“We like our bike.
It is made for three.
Our Mike sits up in back, you see.
We like our Mike and this is why:
Mike does all the work when the hills get high.”
- Dr Seuss

Image: Sanyo Eneloop

Most trips we take are less than 3 miles from our home. With our cities and streets becoming more bike-friendly, and bikes becoming more pedal-friendly, you may want to give bikes another look. While they may not include Dr. Seuss’ “Mike”, the new wave of electric bikes (ebikes) includes some impressive battery power.

At the Consumer Electronic show last week, Sanyo unveiled their new Eneloop Electric Bike which looks like your typical bike, but will take over for the hard stuff (or if you just aren’t in the mood to pedal) . With the battery neatly tucked away and weighing only a few pounds, you can ride the Sanyo as you would any other bike whether you’re in the city or the suburbs. And when the going gets tough, the battery gets going.

…read more of Not in the Mood to Pedal? That’s OK here

You don’t have to cover your furniture in plastic or ban berries from your home. Life gets messy and clothes, furniture and carpets get stained. If you have a few of the key ingredients, such as baking soda, salt and vinegar in your cupboard, you can prevent a lot of those stains from sticking.

Commercial stain removers can be helpful, but there is no single product on the market that fights all of your stains.  And many contain harsh chemical solvents with toxic ingredients that you wouldn’t want on your clothes and skin.  So why not give your grandma’s tried-and-true solutions a try?  The best first line of defense is water (cold water is usually the safest).  And for those tougher stains, the table below offers solutions for 14 of the most common stains.

Solutions for Specific Stains:

Table from Green Cleaning for Dummies, by Elizabeth B. Goldsmith PhD, Betsy Sheldon. Copyright © 2008 by Wiley Publishing Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana.

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