A few great reads we've seen on other blogs this week:

These DIY "treasure stones" look like the perfect activity for a hot summer day (or maybe a cold winter one) and would be great for a dinosaur party activity!

I love the thoughtfulness of this Craftzine post about making "magic wands." I'm thinking we're going to have to make some someday soon.

We try hard not to use food as a "treat" but in our small town it's sometimes hard to think of something else that we could do to reward ourselves. Do you have any ideas for non-food, family rewards? Mary at A Merry Life has some thoughts on the subject.

Tara at The Organic Sister wrote an interesting article about shifting her thinking in honoring her eleven-year-old's needs and getting him a cell phone. Don't judge until you read.

Grab a cuppa something relaxing to drink and sit with us to enjoy some of our favorite reads this week:

Learning the value of coins bingo: We spent some time last week helping Z count her money and understand the values of the different coins. This looks like a fun game to reinforce what we talked about. Maybe we'll even let her keep he coins if she gets bingo.

Make an accurate home inventory: Have you made a home inventory? Stored it offsite? We did this a while back but need to update it. This article has some great tips on getting it right and accurate so you get the most accurate reflection of your belongings.

Stop Shopping Momentum: This happens to me all the time! Once I get going, I start thinking of everything else I "need" - I'm going to try employing some of these techniques.

Making Garden stones from leaves: Gardenmama posted a lovely tutorial for making garden stones from leaves. I might have to try growing some rhubarb just to make these beauties!

Playmobil instruction database: I bought a couple of sets of Playmobil toys at a garage sale a few weekend ago. We couldn't figure out how to put one of them together so I went Googling and found a database that lists hundreds of Playmobil sets and shows the box and the pieces included. Using the pictures there was the only way we got our set put together properly.

More links in a week!

Welcome to the 155th edition of the weekly Carnival of the Green, a collection of environmentally-focused blog posts which moves from one blog to the next each Monday and is managed by TreeHugger.

Last week's Carnival of the Green was hosted by Fake Plastic Fish. Next week's will be hosted by the blog at Healthy Child, Healthy World.

Take a peek at the broad range of environmental topics covered by this week's submissions.

Economics and Investing

Kristjan presents Obama's Energy Plan - Stocks You Should Own posted at The Green Investing Blog.

Ben Connor Barrie writes on Building a Sustainable Economy at Sustainable Design Update.

Green Law and Culture

Christopher Gavigan at Healthy Child Healthy World writes about the sorry state of chemical regulations in consumer products in the U.S., the need for change, and two reasons for its inevitability.

Jennifer Lance at Green Family Values tells us about a Baby Wearing Motrin ad which angered parent groups with an allegedly insensitive commercial about baby wearing, and argues that the controversy won’t slow the revival of this ancient practice.

Reuse and Recycling

Learn how to turn rice bags into shopping tote bags at Condo Blues, and Mama Bear deflates an argument against using reusable shopping bags on I've Got a Little Space to Fill.

Joe reports on a shoe recycling program that has recycled more than 21 million pairs of shoes since 1990.

After months of campaigning to urge Brita to take back and recycle used Brita filters, the Take Back The Filter group is thrilled to announce the details of Brita's new take-back recycling program which begins in January. Start saving your filters!

Heather Levin presents How To Recycle Gray Water over at The Greenest Dollar.

Sally Kneidel at Veggie Revolution was intrigued to learn about the sex lives of turkeys on corporate poultry farms. Get the inside scoop from author and "turkey inseminator" Jim Mason. It's not quite a natural act.

Green Frugality

Jeremy Zongker presents 76 Ways to Save Money While Saving the Environment posted at Destroy Debt.

David G. Mitchell writes about a former neighbor who took her love of frugality all the way to her nieghbors' trash cans in Martha’s in the Trash Again at the Saving Advice blog.

Green (And Not So Green) Products

Chris Baskind takes a close look at the GreenWashBall, which claims it can eliminate laundry detergentand save consumers money. Is it an eco-revolution - or another case of greenwashing?

We (the same folks behind The Tranquil Parent) report on some surprising sources of the estrogen-disrupting chemical Bisphenol-A over on TTP's sister site, Z Recommends.

Sebastian reports on Miles Automotive's new XS500 Electric Sedan on Zoomi Life. "Want a normal-looking car that’s all-electric and can actually do highway speeds and longer ranges?" he writes. "Maybe you also want it to cost less than $35,000 and seat five? Then keep an eye on Miles Automotive's newly announced XS500 electric sedan, due out sometime in 2009."

Gardenaut published its holiday gift guide, a selection of recommended gardening aids as well as sustainable toys for future gardeners.