On Monday, John McCain visited Pennsylvania, where he attended a meeting with small-business owners to discuss jobs and the economy. While his remarks on energy earned plenty of press coverage, his comments on strengthening small businesses, and thereby promoting future economic growth, were less noted. As such, I wanted to use this post to highlight some key aspects of John McCain’s plan to help them.

If you're staycationing this summer, you can take a vicarious road trip by following Mary Logan Barmeyer -- National Geographic Green Guide research specialist -- and her cousin, Trish Harris via their blog, Two Green Girls on the Road.

It's been a while since I've done written about the refashionistas, those creative, frugal fashion crafters who take older, unworn clothes and thrift-store finds, cut, paint, sew, style, and design great new functional items from them.  A gold-mine of ideas for used jeans can be found at WiseBread's post: Twenty-five Things to Do With Old Jeans by Myscha Theriault. Let's examine some of her ideas:

If we are allowed just one tomato this year, let it be an heirloom.

Frugal Living: Watch less, live more. Marc and Angel Hack Life asked, Just what would we do if we turned off the television? Just click this post's title for their loooong list.

The Clif Bar 2 Mile Challenge is back! The main idea of the challenge is to make all trips under 2 miles by bike, but this year's message is simpler and easier: Bike Once a Week to Fight Climate Change. Still don't have a bike yet? The 2 Mile Challenge site features a Bike Builder, which lets you, you know, build your own bike -- then sends you a gear list and info on where to get the stuff.