Since I'm on the "going green" topic thought I'd share something I read in a recent Dear Abby column that my mom gave me. It's a list of how long it takes common trash items to decompose in our landfills (or anywhere):
Paper...2 to 5 months
Orange peels...6 months
Milk cartons...5 years
Filter-tip cigarettes...10 to 12 years
Plastic bags...10 to 20 years
Leather shoes...24 to 40 years
Plastic containers...50 to 80 years
Disposable diapers...75 years
Tin cans...100 years
Aluminum cans...200 to 500 years
Styrofoam...NEVER!!!
While reading thru this list I see a lot of items that can be recycled like paper, plastic bags, plastic containers and cans. If you're not already recycling I hope this list inspires you to start now. We've been recycling for years, but we still had about 2 or 3 bags of trash each week. However, since we've started recycling cardboard and paper in addition to the plastic, glass and cans, our trash is down to ONE bag a week!
When I read the list I was suprised by the leather shoes. It seems like items like that should be donated, NOT thrown away. I can't tell you how many items I see in the trash in my neighborhood every week that should've been donated instead of thrown away! As I drive by I think to myself "I'll bet someone else could use...that tricycle...that bike...that baby gate..." (The worst was when my neighbor told me she had thrown away a bunch of baby clothes!!!) Why don't people donate these items instead of filling up our landfills???
The item that really got to me on this list was styrofoam. I didn't realize it NEVER decomposes - that was shocking! Everytime we get carryout or a "doggy bag" I worry about the styrofoam containers they come in. (A lot of places have plastic ones which isn't perfect but it's better than styrofoam.) Next time you're thinking of getting a "doggy bag" please think twice, I know I will.
So the next time you go to throw something in the trash, think about this list and ask yourself these questions: Can I donate it to someone else? Did I really need to have this item in the first place? Can the item be recycled? In other words, "Reuse, Reduce and Recycle!"
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
Don't Buy Bottled Water!
I just watched the trailer for Tapped, a new documentary about the water bottle industry. WOW!!! Please go over and watch it! Remember how the 2004 documentary, Super Size Me, changed the way you thought about fast food? Well, I'll bet this movie will change how you think about bottled water! The trailer already did it to me!
Our family doesn't buy bottled water, instead we have a filter on our fridge that probably makes our tap water healthier than most bottled water out there. Dave, Lexie and I all have our own reusable water bottles that we take to work and school every day. If you are a family who usually buys bottled water, please consider making a change. Use reusable bottles, buy a filter for your sink, and/or use filtered water from your fridge. Not only will you be helping the planet but you'll also save money in the long run!
Check out these other easy tips for Going Green at home!
Our family doesn't buy bottled water, instead we have a filter on our fridge that probably makes our tap water healthier than most bottled water out there. Dave, Lexie and I all have our own reusable water bottles that we take to work and school every day. If you are a family who usually buys bottled water, please consider making a change. Use reusable bottles, buy a filter for your sink, and/or use filtered water from your fridge. Not only will you be helping the planet but you'll also save money in the long run!
Check out these other easy tips for Going Green at home!
Let's Play Ball!
Lexie started T-ball last Thursday. She's never played on a team before. On the way to practice it was so cute, she asked me, "Mommy, will I be a batter or a thrower?" I let her know she'd get to do BOTH! She was happy about that! After practice I asked her what her favorite part was and she said hitting the ball off the T. She actually did pretty good with everything but I did see her crouched down looking for rocks at one point. :) I think keeping the girls' attention on the ball is going to be the hardest part.
Monday will be her first "game" - it's timed (no more than an hour). They don't keep score, don't keep track of outs and everyone gets to bat each "inning." The bad thing is they've only had one out of 4 scheduled practices because of the rain we've had here the last 2 weeks. Hopefully Monday will be nice so the girls can actually learn how to play! I can't wait to see it!
Monday will be her first "game" - it's timed (no more than an hour). They don't keep score, don't keep track of outs and everyone gets to bat each "inning." The bad thing is they've only had one out of 4 scheduled practices because of the rain we've had here the last 2 weeks. Hopefully Monday will be nice so the girls can actually learn how to play! I can't wait to see it!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Do you hear music????
Well, that's because I added it to my blog using playlist.com!!! What do you think? I'm not sure how this will affect those of you with dial-up - please let me know if it makes it harder to read my blog. Also, if you're at work trying to read this and don't want to get "caught" you can scroll down to the bottom and turn off the music - just hit the "pause" button.
Another change especially for you Mom (and the rest of my family and friends without their own blogs) - I've changed the comment settings. So now, even if you don't have a blog, you can leave a comment. (If I end up getting strange comments from unknown people I'll change it back.)
Hope you enjoy the music - I'll add more songs later!
Another change especially for you Mom (and the rest of my family and friends without their own blogs) - I've changed the comment settings. So now, even if you don't have a blog, you can leave a comment. (If I end up getting strange comments from unknown people I'll change it back.)
Hope you enjoy the music - I'll add more songs later!
Saturday, April 25, 2009
A Great Movie (and a Not So Great Movie)
If you haven't seen it yet - you MUST see Slumdog Millionaire! I watched it the other night while Dave was out of town and LOVED it! It has everything a movie should - sadness, happiness, action, adventure, love, hate...at one point I'd be in tears because it was SOOOO sad and then almost standing up and cheering at other parts. Trust me, it's awesome! But don't take my word for it, see it for yourself!
Then there's Twilight...I read all four books and really liked them but was not happy with the movie at all. There were some parts that were good but overall I was very disappointed. First off I didn't think the characters looked like how I'd pictured them in the books, especially the Cullens. In the books the Cullens were take your breath away, drop dead gorgeous but I didn't think that in the movie. As for Bella, she looked fine but her acting wasn't great. Jacob was another one who didn't look like what I thought he would - I thought he'd be better looking. Edward Cullen was the only one I thought did well and looked close to how I'd pictured. Then there was the connection/attraction between Bella and Edward. I just didn't see it - I don't think it was developed or explained well enough - especially if you hadn't read the books. I could go on and on with the things I didn't like about this movie. I don't know if I was just expecting too much, but I was pretty disappointed. So consider yourself warned - you may be disappointed too...So rent Slumdog Millionaire instead!!! :)
Monday, April 20, 2009
God is Good!
God is so amazing! Just when I was ready to give up all hope of ever adopting God stepped in. (NOTE: Before you get too excited - we have not been choosen.) A week ago I wrote in my journal about how frustrated and confused I was with our journey to adopt. When I read it I can feel the confusion, sadness and plain hopelessness in the words I wrote. At the end I prayed that God help us. As always, my prayers were answered but in an unexpected way.
Saturday Dave and I attended an adoption seminar put on by a local church. I had read an article in the paper about it and decided to go. I was hoping to learn more about foster care thinking maybe God doesn't want us to adopt, maybe he wants us to be foster parents instead.
The seminar included some inspiring testimonies from several families who had adopted internationally. Then there were 2 women from an adoption agency who spoke about their agency and specifically about international adoption. I began to wish that Dave and I had pursued international adoption, I thought that if we had maybe we would already have a child. Then, at the very end of their presention, they mentioned that you could adopt from the Oregon foster care system then they sat down. One of the seminar organizers asked if they could speak more about that topic.
As the woman explained how it was possible for MI families working with their agency to adopt thru the Oregon foster system I started to feel excited for the first time in a long time. Hope began to rise inside me and I wondered what Dave was thinking. Was he as excited as I was? Someone asked if you could transfer your approved homestudy from another agency to this program and the answer was "No" - you have to be with that agency. So I asked if, in that same situation, you could have them do a whole new homestudy. The answer was "Yes!" In addition, because of the low fees for adopting thru the foster care system, it would actually be less money than if we were to adopt domestically thru our current agency! Dave and I looked at each other and I knew we were on the same page. He was feeling the same excitement and hopefulness I was!
We had a break shortly after that and spoke briefly to the women from the agency. I could tell that they felt bad for us when we told them how long we'd been waiting. However, they spoke of waiting on God's timing and His plan. They were very nice, encouraging and genuine. One of the women gave us a book to look thru with the pictures of the children available for adoption in Oregon. As Dave and I looked at all the beautiful happy faces of the children my heart ached for them.
Then I turned to a picture of a little boy and girl laying in a wagon and my heart stopped. I felt such a pull as I looked into their beautiful innocent eyes. (They are brother and sister, he is 3 and she is 1.) I paused at the page but then continued on to the other pictures in the book. But my mind kept going back to those 2. I could picture them as part of our family! I wanted to be their mom!
The only thing keeping me from that are three things: 1) a new homestudy which will take 3-4 months to complete, 2) an okay by the committee responsible for picking the families for the children (there may be other families interested in those kids - the committee chooses who they think would be best for the children), and 3) most importantly, my husband's okay. You see, Dave has always said he only wants 2 children even though I've always said I wanted 3. But I agreed to only have 2, that is until we decided to adopt. I've told him that if we adopt we need to do it twice, so that the children could have someone else to "relate" to, someone who knows what they're going thru. Also, I didn't want our kids to be called "the adopted kid" and "the biological kid." But this reasoning still hasn't changed Dave's mind so why would he change his mind now?
After we got done with the book I couldn't help flipping back to the page that had tugged at my heart. I had one last look with Dave before giving the book back. We then spent the next hour and a half listening to a woman from Bethany talk about the thousands of children in the MI foster care system who need a family. It's so sad and I felt like I should want to adopt thru MI but I kept thinking of the kids in Oregon.
We were barely out the door at the end of the meeting when I asked Dave, "So, what do you think?" As I suspected, he was as ready as I was to pursue an Oregon foster care adoption! On the drive home I reminded him of the little boy and girl in the wagon and asked what he thought about them. To my surprise, he didn't immediately say no. In fact, he asked a couple questions that lead me to believe he isn't totally opposed to the idea!
We have already submitted our pre-application and we will now wait to be contacted about the next steps. There are a lot of unknowns, like whether or not that brother and sister will still be available by the time we get thru with the homestudy process. We don't know. As always, only God knows what will happen. But I do know one thing, last week I was feeling sad and wrote this in my journal: "I wish our path was clear to both Dave and I. Lord, please give us direction. Please give us the strength to get thru the wait and the peace with whatever path you choose for us." Wow, did He ever answer that prayer (and then some)! Isn't God amazing?!!! Not only do we have direction but where I was once filled with worry and despair, I am now filled with hope and excitement! Glory to God!
Saturday Dave and I attended an adoption seminar put on by a local church. I had read an article in the paper about it and decided to go. I was hoping to learn more about foster care thinking maybe God doesn't want us to adopt, maybe he wants us to be foster parents instead.
The seminar included some inspiring testimonies from several families who had adopted internationally. Then there were 2 women from an adoption agency who spoke about their agency and specifically about international adoption. I began to wish that Dave and I had pursued international adoption, I thought that if we had maybe we would already have a child. Then, at the very end of their presention, they mentioned that you could adopt from the Oregon foster care system then they sat down. One of the seminar organizers asked if they could speak more about that topic.
As the woman explained how it was possible for MI families working with their agency to adopt thru the Oregon foster system I started to feel excited for the first time in a long time. Hope began to rise inside me and I wondered what Dave was thinking. Was he as excited as I was? Someone asked if you could transfer your approved homestudy from another agency to this program and the answer was "No" - you have to be with that agency. So I asked if, in that same situation, you could have them do a whole new homestudy. The answer was "Yes!" In addition, because of the low fees for adopting thru the foster care system, it would actually be less money than if we were to adopt domestically thru our current agency! Dave and I looked at each other and I knew we were on the same page. He was feeling the same excitement and hopefulness I was!
We had a break shortly after that and spoke briefly to the women from the agency. I could tell that they felt bad for us when we told them how long we'd been waiting. However, they spoke of waiting on God's timing and His plan. They were very nice, encouraging and genuine. One of the women gave us a book to look thru with the pictures of the children available for adoption in Oregon. As Dave and I looked at all the beautiful happy faces of the children my heart ached for them.
Then I turned to a picture of a little boy and girl laying in a wagon and my heart stopped. I felt such a pull as I looked into their beautiful innocent eyes. (They are brother and sister, he is 3 and she is 1.) I paused at the page but then continued on to the other pictures in the book. But my mind kept going back to those 2. I could picture them as part of our family! I wanted to be their mom!
The only thing keeping me from that are three things: 1) a new homestudy which will take 3-4 months to complete, 2) an okay by the committee responsible for picking the families for the children (there may be other families interested in those kids - the committee chooses who they think would be best for the children), and 3) most importantly, my husband's okay. You see, Dave has always said he only wants 2 children even though I've always said I wanted 3. But I agreed to only have 2, that is until we decided to adopt. I've told him that if we adopt we need to do it twice, so that the children could have someone else to "relate" to, someone who knows what they're going thru. Also, I didn't want our kids to be called "the adopted kid" and "the biological kid." But this reasoning still hasn't changed Dave's mind so why would he change his mind now?
After we got done with the book I couldn't help flipping back to the page that had tugged at my heart. I had one last look with Dave before giving the book back. We then spent the next hour and a half listening to a woman from Bethany talk about the thousands of children in the MI foster care system who need a family. It's so sad and I felt like I should want to adopt thru MI but I kept thinking of the kids in Oregon.
We were barely out the door at the end of the meeting when I asked Dave, "So, what do you think?" As I suspected, he was as ready as I was to pursue an Oregon foster care adoption! On the drive home I reminded him of the little boy and girl in the wagon and asked what he thought about them. To my surprise, he didn't immediately say no. In fact, he asked a couple questions that lead me to believe he isn't totally opposed to the idea!
We have already submitted our pre-application and we will now wait to be contacted about the next steps. There are a lot of unknowns, like whether or not that brother and sister will still be available by the time we get thru with the homestudy process. We don't know. As always, only God knows what will happen. But I do know one thing, last week I was feeling sad and wrote this in my journal: "I wish our path was clear to both Dave and I. Lord, please give us direction. Please give us the strength to get thru the wait and the peace with whatever path you choose for us." Wow, did He ever answer that prayer (and then some)! Isn't God amazing?!!! Not only do we have direction but where I was once filled with worry and despair, I am now filled with hope and excitement! Glory to God!
Friday, April 17, 2009
Great Book!
Just wanted to quickly tell you about a GREAT book I just finished! It's called "The Middle Place" by Kelly Corrigan. A patron at the library suggested it to me (wish I could remember who so I could thank them).
Anyway, it's a true story about a 30-something woman (wife and mother of 2 small children) who gets breast cancer and then she finds out her father, whom she's really close to, has bladder cancer at the same time. I know it sounds depressing but it's actually a really funny book. The author wrote it so well! She alternates the chapters, one is about when she was a child then the next one is about now. It's called "middle place" because she's in the middle of being an adult - a wife and mother - but still a child - a daughter. I can't say enough great things about it! I couldn't put it down! I'm adding it to my list of "favorite books" right now! Hope you enjoy it too!
p.s. If you've never read "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert, that's another great book I'd highly recommend! (I thought about this book several times when I was reading "Middle Place.")
Anyway, it's a true story about a 30-something woman (wife and mother of 2 small children) who gets breast cancer and then she finds out her father, whom she's really close to, has bladder cancer at the same time. I know it sounds depressing but it's actually a really funny book. The author wrote it so well! She alternates the chapters, one is about when she was a child then the next one is about now. It's called "middle place" because she's in the middle of being an adult - a wife and mother - but still a child - a daughter. I can't say enough great things about it! I couldn't put it down! I'm adding it to my list of "favorite books" right now! Hope you enjoy it too!
p.s. If you've never read "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert, that's another great book I'd highly recommend! (I thought about this book several times when I was reading "Middle Place.")
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