Tag Archives: personal story

New Year’s Eve Reflections on 2013

  By Donna DeForbes | December 31, 2013 - 5:30 am |
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Inspired by a post from Sheila at A Living Family and, in the mode of annual reflection, here’s my look at the personal things that have transpired in one short year. One year ago… I was unemployed, depending on state benefits. Since then, I have embarked on the journey of self-employment, hung up my shingle and attracted freelance graphic design and writing clients. I discovered that I love being my own boss. I also love having flexible hours that allow me to work around my daughter’s school schedule (or do laundry in the middle of the day!). I was mother to a placid kindergartener. Now, I’m mother to a restless and dynamic first grader, which has pushed me to grow in unexpected ways. In the past year, Sofie has learned to swim, ride a two-wheeler and read entire books on her own. She acquired four more adult teeth, donated her … Continue reading →

Why First Grade Means Growing Up … for Both Me and My Daughter

  By Donna DeForbes | December 10, 2013 - 5:00 am |
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Welcome to the December 2013 Carnival of Natural Parenting: The More Things Change . . . This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama. This month our participants have shared stories and wisdom about life changes. —> The only thing I remember about starting first grade is being too scared of my teacher to ask to use the bathroom. Thirty-five years later, my daughter has entered first grade, and everything about it has felt monumental to me. She started a new school, which in itself is a big thing. We love the school, its philosophy and its community. Sofie was the only new girl entering a class of seven, most of who had been together for a couple of years. Sofie fit in like she was a missing family member. She is adaptable in ways I have … Continue reading →

The Guilt-Free Way to Make Your New Year’s Resolutions Attainable

  By Donna DeForbes | December 3, 2013 - 5:00 am |
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Guilt-Free New Year's Resolutions | Eco-Mothering.com

There’s pressure around creating New Year’s resolutions. It’s challenging to commit to something (or to not doing something) for an entire year. And the American track record for keeping New Year’s resolution is abysmal: 75% abandon resolutions after one week; only about 8% actually achieve them. Often the problem is making a laundry list of aspirations, from a healthy diet and fit body to an organized home and perfect parenting skills. Accomplish and maintain all that over 12 months? Sure. Easy peasy. I’m guilty of those laundry lists of resolutions. It diverts my focus into too many areas so that I become overwhelmed. Or it becomes a daunting To-Do list with no definable end. How do I know when I’ve reached the healthiest state of my body? What if my home achieves organization in March but then gets messy again by May? Does that count as a failure? It’s time … Continue reading →

Going Green: My Eco Bucket List

  By Donna DeForbes | September 3, 2013 - 5:30 am |
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Green Living Bucket List | Eco-Mothering.com

I’ve been dreaming green for decades, although my desire and goals sometimes change. Here, I’ve corralled everything into one eco list from the small stuff I never seem to get around to (replacing plastic food containers with glass) to the big fantasy dreams (saving a species from extinction). Live in a thoughtfully-designed green home Stay at an eco lodge in Costa Rica Invest in an organic mattress and bedding Own a hybrid car Attend a natural parenting convention Raise lots of money for green charities through Eco-Mothering Switch to holistic medical practitioners Receive regular bodywork on a weekly basis (massage, reflexology, etc.) Go meatless four days per week Explore part of the Amazon rainforest Save the yellow-tailed woolly monkey from the edge of extinction Swim with dolphins in the wild Expand my vegetable garden Plant fruit trees and bushes Eat only at green-certified restaurants Use only organic beauty products Raise chickens … Continue reading →

How to Host a Blessingway Birth Ritual

  By Donna DeForbes | August 13, 2013 - 5:30 am | ,
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blessingway-candles

Baby showers can be a great way to gather with friends and accumulate the necessary baby stuff. But they often seem like clones of one another with the focus on silly games and diaper cakes. If you’re seeking something more to mark your pregnancy, consider a Blessingway as a celebrational option. With its Native American (Navajo) roots, a Blessingway—or Mother Blessing, as it has come to be known in its American form—honors a woman in her journey toward motherhood. What is a Blessingway? Instead of emphasizing gifts and the unborn baby, a Blessingway focuses on the mother-to-be. How is she feeling? What does she need? It tends to be women-only—close friends and family of the pregnant woman—who gather together to offer support. This could mean sharing their own birth stories, offering emotional guidance or advice, or participating in some kind of ritual. The point is to honor the mom-to-be in … Continue reading →

What We Learned from a Tour of Our Local Food Bank

  By Donna DeForbes | July 16, 2013 - 5:30 am | , ,
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RI-Food-Bank-rutabaga

Lately, Sofie’s been asking about the homeless guy she sees at a particular intersection we pass. She wants to give him food. This led to discussions about food pantries where people can go to get food. And then we asked our friend Erica, who works at our local food bank, to give us a tour. The RI Community Food Bank is a distribution warehouse that solicits, stores and provides surplus food to 178 member agencies at 238 sites across the state. (Find your nearest RI Food Bank agency here.) They have some pretty cool programs like Neighborhood Pantry Express, a mobile food pantry that provides fresh produce to low-income people, and Community Kitchen, a 14-week culinary job-training program for jobless adults that also provides healthy dinners to hungry kids. The warehouse alone occupies 35,000 square feet and can hold two million pounds of food at one time! Here’s a peek … Continue reading →

Top 5 Reasons I’m Glad I Married My Husband

  By Donna DeForbes | May 31, 2013 - 5:30 am |
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our-wedding

Today is my 15th wedding anniversary. Yikes. Fifteen years ago, Mike and I were living in Champaign, Illinois, where we married in a friend’s backyard in a simple, self-designed ceremony.   While marriage hasn’t always been easy, it has been an eye-opening and soul-stirring adventure. In honor of today, here are five very important husband qualities Mike possesses that have helped to make it work. He’s open-minded. And agreeable to nearly everything I propose. Like changing our last name. Or moving to Rhode Island. Or co-sleeping. Not that I run the show, mind you, but our relationship has always been an equal one where we remain open to the possibilities in life instead of sticking to a pre-blazed path that doesn’t fit us. Even now, neither of us knows where life will take us next. Toward another country? Toward adoption? I love that we’re both flexible and adaptable to new ideas. … Continue reading →

Eco-Mothering Celebrates Its 5th Anniversary with a Giveaway!

  By Donna DeForbes | April 29, 2013 - 6:00 am |
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ecomothering-book-giveaway

Can you believe it? It’s been five years since my very first Eco-Mothering blog post. A blog that originally existed on Save The Bay’s website and was only read by a few friends and colleagues. I blogged irregularly and infrequently those first several years, from 19 times in 2008 (to an all-time low of 6 blog posts in 2010—what was I doing that year?) until I got serious in October 2012 and whipped out 37 posts in three months. Between this blog and Facebook, Eco-Mothering now reaches about 20,000 people weekly. Woohoo! I love doing this. I love that my passions for the environment and for parenting have found this amazing intersection that inspires other people. Thank you for reading and for sharing. I’m celebrating my 5th anniversary with a personal giveaway of three eco-themed books for the family. (PLUS 2 Melissa and Doug Whittle World Wooden Farm Sets thanks … Continue reading →