“I like paying taxes. With them I buy civilization.”
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
OUT OF CONTACT
Well, folks, Jeremy and I have been wrapping up our affairs here in Rockford to prepare for our trip! I have been working triple-time on my homework to get a large portion of it out of the way, we winterized our yard and did a nice thorough cleaning this weekend, we are packing and arranging to get away!
We will be off the radar though. We will have a very frequent online presence but, it sounds crazy, you won't hear our voices while we're gone. Neither of our phones will work where we'll be at so that's it... we'll be conversing in text for the next month. Stay tuned in to the blog (you'll find all the greatest goods here at Fly, Mama! yeah!) and we'll keep you updated. We'll be on Facebook too and checking our email, so keep in touch!
YOU GIRLS who are having babies while we're away, I want all of the details... I can't wait to see your new family members; I'm getting nervous for you. I wish I was going to be here with you. So please, have your husbands update at least for you... especially while in labor, if possible!!!
Okay! Well, separation is good for the heart, so I know you all will love us when we get back! (Finally, damn!)
We will be off the radar though. We will have a very frequent online presence but, it sounds crazy, you won't hear our voices while we're gone. Neither of our phones will work where we'll be at so that's it... we'll be conversing in text for the next month. Stay tuned in to the blog (you'll find all the greatest goods here at Fly, Mama! yeah!) and we'll keep you updated. We'll be on Facebook too and checking our email, so keep in touch!
YOU GIRLS who are having babies while we're away, I want all of the details... I can't wait to see your new family members; I'm getting nervous for you. I wish I was going to be here with you. So please, have your husbands update at least for you... especially while in labor, if possible!!!
Okay! Well, separation is good for the heart, so I know you all will love us when we get back! (Finally, damn!)
Thursday, November 20, 2008
REVOLUTION
Okay Folks,
It's time for a revolution. It's called the no-garbage revolution! In the spirit of the last post, I would like to challenge you and all your friends and family to rise up and make some not-so-difficult lifestyle adjustments that will make a huge impact on our environment, our cities, and our own lives!
I am asking you to make and meet a goal of producing only 1/4 of the garbage you produce today by the end of 2009. Watch what you bring to your curb for a couple of weeks. Imagine that garbage out of the bag, and on your lawn. Then multiply it by 52 for that number of weeks in one year and add a few more imagined bags of gobble-de-gook garbage to account for the number of times you have parties, or clean out closets. Can you still see your yard? Well, let me tell you that you would have to have a mighty big yard to not fill it with the trash you throw out in a year. This may not concern you, friend, readers, busy folks of the world who don't think about trash because it is whisked swiftly from your curbside each week while you sleep. But it should.
It should because you are indeed filling up some yard somewhere with your trash every week and so is your neighbor to the left, your neighbor to the right, and all your neighbors, friends, colleagues, enemies, and ministers. Can you fathom the amount of garbage that it adds up to?
I cannot. I also cannot fathom the fact that we have no useful way of getting rid of this enormous amount of reek-ed waste besides piling it up and then burying it and then piling it up again and burying it.
Think about your garden this next spring: imagine the delicate tendrils of pea plants reaching up and unfolding their delicate purple faces, your soft sage and sweet basil, the ripe and rotund red tomatoes bulging on their vines. Imagine the rich black soil-- and just beneath the surface: batteries leaking acid, old cellphones and radios bleeding mercury and poison into the earth, disease-laden dirty diapers and rusty needles, sharp broken glass and even wadded soaked and molding phone books, fat and useless but unable to decompose in their anaerobic environment of sewage and squelch.
Wait! Don't burn the garden yet. While this is the reality of many low-income Americans whose homes have been built on old covered waste piles, it doesn't have to be yours-- or anyone else's. This is a problem that must be solved by the makers of the waste. Believe me, in this economy and political climate (especially for those of us who live in bankrupt Illinois) improving our "waste management" system is at the bottom of a long list of other priorities-- the only thing below that is improving our education system... But happily, while we cannot all go into the classroom and teach, we can all put a GREAT HALT on the amount of garbage that we dump into the system.
I purpose for all of my friends, relatives, and colleagues to give this challenge their greatest effort for one year just to see how it goes. Here is the plan:
At the end of 2009, after having successfully implemented these core goals of responsible waste management, you will be able to look at the amount of trash you're adding to the big pile and feel good because it won't be much-- it will be less than a quarter of what you add now. So when you're calculating all those nasty trash numbers in your head, think about how your cutting back and being responsible will carry over years and years of less garbage. It's one place where we can make a huge difference without much inconvenience at all.
So I challenge you, friends, 2009 Take Responsibility for Your Footprint
Your garden will thank you too, in 2010 when you pack all that rich compost on it-- and you will thank you when those tomatoes, peas, and herbs come bursting from their bed.
It's time for a revolution. It's called the no-garbage revolution! In the spirit of the last post, I would like to challenge you and all your friends and family to rise up and make some not-so-difficult lifestyle adjustments that will make a huge impact on our environment, our cities, and our own lives!
I am asking you to make and meet a goal of producing only 1/4 of the garbage you produce today by the end of 2009. Watch what you bring to your curb for a couple of weeks. Imagine that garbage out of the bag, and on your lawn. Then multiply it by 52 for that number of weeks in one year and add a few more imagined bags of gobble-de-gook garbage to account for the number of times you have parties, or clean out closets. Can you still see your yard? Well, let me tell you that you would have to have a mighty big yard to not fill it with the trash you throw out in a year. This may not concern you, friend, readers, busy folks of the world who don't think about trash because it is whisked swiftly from your curbside each week while you sleep. But it should.
It should because you are indeed filling up some yard somewhere with your trash every week and so is your neighbor to the left, your neighbor to the right, and all your neighbors, friends, colleagues, enemies, and ministers. Can you fathom the amount of garbage that it adds up to?
I cannot. I also cannot fathom the fact that we have no useful way of getting rid of this enormous amount of reek-ed waste besides piling it up and then burying it and then piling it up again and burying it.
Think about your garden this next spring: imagine the delicate tendrils of pea plants reaching up and unfolding their delicate purple faces, your soft sage and sweet basil, the ripe and rotund red tomatoes bulging on their vines. Imagine the rich black soil-- and just beneath the surface: batteries leaking acid, old cellphones and radios bleeding mercury and poison into the earth, disease-laden dirty diapers and rusty needles, sharp broken glass and even wadded soaked and molding phone books, fat and useless but unable to decompose in their anaerobic environment of sewage and squelch.
Wait! Don't burn the garden yet. While this is the reality of many low-income Americans whose homes have been built on old covered waste piles, it doesn't have to be yours-- or anyone else's. This is a problem that must be solved by the makers of the waste. Believe me, in this economy and political climate (especially for those of us who live in bankrupt Illinois) improving our "waste management" system is at the bottom of a long list of other priorities-- the only thing below that is improving our education system... But happily, while we cannot all go into the classroom and teach, we can all put a GREAT HALT on the amount of garbage that we dump into the system.
I purpose for all of my friends, relatives, and colleagues to give this challenge their greatest effort for one year just to see how it goes. Here is the plan:
- If you don't have recycling bins and a smoothly-running system for recycling at your home, do that first! This is the foundation of the plan. Almost everything can be recycled... and it's not very hard to do. The easiest way to ensure that things get recycled, is to create bins for recyclable items that are right by the garbage can or as easily accessible-- especially in the kitchen. If it's a pain to bring the items to the bin, they won't be brought. Instead of just a garbage can, have two-- one for recycling and one for garbage. You'll be amazed at how less-quickly your garbage can fills up, just because of recycling.
- Compost Foodwaste. I realize that this is where I start to lose people, but hold on! This is so easy. People get very intimidated by things they have never done before and have a hard time taking that first step. I want to encourage you to take the step and find out later how easy COMPOSTING can be! For a container, there is something for everyone: you can make your own if you're industrious like that, or you can buy any kind of container: underground, cone-shaped, solar powered, a rubbermaid box container, or even a round turning container. These come in a very wide range of prices from $20 all the way up to over a hundred; each style has pros and cons, and you should choose not by price but by convenience. If you don't mind turning the pile and adding water on a regular basis, go cheap and do the work yourself. If you know you won't want to turn the pile or do the extra work, splurge and buy the one that works for you so that you can make good use of your purchase. And then USE IT! It is so easy. Almost everything can go into a compost container: Food scraps (but not meat, folks), yard waste (and it should go in, between layers of food waste), torn up paper, paper towels and napkins, tissues, swept-up debris from your floors, even the stuff from your vacuum cleaner!
- Try to buy with some amount of consciousness about packaging. I know this is hard because everything is over-packaged in America, but lean away from boxes of singly-packed food items and buy in bulk for things like laundry detergent and other things you use a lot of.
- Somewhere in your house-- whether hidden away in a closet or whatever-- label a few boxes for those things that you just know you're not supposed to throw away but you just sneak into the garbage -- just a few AA batteries at a time doesn't hurt right?-- because you don't want to go find a special recycling place every time you change a lightbulb or a battery. Then you have an easy place to put those items when you use them. As the box is filling up over time, you can consider your options for disposing of the items in a responsible way. By the time you're ready to dump them, you'll know where the most convenient drop-off place is for you.
At the end of 2009, after having successfully implemented these core goals of responsible waste management, you will be able to look at the amount of trash you're adding to the big pile and feel good because it won't be much-- it will be less than a quarter of what you add now. So when you're calculating all those nasty trash numbers in your head, think about how your cutting back and being responsible will carry over years and years of less garbage. It's one place where we can make a huge difference without much inconvenience at all.
So I challenge you, friends, 2009 Take Responsibility for Your Footprint
Your garden will thank you too, in 2010 when you pack all that rich compost on it-- and you will thank you when those tomatoes, peas, and herbs come bursting from their bed.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Sometimes a Stiff Drink is in Order
Some coping mechanisms when motherhood tramples and you become defeated.
1. Take a walk-- Rain or shine, even though it's the last thing you want to do when you're feeling beaten down. If you make yourself do it, you are sure to feel better-- even if only for the time you're walking.
2. Get OUT of the house! Go ANYWHERE that your child can get out and play too-- likely she needs exercise too because when moms don't exercise, the kids don't exercise... and it's a recipe for disaster. Got to n indoor or outdoor park, to the play area at the mall, find a pool to go swimming in or go to the library and let her hang with other kids in the children's section.
3. Forget the nap that she won't lay down for and read Dora books together in a secret fort.
4. When she does finally lay down for bed or nap (because everyone eventually sleeps) DO NOT clean your house, do homework, or any other such work. Instead, kick back to an audiobook and a glass of wine in bed no matter the time of day or night. Or lay down and sleep hard no matter what time it is.
5. Surround yourself with other moms whose parenting you respect and who can be honest about their hard times too, then lean on them for mama-support!
6. Don't lose control. In other words, don't hit, push, squeeze, slap, or hurt your child in any way
7. Then, LOSE THE GUILT. All mamas and dads make mistakes-- but these mistakes help your kids to see you as a complete person and helps them to understand that people are complex and nothing is perfect. It spices up their perspective of you! So, consider your mistakes learning experiences and don't beat yourself up.
8. Breathe. Isn't this what we tell our children to do? Let's remember it ourselves.
Tomorrow is another day. This is the adventure of a lifetime.
1. Take a walk-- Rain or shine, even though it's the last thing you want to do when you're feeling beaten down. If you make yourself do it, you are sure to feel better-- even if only for the time you're walking.
2. Get OUT of the house! Go ANYWHERE that your child can get out and play too-- likely she needs exercise too because when moms don't exercise, the kids don't exercise... and it's a recipe for disaster. Got to n indoor or outdoor park, to the play area at the mall, find a pool to go swimming in or go to the library and let her hang with other kids in the children's section.
3. Forget the nap that she won't lay down for and read Dora books together in a secret fort.
4. When she does finally lay down for bed or nap (because everyone eventually sleeps) DO NOT clean your house, do homework, or any other such work. Instead, kick back to an audiobook and a glass of wine in bed no matter the time of day or night. Or lay down and sleep hard no matter what time it is.
5. Surround yourself with other moms whose parenting you respect and who can be honest about their hard times too, then lean on them for mama-support!
6. Don't lose control. In other words, don't hit, push, squeeze, slap, or hurt your child in any way
7. Then, LOSE THE GUILT. All mamas and dads make mistakes-- but these mistakes help your kids to see you as a complete person and helps them to understand that people are complex and nothing is perfect. It spices up their perspective of you! So, consider your mistakes learning experiences and don't beat yourself up.
8. Breathe. Isn't this what we tell our children to do? Let's remember it ourselves.
Tomorrow is another day. This is the adventure of a lifetime.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
