I'm not sure how one can be blah and busy. But that is how I have been the past couple of days. I am so very, very sleepy during the day but at night it's a different story. It's like it gets dark and I'm ready to paint and sew and clean and cook and so much more. I take my vitamin in the am but I think it isn't in my blood stream until the sun goes down. Weird, I know.
A lovely lady, Ms. Angie, from church has given me lots and lots of material. She had a stroke and just isn't able to sew like she used to. The material is just beautiful and I have lots and lots of ideas about what I want to make. Yesterday, I worked on a project that Ms. Angie put in the bag of material. She had mentioned a vest that she had started but couldn't finish. I suggested that I take a look at it and see if I could finish it. Today I did just that. I finished the vest for her. I can hardly wait to see her and give her the vest. So I did get a little sewing done.
Speaking of a little sewing. When I went to the Parelli Ranch, I showed my butt. Literally! I am so thankful that my jeans didn't split until we were on the way home. I'm talking they split on the side of the back pocket so it all hung out! LOL I washed the jeans and was thinking of what to do with them. Patch them, throw them away or make something out of them. I came to the conclusion that I wanted to make an apron. I set my hands in motion and wa la...Yesterday I finished it. I used the bottom of one of the boys shirts that they are ruined to make the ruffle and the ties.
Pictures are coming so don't rush me. So what if it takes me a couple of months to post them here. You gotta have a good reason to come back.
Showing posts with label eco. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eco. Show all posts
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Contact Your Representatives
We all have to work together and get something done. That something is clean solar energy. It's not something that can be put on the back burner. It's not something that we can put off any longer. We must stand together and demand our elected officials to vote for clean solar energy.
Stand with me by contacting your Representatives now!
Please contact your Representative and senators and urge them to vote for a clean solar energy future!
Stand with me by contacting your Representatives now!
Please contact your Representative and senators and urge them to vote for a clean solar energy future!
Thursday, October 25, 2007
In the Middle of
Right now I am in the middle of a lot of things. And in general, that's how it is. Some people call it to many irons in the fire. Regardless of what it's called, that's where I'm at.
My family is running from here to there and we seem to be just spinning our wheels. Even with spinning our wheels, things are getting done. Granny Karen is coming home tomorrow from rehab. I am thinking of taking the boys to Publix on Saturday for the pumpkin painting fun. My sister is flying in on the 30th. She even said that she would go Trick or Treating with us. That's gonna be a blast. My mom has surgery on the 31st. I'm still giving Tigger some meds. I just have a couple more days of that. It's not to bad if you hold him right. Yeah - and just how do you hold a cat to shove a pill down his throat? Very carefully!
No matter how many loads of laundry I do in one day, it always seems like the laundry basket is still running over. At least the boys have picked up a lot of the chores and they are even starting to do them without being told. Sometimes I have to give gentle little reminders, but I can deal with that. Every Sunday I assign different chores to everyone. Instead of us trying to remember them, I post them on the refrigerator. I know they all see it on the refrigerator because they drink tea like it's going out of style.
I've been working on a couple of crafts. Yes, more than one. Go figure. I just finished a beautiful baby blanket for a friend. About a week ago, I started an afghan for one of the boys for Christmas. It's camo, which is all 3 of their favorite colors. I wonder how in the world I'm ever gonna tell them apart. Oh well, I'll worry about that later. Today I started making a few more cloth bags. I make them from pants and shorts that the boys have outgrown. Some of the clothes I can pass down but most of them I can't. My boys like to play in the dirt and help their dad with working on greasy stuff. Some things you just can't shout out. LOL
One of most impressive crafts right now is plastic bags. Oh yeah, back on the eco thing again. By the way, I stay on it. Before we started using cloth bags (recycled from clothing) we would get lots of bags every time we went grocery shopping. I searched online and I found an awesome way to recycle them.
Marlos Crochet Corner has this awesome Plastic Tote Bag that you can make. There is a link on the website for the instructions on cutting and tying the bags. Once I get enough of the bags cut and tied, I'll start crocheting them. I thought that I would make at least one bag (probably many more) and use them when we go grocery shopping. I'm not worried about any certain color pattern right now. Most of my bags are white with black writing on them. It's silly for me to go out and find different color bags, that really defeats the purpose anyway. And if this works out, I thought that I would ask my friends to save their bags for us.
Superman has come up with the idea that we should make Christmas stockings instead of buying them. Of course I have all this material that I hoard, so it won't be difficult finding material to use. He has the idea that all 5 of us can make them one weekend. It sounds like an awesome family project to me. I'll have to let you know how that goes.
In the next day or so, I'll tell you all about our pumpkin carving that we did last night.
My family is running from here to there and we seem to be just spinning our wheels. Even with spinning our wheels, things are getting done. Granny Karen is coming home tomorrow from rehab. I am thinking of taking the boys to Publix on Saturday for the pumpkin painting fun. My sister is flying in on the 30th. She even said that she would go Trick or Treating with us. That's gonna be a blast. My mom has surgery on the 31st. I'm still giving Tigger some meds. I just have a couple more days of that. It's not to bad if you hold him right. Yeah - and just how do you hold a cat to shove a pill down his throat? Very carefully!
No matter how many loads of laundry I do in one day, it always seems like the laundry basket is still running over. At least the boys have picked up a lot of the chores and they are even starting to do them without being told. Sometimes I have to give gentle little reminders, but I can deal with that. Every Sunday I assign different chores to everyone. Instead of us trying to remember them, I post them on the refrigerator. I know they all see it on the refrigerator because they drink tea like it's going out of style.
I've been working on a couple of crafts. Yes, more than one. Go figure. I just finished a beautiful baby blanket for a friend. About a week ago, I started an afghan for one of the boys for Christmas. It's camo, which is all 3 of their favorite colors. I wonder how in the world I'm ever gonna tell them apart. Oh well, I'll worry about that later. Today I started making a few more cloth bags. I make them from pants and shorts that the boys have outgrown. Some of the clothes I can pass down but most of them I can't. My boys like to play in the dirt and help their dad with working on greasy stuff. Some things you just can't shout out. LOL
One of most impressive crafts right now is plastic bags. Oh yeah, back on the eco thing again. By the way, I stay on it. Before we started using cloth bags (recycled from clothing) we would get lots of bags every time we went grocery shopping. I searched online and I found an awesome way to recycle them.
Marlos Crochet Corner has this awesome Plastic Tote Bag that you can make. There is a link on the website for the instructions on cutting and tying the bags. Once I get enough of the bags cut and tied, I'll start crocheting them. I thought that I would make at least one bag (probably many more) and use them when we go grocery shopping. I'm not worried about any certain color pattern right now. Most of my bags are white with black writing on them. It's silly for me to go out and find different color bags, that really defeats the purpose anyway. And if this works out, I thought that I would ask my friends to save their bags for us.
Superman has come up with the idea that we should make Christmas stockings instead of buying them. Of course I have all this material that I hoard, so it won't be difficult finding material to use. He has the idea that all 5 of us can make them one weekend. It sounds like an awesome family project to me. I'll have to let you know how that goes.
In the next day or so, I'll tell you all about our pumpkin carving that we did last night.
Monday, October 15, 2007
You Gotta Turn Green
Green has really never been my favorite color. But here lately, I am thinking that Green is much better than the other options. Why? What the heck am I talking about? Well, I'm gonna tell ya.
Green is the color that our planet needs to be. I'm not kiddin. You can do a little part to help our planet. It isn't difficult at all. I can't even remember how I found these links, and really, how I found them isn't all that darn important. The fact that I found them and I want to share them with you, is the important part.
I've never really considered myself a tree hugger. That is in the terms that most people around here think of a tree hugger. In the true terms of tree hugger, I am a tree hugger. You don't have to be classified as a tree hugger to utilize any of these ideas. All you have to do to utilize any of these ideas is enjoy breathing. Before we know it, the air we breath isn't going to be breathable anymore. Do something today.
TreeHugger has a plethora of handy guides to help you green your lives with ease, while understanding why. Their aim is over 100+ guides so do come back to visit. And please tell your friends, family and colleagues! Most of us understand that we need to do something, some of us understand what to do but few of us are actually doing anything.
Natural Resources Defense Council has a Green Living Toolkit where you can get the tips and tools you need to help to bring a little green into your life. Check out their guides to saving energy, protecting your health, giving green gifts and more.
I found a lot of these ideas helpful and useful. Our family will be trying a few of them to see if we can help more than we already do. You should try too!
Green is the color that our planet needs to be. I'm not kiddin. You can do a little part to help our planet. It isn't difficult at all. I can't even remember how I found these links, and really, how I found them isn't all that darn important. The fact that I found them and I want to share them with you, is the important part.
I've never really considered myself a tree hugger. That is in the terms that most people around here think of a tree hugger. In the true terms of tree hugger, I am a tree hugger. You don't have to be classified as a tree hugger to utilize any of these ideas. All you have to do to utilize any of these ideas is enjoy breathing. Before we know it, the air we breath isn't going to be breathable anymore. Do something today.
TreeHugger has a plethora of handy guides to help you green your lives with ease, while understanding why. Their aim is over 100+ guides so do come back to visit. And please tell your friends, family and colleagues! Most of us understand that we need to do something, some of us understand what to do but few of us are actually doing anything.
Natural Resources Defense Council has a Green Living Toolkit where you can get the tips and tools you need to help to bring a little green into your life. Check out their guides to saving energy, protecting your health, giving green gifts and more.
I found a lot of these ideas helpful and useful. Our family will be trying a few of them to see if we can help more than we already do. You should try too!
More Recycling
Have you ever driven into a town and notice their welcoming sign? We have a couple of towns that have a sign saying "Welcome to ________ We Recycle". Ok, that's cool. I like that idea. I have to do business in these towns every now and then. They used to have old horse trailers that had been converted into Recycle trailers. They park them around the county in different cities. They park them in the same location all the time...except recently.
Yes, until recently. Where in the heck have all the recycle trailers went to? I mentioned that our lives changed after reading an article about plastic. We discussed the article at supper one night and Superman decided that he wanted us to do a little more. Now we are recycling all of our plastic containers. Milk jugs, condiment containers, laundry containers and any thing else that we buy that comes in a plastic container. So we clean them all out, stuff them in a bag and load them in the car. Off to town to rent a movie, stop by the grocery store and hit the recycle trailer. They moved it! Why? It's been there for over a year now, maybe longer. How can we recycle our plastic if the darn trailer isn't there? Now the back of the car has a bag full of plastic containers. I'm gonna tote them around until I see a place to put them.
We cut down on our plastic bag usage when we shop. I mean way down. We now carry our own bags and put our items in our bags - not the stores plastic bags. The boys are really enjoying using our bags and cutting down on the amount of plastic bags that we use.
I'm gonna write a letter to the editor of our local newspaper. That's what I'll do. Maybe just maybe someone can shed some light on the location of the recycle trailers.
Yes, until recently. Where in the heck have all the recycle trailers went to? I mentioned that our lives changed after reading an article about plastic. We discussed the article at supper one night and Superman decided that he wanted us to do a little more. Now we are recycling all of our plastic containers. Milk jugs, condiment containers, laundry containers and any thing else that we buy that comes in a plastic container. So we clean them all out, stuff them in a bag and load them in the car. Off to town to rent a movie, stop by the grocery store and hit the recycle trailer. They moved it! Why? It's been there for over a year now, maybe longer. How can we recycle our plastic if the darn trailer isn't there? Now the back of the car has a bag full of plastic containers. I'm gonna tote them around until I see a place to put them.
We cut down on our plastic bag usage when we shop. I mean way down. We now carry our own bags and put our items in our bags - not the stores plastic bags. The boys are really enjoying using our bags and cutting down on the amount of plastic bags that we use.
I'm gonna write a letter to the editor of our local newspaper. That's what I'll do. Maybe just maybe someone can shed some light on the location of the recycle trailers.
Monday, October 08, 2007
Our Lives Changed Today
Reading our local newspaper changed our families lives today. No joke! It really did. You finish reading and let me know if your life will be changed today.
By the time you've read this sentence, Americans will have thrown away over 15,000 plastic bags. They will have recycled about 150.
The simple plastic grocery bag is an amazing invention. Plastic bags are strong, inexpensive, and durable. They can be used to hold groceries, lunches, clothes (dirty or clean), prescriptions, trash and more.
But there's a problem with plastic grocery bags. Once they're made, they basically never go away. In a landfill, a bag may take over 1,000 years to break down. In other words, the bag you carried home from the store yesterday might still be there for your great great great grandchildren's great great great grandchildren to enjoy. What an heirloom!
Of course, many grocery bags don't go to a landfill. They end up polluting rivers, oceans, beaches, forests, parks, streets, parking lots, schoolyards, backyards, and athletic fields.
This pollution is deadly. Californians Against Waste claim that 100,000 turtles and marine mammals are killed each year by plastic marine debris. That's approximately one every five minutes. A cow in New Delhi died after ingesting 35,000 plastic bags, according to Indian media reports.
While yesterday's plastic bags sully the landscape and kill wildlife, more and more plastic bags are being manufactured today. According to Salon.com, Americans use over 100 billion plastic bags each year. That's 274 million plastic bags a day, or over 3100 per second.
Reuseablebags.com estimates that about 12 million barrels of oil are used annually to manufacture the plastic bags used in the United States. That's enough oil to create about 240 million gallons of gas, which could fuel over 500,000 cars with gas for an entire year.
We're swimming in a sea of plastic bags. If we don't act fast, we may drown. Fortunately, there are several easy steps you can take to help reduce the plastic bag waste you produce.
First, stop using plastic bags in the grocery store. Don't replace them with paper bags, which require more petroleum to manufacture than do plastic bags. Instead, replace them with reusable shopping bags.
Reusable bags, often made of cloth or recycled plastic, are inexpensive, large, and sturdy. If each American household brought one cloth bag per trip to the grocery store, we would throw away 10 billion fewer plastic bags per year.
Reuseable bags come in all different kinds. You can get designer bags, such as the ones offered by Hermes for $960. Publix offers a less chic model for under $2. Better yet, look around your house and you may find a variety of cloth bags, backpacks or other suitable totes lying around. Stick them in your car so you don't forget them.
If you do forget your reusable bags, then make sure you bag your groceries carefully. Grocery baggers seem to operate on a per-bag commission, double bagging anything heavier than a loaf of bread. Ask the bagger to fill your bags up, and only double bag when absolutely necessary.
When you get home, don't throw the bags away. Bring them back to the store and drop them in the recycling bin. Experts estimate that only 1.2 percent of plastic bags used in the U.S. are recycled.
These simple steps alone could cut America's plastic bag waste by tens of billions of bags per year, saving millions of barrels of oil, thousands of turtles and marine mammals and preventing countless instances of unsightly litter and dangerous pollution.
Unfortunately, not enough Americans are taking these easy steps. If we don't clean up our act, then government may have to step in. In some places, it already has.
Several countries, including Taiwan, Thailand and South Africa, have banned plastic grocery bags. San Francisco recently followed suit, and other American cities are considering similar legislation. Such legislation is expensive, time-consuming and should be unnecessary.
Citizens need to stand up and act on their own to eliminate needless plastic bag waste.
In the time you took to read this column, Americans threw away over 900,000 plastic bags.
Whether by legislation, innovation or individual action, we must eliminate our dependence on plastic bags.
Do your part today.
I give full credit to Stuart Carlton. "Stuart Carlton is a Ph.D. student in the Interdisciplinary Ecology program at the University of Florida's School of Natural Resources and he Environment."
By the time you've read this sentence, Americans will have thrown away over 15,000 plastic bags. They will have recycled about 150.
The simple plastic grocery bag is an amazing invention. Plastic bags are strong, inexpensive, and durable. They can be used to hold groceries, lunches, clothes (dirty or clean), prescriptions, trash and more.
But there's a problem with plastic grocery bags. Once they're made, they basically never go away. In a landfill, a bag may take over 1,000 years to break down. In other words, the bag you carried home from the store yesterday might still be there for your great great great grandchildren's great great great grandchildren to enjoy. What an heirloom!
Of course, many grocery bags don't go to a landfill. They end up polluting rivers, oceans, beaches, forests, parks, streets, parking lots, schoolyards, backyards, and athletic fields.
This pollution is deadly. Californians Against Waste claim that 100,000 turtles and marine mammals are killed each year by plastic marine debris. That's approximately one every five minutes. A cow in New Delhi died after ingesting 35,000 plastic bags, according to Indian media reports.
While yesterday's plastic bags sully the landscape and kill wildlife, more and more plastic bags are being manufactured today. According to Salon.com, Americans use over 100 billion plastic bags each year. That's 274 million plastic bags a day, or over 3100 per second.
Reuseablebags.com estimates that about 12 million barrels of oil are used annually to manufacture the plastic bags used in the United States. That's enough oil to create about 240 million gallons of gas, which could fuel over 500,000 cars with gas for an entire year.
We're swimming in a sea of plastic bags. If we don't act fast, we may drown. Fortunately, there are several easy steps you can take to help reduce the plastic bag waste you produce.
First, stop using plastic bags in the grocery store. Don't replace them with paper bags, which require more petroleum to manufacture than do plastic bags. Instead, replace them with reusable shopping bags.
Reusable bags, often made of cloth or recycled plastic, are inexpensive, large, and sturdy. If each American household brought one cloth bag per trip to the grocery store, we would throw away 10 billion fewer plastic bags per year.
Reuseable bags come in all different kinds. You can get designer bags, such as the ones offered by Hermes for $960. Publix offers a less chic model for under $2. Better yet, look around your house and you may find a variety of cloth bags, backpacks or other suitable totes lying around. Stick them in your car so you don't forget them.
If you do forget your reusable bags, then make sure you bag your groceries carefully. Grocery baggers seem to operate on a per-bag commission, double bagging anything heavier than a loaf of bread. Ask the bagger to fill your bags up, and only double bag when absolutely necessary.
When you get home, don't throw the bags away. Bring them back to the store and drop them in the recycling bin. Experts estimate that only 1.2 percent of plastic bags used in the U.S. are recycled.
These simple steps alone could cut America's plastic bag waste by tens of billions of bags per year, saving millions of barrels of oil, thousands of turtles and marine mammals and preventing countless instances of unsightly litter and dangerous pollution.
Unfortunately, not enough Americans are taking these easy steps. If we don't clean up our act, then government may have to step in. In some places, it already has.
Several countries, including Taiwan, Thailand and South Africa, have banned plastic grocery bags. San Francisco recently followed suit, and other American cities are considering similar legislation. Such legislation is expensive, time-consuming and should be unnecessary.
Citizens need to stand up and act on their own to eliminate needless plastic bag waste.
In the time you took to read this column, Americans threw away over 900,000 plastic bags.
Whether by legislation, innovation or individual action, we must eliminate our dependence on plastic bags.
Do your part today.
I give full credit to Stuart Carlton. "Stuart Carlton is a Ph.D. student in the Interdisciplinary Ecology program at the University of Florida's School of Natural Resources and he Environment."
Monday, September 24, 2007
Side Tracked
I can get side tracked online so bad that I loose track of time. No joke. Especially since I started blogging. It's horrible. Kinda funny too. If I could just wean myself from the computer like I did with TV, then things for me would be ...well they just would be. LOL
Laying all jokes aside, I found some pretty interesting things today. And, I have just skimmed the surface. Of course we all know that there is so much interesting stuff online that we could read all day and all night for a long time and never get done.
Here are a few things that I found today...
Everyday Art Curriculum, classroom teachers and homeschoolers can find resources for teaching art, including classroom art projects for kids and guidelines for class discussion. These children's art lessons are open ended to stimulate creativity, and are flexible enough to work with a wide range of ages and abilities.
I entered another Blog Carnival and my article was picked. WoooHoooo! I love the Blog Carnivals. Mom On Wheels hosted the Carnival of Family Life this week. I'm tellin ya - if ya blog, you really should check out a Blog Carnival.
Now this really gets my hair standing up on end. I mean to the point that I look like a rabid bull dog with my teeth showing, foaming at the mouth and the hair on my back raised up and ready to attack.
Go Green and Get Sued, his veggie oil bumper sticker caught the attention of local law enforcement and he was fined $1000 for not paying motor fuel taxes. And that's not the end of it either.
Laying all jokes aside, I found some pretty interesting things today. And, I have just skimmed the surface. Of course we all know that there is so much interesting stuff online that we could read all day and all night for a long time and never get done.
Here are a few things that I found today...
Everyday Art Curriculum, classroom teachers and homeschoolers can find resources for teaching art, including classroom art projects for kids and guidelines for class discussion. These children's art lessons are open ended to stimulate creativity, and are flexible enough to work with a wide range of ages and abilities.
I entered another Blog Carnival and my article was picked. WoooHoooo! I love the Blog Carnivals. Mom On Wheels hosted the Carnival of Family Life this week. I'm tellin ya - if ya blog, you really should check out a Blog Carnival.
Now this really gets my hair standing up on end. I mean to the point that I look like a rabid bull dog with my teeth showing, foaming at the mouth and the hair on my back raised up and ready to attack.
Go Green and Get Sued, his veggie oil bumper sticker caught the attention of local law enforcement and he was fined $1000 for not paying motor fuel taxes. And that's not the end of it either.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Fall in the Air
For the last couple of weeks we have been able to really feel fall in the air. It has been cool in the morning, then warming during midday and then a cooler in the evening. Well I have felt it anyway. Superman says it just started like on Sunday. Yesterday and today there was no mistake that you can really feel Fall in the air. It even has a distinct aroma. I love this time of year. Usually it's hot this time of year but not right now. The weather people say there is some type of front that could or will cause some type of El Nino that will dump lots of water on us this Winter. Even enough to end our drought conditions. Well it better be a lot of water if it's gonna bring our water table back up to the normal range.
On top of our water table being really low, I read in our local paper yesterday that some important people or company wants to create a huge pipe line that will send our water down to South Florida. Hmmm...Now exactly what are we going to drink when this happens? I guess they aren't thinking about that. Shoot, most of the swimming holes and fishing holes that were full when I was a kid are all pretty much dried up now. Will Florida become the next dessert? It kinda looks like it.
Today we have had a light drizzle of rain. The horses were running around all frisky and playful. They are so beautiful to watch. The weather means the boys have to play inside a little more, but that's ok too. They still get to play outside but not when it's cool and raining.
I'm off to do a little surfing and a little reading. I have more news to post, so don't run off.
On top of our water table being really low, I read in our local paper yesterday that some important people or company wants to create a huge pipe line that will send our water down to South Florida. Hmmm...Now exactly what are we going to drink when this happens? I guess they aren't thinking about that. Shoot, most of the swimming holes and fishing holes that were full when I was a kid are all pretty much dried up now. Will Florida become the next dessert? It kinda looks like it.
Today we have had a light drizzle of rain. The horses were running around all frisky and playful. They are so beautiful to watch. The weather means the boys have to play inside a little more, but that's ok too. They still get to play outside but not when it's cool and raining.
I'm off to do a little surfing and a little reading. I have more news to post, so don't run off.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Fourth Week of Home School
We are on the last day of our fourth week of home school. It certainly has been a long 4 weeks. We have had our ups and downs but there have been more ups than downs.
WW started out kinda like this was a horrible chore. Now he is wanting to start as soon as he gets up every morning.
JD hates school. He's also defiant. As I said before, I have my hand full with him.
MJ, well he is just excited about everything. He is really zipping through his school work and doing very well.
If I remember correct, yesterday was our 5th home school group meeting. We missed last week but our fearless leader caught us up to date. We meet at Rum Island Springs, it's a county park and a pretty darn neat place. Yesterday we took a walk up the river. We talked about plants, animals, the Florida Aquifer, protecting and respecting our planet. And so much more. The kids were also allowed to swim and enjoy mother nature.
Our little group is really growing. I mentioned to Superman the other day that I had thought about us not going to the meetings anymore because of the drive. I sensed from he that he really didn't think that was a good idea. I am really glad that we discuss things and can communicate so well with each other. Ok, I'm convinced that we will go to the group meetings each week. We all enjoy them very much, it's just that the drive is 40 miles one way. But then I think about all the educational things in the 80 mile round trip ride. And I have something really great for you in just a few minutes. The boys remind me every week that we have our meeting on Thursday. I like that they do that. Our group now has started what we call "Game Days", we will meet on the 3rd Monday of each month for educational games. How can I not want to go when we have so much fun?!
WW started out kinda like this was a horrible chore. Now he is wanting to start as soon as he gets up every morning.
JD hates school. He's also defiant. As I said before, I have my hand full with him.
MJ, well he is just excited about everything. He is really zipping through his school work and doing very well.
If I remember correct, yesterday was our 5th home school group meeting. We missed last week but our fearless leader caught us up to date. We meet at Rum Island Springs, it's a county park and a pretty darn neat place. Yesterday we took a walk up the river. We talked about plants, animals, the Florida Aquifer, protecting and respecting our planet. And so much more. The kids were also allowed to swim and enjoy mother nature.
Our little group is really growing. I mentioned to Superman the other day that I had thought about us not going to the meetings anymore because of the drive. I sensed from he that he really didn't think that was a good idea. I am really glad that we discuss things and can communicate so well with each other. Ok, I'm convinced that we will go to the group meetings each week. We all enjoy them very much, it's just that the drive is 40 miles one way. But then I think about all the educational things in the 80 mile round trip ride. And I have something really great for you in just a few minutes. The boys remind me every week that we have our meeting on Thursday. I like that they do that. Our group now has started what we call "Game Days", we will meet on the 3rd Monday of each month for educational games. How can I not want to go when we have so much fun?!
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Is This Where I Live
Is this where I live? I had to ask myself that question today between 4pm and 5pm. The house was so incredibly quiet that I thought that I may have come home to the wrong house. Have you ever felt that way? I think this is a first time for me.
After our wonderful Home School meeting today, we all cleaned the car out and once we got inside, we put everything away. How cool is that?! Once that was done, I sat down to read a few emails and I started supper too. The phone rings and someone knocks on the door. Yes - all at the same time. That said to me - Welcome Home! It took me less than 5 minutes to answer the phone and the door - all at the same time. The knock on the door was one of the boys friends wanting to know if they could go over and swim. OH YES! Of course they can. The phone call was Superman saying that he had one more delivery and he was less than 2 miles from the house and he wanted MJ to ride with him. What a joy that was for MJ.
Now no one is home but me. Ok - me and 3 cats, 3 dogs and 3 horses. And the critters are so quiet. It was all I could do to keep from sneaking into my dark and cold bedroom for a quick nap. I resisted! I finished supper, WW and JD came home and started studying for their Science test. Superman and MJ were walking in the door about the time all of that was happening and the quietness was over. What a pleasant and relaxing hour that was. And I add - very much needed.
Today on the way to our Home School group meeting I was busy thinking of ways to make the ride a learning thing for the boys. So I started asking what the road sign that we just past had said. The boys had no clue. Then I started giving points and they were interested really quick. Talk about competition! Then I had to get more creative. Now was this a learning trip for me or was it for the boys? Ok - both! Now I try to make it real interesting. We start looking for road signs with US Highways on them. Oh yeah! US 27 and US 41 and on and on... They loved it. JD saw a solar panel and ask me what was it and then he ask what was it for. Without me really researching that particular solar panel, I couldn't give him a 100% answer. My answer was that it could be used to power the lights for the train engineer. Then they all ask about lights for the train engineer. Which lead to the question of what is in the cars on the train.
There was coal in the cars on the train. We talked about how coal is used to make power for us to use everyday. I am always telling the boys to please don't use the lights in the house during the day. Please open your curtains or your blinds for natural light. They just could grasp the concept of why I don't want the lights on during the day. Well today was an eye opening experience for them. The conversation about the coal lead to the miners that were trapped in the coal mine. I had to explain what miners are and what they do. Our boys had no idea that there were men and women that actually worked underground so that when we turn on the light switch we can have power and make the light work. WW said to me "Mom, why didn't you tell us about the miners? Now I understand and I will try harder to help the miners." What a wonderful think for WW to say.
Explain things to your children. Don't just assume that they will understand. Everything that you tell your children is not because you say so.
After our wonderful Home School meeting today, we all cleaned the car out and once we got inside, we put everything away. How cool is that?! Once that was done, I sat down to read a few emails and I started supper too. The phone rings and someone knocks on the door. Yes - all at the same time. That said to me - Welcome Home! It took me less than 5 minutes to answer the phone and the door - all at the same time. The knock on the door was one of the boys friends wanting to know if they could go over and swim. OH YES! Of course they can. The phone call was Superman saying that he had one more delivery and he was less than 2 miles from the house and he wanted MJ to ride with him. What a joy that was for MJ.
Now no one is home but me. Ok - me and 3 cats, 3 dogs and 3 horses. And the critters are so quiet. It was all I could do to keep from sneaking into my dark and cold bedroom for a quick nap. I resisted! I finished supper, WW and JD came home and started studying for their Science test. Superman and MJ were walking in the door about the time all of that was happening and the quietness was over. What a pleasant and relaxing hour that was. And I add - very much needed.
Today on the way to our Home School group meeting I was busy thinking of ways to make the ride a learning thing for the boys. So I started asking what the road sign that we just past had said. The boys had no clue. Then I started giving points and they were interested really quick. Talk about competition! Then I had to get more creative. Now was this a learning trip for me or was it for the boys? Ok - both! Now I try to make it real interesting. We start looking for road signs with US Highways on them. Oh yeah! US 27 and US 41 and on and on... They loved it. JD saw a solar panel and ask me what was it and then he ask what was it for. Without me really researching that particular solar panel, I couldn't give him a 100% answer. My answer was that it could be used to power the lights for the train engineer. Then they all ask about lights for the train engineer. Which lead to the question of what is in the cars on the train.
There was coal in the cars on the train. We talked about how coal is used to make power for us to use everyday. I am always telling the boys to please don't use the lights in the house during the day. Please open your curtains or your blinds for natural light. They just could grasp the concept of why I don't want the lights on during the day. Well today was an eye opening experience for them. The conversation about the coal lead to the miners that were trapped in the coal mine. I had to explain what miners are and what they do. Our boys had no idea that there were men and women that actually worked underground so that when we turn on the light switch we can have power and make the light work. WW said to me "Mom, why didn't you tell us about the miners? Now I understand and I will try harder to help the miners." What a wonderful think for WW to say.
Explain things to your children. Don't just assume that they will understand. Everything that you tell your children is not because you say so.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Breezy Yard Sale
We finally set up for a yard sale today. I know...It's about time. I certainly wished that I would have planned better. But that's ok with us. It's not easy when you have 3 boys that are constantly calling "Mom" and for some reason there always seems to be a question mark at the end of "Mom". It kinda sorta sounds like this "Mom?!" We were set up with the yard sale at my moms house because she is right on the road and we are just too darn far for drive by buyers. We made a total of $34 - I split the money with the boys and kept $5 for myself. What I kept was all in change, so I just dropped it in our vacation jar. I know that $34 doesn't sound like much but to the boys it's a lot of money. Their faces sure did beam when I gave them their cut.
Right when we were packing up, an elderly man came by. He gave us this story about how he is disabled and trying to support 13 adults and kids. It doesn't matter to us. And I even told him, "I won't be offended if you have a yard sale with these items". He said that what he does is has a bunch of friends over and they all sit around and go through the items, then the items that no one wants are given to the kids and the kids are allowed to have a yard sale with those items. I'm ok with that. Think of it this way - we were gonna pack it all up and give it to charity. Then we woulda had to pay for gas to take it to charity. Now it's all gone and hopefully it will be used by someone else. It's not in the landfill and that is very important to us.
Today there was a breeze blowing almost all day. That's always nice when the temperature is 99 degrees. It was still hot but not as hot as it coulda been.
Right when we were packing up, an elderly man came by. He gave us this story about how he is disabled and trying to support 13 adults and kids. It doesn't matter to us. And I even told him, "I won't be offended if you have a yard sale with these items". He said that what he does is has a bunch of friends over and they all sit around and go through the items, then the items that no one wants are given to the kids and the kids are allowed to have a yard sale with those items. I'm ok with that. Think of it this way - we were gonna pack it all up and give it to charity. Then we woulda had to pay for gas to take it to charity. Now it's all gone and hopefully it will be used by someone else. It's not in the landfill and that is very important to us.
Today there was a breeze blowing almost all day. That's always nice when the temperature is 99 degrees. It was still hot but not as hot as it coulda been.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Think About This
Americans consume more than 2.5 million bottles of water every hour, and only around 10% are recycled.
On average, tap water costs $0.0015 per gallon; just a 16-oz bottle can cost $2 at the convenience store.
Tap into the cheaper way to stay hydrated. Use a home water filter to nix contaminants, and get a clean-as-bottled (if not cleaner) drinking supply without pouring money down the drain.
Hopefully, you have read a couple of my post about helping our planet. I recently subscribed to a newsletter of daily tips that we can do at home to help protect and preserve our planet. All of them make really good sense to me, so I thought that I would share them with you. If you like the tips, you can sign up for the newsletter and get the tips sent right to your inbox.
On average, tap water costs $0.0015 per gallon; just a 16-oz bottle can cost $2 at the convenience store.
Tap into the cheaper way to stay hydrated. Use a home water filter to nix contaminants, and get a clean-as-bottled (if not cleaner) drinking supply without pouring money down the drain.
Hopefully, you have read a couple of my post about helping our planet. I recently subscribed to a newsletter of daily tips that we can do at home to help protect and preserve our planet. All of them make really good sense to me, so I thought that I would share them with you. If you like the tips, you can sign up for the newsletter and get the tips sent right to your inbox.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Awesome Eco Projects
I have been reading about ways to help our planet. I think that it is better late than never to make an impact in a positive way. These wonderful links and articles will help you in finding ways to help our planet. Join me and others in makeing a positive impact.
Learn what you can do to help and how you can do it by visiting these awesome websites.
Backyard Abundance
Fun Water Facts to Share With Your Kids, Friends & Relatives
Rainwater Harvesting: Frequently Asked Questions
How To Build a Rain Barrel
Be sure to visit Florida's Online Composting Center
Learn what you can do to help and how you can do it by visiting these awesome websites.
Backyard Abundance
Fun Water Facts to Share With Your Kids, Friends & Relatives
Rainwater Harvesting: Frequently Asked Questions
How To Build a Rain Barrel
Be sure to visit Florida's Online Composting Center
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