Manifest Green

Ya'll is gonna laugh

Ok, you ready for this?  Yeah, yeah, laugh at me if you want....I don't care.

Here, yo!

Pictures!

From the wedding and the honeymoon!

 

The guys at the cabin the night before, along with a blurry baby scorpion they found:

 

At the wedding:

 

The pool:

 

 

Walking around taking pictures at the cabin:

        

 

The chapel and all:

 

 

Driving around:

 

 

Callaway Gardens:

 

 

Hanging out in the cabin for the last night:

         

 

Driving back, with scenes of the Atlanta skyline from the south side:

 

And finally, a video I made of the fabulous Gay, Georgia-Hometown of the Cotton Pickin’ Fair!  Yeah, it’s not very good quality, and you might get nauseated watching it, but I felt the need to  make it:

 

And out of all of this, you know what my favorite picture is?  This one:

 

I can’t remember what the guys banana hammock said on the back…I heart something, I think.  But Brett’s expression is awesome!  Oh, and FYI, that big slide was $5 for two turns.  What a rip off.

 

I also meant to mention that almost a year to the day that I rescued the poor birdie I ended up rescuing another one, but not the same kind.  I think last years was a finch, this years was a bluebird:

Brett helped.  He caught the thing and even drove to Debbie Ivy's house!  How sweet! 

Friday Pictures!

I went shopping today for lemongrass and ended up with all sorts of stuff. 

My lunch

One of my favorite beverages ever

I actually got this the other day and haven't tried it yet

Some of the best laundry detergent in the world
And finally:

The aloe juice I mentioned the other day.  It has some bits of the plant floating around in it.  It looks pretty gross.  So far I haven't been able to convince Brett to try it.

Anyway, that's all for today!

Events in Atlanta, for those interested....

May 2-Arthritis Walk Atlanta at Atlantic Station

Watch the video:
 

May 3-Walk Now For Autism also at Atlantic Station

Watch the video:
 

Pictures from the weekend!

Brett reading

Silhouette of Brett and his crazy hair

Crazy hair!

Furry slug butt

Sadie

Scampi

A perfect wet nose

Scallop squeenchy face

Scallop caught in the act of eating Scampi's food

Memory Lane, Part 1

"I seem to grow more acutely conscious of the swift passage of time as I grow older.  When I was small, days and hours were long and spacious, and there was play and acres of leisure, and many children's books to read.  I remember that as I was writing a poem on "Snow" when I was eight.  I said aloud, "I wish I could have the ability to write down the feelings I have now while I am still little, because when I grow up I will know how to write but I will have forgotten what being little feels like."  And so it is that childlike sensitivity to new experiences and sensation seems to diminish in and inverse proportion to the growth of technical ability.  As we become polished, so do we become hardened and guilty of accepting, eating, sleeping, seeing, and hearing to easily and lazily, without question.  We become blunt and callous and blissfully passive as each day adds another drop to the stagnant will of our years."
Sylvia Plath
The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

When I read this entry in The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath it made me remember how when I was little and something would happen, or I would do something, that I felt was of some significance, I would always say to myself (and usually out loud to myself, provided there was no one else to hear me), "I will remember this for always, even when I grow up."  And you know, I can remember saying that, but I haven't the foggiest what it was that I was supposed to remember.  Not one time.  But I clearly remember saying it.  And what's odd is that I remember saying it, then thinking back to the last time I had said it and not being able then to recall what the situation was before that when I had spoken those words.  Apparently my mind didn't retain specifics even then.  Yet I have a whole slew of incidents that I can recall with no problem.  I was also a half-hearted diary keeper when I was young.  I would always beg for a new diary, with a lock and key, so I could write down my most personal thoughts, feelings, and actions to keep forever.  And my mother would give in and buy one.  I no longer have those diaries.  Not that it would matter much anyway.  I was once afraid my mother was reading my diary (because every mother does, right?) that I started writing in a secret language.  I think I was 8 years old at the time.  Anyway, it turned out to be a silly thing because I couldn't even remember how to decypher the entries.  But dammit, I was doing it anyway.  I do remember some of my entries, because before one of the diaries was lost I reread it and laughed about my silliness as a child.  A typical entry would be (and I am going to "quote" here, even though I can't quote myself exactly...but to make it more interesting, we can pretend) something to this effect:  "Robin, Susan and Shawn came over today and we were going to play office but Shawn tried to clean my desk so I called for my mommy and I was crying and my mommy had to come to my room and tell her to leave my stuff alone because it was ok for my desk to be messy as long as the rest of my room was clean and then mommy called Shawns mommy and had her pick her up for being mean to me and then Robin and Susan played office with me and then we had lunch".  And yes, that was an actual incident.  I was 9 years old.  I think.  I guess that's the age because the four of us were in a class together.  Another entry would have been (again with the quotes, but don't quote me on it):  "Kevin was walking on the wall between the backyards and he fell into our yard and the dog ran up and bit him and he had to have stitches but it's ok because he gets stitches all the time because my mommy says he is accident prone and they know him really good at the hospital".  Another true story. 

Anyway, the whole point is that it is certainly true that no one can remember what is feels like to be a child.  And no one can retain all of the information of thoughts, feelings and experiences from when they were a child.  I don't know if it is the whole "trying to grow up too fast!" in us that hits as soon as we reach puberty or if nature wipes it all away so that we can become successful adults, but it sucks.

Anyway, I have decided to relay a couple of things from memory, because I can't recall (remember) if I have before, but most importantly:  because I can.

1.  My favorite food when I was little was pizza, hands down.  Often my mom and I would make homemade pizza and going out for it, or ordering it to bring home, was a treat.  I had two all-time favorite pizza places:  Showbiz Pizza and Numero Uno Pizza.  I'm not sure why I like Numero Uno so much, because it was a regular family syle restaurant.  But Showbiz was awesome!  It was much better than Chuck E. Cheese.  I didn't go just for the pizza and games.  I loved going for the shows.  Watching the animatronic wildlife dressed in overalls and banging on pots and pans and using washboards up on the stage was awesome.  It was almost as good as going to Disneyland, in my mind.  And closer, distance-wise.  And usually my parents would agree to Showbiz before agreeing to Disneyland or Knott's Berry Farm (more on Knott's Berry Farm in a sec).  I remember the last time I went to Showbiz Pizza.  We had gotten there just as a show was ending.  I can't remember how long went between shows, but there had a fairly long intermission.  Anyway, we ordered our pizza and drinks and I went off to play the the super awesome games, like skee ball.  When the food arrived I was called over to eat.  When I was finished I went to play more games.  At some point my mom called for me to stop because we were going to leave.  Just then the next show started.  And I so wanted to stay and see it.  But no, my mom said she was getting a headache being in there and we were leaving and that was that.  So after attempting a temper tantrum (attempt being the key word...there were no temper tantrums in our house) I was pulled out of the place, crying, begging to stay.  And that was the last time we went there.  I don't remember how old I was, but I think about it now and I miss that place.  Too bad they aren't around anymore.  I think that is pretty much how the last time we went to Knott's Berry Farm ended.  My favorite things at Knott's were the Hat Dance, Ghost Town and shopping for Snoopy stuff, my favorite being a stationary set  I got that came in a little tin mailbox replica, including paper, envelope, pencil and eraser.  I loved Snoopy and Woodstock so much that my first pair of glasses had Woodstock on the sides of the frames  I was stylin'. Of course, I think back to how I looked and refuse to wear my glasses much now.  Anyhoo, I wanted to ride the Hat Dance one more time, but the line was too long and I walked out upset, somehow knowing I would never be able to ride it again.  For the record,  I still love pizza, as long as it's good pizza and not greasy (unless I am craving grease, then it's ok).  And I still love to be entertained while I eat (see Casa Bonita) .  And I still love spinny rides that make me want to puke.

2.  I used to loooooove being the center of attention.  I'm not sure exactly when that ended, but I enjoyed every bit of it when I was young.  I always wanted to be in every play.  And I always wanted to be the lead.  In fifth grade I was cast as Booker the Cat that loved to read.  The whole premise of the play was to show the little kids how reading can be fun.  I think the only reason I was given the lead was because during recess and lunch time I would go to Mrs. Johnson's room (she was my second grade teacher) and help her with her class.  Yeah, I was kinda a nerd and a teachers pet then.  I think she was convinced I would become a teacher.  Anyway, I was totally excited about being Booker.  My mom made my costume (black tights, black leotard, headband with ears, painted on whiskers, and socks on my hands and feet!).  I worked hard to memorize my lines.  The day came and I blew the audience away.  I convinced everyone in the city of Long Beach to pick up a book and read!  I made believers out of those who favored playing outside to books.  I might have even gone on to turn an entire nation to spend their money only on books chosen from the Scholastic book fairs and ordered through those dinky little "catalogs" the teacher would hand out in class had it not been that the only people to actually see the play, besides my parents and some teachers, were little kids in first through third grade.  After this play I had a blow to my acting ego.  And I blame it on my Girl Scout troup leader.  It had  been decided that our troup would put on a play in the school auditorium.  The play was Cinderella.  We didn't have auditions.  I had hoped to be either rough and scraggy Cinderella or ball gown Pincess Cinderella.  Unfortunately, as things often go in the unjust universe of being a kid whose mom is not troup leader, I was not cast in either of the leads.  I got stuck as Gus the Mouse.  You know, that fat little mouse?  Yeah, I was stuck as him.  I don't think I was fat.  Maybe a little pudgy from childhood, but I was kinda offended.  Anyway, Stacey got the part of ball gown Cinderella, because her mom was the troup leader.  Figures, huh?  I can't remember who got the other Cinderella.  Anyway, my mom again made my costume:  brown tights, a big orange shirt with "GUS" on the front in felt letters, headband mouse ears and painted on whiskers.  And I was the best damn Gus in the history of elementary school Guses ever.  I can't remember my lines now.  Anyway, one of the very last times I performed in front of an audience after that (not counting my senior year in high school and the year after when I helped Ms. Brewick with her Summer Drama Camp for kids ages 5 through 12) was also in 5th grade.  I played violin and I was in the school orchestra.  For my last performance my mother bought me a pair of black patent shoes, that weren't Mary Jane's, white tights, a black velvet dress with a white lace bib, and a black velvet headband with a bow.  I don't remember much about the concert itself, except I was told by many that I did very well.  During the one song that my age group played I had a solo part of it.  My mom told me I did so well I could choose anywhere I wanted to go to dinner.   Just so you knw, we never ate fast food.  Never.  Well, I take that back.  We would go to Wienerschnitzel or Carl's Jr. when my mom was in the mood, but that was about it. So anyway, I get to decide and I picked McDonalds.  I don't know why.  My mom asked if I was sure, then she tried to talk me into Jolly Rogers, which apprently now is called Busters.  She tried to talk me into Hamburger Henry (now closed down) and Bobby McGee's (I loved their zucchini muffins and that my drinks were served in cups that looked like either a bthtub or a toilet).  But nope, I wanted McDonalds.  My parents were disappointed, but they took me there. And I was sooooo excited.  What do you think I ordered?  A Happy Meal, of course!  And when we sat down at the table and started to eat the food...well, then I wished I had chosen the Jolly Roger, Bobby McGee's, Hamburger Henry, anything but that food.  I was young, I was stupid.  I was just a kid, for crying out loud.  And that was a memory that I hold onto to this day.  (wow, I went from one to another to another...hmmm...stream of conscious)

So yeah.  I may not have the ability to recollect the instances that I promised myself to never forget, but I can reminice about things that have happened that lead to explaination of myself today.

Happy Earth Day!

Once again it is Earth Day.  And once again this means that for one whole week out of the year everyone is an environmentalist.  Though that may sound pretty shitty to say, it is still very accurate.  Today is the day, and this week is the week, that you will hear and see more about doing your part in protecting our planet and it's future (along with the futures of our lineage, et al).  So far I saw a bunch of stuff on The Today Show and if you go to their website they have two teeny tiny areas that discuss how to "go green".  Of course, going green for them is earning green, so how much of their crappy 30 second interviews with "environmental specialists" I buy into is only half as much as I am willing to trust in my neighbor to not wake me up in the middle of the night by hacking and coughing his lungs up whilst yelling at his dog.  Another channel that has decided to focus all broadcasting on Earth Day associated broadcasting is Current.  Now don't get me wrong, I love this channel and they run viewer created shorts on the environment all year long.  But today is different.  Today pretty much every single show is for Earth Day.  And they admit it on their website.  I would actually recommend checking this site out the next time you have a question about a current event (hence the channel name).

Anyway, so for the lovely Earth Day, I present you with an Earth Day/Earth Week post.  Are you ready?  "Cause here we go:

First we are gonna start with some basic information that you, the reader, can actually read up on your own, but for the lazy people I will put it here and you can feel free to hit the links if you need more information or you just don't believe me.

Earth Day was first celebrated on April 22, 1970. 
Earth Day is celebrated April 22 every year. 
Gaylord Nelson founded Earth Day.
He also made it so that when you get a OTC or PO it has to include those little side effect papers.
If it weren't for him thinking that more people cause more problems, he wouldn't have presented us with this one special day to act like a bunch of hippies.

That's a short list, I know, but I don't want for you guys to be lazy and not look it up and I don't want to seem to busy and knowledgeable, so i in turn will be lazy and just not type it all.  You can look it up here on Wikipedia or you can actually visit the Earth Day website where you have the change to use their resources to find out how you can make your life environmentally friends and make a better impact on the world around you (or you can just donate to their cause if you don't want to take any responsibility yourself). 

I want to move on to some things I found while I was hopping around on the internet.  Whether or not these effect you to actually do something to help out, I don't know, but they should.  Even you, Mr. Eighty-Year-Old-Pessimist-Who-Is-Dying-Soon-Therefore-You-Don't-Give-A-Shit-About-What-Happens-To-All-Those-Hippies-And-Their-Planet-Saving-Ideas.

From Energy Crossroads Documentary, their Eco-Facts:

 

ENERGY

1.    The average American consumes five times more energy than the average global citizen or 10 times more than the typical Chinese.

If the typical Chinese consumer used as much oil as the average American uses, China would require 90 million barrels per day—11 million more than the entire world produced each day in 2001.

Worldwatch Institute

2.    Today, transportation is the world’s fastest-growing form of energy use, accounting for nearly 30 percent of world energy use and 95 percent of global oil consumption.

The most significant driver of rising energy consumption for transportation is growing reliance on the private car. About one fourth of those cars are found on U.S. roads.

West Europeans now use public transit for 10 percent of all urban trips, and Canadians for 7 percent, compared with Americans at only 2 percent.

Worldwatch Institute

3.    It takes less gasoline to restart your car than it does to let it idle for more than a minute. If all the cars on US roads had properly inflated tires, it would save an estimated 2 billion gallons of gasoline per year and improve your gas mileage 3-7%.

University of ColoradoEnvironmental Center, 2003

4.    If every car carried one more passenger during its daily commute, 32 million gallons of gasoline would be saved each day.

Natural Resources Defense Council, 2003

5.    Aggressive driving (speeding, rapid acceleration and braking) wastes gas. It can lower your gas mileage by 33 percent at highway speeds and by 5 percent around town.

U.S Dept. of Energy

6.    Worldwide, people use about a third of all energy in buildings—for heating, cooling, cooking, lighting, and running appliances. As homes become bigger, each individual house uses more energy. The average new American homes grew nearly 38 percent between 1975 and 2000, to 2,265 square feet—twice the size of typical homes in Europe or Japan and 26 times the living space of the average person in Africa.

Worldwatch Institute

7.    Indoor lighting use is highest during the hours of 9 to 5, even though the light bulb was invented to help us see in the dark.

University of Colorado Environmental Center, 2003

8.    Global wind power capacity jumped 24 percent in 2005, to nearly 60,000 megawatts. The growth in wind power capacity was nearly four times the growth in nuclear power capacity.

Worldwatch Institute

9.    In 2005, worldwide production of photovoltaic cells jumped 45 percent to nearly 1,730 megawatts, six times the level in 2000

POPULATION

10.Between 1850 and 1970, the number of people living on Earth more than tripled—yet the energy they consumed rose 12-fold.

Worldwatch Institute

11.Today the planet adds 77 million people each year, the equivalent of 10 New York Cities.

Worldwatch Institute, 2002

12.The population grows as much every three days as it did every century, on average, for most of the last one-thousand centuries before the Industrial Revolution.

Worldwatch Institute,1999

13.Industrialized countries, such as the US, represent only 20% of the world’s population. However, they consume 80% of the world’s resources, 85% of the world’s forest products, 75% of the world’s energy and produce 75% of the world’s pollution and waste.

Trash to Cash, 1996

RECYCLING

14.Percentage of energy saved by using recycled instead of raw materials to manufacture:

40% glass    40% newspaper

60% steel    70% plastics

95% aluminum (75% when recycled back into aluminum beverage cans)

Natural Resources Defense Council, Aluminum Association

15.Replacing one wasted can requires the energy equivalent to light a 100-watt light bulb for 5 hours or to power the average laptop computer for 11 hours.

Container Recycling Institute, 2001

16.The energy saved each year by steel recycling is equal to the electrical power used annually by 18 million homes—or enough energy to last Los Angeles residents for eight years.

Steel Recycling Institute, 2003

17.Glass can be recycled again and again with no loss in quality or purity. Glass containers go from recycling bin to store shelf in as little as 30 days—again and again.

The Glass Packaging Institute

18.Extracting and processing petroleum into common plastic containers (polyethylene terephthalate, PET, and high-density polyethylene, HDPE) takes four to eight times more energy than making plastics from recycled plastics.

GRRN, Wasting and Recycling in the United States, 2000

CLIMATE CHANGE, AIR & THE ENVIRONMENT

19.The average global temperature in 2005 was 14.6 degrees Celsius, making it the warmest year ever recorded on Earth’s surface. The five warmest years since recordkeeping began in 1880 have all occurred since 1998.

Worldwatch Institute

20.Economic damages from weather-related disasters hit an unprecedented $204 billion in 2005, nearly doubling the previous record of $112 set in 1998

Worldwatch Institute

21.75% of China's energy production is from burning coal.

China is set to overtake the US (at 21%) as the biggest producer of greenhouse gases by 2025 unless current trends are modified.

World Wildlife Found

22.A single mower puts out more pollution than 73 new cars.

CNN Onine

23.Each weekend, about 54 million Americans mow their lawns, using 800 million gallons of gas per year and producing 5% of the nation's air pollution and a good deal more in metropolitan areas.

Environmental Protection Agency

24.The number of cars in the world increased at an annual rate of 2.8 percent between 1980 and 1996, faster than the annual rate of population growth during those years.

AAA Atlas of Population and Environment, 2001
Again, this was taken directly from www.energyxroads.com/ecofacts.htm.

I also decided to repost, for those who may have missed it, from January 27, 2009 titled:

Money vs. The Environment (aka, A Stream of Consciousness That May Not Make Much Sense)

The other day I had a customer come in and, for whatever reason, start in on the amount of money it costs to recycle, compared with just continuously buying.  Where this came from, I haven't the foggiest, since I never(rarely) preach my opinions at all (at least not at work...unless the person/people are being total nincompoops).  Anyway, his thinking is that it cost millions upon millions of dollars to recycle and therefore would be cheaper to NOT recycle and that way America can save money (this he includes the fuel to pick up recyclables, ship them to the center, the actual recycling, etc-which, I would love to point out that, if you take paper for example, it cost money to chop down the trees, ship the trees, process the trees, turn them into paper, ship the paper to stores, etc.).  True, it cost money to recycle, but the problem now is that not many people recycle as it is and this is causing our landfills to fill up, which in turn is not good for our country, let alone our planet.  This guy seems to think that because almost everything decomposes, that it's ok to keep buying more and more fancy-schmancy water bottles and throw them away and it's a-ok.  Well, for your pleasure I present a decomposition chart that I have decided to quote from Keep Athens Limestone Beautiful.

Item in Question                                        Time of Decomposition (give or take) 

Cardboard Box                                            2 Weeks

Paper Towels                                              2-4 Weeks

Paper Bag                                                   6 Weeks

Cotton Glove                                               1-5 Months

Waxed Milk Carton                                      3 Months

Cotton Rope                                                3-14 Months

Photodegradable 6-Pack Ring                       6 Months

Biodegradable Diaper                                     1 Year

Wool Glove                                                  1 Year

Plywood                                                      1-3 Years

Painted Wooden Stick                    `            13 Years

Tin Can                                                       50 Years

Foam Cup                                                    50 Years

Styrofoam Buoy                                            80 Years

Aluminum Can                                             200 Years

Plastic 6-Pack Ring                                      400 Years

Plastic Bottle                                               450 Years

Disposable Diapers                                       450 Years

Microfilament Fishing Line                            600 Years

Glass Bottles/Jars                                        Undetermined

(I know my indents are terrible)

So, doing some simple math we can determine that it would be possible that his great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren may one day come across a plastic bottle he throws away now (and this is averaging that he may be about thirty now and he has a kid now and their kids kids kids kids and all have kids at 30, so on and so forth, yada yada yada.....).  Or he can do the smart thing a recycle that stupid bottle NOW and it can continuously be reused.  According to Scienceline the cost of  "PET virgin bottle resin pellets between 83 and 85 cents a pound, compared to only 58 to 66 cents a pound for PET recycled pellets". 

Ok, so I know that last paragraph was all about the bottles, but that was just an example.  But some facts that come to us from Eco-Cycle:

 

 Recycling 1 ton of paper saves 17 trees, 2 barrels of oil (enough to run the average car for 1,260 miles), 4,100 kilowatts of energy (enough power for the average home for 6 months), 3.2 cubic yards of landfill space, and 60 pounds of air pollution. Trash to Cash

Americans throw away enough aluminum to rebuild our entire commercial fleet of airplanes every 3 months. Environmental Defense Fund

About 80% of what Americans throw away is recyclable, yet our recycling rate is just 28%. Environmental Protection Agency

Over ½ million trees are saved each year by recycling paper in Boulder County. Eco-Cycle

There are more roads in our National Forests than the entire U.S. Interstate Highway system. National Forest Protection Alliance

Recycling creates 6 times as many jobs as landfilling. Colorado Recycles

Recycling glass instead of making it from silica sand reduces mining waste by 70%, water use by 50%, ad air pollution by 20%. Environmental Defense Fund

Reycling just one aluminum can saves enough energy to operate a TV for 3 hours. Eco-Cycle

If we recycled all of the newspapers printed in the U.S. on a typical Sunday, we would save 550,000 trees--or about 26 million trees per year. California Department of Conservation

The energy saved each year by steel recycling is equal to the electrical power used by 18 million homes each year - or enough energy to last Los Angeles residents for eight years. Steel Recycling Institute

If every household in the U.S. replaced just one roll of 1,000 sheet virgin fiber bathroom tissues with 100% recycled ones, we could save: 373,000 trees, 1.48 million cubic feet of landfill space, and 155 million gallons of water. Seventh Generation Co.

The U.S. is 5% of the world's population but uses 25% of its natural resources. Environmental Protection Agency

Want more Eco-Facts? Click here.

Eco-Cycle also has a .pdf of 10 Reasons to Recycle.

Now, I am not the Queen of Recycling.  And no matter how hard I try, I always end up with trash bags filled with...well, trash.  I try, but I never seem to really get stuff out to recycle, because I am too busy trying to keep as much stuff from ending up in the apartment that has to be thrown away.  I fail miserably.  So, for the whole month of February I am going to separate all of the stuff that gets disposed of and take inventory for 28 days of what goes where.  And I want everyone else to do the same.  See how many plastic trash bags you go through then.  I am hoping that perhaps there will be less than one.  This will save ME money.  A few opinions of mine(and if I am wrong in anyway, shape or form, go ahead and email me):

I DO NOT use those little plastic bags in the produce department.  I think they are pointless and I have a sneaking suspicion that, no matter how light they are, they are adding weight to anything I buy.

I think that most all of prepackaged food comes in way too much packaging.  Like Perdue frozen chicken.  The are not only individually frozen, but each chicken breast is individually wrapped in it's own PLASTIC WRAPPER.  What the hell is the point of that?  Do people not know how to seal a bag back up?  If you get a bog of 10 chicken breasts, then you get 10 little bags and 1 big bag (I know about this because I bought a bag not realizing at the time they were individually wrapped.  And it's a bitch to get the chicken out of those stupid little high-tech plastic encasements.).  And you know, you just know, that the people buying that shit on a REGULAR BASIS are not recycling those little bags.  The are buying them up and loading them into their H2's and driving home and then throwing the bags away. 

Ok, I got off track...let's get back to the point of this blog.

Recycling is not just for those items listed above.  Recycling can be finding a new home for something.  Or finding a new use for something.  Art is a way to recycle.  Goodwill and homeless shelters, too. 

Actually, this brings up a whole different subject.  Do we actually need everything we own?  Do we need everything we buy?  Hmm...that's another subject for another day.

Ok, gear up for February!

(I apologize for misspellings.  The 'puter is slow today.)

So, what are you gonna do?  Here are a few ideas to get yourself started:

Start recycling.  I know, I know, it's redundant.  But it's something so easy you'll wonder why you never did it before.  All you need is a receptacle for paper, one for metal and one for paper.  It seems like a lot, but trust me, it can become second nature.  I know there are also some communities out there that you just throw all of you recyclables in one container and they separate it for you at the recycling center, so you can always do that, you know.  I remember in Colorado we had that service.  And to show that they were serious, when the garbage men came by, and they saw you had a box or something in your garbage can, they would actually put it in your recycling bin for you, along with a note on your front door that was not always a friendly reminder.  So just try it.  Maybe you can start small.  Like just collect paper for recycling at first.  Or cans.  Or plastic.  Whatever it is, just try one thing for a week or two, and then add on something else.

Another think you can do is start using products to clean your home or your body that aren't harmful to the environment.  And by environment, I mean humans, animals and planet.  As always I am a huge fan of Dr. Bronner's Castille Soap.  You can clean anything in the world with it, minus your eyes.  And I am sure some other things, but you can clean nearly everything, from your car to your teeth.  Laundry and dishes.  Dogs and cats.  You get the picture.  Another one of my favorite companies is Nature's Gate.  The shampoos and conditioners leave my hair soft and clean and all of their products, from shampoo to lotion, make my hair and skin feel great and smell wonderful.  And one of my all time favorite bar soap companies is Pangea Organics.  When you buy their bar soap you get something a little extra!  You can plant the packaging and get a shrub, a tree or a flowering plant.  And their products are  good for the earth.  According to their website the Pangea products start to biodegrade within 48 hours.  Which means that once they wash down the drain they won't be hanging around for another several centuries.  As for home cleaning I still think castille soap is the best, but I have been trying out new products on the market, as you can check out any reviews.  But sometimes the best products are the ones we have laying around in the first place (and I have on here what else you can use them for besides cleaning!):

Lemon:  gets rid of odors, helps with stains, repels animals and insects, helps sharpen blades in a garbage disposal (and makes it smell way better), lightens freckles, lightens hair while adding shine and natural highlights, makes a great astringent, some sugar can juice and water added mixes up a refreshing lemonade, put some in with your iced tea, homemade lemon drop shots!

Baking soda:  pour some down a clogged drain with some vinegar to clear it out, makes a great paste with water or lemon juice to clean stains and grout, use with hot water and aluminum foil to clean silver, helps get rid of grease stains, great in the laundry as a fabric softener, sprinkle over carpets before vacuuming to rid it of odors, mix with shampoo to remove build up in your hair, mix with warm water and rinse with cool for a hair conditioner, great for brushing your teeth, helps in soda breads and other baked goods.

Vinegar:  clean the windows (some say cut it with water, but I use it straight out of the bottle), clean almost any surface, minus wood or marble, by cutting it with water, wipe and rinse, unclog a drain using it alone or with baking soda, white vinegar makes a great hair conditioner as does apple cider vinegar (apple cider vinegar with give you slightly red highlights), repels insects, great to put a teaspoon in your dogs water bowl to help repel fleas and ticks (when your dog sweats it out)

Really the only other thing I can think of that everyone has around the house that can be useful for cleaning a lot of things is hydrogen peroxide.  It's a disinfectant, so if you feel you need to disinfect, dab a little on where needed with a clean cloth.  And it doesn't take much.

Ok, so there is your Earth Day reading material.  Remember, it's not as hard as you think to get into the swing of things.  It takes humans 2 to 3 weeks to develop a new habit.  So what better time than now to start?

Happy Earth Day!

 

New Ways To Waste Time

I feel like such a cad.  I totally forgot to make the lasagna that I am supposed to deliver to a friend tomorrow.  So I will have to apologize and make sure to make it tomorrow so I can deliver it to him on Friday.

I blame the internet.

I changed around my site.  I spent nearly three hours hopping and skipping all over the web to change maybe three things on here.  Ok, I was also catching up on other blogs that I had forgotten about.  I got so wrapped up in it that I even forgot to write the other post I was planning for tonight.  So I will instead do that tomorrow.  I promise.  And I am sorry.

Today was actually a really bad day. 

The first thing was that I did not want to get up for work at all.  When you have three days off like I did that will happen.  I really could have used a fourth day off.  Anyway, when I got to work it was all good.  Until the boss lady called and asked me to go document a stylist at another salon.  So I did.  I had to document him and suspend him for a week.  It did not turn out well.  One problem was that he didn't know who the hell I was.  So here comes a manager from another salon telling him he has to go home and not come back for a week.  He freaked the eff out.  No joke.  He went on a tirade, yelling and slamming things, telling me he was not leaving, he was going to talk to the boss lady first.  So he called her.  Then he had the nerve to come back into the office and tell me to calm down.  He accused me of being rude, told me that I had no right to tell him what to do, yada yada yada.  And I got mad.  I mean, I got really effing angry.  I know my face was red.  I was so mad I started shaking.  And I raised my voice.  And I told him no less than ten times to get out of my face.  I threatened to call security if he didn't leave.  And the whole time it was happening all I could think about was how ridiculous the situation was.  It didn't matter if I was his direct manager or not.  I was doing my job, what I had been told to do.  And the fact that he was an employee back talking me and trying to set it all up to make me look like the bad guy was stupid.  Really.  The great thing, however, was the whole episode was on camera.  The boss lady was watching the whole thing go down on her computer.  And she did call security.  Luckily dude left before security got there.  I just can't believe how mad I got.  Sheesh.  Anyhoo, when I finally got back to my salon I had people waiting on me.  So I started cutting.  And it was all good. 

Until I get mean person that walks in.

 At my salon we take peoples information to start a profile in the computer for them.  It helps us, too.  We get the phone number, that way if someone else with their same name comes in we can differentiate each person.  We get their first name so we know what to call them and we get their last name because if you have three Bobs on the waiting list you gotta know which one to call out, otherwise you get all three trying to follow you back.  And the address thing is for our records.  It takes that address off of the corporate mailing list and puts them on our client list.  This way we can send out special coupons, but they won't get the corporate junk mail. 

So anyway, dude walks in and I ask for his number.  He gets all uppity with me, says he doesn't want to give it because he doesn't want me to call him.  To which I reply that I have no time or desire to call him and explain why I asked.  No, he is not giving it. 

Ok, I suppose you aren't interested in getting special coupons?

 Nope, not giving his address. 

Ok, no problem, can I get your name? 

Nope, not giving his name. 

What the am I supposed to call him? 

Whatever I want.  Seriously. 

This was the whole issue.  And he was only the first.  Another came in and did the same thing.  What on earth makes these old men think I have any interest in calling them?  It must be delusions of grandeur.  We have maybe a handful of people like that per month.  It's not very common, but it does happen. 

So anyway, I was way happy when I got home.  Since I dropped my hours back down to around 25-30 a week, I feel much better about it all.  I need to find a job where I don't have to run by a schedule.  I just don't think that it's right for me.  Or I guess maybe a daily schedule.  I was totally stress free when I cleaned houses, because I had a three day schedule some weeks, two others, and some weeks where I didn't work at all.  I made money, paid bills, but I also had time to do things I wanted to do, such as camping and hiking and wandering around town (this was in Colorado, so wandering around town was easier and, oddly enough, way more fun than Atlanta).  I need that kind of job again.

Oh, actually something did happen when I got home.  I got a message this afternoon from the dental office I have my appointment at tomorrow advising me that they weren't able to verify my dental insurance.  So I called BCBS who informed me that they canceled my dental last year.  So I called the boss lady.  She went mad.  She has been paying for it and has all of the bills and canceled checks.  I am hoping this will be straightened out tomorrow.  I am going to the dentist with or without insurance.  If I pay out of pocket BCBS is going to have to reimburse me.  Gah.  Silliness.

So I think I will now go to bed.  it's almost 1:30 in the morning, and I have to be up in 6 hours.

BOO!

Third Day Off, What To Do? Write a Cleaning Review!

It is noon.  And I have been lazy.  I did get up and clean the bathroom, just as promised, and started laundry.  I am now trying to come up with a good idea for the craft challenge due May.  This one is craft with plastic Easter eggs.  I have some eggs and I am ready to go.  But I can't figure out what I want to do with them.  I have had several ideas, I'm just not sure which to do.  I'm thinking that maybe if I go and clear off room on my art table I will come up with a fabulous idea that will awe everyone.  Actually, I just had an amazing idea.  I just need to think it all over before starting it.  I need to collect everything I will need for it.  Oh boy!  This is gonna be super cute.

Anyway, back to the cleaning issue.  I think I may have made mention of the Clorox Green Works Cleaners before, but I can't remember.  Anyway, I had bought some and half tried them, but today I used them in the bathroom, and I figured a little review would be in order.  So, here we go:  I started in the tub with the Green Works Bathroom Cleaner.  I sprayed down the inside of the tub, the grout and tiles, the soap dish, the edges around the doors and the doors themselves.  It kind of has a weird plasticy, fake citrus smell, maybe a co-mingling of the plastic and lemons, which is far better than the bleachy smell of most cleaners.  I still had the bathroom window open, though.  The website claims " The plant and mineral-based ingredients cut through soap scum, hard water and rust leaving your bathroom naturally clean."  I don't not agree with that, but I can't fully agree with it, either.  I left it to "penetrate" for about 45 minutes whilst I gathered laundry and all and then watched some Still Standing.  When I went back up to check on it, I ended up having to put a lot, A LOT, of elbow grease into scrubbing away mildew and ring-around-the-tub.  It left it smelling nice, though, and I guess the 15 minutes I spent scrubbing it wasn't too long.  Anyway, I then moved onto the sink with the same cleaner and then, finally, the toilet.  Both the sink and the toilet were super easy to clean with it, but seriously, who gets their toilet and sink that nasty anyway to warrant having to use something much stronger than soap and water?  Anyhoo, I then used the Green Works All Purpose Cleaner on the mirror and the chrome.  It has the same strange smell, but again it is much better than Windex, but it doesn't clean as well as lemon juice or vinegar.  It left faint streaks on the mirror (I tried this because it said All Purpose), but I can handle those streaks.  The way it left them was so when I looked at myself it was almost as if I were in misty portrait looking airbrushed.  Me like.  And on the chrome it did really well.  I cannot clean a faucet to save my life, even with a toothbrush, but what I could get was so sparkly I'm gonna have crows and squirrels trying to break in to steal it.   I still need to try it on the kitchen (stove), but I think it will work out well.  A few points from the website:  the products are not 100% natural.  Apparently some of the preservatives and colors are fake, fake, fake.  They say they are trying to work on that, but I wonder why work on it?  Vegetable based colorants are out there (and why color it green?  Just make the stuff eco friendly and you don't need to make it more appealing).  And as for preservatives, well, if it's a cleaner then let it be a cleaner.  Vinegar last forever (and sometimes you can make it yourself if you forget to put your wine n the fridge!).  I get that they want it to be shelf sustainable, but honestly, I can have the same bottle of castille soap forever and still clean with it.  I will admit this, though:  it was easier to clean the tub with the Green Works stuff than with my beloved castille soap.  Shhhhh....don't tell the soap!  Anyhoo, the website also claims that the stuff doesn't disinfect.  This is about to get me on a whole 'nother issue (that would be a bit of Southern, right there!).  Lemon oil, which is in both products I used is a natural disinfectant.  Now, maybe they don't use enough of it to say that is is, but it actually is.  I will use Organic Facts Dot Net as my source, and I quote, "Cleaners: Lemon is a good cleaner; therefore it is used for cleansing the body, metal surfaces, etc. It is also a disinfectant and hence it is used for cleaning surfaces such as butcher’s knife and block that can get contaminated easily."  Other disinfectants they can use in their products would be other oils, such as tea tree oil, and other natural cleaners, such as the aforementioned vinegar, which you can read about at Care2.  I am all about the citrus, though, because it is supposed to keep dogs and cats out of and off of things you don't want them in or on (of course when I tried this it only worked as long as the dining room table was wet, but it didn't seem to effect Scallop after it dried.  Bummer.).  Of course, I guess I am kinda jerky, because they do make mention on the site that they can't find dyes or preservatives that are sustainable in cleaning solution yet.  So I will leave that alone for now.  They don't test on animals, though, and that is fantastic.  They are recognized by The Sierra Club and the EPA for the Design for The Environment program.  So I guess it's not all bad.  The scrubbing I could do without, or more like, if I'm gonna scrub like that I might as well used my castille soap, baking soda, vinegar, lemon juice, etc.  They do have a myriad of products to choose from to clean your home with (or office, or whatever), but those were the only two I bought.  It does smell pretty, if plasticy, though.

Ooop, gotta go check laundries.

Ok, that's going well.

Well, I suppose I should plan out how to do my crafting.  I hope you have enjoyed this review.  I am willing to take suggestions!  Just send me an at ManifestGreen AT yahoo.

Oooooh....

Today I discovered a show on Comcast On Demand called Stuff Happens with Bill Nye on Planet Green.  I only watched one episode about cleaning out closets (due to my self diagnosed ADD) and it was pretty neat.  Without going into too much detail at the moment, I learned that Cashmere Goats cause dust bowls in China, shoes are recycled into playgrounds (Nike has a program called Reuse-A-Shoe), old blue jeans can be turned into insulation and the wire coat hangers that people throw out (NO MORE WIRE COAT HANGERS!!!!!!!!) can be recycled into...well, anything requiring steel.  I knew about the shoe recycling, but the bit about the cashmere I didn't know about.  Maybe because I don't wear cashmere.  I don't like it.  And I didn't realize about the wire coat hangers.  Because I don't' use those, either.  And I didn't know about the denim.  But that was super nifty to learn about.  Yeah denim!  I tried to find it on youtube, but I couldn't, or maybe I'm just too lazy to search through however many pages to find something other than what happens with all of the trillions of cigarette butts littering the world (leave my smokes alone!  I don't litter!  I do throw them away, however...hmmm...I know, I should quit.  Wait until the price goes up even more!).

Anyway, let's see.  I bought another book today.  It weighs about 500 lbs.  It's a flower book!  Silly, I know.  But I am going to get another tattoo and I needed some reference.  I haven't gone through it yet because I am afraid my arms will fall off when I pick it up again.  I need to build strength first.   I can't wait!  I'm going either Tuesday or Wednesday.  I haven't decided.  Watch me be too looking forward to laying around to go get it done.

I also watch a couple of movies today.  One was The Spiderwick Chronicles.  It was ok.  Not super, but ok.  I guess I expected more.  Actually, I don't know what I expected.  More.  The other movie I watched was My Life Without Me.  I found this movie to be not so great, either.  The main character came off as extremely selfish.  She kept her dying from everyone who loved her.  And the end...well, I won't ruin it for anyone who wants to watch it.  The acting was ok, but I don't think it's a movie I would watch again, nor did it make me want to run out and buy the book or short story or whatever it was adapted from. 

Wow, my life must be really boring right now.  Al I did today was go into work.  Read Post Secret and Fark.  But then again, I read Fark throughout the day EVERYDAY.  Then got home and did the above mentioned activities.  Oh, and I ate.  Soup.  And Crackers.  What is wrong with me?  Maybe it's the allergies making my dull.    

And if allergy season isn't bad enough, according to several different weather peoples (like they know what they are talking about) there is a chance of snow tomorrow night.  Why yes, those who get to deal with snow often, everyone in Atlanta is freaking out and stocking up on bread and milk.  You know, for the possible snowflake that might fall.  Somewhere.  And the newspapers are making it out like this shit happens all year, every year.  It doesn't.  As the AJC says, " Monday, we have a slight chance of-get this-snow showers.  To newcomers: This is so Atlanta".  Thanks Donna Williams Lewis.  But no it isn't "so Atlanta".  It's more Colorado.  You know, 70 degree one day, 25 degrees the next.  Especially this time of year.  But not Atlanta.  As I recall Atlanta is also known as "Hotlanta" (especially to middle aged women going through menopause who think that taking a trip to "the city" with their friends to see The Vagina Monologues before heading over to The Coronet Club to get tipsy and give tipsies).  This is not only because Atlanta is "hot" as in super great fun, a bad ass place to be" but also because the humidity mixed with the temperatures makes it ridiculously hot and unbearable from about May though...well, January, really.  So the thought of "snow" isn't something people here think a lot about.  Well, they don't think about it happening here, I mean.  And I wouldn't really call it snow.  Ice is more like it.  Maybe it snows in the mountains (hills, really), but not here in Atlanta.  It also rarely storms in Atlanta.  And when I say in Atlanta, I mean IN Atlanta.  Brett and I watch the Doppler Radar and we noticed that the storms will come toward the city of Atlanta from the West, then they will split off, going around to the North and South, and then meet up again on the East side (moving on up!).  Really.  We watched the weather reports on the news one night, all night, because it took over the tv stations.  It was all about these horrible storms coming through Georgia that were damaging, possible tornadoes and whatnot, and we got a 5 minute downpour here.  That was it.  It cause tons of damage all around the city, but none here in the city.  How goofy is that?

But I digress.

Another issue I feel the need to bring up is the abandonment of pets.  There was an article in AJC about it.  HERE.  A guy came into the salon the other day and was going on about a dog he found that had been dumped.  The dog was chipped and I think they should have found the dumping owners and jailed them for neglect.  How on earth can someone do that?  It's as bad, too me, as dog fighting, dog abuse, etc.  These furbabies are supposed to be family.  Not just a possession to throw away when you can't afford them anymore.  And honestly, it does not cost that much to take care of animals.   Unless they have a serious medical issue.  Would you adopt a child and then throw them out on the street when you lose your job?  No.  It's illegal.  Some people see animals as just animals.  But they have feelings too.  And they don't understand what's going on.  And they don't understand when the people that they love and trust just dump them out, never to see them again.  It's cruel.  I wish I could take all of them.  I wish I had the space and the time for every single one of them.  I feel so horrible and sad for them and such anger towards those people throwing them out like a piece of trash. 

Again, the weather.  The news is saying rain and tornadoes tonight and snow tomorrow.  Ooooh, I hope Miranda is ok.  They are showing her area for tornadoes.  I hope Brett is ok.  He is at hockey until about midnight or so.  Sigh.  I have though about what to do if a tornado comes towards us.  My only choice is to somehow squeeze two dogs, a cat and two adults into the tiniest bathroom in the world.  It is so small in the downstairs bathroom that you hafta sit on the toilet sideways.  I mean, there is room to sit forward, but then you have Albert Einstein staring at you, and that's just kinda uncomfortable.  

Ok, now I am starting to ramble again.

Good night.

15 Pounds of Ground Turkey

Update 1:  I am so fucking tired of being at work.

Update 2:  Jennifer just got out of the hospital in Mobile yesterday.

Update 3:  Someone at work is annoying the piss out of me.

Update 4:  My feet hurt really, really badly.

Update 5:  Scampi is the cutest, sweetest dog on the planet, possibly the universe.

Update 6:  15 lbs. of ground turkey is a lot of turkey.

Ear

So I had an earache this morning when I woke up.  The same type of earache I had just about a month ago.  It was very annoying.  Now, I don't like going to the doctor, mainly  because I feel like I could be using the money that I give to him for something better, instead of paying for his kids private school or his new car.  I could use it for books.  Or puppies.

So anyhoo, I go to the doctor and pay him $20 copay.  Then I go and give Brenda my dr. note.  Then I come home.  Brett goes across the street to get my prescriptions.  Nope.  He can't.  The total is over $100 and they tell him my insurance was cancelled.  Wait, what?  No no no.  I call the insurance company.  They say it had lapsed.  I call Brenda.  She assures me that it has not lapsed and she has been paying it.  Brenda calls the insurance company.  She calls me back.  She is pissed.  She paid for my insurance, but they cancelled it for some stupid reason (someone can't do their job, apparently).  She assured me that I would be reinstated soon.  Until then keep receipts and I will be reimbursed. 

I can't wait for the doctors office to realize this!  Actually, when they do I am supposed to have the bill sent to Brenda, who will then pay them and the insurance company can reimburse her.  I got one prescription for $40.  The other is $80 or so.  I didn't get that one.  I figure that when I leave work on Friday I should have enough to get that one, then I can give her the receipts for both at the same time.

So to make a long, stupid, boring story short:  I have a sinus infection.  And bronchitis.

I already took some stuff to try to clear it up.  I hope I don't fall asleep too early.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!

I am off of work until Tueday at 5pm!  That's 5 1/2 days!  Hells yeah!

So today so far I have:  cleaned the kitchen, started some laundry, baked a coconut custard pie, watched Bewitched, and now I am going to watch I Dream of Jeannie.  Because I am awethome like that.

I am going down to the tattoo shop in just a bit to take Billy some Hannah Montana posters (for his daughter, of course) and the pie.  It's been in the making for a year or so now.  After I get back Crys is supposed to bring her dog over to meet my dogs since we may be keeping her on Monday.  Well, Brett will be keeping the dog.  Crys, Colleen, Jenn and I will be at Convention to pick up our awards for being so super über GREAT!  And I think I will make a quiche for deenerz tonight.  Yum.

Tomorrow I am going to lounge around and do nothing, as far as I know.  Maybe do some painting.  Yeah. 

My first picked cayenne!

I just picked him. I'm naming him Henry.

Oddly enough, I don't feel older.  Or maybe that's not odd.  Yesterday was fun.  I worked, which wasn't, but it's all good.  I got home and lounged, before having to go right back out for a sort of meeting with the boss lady.  Then Brett and I went out for a bit.  Nothing big.  Just nice.

Today we slept in.  Well, I woke up super early first and complained about a tummy ache, which had Brett running across the street buying some ginger ale for me.  He is such a sweetie-pie.  Then we finally got up a bit after noon and went to  the Awful Waffle for brunner.  As we were leaving they apparently got a phone call from some maniac threatening to come down and shoot everyone.  Welcome to Atlanta!  We then went to an antique store and then went TARGETING!  I bought a little pig Halloween costume for Scallop, but alas! it was too small for her.  Brett is gonna take it back tomorrow and exchange it for a larger size.  Then there will be pictures!  I also went to the beauty supply store because I decided I wanted blue hair.  But now I just think I'm too lazy.  I guess I can see how I feel tomorrow. 

Anyway, I saw an article that inspired me to take up a new form of art.  I'm not going to talk about it yet, because I don't want to jinx my inspiration.    

And I think my neighbors are moving.  I hope.  ::closes eyes and wishes really hard, but only if new neighbors are way better!::

Just in time!

I got my car repaired finally.  After sitting in the auto shop for a couple of hours.  I think the best part of the experience was that after the guy pulled my car around, he had the nerve to ask me out.  As in, "hey, you wanna grab a drink or something?".  Me?  Ha!  "No".  I have several things against him anyway, the first and formost being that he went into the restroom and when he came out the toilet was still flushing.  What does that tell you, kids?  That he didn't was his hands.  Gross.  Plus, and this is a biggy, I already have a boyfriend, who probably wouldn't appreciate me just going and slinging back a few with some British auto mechanic.

Anyhoo, since my car was repaired finally I passed emissions and was able to successfully renew my driver's license and renew my tag.  And what was really strange was that no one, at either office, asked me for proof of address.  Or proof of anything.  And the wait times were really strange.  I spent less than 15 minutes in the DMV and less than 5 minutes in the tag registration office.  I actually spent more time get there than I was actually there.  Sad. 

So I am legal. 

And tomorrow I will be 32 years old.  Yay. 

I have plans for this coming year, plans for myself to follow.  I don't know who all does  43 Things, but my list is on this page (just look over to your left, kinda near the top...you see it?).  And I fully intend to add more goals and finish more.  

Okey Dokey!

I have thought carefully about what to say about Battleground Earth.  And here it goes:  it is a stupid show.  I know I made a hint toward this on a previous blog, but this time I am saying it straight out.  It is a stupid show.  I think the original idea for the show was probably great, but the show itself just didn't come out that way.  It puts both stars in a bad light.  The show makes both Tommy Lee and Luda look stupid.  I know there is no way in hell they can both be that retarded.  I mean, Tommy Lee comes out looking stupid a lot no matter what the situation he is in.  But Luda is not a stupid man.  He heads up The Ludacris Foundation for goodness sake.  Helping kids help themselves.  There is no way he can be that out of the loop about saving out planet.  I know, I know, Battleground Earth is probably aimed toward kids, teens and early 20's demographics, but by making two celebrities look stupid means that the producers of this show think that the people that fall into their audience range are stupid.  I just think there was a better way to do the show.  I would have done it differently.  Plus, honestly, watching them pull pranks on each other and put each other down (which I must say, one of the best lines in the episode about the green funerals came from Luda, something about how Tommy Lee hasn't had a solo hit except for the hit from Kid Rock) is boring, especially when I saw them do an interview, or whatever, together and how they each think the other is really cool and fun to hang around.  Why script the show?  Oh, yeah, to make sure they both come off as stupid as possible to make sure that their audience can follow, right?

Ok, enough about that.

Anything new....anything new.....OH!

I told Brett this morning that I wanted to get out and do more stuff.  Mainly out of jealousy.  Let me explain:  I look at my friends pictures on their myspace pages.  And I get jealous.  Why, you ask?  Because they are out having fun and taking pictures of themselves having fun.  Even if it's just going out and playing at a kiddy park.  Swings, slides, etc.  I miss doing that!  Plus, I have a bad relationship with cameras when it comes to pictures of myself.  Sooooo....anyway, I want to have more fun and more pictures of myself having fun.  I am ready to give up my personal issues with public and pictures and just have some fun.  As Chv would say, FUCK YEAH!  One thing that Brett and I are definitely doing, which we can't really take pictures of, is this.  It looks (!) like fun!  I am going to start planning out things to do and just do them!

Too much coffee...

Yes, way to much.  I am kinda jittery.  Yet, for some reason I want to take a nap. 

Breathe.

I woke up this morning and tried another salt water flush.  This time I did not urk it all up.  I managed half of it and I may try the other half around lunch time.  Brett and I tried to do the shot of salt water followed by all of the rest of the water.  I yakked, he managed to keep it down.  But it was decided that just drinking the salty water is way better than the shot.

Anyway, today is my second day off.  I spent yesterday lounging around, not doing much of anything.  Today I will:

test how many push ups I can do at once, take Scampi for a walk, run to the bank, take a long walk for myself, run to the grocery, clean out my car, clean the kitchen and living room, start cleaning out my closet, and do laundry.  It is 9:54 AM.  I have 6 minutes.

Gah!  I cannot believe how effing lazy I have felt lately.  I don't feel like doing anything, including cleaning.  When I got home today I had to force myself to take the dogs out because all I wanted to do was lay on the couch and snooze. 

Anyhoo, I need to start walking.  Like, really start walking.  If I don't start now then I will never be able to walk to work without feeling like a tank rolled over my legs when i get done.  And I won't be able to walk without dying, or at the very least, without sweating like a dog in summer by the time I get to work.  Of course, I need to start writing in my complaints about how part of the way to work doesn't even have good sidewalks (and by "good" I mean "existent").  I know I always say "oh, I will start walking/eating better/exercising/riding my bike/stop watching Law and Order tomorrow, but maybe I really will start tomorrow morning.  I need to be motivated.  Something besides that it is good for me, good for the environment in the long run, yada yada yada.

So today I read in "Atlanta" magazine about a cemetery in Conyers, I guess at the Monastery, where you can have a "green" funeral.  No embalming, no cement, no plastic flowers, no machine to dig your grave (actual people with actual shovels do it!).  Though I couldn't find that article I read, I did find one similar HERE.  But while looking for that article I cam across a few more that dealt with eco-friendly sea funerals, reef funerals.  For example, The Great Burial Reef or Eternal Reefs.  I think I would much rather be buried somewhere that my remains can make a huge difference, but not inside concrete.  Just throw me in the ground with some seeds of some sort and let my body nourish a tree.

I still have not started the local diet.  Brett and I still can't get rid of the food in the kitchen.  BECAUSE I KEEP BUYING MORE FOOD!  I haven't the foggiest how to get through all of the food without making a ton of horrible meals.  This is something else I need help with.  Maybe if Brett would cook every night then I would be forced to eat whatever he cooked.  Nah, that will never work because I am way to picky about what I want to eat when.  More like, I have to be in certain moods to eat certain foods.  I eat what I crave, which is why I have so much food in the kitchen  Gah!  Again:  Gah!  Of course, if it weren't for my laziness as of late then I would be able to get through the food faster.  I wouldn't be stopping at the store for something quick and easy.  I would cook more breads, casseroles, etc.  I might even sit down and plan a meal or two.  Yeah.  Plan.  And I don't plan anything, except things that I can take forever on.  But this is something that I really should work on quicker.  It would save me soooo much money.  Ok, starting tomorrow I will go through and plan on getting rid of all of the food in the kitchen.  The only stuff I will not be able to use up are my spices.  But since I only buy garlic all the time, I will continue to do that after going local only (so I guess that makes it local only except for garlic).  There is no way I can go through all of those spices by the time I get through all of the food.

Another thing I need to start working on soon is getting rid of the excess shit I own.  I do not need to own this much stuff.  I plan on selling my bike for a smaller one.  Right now I have a road cruiser that I have ridden around the block ONCE.  It is so heavy that it makes no sense for me to own it in this neighborhood.  Too many hills.  I need a lighter one, but I want a cute lighter one.  And we have three desktop computers, so I thing I might sell mine.  I never turn it on, anyway.  I can't remember the last time I flipped it on.  So I guess I can reset it to factory and sell it.  After that it should be easy to get rid of excess stuff.  As long as it's not my kitchen stuff, movies, books, art supplies, animals, pillows, blankets, or towels.  God, I guess I am selfish, huh?  I really should just chuck it all.  Sigh.

Oh, and the jam?  Nope.  Didn't work out.  I just don't have the talent for it.  So I guess this means Everything I will be eating will be fresh.  I do know how to freeze stuff, though!  So once the freezer is emptied (BRETT!  Help empty it!) I can start buying some local foods to freeze.  I can make some meals, or meal packs, to put in the freezer (like veggie soup packs:  just add water and cook!).  I still need to go down to the Farmstand on Howell Mill Road and check it out.  As soon as I do that I will let everyone know what I think.  I don't believe I have ever put anything up about it but here it be:  The Local Farmstand.

Anyway, I guess that's all for today!  I will let you know what happens tomorrow.

The Food Situation, Hair Products and Herbs!

Trying to get rid of the food that is in the kitchen currently is more difficult than I thought it would be.  Only because I never know what I want to eat until it is time to eat.  This is why we have so much food.  I go to the grocery nearly everyday.  You know you go shopping too much when you walk up to pay for your food and the clerk says, "Uh oh...here comes trouble".  Yeah.  He said that.

So anyhoo, earlier today I was clearing out my email accounts and found some emails I had sent to various hair product companies.  Each one was inquiring if they tested on animals and/or if their products contained any ingredients that were animal derivatives.  Then I realized that none of the companies had ever replied to my queries.  Sooooo, I am going to resend them all.  I already know of plenty of products that my salon sells that are still using animal testing and animal derived ingredients.  I generally do not attempt to sell these products to anyone.  I do know of the ones that don't test on animals, but I am not sure if they contain any.  I pointed this out to Jenn, my coworker, who I thought would be concerned about it.  She told me that she likes her stuff being tested on animals so she knows it won't kill her.  I love Jenn dearly, but sometimes she just infuriates me with her way of seeing the world.

And lastly....my boss left me a lovely gift.  When I walked into my office this morning there was a vase on my desk filled with cut rosemary branches.  And there was a note letting me know she left fresh mint in the fridge in the break room for me.  Yum!  Tomorrow I am going to make soap with the rosemary.  and then dry the rest of it out for cooking.  Yum!  Yum!  YUM! 

Spring is really springing!

When I got home from work today I found something fantastic!  My Asian Lillies, which I had thought were dead from silly little squirrels digging them up, are growing!  And they are gonna be beautiful.

The hair is still working keeping the little fat creatures at bay, thankfully.

I mentioned last night, and this is a tip to remember, that the easiest way to remove FRESHLY SPILLED red wine from a carpet is this easy:  pour salt, straight from the canister, into a pile over the entire stain.  Then just sit and watch the clock for a while, letting the salt soak up all of the wine and dry.  You can then just vacuum the wine tinged salt right up.  This keeps you from using chemicals that will damage the environment and possibly the color of your carpet (not to mention your lungs...and who in the world wants to spend time keeping a dog from licking up chemicals?).

Also, another easy, non chemical, solution to cleaning?  To clean AND polish laminated or treated wood furniture is with castille soap.  My favorite is Dr. Bronners liquid castille.  I fill a mixing bowl with lukewarm water and a squirt of the soap, swish around and then wipe away.  Use a clean dry cloth to dry off and you are done! 

Castille soap contains essential oils that help to moisturize wood pieces and clean effectively.  And castille soap can be used to clean anything.  And I mean ANYTHING.  You'll see....