Ever since the kids had an Earth Day celebration at school this past spring, we’ve been trying to be a “greener” family. Not that I was ever deliberately wasteful, but it’s amazing how quickly small activities and products add up to be very harmful to the environment.
The kids came home with lots of ideas on how we could take better care of the earth. And they are right. And so, in small ways, we are making changes and doing our part.
For instance, I’ve purchased reusable shopping bags (I have some from Kroger and 3 very nice fabric bags that are roomy and strong…I got those on Etsy for $8 apiece) and now refuse the plastic bags at the store. And not just at the grocery or the Wal*Mart, but all stores. The checkout lady at JCPenney gave me a strange look the other day when I offered up my own bag for my purchases, but there was no need for a giant plastic shopping bag for a pair of pants, was there? Of course there wasn’t! And when I used the same bag at Bath and Body Works 15 minutes later, the checkout girl actually questioned me. Was I sure I didn’t want a bag? Why not?
I’ve been buying the environmentally friendly cleaning products. I’m not yet to the point where I’m making my own, but I’ve discovered that the “green” soaps and cleansers do just as good a job for not that much more money. And also, I make it a point not to purchase anti-bacterial hand soap and dish soap. Washing anti-bacterial products down the drains is bad bad for the water supply and doesn’t really do you any good.
We still use paper towels, but now I use 1/2 at a time. It’s amazing how much less we use that way!
We rarely use paper plates, never use plastic utensils (except for once a year at the boys’ big birthday party!) and reuse many plastic bowls (butter dishes, cool whip containers, etc…) rather than storing leftovers in plastic bags or in fancy disposable plasticware.
I’ve recently discovered that many plastic products (sandwich bags, trash bags, water bottles, etc…) are available in environmentally friendly versions, using much less plastic and often produced with recycled materials and using wind energy rather than non-renewable resources.
Oh, and the plastic water bottles? Rarely purchase them, and when I do I reuse them many many many times. But each of us has a nice Nalgene bottle that we wash and reuse and carry all around with us.
Recycling, of course, is one of the very best things you can do. Unfortunately, we don’t have a good recycling program in our area, and it’s often nearly impossible to find a place to take your recyclables. I will admit to purchasing large quantities of drinks in aluminum cans and not recycling them, but that’s about to change. Tomorrow during my weekly shopping trip I’m going to find a container large enough to hold lots and lots of cans so that it’s not such a hassle to try and find a place to take them weekly. I’m also going to make more of an effort to recycle the plastic bottles we do use and cardboard/paper…even if it means taking it to the next city.
So, what else can I do? Give me ideas. What do you do to be green?
Am I just hanging on to the blog out of a sense of duty? I mean, really. I barely ever write anything anymore, and after 4 years of near-daily blogging that seems strange. And yet, although I don’t think of my blog as often as I once did, and I now go days without checking my Bloglines account (sorry, guys), I just can’t seem to wrap my head around the idea of closing it down completely.
So, I said my goal was to post once a week. I think I’m a day late this time. It’s been a busy week but a good one…I was officially off from work all week, although I didn’t stay completely away. Sometimes it’s just not possible. Instead of going to visit my folks as originally planned (re: previously mentioned circumstances) I stayed here. I did my fair share of work and responsible things like having the oil changed in my truck and laundry and cleaning, but I also spent some quality time with my very best friend and her kids on Monday/Tuesday, and I managed three separate visits to the pool–twice with the boys and Callie and once by myself, and I took some photographs. It was a nicely balanced week, and, except for a few quick checks to Facebook and my e-mail, I barely touched the computer.
Interestingly, away from the constant daily grind of get up, go to work, come home, take care of business, go to bed, and do it all over again, I began sleeping much better. And my constantly stuffy nose and persistent cough disappeared. And I feel better. It’s not that I have a terrible horrible difficult job or anything–it’s totally the opposite. I think it’s just that, after all these years, I’m realizing that somewhere along the way I decided incorrectly about the direction I thought I wanted my life to take. The idealism of youth and the vague notions of what adult life was really like took me one way, and looking back on it I think I should have gone another.
Not that I can do anything about it now, though.
Anyway, so here, look at some photos. And I’ll do my best to come back again before a week is up!
When I was a kid, Friday nights in our house was always FYOS. That would be Fix Your Own Supper, for those without a love of acronyms 
Today (Friday) I decided that my kids are old enough to participate in FYOS. Especially since I’m feeling especially non-motivated these days.
So, after we got home I told them all about how when I was growing up we always had FYOS on Fridays, and how much fun it was and how cool it was etc… etc… etc… And then I announced that from now on every Friday would be FYOS in our house, too.
“Cool, Mom!”
“Awesome!”
“What can we have?”
Well, you can have whatever you like, as long as you fix it and clean up after yourselves.
“Awesome! Can we use the grill?”
No, no grill. But you can use the oven as long as I’m in the kitchen. Or the stove, if I’m here.
“Way cool! We’re going to fix supper!”
So, they put their heads together, and after much discussion, made a decision about what they would have for their first-ever FYOS.
They each had a bowl of Fruity Pebbles, with milk, and a banana on the side
Things That Have Happened Since I’ve Quit Talking: A Bulleted List In No Particular Order
- School FINALLY ended. This school year went on for forever! Anyway, I am now the proud parent of a 1st grader and a 3rd grader.
- Today is my 10 year wedding anniversary.
- My brother and sister-in-law found out that their baby is a girl! Katelyn (not sure on the spelling) Rose. Isn’t that cool?
- Nicholas told me the other day that I “ruined his life!”. It seems the child has a flair for the dramatic. What did I do to ruin his life, you ask? I made him put on knee and elbow pads to ride on his skateboard.
- Plans are in full swing for the boys’ annual Big Birthday Bash. The theme this year? Indiana Jones. The date? Saturday, July 18. You ARE coming, aren’t you? I want you to come!
- Drew has become a YouTube addict. Seriously. I’m glad I have the option for parental controls on the computer that the kids use, because I’ve caught him more than once on YouTube just randomly browsing videos when I thought he was in an entirely different room doing something else. Not that he’s actively searching for bad stuff (mostly he looks up motorcycle stunts and deer hunting) but it’s easy to come across accidentally.
- I won the award for Coolest Mom Ever last week when I served ice cream sundaes for supper on Saturday night. My status was elevated even more later that evening when I killed a mole in the garden with a pocketknife. My boys think I’m awesome
- Um, OK, see, really not much has happened!
- My newest goal is to write at least once a week. If you haven’t heard from me in 7 more days, remind me, ok?
- I’m going to leave you this evening with a series of photographs I took last night. I’m not one to really go all out on my photo editing, but I thought the vintage feel suited these
I might not have it in me to write just now, but I can still take a pretty good photo
Enjoy!
This weekend, in case you didn’t already know, I went to a concert. With my baby brother, my sister in law, and several of her family and friends, we saw the Kenny Chesney Sun City Concert tour in Louisville. The show consisted of Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, Montgomery Gentry, Sugarland, and, of course, Kenny Chesney himself.
It was a fantastic show. I am generally not a fan of crowds (especially those fueled by massive amounts of beer and rum), but we had great seats out of the main traffic flow and so I could sit back and observe the crowd instead of simply being annoyed by them. The music was great, every band/artist put on a unique, fun show, and I knew all the words to almost every song. Best of all? I could sing as loud as I wanted and no one could hear me
The kids stayed with my parents, Andy was at work (of course), and as I was sitting there it occurred to me that this was the first time–the very first time–in 9 years that I’ve done something adult that lasted longer than a dinner out. Seriously. Since the kids have been born, I can count on one hand the number of times that I’ve left them to go somewhere for adults-only entertainment, be it dinner out with friends or a quick trip to the mall or simply to be alone. Of course, I do leave them every day to go to work, but it’s not quite the same. This time, I was out, in the company of friends, having a fantastic time for nearly 11 hours. And I enjoyed every minute of it!
Video cameras and SLR cameras were not allowed into the stadium, and they were searching people and bags at the door, so I only took the baby camera in. While I took several nice photos of the sky and the stadium and the crowd, we were simply too far away (even though we really weren’t that far away) for decent photos of the artists. I took several short videos, too, and even though the video quality got grainier as it got darker, this one is still my favorite of the evening:
Last night the boys were entertaining themselves by throwing Nicky’s Phlat Ball up on the roof, waiting for it to pop open, and then trying to catch it when it rolled off.
They were having a fine time, and so I was not inclined to interfere. I simply sat on the deck with my book, looking up occasionally to observe the game.
They’d been playing for awhile when it occured to me that they both own Phlat Balls…one in red (Nick) and one in blue (Drew). Why were they only playing with one? Was the other lost?
“Drew? Did you lose your ball like that?”
“No!”
“Then how come you’re just playing with Nicky’s?”
“Because I’m afraid mine will get stuck in the udder if I throw it on the roof. Nick doesn’t care.”
“The udder?”
“Yes. The udder.”
“The gutter?”
“Whatever, Mom. Gutter. Udder. All the same to me!”
Hmmm…
…thank you, from the bottom of my heart.
So, I was rear-ended this morning when I was on my way to work. Fun times.
And yeah, it kinda sucks. But, I’m ok…a tiny bit sore in my neck and shoulders, but ok. And the truck, well, it’s ok. Bent up a little, scratched, but drivable and fixable. It’s in much better condition than that of the car that hit me.
And this is the saddest, most troubling part. The gentleman that rear-ended me–at about 40 miles an hour without once touching his brakes, mind you–has Alzheimer’s Disease. Or some form of dementia…the police officer used the term Alzheimer’s as a generalization. And his wife, who was with him in the car, has it too. They took the car without their families knowing…without wallets or purses or any form of ID. Without any form of licensing, registration, or proof of insurance in the car. Immediately following the collision, and for at least an hour afterwards, they couldn’t tell anyone their names.
I was so worried all morning. The elderly man was bleeding from cuts on his head and hand, and his wife was completely disoriented (well, they both were disoriented, actually…). I know I didn’t do anything wrong ( I was simply waiting to make a left turn–my brakes lights work and my blinker was on) but I felt–and still feel–so guilty that they were injured and I was not. That their car was pretty much totaled and mine is no so awful. I was worried that no one would claim them.
Fortunately someone did claim them, and is caring for them. Hopefully this will be the wake-up call they need to see how closely these folks need to be supervised.
A coworker of mine has a theory. Her theory is that I was in that spot at that time for a reason (I was later than usual for work…by the time I was hit I normally would have already clocked in). That some divine power put me, in my big truck, in a place where they could hit me while they weren’t going too fast to save them and potentially someone else in a more vulnerable vehicle in a different, more crowded place. To save the pedestrians from being hit, the school kids at the bus stops and the people on bikes.
That’s a nice theory. I like to think that I managed a good deed without even realizing I was doing it. But it’s not so easy not to think that I’m simply having a run of bad luck…that this just isn’t my year.
*sigh*
But, I’m alright. My kids weren’t with me. The couple that hit me are physically fine. My truck is fixable and their insurance will cover it. It could be worse.
Right?
