Greetings All, I am very pleased to see more women exploring natural options for various aspects of daily living. But I do have a curiosity about those who claim to be "environmentalist" but seem unsure about how to collect their menstrual fluid. Any female who is an environmentalist would have no doubt considered using a non-disposable product for handling her menstrual flow--I would hope. Since some posters have touched on it, but haven't gone into great detail about collection/reusable menstrual products I will provide more information. Menstrual Cups: Not limited just the Diva or the Keeper/Knock off MoonCup are a great option for both improving your foot print on the environment and allowing you to neatly collect your menstrual flow. Insteads fall into this category but because they are worn very high in the vagina, next to the cervix like a diaphragm I would not recommend it for those that want to stay neat or collect blood. I would imagine it difficult to remove the Instead without spilling the flow but you would have to check out a forum of actual Instead users to find out if I am right. I personally use a Mooncup UK. If you are looking to switch to a menstrual cup you should explore all your options and brands that are made world wide and get one that you think will be better suited to your body. If you look at the bottom of my article on The Culture of Menstruation http://theanthroblogogist.50webs.com/body/the_culture_of_menstruation.html you will see links to every known menstrual cup made. If you need more information you can indefinitely feel free to contact me through my website. I've also heard about people using the rinse water from their cloth pads. Thats great as long as all natural detergents are used to launder your pads. Try etsy or ebay to find very cute cloth pads, or find a pattern and make some yourself. With sea sponges I am not really sure how much of an environmentalist one could be, since these were actually living creatures at once. I can't assume but can only imagine how far down hill things might go in the harvesting/farming of sea sponges just to be used as your personal tampon. I wouldn't recommend it as they are not a readily renewable source & something like a menstrual cup has more positives on this option. I do not recommend using disposable products to harvest your menstrual fluid from as they are laden with chemicals which is why most truly heath and environmentally conscious people have looked for better options. I am sure that if these are just house plants and nothing edible it might be fine, but for your health benefit switching to one of the healthier options discussed would be an excellent choice for yourself and the environment. To all of those people here who are "grossed out" by this I can only lend a sad laugh that you think of your body that way. It is silly to think that far "grosser" things aren't being put into every product you could possibly buy in a store. I do think that there are valid points about pathogens and disease, etc. But I would expect a person to know their body, know if they are taking BC to be careful or avoid fertilizing edibles. And use common curtesy and not fertilize a public (especially edible) garden without the consent of those who share it. Other than that, there is little if anything gross or dangerous about using your own bio-goods to contribute to the natural life cycle of the earth. To answer someone's question about being married. Yes I am married & my husband knows about all of this. He was weirded out by me bringing up the watering of plants with the blood from my cup (I haven't done it yet) But he is pretty open minded and would never try to stop me from doing so. Also I am sure he would eat plants I have grown that way (We use natural methods of BC, so no extra hormones). Why do people think its accptable to eat plants grown from animal feces or even animal blood as fertilizer, but somehow our own is just disgusting suddenly? Goodluck & health to everyone, please visit my page if you would like more info, or to discuss any of these topics further. Sincerely, The Anthroblogogist http://TheAnthroblogogist.50webs.com Here is a link that might be useful: Visit The Anthroblogogist Website

Hi rouge21! You lucky thing, you are in zone 5b!!! I bought a couple of bombshell in 2 gallon pots from Canadian Tire last year at the end of season clearance. They were a bit dried up but the price was good so I just had to buy them. They were overwintered in my dark and cold garage, and they survived! The top growth was all dead though. Now there's a lot of new growth from the base and they are looking healthy and nice! The CT's around here don't take great care of the plants and they don't have great sales like yours. I am so envious! twrosz, I bought a Little Lime from Super Store a few weeks ago at $13. They only had a few left and most looked terrible and tiny. So I bought the healthiest looking one and now it is doing quite well. Once again, we don't have many healthy looking plants in SS here in Calgary.... Is it a Calgary thing that these big box stores don't take care of their plants!? Sigh...

Well, the trip to my friend's house was enlightening. She has a pale, creamy yellow from Lowe's, Churchill Hotel Hazy Yellow. I was expecting the cabinet to blend too much up against it, but it really didn't. It didn't POP like it would against a green, but it didn't look bad either...I kinda liked it. I think her cream seems a bit too light, I would prefer something a bit more gold, but I think the color in general is a possibility. I didn't think my backsplash tiles would work with the yellow either, but they looked quite nice too. The yellow made the blues and greens in the tile pop more which could be nice for using those colors as accents in window treatments, etc. Lastly, was the floor tile (Yes, my friend thinks I am nuts for lugging all my samples over to house, but she's a brutally honest person so I trust her opinion). She has natural maple wood floors and my tile is almost the same tone as her wood...kinda funny. We decided the tile looked fine. If the walls were any more yellow, the floor might look a little dingy, but I think I would be ok if I stay with a creamy, yellow/gold. Also, the same friend has a pretty olive green in her family room. So, she hunted down the paint and guess what it was...Nantucket Gray! Funny bc even she thought the Nan. Gray was much more brown in my house. I guess it's all about lighting. So, where does this leave me? I think I am going to sample a few creamy yellows in my space just to see. Just like the Nantucket Gray looked so different in our homes, so could the yellows. I have not ruled out the idea of a green bc I do think it could look awesome if I wasn't so color-challenged. You have all given me so many great colors to sample. As Amysrq said I should pick a couple sample colors that scare me and one of them just might be it. Thanks again. I promise to post once I decide and absolutely once the kitchen is done!

Too funny Kswl! All solids? I've never really thought about that but I wear a ton of prints, florals, stripes, etc. I do love my solids to wear my scarves with. I love scarves and wear them often in cooler weather. I have a couple of gauzy ones I will wear in spring/summer. If I don't have a scarf on I will more than likely have on a funky necklace. One thing I will note, I do not wear black up against my face. Too stark and washes me out. I do not wear yellows, oranges (I HATE orange but love a pinky coral), browns, mossy greens, etc. (earth tones) other than some shades of brown pants. Thankfully those colors do not look good on me. I don't use them in our home either! Lynn, I had my colors done years ago and I am a winter. I don't think black is drab at all. It's fashionable! But of course, it makes a difference what you wear with your black.