As always, good things have been going on around the web this week.

One of my favorites, Emily, at Remodeling This Life, has written some great posts lately. I especially enjoyed Coffee and Raindrops and her point that we all “value different things” — so important to remember. If you’ve not visited her site before, be sure to look around; her photographs are as beautiful as her writing.

The 10 Cheapest, Healthiest Foods Money Can Buy and Green Kitchen: Why Eat Local — both from Cheap Healthy Good. I am trying to ease up on my use of canned tomatoes, though, because of all the concerns about BPA.

Mother’s Day Gift Guides from GoodLife {eats}: The Edible Gardener and The Eco Mom — these look like great ideas.

Tammy at Rowdy Kittens has put together an amazing collection: The Ultimate Simple Living Guide: 95 Rockin’ Posts.

I really like Jeffrey Tang’s Earth Day post, How to Save the Earth Without Fear. He focuses on the positive results of our actions right now.

And finally, Colin at No Impact Man wrote about the importance of gratitude and encouraged people to tweet their gratitude lists each night using the hashtag #GratitudeList. I’ve done this for the last couple of evenings and it has seemed to make a difference in my outlook. I’d encourage you to read Colin’s post and if you’re on Twitter, think about joining in. Even if you don’t Tweet, consider jotting down a list of 5 things each night that you’ve felt gratitude for that day.

Happy weekend everyone. It’s rainy here, so maybe I’ll actually get some indoor cleaning done instead of playing in the garden all weekend.

We’ve had a pretty rough month around here. I’ll stifle the whine and spare you the gory details, but suffice it to say that for the last several weeks it seems like we’ve been hit with one thing after another. I’m hoping things will settle down and we’ll get to catch our breath. For now, I’m bidding February good riddance and hoping March brings brighter days.

While I’m riding out the last day of the month, here are some things I enjoyed reading around the web.

I can’t wait for warmer weather so I can start working on our square foot garden. To get some ideas going, Simple Organic wrote this week about Starting a Garden With Repurposed Materials.

Tammy at Rowdy Kittens will release her first ebook on March 1, Simply Car-Free: How to Pedal Toward Financial Freedom & a Healthier Life. If you’ve ever considered doing more biking than driving, at only $9.95, this ebook is a steal.

Jeffrey at The Art of Great Things wrote a thought-provoking post titled, A Question of Legacy.

Most of you know that I make my own laundry detergent. Nicki, at Domestic Cents, shared a homemade dishwasher detergent recipe that I can’t wait to try.

Gina Lincicum of MoneywiseMoms.com wrote a guest post for Get Rich Slowly this week about How to Save While Shopping for Children’s Clothes.

Have a great day, everyone!

We awoke to some snow this morning. The ground is covered (though not by much yet) and it’s still coming down. The predictions keep changing about how much we’ll actually get. Every school child and teacher in the area is hoping it’s just enough to cancel school on Monday.

On to the links:

◊ Chris Guillebeau who writes The Art of Non-Conformity has partnered with Charity: Water to raise money for clean water in Ethiopia. Chris provides information on how his time spent in Africa a few years ago gave him a first-hand look at the dire situation there. Chris’s goal is to “raise a minimum of $500,000 for water wells in Ethiopia over the next 18 months.” His own contributions will be significant, but he’ll need help. Visit his site to learn more.

◊ Here’s an easy and free way to do good. Visit the Do Good website and install the free browser plugin they have there. You can “turn your everyday web browsing into donations that support green initiatives and movements for positive social change.” Do Good donates 50% of their profits to these causes. I’ve installed it on my computer; it took under 1 minute to do.

◊ Check out Simple Solutions to Everyday Issues at the Nesting Place.

◊ Time Magazine has an article about How Grass-fed Cows Could Save the Planet.

◊ Parenting, Chemicals Policy and Asking the Right Question is a thought-provoking article at Healthy Child, Healthy World.