Confessions

So, you know I have been trying to go "green". I haven't made any great strides in that area in months. The reason? It's too tiring. How lame is that?

An explanation for those of you sitting out there, scratching your heads and saying, "How can it be tiring to take care of the environment? It's the most natural thing!" Yes, yes it is. But, for a perfectionist as myself, it's tiring. We are cloth-diapering, recycling more, yada yada yada -- but there is always MORE I could be doing. Every time I use a paper napkin (we are still working through that stash -- but I am using cloth after they are gone!!), I cringe. Every time I drive a quarter mile to the grocery store b/c it's too damn hot to walk there, I cringe. Same goes for every time I get takeout in a Styrofoam box or toss my Starbucks cup in the trash instead of recycling bin. It's like Pandora's Box - once you start thinking about the environment and make a few changes, you realize how much more you could be doing. And it's tiring.

So I'm confessing to you all -- I have been slacking off with this. I'm hanging my head in shame. Because, logically I know that even if I'm not "perfect" with being green, at least I am doing something and thinking about it. And the more I incorporate all these little things into my life, the more naturally it will come, and the more things I will do. This isn't a quick project that I can cross off my to-do list. This is a lifelong goal that will constantly be improving. And while that is hard to swallow for someone who likes to feel a sense of accomplishment, it's a good learning lesson and very humbling at the same time.

So without further ado -- here are my Green Goals for July:

~Look into better lighting for the house -- light bulbs that give off less carbon and use less energy
~Fill a bag for the Amvets with stuff we can do without
~Check out the local farmers market

Since July is almost over, I'll leave it at that.

:-)

Summer Favorites

Some things I discovered this summer that I am loving:

Kathy Griffin's My Life on the D-List
Kate Forsyth books
The Grocery Game
Mothering Magazine's website & message boards
HP photo paper
Spa One
FitTV's Namaste Yoga
homemade chai

So. Tired.

Oh my goodness. I am exhausted!
And yet, I couldn't sleep when I laid down by N for her nap. What's up with that? Now that she is up, of course, I can barely keep my eyes open... *yawwwn*

That's all for today. Sleepy Sunday!

Super Saturday

Happy weekend!

Not much going on here - getting DH packed for a business trip, getting the house straightened/cleaned, and getting some work done! I still haven't closed out June for work yet. N has been pretty fussy with the teething, so that means abbreviated naps and lots of snuggle time.

We also need to get out of the house. We have been closed up in here (except for our daily Starbucks run) for most of the week b/c of the heat outside. I am hoping we can go swimming or something like that today.

Totally random side note -- does anyone watch So You Think You Can Dance? What was up with Jessi going home? DH and I both think something nefarious was at play - that they discovered drugs in her system or refused to take a drug test or something like that. She and Pascha were my favorite couple, and I think she was by FAR not the worst dancer. That one girl spent half of her "life saving" dance stripping! What the heck was that??

That is my TV rant for the week. :)

Vacation

We had such a great time in California! The drive out there wasn't too bad, which is easy for me to say because DH did most of the driving. We decided to drive overnight, caravan-style with my ILs, so N could sleep in her car seat. She doesn't do well if we are in the car too long during the day. She wants to be out and about, checking things out. So, this overnight driving worked really well for that.

We got there Saturday morning and immediately went down to the beach. It was HEAVENLY. The sound, the smell, the feeling of **cool air**. Especially after the AC being broken -- we were just in paradise. We then went back and the three of us took a 3-hour nap, which was also amazing.

We spent the next few days doing a lot of walking and going down to the beach. DH did some boogie-boarding with his brother and sister's boyfriend. Natalie loved the ocean, as I said in an earlier post. She is truly a water baby. I got very choked up watching her face light up with such pure joy at being in the water and experiencing something new. It's the greatest gift I have ever received, watching this little part of me walking around and soaking up life without any reservation. It's completely overwhelming and I don't even know words to describe it.

Outside of the water, we drove to another beach town and did some shopping. I got a Navajo flute and a really great bag, and of course lots of seafood and clam chowder.

We took a trip to my SIL's house out in the boonies and lost part of the bottom of our car in doing so. There is a little creek right before their house and while driving through it, DH picked up a huge piece of concrete. The ILs brought it home with them, so it will have a place of prominence in our garden. Their property is absolutely beautiful -- about an hour or so from town, which is a little scary, but also so peaceful. I was a bit envious, I must admit.

The next day, we drove a couple of hours away to visit DH's old neighbors from when he was growing up. These are some of the kindest people I have ever met, and we had a blast that night and the next day, sitting around and talking and eating way too much food.

Then on Saturday, we went to my niece's first birthday party, which was a BBQ pool party and very fun. The food was delicious and the birthday girl showed N how to chow down on cake. She must have learned something from her, because since we returned home, N has been more interested in table food. Yaay! Anyway, we left from the party to drive straight through the night again to get home. (Again, mostly DH!! I drove the last 1/3, he drove the first 2/3. He rocks.)

And here we are! I have spent this week getting myself pulled together. Although I am VERY low energy today and wish I had a second chai from Starbucks this afternoon... mmm...

Get me out of here!

This is the time of year when I want to MOVE! It's a high of 112 here today. For a month or so every summer (July/August), we just close ourselves up inside with the AC blasting and the blinds shut. They even had a heat advisory on the TV just now, saying that you should check on your neighbors and pets and stay inside and drink plenty of water.

Oh what fun!! I miss California!!

What a month!

WOW. Just... wow.

Since I last posted, DH went out of town for work.
The next week, our A/C broke on the evening of the 13th. It was fixed for a couple of days, and then broken again for 4 days until it could be fixed. We went to live with my ILs during that time.
Then we went out of town -- to California, to the coast.
And now we are back home, where it is HOT HOT HOT. I can't wait for monsoons and fall. Ahhh.

Anyway - it has been insane these past few weeks, and I am working to get re-settled and back into the groove of things.

I have to brag about something - we cloth diapered for our whole road trip! A 12 hour drive there and back, and lots of driving in between. I did it!! I think we used ONE disposable diaper and two disposable swim diapers. That's it. I am very proud of myself, so I'm tooting my own horn on that one. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, and everyone was so supportive. My SIL even asked all about it, and wants to maybe start doing it. :)

Which segues quite nicely into my next part -- I am copying/pasting my efforts to be more green into my blog and doing a little check-in with all of that:

~*~*~*~

Things I am doing now:
~Cloth diapering - CHECK! This is up and running and going strong, so I am removing it from my list, since it's now a permanent part of my life.
~Going organic -- yeah well... I haven't been great at this with all the craziness of the past month. It's expensive and kind of a pain. So I need to get cracking on this again.
~Cloth napkins/rags -- still using cloth rags. We ran out of paper towels and I have not bought anymore. Still using our supply of paper napkins.
~Setting the thermostat up a couple of degrees. HAHA!! Yeah well for a week it was up about 20 degrees. Whew! But otherwise, it has been up a couple of degrees, at 76. I am looking forward to getting our new electric bill to see what a difference this has made.
~Quit going out to eat! Uhh. yeah. With traveling and not living at home... this hasn't been good.
~Making food from scratch and using less pre-packaged products. Until we "moved out", I was doing really well with this.
~Using the library instead of the bookstore. -- Yep, doing well with this. I haven't bought a new book in ages. Oops -- I did get some from my Literary Guild b/c I didn't send the response card in fast enough. But that was a mistake!
~Less TV. (this is HARD!) -- This is way easier now that it's summer.

What I am working to do in the future --

~Grow my own fruits/veggies. -- too hot to even think about. Will work on this over the fall/winter.
~Dust off the sewing machine and SEW!! -- sewing room is now cleaned out -- going to paint the room this month and get a couple tables in there, and get moving on some projects I want to do.

Something that wasn't on my list that I started was a clothes line. I have been using it to dry diapers for now, but I plan on doing more of the drying out there. Things dry really fast here!

~*~*~*~

That's about it for today - time to bathe the babe and start our nighttime routine.
I will post more about our vacation later... FYI - N RAN into the ocean on her own, and had a blast out there. She did not get on a boogie board, but we had a great time swinging her around out there and dipping her in the water. She loved it!! But thanks for all the responses reassuring me that I was not being an overprotective mama.