A few random thoughts

I am curious what am I to do with all of the light bulbs after I have switched to Compact Florescent??

I was sitting at dinner last night my seat faces the mantle of the gas fireplace in our living room on the mantle I have some glass bottles that I saved (I love Love LOVE flavored coffee and Starbucks iced mocha I gotta get a bottle almost every store trip it is one of my many weaknesses) so I save the bottles to use as bud vases for the many flowers I get from my boys. Since the calender says it is spring but Northern WI has not caught on yet I have no flowers to display and up there in my empty "vases" are 3 incandescent light bulbs

I was looking at this thinking

what the hell am I supposed to do with those?? I mean they still work I did not wait till light bulbs burned out to change them I bought packs of CFLs every week (still working on the change over) and now I have these light bulbs that work but are not CFLs

Recycle them? well sure I can do that

I guess I could also leave them in the vases I mean they reflect candle light nicely during our Earth Hour (which as you read in the previous we want to do at least once a week) Tim suggested we could paint them..... maybe take some wire and make some funky weirdo sculpture LOL

Combining trips
I know we hear all about it in order to save gas (which here by us is at $3.39 a gallon OUCH that causes great pain when you have to drive at least 15 miles to get anywhere)
So what is combining your trips ? most people already have an errand day where they run to town to get all their errands done.

I know that when I travel I do not like to do it more than once a week. I usually leave the house with the 3 year old Nik and QT my little piece of arm candy

For me combining trips means I plan out everything as though as I am going on a secret mission.
I have my list I check to make certain I have provisions for the trip (jug of water, baggie of Cheerios, fruit bars, raisins diapers wipes blanket hats for boys boots lined up by the door) I check my stash of things in the pantry to see if my big boys ate some crucial element of our menu. I make my grocery list again...

Then I check around

Library books? Deposit need to be made at the bank? anything need to be mailed ?

I think my best weapon against unneeded runs to town would have to be my menu and list

I make a menu every week I plan it out based on things I have in my pantry that I want to use up and any events we may have running that week.

A menu works so nicely I really do not know how we survived without one but I do know we did . I even post my menu for the week on the fridge it saves me hearing 5 times "What's for dinner?"

For example tonight we are reusing the leftovers from my son Tim's birthday party we had a macho nacho bar with chicken beans beef cheese etc

well tonight we are going to have Quesidillas I take the leftovers spread them on half a tortilla and broil them on low you have your choice chicken, cheese, beef or bean and cheese. or a combo
My Garden

I am looking forward to spring I really really crave warmth and sunshine and less mud and snow
I want to see leaves on the trees and hear the sounds of springtime in my house (my husband and oldest son sneezing their heads off)

We were talking the other evening during dinner about the prices of food how silly they are this year and how we are really going to do our best to get a good crop in from our garden to get things we need to ease the burden next fall and winter

We get apples from our apple trees we will definitely have tomatoes I plan on growing corn I want to get some grape vines and potatoes and there are just so many things I know we can do to ease the burden of "needing" to run to the store

I am hopeful that in the next couple of paychecks we will have the money to get baby chicks and perhaps some hens that are already laying. We did chickens for a few years and stopped having them I was too busy elsewhere to take care of them. I really look forward to being more self sufficient in this area.

G-Force

Another thing I was thinking about was Alex's idea for G-Force. He talked to his teacher and she is happy to join him. He wants to have the first "mission" be this weekend but we are looking at another spring snow storm coming our way. I think one thing he could do is talk to others to spread a word hope to other young people.

I mean when you hear about these doomsday scenarios and you listen to some of the theories you can get pretty hopeless. imagine being a child sitting in a science class...you are listening to the stories of how we use more energy than other nations ...gas prices are up ... families are canceling vacations because they can't afford to drive anywhere. and then you see things that show people and the huge amount of trash

What is a kid to do??

Most adults also feel like this "how can I make a difference"

I reminded Alex of the old saying "many hands make light work" if you have only one person working toward something it will take a long time but if everyone pitches in just a little bit you will see a difference much sooner!

Kids CAN do something

Kids Can pick up trash...My Nik is 3 he knows how to pick up something and put it in a bag on our drive to the school the other night I lost count of how many aluminum cans there were on the road side

Little kids CAN plant a tree ..granted they need someone to buy them the tree and someone to dig the hole but they can help!

Little kids CAN turn off lights

and the best thing kids CAN do is irritate their parents and family members

BUG THEM get them to do something TALK about things you can do to save energy things that are easy stuff that wont change lifestyle drastically or cost a ton of money but that can make a difference.

I am big believer in the power of children. I have seen my boys tackle some very difficult things in their lives they have met challenges and come up with solutions. They have great ability and I am very proud of my young men. Help your child learn that just because they are a kid they are not powerless. It is great gift to teach someone!