Friday Forums in Focus

This week we’re starting a new regular feature on the blog - the Friday Forums in Focus! We’ll wrap up each week with an overview of what’s happening over at the AFW forums - heart-warming or hilarious, interesting and unusual, each week we’ll let you know about some highlights from our vibrant community. If you haven’t had a chance to come and introduce yourself yet, grab a coffee and head over to say hello and join in!

This week in General Discussions, Ezmay found an unwelcome ’surprise’ on her towel … who was the culprit?.

If you have any tips for cooking with tofu, come and share them in the Food, Glorious Food forum.

We shared ideas for dealing with that special time when our delightful toddlers hit the terrible twos and talked about things we learned from our mothers in the Parenting, Family and Relationships forum.

Join in our active discussion on The Biggest Loser (and a reminder to everyone participating in the AFW Biggest Loser challenge, today is weigh-in day for Week 3!).

In Safety talk with Imaginif some of the topics we’ve tackled this week include Kids using phones and How to let your child grow up.

So if there’s a topic you want to join in, or if you have something you want to share, or if you just want to get to know our lively bunch of chatty women, come on in!

All Women Blogging Carnival

This weeks canrival is being hosted by Nicole at The Modern Goddess

Get your submissions in for next weeks carnival hosted by the super scrummy Fig and cherry

If you are an Aussie blogger, don’t forget to get your submissions in for this fortnights Carnival of Australia  hosted at Free business tips

Environmentally friendly cleaning

It is refreshing to see that environmental issues are getting more of the spotlight in recent times. Even more so, the changes that individuals are prepared to make in their own homes so that we have a beautiful environment for future generations to enjoy. This week I want to focus on what is going down our sinks and storm drains while we are cleaning. Ultimately, these products will end up in our waterways and can cause a multitude of problems - particularly when the majority of households are also contributing to the problem.

Without going into complex chemistry and boring you all senseless, many of our popular household cleaners contain some form of ammonia or ammonium. Any product containing ammonia (NH₃) or ammonium (NH₄+) will have a detrimental effect on water quality because it increases the nutrients available for algae and bacteria. The increased nutrient level (eutrophication) combined with natural sunlight results in really good conditions for the growth of harmful algal blooms. These blooms affect fish breeding cycles and aquatic ecosystems but also have a great impact upon our water supply for drinking. They can also make people sick merely through skin contact sustained during recreational activities, such as fishing, swimming or water skiing. Fatalities of livestock after drinking water contaminated with harmful algal blooms have been recorded. The good news however is that we all can help to improve our waterways by being mindful of what goes down our sinks.

There’s something for every budget when it comes to environmentally friendly cleaning products. The majority of these tips I have gleaned from the AFW Home Sweet Home board, from Keep Australia Beautiful or what I do in my own home. My nanna used a lot of these combinations, as does my mum - I guess they have stood the test of time well!

• The Cinderella range - I really love these products! They aren’t the cheapest cleaning products around but they do the job well, last a very long time because I use a lot less and they make the whole house smell divine. They are available in Coles and BiLo in Australia and you can order online.
• Bicarb soda and cleaning vinegar - you really can’t beat this simple combination and you can use it for so many purposes. It’s great for cleaning vanities, shower recesses and toilets and can even be used to unclog drains. The vinegar by itself is good for rinsing your washing machine, kettle, dishwasher and other appliances which get a buildup of mineral scale after use. Some people even use bicarb by itself as a carpet deodoriser and stain remover prior to vacuuming.
• Oil of cloves and vinegar - not one I was overly familiar with until recently but it can be used as an alternative to traditional mould removal products, such as Exit Mould
• Eucalyptus oil - apply with newspaper or paper towel to mirrors and it will stop them fogging up.
• Borax and lemon juice paste - providing you are not on a septic system, you can use this paste to clean your toilet.
• Boiled water - this can be an effective cleaner in itself, especially if you are wiping down surfaces that aren’t visibly dirty but may have bacterial contaminants (e.g. kitchen surfaces).

Have you got any ideas that I haven’t mentioned? I’d love to hear them.

All Women Blogging Carnival

Welcome to this weeks carnival ladies, before we jump in to all the great blog posts. March 8th is International Women’s Day.  To celebrate the difference of women and the fantastic genes that make even our kids love us, All for Women and Imaginif are featuring pics of our women readers.

No matter what you look like, we want to celebrate you on our special day - International Women’s Day. Send us a digital pic of you to feature on our sites on March 8th. Include your name or pseudonym, your age, the country you live in and a message about what you believe in as a woman. It might be a pic of just you, a pic with your girlfriends or a pic with your kids. What ever you have on file or what ever sums you up, we want the pick of the crop - women of every different shape, shade and age…women who have something to show - themselves and everything that women do.

So send us in your pictures ladies, and lets celebrate how wonderful we all are!

Tip Diva presents Top Ten Tips - A Day With No Valentine posted at Tip Diva, saying, “Hey, you. Are you going to be single and alone for Valentine’s Day? Yes? Well, you don’t have to mope around. Whether you usually like the day or think it’s some Hallmark conspiracy, a single night doesn’t have to go to waste. Here’s how to make a no-date Valentine’s Day great.”

ananga presents Have you De-cluttered Your Head Lately? posted at Ananga Sivyer’s Living by Design Blog, saying, “Some of my fellow female bloggers have been writing lately on the subject of de-cluttering. De-cluttering cupboards, de-cluttering rooms, workplaces etc. And that got me thinking about another key area that really benefits from being free from clutter. The clutter in our heads. What are we tucking away in corners and lugging around with us that we don’t need anymore?”

Tamika M. Murray presents There’s Life After the Darkness, in the Color Purple posted at PJSandAMovie.

Tali presents The Veil Fetish Pinup posted at The Pinup Shop Blog, saying, “A lot of noise has been raised in the feminist and Muslim communities over the art of Makan Emadi and the appearance of a new “misogynistic male fantasy”: Veil Fetish”

Tali presents Armand Morin’s “An Obvious Truth” - Possibly too Obvious posted at The Marketer Review, saying, “Armand Morin’s free report, “The Obvious Truth”, that accompanies his newest release, “Internet Marketing Explained”. Unabashedly simplistic seems to be the new stellar seller in information products.”

the simple nickle presents Does Your Costco Card Really Save You Money? posted at the simple nickle, saying, “is my Costco membership worth $50 dollars? Are most people’s memberships? I decided to do the math.”

GrrlScientist presents A Brief History of the Subway Tile Art at 81st & CPW (AMNH Station) posted at Living the Scientific Life, saying, “A brief history of the tile mosaic artworks that I’ve been presenting to you from the AMNH (81st/CPW) subway platforms. Includes many many pictures, and all the animals are identified, too — the first time anyone has done this.”

Health and Beauty

Save Money presents What I learned from Oprah and Dr. Oz posted at My Beauty And Fashion.

Lori Jewett presents Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing posted at Between Us Girls.

Home sweet Home

GP presents Sweets for the Sweet posted at Innside Montana-Your Home at the Range, saying, “Sweets for your sweet. After all, it’s valentine’ s day!”

:: Suzanne :: presents Washington State Caucus Day posted at :: adventures in daily living ::.

Tiffany Colter presents Writing Career Coach: A Pleasant surprise and How I got here Part 2 posted at Writing Career Coach, saying, “A pleasant surprise on how to have success beginning from the first day of this New Year!”

Lori Jewett presents Knit Therapy: Stress Relief May Just be a Stitch Away posted at Between Us Girls.

New Old-Fashioned Gal presents I Am Now a Sewing Machine Mechanic posted at Diary of a New Old-Fashioned Gal.

Parenting and Family

Madeleine Begun Kane presents Lies And Deception Limerick posted at Mad Kane’s Humor Blog.

Tiffany Colter presents Lesson Learned and How I got here posted at Writing Career Coach, saying, “This blog discusses how to have success beginning the first day of this New Year!”

Lorace presents Looking to the Future, With a Smile posted at What Not Thought: How To’s and A Lot of Randomness.

Joanne presents Adoption Life Books posted at Forever Parents, saying, “Your childs lifebook is their story. It’s their past, present and future. It’s a record of their life though words, photographs, memorbilia, artwork and more. There is no wrong way to do a lifebook. It’s really more of a concept.”

Jenn presents The Keys to Her Future posted at Mixed Metaphor.net, saying, “A fictional story about a woman who learns that her future is not as she had envisioned it, but embraces her new path.”

Marcella Chester presents Katie Couric Misses Opportunity During Clinton Interview posted at abyss2hope: A rape survivor’s zigzag journey into the open, saying, “In school girls often get labeled by resentful boys for a variety of reasons. In an interview with Hillary Clinton, Couric makes the mistake of accepting a label as rightfully earned.”

Teddy Tour presents Rose attacked by worm. Age 16 and raped by uncle. posted at Teddy Tour

Shopping and Money

Saral137 presents Free Magazines posted at Be Thrifty Like Us, saying, “Covers how to get free magazines”

Simonne presents How To Speed Up Link Building Without Spamming posted at EzMoneyOn.Net, saying, “If you try to make money from your blog, you can find some useful tips in here.”

shawna presents My secret to debt reduction success posted at One Girl’s Quest….

chica with issues presents A look at some investment strategies posted at One Snarky Chica with Issues.

Andrea J. Stenberg, The Baby Boomer Entrepreneur presents De-cluttering Your Mental Spaces posted at The Baby Boomer Entrepreneur by Andrea J. Stenberg, saying, “Worry and unfinished tasks clutter your brain and decrease your productivity.”

lenora johanson presents Finding Coupons posted at Mommy Gets PAID.

Woman Tribune presents Hair Accessories: How Much is Too Much? posted at Woman Tribune.

Carol Bentley presents How appealing are you posted at Carol Bentley.

Rebecca Suzanne Dean presents Stop Thinking. Begin Testing! posted at Rebecca Dean.

Silicon Valley Blogger presents Why Most Investors Don’t Make Money In The Stock Market posted at The Digerati Life, saying, “Thank you!”

Sorry

Today is an historic day for Australians. At 9am Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will say Sorry. A formal apology to the Stolen Generations, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who were inappropriately removed from their families and communities as children.

You can watch the apology online Reconcile

Photo spud murphy

How you can help put a stop to Japanese Whaling in the Southern ocean.

We have all seen the disturbing pictures of Japanese whaling taking place in the Southern Ocean. Just this week, the Australian customs vessel, the Oceanic Viking released the brutal pictures of an alleged mother minke whale and her calf, their bloody bodies being hauled up the slip way into the Japanese factory ship Nisshin Maru.Since the moratorium in 1986, Japan has slaughtered over 7000 minke whales in our “backyard” the Southern Ocean under the guise of “scientific research”.

But Japan isn’t alone in their barbaric slaughter of these majestic animals. Iceland and Norway are also taking 1000’s of whales each year.

The amount of whales being taken each season is on the increase. Along side the large numbers of minke whale being taken, vulnerable species, such as Fin (Balaenoptera physalus), Sei (Balaenoptera borealis) and Humpback (Megaptera novaeangliae) whales are also on the whaling shopping list.

The Japanese government says that whaling can be sustainable, one minister once calling minke whales “cockroaches of the sea”. They claim that without whaling, whale populations will grow too large and pose a risk to fish stock (these whales predominantly eat krill, not fish). However, for any whaling industry to be sustainable, more reliable population numbers would have to be known. In 1983, the International Whaling Commission estimated that there were around 700 000 Southern minke whales in existence. The current population is unknown, however it’s speculated that true numbers are much less than this.

Whales are not prolific breeders and it takes a long time for populations to recover following culling in large numbers. Depending on the species, it may take anywhere from 3 to 10 years to reach sexual maturity. Gestational periods of around 11-12 months and suckling their young for a further 6-12 months a single female may be unavailable for breeding for at least a year after giving birth.

Who is helping protect the whales in the southern ocean?

• The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society vessel Steve Irwin has been in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary putting preasure on the Japanese whalers making life and whaling very difficult for them preventing the killing of many of the whales on the Japanese quota. They have recently returned to Melbourne for refuelling and urgent repairs and hope to return to the whale sanctuary in just over a week.
• The Greenpeace vessel Esperanza has been following the Japanese whaling fleet since November. They spent 2 weeks at the end of Janurary tailing the Nisshin Maru, preventing any whales being killed, saving 100’s of whales. The Esperanza has now left the Southern Ocean and will not be returning.
• Australian Customs vessel, Oceanic Viking is in the area of the Japanese whaling fleet hoping to collect evidence of illegal activities to help build a legal case against the Japanese whaling. Considering the Japanese are illegally slaughtering whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary and in the Australian Antarctic Economic Exclusion Zone, more needs to be done by the Australian Government to uphold these laws.

What can I do to help save the whales?

Sign the petition.

Greenpeace, The Daily Telegraph and the Today show have joined forces to petition the Japanese people and politicians to pressure their government to stop all whaling. Put your name on the petition.

Letter Writing

Signing online petitions is a great start, but often direct individual messages especially snail mail can be more effective. Politicians get 1000’s of emails a day, but actual letters can be a harder to ignore. Unrelenting pressure needs to be put on the Australian Government to do more to protect the whales

Sea Shepherd have a sample letter that you can print out and snail mail to Kevin Rudd PM and another you can send to Peter Garrett, the Environment minister.

They also have advice on writing your own letters, other samples, and how contacts you can send to in Japan and other whaling countries to voice your disgust at their fake research programs.

Does Canon support shooting whales?
Canon is the number one digital camera company in the world. They support many environmental and wildlife initiatives. Their products are used by millions world wide who care deeply about whales. Send this email to let the head of canon know your disapproval of whaling and you want him to step up and put pressure on the Japanese government to stop whaling.

Greenpeace also have another email you can send to the Japanese Prime Minister and other ministers to plead they reconsider building a new factory ship that will replace the Nisshin Maru, hold 3 times as much whale and could mean Japan will be whaling for another 40 years.

Donations

There are many organisations calling for donations of not just money, but volunteer and supplies.

The Steve Irwin has a list of supplies they are in need for when they return to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary to resume their campaign against the whalers. You can post or drop in your supply donations to their Melbourne office, or send a monetary donation.

Working together, we can put a stop to Japanese whaling and hopefully whaling worldwide.

Do you have ideas for helping save the whales?

All Women Blogging Carnival

Welcome to another week and another carnival ladies.

This week we are being hosted by the lovely Kay and her furries at Moggie Madness.

Still seeking new hosts for the carnival. Contact me if you would like to put your hand up to host. It is honestly, very easy..paste some code into your blog and your done!

In other news this week. Our Biggest loser challenge is going well. The girls decided last was a warm up, so this week is the offical start, but we had quite a few girls lose weight already last week. Good on you girls!

Geek Girl Blogs

Are you a girl+geek+blogger?

Geek Girl Blogs is a fab site packed with girly geeky goodness. There are over 80 blogs listed and growing in their blog roll and combined RSS feed, showcasing some of the wonderful women in the IT industry from all over the world. The girls are also on facebook.

Calling all geeky girl bloggers in Sydney!  There are 2 events organised for this month in Sydney if you would like to go along and meet some other great liked minded girls. Catherine has all the details about when and where.

Next Page »