E-cycling

Best buy now accepts most electronics to recycle for free.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?type=category&id=pcmcat149900050025

Green Stuff

Earth911 is a great resource for tips on recycling and local listings for stuff that isn't so easy to recycle like electronics, batteries and cd's.

Speaking of CD's, here is a site that recycles cd's at no charge, you just ship them.

Did you know that you can drop off your old worn out athletic shoes and Nike uses the parts to make different parts of sport surfaces and playgrounds?

Check out this article from Harvard Medical School.  Most drugs are safe and effective much past their expiration date.  Ok I suppose this is a bit of a stretch to be a "green" article, but it would keep some stuff out of the trash and save you some green!

And if you do have to dispose of any medications, Don't Flush Them!!!

Do you use reusable shopping bags and recycle plastic bags that you do end up with?

I'm Dreaming of a new kitchen

Of course it's just dreaming at this stage because we don't even have the money to replace our dishwasher that's about to die and our appliances that were bought second hand that are probably 20 years old. I'm not even exaggerating!

I saw this show, Carter Can, on HGTV and this is so what I want the inspiration for my kitchen to be. Maybe minus the upper shelving and cabinets instead. It's eco friendly too with bamboo floors and Squak Mountain stone counter tops. This is what the Squak Mountain stone says on their website, "Squak Mountain Stone, Noun 1. A Fibrous-cement material comprised of recycled paper, recycled glass, coal fly-ash and Portland cement. Material is hand-cast into “slabs” as an alternative to natural or quarried stone. Resembles soapstone or limestones." It sure is purdy!

Please pry my fingers off the keyboard!!!

I'm blog surfing tonight. The whole dyson contest thing caused me to find all kinds of fun blogs that I had never seen before. Here's a few worth mentioning...

Mrs. Flinger- Hilarious post about bumbo sets recall. Don't click if you are offended by the "f-bomb" She has a really fitting acronym for it!

5minutesformom - She has a link with a bunch of contests. Woo hoo... gotta love contests

This is one of my favorites. I don't crochet anymore but their posts make me fall out of my chair! What would possess someone to make this. And even worse WEAR it!

I didn't realize you could actually make money blogging. I don't think I want to turn my little nook on the net into an advertisement though. I'm leaning towards the anti-consumerism "movement." LOL, at least until hubby has a new job. :o) Even then though I'll still be drawn to thrift stores and consignment stores. If I need new furniture I'm sure I'll be shopping antique stores. Buying used/reusing/recycling is much better for the environment than buying new. Plus... they don't make things like they used to!

Paranoid mama

*disclaimer: The purpose of this post is really not to persuade or really even inform. Morso, it's a documentation of a little bit of self discovery I've done over my "weekend." Though if interested I've included some links for those interested to peruse. If I enlighten someone in the process even better. :o)

I read this blog and surfing that blog led me to this. Gah, part of me wishes I'd never turned on my computer yesterday. I spent my entire afternoon surfing sites about recycling and learned that over the course of our lifetime each of us will create 600 times our adult weight, or about 90,000 in garbage. I also learned that every little bit of plastic ever made still exists and even if you recycle it, it can only be recycled down (a plastic bottle cannot be recycled into another plastic bottle.) I learned a lot of other stuff too. One thing is for sure I don't intend on cooking food in the microwave in plastic anymore!

Though I don't intend on going to the extremes that this mom goes to I couldn't help but realize the amount of plastic that my hands touched throughout the day yesterday and today and I feel guilty. I consider myself a recycling Nazi. I use both sides and every part of a piece of paper before it goes in the recycle bin. I cringe when I have to use a paper plate or plastic fork at a picnic. I buy mostly used clothing for myself and the kids. I LOVE Freecycle, garage sales, and Goodwill. I use cloth diapers. Not only because we struggle financially but because it's the RIGHT thing to do to keep crap out of the landfills.

Nothing goes in the garbage if it can be recycled so I do my part. But ahhhhh the plastic I consume. I suppose now it will be easier for me to kick my Mt. Dew habit while I'm at work. :o) All I'll have to do is think of the plastic that I can save by drinking water rather than the soda and I'll probably skip the soda more often. I'm planning on doing more to cut down my consumption of plastics a little more by using tote bags at the grocery store. Hey, it's easier to carry groceries in a tote bag anyway. I don't know how many times a plastic bag has ripped and my wares fallen to the pavement. And this bag is a super cool idea and these bags are really cute and super handy. I love tote bags anyway! And who cares if I get a few strange looks. Maybe I'll start a new trend in my town. Each wave starts with a little ripple somewhere right?

I think I'm teetering on the edge of being a little OCD when it comes to recycling. My mind is in a constant state of chatter anyway. LOL, is that normal? I guess I've always been that way. Now I constantly chastise myself for forgetting to turn off a light or using a disposable diaper. Aaaaaah make it stop!

Freecycle finds

I got a huge barbie dollhouse for when Jayden gets older. It is almost as high as my waist. It's pretty old but in good condition. And if she never uses it no big deal, it was free! It will live in the basement until she's old enough for it.

I also got a booster chair for Trevor. We already have one that is also a portable high chair. I thought it might be handy to keep one in the car. Soon Trevor will have to move out of the high chair and into a booster because Jayden will be needing the high chair.

I also got a bike for my brother, it just needs the tires aired up and a new chain. And a bag of clothes that I'm going to Re-freecycle. They were way bigger than I thought they would be and kinda yucky.



Yeah for freecycle! Someone posted their entire set of kitchen appliances about 10 years old. Way newer than the crap we have but we didn't get those. :o( I wasn't quick enough on the reply I suppose.

Getting my hands dirty

Today after all the running I had done I checked email to find someone on freecycle offering some flowers. Heck yeah! So I called Brian to see if he wanted to help me plant some flowers. So he went along and did the hard work for me. :o)

This nice lady shared with me:

Hostas - planted around a tree in the back yard
Blue Bells - planted on the sunny corner of the garage. One of the few places we have decent amount of sun.
Day lillies - not sure what variety but she said they are yellow. I got a bunch of them. They were planted on the backside of the garage. I'll have to move them later to a better spot once gutters are up.
Lillies of the Valley - By the stairs to the deck on the East side
Unknown plant (flowering?) - Planted next to the Lillies of the Valley

These were all big plants. We had a laundry basket and a box FULL. Have I ever said how much I love freecycle?

My house...

... will very soon be breathing a big HUGE sigh of relief! This weekend our local freecycle group is having what is called a "free for all." Imagine community wide garagesale. Then imagine everything is FREE. That is a free for all. :o) Fun times.

So being that we have WAY WAY WAY too much stuff in this house, and adding more to it everyday with the birth of our daughter, I am going on a massive decluttering fest. My goal is to fill our van with stuff by Saturday. And I plan to be VERY selective in the stuff that I bring home. The only things I'm searching for is a few kitchen items. Clothes that will fit my kiddos at sometime in the fairly near future. And maybe some books and girly type toys for Jayden. That's IT!!!!

Oh, and sigh of relief #2 is that Brian is moving into his own place in the next few weeks. So even more stuff will be out of our house. He's hoping to find some stuff to outfit his new place.

I guess #3 would be that we are finally getting gutters put on our house after being gutterless since we moved in. Long story... when they did the roof they had to take off the gutters because they were lead and we have been way to broke to do anything about it. Man, gutters are expensive! I had no idea it was going to be this much. We're looking at probably $800 - $1000!!! On the bright side hopefully it will limit the flooding in our basement and now I'll be able to finally plant flowers in the beds around out house. I planted some last spring and I think they all drowned. :o(

freecycle and misc ramblings

First off... here's the newest link to pictures if you don't make it all the way through my ramblings. Easter pictures and some other pics taken at grandma's
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=92m1eg5.eqbpra1&x=1&y=-otbwcy

It's been somewhat of a crazy week. My brother moved in on Tuesday and had been crashing on our couch. Today we went to this awesome freecycle event and really cashed in. FreeCycle is the greatest. We got a ton of stuff for free to outfit my brothers room in the basement. We got a desk, couch, bunch of clothes, a ton of books for Trevor in perfect condition, a few toys. Literally a truck load of stuff. Brian even got a bike that's old but in excellent shape.

I love love love freecycle. The recycling nut that I am it was wonderful to see all of the stuff finding new homes that might have ended up in the garbage or who knows where. If anyone is interested in checking out the organization in their neck of the woods the website address is www.freecycle.org. Through exchanges I've given away baby food jars that would have just been recycled, baby stuff, etc. We've gotten a computer monitor, 5 disc DVD player, a ton of baby toys and clothes, etc. We check our email all day long just to see if anything new is coming through.

Anyways... Trevor has 2 teeth popping up and man is he crabby, and only wants his mama it seems. This makes for a very tired mama that doesn't get anything done.

He enjoyed being out today too... it really was a beautiful day. I carried him around in his baby carrier that I got today. It was nice not having to mess with the stroller. He liked being carried; he kicked his feet, and "chatted" with people, and feel asleep nestled in the carrier after awhile.
Other news on the "home front..." Trevor is crawling now and man is he getting quick. We can't turn our back on him for a second. He really seems to enjoy having his uncle Brian around.
Anyways... mama duty calls... Trevor just woke up from his nap and I'm sure he will want to be held for the rest of the night, he's been really clingy/crabby the last few days.