Living deliberately

[Chicken lady]

Oh yes, jungle jim's! (Swim meet was at Miami university in Oxford)

glad to know I am not the only person who hates styrofoam. Anything that comes in peanuts, I drop the peanuts off at the ups shipping store.

the school fair was nice. I dropped off my pretzel bag of trash and a couple pieces of recycling while I was out. I also discovered that even though it seems longer to stop at the grocery store on the way home, actually, it's less than a tenth of a mile more. More idling at lights though. Still, I think that is the definite grocery winner (I stopped for bananas and Gasoline and bought bagged nuts on special.

dh is almost done with the electrical work and informed me in a very confrontational manner "that box is full of trash. I don't think you're really going to be able to keep up with this when you realize how much trash is piling up." Every trash can in the house is empty except for two quart ziplock food packaging bags in the kitchen trash can. "That box". Appears to mostly hold oak leaves and sawdust that he swept up and case wrap that recycles. It's going to be a pain to sort out, but not a problem to "keep up with."

i don't think he gets it yet that this is an ideological campaign against the very concept of "trash" not a crusade to "save" everything, not a personal vendetta against the trash company, not a high labor way to save $25/month, but a philosophical objection to obtaining items that go directly to the landfill. Even in disposable food packaging a quart at a time. With a secondary focus on avoiding items that get recycled.

I want to just bring in that which is wanted/useful. I know some trash is unavoidable in my current life. And some is a conscious trade off (my nuts in plastic seem to be the lowest environmental impact way to get nuts. They are definitely the cheapest, and as a vegetarian, I really don't want to give up nuts.)

school fair was fun. Now I need to make cookies.

[Chicken lady]

I figuratively shot myself in the foot.

background: my family is a little complicated (whose isn't?) and besides my three biological children I have someone I call my "heart daughter". her son (cc) calls me "aunt" because he has three grandmothers already, but she switches between my name and "mom" depending on context (we also work together - relationship came first)

anyway, my oldest bio daughter has cc for the day on Saturday and is bringing him out to the farm. I got very excited because I live in a really small town and the park around the block is having the Easter bunny arrive in a fire truck followed by an egg hunt. To which my daughter replied "no. How is plastic and sugar and an adrenaline fueled frenzy of greed in line with our values? If you want to do that, you call his mom and you drive down and get him and leave me out of it."

so I guess we will play with the baby goats and plant trees and look for the eggs the chickens laid in the barn and maybe bake bread. But I like Easter egg hunts. :-(

[catherine]

Shoot! I'd be a little disappointed, too. Those kinds of events can be fun--especially in a small town. Maybe you could negotiate with her once she gets there.

Or have your own Easter egg hunt with real colored eggs and quarters taped to them.

[iris lilies]

Well, good for your daughter to remind you of values.

We are helping to run big Easter egg hunt this Saturday where hundreds of plastic eggs are used, but they are kept by the organizer and used the following year. It is an egg hunt for dogs, so very few dog owners keep the actual eggs which are hollow, holding a dog biscuit.

Baby goats are great. I wish I could get my hands on some.

[Chicken lady]

I have free range Easter egger chickens, so my barn is dusted with real colored eggs. And I know the desire to go to the Easter egg hunt is fuled more by my collective memories and their emotional overtones than by a rational assessment of the likely experience.

but it's hard. I have to tell myself it would be like the packaged muffins I gave up - they were really hard to resist, until finally one day I broke down and bought myself one as a "treat" and discovered that after months of fresh, homemade baked goods - they were awful.

the fire truck will be too loud, the bunny will be scarey, the park will be muddy, some bigger kid will push him, he won't find very many eggs, and he'll either eat the candy and spoil his lunch or cry because he's overstimulated and can't have the candy until after lunch....

really, my two clear happy memories of public egg hunts with my kids are from when dd was 2 and 3. At two she found one purple plastic egg, which we couldn't get open to get the jelly beans out, and she named it "egg egg" and used it as a rattle for months, and at 3 she found three eggs and was very excited to discover that two of them had chocolate inside but sad and confused that the third had only a piece of paper - she was even more confused when the strange man traded her a big stuffed bunny for the paper. I think I liked the bunny more than she did. It bugged her that it was green.

i have a real bunny in my barn too.

[catherine]

Well, sounds like you've resolved that one, Chicken lady! Nice job with the mindful, deliberate living and choice-making! I agree that it sounds like you have all the ingredients of a great Easter experience for cc right in your own backyard.

(I identified with your post, though, because at Christmas time, our fire department drives Santa around and he waves and throws candy from his truck Mardi Gras style and my kids were always so excited to hear that siren coming down the street!)

[Chicken lady]

So, I didn't think this had been a particularly difficult week, but last night I lay down on the dog bed in front of the fire at 6:30 and fell asleep. Dh left me alone and I woke up stiff and sore three hours later. Dragged myself through evening chores and then slept another 9 hours and I'm getting a really slow start today.

i've made a lot of commitments this month, so I need to keep an eye on my energy level and focus.

[catherine]

So, I didn't think this had been a particularly difficult week, but last night I lay down on the dog bed in front of the fire at 6:30 and fell asleep. Dh left me alone and I woke up stiff and sore three hours later. Dragged myself through evening chores and then slept another 9 hours and I'm getting a really slow start today.

i've made a lot of commitments this month, so I need to keep an eye on my energy level and focus.

Hmm.. I wonder what kind of a moon we're under. Thursday night I had 3 hours sleep because of work commitments but also because my DH and 2 of our sons had a big golf trip to Florida planned (DS planned it because he/DDIL are having another baby in a couple of weeks and he wanted to squeeze in a little fun before the baby comes). Anyway, long story short, the bad weather and the fact that it's Spring Break weekend totally destroyed the weekend. Cancelled flights, no rebooking until Sunday available, house rental full deposit lost, lots of disappointed people. A complete disaster.

Then I had to get up at 5:30 to drive through Friday morning NYC rush hour to get to Eastern L.I. for two in-home interviews. Then took the ferry to CT and checked into hotel.

Last thing I remember is turning on Jeopardy at 7pm. I didn't get up until 7am. But I feel great now! I have another in-home interview which happens to be in my home town in CT, so I'm going out with my brother and his wife for his birthday dinner. Only downside is I never get to see my son, who is now spending the time in NJ in lieu of Ft. Lauderdale (what a come-down!) and I had planned the weekend in CT bc I thought they would be away. Oh well.

Yes, I feel a little focus and energy-check is exactly what I need to do, too, CL. I took on too many projects this month and I'm suffering for it.

[Zoe Girl]

I have been following this thread, I have been doing well with maintaining my actions. One thing is that I don't bring my computer home every night. That means that I am putting some boundaries around work and it also means that I can bring down a bag of recycling when I go to work. We do recycle a lot but struggle with getting it from the 3rd floor apartment to the recycle dumpster a full building away from us. I have been very happy that I am packing my lunch daily, I am very good at that already but I have just given it a boost with some tastier options. So I will buy the more expensive lunch item so I am really looking forward to my packed lunch, which is still cheaper and healthier than any take out options.

[Tybee]

We are back to hanging out the laundry, which feels wonderful.