How to be a little "greener"

So, maybe you are not a big recycler. I try to be. Although there are some times when I do throw things away and it does cause me some guilt but you do what you gotta do, right? Here are some tips on how to be a little bit more Earth Friendly.

1. Start Recycling by putting your empty plastic water bottles and newspapers in your bin and taking it out to the curb on trash day. Nice and clean recycling:) If you don't have a bin, use an old laundry basket, a paper bag or a cardboard box.

2. Or Stop using plastic water bottles and buy a metal water bottle. Or carry a cup around in your car and take it in places to get water. Or bring a cup to places you go to often and leave it there to use another day.

3. Cut back to only 1 or 2 magazine subscriptions (it will also save you $) and when you are done donate them (our public library takes them) for someone else to read.

4. Get only the Sunday newspaper--do you really read them everyday?

5. Get rid of your credit cards (sound financial advice, too)--it will cut back on the amount of junk mail you receive.

6. Eat more fresh food. Oh, and don't use produce bags.

7. STOP buying individually wrapped or packaged food products! Yes it's easier but Wow! what a waste. No more snack size anything. Buy some Tupperware type containers, fill them from a big bag or box, wash and REUSE them!

8. Cut back on fast food restaurants and coffee places! So much packaging. And how many people bring home the Starbucks cup, wash it and recycle it?Hmm?

9. Buy and use reusable grocery bags. Or take old ones back to the store to reuse. One day just watch for a minutes at the grocery store to see how many plastic bags are used! It's crazy. Especially since they only put about 3 items in a bag and then sometimes double bag items!

So, these are relatively easy things to do. Try one or all of them. Let me know how it goes. Let's all do our part.

I am a Coupon Clipper!

My husband may not think so but I am a pretty thrifty shopper. I have a system and a pretty good memory so I usually get the cheapest prices on the things I buy.



You could say that my problem is that I buy organic. The problem part of that is that it can be much more expensive. The great part of it is that I feel so much better about giving my family pesticide free, hormone free, antibiotic free, preservative free, dye free, chemical free and earth friendly products. I have read too many articles and seen too many programs to feel comfortable giving them the mainstream cheap stuff.



So how do I do it? I shop at 6 different stores. Yes, it takes a little time and a little extra gas. I know, I know...the time I could save and the money I could save on the gas, blah, blah. You decide what is right for you. I start at the farthest away store and work my way back so I'm not zigzagging all over the place.



I shop on Wednesday because 3 of the stores have double ad day on Wednesdays. So I get the specials from both weeks and that way if there's a really good sale I can buy it twice. So the night before I check out the ads online and the ads that come in the mail and figure out if I need to go to all 6 stores. I also print coupons from many different websites so I save even more. I get coupon booklets from several of the stores, I clip them from the paper and I sign up for them from websites.


I start out early because one of the stores has day old bakery items on clearance and you have to get there early to get them. Plus it's not as crowded so we can get in and out. I try to do it all in one day because the more I go the more I spend. We are members at Costco so I do buy some things in bulk. Actually not as much as you would think. You have to really check your prices because sometimes it isn't that much of a deal. Plus just because it's organic doesn't mean it's good for you (for example, organic pop tarts are quite tasty but they still are sugar!).

I also know where every clearance area is in my stores. I make sure i go to them each time I shop. I look on the shelves for clearance tags also. if it's organic and I will use it, I buy it. Organic is more and so if it's on sale I will buy it and decent amount of it. One day I found Organic canned Peas for 50 cents so I bought all that was out-15 cans. it was a great deal. I would have been totally happy with that but I got to the cash register and they were 33 cents! At that price you know I would have bought more if the store had them. We ate them and now we haven't had them for a while. But that is okay, something else will become on sale and I'll scoop that up.


When something is a really good deal and I can store it, I do purchase a lot of it. You spend more in the moment but then later it saves you. I also have been freezing a lot of stuff to keep for a while--bread, store bought baked goods, chocolate chips, meats, etc. And we have been eating more fresh food and only what I know we will eat. I'll tell you what--we throw away so much less food. We eat a lot of leftovers and we may eat the same vegetable several times in one week but it's just food. As long as we're full and eat good for you stuff, we're okay.

Here are a few of my favorite places on the web for coupons:
Target - you can only use them there
Heb - you can use the coupons from their website at other stores
Mambo Sprouts-for natural and organic foods
Horizon, Organic Valley, Seventh Generation- you have to sign up for them

Happy Shopping!

I love to play games!

I am a game player. My husband is not-- but that's another story:) I don't know if it's because I'm so competitive but I am sure that is a part of it.

I will play most any game but right now I'm a bit obsessed with Scrabble on the computer. I like it because I play by myself whenever I want. There's no distraction of anyone else and how they play. I am only satisfied with a score of over 400 at this point. If I don't get over 400 I will play until I do. So there is a scary factor to it. I can spend hours playing which is not good. I could be doing lots of other things.

When my mother visits, we play lots of Upwards. It is fun but it takes hours. I like the challenge of it and I like spending the time with my mom that way.

With my kids, it's lots of Life and My Littlest Pet Shop Monopoly. I have to say that Monopoly is not my kind of game. It takes too long---especially with a 9 and a 6 year old. Yuck! They also like to play these games over and over. So how many times can a person get excited about this stuff. We play Connect 4 and Battleship too. We also play card games, although they don't like my favorite-Uno. They don't like to play because I must admit I usually win.

So maybe that's the problem --I like too play the games I know I can win. Or maybe I'm just a good game player. So I guess Scrabble on the computer might be my best choice after all!!!

Summertime!

I talked about this a little the other day--how it is summer weather here already. I laugh when a commercial comes on saying something like "Spring has arrived..." Spring has come and gone. We are already deeply entrenched in summer planning.

Since we homeschool, summer is a bit different for us. We don't have any of those end of the school year field trips, parties or graduations in May. But we are affected by those things because we have friends who go to public school and we hear all about these events. Plus parks are more crowded, kids start appearing at the library in the mornings, friends are busy.

Summer really starts for us when our church starts serious preparation for Vacation Bible School! Our church always has it the week after public school ends so we kick off the summer with it. My kids love VBS. They like to paint the sets, they like to help me organize the snack, they LOVE!!!! to sing the songs (especially before the other kids know them!), they shop with me, they help me in the kitchen. They just think it's great all the way around! They love to feel a part of-like they helped. Especially my 9 year old--just tell her we're going to church and she's says "when? what for? how can I help?" She's so sweet!

For that one week it is amazingly easy to get them out of the house! They are bright eyed and bushy tailed at 7am and actually functioning at 7:30am when we leave the house each morning. Even the one day when I need to be there at 7am, they are ready to go! It's incredible that they are so motivated for one week!

So we started about a month ago with serious preparation. Now we are in the full swing of things! We are planning meals, planning decorations, inputting info on the computer, trying to get donors, coordinating with people AND OF COURSE, we are listening to music! Even my 3 year old and I know know the words to the music! On a side note, what a great way to memorize scripture! It's how I learned John 3:16 and how I am now finally learning the fruits of the Spirit.

God is Good!!! He is so good to me!

Being a mother is...

Being a mother is...

Incredibly challenging.
Life changing.
Tiring.
Exciting.
Surprising.
Hard work.
Entertaining.
Rewarding.
Did I say exhausting?
Fun and funny!
Exasperating.
Awesome!

But the thing that I get the most of out of being a mom is the chance to see myself in my children . This can be a good thing and a bad thing.

I'm a yeller so guess what? So are my children.
I'm a whiner so they whine.
I can act a martyr so they act like martyrs sometimes.
I am not the best housekeeper so their rooms are a constant battle.
I am not so disciplined so they balk at being disciplined.
I can be judgemental so I hear judgements come out of their mouths.

But...
I love to read and sometimes we have to tell them to stop reading.
I love animals and so do they.
I have compassion for animals and people and they are very giving and have tender hearts.
I volunteer and help out at church and they love to help also.
I love babies and so they are so sweet with younger kids.

Being a mom is a mixture of happiness and pain, giving and receiving, crying and laughing.
I wouldn't trade a minute of the journey and am looking forward to the adventure that will come in the future.

Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her-Proverbs 31:28

Train a child in a way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it-Proverbs 22:6

90 degrees on May 4th!

This is what you get for choosing to live in Texas! And don't get me wrong I love warm weather. I would much rather be warm than cold any day but it seems like we went from cold to hot in seconds flat. No Spring. We have 2 seasons here in Austin--Summer and Winter--nothing in between. I am complaining but not really. There is one problem though...

I live with a man who is always hot. No matter what he's hot. In the winter with the heat on he walks around in shorts and in the summer with the air conditioning on he walks around in his undershorts. Meanwhile I have a sweater and socks on over my regular outfit-heat on or air on. It's a battle.

It's beautiful and sunny. I love the sunshine. I love the day light from 6:30am until 8pm. I might as well go to sleep at 8pm because all I do is sit around when it's dark. I can't seem to do anything when it's dark.

So, you see, even though I talk about it being hot already, I still love Austin as much as I did the day I stepped foot off the plane in March of 1992. I definitely wouldn't live any place else in Texas and you be hard pressed to get me to live any where that there is not any less than 6 months of summer! So I'm going to get the sunscreen, some lemonade and a fan because I'm staying right here!

Where did the day go?

Here I am at the computer wondering "where did the time go?". I even got up early this morning to spend some time with the Lord before my day started and I thought that would make the day flow smoother and we would get everything done.

One thing lead to another and we have gotten a bunch of stuff done but it's never enough. We probably did more school than we usually do but Math took forever today! I think we could have done another subject had the math been a more manageable amount of time. I guess I learned that it's better to accompany them in doing their math rather than having them do it alone while I'm trying to do laundry!

It's days like these when I realize how much I have on my plate. I haven't really wasted any time today. You know-- I haven't played multiple games of scrabble on the computer, I haven't talked to anyone on the phone, I didn't lay in bed until 7am, I didn't go running around on errands. We did important things--school, chores, laundry, meals, showers & baths. I even cleaned a tub, a sink and a mirror plus cleaned up a small "accident". So in reality I did do a lot. It's all in how you look at it I guess.

Thanks for helping me get some perspective!

Today is the day the Lord has made: rejoice and be glad in it!-Psalm 118:24

20 Years!

Last week I celebrated my 20 year anniversary in AA! Wow! Even I am impressed.

It was kind of nerve wracking, though. I expect a lot out of myself because of that! I think I should be so much more serene than I am. All my defects of character should be under control by now. I think this might be the year I really have to work on accepting myself. Especially since both my sponsees are working on the same thing. God knows what he is doing. He put me with these women and these women with me so we can all work on it together.

Of course, I do realize that I did not string all these days together myself-God has done for me what I cannot do for myself. If I was in control, I'd probably be dead, gone crazy or be drinking again. God is so good. The only thing I did was I didn't pick up a drink. Really, because I didn't go to meetings regularly, I didn't have a sponsor all the time and I wasn't always rigorously honest or work the steps. So to God I have to give all the glory!

I am so grateful for my sobriety. I wouldn't have all the blessings I have if I wasn't sober. It's not easy all the time but a drink wouldn't help me at all. It might possibly feel good for a minute but the problems would all still be there tomorrow plus I would have to deal with the wreckage of that drink. So right now I am trying to live life on life's terms and to realize everyone has problems and the best way for me to deal with mine is straight on...AND SOBER!