Okay, enough of being a scolding harridan.

Earth Day came and went.
I still drive an SUV, but I did do some research (and consulting with Alan) on installing some rain barrels in the back yard, thanks to Ealdthryth's post. Need to see if Behnke's has some in stock, or chase down this Arlington Echo place. I figure at the least, it will put a small dent into water bill when we need to top off the pond. Saving water in this house of three fish tanks and the koi pond (and a girl who loves her long showers) is like trying to fill the Grand Canyon one brick at a time, but it is a start. I also continue to use the reusable bags when shopping, and even got a free one today in trade for a pile of plastic grocery bags. I try to use cold water in the washing machine except for towels, sheets, etc. And we don't have any big desktop machines in the house sucking up energy, just some laptops and a mac-mini. I've thought of composting our coffee grounds and used tea bags and the few other plant matter bits, but flat spaces away from the fence are in short supply. hmm... Perhaps I could start a small garden plot in the backyard, but what would I grow? I like tomatoes. I have some herbs I never use (rosemary, oregano, chamomile, lavender and hopefully the mint will come back.) I liked the blackberries two summers ago, but they were a beast to harvest on the hill behind the pond. Perhaps I need waders. Oh, and there is the whole nature-hates-me aspect to trying to grow things. I'd need to convince Alan that HE wants to start a small garden plot...

So baby steps are at least steps. I took my manager's soda bottle from her to recycle before she trashed it. yeah, um, go me.

Last night, inspired by needing a reminder on how to do sprang, I made a little red wool bag. I warped up my faboo Spanish Peacock sprang loom at home while waiting for a load to finish the spin cycle before tossing the clothes in the dryer. Then I took it to fight practice and did most of the body of the pouch, and preparing it for the condensed chain stitch to form the bottom, just before heading out to dinner with folks. (BTW Miguel, Wally admired the workmanship of the loom and beater for quite some time, while we chatted about string stuff and the tools needed for the fiber addiction.) And I finished the bottom of the bag, sewing up the sides and braiding ties for the drawstring portion before crashing in bed. Hooray Sprang! I should take pictures. What to try next...

I love my truck...
I love my truck...
I love my truck...

Hadn't filled up in a while. Gas was 3.38/gallon on the way home from Kynny's birthday dinner, and that was at the cheap place.

sigh.

On the plus side, I was able to donate the two large bags of styrofoam peanuts from our pottery shipment to a shipping and packaging store, so that they will be reused. And the rest of the packaging was recyclable cardboard. yay.

When I got home and brought in the trash bins, I was attacked by the bushes flanking the path to our back gate, so after stowing the bins, I got the loppers and attacked them with vim and vigor (or piss and vinegar) and cut them back so I could walk between them safely. Sadly, I can only cut the boxwood back so far or else it looks ugly (Alan thought trimming it twice a year was enough...), but I felt no problem mutilating the side of our neighbor's thorny shrub that was encroaching in my path, and at least tried to smooth it up and over the top so it doesn't eventually form a little thorny arbor overhead. I did leave the raked pile of clippings for Alan to collect and truck up the hill and over the fence to the brush pile, cause I'm like that.

I will be at the MOL table at TOC this weekend, so again, find me or avoid me there. Alas, you fighters and marshals who wish to take the field will not be able to avoid me. Oh, and yes, I do look over the sign-in sheets and will call out anyone I see who I noticed did not sign in. Yes, I am looking at you, person who forgot to sign in last weekend who I expect to see on Saturday...
And be nice to my MOL in training, since he just autocratted NOTT last weekend.

The past two days have been seriously meh inducing. I woke up yesterday with a really sore throat, but assumed it must be due to allergies or something, taking ibuprofen to calm the inflammation. Today, I still had a sore throat, and a flashlight illuminated the white chunky stuff on my tonsils. So I now have antibiotics and Cepacol and will struggle to life tomorrow, especially with NOTT this weekend to be ready for. So far I've spent minimal time on the computer, lots of time napping, some reading and watching tv/movies. Find me (or avoid me) at the MOL table on Saturday.

My shoulders are peeling and making me feel quite snake-like. Soft loose fabrics only may touch. My green cable cotton cardi was too rough today. Fleece is best, but a bit warm given the weather. Moisturizer is my friend, and the sinks are littered with my peeled skin (and coughed up phlegm.) Yeah. gross, sorry. not really.

On the plus side, Alan has done well. His charcoal gray suit was wearing out, but instead of tossing/donating it, he took it into the tailor at Men's Wearhouse (when picking up a new suit) and asked the tailor to refurbish it. She did a stellar job of replacing the lining (including moving the tag over from the old lining to the new), recuffing the pants to take away the worn hem, replacing the bottoms of his worn out pockets, etc. It looks good as new, and gives his favorite suit a longer life. (Yes, he wears a suit most days of the week.) That's a nice little green step, the reuse part of reduce, reuse, and recycle.  I imagine kass_rants would be a little proud.

Time for bed.

 Blearghhhhh... Braaaiiinnnssss, Braii-ugh, wha? Ogh. Braaaaiiiinnnzzzzzz...  (translation: iz zombie, still sick)


But I came home and sifted through our recycle paper pile and pulled out all the political propaganda mailings. Alan's usually good about clearing this area out prior to guests, so the longest these could have been sitting there is a month and a half. 
11 for Donna Edwards, 7 for Albert Wynn. 
The best part was the 2 identical mailings from the Sierra Club for Donna Edwards. For Shame! 3 came from a group called Maryland WOMEN VOTE! for her. And 6 fine mailings came from her own group Donna Edwards for Congress. Mr. Wynn only sent 3 from his own campaign, and the other 4 came from Realtors Political Action Committee. I believe all of them will get angry messages back.

I also went pawing through ealdthryth's green posts and found a link for GreenDimes.com that reduces your junk mail and plants trees on your behalf. Now this will be worth the money if they reduce my hassle and stuff to recycle. Reduce does come first in the mantra.

The one good thing about the icky weather this afternoon/evening is that there was no horde waiting outside the polling place to accost you to vote for their guy. I even bought a magazine at CVS this morning (when getting another antibiotic Rx filled) to have reading material for the wait. I didn't even get the chance to crack it open as I had no wait, and walked right in and voted in less than ten minutes.

BTW, the local politicians are pissing me off. For the MD 4th congressional district, I have received so much junk mail from the two (assumed) leading democratic candidates full of negative (and some positive) BS that it makes my hippie heart want to scream for the trees. I literally got 5 in the mail from the two candidates today only. Seriously, five huge multiple page pamphlets, 3 from one and 2 from another. I actually got so pissed off, I sent a note to Donna Edwards' campaign site contact regarding the shame that someone who calls herself an environmentally friendly candidate should feel at the pile of junk mail I have to recycle in her name. And Albert Wynn? Oy vey. 

So I did my research on the democratic candidates, visiting each of their websites and reading up on their stance on the issues, etc. On the whole Jason Jennings really spoke to me, so he got my vote. I was glad that Edwards and Wynn didn't appeal to me on the issue level since they appall me on an advertising level. Sadly, JJ probably won't get the nomination since he didn't advertise and, let's be real, not everyone takes the time to look up everything themselves.

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Speaking of being green, I've taken some small steps towards being more environmentally friendly myself where I can. Yes, I still love and drive my SUV. But we have not been heating the house as toasty to save a bit on the energy usage and bills. I've also taken to buying more organic in products, except when the packaging is so outrageous to make it not worth it. (Quaker Oatmeal, what is with you packing the simple harvest stuff in plastic instead of the nice waxed paper packages of your regular oatmeal? Ditto with you free-range egg folks putting eggs in plastic containers vs. the recyclable cardboard ones?) But my biggest step has been to take and use reusable bags to the grocery store and other shopping outages. I've been doing this for months now, and it warms my heart, and I can carry more in each bag. It really costs me so little, just keep the canvas bags in the truck and take them in shopping when I do. I've done this at Giant, CVS, Trader Joe's, Bed Bath and Beyond, Target, and even DSW. The noticeably thinner pile of plastic bags that need recycling is what makes me really happy.

So Green is the new Pink, and has been for a little while. Wish more folks would make the small changes.