Sometimes an Herb Garden is Just an Herb Garden

By coincidence, I've received copies of the NY Times article "The Femivore's Dilemma" from three different people recently. It seems my status as a working mother, pescetarian, farmer's market shopper, composter and farmer in our suburban backyard garden makes me a likely candidate for the new movement of self-sustaining feminists who not only serve their families organic food, they feel compelled to grow and harvest it themselves.

While I admire the women who have the time and fortitude to raise their own chickens, grow all their food, and take up beekeeping as a hobby, I just don't have the time at this stage

in my life. The truth is, we grow tomatoes, peppers and herbs in our backyard because Katie likes to help tend the garden and it gives us a another good reason to be outside with our children. We shop at our local Farmer's Market because it's a fun thing to do on a Saturday morning and we live in glorious Northern California where the Farmer's Market produce is beautiful and delicious. We compost because we can and should, but truthfully, we haven't quite gotten the hang of it yet. We have fresh limes in our margaritas during the summer because the lime tree came with the house. The good things we do, we do because they fit within our lifestyle today.

I hope that someday I'll be able to indulge in a more rural lifestyle. In fact I have dreams of living like Tim and Karen Bates of the Philo Apple Farm. But for now, the herb garden is just an herb garden.

Extreme Recycling

With Earth Day on the horizon, we always give a little extra thought to how we can reduce waste and improve our energy efficiency in our house. Of course, we all try to take our re-usable bags with us when we go shopping, but somehow there always seem to be a few plastic grocery bags that get into the house. Rather than throw them away, we’ve made an extreme sport out of re-using a bag as many times as we can before finally abandoning it to the waste stream. The trick is to find uses that allow the bags to be used over and over again until every possible use has been exhausted. Here are our favorites:

• Use them as packing material instead of Styrofoam or bubble wrap. And be sure to put a note in the package reminding the recipient to reuse the bags.
• Make a soft nest for your Christmas ornaments while they’re in storage.
• Pack some in your suitcase: they’re great for isolating your laundry and shoes from the rest of your clothes.
• Tuck them into your beach tote for wet towels and swimsuits.
• Use them for your toiletries when you travel. I wish I could say that I have a snazzy, monogrammed cosmetic bag for travel, but I actually use the same plastic grocery bag (or sometimes a big Ziploc) over and over again. Who’s to know?
• Line the bottom of something that needs filler: a flower pot, a basket filled with candles, and shredded plastic bags make great confetti for a gift bag.
• Cushion your china while it’s in storage.
• Store your outdoor pillows inside them during the off-season.
• Put one in your carry-on bag when you travel. How many times have you purchased food at the airport for your flight, and had it leak all over the contents of your carry-on?
• Our dog Jasper likes to eat the fluff out of his dogbed. When it starts to deflate, a few plastic bags make it nice and puffy again.

We stop just short of this:

Although we do admire the industriousness and creativity of Tyler Velten, an architecture student at Yale who designed and created the chandelier, we're not quite that extreme. Yet.

Like a Fresh Coat of Lipstick for My House

We're planning to paint our house this summer, so I'm deep in the research phase of choosing the right colors. I recently asked some readers their opinion on my plan to paint my front door red. The response was overwhelmingly "yes!" Lisa Holmes mentioned that a red front door is supposed to bring prosperity to the house. Kamille Caple mentioned that studies show houses with red doors sell faster. In addition to the enthusiastic thumbs up I received from readers, I read somewhere that in China, it's tradition to paint the front door red before the new year, to invite good luck and happiness. And then the kicker was this endorsement from Suzanne Tucker in a House Beautiful article "The Best Colors for your Front Door:

"I wanted to draw people to the door like bees to a flower, and this luscious red did the trick. The color has such clarity. It's like the most kissable lips. It's like the best manicure you've ever had."

How can I resist? Red it is.

I'm partial to Benjamin Moore's Aura line of exterior paint because it's low VOC, they have beautiful colors, and the paint is easy to apply. I'm also partial to Benjamin Moore because they have an iPhone app that allows me to take a picture of something that's the perfect shade of red, then it will recommend the closest paint color to match that item.

Now I'm off to find a beautiful manicure or some kissable lips. Whichever I encounter first.

As most Suburban Zen readers know, I have a love/hate relationship with my TV. I like to watch movies and Survivor with my family, I love the Food Channel, and whenever I come across a Mythbusters or What Not to Wear episode, I’ll watch it. I dislike having to talk over TV, having to compete with it for my family’s attention, and every time my children start arguing over what TV show to watch I hide all the remotes and declare a temporary electronic blackout.

Because of my dysfunctional relationship with my TV, I’m always looking for the perfect media storage solution that looks pretty, hides all our stuff, and has doors that close so I can hide the TV from my family when I want them to pay attention to me.

I’ve come across some pretty great solutions in my quest :

I'm always a fan of the armoire as a solution, because it looks pretty when it's closed and has lots of room inside for all the other stuff I want to hide. I prefer a vintage clothing armoire that's been converted to fit media components, rather than one that's been designed for media storage, as the attention is paid to the design of the face, finish and hardware that's sometimes sacrificed on a piece that's designed purely for function.

Many people are putting their TVs in wall alcoves and covering them with art, photos, mirrors, or a pair of vintage doors.

I've toyed with the idea of painting an unframed canvas and hanging it over my TV.

And if I must look at my TV, this is a pretty cute idea:

But honestly, I'd still rather look at this:

I think I feel a blackout coming on.