Yarn Blessings

Just the other day I was reading a thread on Ravelry about yarns that individuals would, for whatever reason, never buy again. Several posters mentioned that they would like to be rid of their offending yarn. I left a post mentioning, in a joking manner, that I would be happy to take any yarn off their hands. Fast forward 3 days and I am now expecting 8 boxes of yarn from 7 people, in 3 countries on 2 continents! I feel truly blessed by this out pouring of generosity by my fellow Ravelers, and excited for the opurtunity to try some new yarn! I can hardly wait, it's like waiting for Christmas!

Spring is in the air

It's beautiful outside! Sunny, breezy, a nice warm 70 degrees. The ground is warming up, the air smells so good!
I spent 2 hours outside today doing a bit of yard work. Got some leaves raked, some flower seeds planted, and a compost pile started. Now i just need to tackle my garden space. Ugh, that's gonna be a lot of work.....

Green Baby Bottoms

My babies' bottoms are now green. And no, it's not some funky rash. We've made the switch to using cloth diapers 95% of the time.
Now I have to admit, this was an easy one for me. We already had the cloth diapers, I used them about 50% of the time when my son was an infant. But I had let things slide over time, only using them occasionally in favor of the convenience of disposables. I blame my backslide on my distaste for laundry. I hate it and I always forget about it. But no more, I now have a schedule for washing my diapers. Every Monday and Friday, no matter what size the load is, I wash diapers.
Cloth diapers can be a great way to reduce your environmental impact as well as your grocery bill. Invest $400-$1200 once in diapers, covers and pins or snappies and they'll last you for months, possibly years. I currently have my daughter in covers I used with my son, and some of those were purchased at a second hand store. In contrast the cost of diapering with 'sposies can be upwards of $2000 over an average diapering period of two and a half years. And they most certainly cannot be reused by younger siblings, or passed on to another mom. The thing that really changed my thinking was watching the diapers pile up in the garbage can from changing my daughter. In one week, she filled the medium sized can we keep in the bedroom! Talk about an eye opener. Some people have questioned the water use required to wash diapers, but the average water used weekly (50-70 gallons) is equal to a potty trained toddler or an adult flushing the toilet 6-7 times a day over the same week. Not to mention the water used in the manufacture of the 'sposies.
There are many many many reasons to switch to cloth diapers and I would encourage anyone interested to look into it. Check out retail websites, see if your town as a diaper service, even just pick up some cheapies at the local big box store. It can take a little disipline, but in the end it's soooooo worth it.

It's not easy being green...at first

In the words of the imortal Kermit the Frog, "It's not easy being green." In fact, it can be down right confusing, confounding, frustrating and everything in between. But I believe it can be done. We just need to make some changes to the way we see things, to the way we think, to the choices we make, and to our priorities.
But then again, change can be hard and scary. People are bombarded from all sides with articles and commercials and news reports that scream "Green! Green! Green! Be green now! Use this product and be green! Do that and be green!" And inevitably the we try to do to much at one time and things get really hard. And because Americans seem to be allergic to things that make them uncomfortable, we backslide and stop doing anything to green our lives.
So, my new resolution (and the basis of this blog) is to green my (and by extension your) life, bit by bit. Please join me down this path and we can all reap the benefits.