Category Archive

“Oh, Pa, let’s go on west!”
“I know, little Half-Pint,” said Pa, and his voice was very kind. “You and I want to fly like the birds. “

I think one of the main reasons I’ve always felt so connected to Laura Ingalls Wilder is because we both have itchy feet. She was always longing to keep going west, never to settle down in one place for too long. I feel the same way. I can’t leave my family, so instead of going west, I move to different houses.

After about two years, I get this claustrophobic feeling and I get the urge to move. I’m one of those strange people who actually LIKE moving. I like the whole process, from going to all the local grocery stores to scavenge for free cardboard boxes to packing away all the knick-knacks to settling in the new home. I adore house hunting, and even when I’m happy in a house I spend a great deal of time searching the real estate ads in the paper and on-line.

But this time, I’m going to have to stifle my desire to move, because it just isn’t gonna happen. My small house dreams are just going to have to keep waiting.

So instead of getting a new house, I’ve decided to change the way my current house looks. I think changing things up a bit might give me an extra year or so before I smother under this feeling.

I have big plans for painting all the rooms in the house. To keep it green, I need to find low VOC paints. I’m happy with this, because I hate the smell of paint fumes. And especially since I have kids in the house, I don’t want to have to worry about what chemicals they are breathing in.

I’ve decided to do a ’50s retro inspired theme, that will be super fun and cheerful. Maybe a little too cheerful…

Yesterday I spray painted these two things this crazy aqua color. This is going to be one of the colors in my new overly cheerful house. One of the other colors will be green - like a Granny Smith apple green.

And this is the fabric I ordered for some kitchen curtains:

Yes, it will be bright. It will be cheerful. So if you come to visit, wear your shades.

I feel like I should explain why I’ve not posted very often lately. You see, I’ve been doing something very important: watching “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.”

Yes, you read that right. I ordered season three through inter-library loan, and they gave me one week to watch all eight discs. That is twenty-nine hours of “Dr. Quinn” in seven days. Thirty-one hours if you count that I’ll have to watch one of the two-hour episodes twice so that I can listen to the commentary, too.

So far, I’m right on track for finishing it up exactly one day late. Hey, I can only watch so much television each day.

I love this show. I was ten years old when it first came out, and I can still remember watching it for the first time. My dad, who was also the one who introduced me to the “Little House on the Prairie” television series, insisted that I sit and watch “Dr. Quinn.” I was instantly hooked. It was canceled in 1998, and I’m still ticked off about it. I still haven’t even gotten over when they replacing old Colleen with new Colleen in the middle of season three. Sorry, Jessica Bowman, I got nothing against you. But you just aren’t Colleen.

There are so many things that I love about this show. First of all, it’s set during my favorite time period of American history: post Civil War, pre 1900s. Second, I get to see all kinds of cabin-y goodness. And third, Joe Lando as Sully. Need I say more? How about a picture? (There you go, Mom. That’s for you. Wink, wink.) Oh, and let’s not forget Hank the bartender.

So, yeah. I’ve been parked in front of the television for twenty-five hours now. Only six more to go. I guess it’s a good thing (good thing?) that I’m up four or five times a night with Alice. Gives me plenty of “Dr. Quinn” time.

I’ve been riding my bike all over town, running errands, and I’ve learned a few things.

1) There is no convenient way to get to the only grocery store in town. To get there, I have to ride three blocks in the opposite direction, backtrack back to the main road, cross the main road, drive through three parking lots and TA-DAH! I’m there. It’s really a pain. I’ve decided to go to the next city council meeting and ask about the possibility of putting a sidewalk on the main road through town.

2) Crossing the main road is a major pain in the patootie. And people are jerks. I wait. And wait. And wait. The cars come past at a steady pace, and no one slows down or stops to let me cross the road. No one speeds up, either, to give me a wider gap to cross. So I wait. And wait. Last time, I had to wait no less than five minutes each time I crossed the road. And this is not some big huge town with a traffic problem. In fact, we live in a town with only one stoplight in it.

3) It doesn’t matter if you are walking or on your bike, people are STILL inconsiderate. Today, the kids and I were out walking to a few garage sales, because it is citywide garage sale day. It started raining pretty good while we were out. So there I am, walking down the road with two kids, getting soaked, and people in their nice dry cars are forcing me off the road. Thanks a lot, jerks! 

4) I have no idea where to park my bike most places I go. We have a gorgeous town square, with wide brick-paved lanes and old buildings. Each sidewalk is painted with the words, “Do not ride bikes on sidewalk.” (a fact which Ryan didn’t notice until I told him…after he’d ridden on them three days in a row.) So when I go to pay bills at the city hall or our car insurance office, I’m stuck trying to figure out where to park. Do I haul it up the steps to the sidewalk, where I’m not supposed to be? Or do I park in a parking spot, and risk having some inattentive driver on a cell phone smash my bike? I’m still totally stumped on this one.

This is a question that was posed by an online friend of mine. And lately, it kind of seems like it is.

First we’ve got the biggies, that we’ve been hearing about for awhile: global warming, crazy high gas prices. We’ve got the tanking economy, with real estate prices in the pooper, the lousy exchange rate of the U.S. dollar. Now the food shortage. Sam’s Club and Costco are both putting a limit on how much rice people can buy. I look into my nearly bare cupboards and feel a little uneasy.

Now, I’m not panicking. I’m not rushing out with the shovel to dig a fallout shelter in the backyard. Yet.

But seriously, when is it going to end? Was I just oblivious as a kid or what? Was I just trotting around in the 80s, swinging my Strawberry Shortcake lunch pail in one hand and Cabbage Patch Doll in the other, completely unaware of things going on in the world? Because I do not remember the kind of natural disasters and money worries that we are seeing today.

Even in high school in the 90s, when I was slightly more cognizant of my surroundings, I don’t remember this kind of thing. Earthquakes in the Midwest, hurricanes nearly wiping out major cities, busy bridges collapsing…I just don’t remember any of it.

I’m sure a quick Googling would tell me all I need to know about what I missed when I was paying more attention to the cute boy in English class than I was to the morning news. But I’m not going to bother. I know that no matter what happened back then, all I need to worry about is what’s going on today. I have my kids to think about, and damn if I’m not worried about what’s happening to the entire world.

I don’t want to start hoarding food, because I’m afraid that we would be adding to the shortage. However, I do think that I’m going to keep at least a small stockpile of non-perishable food on hand. Not just in case all hell breaks loose and horrible things start happening (more earthquakes, terrorists attacks, George W. being re-re-elected to the presidency) but also for more mundane reasons: job loss, food price hikes, unexpected cravings of Spam and canned pears.  

In any case, by keeping food in stock, I’ll save trips to the grocery store. And that’s green, right?

That’s right, garage sale time! I absolutely love going to garage sales. I like holding my own slightly less, but this year, I’m really looking forward to it. Today we started The Big Purge.

I sorted through mountains of baby clothes, and I now have four massive garbage bags full of clothes that will go in the sale. I sorted through all of our kitchen stuff, went through both Ryan’s and my clothes, and have an enormous pile of baby paraphernelia in the bedroom, all ready to be sold in one fell swoop on the front lawn.

I’m a little overwhelmed at deciding on prices for everything. I don’t want to overprice anything, but I want to get my money’s worth, too! How much do you charge for a onesie? A crib? A maternity shirt? Gak! It’s too many numbers! Math was never my strong suit.

We’re basically trying to scale down most of our belongings so that we can fit into our tiny little dream home, which doesn’t exist yet. Once the house is less bloated, we’ll be calling our real estate agent to come over and tell us how much our house is (or isn’t) worth. This is what I’m most nervous about. I’m terrified that we won’t be able to sell the house for enough to get out of here, and we’ll be stuck in the house indefinitely. Blast you, crappy housing market!!!

So, I’ve been thinking even more about that teeny little dream house in the country. I guess that’s why it’s called an obession, huh?

I’ve found my perfect tiny little floorplan, here.

I love how the “master” bedroom is just exactly big enough for a bed. I think that’s a great idea, especially for us. Our current bedroom seems to be the catchall for every piece of junk that we don’t know what to do with. The more space we have, the more crap we pack in there.

Of course, I’d make a few small changes. As much as I love the idea of pioneering, I’m thinking that scrubbing clothes with a washboard would get old pretty quick, so I’d turn the back entryway into a mudroom with a washer and dryer. I’d also extend the loft over the entire living area, to give the kids more room and to not waste energy heating the ceiling.

I love the fact that we could probably do this tiny little 800 square foot house relatively cheaply, and we could make it as green as we wanted. One thing I’ve been eyeballing for awhile is a dual flush toilet. They basically have two flushes: one for…er, the first order of business and the other for…your other “duties.” So to speak. Okay, okay. Enough beating around the bush. There’s one flush for pee and the other for poop. They use way less water than the 1.6 gallons a typical toilet uses, and even though they sound like a novel new concept, they’ve been around in Europe and Australia and other places for quite some time. In fact, I read yesterday that it’s illegal in parts of Australia to do a new construction with a regular toilet.  Come on America, get with the program!

I’d also love to use green materials, or things that are being discarded from other houses. One man’s trash is a cheap woman’s treasure, you know.

Of course, there is just one hitch: where to put this dream house? I guess I’ll be scouring the papers and real estate websites, hoping to spot the trifecta: private, scenic, and above all, dirt cheap. Why, yes I live in a dream world, why do you ask?

Earth Day is April 22, less than a month away. I want to do something fun to celebrate. I thought about doing several things:

1) Not driving the car

2) Going on a clean-up walk around town

3) Planting a tree

I need more ideas! Feel free to comment and let me know what you think I should do for Earth Day.

I don’t need any t-shirts, so I won’t be ordering one, but I’ve been checking out these on Cafepress. I totally want the second one.

Squeee! I’m so happy. We just ordered our reel push mower.

Ryan and I were in the kitchen, and I was gazing wistfully out the window. I mentioned the reel push mower again, and he said, “Well, why don’ t you go order it then.”

I was totally taken off-guard. “Huh? Really? Are you sure?”

Apparently, I’d put the thought in his head and he’d decided that a reel mower would be pretty cool to have. He’s still waffling on the selling of the gargantuan riding mower, but I’m okay with that.

Ah, sweet merciful spring.

Today was a gorgeous day. It’s pretty windy, but the temperature is in the mid 60s so it’s absolutely lovely. And, by some strange alignment of the stars, my husband was sent home from work early and we were all able to enjoy this fabulous day together.

We decided to throw some shrimp on the barbie (er…I mean, some pork chops for Ryan and garden burgers for me and Wesley), but we were out of hamburger buns so we decided to take a walk to the grocery store up on the square to pick some up. I tied Alice into the mei tai and we took off walking. Wesley sat in the stroller, reveling in being outdoors finally. He was swinging his legs and singing, pointing out everything in sight, from a cat in a shop window to a funny-looking leaf on the sidewalk.

But horror of all horrors, our little corner grocery store has closed. For good. Boo hoo! I’m incredibly saddened by this. On nice days last year, in an effort to save on gas, we’d walk to the grocery store to pick up a few days worth of food. It is only about four blocks, and with the stroller we can carry as much as we need. So now that the store is closed we’ll have to drive across town every time we need any little thing.

While the burgers and pork chops cooked, we all played out in the backyard. Ryan and I paced out our garden plot while Alice sat nearby on a blanket. Wesley ran all over the yard like a little maniac.

My favorite new thing in our backyard is the little willow house. (Can you see it? Wesley is standing in the middle of it.) I got the idea from this website. They are located in the UK, so it wasn’t exactly feasible to order from them. We decided to try our own hand at building one. Apparently, if you cut branches from a willow tree and stick them in the ground, they will take root and begin to grow.

Ours isn’t as neat as on the website (and no where NEAR as cool as this one) but I think it’s pretty neat. It’s still a work in progress. To make it, we took cuttings from a willow tree in my grandma’s yard, and Ryan poked each branch into the ground and tied them together where they met in the middle with twine. We would like to get some more cuttings and make the sides a little more solid. According to the website, by this spring we should see some green leaves and this summer there will be a nice leafy playhouse for Wesley to hide out in. (And maybe Mommy, too.)

It’s not much to look at now, and I’m sure our neighbors are looking at this weird growth of woody stems in our yard in total confusion, but if it takes root it should be really neat. Plus, it was totally free to build, and way more attractive than one of those plastic playhouses. I’ll be sure to post updates as it begins to leaf out so you can see how it turned out!

I was called crunchy the other day. Now, I know a lot of people like this term, but it feels weird for me.

For those of you not “in the know,” Urban Dictionary defines crunchy as:

Okay, so there you have it. So it might kind of fit. Whatever. It still seems weird.

I assure you, patchouli gives me a headache, I do wear shoes, and all my habits are legal. I also shower, (on as regular a basis as two children will allow me to) I’m not a vegetarian, (yet) and I keep everything shaved that should be shaved.

So you can keep your crunchy label. You can call me a tree hugger.

Well, I’m jumping on the bandwagon by writing a blog. And I figured while I was climbing aboard, might as well make it two bandwagons by making it a green blog.

Who am I? I’m a big huge geek. Well, not big physically. But on a geekitude scale from 1-10, I’m most certainly a ten. I like to read and write, I like to sew, my favorite show is Little House on the Prairie and I’m a huge Laura Ingalls Wilder fangirl. How many twenty-somethings do you know who have visited nearly all of Laura’s home sites? Ding ding ding ding! (That’s the geek-dar ringing.)

My latest obsession is living greenly. It all started when I learned about cloth diapering. I have two kids, ages 2 ½ and 6 months, and I’d never even considered picking up a cloth diaper. “Pshaw!” I said to myself. “That’s too much work.” But then I figured out that, no, cloth diapering is not too much work. In fact, it’s much easier (not to mention cheaper!) than I had ever anticipated. And tossing a load of diapers in the washing machine is certainly easier than rushing out to The Evil Megastore at ten thirty at night in a panic because we’re out of size twos.

Of course, everything spiraled out of control after my purchase of prefolds, pockets, and covers. I soon found myself (gasp!) composting and recycling and even purchasing organic foods. Yes, it’s true. I truly was a woman on a downhill slope to Hippyville.

Did I mention that all this change took place in less than six weeks?

My husband was surely confused about all the change. I’d always been anal about not littering and picking up trash when I’d find it on the ground. But I’d never really given it much thought about what happens to the trash after I toss it in the bin. I mean, duh, everyone knows you are supposed to recycle. But I just didn’t do it. It seemed like too much trouble.

Then The Evil Megastore started placing recycling bins in their front entrance, and they were staring me in the face every time I pranced out of the store swinging my reusable bags with my smug “I’m greener than you!” attitude. So recycling it was. And reusing. And reducing! Wahoo! My three Rs!

Quite frankly, the reason I decided to start this blog is because I’m quite sure my family is all tired of hearing me talk about BPAs and sodium laureth sulfates and blah blah blah blah. So this way I can get it all out of my system, and the only people who have to hear it are the people who want to read it.

But the real problem was picking a name. Did you know that every single combination of “green” “hippy” “eco” and “environment” is taken? Yes, it’s true. The bandwagon is full to overflowing. Move over guys, I’m piling on!