Things I Love Friday: Why I Love Mason Jars!

In a lot of typical American households people tend to have a "Tupperware cabinet" that they store all of their plastic-ware in.

Knowing that plastic was not good for us, we invested in a lot of Pyrex a few years ago. Before  We love Pyrex. Granted though, it can sometimes be an awkward size and makes it difficult to fit all of the leftovers in our apartment fridge. Before the Pyrex, we re-used our old spaghetti sauce jars, but we make our own sauces now, so we do not get jars....and the lids were of lesser quality, so we ended up recycling them.

only a few as some are in use.
 ignore the cabinet lining, from tenants before us.

We got some pint sized Ball canning jars a bit ago...and we love them. So we recently invested in a larger stash of mason jars AKA. canning jars.

Are we using them for canning though? No. But we could if we wanted to!

Mason jars are so useful.

You can store fruits and veggies in them for a quick snack.

They are also great for storing left overs in the fridge. Especially for Baby A's  dinner leftovers.

Here are some great uses for mason jars:

1. Use them as glasses, the are great for drinking out of, at home or on the go.
2. As mentioned above, they are great for storing leftovers.
3. Store homemade hummus or nut butters!
4. As mentioned above, they are great for storing pre-washed/pre-cut fruits and veggies for snacks.
5. Use as a vase for flowers
6. Store juices, teas, or chia drinks in the fridge.
7. Store dehydrated veggies or other dry pantry goods in the pantry.
8. Canning. They are good for their intended purpose of canning foods.
9. Lunch for work. You can make mason jar salads and pasta salads to take on picnics or lunch for work!
10. Gifts! You can dress up a canning jar full of dry ingredients for a meal or baking recipe, and attach the recipe to the lid.
11. You can use them in your bathroom to store beauty products, cotton balls, q-tips, and more.

There are so many more uses for mason jars that I haven't even mentioned here.

sorry about glare. windows are open for some sunshine.

What do you use mason jars for?

If you don't already use them. try them sometime! 

 Ditch the plastic and go for glass.

Be Happy Healthy & Strong,

Lolli 

Earth Day....How Do You Celebrate?

We are celebrating Earth Day by planting our garden ! We bought our soil yesterday and are excited to get planting!

Honestly though, it bothers me that we have to have an Earth Day to remind people to take care of the earth.

Isn't it something we should be doing daily?

In our home, Earth Day is every day. Taking steps to be kinder to ourselves and to our planet, should be something that  we all strive for....on a regular basis. 

If we all just do one thing on Earth Day, it is not going to amount to enough to help our planet. What is going to help our planet is the daily task of  caring for the soil that we live on.

Recycling. Reducing waste. Eating clean whole foods. Reusing items instead of trashing them. Buying used instead of new. Eliminating harsh chemicals from our lives. Using cloth diapers. Breastfeeding.

These are just a few of the things we can do to help our Earth be healthy and clean.

Interesting fact, Baby A's name means "Earth's Companion" and she is turning 17 months old today on Earth Day. I love that she is an earth baby. I want her to feel connected to nature. I want her body, mind, and soul to be nourished by whole things, beautiful things.

She is full of laughter and love, she loves the outdoors. Every day she wants me to open the blinds so she can see outside, and every time we go outside she gets so excited! 

I wish that more children had the opportunity to be connected.

Sitting in front of a TV all year long ( although once in a while TV is okay), then only venturing outside for Earth Day or the occasional trip to the playground.....is not healthy. People are so disconnected from what feeds our lives and makes us whole.

This Earth Day, I want to challenge each and every one of my readers to reconnect.

Make a commitment to reconnect to the planet in some way. Whether that be planting a garden, starting a clean whole foods plant based diet, or committing to spending at least 10 minutes outdoors each day. I want to challenge you to make a commitment to reconnect with the Earth in some way for an entire year, starting on Earth Day.

What are you committing to?

I would love to hear, no matter how big or small!

Every day is Earth Day!

Be Happy Healthy and Strong,

Lolli