportunity to shake off the winter doldrums and get the kids some fresh air and sunlight. Hopefully getting your kids to want to spend time outdoors will not be an issue for you but if it is you may just have to get creative.

Indoor entertainment certainly has its place but when they get outside to play or just enjoy a sunny day they get exercise and they connect with nature. Richard’s Louv’s book Nature Deficit Disorder is just full of reasons why we need to make a conscious effort to get our kids out of doors.

One simple way to do this is to take story time or homework outdoors.

If you’re like me and work from home, ergonomics are one of the last things on my mind. I often find myself sitting with my feet up and my laptop in my lap, typing away (ahem, like right now.) The down side to this, is of course the laptop heats up and becomes too hot to sit just so.

Not only is this bad for me and my legs, but also for the computer. It can’t cool itself down sitting on my legs. That’s where this pretty nifty laptop pillow from IF comes in.

The Log laptop pillow is a series of log shaped pillows that when placed just so, make a comfortable pillow for your laptop and legs. Held together by snaps, the logs are made with hemp canvas and organic cotton twill or a hemp and lycra twill blend. The insides are stuffed with buckwheat hulls. The hulls provide for padding and insulation. The arrangement of the logs provide cushion for your legs and allows air to flow and cool the laptop.

Amenity designs bedding, pillows, wall art prints and nursery decor. Luckily for us, they also offer four of their fabrics in running yardage, printed on a blend of organic cotton and hemp. All of their fabrics are “printed by hand with non-toxic, water-based, eco-friendly dyes.”

Amenity’s fabric designs are based on nature, with names like “river” and “cove.” Don’t think about cute little leaf prints, though, except in their nursery collection. As you can see from the pillows above, made up in their “trail” fabric, we’re talking about some seriously bold and funky design.

Editor’s note: Today, we’re pleased to launch a new content partnership with daily email tip provider Vital Juice Daily, "your entertaining, uplifting, convenient (oh, did we mention free?), go-to-source for all things healthy and wellthy." Every Tuesday, we’ll publish a tip from VJD, and tomorrow, we’ll start featuring "Ask VJD," their health and wellth advice column. Today’s tip was originally published on August 31, 2007.

Considering we spend 1/3 of our lives

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