2008 January Archive at Jasiri

Archive for January, 2008

How Do You Throw an Eco-Friendly Birthday Party?

Published by dara on January 26, 2008 in celebration, environment, green living and motherhood. 9 Comments

Update: Find more eco-friendly ideas at ecofriendlymomma.com

Nia will turn 1 in less than a month and my family says I must throw her a party. So I’ve been planning, but I want to do things a little different. The thought of all the balloons, streamers, wrapping paper, knick-knacks in goodie bags, excessive and un-needed gifts…gives me a headache! So I’ve been researching eco-friendly party ideas so I can have a “green” birthday party for the kiddo. This is what I’m thinking of so far:

Decorations are unnecessary, especially at a 1-year-old’s birthday party. She could care less whether I had pink streamers cascading across the ceiling and walls, or brown paper bags stapled to the walls (by the way, I’m not really gonna do that). So I’ll forgo the fancy directions decorations, they’re just so temporary and then afterwards you’re left with a heaping helping of TRASH!
Disposable eating ware is a must, but styrofoam is a no-no! So I’m turning to Aha-Yes! and their Greener Earth Marketing. They sale plates, bowls, cups, utensils, and drinking straws–made from sugercane pulp, corn, or potato. The products are sturdy, 100% tree free, biodegradable, soak-proof (very important!), and some are even compostable.
As for games, I don’t have a clear-cut gameplan. Do 1-year-olds respond to structured play, or would they just wander around willy-nilly finding the slightest thing that amuses them? I think it’s the latter. But because there will be 2 and 3-year-olds present, I have to come up with some ideas that will keep the older kiddos entertained. Any suggestions?
FOOD. I’m trying not to offer to many sugary sweet options. I’m fairly certain I’ll purchase the bulk of the snack foods from Earth Fare. They have healthier options that are just as good, or better, than the stuff you’ll find at a mainstream grocery store. Of course I’ll have a birthday cake so I can capture the obligatory 1-year-old cake-in-the-face photo .
Sorry USPS, I won’t send paper invitations via snail mail. Instead, I’m using evite.com. It’s faster, cheaper (free, can’t get any cheaper than that), and doesn’t come with the headache of having excess invitations, to either horde with the rest of my clutter or waste by throwing them away.
In lieu of overpriced (MADE IN CHINA) toys, I’ll be asking attendees to do 1 of 3 things (of course optional, folks can bring toys if they want):

Bring a gently used toy that your child has outgrown, or no longer plays with.

Give Nia a book (or books) as a gift. Edward Mckay Used Books has a pretty good selection of cheap children’s books.

Donate a few dollars to a fund, of which I haven’t chosen yet. I’m leaning towards Kiva.org. If I choose to give a loan through Kiva, when the money is paid back, I’ll just use it to loan more money. That way, the gift will keep giving forever.

So these are my ideas for a “green” birthday party. Still in the planning process, so if anyone has ideas I welcome your comments.

Spammers Think They’re Smart

Published by dara on January 20, 2008 in rant. 2 Comments

The following comment was left on one of my posts.

I couldn’t understand some parts of this article Merry Christmas Despite a Very Cranky Baby at Jasiri, but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.

The commenter’s name is “Daniel.” I have to approve comments before they appear on a post, so this one didn’t show up on my site. You know what this reminds me of? Those calls you get on your landline phone from telemarketers. “Hi, can I speak to Dara?” or “Hi Dara, how are you?” When they know they’ve never met me in their life. And I always know it’s a telemarketer because they always mispronounce my name, especially my last name.

I knew this comment was spam because it didn’t make sense. They write about “collecting more resources regarding this,” but if you’ve read the post you know you don’t need to collect resources to understand it.

Oh, I’m so sick of these spammers! Find another way to make money, please!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyone else having trouble with spammers clogging up your comments section?

With Aunty and Cousin

Published by dara on January 18, 2008 in personal and pics. 2 Comments

Nia with her Aunty and cousin

I know I’ve said this before but I don’t care, I’m saying it again! I feel so blessed to have a supportive family. As much as I’d like to believe I’m independent, self-sufficient, I can do it all by myself; the truth is I really can’t. My sister (N) in the picture above is so caring and thoughtful, and has helped me tremendously in the past year. And Nia adores her. Nia and her daughter are 19 months apart, which is the exact same age difference as N and myself. By the way, that was not planned. A friend asked me that once, and I just laughed. If she only knew…

And I have some future posts in store about that little one on the right. She is a riot!

Miss America Reality Check

Published by dara on January 15, 2008 in rant. 3 Comments

so we get more of this kind of crap, while the writers continue to strike.
yet, i find myself sitting here watching an episode.

Finally, a New Year’s Post!!!

Published by dara on January 14, 2008 in family, goals, motherhood, personal and pics. 2 Comments

We’re 2 weeks into 2008, and I think i’m still gassy from all the black-eyed peas I’ve eaten over the past couple of weeks. Hope my finances don’t suffer this year becuase I didn’t eat the traditional collard greens. I know I had a heaping helping last year, and I’ve never been as broke as I was in 2007. Being broke is no fun, and I vow to never be in that state again.

I feel a headache coming on as I think back on 2007. Coming out of 2006, I was on a high, what a great year! I was driving through a valley in 2007, lots of low points. I felt insane because these low points were often experienced in tandem with joyous moments. Up and down, up and down all year long.

Although 2007 was stressful, back-breaking, extremely tough, the year was one of tremendous growth for me. The biggest lessons: I need to change my thinking, and I need to trust that where I am and what I’m going through is exactly where I need to be and what I need to be experiencing to continue my spiritual and personal growth. Because as I’ve said before, I get better with age. Like a fine wine! And I’m not gonna let a few mishaps or people who don’t have my best interest in mind, derail me on my journey to love and happiness.

No resolutions this year. My primary goal (i left this comment on a MommyDaddyBlog post:

i just want to spend time, quality time with my baby.
*time* is the one thing you can never get back

the past few months of my life have been so hectic. i want to be able to step away from all the stress, and just feel so free in her presence.

just trying to slow things down, and appreciate what’s most important in my life.

So if I stick with this goal, 2008 will be a great year for me, regardless of any outside forces that try to threaten my happiness…and sanity!

Happy New Year to all of the Jasiri readers.

Sorry for the Delay

Published by dara on January 12, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

A few of my readers left comments recently and they sat in moderation for quite a few days. So sorry about that. I haven’t logged onto my site in a while. I usually get an email notification when there’s a comment awaiting moderation, but I haven’t been receiving them. Gotta check to see what the problem is. Anyway, in the future I will be quicker about approving comments on my post.

Cheers!