hippie...ish

Update on the Baggubags: I have 3 of them and love them. I use them for pool bags, dry-cleaning bags, grocery bags, too many things for my mom-purse bags... The handles are just the right length for over the shoulder or not. They are light weight and are easy to jam into their little pouches.

SKOY- New Item: I haven't tried these yet but am about to order some. You can check them out here. They replace paper towels and even wash cloths if desired. They are biodegradable and last for a long time. They claim that 1 skoy cloth is similar to using 15 rolls of paper towels. We shall see. The thing that I am excited about it they say that they don't keep bacteria like a regular wash cloth or sponge. They are dishwasher, microwave, and washing machine safe. This just may be awesome. I hate washing the counter, then smelling my hands and realizing they stink and the counter is probably not clean.

the gift of life

My mom is nearly perfect at a lot of things. She is an astounding writer, a pianist, a singer, a comic, a bleeding heart. I could rave about this beautiful woman endlessly. Having a flaw here or there is bound to happen, even to my mom. She simply cannot keep a potted plant alive. While I have distinct memories of home grown delectable chard, her indoor plants always seemed to get replaced with the fake plants.

I have come to believe that this natural ability to destroy a living plant is heritable, as I have inherited this lack of plant-talent. So, when Eliza's mom gave me the gift of life-- some flowers to be less dramatic-- to be planted as a gift a few weeks back I was at once touched and stressed. I knew I was bound to destroy this plant.

This may sound exaggerated. It's not. I received an indoor tree of sorts from Joe's Mom, Jackie, as a memorial gift in remembrance of my sister, Kristen. The importance of keeping this one alive was utterly heavy. Well, the potting soil I planted the tree in soon came to life with millipedes. Let's just say I over-did the millipede killing and poisoned the tree with bug spray.

Do you see where I am going here? These flowers are not going to make it! If you, the reader, are concerned about this plant staying alive you may want to contact some type of plant protective services. ... But, enough with the theatrics. The plant is doing fine. For Now.

I've decided that I would like Eliza to grow up without acquiring a ridiculous fear of becoming a plant-killer. To ensure this I thought I should grow some plants with Eliza. I mentioned to Brigitta my disappointment in not being able to plant a real garden now or in our upcoming apartment. She told me about something called CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). I found such a farm that will be near us in Florida. It charges 22 dollars per week and requires 4 hours per week of work for the farm. For this fee and work you are delivered 1 dozen eggs plus 8-10 fresh produce items each week. (I'm hoping they will 1/2 the price and 1/2 the amount of food for us). I am thrilled. Eliza will be learning what sort of work goes into our food as well as how to take care of a garden. We will be able to take part in the production of our own food. Fresh food. Mostly organic food. Could it get much better? It could get worse if my plant killing spreads, overtaking the farm.

not that green

I'm still shaving and bathing and wearing leather shoes. But seriously, the shopping bags. They were driving me insane, and thinking of my own convenience led me to thinking of others and this great beautiful Earth we have. I was entering the grocery store and saw those reusable Smith's bags they have for sale for a dollar or something and was reminded of the cupboard under the sink... overflowing with those damn plastic grocery bags. So, I bought 2 of those bags to put my groceries in that day. The next weekend, Eliza's mom gave me one of the string or rope reusable bags. Now that I am an eco-friendly shopping pro, I realize how annoying those Smith's bags are. They are bulky, not to mention unfashionable. Seriously, they are bulky. The string bag is great for produce, but not for other groceries. I got to looking and thanks to Jessica, yes the BFF, I found the perfect (stylish and convenient), reusable shopping bags. I put the link on the sidebar in fact. www.baggubag.com. They are stellar. I admit, I haven't purchased them yet, but I am going to. Then I can throw away the Smith's ones. Just kidding! I will give them to someone at the checkout. Told ya' I was a eco-friendly shopper pro. Oh, I dug out the old plastic bags to take to the grocery store's recycling center and found they were literally overflowing. I kept pulling more out only to find more crammed behind the pipes, then more behind the cleaning supplies, more in the corner of the cupboard. The worst part, inside each bag... more bags.