Ode to Air Conditioning

Oh Air Conditioning!
How I love thee,
You keep me from melting
and sweating
Lo! How I hate sweating!
I love you
and will never turn you off
no matter what that dumb hippy
inside my head keeps muttering.
I will just push her down deep, deep, down.
And continue to bask in the glory that is the
AC.

Baby Shower Gift

I ran into my first ethical dilemma this weekend. It seems that we were invited to a cousin's baby shower, but I didn't get the invitation until the day before. Oh great! I can either buy the baby something used, (pretty sure mom would hate that!) Or try to make something on the fly. I thought to myself “I am a very crafty individual; I have a degree in art for goodness sakes! I can totally do this.” So away I went to the fabric store to buy some supplies and ending up spending way more than I probably would have spent just buying an actual present, but that’s not the point, is it? And most of this was due to lack of planning. So, I’ll know better for next time. Well, I started making this super cute one-sy and I had a really cute design idea for the front. Well, I got the design all finished, but turns out, baby clothes are really, really hard to sew!! They’re so tiny!! Not to mention that it dawned on me half way through cutting out the pattern that I didn’t even know how big the baby was. Great.

Stayed up as late as I could working on it, and started early the next morning, as the shower was in the afternoon. Calamities of calamities! I had a snap snafoo! (Oh yeah, I went there…) Completely ruined the whole thing. Pretty sure babies aren’t fans of straight pins. I finally just decided to go with it. After all, they’re family… I wrapped the darn thing up, using cellophane and an old record I melted into a bowl in the oven (very cool!) Then, I made her open it and everyone got a real good laugh at my ineptness… It was a hit! I promised that I would definitely keep working on it and hopefully finish it before baby starts walking! Turns out, people are really understanding when it comes to handmade gifts.

Well, a good lesson learned. I’m going to have to start keeping a couple of gifts on hand to avoid this situation again!!

Tomatoes!

Yea! The tomato plants T-Gro put in while she was here have beared fruit! errr. vegetables... what are tomatoes anyway? Anyhoo... here's some pics!!

Worm Bucket

I read on the internet about how 5-10% of our household waste is kitchen waste that could be composted. I found some really great internet articles about composting, and my mom sent me some information about how she composts but I have two problems: 1) We have a really small backyard, and this could lead to some potential irritation with the neighbors as composts have a distinct (I don’t personally find it horrible) smell and 2) we could buy an actual composter, but that would go against rule #1.

So, here’s my solution. I found a few articles about vermicomposting. This means you basically put a bucket of worms under your sink and throw in anything organic (even paper!) and they’ll eat it right up. Very cool, totally cheap and it doesn’t smell at all. So, I made 2 worm buckets out of a couple of buckets I had leftover from buying kitty litter (more on kitty litter later) and bought some “red wrigglers” over the internet.

Here’s the “how-to” as well as some pics. Also, here's a link where there's some sweet info, www.wormwoman.com, although I found my worms for super cheap on eBay (Search for "bait") but it's a really good starting site. The lady wrote a book called Worms Eat My Garbage: How to Set Up & Maintain a Worm Composting System, so awesome. Enjoy!

1) I started by drilling holes all around the bucket (the
worms need lots of air!) I drilled a drain hole and lots
of holes in the tops.

2) Then I took a bunch of shredded paper home from my office. I soaked it in some water and squeezed it out. This is the worms bedding.

3) Then I dropped the worms in there. They don't like the light, so I put them under the sink with a tray underneath the bucket to catch any drips from the drainage hole in the bottom. They eat pretty much anything organic. I just make sure to add another layer of paper after adding the food, or else it starts to stink. After a few months, I should be able to harvest some juicy looking soil! (I'll post these pictures when I get them!)

Veggie Tales a.k.a. Meatless Sorrow

God! I miss meat! I actually had a bacon daydream today when I was driving. I don't even like bacon. I was really imagining myself frying up some deliciously crispy bacon and then eating piece after piece for like dinner. Now that I'm writing it, I'm kind of getting grossed out... but at the time... man alive... I can only think of what the guy stopped next to me at the light was thinking. Maybe something along the lines of "Oh man, I think that chick is having a seizure or something.... oh well..."

Matt and I have both been vegetarians for about 4 or 5 months now, and I usually really enjoy it. It's not that hard... but I do get stuck in a rut a bit about what I eat. I try to be vegan whenever possible, except we do eat cage free eggs and organic milk when we're at home, but I need to get better at preparing foods ahead of time. I need to start taking my lunch to work. Erg. I hate packing lunches.

The Rules

#1

Buy nothing except things you absolutely need to survive which would include: food, water and shelter.

This includes: no fast food, no new clothes, etc.

Exceptions: Materials may be purchased for DIY projects.

Example: If I really need a new skirt, I’m allowed to purchase the material to make my self one. This has two benefits: 1) I will only take the time to make something if I really, really need it and 2) It’ll be doubly-sweet because I made it. So win, win!

Things can be purchased second-handedly (I don’t think that’s a word, but whatev!)

#2

I must strive toward a zero waste goal.

Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean that I will make it, but I have to at least try to find ways to reuse things, either by recycling, donating, etc…. This is where I’ll have to get creative!

#3

I have to blog about both my success and my failures.

Otherwise, it wouldn’t be any fun!! =)

Please let me know if you have any more suggestions about these rules, as I'm sure as I get into this process, I will be expanding and clarifying. I'm not really sure what situations I'm going to get into, but it'll be a long, strange trip I'm sure!

No Hippy Chick

I am so not a Hippy Chick!

I don’t recycle, I buy lots of crap I don’t need. I love meat, and don’t care about the animals. I drive everywhere, even to the grocery store which is 3 blocks from my house. I kick puppies for fun, ok I don’t really do that last part, but I might as well have… I’m selfish, materialistic, and incredibly vain and I’m sick of it!

I refuse to believe that because this was the culture I was raised in, that this is the way I have to be. I am committed to change!! What brought this little revelation on you might ask? Well, loads of things… mostly having to do with my little hippy friend T-Gro. She lived with me for awhile this summer, and kind of opened my eyes to a new lifestyle. What! You can walk places!?! I had no idea! What! You don't have to go to Target/Ikea/WalMart to survive!?! No way! She completely blew my mind.

I started reading, watching documentaries, started learning about our culture. We are a culture of ME. I want to live in a culture of WE.

So, I came up with this little experiment.... I kind of see it as my journey to turning from a Southern California snot, to a socially responsible human being. I used to look at being a "hippy" as kind of a bad thing, but I refuse to believe that you have to give up and go live on a mountain somewhere where you poo in a hole, forsaking showers and eating only root vegetables. I will never be one to poo in a hole. I'm not that depressed where I will dress in a potato sack... at least... not yet.

I also started this blog for a couple of reasons. 1) to share what I'm doing; who knows? With your comments maybe we can share ideas and tips of ways to live life better 2) To keep me honest and accountable; knowing that I have to report to my readers will help me stay on track and 3) to have a record of my development. I want documentation that proves how lame I was/am and how awesome I'm gonna be!! I want to prove that if I can do this, anyone can.