Updating with Green

When we moved into our 75 year old Craftsman home this summer, one of the first items on the list was to paint the kitchen cabinets. Unfortunately, that didn't happen as soon as I hoped. First of all came the rotten wood replacement after the new roof had been installed. Then my closet rods began to separate from the back of the wall and we had to have the closet rods reattached with stronger braces. Then we discovered the dryer was venting to the crawl space under the subfloor. Knowing that is a fire hazard, we had to reroute the dryer venting to the outside hot water heater closet. Which we discovered had a door with a hole rotted though it. Now that door (which was so old they don't make that size door any longer) opening had to be widened and the siding cut off and a new standard door replaced it.

Those are the "unexpected items" that popped up within in the first three months. Now I can concentrate on more of the cosmetic items on the list. First, painting the kitchen cabinets.

Being a Certified Green Building Professional with AHBA and Green Specialist with NAR, I was excited to begin doing something "green" that was not expensive after spending the thousands of dollars on the above mentioned surprises. I expected the low VOC paint to be about $25-$35 per gallon, but was pleasantly surprised to only pay $15.00 for the Olympic paint.

Low VOC (volatile organic compound) may help reduce the amount of chemicals emitted, resulting in a healthier home improvement. When we used regular paint in the past, we were adding toxins to the indoor air quality. This can lead to some damaging health problems, some which are asthma, headaches and respiratory infections. Paint, lacquers, paint strippers, adhesive removers, carpet, cleaning supplies, pestidies, wood preservatives, furniture, and cabinets as all have these polluants.


In today's marketplace, all of these items can now be purchased without these damaging compounds or with a very low degree of them. Well, we may not be in a global warming trend with this weeks past weather, but we have certainly polluted our homes and our bodies to some degree making things faster and less expensive and we and our families are suffering for it now with allergeries, mental disorders and lung disease.

When you do have the chance to make changes in your home, please think about the "healthy choices" that are available to you.

Green Drink

After Thanksgiving I thought I may need to "slim" down, so I'm back to drinking the "green" drink. For those of you who don't know me, this is a receipe I've given friends and family members to "get healthy" - you know the cleansing thing and all...

Here's the receipe, in case you'd like to try it yourself.

1 cup of "clean" water
1.5 heads of Romaine Organic Lettuce
a little fish oil
a little flax seed oil
a little lemon juice

Now add the "taste" that you like.... such as apples, strawberries, mango, celery, cilantro, pineapples, and blackberries.
I always add a couple to bananas to thicken it up.

I add each ingredient separately into my blender until its dissolved within the drink. If I don't drink the whole blender full in one day, (as when I am fasting on the drink for a set period of time) I save it in the fridge for late afternoon pick me up's.

I purchase the fruit frozen at Whole Foods and add about three different fruits with the celery and cilantro. But it's to your taste, so be creative.

I have found that this drink gives me a lot of energy for that late afternoon boost (probably from all the natural sugar) and it healthier than drinking coffee .

Try it and let me know what you think.

New Loan Discounts for Purchasing!

More good news to buyers who have an interest in buying a "greener" home! Not only will you be saving money on your monthly energy expense, you can now get a discount from the lender when purchasing that home.

The new Eco Friendly Loans through PHA and Fannie Mae are available now.

J. P. Morgan/Chase and Bank of America are now offering a discount to the Buyer (Chase up to $1000 towards closing cost) if they purchase a home with Energy Star rated appliances. Imagine if you are a first time home buyer or an existing home owner who has owned a home for over the past eight years. You could get a $8000 tax credit plus $1000 towards closing and interest rates are still hovering right a 5%, 4.875 to be exact.

Most of our local lender/brokers, use Chase and Bank of America, so they do have access to the loan discount. Well Fargo may also have, but I have not checked with them. If you know, please update me.

Hope this information is helpful to you.

LCD's -

LCD's, compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs, the curly light bulbs.... well I dropped one in my daughter's closet yesterday. WHAT AN ORDEAL!!

In a panic (knowing it contained mercury) I did everything wrong... That's way I am confessing the error of my ways - please do not do what I did.

I swept up the glass --DO NOT DO THIS -- PICK UP THE PIECES WITH GLOVES AND DUCT TAPE.

Then I vacuumed up the rest -- DO NOT DO THIS EITHER -- JUST DO THE ABOVE.

Then, I closed off the closet so the cat could not get it -- WRONG AGAIN --
LEAVE THE ROOM OPEN TO AIR OUT THE TOXINS.

I was going to be late for a funeral, so I didn't take the time to read what to do.
An hour later I did, but too late.

So I had to remove everything from the closet, mop with hot steamy water - MY SHARK'S rectangle head had to be thrown away....

Had to clean out the vacuum cleaner, too.... throw away used filters....

Then wash and dry, or dry clean, every single item of clothing in the closet.

So much time taken because one one broken light bulb.

Can't corporate American do a better job than this???

Main Street Market

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFDZz1qviKs


What a better way to be green than supporting your community by purchasing from local vendors.

Baton Rouge's Main Street Market celebrated their 11th Birthday Saturday. We visited with Michael Gatz from the Green Shop. They have new bathroom tiles(colored recycled glass that you can get in almost any color) and recycled bowling alley lanes that would make a shiny butcher block look to your kitchen. And by the way, Michael (with some friends) has opened the new Gallery Bohemia on Government next to Brandts showcasing local artwork and refurbished (is that a word?) furniture.

Then there was Alice Michel, of Handmade Pottery by Alice. She has pottery trays and cheese platters all made by the owner. Most of the platters have three dimensional artwork in flower shapes or other decorative designs. Beautiful! I purchased a platter with a Flor de Lis design.

There are always inspirational stone sayings, greeting cards and shirts at the Coyote Creek gift shop to Charlie's Coffee. Remember, they also have another location in St. Francisville.

Pet Adoption Day was also Saturday and you can see who got talked into saving life of a kitten, just three days from ....
well we don't want to think about it.

Cute little thing - but since we've never had a cat before, a learning experience. So far, so good.

This weekend the market will be honoring our Veterans with special events planned. Remember breakfast and lunch are available in downtown's only public marketplace!

Baby Steps to Remodeling

So many folks have asked me what’s the first thing they should do to begin remodeling their homes to save energy cost. That depends on so many things such as: how old is your home, which appliance is draining the most of your money now, and would it be worth it to replace an appliance that is in good working condition with an Energy Star rating, how much money can you set aside each year to green up and how long to do plan on staying in that particular home. There are many tax credits available now for remodeling.

Simple fixes would be to install better insulation, unplug appliances such as toasters, blenders, t.v.’s, light fixtures that are not in current use, replace light bulbs with CFL’s, (compact fluorescent light bulbs) and plant trees that would eventually shade your home from the harsh sun in the summer months.

A note about CFL’s is that they do contain mercury (which is harmful) and no substitute has been developed at this time. These curly bulbs use 75% less energy and last much longer than regular light bulbs.
Think about this. If each home owner were to replace all of the light bulbs in their home (30-40 bulbs on average) they would save over $130.00 per year. Now if each American homeowner replaced just one bulb with a CFL, we could save enough energy to provide light to more than 3 million homes for one full year, adding up to more than $600 million in annual energy cost.

These are baby steps, guys.

But, honestly, if you are reading this, you probably have already replaced all of your light bubs and area moving on to more expensive remodeling projects. So here is a link to begin taking the bigger steps.
http://www.nahbgreen.org/ScoringTool.aspx

God is Green! Ya think?

I believe God is Green - He DID create a perfect world and look who messed it up. And why? Because of our GREED. Whoa! Ugly word and guess what - a sin! (another ugly word.)

Why bringing all of this up? Well in my little world, in Baton Rouge, it seems we have two belief systems regarding politics and God.

Most of the Republicans that I know think that the Democrates are all Green Thinkers and are "godless". And guess what, the Democatics I know, think the Republicans are opposed to Green Living and are wasteful with our envirnonment therefore being "godless" creatures who talk the talk, but don't walk it out.

I think God is somewhere in the middle - but I do know that it must break His heart to see us destroy His world with smog, toxins, and watch us polluting the earth so we can have an easiler life while killing each other in the process.

God is Good and So Is Green!! Think about it. Support Green Living and remember, it's the small things that count. It's a mindset to remember to unplug appliances when you are not using them - phantom power. Reuse that copy paper - you have two sides. Better than that - don't print at all. Save everything to PDFs. You don't have to install a solar panel on your home to Live Green - you can certainly research it for later - but remember, baby steps........


And speaking of Baby steps, I hope you have joined our Facebook Post joining millions "watching babies crawl to Washington to eliminate toxins from cleaning products". Please join today and send to your friends.

Looking at removing the green whatever it is counter tops and installing old bowling alley flooring in my personal kitchen. This will give it a "butcher block" look that I am going for.

Has anyone done this? Can you send me photos? I am getting prices now.

Green being simple - another example. Less usage of blow dryer - and never using any irons - curling or straightening. Wash and crimp and go. That also saves us on our electric bill.

Simple enough?

Living Green Can Be So Simple As......

Sometimes, I think we all forgot how easy it really is to “live green”. Think about being green like your Grandparents did in areas of being conservative, respectful, and peaceful.

For example, I have begun putting my daughter’s lunch in storage containers instead of using 150 baggies every three of four months. Yes, they are plastic containers, being Tupperware or some other brand, but I am “re-using” them and not throwing them away after it’s use and therefore not adding to the stack of trash each day.

Another very simple way to be “green” is to have a GPS system. My brother in law has poked fun at me for “not using my brain” to figure my route by using a map. Well, maybe my brain has several other functions that are of a higher priority than mapping my route from house to house while showing property to clients, like saving time by not having to map it out. (My brain gets plenty of exercise in other areas, like communication with the twit’s of the world and keeping up with communication with my younger clientele and my own children.) A GPS system whether on your phone or placed in the car will save you so much in gas and time.

And talk about safety! No more stopping at road side stores or gas stations asking for directions Every man should purchase one for the women in their lives just for that reason. So many good benefits but in this area of thought, saving fuel searching up and down streets getting to that destination.

Now isn’t living green simple?