Green with Guilt

Okay, I have a confession to make (gulp)...I'm not feeling so green lately. I know, shockin' isn't it? But I'm finding I'm not the only one.

Let me digress.

I finally decided to finish cleaning the mess from my yard sale (was it really 2 weeks ago? yikes!)and automatically dumped my signs in the GARBAGE CAN!!! Yes, they were reused computer monitor boxes and yes they were perfectly recyclable cardboard and YES I DID IT - I TRASHED WHEN I SHOULD HAVE RECYCLED! At the time I felt like it wasn't so bad, I recycle hard every day. I talk about living green-er to everyone I meet. I look for ways to live simpler and better. But I finally hit my limit. Let's blame that yard sale, huh?

Now after the naughtiness has worn off, I feel bad, really bad. Talk about green guilt. So I thought I might take a stroll around the internet to see what other guilty greenies were doing about their shame. I came upon a website called "True Green Confessions - Because Saving The World Ain't Easy". Click the blog post title for the link.

My People.

I have arrived.

Here are some statistics to further grind in my point:

•A survey by the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corp. in Atlanta recently found that 20% of Americans experienced so-called green guilt. Most felt they should do more, especially recycling.

•A Catholic priest in England is reportedly taking green confessions at environmental festivals.

•And a website recently sprouted solely for the purpose of letting the green guilty confess — anonymously.


And as I always say on New Year's day "This Year I'll just try to do better".

Cleanliness is next to Greenli-ness

I noticed the other day that my little house could use a good scrubbing. If you are one of the lucky ones that happens to to live in an antique house, you understand the different cleaning chores that old houses require. Dust just seems to ooze from the floors and walls. My wavy window panes always need a little shining and the cast iron pipes lend a bit of "deposit" to all of my sinks.

So I was searching around for some "Greener" cleaning ideas and came acros this article from the people at M.E.T. Recycle (Metropolitan Environmental Trust). Enjoy!

With food and gas prices soaring, everyone is looking for ways to cut back. There is a simple way to save money and make your home, community and the planet safer -- use natural cleaning ingredients instead of expensive and potentially hazardous products. Your home will shine! All you need are combinations of six basic ingredients - baking soda, borax, lemon juice, salt, olive oil and white vinegar. Don’t forget to use newspaper,reusable towels or old t-shirts, instead of paper products.

Mild abrasive -- Baking soda and table salt make a great abrasive for tough stains on pots and pants, sinks, counters and more. Mix into a paste with a little water, vinegar or lemon juice.
Window cleaner -- Mix equal parts of water and white vinegar in a spray bottle to clean glass, appliances and other surfaces. Add lemon juice to make a degreaser. Use full-strength vinegar to fight mold and mildew. Vinegar is also a natural deodorizer.
Stain remover -- Mix Borax with three parts water to make a paste to apply to carpet stains. Mix it with 1/4 part lemon juice to clean stainless steel and porcelain and to pretreat stains on clothes.
Wood polish -- Mix two parts of olive oil with one part lemon juice to clean unfinished wood.
Drain cleaner -- Pour 1/4 cup of baking soda into drain followed by 1 cup vinegar. Let stand for 15 minutes, flush with boiling water. Add lemon juice to deodorize.

Yard Sales aren't for sissies!

 

Ugh, I'm finally finished with the weekend's yard sale. It sure was a lot of hard work and I want to thank everyone who helped along the way. Especially Pistol Bill who came over and helped my dad put up a new fence around my yard. It was brutally hot on Saturday but they both worked up until 5:00 and the fence looks awesome! My girls (Gracie and Minnie) are in shock with all of the open space they now have to roam around in. This picture is of Gracie getting to know her doggie neighbors across the back alley.

Now, I just have to finish cleaning up the sale aftermath and figure out how to fill up my empty garage!

Reducing, Reusing and Recycling

Whew! It's finally here, YARD SALE WEEKEND! I have been stumbling over the mountain of stuff in my dining room for 2 weeks now. It will feel so good to get rid of it all, either by selling it or donating it to Habitat Restore and Elite Repeat as soon as the sale is over.

Last week, my Mom, Sister and Nephew came over and helped clean out my garage. For those of you who don't know the story - my house is over 105 years old and I bought it pretty full of furniture, artifacts and stuff, including the garage. I have gone all the way through the house but I have parcelled out the garage cleaning as my own personal treasure hunt. Every year or so, I get the urge to go spelunking and what a better place but my own garage! I have found wonderful things such as an ancient metal grinder, dozens of empty (and some not so empty) Wild Turkey bottles, all sorts of unlabeled chemicals and paints and even some random window frames, picture frames and plumbing fixtures. Yay!

But now it's time to part with some of my findings and the beneficiaries will be those early risers on Friday morning in Perkins, Oklahoma. I'm almost jealous of the wonder and awe they will feel when first seeing the mountain of minutia that has inhabited my little home for 100+ years.

Stop on by if ya get an urge!

30 Days of Food!

 

I have always tried to cook once for the whole week. It usually happens on Sundays and I try to prepare a few meals for lunch at work and some options for dinner. I just wing it for breakfast (I know, back off!). Anyway, in my endless search to simplify my life and "green" it up, I searched the good ol' internet for ideas on accomplishing a bigger cooking/prep day to possibly cover an entire month. I came across a cool book and website called "The 30 Day Gourmet". The website offers a few recipes and tips but the real goldmine find was the book. Tons of recipes, ideas, solutions, encouragement and worksheets for putting together a prep session for individuals, pairs or even groups.

So I took off work on Friday to set about my new task. I got up early, created my shopping list (the book and website have downloadable/copy pages to simplify this) and headed out to the local Piggly Wiggly. I rant on the Pig, but it is local and in order to live up to my soapbox speeches, I need to support the local economy. I also took advantage of the Stillwater Farmers Market for homegrown veggies (I bought 2 tomato plants and 1 pepper plant too). My grocery bill came to less than $60 since I had such a wonderfully stocked pantry.

The big investment has been the freezer bags and rigid freezer containers. I haven't gone "green" on those items yet. I wanted to see how this little experiment pans out first.

I put 8 pounds of chicken into the crockpot for Italian Chicken. Then set upon the cube steak for 20 servings of Swiss Steak. Finally, I started the 2 pounds of pasta and spinach for the 12 servings of baked Ziti (meatless). I chopped onions and peppers, squeezed frozen spinach and prepared labels. When it started coming together, I realized that I had not cleaned out the freezer so I quickly rearranged and fit everything in neatly. Organization is a key component of the 30 day Gourmet but it's all laid out for you, so it really is simple.

At the end of the day, I had a fully stocked freezer, meals in the frig' and even some homemade, sugarfree strawberry banana ice cream that I decided at the last minute to make.

Yay!
Click on the post title for the link to 30 Day Gourmet

The Day of the Worms

 

 

Yay! My worms finally arrived yesterday. When I got home from work, they were waiting on my porch. It's a good thing that they don't have little feet or they would have been stamping them in frustration from waiting for me all day. Luckily my wrap-around porch is mostly shady so they didn't get too hot.

They were packaged in some sort of soil (worm poo?) in a white mesh bag then in a post office box padded with newspaper. I was curious how they would arrive but they did just fine, all wiggly and wormy as soon as I dumped them in their new home. For their welcome meal they had some savory garlic stem clippings (dried), a handful of fresh Rose of Sharon leaves and finally a side of yummy zucchini bits. The instructions said to put in their munchies first, followed by worms then their cardboard packaging soaked in water.

When I checked on them this morning, they were wiggling and nibbling away!

Yay!

8 Ways to Green your Independence Day

Written by Trey Granger, courtesy of Earth911.org

The Fourth of July: summer’s most famous holiday. Fireworks, barbecues and a day off to enjoy the sunshine. But can you make America’s birthday Earth Day as well? Here’s eight steps for an eco-friendly Fourth.

1. Celebrate Outdoors

Whether you’re traveling for the three-day weekend (the Fourth is on Friday this year) or celebrating at home with family, have an outdoor celebration to minimize energy use. Better yet, check out a large gathering nearby where your personal energy use will be negligible.

2. Drink Lots of Water . . . In Large Containers

Depending on where you live, temperatures could reach triple digits on Independence Day. It’s important to stay hydrated, but plan ahead. Buy a reusable container to fill with water for your family so you won’t be buying and disposing of individual water bottles. You can also refill these containers at drinking fountains.

3. Know Before You Go

The beach may be a popular spot for your Independence Day getaway, but make sure it’s open before you head out. Use Earth 911’s sister site Beaches911.com to monitor the beach closures in your area. This will save you gas on a potential drive down the coast just to picnic in the parking lot.

4. BBQ With Propane

Wood and charcoal may seem like more natural fuel sources, but propane burns cleaner. You’ll get less smoke and you’ll have less of a challenge keeping a fire going. Make sure that you refill or recycle your propane tank once it’s empty using Earth 911.

5. Reuse Plates and Cups

If you’re celebrating at home, just use normal tableware and napkins that can be washed. At an outside celebration, pack up your disposable cups and plates and rinse them off when you get home. You can use the same set again next year, or recycle them.

6. Eco-Friendly Fireworks

Naturally something that explodes, creates lots of light and leaves a cloud of smoke also comes with pollution. Fireworks also release heavy metals like lead into the air. Of course, a Fourth of July without fireworks seems unnatural, but if you do put on a backyard show look for fireworks rich in nitrogen. These may cost a little more, but you’ll have less smoke.

7. Be Pet Cautious
Believe it or not, dog and cat ears are not made for the loud noises of fireworks. If your pets hear these noises, they might go running off. Then you’ll be using unnecessary paper for lost flyers.

If you live near a fireworks show, make sure your pets are shielded from the sound. If you lose a pet this July 4, visit Earth 911’s sister site PETS911.com to help find it.

8. July 5 is Cleanup Day

Independence Day events will produce lots of trash, much of which could probably be recycled. Head over to a nearby area this Saturday that held a July 4th celebration and pick-up some of the inevitable litter.