I Love Spring!!!!!

Who doesn't love spring, especially us midwesterners? Spring brings to us moments of appreciation. We did it! We survived another brutal winter. We still love our  spouses after all those cold, long winter nights. We are reborn!!!

We feel sorry for our friends in the south that don't have the dramatic changes of seasons. Oh sure, their weather is perfect all year long.

Boring..

We midwesterners are absolutely giddy when we have one day of the week over 40 degrees. We love the whole world. (Take that, San Diego.) 

I've had the greatest weekend. Nothing that would make the 6:00 news, or even the local newspaper.

So, what did I do?

Well, Friday, I took the day off with my two favorite girlfriends - daughter, Stef and her daughter, Alex. We spent a day shopping and bonding. No  pressure, no deadlines, only fun and sillyness. How could I be so lucky?

Other reasons why I love spring:

• I have so much more energy. I've noticed all my dirty windows - but now I want to clean them.
• I picked up a flower garden magazine at the grocery store and have read it cover to cover, totally enjoying it, knowing full well I will never do any the new ideas I discovered. (Don't care.)
• Walked the dogs until they were actually tired. Victory for me.
• Worked in the yard. Got giddy again when I discovered some green poking through the dirt.

You know, when a person is able to enjoy the little pleasures of the day, life is always good and you are blessed.

Making a difference

When I'm preparing our evening meal each night (supper for the midwest-dinner for the rest of you) I always tune in to NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams. Why I have that preference is because of one segment that ends the broadcast; "Making a Difference". It's about everyday people making a positive difference in someone's life. After listening to all the troubles of the world; it's so refreshing to learn of good turn. Nothing earth shattering; just a person or a group of persons doing something from the heart to help their fellow man and woman.

Tonight, it really touched my heart - foster home for pets for our service men and women deployed overseas.

You, who know me, know what I feel about animals, especially dogs. They have always been my haven, my King X's and sometimes; the only ones I could trust.

Well, before I get too sappy, let me tell you about this beautiful group of people. Sometimes a person who must leave for a while can't find a home for their best friend. That where the Guardian Angels for Soldiers' pets come in. They have established a network of foster homes for this need.

Is this awesome or what!

I love  people that are always coming up with solutions instead shaking their heads in sorrow.

To learn more about this, please go to http://www.guardianangelsforsoldierspet.org/.

I love animals; but I really, really, love the human race.

Complains - the American pasttime.

FACT:  I get so upset when I have to run the water faucet to get it really cold.
FACT:  One Billion of the world citizens remain without satisfactory safe drinking water. Two Billion of our world citizens have not access to adequate sanification.

YET - I COMPLAIN.


FACT: OMG-----I haven't been shopping for so long. I can't stand anything in my closet.
FACT: At least 80% of the world lives on $10.00 a day.

YET - I COMPLAIN.

FACT: I'm reading the most incredible book. I can't wait to discuss it at my book clubs. So many books to read.  When will I find the time?
FACT: Nearly one billion people entered the 21st century unable to read or  sign their name.

YET -  I COMPLAIN.


FACT: I can't  think on something new for our evening meals. I guess I'll just wandered the aisles until something looks good to me.
FACT: The World Health Organization estimates 50,000 in Africa will die each month from malnutrition or disease.

 YET - I COMPLAIN.

I live in America. It's not perfect; but I'm going to stop complaining.

Which zebra is endangered?

The first thing I learned about the zebra was there are three different kinds of zebras. Didn't know that. There's the plains and mountain zebras. Then there is the endangered Grevy's zebra. It's featured on Animal Tails organic cotton short sleeved t-shirt; and it is a favorite of little girls. Here's what the hang tag say:

"Hello Darlings! I'm the high fashion queen of the African plains. I am also the tallest of  all the wild equines worldwide - as you'd expect from one with such great model credentials. I live in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, where I graze all day on delicious grass. My stripes are closer together and thinner than the Plains zebra. They act as good camouflage as the stripes help break up the outline of me when viewed through the bushes. I am named after President Grevy who received one of my relatives as a gift in the 1800's from Abyssinia.

It hasn't been good to be at the height of fashion, as I was hunted almost to extinction. Having such thin stripes compared to other zebras, hunters got more stripes per inch. My relatives have been turned into handbags, slippers, purses and rugs. Although hunting is now banned, we are still endangered because of loss of our habitat to arable farming domestic herds."

So, there you have it. Because of fashion wants, the Grevy's zebra's numbers in the wild went from 15,000 a few decades ago to fewer than 2,500 today. According the African Wildlife Foundation, the greatest threat today is loss of habitat to agricultural use. The AWF has made considerable progress in bringing back the numbers, and; hopefully, someday they will be removed from the endangered list.

This cool shirt is our current "Special". Visit http://www.rubij.com/ to see this and our other Animal Tails.

We have our contest winners!!!!

Thanks, everyone, for entering the Rubi J's Newsletter contest. The hidden message was "April Showers brings May flowers".  Sorry, all of you that entered "Spring showers". The four winners of an organic onesies are:

• Janet Buman
• Renee Hansen
• Melissa Owings
• Judie Ahrenholtz

To claim your prize, go to http://www.rubij.com/ and pick out the color and size of the onesie you want and email me at info@rubij.com with your choice and address to sent your prize.

The grand prize winner is:

• Ann Schwieso.

Ann, you get to pick out $50.00 worth of product. Just email as instructed above.

Congratulations to our winners and thanks to everyone for playing.

Every little thing we do.

"Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things; I am tempted to think there are no little things."

Bruce Barton (American Congressman, 1886-1967)

Another quote comes to mind:

"A picture is worth a thousand words."

We're at the Oscars!!!!!

Well, I'm not actually attending the ceremonies. My invitation must have gotten lost in the mail - again. But, the exciting news is Rubi J's products are in the gift bags given out to the attendees. Wow.

Jessi Waggoner, founder and owner of a fantastic organic skin care line for baby and adults, called me a few weeks ago. She had secured a position in the gift giving venue and wanted to know if I wanted to add some of my products. I pondered for about a nano second and had the products to her in days. I'll tell you more about it when she returns from Hollywood. Jessi's websites are http://www.ecoestheticsskincare.com/ and http://www.mybabyeden.com/.

You can watch Jessi live athttp//www.ustream.tv/channel/oscars-gifting-suite. She'll be on again this afternoon.

Be watching for her. You can't miss that smile.

Yet another nutritional study.

I don't remember which early morning news show I had on the other day, but it explaining about a new study on fruits and vegetables. The study concluded no difference of nutritional value between organic and conventional fruits and vegetables.

Gee. How interesting. I wonder how much that study cost and who made this discovery. The problem is I personally don't care. That's not the reason I buy organic whenever I have the choice.

In our chemically heavy modern world, I'm trying to reduce the pesticides my family consumes. You would think living in the rural midwest, buying organic food is easy. Not really. Very few are offered at our local stores, and the closest outlets are at least 45 miles away.

So, what to do. In the summer, we do have our farmers' market where I can talk to the growers. That's a plus. But there are lots of fruits and veggies not grown in the midwest. I loved celery for snacking and cooking. It's usually on the top ten lists of most pesticide laden, but I still buy it.

What I do is educate myself so I can mixed my produce with the good and bad. Baby steps, I know, but still trying. You can become more knowledgeable yourself by using the web. Just Google "Pesticides in food". In less than a half of second you will get 8,700,000 hits on this subject.

You now have your assignment, students. Happy reading and pass the onions (they're always number 1 on the best list).