Hugging the Midline

MoGreenMo Wrap Up

So, that’s it. Twenty-four Green changes in two months. Which, it turns out, is enough to feel like we’re on our way to a lifestyle change.

I am so much more conscious now of the purchases we make, and find myself asking lots of questions before I buy something: Can we find it locally and/or second-hand? Is it organic and cruelty-free (Kalona cheese and butter, cage-free eggs)? Can I make it myself (popsicles and bread)? Is there an option with less packaging or less-offensive packaging (soap packaged in recycled paper instead of a plastic pump)? And even: do we really need this thing at all?

Then there are more questions after something has served its purpose: Can it be recycled (like the tinfoil and office paper I used to unthinkingly throw away)? Can it be given a second life by reusing it for another purpose or giving it away?

Of course, these 24 changes are just scratching the surface. I don’t plan to catalog each future Green change in this blog, but I’m sure we’ll continue making changes.

A few things I still plan to do:

• Compost.
• Make more food from scratch.
• Get a little basket on my bike so I can use it more for errands (taking inspiration from my sister Jana in Portland, Oregon, who commutes to work by bike every day).
• Start using my damn reusable bags 100 percent of the time! The habit is pretty ingrained now, and I’m more than 90 percent compliant, but this is one area in which it seems like it should be easy to be perfect!
• Keep learning! I had an interesting conversation with my friend Kelly after I posted about my new water bottle made from corn. After talking to her and doing some research, it turns out that corn probably isn’t the best choice since it’s such a resource hog, although I still think it’s better than nasty stinkin’ plastic any day.
• Keep having fun with this and not beat myself up too much for (ahh...) my long, hot showers.

If you came in late and want to read about any of my GreenMo and MoGreenMo changes, here are the related posts:

• Change 1: Ours is Bigger Than Yours
• Changes 2-4: Resolution Redux
• Change 5: Paper Chase
• Change 5 followup: I Am A Dork
• Changes 6-7: Mo Gockico
• Changes 8-9: This is Not a Crafts Blog!
• Changes 10-12: Keeping it Green
• GreenMo WrapUp: Once You Go Green
• MoGreenMo Announcement
• Change 13: Plastic Freakout
• Changes 14-16: The Greening Continues
• Changes 17-19: Green Shopping Spree
• Changes 21-24: Keep on Greenin'

Keep on Greenin'

A few more changes to bring MoGreenMo on home:

Green change #20 — I finally decided to spend the extra money for the Seventh Generation chlorine-free diapers. Of course, the hard-core Greenies use cloth diapers, which we didn't even attempt; if I want any sort of cred as an environmentalist I should really try to use the least offensive disposable diapers. Since Seventh Generation diapers aren't bleached, they don't pollute with dioxins, so they're a little better than Pampers.

We bought a case of Seventh Generation diapers through Amazon's discounted subscription service. I didn't do the math for an exact comparison, but Seventh Generation isn't much more expensive when bought in bulk.

These new diapers work fine during the day, but we had some leak-through issues when using them overnight, so now we're stocking two brands, Pampers for day and Seventh Generation for night.

Now the Big Question is, since bleaching diapers creates environmental toxins, why do companies even do it? Why bleach any paper products like paper towels or napkins? Do people really care that much about having white paper products instead of tan? As Glen commented, it seems nuts to pay MORE for a product that involves LESS processing. If everyone demanded unbleached paper products, I guess companies would make more of them and then they'd be cheaper.

Green change #21 — We covered the inside of our windows with plastic sheeting to minimize energy loss. Although we're using less energy (and feel much more toasty on cold, windy days), we're creating additional waste from the sheeting and the packaging it came in, so I consider this kind of a wash environmentally. But here's the Green change: Since our windows are six-feet tall, we had lots of leftover sheeting which a couple months ago I probably would have tossed in the garbage. Now that I'm being more thoughtful about my choices, I realized that our leftovers would work on standard-sized windows. I posted them on Freecycle, and someone took them. What an easy change for me, and I helped someone out in the process.

Green change #22 — When our stash of paper napkins ran out, we started using cloth napkins all the time. We own plenty of cloth napkins, but for some reason I've always thought of them as being for special occasions only. I really enjoy using them, and apparently so does our son. The other day Jack was eating a snack in the car and started asking for a "napnik." We found a couple paper napkins stashed in the glove compartment and handed him one, but he became indignant, throwing it down and crying "no!!! napnik! napnik!" It took a moment, but we finally realized that he's not used to paper napkins; now only cloth will do for our little sophisticate.

Green change #23 — We started recycling tinfoil. That was one of those embarrassing "duh" moments for me when I saw tinfoil on a list of things that can go in the recycling bin instead of the trash.

Green change #24 — I've taken a cue from my thrifty husband by making sure I use every last bit of my toiletries, adding water to the almost-empty hand soap bottle and cutting the tops off tubes of lotion and conditioner.

Oops!; Grateful Again

61. My own private in-house proofreader who points out my many blog typos with kindness.

Grateful Anyway

Gratitude is usually a pretty easy practice for me, because most days my life is all rainbows and kitty cats, but when one of said kitties keeps SHITTING ON THE RUG, I find myself feeling a little less serene. These are the days when I need to remind myself of the good stuff the most, though, yeah?

57. An African Violet on sale for $2.99 at Hy-Vee. They must have known I needed just that little pick-me-up on my desk to help carry me through until spring (sigh...).



58. My good health and the health of those I love most. That should be on the list every day.



59. A husband who amazes me with his ability to help me look on the bright side, and who runs that Rug Doctor like No Other.



60. An almost-two-year-old who delights me daily. We need to shoot some video of him counting to ten while it's still such a sweet novelty: "onnnnnne, twoooooo, freeeeeee, poooooouuur, piiiiiiive, siiiiiix, [skips seven], aaaaaaaaaaape, niiiiiiine, TENNNNNN!!!!! TENNNNNNN!!!! TENNNNNN!!!!! TENNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!" That last bit is always said in the silliest voice he can muster, running in circles, little arms waving over his head in a victory dance.

Happiness is a Warm Pudding Cake

Ask anyone on my dad's side of the family to name their favorite dessert, and I'm guessing they'd all say my Grandma Norma's pudding cake. Hot out of the oven, served with vanilla ice cream, drizzled with the chocolaty sugary syrup scraped from the bottom of the cake pan.   

Growing up meant Sunday dinners and birthday celebrations at my grandparents' farm. Snooping through boxes in the cold, musty storage room for hidden treasures like Grandma's old costume jewelry or Dad and Uncle Matt's childhood toys. Picking peas and lettuce from the garden, shucking corn on the back porch, climbing the apple tree to pick those perfect tiny, sour apples. Pestering the grown-ups to stop lingering at the table after lunch because I was bored and wanted dessert, and then being told to go run around the house a few times.

Annual fishing trips to Canada with the extended family. Endless hours building sandcastles on the beach, catching perch off the dock and then setting them free, big fish fries in the evening after the guys got home from fishing, then for dessert, pudding cake. And the lucky early riser the next morning who got to eat that last little square of cake for breakfast. (By the way, I didn't fully appreciate these annual trips to Coutts Camp as a kid, especially as a teenager, but in retrospect my memories of them are so idyllic — what I wouldn't give on this below-freezing Iowa day to be floating in Lake of the Woods on a raft, reading a book while the minnows nibble my toes...)   

The pudding cake recipe is about as easy as you can get, just a regular packaged mix with a couple extra things thrown in; you probably already have the ingredients in your pantry. We don't make a lot of desserts around our house, but this old favorite gets pulled out whenever we have guests for dinner like we did last weekend.

Now — the best part about making pudding cake for dinner guests — we've been enjoying the leftovers all week. Last night Glen and I warmed some up in the microwave as a late-night treat after his radio show, and I explained to him the importance of the perfect cake to ice cream ratio.

Years ago I used to attend a music festival at which everyone had to work a couple shifts in the kitchen. I remember being told by the volunteer coordinator that the secret to their food was the love and care they put into cooking it. They stood by that philosophy so firmly that they told us to skip our shift if we were in a bad mood; they didn't want our crabbiness to rub off on the sloppy josephines or tofu scramble.

I like that idea, and now making pudding cake always makes me think of it. I do think it's one of the yummiest desserts I've ever had, and I appreciate the simplicity of the recipe. But for me the biggest enjoyment comes from the associated memories and the care I know Grandma put into making it for us (and still does, although luckily for her there are lots of other cooks in the kitchen these days). I hope some of that essence comes through when I make it.

Pudding Cake

1. Prepare any chocolate cake mix according to package directions.
2. Combine:
   2 cups boiling water
   1 cup white sugar
   1 cup brown sugar
   4 T cocoa
3. Drizzle the mixture over the cake.
4. Bake according to package directions.
5. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.
   
      

Gender Benders

I added a few new Gender Benders, including some free ones. I especially love Evan Dando's cover of Whitney Houston's How Will I Know (free), and Eva Cassidy's cover of Kathy's Song.

Barack Obama Left a Comment on My Blog!

Well, no, Barack Obama didn't really leave a comment on my blog, or chop down a cherry tree with me, or drunk dial me. But he might carry a picture of me in his wallet (aww, shucks), according to the weird (and basically pointless, but also a little addictive) website, "Barack Obama is My New Bicycle!"

[P.S. My first commenter on this post (hi, mom!) said she didn't get it. For anyone else thinking the same thing, clicking on the link above will take you to a page that gives you some silly little random fake message about you and Barack Obama, like telling you he saved his dessert for you or gave you a puppy. I don't know why someone would think to create such a website, but hitting refresh on it will give you a stream of similar silly little messages, and I thought it might be some silly little fun for my readers who like to throw sheep at people in their spare time.]

My Second Life

Back when I was single and childless (and blog-less), I spent a fair amount of time on Friendster.com. Thank God, since that's how I met my one-and-only. Now I almost never enter Friendster-land, but if I remember correctly, belonging to Friendster was pretty simple. I could invite friends, accept invitations from others, update my pictures and my list of favorite TV shows, and...that was about all that was required of me.

In the last few months I've been besieged with invites to places like Facebook (mostly from my younger cousins) and LinkedIn (mostly from professional associates). I was feeling bad about neglecting these invitations, so I finally joined both services, accepted the invites that had been piling up, then quickly uploaded a picture and posted a link to my blog.

Now that I've joined Facebook, it turns out there are many social obligations in this social network — just today one Facebook friend "poked" me and another asked me to "chop down a cherry tree" with her (what the heck does that mean?). If I was so inclined, I could probably spend my whole day in Facebook joining online "Scrabulous" games and "throwing sheep" (huh?) at people. I've also been asked by Facebook to confirm how I know various people — are we friends? relatives? business associates? or did we "hook up"? (seems like pretty personal information to share with the interwebs!)

These online diversions look like fun, but I'm not sure how I might squeeze all of this cyber-socializing into my schedule. Not that I don't spend my fair share of time on the internet between trying to post daily on my blog, plus stopping by other blogs for inspiration. Then there's my, you know, "first life" — my kid, hubby, and job that all require occasional attention. Which is all to say, my dance card is feeling a bit full at the moment, so if you ask me to throw a sheep with you and I don't get around to it for a few weeks, don't take it personally. ;-)

Green Shopping Spree

For my next few Green changes, I treated myself to a little shopping spree at Natural Selections. This awesome store (and website) features clothing and bedding made from organic fibers, wooden toys, bamboo kitchen items, and other natural products. It also happens to be about the only place you can buy clothes in Fairfield other than WalMart, and a nice quick walk for me (important on these single-digit temperature days) at only three blocks from our house. I haven't done a lot of shopping there because it's a little pricey, as so many Green products are. But for the most part my Green changes involve conserving resources and money, so I think it will even out in the end if I pay a little more for certain eco-friendly products. Or maybe I was just looking for an excuse to shop.

Green change #17 — I wanted a new pair of thick, warm, comfy socks, so I bought a pair from India Organic made of organic cotton and bamboo, which seems to be showing up everywhere these days. Bamboo is an easily renewable resource (you know how fast it grows if you've ever grown a cut piece of bamboo in a glass of water) that can be grown without the use of pesticides or herbicides.

Green change #18 — Because of my aforementioned plastic freakout, I've been trying to avoid the stuff as much as possible. I've always bought hand soap that's biodegradable, cruelty-free, etc. BUT, my usual variety comes in a plastic pump. So I've decided to be brave and experiment with bar soap, preferably packaged without any plastic. I bought a beautiful Japanese ceramic blue soap dish for our upstairs bathroom, along with a bar of lavender soap from Pangea Organics. It's biodegradable and cruelty-free, of course, smells nice, and leaves my hands clean and soft.

The coolest part, which I didn't realize until I got home and read the label, is that the soap's packaging is made from 100 percent post-consumer paper embedded with organic flower seeds; I can plant the whole thing in my garden this spring. I love the idea that a product's packaging can be something useful and surprising in itself, not just more nasty stinkin' plastic for the landfill.

Green Change #19 — I've been looking for a water bottle that's not plastic. A couple people had recommended aluminum, which I thought I might find at Natural Selections. I didn't see any aluminum bottles there, but I did see (and buy) a water bottle that says it was made entirely from corn. I know Ethanol is supposed to have its own set of environmental issues compared to regular gasoline, due to the way it's processed; I don't know if my corn-based water bottle has similar processing issues, but the label says it will biodegrade in 80 days in a commercial compost system. I wonder how long it would take in a landfill — less than 1,000 years, I suspect!

The other cool thing about this bottle is that it contains its own water filter, so I can drink regular old tap water without worrying about it. I've been thinking a lot lately about the craziness that we buy bottled water because we're scared of what comes out of the tap. I like what No Impact Man said in a recent post: "Municipal water should be clean and free. If rich people [by which he means anyone who can afford to buy bottled water] don't insist on this by drinking it, it won't be." 

Jack Counts for the First Time While Proving That Eating Animals is Not a Problem for Him

Putting first piece of chicken in his mouth: "One bawk!" And second piece: "Two bawk!"