Be good to your party guests on diets, and serve them a tasty patriotic yogurt parfait.

No food coloring or added sugar required. After all, blueberries and strawberries are naturals for July 4, but not everyone wants to eat them on top of a flag cake!

Shop for fresh berries at your local farmer’s market. Image by Rhett Maxwell.

Patriotic Parfaits

Ingredients:

• Vanilla or plain nonfat yogurt
• Granola
• Blueberries
• Strawberries

Make your healthy patriotic parfait by layering the ingredients in a clear glass. Juice cups are perfect for this.

For example, start with granola, and then add yogurt, blueberries, more yogurt, strawberries, and finish with a sprinkle of granola on top. If you’re feeling naughty, substitute white chocolate chips for the granola!

Eek. We’ll get to the leaded truth in a minute, but first, let me explain where all this is coming from.

Independent testing site ConsumerLab.com recently tested bottled green teas and some loose green tea leaves, as well as green tea bags.

And guess what?

The some bottled green teas are pretty much just sugar water with few antioxidants, says The New York Times in their article on the findings from ConsumerLab.com.

Snapple Green Tea and Honest Tea’s Green Tea with Honey didn’t do so well in the antioxidant department. Learn more about the test results at The New York Times.

Also, while green tea in bags from Lipton and Bigelow contained a good number of antioxidants, the tea leaves also contained lead! The lead in the tea leaves may be the result of industrial pollution in China, reports The New York Times in their interview with Dr. Tod Cooperman, president of ConsumerLab.com.

While most of the lead stays in the leaves instead of your cup, it would be a very bad idea indeed to eat the tea leaves contained in those bags! According to the testing, the Lipton and Bigelow green tea bags offer up 1.25 to 2.5 micrograms of lead per serving. Is that worth the savings over buying loose green tea from a source like Teavana?

Teavana’s Leaves are Lead Free

The better option, according to the testing, is to go with Teavana’s loose green tea. Those tea leaves come from Japan, and testers found no measurable lead in them. What they did find was many antioxidants — you know those healthy things that are supposed to be in the bottled green tea!

Plus, who needs all those bottles anyhow?

(image via flickr Charles Williams)

A wicker box, however…

This is my green-eyed Oscar, or Oscar-lot as I sometimes refer to him.

Just what does this cat bed do for me?

It’s parked on my desk. Whenever I want to move along a cat behind that’s planted in front of my screen, I simply spray some catnip on the cloth that I keep in the bed. That works well for Choco, who loves catnip and adores sitting in front of my computer.

The problem is that I only have one of these, and Oscar throws Choco out of it. In fact, Choco was resting happily in the box when I started this post, and now he’s planted himself in front of my screen while Oscar sleeps in the box.

The box was given to me with gifts inside, and I have no idea where it was purchased. I need to acquire another one like it though!

Where does your cat sleep? Have you repurposed anything to be used as a cat bed?

It occurred to me that such sidewalk art would be a great alternative to a paper Mother’s Day card.

Yes, Mother’s Day is May 12!

So, Dads and kids old enough to read this, hope for no rain, and get your hands on some chalk!

The neighbors will know how much mom is loved.

What other ideas do you have for nontraditional Mother’s Day gifts?

The French really know how to make things beautiful, don’t they? I won’t even begin to describe the airport bathrooms! Anyhow, besides this spectacular living wall, I also spied some green rooftops.

This Paris green rooftop photo was snapped from the top of the Arc de Triomphe. Let it never be said I don’t exercise. That was a tough climb up those nearly 300 stairs, but the view was worth it, even in the ever-present April drizzle.

There were other great, multi-level green rooftops as well, but the lighting was a bit of a challenge, and those images are grainy. However, I will leave you with the Eiffel Tower on a grey day.

And PS, it did rain on each of my five days in Paris, but that was just all the more excuse for a noisette!

I try to minimize my usage of paper towels, and only buy recycled. This week, I wanted to opt out of tree-made towels altogether, so I tried my first treeless paper towels from ology by Walgreens.

And I love them. Not only are they softer than most recycled paper towels, but they are also very absorbent.

So, if they aren’t made of trees, then what’s inside? Bamboo and sugarcane husk! The sugarcane husk would have been otherwise disposed of, and the bamboo is very renewable (ie, much easier to replace than a tree).

What a lovely idea. I must say, I didn’t have high hopes for these treeless paper towels, but I found them to be better than regular paper towels. Plus, the ology paper towels are whitened with a non-chlorine based bleach. However, they are made in China.

I paid less than $4 for a two-pack of these treeless paper towels at Walgreens.

Have you tried ology paper towels?

Of course, this isn’t meant to discourage anyone from taking their own bags to the store. The post is purely for entertainment purposes. Taking bags is worth it!

The funniest thing any cashier has said to me:

“You’re my first bag lady of the day!”

The biggest mess I made:

Machine washed a whole bulb of garlic inside one of my bags.

Most common misunderstanding with cashiers:

“Are you buying these?”

Most common question from cashiers:

“Do you want your meat in one of these too?” (well, yeah.)

Most annoying thing any cashier has said:

“It sure takes a lot more time to put stuff in these bags.” (no one was in line behind me.)

Question from puzzled cashier:

“So, you must really hate plastic, right?”

Most embarrassing thing a store manager said loudly:

“These bags look like lingerie!” (he was referring to my Chico bags.)

Please share some of your adventures with reusable bags.

(image via flickr Kanu Hawaii)

Overall, I haven’t loved the alpaca dryer balls compared to the wool dryer balls. The alpaca balls seem to unravel more quickly, and they leave alpaca fuzz on clothing. Maybe I’m doing something wrong, or maybe the lady who made them messed up, or perhaps the alpacas were just having a down day.

One thing I’ve noticed is that my dog not only loves alpaca dryer balls, but she has an elaborately crafty way of stealing them. In fact, it’s so crafty, I don’t really know how she’s doing it.

Stealth

I know that cats are quiet, but how is it that my 60-pound dog is taking these balls out of the dryer without me noticing it?

Maybe balls are getting caught in clothing and falling to the floor without me noticing. I only leave the door open while I’m removing clothing, and I store the balls in the dryer. Sigh. It’s just one of those things. I open the dryer door, she comes running. I block her. I open the freezer door, she comes running (hoping to grab some ice). I block her. Yeah, working on her training.

So, how does it taste, doggie?

Anyhow, this photo depicts the aftermath. Poor deceased alpaca dryer ball. Usually, I take the stolen balls away in time. Oh, and my dog actually eats alpaca fuzz, hair, or whatever the correct name for it. She eats it. Weird dog.

Questions for you:

Does your dog steal dryer balls? Do you like wool or alpaca dryer balls better?

I think you know my response.

To get you in the Hollywood spirit, ASPCA has named 10 of its adoptable dogs and cats after this year’s nominees!

Celebrate the ‘Pawcademy Awards’

Beginning this Friday, February 22 through Sunday, February 24, adopters who take home one of the special pet nominees will receive a free gift. On Monday, the adoption fee will be discounted by half for any adoptables whose namesake actually took home an award the night before.

Here are the special pets waiting for you:

Bradley Cooper as Pat in Silver Linings Playbook (f.k.a. Spike), a dashing and charming 2-year-old pit bull mix who is looking for someone to love him for who he is.

Robert De Niro as Pat, Sr. in Silver Linings Playbook (f.k.a. Johnny), this 4-year-old may look rough around the edges, but he’s a real sweetie with a big heart.

Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean in Les Miserables (f.k.a. Tori), didn’t get the best start in life, but is ready to move on from his rough beginnings and know the meaning of family.

Jessica Chastain as Maya in Zero Dark Thirty (f.k.a. Julie), this 1-year-old beauty knows what she wants, and will stop at nothing to get it. She is extremely intelligent and has a real go-getter attitude.

Jennifer Lawrence as Tiffany in Silver Linings Playbook (f.k.a. Lady), at 8 years old, Lady has been through some serious tragedies and has come out the other side as a stronger woman. She can be a great dancer for some treats, and will love you forever if given the chance.

Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln in Lincoln (f.k.a. Engert), this 3-year-old cat is sensitive, and stays true to himself despite tough circumstances. He is selective with who he lets in to his inner circle, but is devoted to those he chooses to confide in.

Anne Hathaway as Fantine in Les Miserables (f.k.a. Snowy), this 6-year-old domestic shorthair plays hard to get, but once she trusts you, she can be an amazing companion. Her complexion is unmatched, and those big eyes are impossible to resist.

Pi (f.k.a. Clementine), only 1 year old, this orange-striped stunner can sometimes be mistaken for a tiger! She is very active and lives to explore her world. She can be a bit rough when she plays, but when given interesting toys this wild cat will pounce on strings all day.

Argo (f.k.a. Bart), this 5-year-old is the cat you want in your corner if you are in a pinch. This cat may seem unassuming, but when given the opportunity, he can really shine.

Quvenzhane Wallis as Hushpuppy in Beasts of the Southern Wild (f.k.a. Belle) is wise beyond her 10 months of age. Don’t let her size fool you, this brave little girl is fearless and is not afraid to speak her mind.

Have you found your next best friend and star?