Green Holidays

Ahh, the holiday season is upon us. Having a green holiday season too typically means spending lots of green, as that (along with the Christmas Tree) is about all the green that is usually associated with this time of year. This year, we've vowed to work harder to put more of the correct type of Green into our holidays.
First, we have a rule that we DO NOT go out on Black Thursday. We did go over to friends' this year to hang out (which normally we just stay home), but since the rule really just applies to shopping, I figured hanging out with friends was ok. It seems an awful slap in the face to the whole idea of what Thanksgiving is supposed to be about (giving thanks for what you have in your life) to go into a shopping frenzy the very next day.
Secondly: we're trying to make more conscious decisions when it comes to Christmas. We've been "blessed" enough to have been given LOTS of wrapping paper, boxes, bags, bows, tags & even decorations from family members who are downsizing. So, I'm giving the OCD Martha in me the ole heave-ho and using all these wonderful hand-me-downs. We've figured that after we use the gift-wrap we can shred it up and re-use it again as gift-bag filler. I also save any cards we recieve from one year to the next and this year I took the old ones and used them to make a garland (I also used left-over red ribbon & gold string when making the garland) that hangs from the curtain rod in our living room. What a wonderful thing to be able to look at: well wishes from loved ones.
Also this year we decided to make an investment in LED Christmas lights for both outside and the tree. It will not only help the environment (as they use up to 90% less energy than conventional ones) but they last longer (approx. 20 years) and will save us bundles in cost! I'll admit that I wanted the soft-white LED lights for the tree, but we weren't able to find those in stock so we got the more common blue-white lights. I figure if I can't get used to it we can always use those lights for outside next year and try and get the soft-white LED lights for indoors a little earlier in the season (well, in the store designated season anyway).
Trying to go green with gifts is a little bit trickier. We are on a very tight budget and can't give as we would love to be able to. Green gifts do tend to cost you more when you actually buy them from a store. So, we've been making our own gifts for most people the past couple of years. Gift baskets of homemade foods and drinks (homemade liquors and this year our own homebrewed beers) and some other homemade items. One year I knit scarves for everyone. This year we're doing a lot of photo gifts. Ok, so those aren't really green, but they're more from the heart. For the kids: we buy gently used things from stores like Once Upon a Child, thereby continuing a circle of recycling. Also, since our kids are young and destroy things, we don't feel too bad when they break a toy we only paid a couple bucks for. This also allows us to, in some ways, buy things we wouldn't normally be able to afford, since most of these stores only carry name brand clothing and have expensive (if bought new) toys.
We've also tried to buy a little more locally. We decided that since stockings are supposedly filled by Santa Claus that the things in them should either be homemade or look as homemade as possible. We contacted a local wooden toy-maker and purchased several toy cars and trucks (for both boys) as well as a name train for Shannon. I was even able to go online and get a stamp that says "Made for you by the Elves in Santa's workshop" that I then stamped on the wooden toys. We also ordered them some sock monkey slippers (wooden floors get cold in the winter!!) and I plan to make a tag that says they are made by Mrs. Claus.
These are just some things one could do to make the holidays a little greener. We're also trying to remember what the holidays are really all about: being with friends and loved ones, and creating family traditions that are based on that. Trying to get along with family members is much harder than it sounds coming from a divorced family with lots of people who don't get along so well with each other. Ok, that last quip applies especially to me. The point is that there is always more we could try and do. If anyone out there reading this has any more Green Holiday suggestions, I would really love to here them!!

The first snow

It is snowing right now. The first snow. Ok, it probably won't be a very deep one, but it is still snowing. The ground is starting to look dusted in beautiful white fluff. It looks like of field of cotton in bloom.
I love the snow. It is what would make me move north and leave the South. It just doesn't snow enough around here. Shannon has been really excited about the snow this year. It is so wonderful to watch him becoming so much more aware of his surroundings. He's been SO excited about seeing the Christmas lights too. It's such a blessing to be able to be part of his world, of their world.
I haven't really been able to get into a Christmas spirit yet this year. I've about finished my shopping, but just haven't been in the mood. Yes, I've had a cold, we all have, but still. But, thinking about how excited Shannon gets and trying to see it through his eyes, well, I think I might actually have found the clue to getting into the spirit. To live in a child's world, to see the world through their eyes ... that is how we reclaim the magic that gets lost amongst the adult world.

Let's Face It..

The article came out in yesterday's Salem Times Register. Meg Hibbert had come to our house to interview the Janssens, who were staying with us for a couple of days during their Live Lightly Tour. It was a wonderful article and I'm so glad we were able to help bring something green to Salem. But, let's face it, that picture of me wasn't pretty.
OK, where to start. Let's start with the positive first, since that can so easily be over-looked. One ~ it wasn't a very clear picture. Two ~ I've got some really big boobs, so there that is. And then Three (the most important part) ~ I LIKE who I am. I am OK with the fact that I am a bigger woman. I like having curves. I'm almost 6' tall, I have broad shoulders, wide hips, big boobs, and the big mouth to top it all off! :) I also like to indulge myself sometimes. The Milk Man gave me some ice cream (mint chocolate chip!) as a birthday present. I VERY much enjoyed every bite of it and I had no intention of sharing!! :) I like food, I like to eat. I'd rather be a couple of pounds healthier and living the life I want than skinny and deprived.
Now the time to Face It: I gained a LOT of weight with Shannon (66 lbs)! Common with first pregnancies, but still, that's a lot. I was probably 10-20 lbs more than I would've liked when I got pregnant (a result of finding out how much I like stout beers ~ they don't call 'em stout for nothing!). I never lost all of the weight I gained with Shannon. When I was pregnant with Tristan I only gained 18 lbs, and I've managed to lose all of that and about 5 lbs more, though I've been yo-yoing on those 5 lbs.
And what do we eat? Well, we certainly eat a lot healthier over-all nowadays. I cook most of our meals from scratch. More and more of our food is not only organic but locally grown as well (so we know even more about it and how it came to be food), including what we grow ourselves. I've tried cutting out a lot of white starches: we use turbinado (or demerara) sugar, eat brown rice & pastas, and use a light wheat flour. Ok, the wheat flour is sometimes a mixture of whole wheat and white ... the whole wheat still is too heavy for us all to eat and enjoy. But, taking out a lot of the white starches helps with the glycemic index of foods. Eating locally grown, pasture & organically raised meat and eggs is SO much healthier than store-bought alternatives. So those are some pluses. For the most part, if we want to eat pizza, I make it from scratch ~ so that's a lot healthier. And even with drinking, we just made our own Coke last night. Ok, not the healthiest thing, but it was made with turbinado sugar and no high fructose corn syrup ~ so that's a big plus.
But still ... I looked like I was wearing a stuffed Santa suit (or maybe a stuffed Mama Taney suit?)!! Something needs to be done. I'm ok being a bigger woman, I'm happy living my life on my terms, but I am NOT happy carrying around this extra weight, this baby-body. Time to shit or get off the pot.
I'm not going to lie. If there were actually a pill that would take me back to the body I wanted I would probably take it. If I had the money to go under a knife and wake up with the body I wanted I would heavily consider it. BUT, deep down, I don't believe in those things. I believe in life-style changes. Those things might be able to make you "instantly" what you want, but unless you do something to keep things that way, you're likely to go right back to what you were before. And it doesn't do anything to help you emotionally and psychologically. How can you feel better about yourself if YOU didn't do anything to achieve the end result? No, it has to be something you decide to do for yourself. For me, for us, it is about trying to add more excercise to our lives and trying to watch portion control, along with remaining constantly aware of what we're eating.
Last night Justin & I did sit-ups and crunches. I did some leg-lifts as well (helps tone your lower obliques ... much need post-baby). The fun of having a post-baby body is that I can only do 10 sit-ups at a time before I piddle a little. So I did 3 sets of 10 reps regular sit-up, then 1 rep of 10 "side-to-side" sit-up (5 ea. side) where you come up and twist your body across to one knee, this helps work your outer obliques. Justin did crunches and side-to-sides as well. We charted what we did and plan to do it again tonight.
This is the start. We're starting from a positive light. No judging on how things came to be, no making anyone feel bad about their bodies. Everything starts somewhere, the point is that you start something. Then you do what it takes to keep it going. Maybe that is why I am blogging about this. If I put it out there, if I acknowledge it all, then maybe that will help me keep it going. I also want to be honest about it. Post-baby bodies are totally different than pre-baby. Your whole world is changed and your body is as well. There is no shame in that. We shouldn't strive to look like we never had kids necessarily. We should be happy and proud of what our bodies accomplished. But that doesn't mean you should let yourself go either. Be proud of the age you are, the stage you are at in your life, who YOU are, and showcase it in the best light possible. Show your self-pride by taking care of yourself, and showing yourself off in the best light possible. Be YOU and be proud to be it! No hiding behind baggy clothing!! We're starting from here, let's watch where we go and enjoy the journey there!

Some 2007 photos

Reusable Bags

The other day I went and did our bi-weekly grocery shopping. I went to Walmart (ugh, but they do have a lot of organics now, so that is good) and I made sure to take my own grocery bags with me. Its normally kinda a pain at Walmart because of their carousel set-up, but I wanted to do it anyway.
It was a pain loading up all the groceries, but I was able to fit them all into just three bags (count 'em 3!!)!!! Actually, it wasn't even that much of a pain to load them, it was just the rush of getting them all into the bags while she piled them all up onto the top of their carousel. I was able to bring all the groceries into the house in one trip as well.
It is so amazing how much simpler bringing your own bags really is. There isn't nearly the waste, you don't have to worry about crappy plastic bags tearing with heavy items in them, and you can actually get in the door without making a million trips (total plus when you have kids!!).
I recently went shopping with a friend and she even brought along her own cloth bulk-item bags! How cool!! I had never thought to do that, although I at least re-use the plastic bulk item bags for bread (since I bake my own bread). I have now ordered some of those bags and am looking to try and make a couple of my own here soon.
Anyone wishing to try bringing their own bags along should really consider it. I began using old canvas totes (the type companies give you for free), then I started using other funky bags. If you're interested in buying some bags specifically for your grocery shopping you should really check out: http://www.reusablebags.com/
*Special Note of thanks to Sara from http://www.livelightlytour.com/ for the heads up to this link!

Time Flies when You're Brain Dead

I haven't posted in forever. I know, bad me! Honestly though, I hadn't been online in a while with enough time to post, then we redid our computer and I lost everything, then I just forgot how to log on. That's the problem with having so many accounts ~ you have to remember the details for them all!
Life here has been wild. Tristan is now starting to walk and is cutting more and more teeth. Shannon is growing like a weed and becoming smarter by the day. It is so much fun to watch them, to see their personalities and to see their thought processes. I'm always amazed by it and consider myself very lucky to be home with them.
And now here they both come, wanting attention. I will post a picture really quickly ~ this is one of Tristan's 15 month old photos that I took the other day:

I love this photo of him. It is such a sweet, and yet sad, moment. There is something there in his eyes and it is like he is caught in his own world. How wonderful. How I long to see the world through their eyes.

Slowly but Surely

Slowly but surely life around here is changing into more of what we want out of life. Today is Labor Day so Justin was off of work ~ this was really nice. I like having him around and I know the kids do too. It feels good.
This past weekend though we decided to go ahead and put a fence in along the front yard. We live extremely close to the road: a road that is very busy for a neighborhood road and has people flying up and down it at all hours ~ everyone who lives on our road comments on how traffic worries them. So, with Tristan crawling and ready to walk & with Shannon being a typical 3 1/2 year old, we decided it would be most wise to put up a fence. My Dad helped us get it home from the store, borrowing a friend's truck to haul the sections, posts, and concrete home from Lowe's. We borrowed a post hole digger from my Aunt & Uncle, and a saw and leveler from our neighbor across the street. We are lucky and blessed to know so many kind people. Then Justin set about to putting the posts up (this was Friday night) ... I helped when it came time to set them in concrete. Saturday Justin's father came over & helped him get the sections up ~ Shannon helped by handing them nails and using hand-held garden tools to remove dirt as needed.

Here is a picture of Shannon helping Bill remove some dirt so that the ground underneath the fence will be level.

The whole thing actually went up really quickly & with little difficulty, and the finished product is amazing. We don't plan to paint it, just put something on it to help it from warping in the rain.
It is amazing to me how much cozier it makes the yard though, how much more inviting this little patch of grass has suddenly become. Saturday night the four of us hung out until bath-time out there. It was fantastic! We were able to toss the ball back and forth without worrying about it going into the road; Tristan was able to crawl around without the constant need to try and get him to quit trying to crawl out to the road (Why does he always want to do that? Is he trying to get away or something?); it was just fun & relaxing. Of course, it didn't hurt that it had been a gorgeous day!



The finished product, complete with a little swinging gate across the front walk! :)


Then, there have also been other changes that I'm now noticing. We had to run out to the mall today, somewhere we only go when we really have to, and I found it quite amusing. First, as we walked past all the hot, hip, & trendy stores I noted that it smelled like cows. It really did. Justin questioned if I didn't think this because of the leather being sold, but when we walked back by I noticed the smell again and there weren't any substantial leather products nearby. There was a little kiosk that sold summer shoes and sandles, but why it smelled like cows is beyond me. But it wasn't just the cow smell: I saw some of the fall fashions and realized they looked like hideous maternity tops; I smelled the food being sold and could smell the grease and other pre-made qualities of it (lack of fresh herbs, etc); and so on. It just wasn't anywhere I really wanted to be. That was nice.
Later, this evening I was talking to a friend on the phone. We were saying our goodbyes and she commented to me that she needed to go because her husband had just brought the chicken in - off the grill. However, she had paused just slightly, or so it seemed to me, and in that split second this is what went through my head: "When did they get a chicken?" and "Why is he bringing it inside?" I told her about this and we of course got a nice laugh. Maybe I'm getting a little too into this whole urban-homesteading thing we joked. But still, it was kinda nice in a way that that is what my mind went to.
And I would be remiss if I didn't mention this, so I will. Tonight we bottled our first IPA, one that is not only our first time using a recipe (as opposed to a kit with all the ingredients you need right there, nicely measured out for you), but it was also a recipe that Justin came up with on his own. We've tasted it in some of the testings on it that he's done and it is quite yummy - nice and hoppy, like a good IPA should be. It will be ready for drinking in about two more weeks. I'm so proud of Justin for this, for creating this recipe. Matt, his brother, ended up being the one who named it: JedHead IPA. For some reason Bill used to call Justin "Jed" occasionally when he was growing up, though I've never heard of this until today (the naming occured when we were at their house for swimming and dinner & we told them about the beer) ~ why Matt thought of this one I don't know, but it has stuck & so there we are. Keep your fingers crossed that our JedHead IPA comes out as yummy as it has been acting like it will. Justin wants to go into all-grain brewing where he is mashing it himself. Hopefully we will be able to get the equipment we need to do that soon. Until then though, I hope he keeps coming up with such wonderful recipes!