Majamas Earth

09/21/2026

FALLING IN LOVE WITH A RUTHLESS KILLER

We just spent three days watching a real-life serial killer in action, and it was torture.

When a Cicada Wasp catches her victim, she stings it, paralyzes it and drags it underground into a chamber she’s diligently prepared.

Then, she locks it inside…but it won’t be alone. Before sealing the chamber, she lays an egg on her victim. When it hatches, her larva will live off that live cicada before it spins a cocoon and spends the rest of the winter underground.

It’s a gruesome end if you’re one of those cicadas, but a fascinating tale of a bug many of us have never seen or even knew existed.

My husband and I got to watch this horror story play out in our own backyard this month when we noticed a Cicada Wasp creating her tunnel next to our patio. We were lucky(?) enough to see her catch her prey mid-flight and drag the frozen bug into her torture chamber.

For as much as I felt for that poor cicada, I decided not to mess with the natural order of things.

Like all bugs, Cicada Wasps serve a purpose. They help manage cicada populations, and they’re pollinators too.

Still, as I watched her drag her victim underground, my silent hope was that she was delivering some kind of karmic justice. Imagining that paralyzed cicada was an abusive dictator from another life was the only way I could tolerate the brutality of its fate.

I could have interferred, but...

I no longer kill bugs.

When I find a spider in my house, regardless of its size, I tuck it away into an empty basement cabinet or if weather permits, capture it and put it outside in hopes it will live out the rest of its life in green splendor.

I even turn my back on centipedes, a bug I used to kill at first sight, and let it scurry into a corner to disappear. They’re awful looking but I know they’re controlling other bug populations I like even less.

Bugs are our friends. Even mosquitoes, those annoying bloodsuckers that they are, are casual pollinators and a vital food source for wildlife. Although that doesn’t mean we can’t protect ourselves from them...I refuse to be their dinner.

My point is, if we want to have a balanced and healthy environment, we must do all we can to preserve, and protect bugs and other tiny creatures who keep it that way.

This fall, let’s celebrate the crawlers, fliers, pollinators and other bugs doing important work all around us.

Even the ones who’s parenting style could be the topic of an awesome horror movie or something you’d see on an episode of Widow’s Bay.

Bugs make The Perfect Gift for the Scariest Season

Shop Bugs & Other Earth-Friendly Favorites
www.majamas.com
www.germainecaprio.com

09/08/2026

ONLY LOVE...In Three Part Harmony

You could smell the incense floating up from the basement. To me, it smelled exotic...and a little forbidden.

To my mother, it smelled like trouble.

“Who lit incense?” she called out as soon as we walked in the door.

I could hear acoustic guitars and people singing. My brother and his friends were downstairs. I started unloading the groceries while my mother headed toward the basement.

She opened the door and called down hoping my brother would hear her. The smell of sandalwood flooded into the kitchen which was a nice change from the boy smell that usually hit me everytime that door opened-my brothers' rooms were down there.

“Who lit incense?” she asked again.

https://germainecaprio.com/only-love-in-three-part-harmony/

08/31/2026

TIME TO JUMP IN

It was barely 6am and we were sitting in my dad’s Oldsmobile, hiding from our coach. My sister and I were in the front seat, three fellow swimmers were in back.

We’d made it to school and parked by the pool entrance, but we didn’t want to go inside. It was dark, cold, and way too early to think about jumping into freezing cold water, but making morning practices was part of being on Varsity. They weren’t optional. So we hid and delayed as long as we could.

Sometimes we’d pretend to be sleeping when our coach passed the car. It never worked. He’d slam on the hood and yell at us to get inside.

Other mornings we’d drag ourselves into the locker room, then take forever to get onto the deck. Again, our coach would slam on the door, and threaten to make the workout even more tortuous if we didn’t get moving.

Inevitably, we’d have to jump in and do the workout.

This summer as I watched one story after another about record heat, fires, floods and devastating storms, I kept thinking about those high school morning workouts.

We knew what was waiting for us, but pretending to sleep and hide didn’t make the workout go away. Neither will ignoring Climate Change.

So, consider me your coach. I’m slamming on your hood, waking you up and begging you to finally get in.

I know, living more sustainably can feel overwhelming especially when we think we have to change everything all at once. But the truth is, we don’t. We just have to start.

So begin with one thing.

Swap your bottled shampoo for a bar.

Replace your dryer sheets with wool dryer balls.

Try a Swedish Dishcloth instead of reaching for another paper towel.

Maybe choose a compostable shower puff instead of a nylon one.

Once you start, you won't want to stop.

The funny thing about those morning practices was that getting into the pool was always the hardest part, but once we got in and
got over the shock, we were fine. Sometimes we’d even push ourselves harder because it felt good to know we were getting stronger.

And we always felt amazing after practice.

As your climate impact coach, I can assure you, living more sustainably works the same way. The first purchase requires some thought. The next one gets easier and before long, you’re looking for more eco-swaps you can make. And yes, you will feel amazing after every purchase.

So consider this me banging on your hood. It’s time to jump in.

It may feel uncomfortable at first, but I promise you’ll get used to it, cause sleeping through Climate Change is not an option.

Dive In, Shop Sustainably

-Germaine Caprio
www.majamas.com
www.germainecaprio.com

(Please note, photo was enhanced using AI)

08/26/2026

TWO IS BUTTER THAN ONE

My sister and I wore our matching, bright yellow raincoats everywhere, regardless of whether it was raining or not. We wore them so much, that a kid started calling us The Butter Twins, and for years, the name stuck.

We are 14 months apart, and even though she was one grade ahead of me, we shared the same classroom and teacher from the time I hit third grade straight through high school. We went to a Chicago Public School on the south side, and with only five kids in my third grade class, they combined us with the fourth graders, using the same teacher for both.

It wasn’t supposed to happen, but at the end of that school year, instead of moving the five third graders up to fourth, we skipped it altogether and went right to fifth with the fourth graders.

From that time on, my sister and I shared everything, from a bedroom to our friends.

I guess you could say we were the closest thing to twins without actually being them.

The funny thing is, we’re complete opposites, on the inside and out. In college, we worked at the same restaurant and the kitchen crew called me “the evil Jeannie” after the dark haired sister on the TV show I Dream of Jeannie…my sister was blonde.

To this day, I’m hoping the nickname was based solely on our looks and not on my actions.

Our interests are opposite too. My sister has always worked in the corporate world, and I have mostly chosen to be self-employed, but despite all our differences, we were raised by the same mom who taught us we weren’t the only ones who mattered.

We had to respect other people, other creatures and the environment we all shared.

She taught us that no action was too small, from skipping products packaged in single-use plastic to turning off the water when we washed the dishes. That’s because when enough of us make those small choices, they turn into something big.

Last week I was racing to get out of the rain, when I saw two kids in bright yellow raincoats walking to school. It brought me back to the day, decades ago, when that kid called us The Butter Twins, and I realized, maybe he did me a favor.

Because as much as we disliked the nickname, being one of the Butter Twins taught me that there’s power in being part of a pair, and even more power in being part of a group of millions.

That’s why the little choices we make matter. Like switching from shampoo in a bottle to shampoo in a bar. Reaching for the reusable Swedish Dishcloth instead of a paper towel and buying something that will last instead of something that will be thrown away.

One swap may not feel like much, but put enough of us together who are making them, and suddenly it's not so small.

What we purchase, and how we live matters…you butter believe it.


-Germaine Caprio
www.majamas.com
www.germainecaprio.com

Please note, sometimes we use AI to make the pictures we use when we post. That is the only content made by AI in any of our posts.

08/21/2026

ENVIRONMENT 101

When my parents dropped us off off at college they sang…literally.

My sister and I chose to be roommates and when we got to campus, we found out our dorm room was in a basement. The walls were cinder block and there was one window high up near the ceiling where the only thing we could see were the feet of people passing by.

Suddenly we could imagine what prison must’ve felt like.

Trying to make our cell block feel homey, my mom started to help us unpack and arrange our things, while my dad pulled out his ukulele. I realize this sounds odd, but if you knew my dad, you wouldn’t think twice. When my dad played his uke, all became right with the world.

Out of all of us, he was probably the most excited about dropping his two youngest off at a Big Ten School. The man loved football and he couldn’t wait to get to the first game.

My dad began strumming the school fight song when barely five bars in, another dad poked his head into our doorway and started singing along with him. His daughter came around the corner to join in and next thing you knew, we had a room full of new students and parents belting out tunes.

That day we all met lifelong friends. My dad and Bubba (his singing partner on that first day) became the tailgate entertainment at every game, and my mom and Bubba’s wife brought the lasagna and baked goods. My dad set us up socially, but it was my mom who set us up behind the scenes.

Thanks to her, we had all the basics we’d need to feel comfortable in our new home.

I didn’t realize it then, but my mom wasn’t just stocking our room. She was teaching us how to take care of ourselves, and the products she sent us off with became the products we would reach for on our own.

So before you send your coed off with another plastic bottle of shampoo, body wash or dish soap, pack them a few better options instead.

Like Swedish Dishcloths, bar soaps and shampoos, lotions in tins and other plastic-free basics that will make their first home away from home a little healthier and a lot less wasteful.

Think of it as their first class of the semester: Environment 101.

Oh, and be sure to learn the school fight song. It’s a proven ice breaker.

What you send them off with matters.


-Germaine Caprio
www.majamas.com
www.germainecaprio.com

08/15/2026

MAJAMAS® EARTH
THE GOOD SCISSORS

As a kid, my mom was the only person whoever cut our hair.

She did ok, but when I look back on old photos, we all seemed to have the same haircut.

Short…as in, super short…for all of us.

She did her best to keep our hair well-trimmed and even. Although sometimes it felt as if she never stopped checking her work.

“Go get my good scissors,” she’d ask someone as she stood
staring at the left side of one of our heads. “It looks as if I left a little
bit by that ear and I need to even it out.”

Her good scissors were the same ones she used to cut fabric
and no one else in the house was allowed to touch them, unless, of course, we were told to go get them.

“Oh and hold them the way I showed you…by the top and
pointing down. And don’t run!” she’d add.

It’s funny but scissors were the kind of thing we counted on
to last. Sure, they may have needed sharpening every once in a while, but I think my mom owned the same pair of good scissors for more than twenty years.

Today, we’ve grown so accustomed to throwing things away that when something breaks, wears out or stops working, replacing it seems easier than fixing it.

Maybe it’s time to start thinking the way my mom did about her good scissors?

Maybe it’s time to start buying things worth keeping and choosing products that can be reused again and again?

And maybe we should start thinking about where all the stuff we
purchase will go at the end of its use, before we even bring it home.

Can it be composted or truly recycled? Is it packaged in glass, plain paper or tin instead of plastic? Or will it end up in a landfill rotting
away long after we’re gone?

We may not be able to eliminate everything we throw away, but we can get a lot better at choosing what we bring home in the first place.

Buy less, choose better and keep it longer…kinda like what
I wish my mom had done with our hair.

Shop Consciously.

-Germaine Caprio
www.majamas.com
www.germainecaprio.com

Storytelling for sustainability

08/12/2026

THE BEST SOUND OF SUMMER
My backyard is loud this time of year. That’s because it’s filled with Katydids…bugs that look like big grasshoppers and sound a lot like frogs.

Their singing is a sign that summer is ending, which makes me sad, and yet, it’s one of my favorite things about the season. Every night around dusk, they take to the tree tops and call out to each other. When they rub their wings together, the chorus can get so loud, we have to yell just to hear each other...
..and I absolutely love it.

Their music will continue thru the fall but just like summer, their time is short.

I’ve become a big fan of bugs and I no longer look at them as a threat. Instead I look at them as part of an ecosystem worth protecting. That’s because our survival depends on their survival.
Which is why the products we bring into our home matters.
The single-use plastic we purchase, the chemicals we wash down our drains, all the stuff we toss away doesn’t just disappear when we’re done with it.

That's because everything we dispose of eventually makes its way back into the same environment the Katydids and the rest of us call home.

It’s an overwhelming thought, I know, but it’s also an opportunity, because we can choose to make a difference every time we shop.
Opting for products that are plastic-free, reusable, responsibly made and gentler on the planet is one way we can all protect the smallest, and sometimes the loudest things living amongst us.

Let's keep the Katydids humming
SHOP SUSTAINABLY
-Germaine Caprio
www.majamas.com
www.germainecaprio.com

08/06/2026

My cat just gave me the side eye. He has a habit of making me feel intrusive and I find myself over compensating just to please him.

Sometimes grief can make us do funny things.

Heartbroken after our Golden Retriever died, and thinking our ten year old orange tabby was lonely, we decided to adopt another cat to keep him company. It had only been one month after losing our dog.

I’ve never had a cat this beautiful before. The shelter described him as a Maine Coone, but he’s not even close. Sure, he has the ears and the long soft hair, but he looks as if someone accidentally washed him on hot, shrinking him to less than half the size of the real thing.

I found him sitting on my husband’s chair in the living room, completely splayed out like a furry throw pillow. So I decided to give him some attention. When I got within a foot, one of his eyes opened. When I reached to pet him, he looked at me as if to say, “Excuse me, but I just took a bath. Are your hands even clean?”

I ignored his look and touched him anyway. He seemed ready to pounce, but I wanted him to understand that petting is a love language and he needs to trust us. His demeanor softened after I gave him a few scratches under his chin. He is slowly coming around and now none of us can imagine life without him, except for maybe our orange tabby.

I love him, but sometimes I wonder if we acted impulsively. We were still raw from losing our sweet dog and probably not in the best place emotionally.

Sometimes I think the same triggers are at play when we shop. Maybe we’re not buying things at all. Maybe we’re only shopping because we need a distraction or we’re looking for some comfort or emotional support in that purchase. Maybe we shop just to fill a space that opened inside us when something else disappeared.

Remember, the best purchases aren’t the ones we make impulsively or emotionally. They’re the ones we choose with intention.

That’s why every product at Majamas Earth has to earn its place by solving a problem, replacing something wasteful and becoming something you’ll reach for again and again…and be proud to gift to others.

So if you’re going to let something manipulate your emotions, let it be a rescue pet.

Your beauty and home products shouldn't have that kind of power.

-Germaine Caprio
www.majamas.com
www.germainecaprio.com

08/04/2026

STATUE MAKER

There were bodies in strange positions all over our front
lawn. Arms sticking out, legs curled up and heads frozen in place while only the eyes moved. Anyone casually driving by must have wondered if they had been tossed out of a plane.

We were playing Statue Maker. A game that worked best with a
group of five or more. The Statue Maker would spin a kid around in circles and let go of their hands without warning. The kid who went flying had to freeze in the position they fell into, until the Statue Maker showed off their work to the “customer”.

Before the customer entered the imaginary shop, each statue
would secretly whisper what they were supposed to be so the Statue Maker could invent a story about them.

Then came the best part. Every statue had an invisible
on/off switch. One tap and they'd spring to life. Some turned into barking dogs, others turned into butlers serving dinner or doing whatever goofy thing they could think of to convince the customer to buy them. Half the fun was discovering that what looked like a kid with a broken arm on the lawn was actually a poodle.

Looking back, we were making up stories about things that weren’t
what they appeared to be, and that’s exactly what I thought when I was reading about Greenwashing the other day.

Greenwashing is when companies come up with convincing
stories to hide the negative impacts their products have on people and the environment. They use labels like “natural”, “eco-friendly”, or “green” in their marketing when many simply aren’t.

That's why I refuse to sell a product until I've researched
the company behind it and tested it myself. If it doesn't meet my standards for quality, ethics and environmental impact, it doesn't make it onto our site.

I guess in a way, I’m still playing Statue Maker, but I
don’t have to throw anyone around or make up any stories about.

That’s because the best products don't need clever stories,
and you shouldn't have to figure out which ones are true. I curate everything for you, so you can shop sustainably with confidence…and without a barking dog or butler around to distract you.

Shop Better, Shop Now
www.majamas.com
www.germainecaprio.com

07/16/2026

THE MORNING CREW
The sun wasn’t even up when the stacks of papers were dumped
on our driveway. Before we hit our route, we had to separate the sections, put them in order, stuff them with the ads and roll them with rubberbands that snapped and cut our hands. To this day, I’m still afraid of those things.
Once the prep was done, we’d load the papers into a big,
yellow metal cart that we pushed down the middle of the street. My sister took one side of the block, I took the other, and our dog Leo bounded back and forth between us. He was the reason my mom let us take over my brother’s route. Leo was a mutt with just enough Shepard in him to make him look scary. God, I loved that dog.
There was something magical about our neighborhood before
sunrise. The big oaks and elms towered over us and rarely if ever, did we see any cars. The only sound was the wheel on the front of the cart that would give a little squeak each time we pushed it.
We had one of the bigger routes and it usually took over two
hours to finish. We started at 5:00 and our goal was to be done by 7:00 which occasionally happened. It was a lot for two sixth graders, but the money was good so we kept it till we got to high school.
Besides waking up at 5am every morning, the worst part of delivering papers was the ink. Our hands, and our clothes were permanently stained. I remember seeing the guys who dropped our papers off on the odd mornings we’d be outside before they arrived. They always wore one of those full aprons that covered their coats and clothes.
An Apron is probably one of the most underrated accessories
a person can own. I'm talking about a sturdy, full-coverage, cotton apron with pockets for a dish towel...or maybe a bunch of rubber bands.
A good apron protects your clothing from spills, splashes and
if you still get it, newspaper ink…and a sturdy, cotton one will hold up through hundreds of washes.
I'm kind of sad newspaper routes have mostly disappeared, but cooking, gardening and home projects haven't. We can't protect you from rubber bands that snap your fingers, but we can protect your clothes from just about everything else.
Besides, everyone deserves a good bodyguard. Ours was Leo. Yours comes with pockets.
Germaine Caprio
www.majamas.com
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