freecycle rocks!

i got rid of everything i pulled out except for one pick-up tomorrow morning. i love that "one man's trash is another's treasure" so we can pass things on to be reused and recycled. there's so much more to go through, so many projects taking up garage space, and things to get rid of...at least it's a start.

i think the next thing needs to be to paint the "new" dresser and thad's armoire so i can get them out of there and make space so we can get to the weight/strength machine to get a good picture of it...so we can sell it on craigslist.... then we can make room for the treadmill we want to get. (we never use the machine and are thinking dumbbells would be a better investment/space-taker-upper) if i can get the stuff to make nick's papasan chair cushion, we can get his chair out of the way too. wow, the space we'd have if those three things were gone!

think i'll head in there now to do some painting...

reflections on earth week...

green has been the color of focus this week everywhere you look, a few thoughts...

plants...i'm starting my own patio garden this year, so far we've got tomatoes, peppers and egg plant. i'm going to plant some herbs and spinach soon too. i've also planted my aloe (finally) and bought an english ivy plant for in the house. i want to get more plants for indoors to help keep the air clean and help detox the house...

detox your home...i signed up a long time ago to be a method advocate. first i received a free t-shirt. later on i got a whole pack of their cleaning cloths and sample bottles of various surface cleaners. then a coupon for a big discount on an o-mop. (all of these come with coupons to use/pass out to friends) a few months ago i got a "plastic rehab" tote (supposed to be used for your groceries/shopping, but i love it so much i use it daily for carrying all of my crap around). then i broke the handle off of my o-mop and contacted them to see if they had a replacement handle i could get...nope, but they sent me a coupon for another one for free!!! (i kept the old one, which is now shorter, and am letting the kids use it to mop with) this past week, three....yes, THREE packages came in the mail from them...i was so stoked at the first one, which ended up being two in one day! it was a box with a bottle of baby wash and kids' wash/shampoo...and later in the day came a second package of the same thing!!! so now i've gotten a start on baby supplies! then on thursday, another package came in the mailbox. i had nick open it on the way to his procedure and it was their new book "squeaky green" (not available until sometime in may) which tells of tons of ways to detox your home, and they're not even really pushing their products as much as giving you tons of ways to get the crap outta your home without further intoxicating your family! they make some very valid points about the soaps and chemicals we use to clean our homes and our bodies...kinda scary!

so in my start of detoxing my home we're going to...
*steam clean all of the carpets
*use only non-toxic, chemical free cleaners (as soon as i have available cash, i'll be ordering a snap pack from our web portal
*open windows at least once a week (i read that you should crack windows a little if possible to keep constant air flow in/out of your home)
*buy a better vacuum cleaner asap (looking into one with uv light to kill dust mites, etc.)

green living...several things come to mind that i need to be better at...
*change out all lightbulbs to more energy efficient ones
*start recycling things better, look into recycle pick-up
*not buying bottled water...no plastic to recycle that way, and less of a footprint just by cutting this one thing out
*recycle/reuse things more. i've looked around and am coming up with a lot of ideas for sewing and things i can do to reuse things we no longer use
*buying organic or transitional items
*get a car with better gas mileage...this may not happen as soon as i'd like, but putting premium in my supercharger engine...not so green...i may not be able to get a hybrid, but i can get a 4 cylinder something-or-other to cut down on my emissions
*definitely going to do cloth and gdiapers to keep our environmental impact at a minimum...also going to be breastfeeding (already in the plans), no formula containers to worry about, very few bottles to have to wash, and it's free, natural and healthy!

yep, nick likes to tell me i'm turning into a hippie...that's fine. i'm not really, but i think it's important to take care of our world and do our part to keep it functioning as best we can. as christians, we were told to take care of the earth, so you don't have to be a "liberal tree-hugger" to be a responsible earth citizen...but if you are, that's fine too! (i'm more of a moderate tree-hugger myself...lol)

i've been thinking...and that can be a dangerous thing sometimes...

there are many things i want to accomplish in the next few months, but one recurring theme seems to be trying to become more frugal and more "green".

one thing i'm looking into is how we can buy a home instead of continuing to rent... there are many homes in our area for sale, and several in our subdivision are super low in price...so there has to be one out there somewhere! a place with a pool would be a bonus, but not totally unlikely, right? this fits into my "frugality" because of the fact that we'd be owning a home and not throwing away money to fund someone else's investment.

another thing...we need a new vehicle for our growing family, but we don't want a minivan. we'd love to have an suv that has seating for 7, but we'd also like to have a hybrid. not sure if we can swing payments for a hybrid, but it's what we'd like...it's not easy being green...

with another baby on the way, it's tempting to go all out and get matching furniture and have an awesome nursery. i'm determined not to spend a ton and reuse previously baby-fied items. we've been given a bassinet (i may make a new cover/skirt or whatever for it to match our decor), have a crib we can get from a friend, a toddler bed and mattress, and a stroller. we have found a carseat/stroller combo we really like, but i think that will be the only major purchase we're going to need to make. once we know if the baby's a boy or girl, i'll be buying fabric to make the crib set and accessories for the nursery.

along with my frugal mentality, i've been looking at patterns and fabric i already have and trying to figure out what i can make for myself for maternity clothing...stuff that's cute but cheap because it's so expensive to buy that stuff and it's only for a little while. i think i can sufficiently make several pairs of shorts/capris and maybe a couple of skirts, and i've looked at a few patterns for tops that i plan to modify so i have some fashionable stuff without having to pay the maternity clothing industry's full prices for them.

another green/frugal thing i've been contemplating...and this is where it gets dangerous and i'm feeling a little crazy for even considering it...cloth diapers. yes, you read that right, i am actually considering using cloth diapers for this baby. i mentioned it at supper tonight and my whole family flipped out. but after looking at sites for info and reading up on it, i really think it will be a good thing. i can even make a lot of them myself if i want, but even if i don't it'd be cheaper than disposables and would save a lot of landfill space too. we'll see. jerry said it's stupid because we can't seem to keep up with the laundry we already have, but if i'm not working full-time, that won't be as much of an issue. guess i'll be catching up on laundry and getting the closets/dressers in better order this summer (while i'm not working) to show him it can actually be done! lol i took it as a challenge to prove him wrong. rofl