Attack Of the Unknown Flowering Plant

I can't remembering the name of these plants (please tell me if you know.) We planted its seeds because we got them for free, and needed to fill this space in our garden. The plant slowly grew throughout the summer, and didn't start flowering until August. Now it's gone from a lovely, drought-tolerant, flowering plant to a monstrous bush that is trying to take over our patio. Look at how it's tendrils are sneakily wrapping themselves around our patio furniture, ready to take it down.
Whatever this plant is, I doubt it will be part of our garden next summer.

Saving The Planet Is Trashing My House

Remember the 70's TV show Sanford and Son? When I would watch reruns of the show, which is about a father and son who co-own a junk business, I would cringe at the thought of living in a house brimming with junk.
Well, that show is my reality now that I'm trying to recycle everything I can. My house is filled with bins containing some sort of "to-be-recycled" material, such as corrugated cardboard and paperboard.
I'd love to turn everything over to our trash collector, but can't because it only takes certain plastics, glass, aluminum cans and paper. Those materials only touch the tip of the recycling iceberg. Our local recycling center will take corrugated cardboard, paperboard, juice box containers, phone books, clothes and shoes, so I store those materials in my basement until I can drive the stuff over there. I try to keep things in neat piles, but that only lasts a few days, and it soon looks like the photo below.

But there are limits to what the recycling center takes. It doesn't take bottle caps, but Aveda stores and salons will and use the to make its packaging. So now I have a bag of bottle caps that I will run over to the Aveda store at the mall when I get a chance.

Molly, queen of the junk-filled basement.

I've also got a tub filled with old toys and outgrown clothes for the next JBF Sale. Plus, I'm saving clothes that have stains and tears so I can use them for cleaning rags.

Seeing all this junk cluttering my house makes me realize that recycling is only part of the answer to helping the planet. That's the conclusion "Sustainable Dave" made when he challenged himself to store a year's worth of trash in his basement and blog about it. The only way he's managed to do this challenge is by buying less stuff. Trying to to maneuver around small mountains of recyclable materials makes me realize our family needs to do the same.

My Special Talent

I reverse the car.
Bam! Crunch! My heart hits my throat.
Must inspect damage.

Not too bad this time.
Just a dent above the wheel.
We exchange info.

Time to call hubby.
I’ve hit three cars in three years.
Will he divorce me?

No, but my car insurance may. Read some more haikus here.

Replace Plastic With Glass

In the past, I've often reused my plastic tub containers, such as ones for cream cheese, to store left-overs. But with the bisphenal-A scare, plastic is not such a user-friendly material any more. Even if you don't have any more polycarbonate bottles or bowls, many experts caution against microwaving food in any type of plastic bowl, since the plastic breaks down in the heat and leaches chemcials onto the food.

So that 's why this tip I read in National Geographic's Green Guide magazine is such a no-brainer: instead of saving plastic containers for food storage, save glass ones instead. Glass is safe to microwave, so you don't have to take the extra step of putting leftover food in a microwave-safe container.

So my Thrifty Green Thursday Tip of the Week is save your glass jars and bowls and recycle the plastic ones. For more tips, click here.

Knitting Inspiration Turned Frustration

Blogging has reawakened my desire to knit. When I graduated from college 15 years ago (OMG!!), the first thing I did was take a knitting class. I wanted to do something meaningful but required no brain power. I wanted to use my hands.

The class I took was great--the instructor was a woman in her sixty's from the former Eastern Soviet Bloc. She was a knitting dynamo. At one point during the class, when I was turning the yarn into knots, she took my needles and knitted at least 2 inches in 30 minutes--no easy feat.

So began my knitting journey. Unfortunately, my desire to create beautiful knitted garments didn't amount to much, mainly because I didn't have the staying power to finish a project. I'd see a great pattern, buy the yarn for it and go at it for about a third of the project. Then I'd get bored and would deep six the project into a convienent plastic tub.

Imagine my shame when I come across A Friend To Knit With's blog. This woman is a profressional knitter. She creates several beautiful sweaters a year for friends and family, and expertly photographs them. She had me drooling.

She posted a pattern for fingerless gloves. She said it was her "go to" pattern for something mindless to do. I pictured myself slipping on these gloves every morning when I walked Ethan to school. It would add a chic element to my sweat pants/sweater/flip flops attire. The thought of knitting these gloves went from wimsy to obsession in a matter of seconds.

So I hauled out some great yarn--Classic Elite wool I bought 15 years ago (OMG!!)--and some double pointed kneedles and cast on. I was a little nervous because I had never used double pointed kneedles before. I had reason to be nervous. These buggers are tricky because if you don't pay attention, the tube you're knitting becomes twisted. I managed to keep that from happening, and was feeling pretty damn proud. But one thing I overlooked was creating extra stitches when I went from one needle to the next. I didn't realize was adding extra stiches until I was four rows into the project. Once I realized that, it was rip-out time, baby.

It's ok to start over once, but when you screw up a second time, you're patience wears thin. I was humming along, doing the rib pattern correctly, and then had to switch to a stockingnette pattern. When knitting in the round, you do the purl stitch continously to make the stockingnette stitch. Well, I forgot that, and did a few rows in the knit stitch instead. I didn't realize that my fingerless glove looked like a sweater turned inside out until I was at least 10 rows into the pattern. I wanted to just keep going with this wrong stitch because I was tired of starting over. But the worst fear any knitter faces is pullling a finished garment off the needles only to find it doesn't fit, doesn't look right, etc. Who really wants to wear a knitted garment that looks homemade? The zenith is to knit something that looks like it was bought in a boutique.

I'm at the crossroads I've found myself throughout my knitting career--do I deep six this project, or perservere until I get it right? At this point, I'm still holding onto the dream--to have some fingerless gloves that will do a cute job of keeping my hands warm. Hey, if I get them done in May, they'll be ready for next fall, right?

The Case For Organic Bananas

Every morning I cut up a banana to put on my cereal. I've been eating this breakfast for years--it's just so easy. Then yesterday I came across this video on Treehugger, and it made me swear off non-organically grown bananas.

The video shows a crop duster spewing pesticides over a banana plantation in Costa Rica. The narrator says the plane dusts the banana crop every day. But that's not the worst part--it's that a small village sits right next to the field. So, basically, the village inhabitants get a daily dose of chemicals along with the bananas.

This video brought home, more than words have, that our produce is grown in someone else's back yard.

Polarized

The other day, I struck up a conversation with a father of a son in Ethan’s autism therapy program. We talked about some things our sons struggle with due to their disability, such as playing team sports. It felt good to talk with another parent whom totally gets what my husband and I deal with on a daily basis.
Then the conversation moved onto our sons’ individual education programs at their public schools. “I was so happy to hear that Sarah Palin is going to mandate more clearly written IEPs,” he said. At the mention of her name, my smile froze. I left the building feeling a little shaky, and couldn’t get the image of him mentioning Palin’s name out of my head.
This conversation made me realize how polarized politics has made me. No matter how much I have in common with another person, if he or she mentions their support of the Republican party, I immediately feel a disconnect.
I didn’t used to be this way. When Bush won in 2000, I was disappointed—I’m a life-long Democrat. In those days, however, I was open to voting Republican if the candidate appealed to issues I cared about. I knew neither party was perfect—both suck up to special interests, which never help the average American.
In 2002, when Bush made the case for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, I believed him, and supported the invasion of a sovereign country. Then the day came when I felt betrayed by my president. It was July 2003. I was half-listening to NPR while making dinner and playing with Ethan. An NPR reporter stated that after searching the entire country, no weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq. Anger bubbled over in me—I was duped.
Five years later, no one even mentions weapons of mass destruction as the reason we occupy Iraq. Since then, I’ve been counting the days for Bush and entourage to leave office. And, unfortunately, I don’t see much difference between McCain and Bush on issues I care about. The last thing I want is another four years of the same.
I bet my reasoning wouldn’t have much impact on this McCain/Palin supporting dad, no matter how much we have in common in day-to-day life. He’d probably have the same reaction to reading my blog as I did to hearing him say Palin’s name.
It saddens me that politics have so divided our country.

Lip Balm Winner

Congratulations to Kathleen of Welcome To The Circus! You're the proud owner of a new lip balm.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the contest.

Upping the Ante

We talk politics.
We desperately want change.
But change may not come.

Turn on the TV
Watch mud distort the issues
And stall the campaign.

I need to act so
Sickening fear goes away.
I won’t be sidelined.

First I give money.
Then I read her story and
I need to do more.

I have been toying with the idea of volunteering for Barak Obama’s campaign for a while now, but the thought of giving up free time to talk to potential voters was less than appealing. Then I read A Mommy’s Story post about her husband’s unemployment and her family’s struggle to make ends meet in a shaky economy with poor job prospects and rising prices. I was more than impressed with her attitude and resilience in such a daunting situation. When she mentioned that she may volunteer for Obama’s campaign because “we all need to look beyond the hype and the superficial issues of this year's campaign and investigate the issues fully,” I knew I had to get off my domestic goddess arse and volunteer.

Click here to read more haikus.

Too Many Hangers Out There

Here is a startling statistic: according to Green Progress, more than 8 billion to 10 billion plastic and wire hangers are sold each year, with only 15% ever recycled. That’s enough clothes hangers to fill up FOUR Empire State Buildings from basement to observation deck.

Clothes hangers are difficult to recycle. The plastic ones are made of several types of plastic, so it’s difficult for recycling centers to sort them properly. Recycling centers often ban metal clothes hangers because they turn into a tangled mess.

There are, however, a couple options for disposing hangers responsibly, such as dropping them off at your local Salvation Army or other resale store; or giving them to your nearby dry cleaners.

So my Thrifty Green Thursday tip of the week is to think twice before you throw your extra clothes hangers in the trash. Click here for more tips.

Wordless Wednesday: Sitting Pretty

Here's Ethan riding his horse, Pretty, for the first time. For more Wordless Wednesday photos, click here.

Low-Fat Basil Pesto

Here's a great way to use up that bush of basil in your back yard before the frost gets it. I found this recipe last year in Cook's Illustrated "The Best Light Recipe" cook book. It freezes beautifully.
How did those chefs at Cook's Illustrated lighten up fattening pesto? They eliminated pine nuts and replaced most of the olive oil used in traditional pesto with part-skim ricotta cheese. Sounds a little strange, but it tastes great. Try it!

4 medium garlic cloves, unpeeled
3 cups fresh basil
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
1 shallot, minced
2 tblsp extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

1. Toast the garlic in a small skillet over medium heat, shaking the pan occasionally, untilthe color of the cloves deepens slightly, about seven minutes. Transfer the garlic to a plate to cool, then peel the cloves and chop or press through a garlic press.

2. Place the basil in a heavy-duty gallon-sized zipper-lock bag. Pount the bag with the flat side of a meat poinder or rolling pin until all the leaves are lightly bruised.

3. Process the garlic, basil, parmesan, ricotta, shallot, oil and 1/2 tsp salt in a food processor until smooth, about 30 seconds, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Transfer the mixture to a small bowl, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Per 2 1/2-tblsp serving: Cal 80; Fat 6 g; Sat Fat 1.5 g; Chol 5 mg; Carb 2 g; Protein 3 g; Fiber 1 g; Sodium 270 mg

Bloggy Giveaway: Lip Balm

Sarah Palin, take note: on average, a woman whom regularly wears lip stick will consume two pounds of the stuff over her lifetime, often ingesting ingredients that are harmful to herself and the environment.
So I'm switching to an all-natural lip balm I made myself. Unlike some commercial brands of lip stick, which contain petrochemicals and parabens, an endocrine disrupter, this lip balm is made of almond oil, beeswax and vitamin E oil. It gets it sheer red tint from alkanet root instead of harmful lead acetates or coal-tar dyes.
Wanna try some? Leave a comment on this post by Friday, September 19, and you'll be entered in a drawing to win a tin of lip balm.

Blogging, A Meaningful Time Waster

I spent the past week trying to clean out my closets for a consignment sale, and my house is trashed. I would seriously be embarrassed if anyone saw the mess I’m living in now. I meant to cut back on blogging to make time for cleaning, but I’m not disciplined enough to do that. Plus, I reason, the laughs I get from reading blogs are good for my mental health.
And laughs are just the beginning. I also get tips, like which brands of lead-free lunch boxes to buy, or how to make a skirt out of old pants. Indeed, just this week I was inspired to take up knitting again, buy a used bread machine to cut back on trips to the store for bread, and lose weight to get “hot for the holidays.”
The blogosphere has done so much for my well being, it’s a real treat to hear that people enjoy reading my blog, too. Thanks so much Honey Mommy for this adorable award!


And now it’s time for The Clothesline to “spread the love.” Here are some blogs that I meaningfully waste my time at:

The Mamabird Diaries
The Wayfaring Wanderer
Maggie’s Mind
Eat Play Love
The Green Baby Guide
The Soapdish
The Coal Mine

The rules of this award are:

1. The winner can put the logo on his/her blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from
3. Nominate and link to at least 7 other blogs
4. Leave a message on the blogs of the people you've nominated

Busted

I pull dusty toys
out of the dark basement.
I want more free space.

I can sell these toys.
My boys forgot about them.
They are history.

I get sidetracked--Damn!
Ethan falls in love again.
Story of my life.

Click here to read more haikus.

Pushing The Recycling Bounds

Have you heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch? It's an area of marine debris in the central North Pacific Ocean that is highly concentrated with suspended plastic and other debris that have been trapped by the currents of the North Pacific Gyre.

It is so disturbing to think that a great swath of ocean is filled with debris that won't decompose for at least 100 years. I recycle all the plastics our recycling program says it will take, which are containers marked with the #1, #2 and #5. I end up throwing plastic caps and lids that aren't marked with those numbers in the garbage, where they could potentially end up in the Great Garbage Patch.

This dilemna is why I'm so excited about the recycling program Aveda, a company that manufactures natural hair and skin care products, has recently launched. Aveda is building a recycling program for plastic bottle caps in which caps are collected at its salons and stores, as well as schools, and then sent by Aveda to its recycler, where the material is recycled into new caps and containers. Aveda says it has worked with its suppliers to develop ways to make new caps and containers from the recycled caps.

So my Thrifty Green Thursday tip of the week is to give all your plastic caps to your local Aveda store, and support a company that is willing to push the current boundaries of recycling materials. Learn more about Aveda's recycling initiative here. Get some more Thrifty Green Thursday tips here.

Wordless Wednesday: Zucchini Relish, Anyone?

It's quite good on grilled chicken. Click here to go Wordless.

Russian Saunas For Kids

Terry's best friend, Craig, spent several years in Russia working for the Peace Corps. When he would come back to the States to visit, he would talk about some of his cultural experiences, such as going to the sauna. Sitting in a sauna sounds pretty relaxing, but that's only the beginning. Then he and his colleagues would jump in the snow and after that people would hit them with switches. He told us it was therapeutic, but to me it sounded downright painful (not to mention a bit kinky.)
But maybe the architects that plan the recreational swimming pools have been studying in Russia, because every new swimming pool I take my boys to has a contraption that, in my opinion, similates a Russian sauna experience.
These "water playgrounds" pummel the kids with water. You would think kids wouldn't want water coming at them at fire-hose force, but that doesn't seem to be the case. My sons stand under a pipe that gushes water on them with smiles on their faces.
They can't get enough of the fountains, which is like being thrown under a water fall. And to complete the Russian sauna experience (albeit no switches, thank goodness,) the centers usually have a family hot tub, so my kids can go from cold water, to hot water, to cold again. After going through that cycle, they are as relaxed as noodles for a good part of the day. So maybe the Russians were on to something after all.

This Geezer Is Going To Weezer

Last weekend I told my 30-year-old brother I was going to the Weezer concert in October. He looked shocked and said, "I like Weezer." As in, "Holy crap, my over-the-hill big sister likes the same music I do???"

To be fair, I just started listening to Weezer this summer, thanks to Ethan, so my brother could have meant he didn't know I liked the group. We don't talk about music. But, the comment hit a sore point for me, which is, how do I age gracefully?

I'm 37 years old, been married almost 15 years, have two kids, a cat, a mortgage, a pathetic IRA for myself and modest college saving accounts for my sons. The last time I went to a real rock concert, I had a husband, a cat and school loans. I focused on working my way up the editorial ladder of some business-to-business magazine. In other words, all I had to worry about was myself.

Those were the days I should have been going to Weezer concerts, but I was too busy trying to get established in a career and accumulate assets, like our first home. Then it was time to procreate, and after Ethan was born, we were too tired and broke to go to anything except "sing-song time" at the library.

And that was fine, really. But fast-forward to this spring, when Ethan forced me to listen to KTCL every day while we were in the car because he can only stand to listen to alternative rock music. That's when I first heard "Pork And Beans" from Weezer. Ethan would be nodding his head to the song while I was tapping my hand against the steering wheel to it. I hadn't felt this spontaneous in ages. I HEART Weezer!

So when I heard they were coming to town, I had to go, and managed to get the tickets. Now that I'm going, I'm nervous. I know this sounds silly, but what do I wear to a Weezer concert? Like I said, it's been years since I've been to a rock concert. Plus, I'm going with my girlfriend instead of my husband. I'm planning on wearing a tasteful, yet flattering, black top with jeans and possibly high-heeled boots. I want to blend in, but not look like a COUGAR. Because, let's face it, looking hot at a rock concert at my age probably sends off a cougar vibe.

I feel frustrated that I have to worry about this! Like I said, it would have been so much easier if I had discovered Weezer in my 20's instead of my late 30's. But I don't think I could have related to Weezer in my 20's. Back then, Rivers Cuomo, Weezer's lead singer, wrote songs about loving his hash pipe and surfing. I lived in Chicago in my 20's and didn't smoke pot. But, in the "Red Album," Rivers, whom is 38 years old, sings about how he needs Rogaine and has to "work out at the gym to fit in my underwear." Now that's something I can relate to!

And if there's one thing I learned post-kids, it's to be a little more "carpe diem." I look back at all the weekends I spent "recovering" from a hard week at work, when I could have been a) training for a marathon; b) knitting that stupid Aran sweater I started when I got out of college; c) teaching adults how to read; or d) all of the above. I feel ashamed that I actually thought I was too exhausted back then to do those things, because no one knows the meaning of exhaustion until he or she is up night after night with an infant.

So now that I want to live my life more fully, I'm going to this Weezer concert whether I look like a poser/cougar/WHATEVER. Maybe aging gracefully is worrying less about what others think and, as Rivers puts it, "doing the things I want to do."

Melted

It's teeth cleaning time.
I hate the mint grit dentists
use for polishing.
Then I drive one hour
to another appointment.
Must get home to kids.
Dinner time and too
tired for cooking healthy food.
Frozen pizza--yes!
I heat the oven
and smell burning plastic. What??
An ice cream lid melts.
What a mystery.
Why is this in my oven?
Time for alcohol.

Click here to read more haikus.

Welcome To The Clothesline

I came across a sobering fact the other day. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, between 1960 and 2006 the amount of waste each person creates has almost doubled from 2.7 to 4.4 pounds per day. The most effective way to stop this trend is by preventing waste in the first place, which is why I’m thinking of more ways to reuse materials.
Since I can only recycle certain types of plastics, I throw a lot away, which makes me cringe. Plastic is such a miracle material--it is so lightweight, it has become the packaging material of choice for manufacturers. But we have gotten so used to plastic film covering everything we buy, we are immune to the damage this material does in the long run, since it takes 100-plus years for a plastic bag to decompose in a landfill.
That is why I’m looking at plastic sandwich bags in a whole new way. Instead of throwing them in the trash after I picnic in the park with my sons, I’m going to take the ones that aren't too dirty home with me, wash them with biodegradable soap and hang them on the clothesline to dry.
Since I’ve started this experiment, I’ve reused the same bags at least three times. Even after the bags have been washed and dried a few times, they still act as good as new.
So my Thrifty Green Thursday tip of the day is to reuse plastic sandwich bags. For more tips, click here.

Maybe Two Wrongs Can Make A Right

Shortly after Ethan started kindergarten, he started talking about poop and pee and butts. Every day when I would pick him up from school, he would relate the latest potty talk uttered from a fellow kindergartner. "Mommy, Mark said the fish tank is filled with pee!!"

I related these awful utterances to my sister, and she said, "Well, at least he is not saying swear words because then parents would know he's talking badly because of you."

I laughed sheepishly and quickly changed the subject. My sister is absolutely right--kids learn potty talk from their peers and swear words from their parents. And on that account, I've been a bad parent. I've been telling myself I need to quit swearing in front of my kids since Ethan was 2 years old, and I'm still waiting for the day for that to happen. Swear words come out of my mouth before I even know I've uttered them. If I'm driving and I get cut off, I'm telling the driver he's an asshole even before I realize Ethan and James are in the back seat listening to every word. And even hearing Ethan say some swear words hasn't washed my mouth with soap. I know, I know--I'm a BAD parent.

And while we're on the subject of bad parenting techniques, I use the TV to entertain my boys A LOT. When they start wrestling, which will quickly turn into fighting, I say, "Time to watch Spongebob Squarepants!" I don't choose Spongebob because it's educational, I choose it because my boys are riveted to the couch when it's on. If I was a better parent, I'd be teaching Ethan and James how to ride a bike, or lovingly reading them books. But if I did that, I wouldn't have the blessed peace and quiet I CRAVE.

So imagine my surprise when I see Ethan get frustrated because his dinosaur picture didn't turn out just so, and instead of saying "shit," he says "tartar sauce." What? Tartar sauce??? I know Ethan didn't learn that swear word from me. I rack my brain trying to think of where he heard the phrase "tartar sauce." Then it hits me--Spongebob says "tartar sauce" when he's frustrated!

So maybe two wrongs--bad language and bad TV--can make a right after all!

Dude, This Is For Real

Over the summer, I would chat with the counselors whom ran Ethan's summer camp. One of the counselors, whom is a grade school teacher, told me she is going to ride her bike to school so that her fiance can drive her Honda Civic to his teaching job at a middle school 10 miles from their house, leaving his SUV parked in their driveway. Another counselor, whom is starting graduate school, said he's going to start taking Denver's sole light-rail train from work to his school's downtown campus.
I'm not surprised to hear higher gas prices are impacting grad-school students and school teachers, but when I heard over the weekend that hip-hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs had to give up his private jet, I knew that this phenomena is reaching crisis proportions. According to the article, Combs is flying first class round trip from New York City to Los Angeles because it costs $200,000 per round trip flight in his private jet. In a video on his web site, http://www.diddy.com/, Diddy asks for free oil from his "Saudi brothers and sisters" so he can go back to traveling in luxury.
I doubt our brethren in Saudi Arabia are going to take heed to Combs' plea, since they, along with the oil industry executives, are raking in money hand over fist. In fact, according to a commercial produced by the environmental group, wecansolveit.org, oil and coal industries spent $427 million in the first half of 2008 on lobbying and advertising to keep gas prices climbing.
With these industries wielding such power, making personal sacrifices to aid the environment is a little like David trying to take down Goliath. As wecansolveit.org's commercial indicates, we need to get U.S. government behind the school teacher, grad student, as well as the hip-hop mogul, in order to make "repowering America" with clean energy a done deal in the upcoming Administration. As much as Combs is looking out for himself with his plea for cheaper oil, he's helping all of us since I bet his web site gets more hits in a day than wecansolveit.org's web site gets in a month.