hehehe...

I'm a winner....just sayin'. I hope you'll consider joining this fabulous community of change. It's easy, you gets tons of support and you feel pretty darned good about your life. Think about it?

No picture...

Because I was too shocked to think about fetching my camera. Earlier this year I had joined the One Small Change community and one of my earliest changes was to compost year-round instead of only when it's warm. I've been very faithful to that change and while some might say I've been a fanatic, I prefer to think I'm just being responsible. Anyway, last night, as I was preparing a stir-fry with some vegetables from my freezer, I tossed some cauliflower into the pan, but then decided I didn't like the look of it. I thought it might have gone bad somehow so I started picking it out and placing it into the composting bucket that always sits on the kitchen counter. It was bothering me that I was going to toss the vegetables so I took a taste of another piece from the pan, decided it was good after all and dumped the cauliflower back into the pan. Yeah, except I had already used the bucket for other scraps and it all got dumped into the pan. Now, before you go, 'ewwww,' I have to tell  you that I wash the bucket every time it's emptied so there aren't any nasty, smelly things in there, but still, my beautiful stir-fry was now full of the scraps from making dinner, a whole bunch of pistachio shells and the rinds from tangerines. It took just a moment to realize what I had done and then I laughed. I laughed because really, how ridiculous was it that I had dumped the whole bucket in the pan without even giving it a thought? And let me tell you, I was ever so grateful that I had emptied the bucket just before making dinner or else there would have been coffee grounds in there as well. Now that would have been an 'ewww' experience. Lesson learned? I guess it would be to keep the compost bucket far away from my dinner. It was delicious, by the way. I just picked out all the scraps and kept going. ~grins~

Happy New Year and may you find wonder in the year and humor in the moments.

Another small change? No, big!

Whoot Whoot! My One Small Change challenge has been so much fun. I've made great, sustainable changes for January, February and March and now I'm ready for April.

I took my TTT (Teach The Teacher) Rain Barrel class last night at WMEAC. Come on...it's that easy to make these? Yes! It really is. And you know what? I won the raffle, so I came home with the water barrel we made. Whew! Now I have a way to show you what they look like. The link I gave you for WMEAC has a video and instructions for making your own at the bottom of the link page.


There is an overflow spout at the top right where I'll attach a hose for when there's too much rain. There are dual valves on the bottom so I can attach 2 soaker hoses, one each for the back and side yard gardens. There's a screen covered hole at the top where the downspout will be retrofitted (yes, I know what that means.  Aren't I smart?) The screen is to keep mosquitos and debris out of the barrel. And, you can't see it, but there's a hose attachment on the other side in case you want to get your hose up off the ground.

People, rain barrels are so simple to make that you have no reason not to have them at your own homes. Think how many gallons of rain water I'm keeping out of the storm sewer. What's more, rain water is free and just think of how many gallons of treated water I don't have to buy from the city just to throw on the ground this summer.

Next up, rain barrel workshops at my home. I get to teach the neighborhood how to make them. Have I mentioned that the rain barrels and all the supplies are free from our city if you go through the WMEAC workshops? Yep, free. I love free. I love my city!

"Look down my rain barrel. Slide down my cellar door. And we'll be jolly friends forever more!"

This young lady....

This is one of those posts so you may not want to read further.

Let me begin. This young lady, right here....


inspires me in ways I never could have imagined. I've written about her before and I'll write about her again. This is my 4 y/o granddaughter and I waited 30 years (from the time her Daddy, my oldest, was born) to get to her and I assure you, the very essence of her was worth every minute of the wait. I don’t mean to imply that she is a ‘mini-me’, but she looks like me, we share personality traits, she reminds me of who I thought I was. She reminds me of who I could have been, who I can be.

She is bright, and curious, and sweet, and generous and so full of love and life. When Alex was home over Christmas, he remarked on the family life she has (along with her brothers). He said it was a safe home and a home full of love. By safe, I think he meant both physically and emotionally. My grandchildren are growing up immersed in love from aunts and uncles, cousins, grandparents, parents and their siblings. What a wonderful way to grow up. I didn’t grow up feeling like that. My childhood was dangerous and fraught with fear. I did have a protector, who helped me learn to be brave, but he was only a year older than me and he was torn from my childhood home when I was 12. I was lucky in that I survived with no physical scars, but there are emotional scars. This young lady inspires me to continue being brave, and because I know she is learning from me, she inspires me to shake off the last vestiges of my broken childhood. She inspires me to reach beyond the emotional scars to live a fuller and healthier life. One would think that at my age, I would have already done this since I am a grandmother. But life had a way of going on and allowing me to use whatever defense mechanisms I had at hand to get through the motherhood era. It seems grandchildren cause me to be more aware of being a whole person. It seems this young lady is a springboard for me. Thank you, my little Chickabee.

I’m about to embark on the Inside Out e-course, for which I am very excited, but this journey began in earnest this past January when I signed up for the One Small Change and the Reduce Clutter challenges. One Small Change has helped me to make small monthly changes in my physical life, but also got me thinking about small changes I could make in my emotional life as well. It’s not scary to make small changes, but it got me to thinking, a lot, and it’s been a rough winter for me emotionally because of it.

Reduce Clutter is helping me to clear out physical objects from my home, but it asks what mental clutter are we hanging on to. Hmmm, then I come across A Step Toward Balance and I know I want balance in my emotional life. I’m seeing a pattern here. Geez, who knew the three challenges would be so connected. So, as I begin this new journey, I’m filled with hope…and I’m inspired by this young lady…and the wonderful women I have met through here. As an aside, but completely related, I love sticky notes and I write inspiring messages that I come up with or that I come across and I post them on the walls of my CRS where I see them all the time. One of my favorites has been “Women who inspire Women.” This is so accurate and so fitting for my life right now. So, to all the women and young ladies who inspire me, thank you, and please wish me luck as I begin this journey toward a fuller and healthier emotional life.

Homemade

B reads my blog and knows that I'm participating in the One Small Change. He encourages me and agrees to go along with my commitments even though he didn't sign up for the change. This time though, I was concerned he might think I was a little kooky for giving up my dryer for the month, but he didn't. In fact, yesterday, after I did a quick load of wash and found that my collapsible drying rack wasn't big enough to hold everything, he gave it a quick inspection and said, "I can build you one of these."

 

Really?

Oh, yeah. He's brainy like that. I have no idea how he does it, but he took a few measurements, wrote a couple notes, drew a few pictures and then we headed off to the hardware store for dowels and screws. He just happened to have scrap pieces of maple in his garage that we could use for the supports.

This is really all the supplies we needed. A few dowels, scrap board and screws. B figured out all the dimensions and we set to work ripping and cutting, drilling holes, sanding and such.

He talked me through what to do with these power tools because even though I'm afraid of using them, I always want to learn how. I did my part by keeping my fingers out of the way. Love that belt sander. Oh, man, it made quick work of removing the old finish from the boards.

Almost finished.

Tah dah! A brand new collapsible drying rack that is bigger and much stronger than the original one I bought at the store and now I have enough racks to hold all the laundry.

One Small Change

Can you guess what my One Small Change is for March? This has been a good challenge for me and I think it’s because there is accountability with those of us who are participating. I mean, really, if I were doing this by myself I probably would have cheated and then what’s the point of the change? I’m still composting all the kitchen scraps, which I hadn’t typically done in the winter. I love using the reusable produce bags, which has led to me hosting an upcoming sewing workshop for women to make their own. That should be fun. This month I’ve decided to not use my dryer. In truth, I read about someone doing this last month and I tried it with a few loads of laundry just to increase the humidity in the house. Michigan is so dry in the winter and any extra moisture helps tremendously. As you can see, the drying rack is located in front of the heat register in the kitchen. Well, you can’t tell it’s my kitchen, but it is. The flow of warm air dries everything quite quickly and since it’s just me in the house most of the time, I don’t mind stepping around the rack.

Wait til you hear what I’ve come up with for April….oh, forget it, I’m so excited I can’t wait to tell you. Yesterday, I called our local Environmental Action Council, WMEAC, and signed up to host a neighborhood rain-barrel workshop. Each participant will be making a rain-barrel at that workshop, which he or she can then take home and install. Haha….talk about one small change. Think about the impact that change will make when I have a whole neighborhood using rain barrels for watering their gardens instead of tapping into the municipal water supply. Plus, it cuts down on storm water run-off flowing into the sewer system. Now that’s a cool change that will last a long time and is incredibly sustainable. Let me know if you want the link for directions to make your own rain barrel.

Have you tried the One Small Change? Is it working for you?

Updated: Here's the link for the WMEAC rain barrel video. There are also instructions for making your own rain barrel on the bottom of the page. Please, please, please let me know if you make one of these. They look so darned easy.

Delighted!

Yippee!! I won the give-away at Mary Beth's blog. I'm both surprised and delighted. When I initially commented on the give-away, it was to let her know that I was going to copy her idea for a give-away of my own. I had no inkling that I might win hers. How cool is that? I've already emailed to tell her that I have plans for all the goodies, but the first thing I'm going to do is nip a bit of that yummy chocolate bar. Oooh, can't wait!

And now, for the real reason I'm here today. As you know, I've joined the One Small Change project and my January change was to compost all of the scraps that I normally toss in the winter. I don't know why I had been tossing scraps in the trash because I compost all Spring, Summer and Fall. Did I think they wouldn't decompose? Was it too much effort to walk across the yard in my boots to dump the bucket? (haha....I laughed when I originally wrote that last sentence because I said I walk across the yard to dump the bucket in my boots. Too funny. I don't dump the scraps in my boots. Seriously!)  Anyway, the composting has been going great. I have made a concerted effort to separate out the scraps that the ducks will eat, and they've been enjoying their little treats, but everything else has been going into the flower garden. I'll be curious to see what the pile looks like when we have the Spring thaw, but I'm sure it will all turn under quite nicely.

I posted this last Wednesday about my change for February and then I came back to say the produce bag didn't turn out quite like I wanted because the cheesecloth was too thin. Jennifer quickly replied that she edited her tutorial to include using a heavier cloth, but I didn't see that until this morning...after I had bought mosquito netting and had another go at the produce bags.

Oh, it worked up great this time and the material was so easy to work with. I salvaged an old shoe lace from my sewing notions for the drawstring and now the bag is light, see-through, very inexpensive and quite sturdy so it should hold up to multiple uses. I've got a few more to make and then I'm ready for my February change. I need to get my hooks up by the back door so my shopping and produce bags are handy and within sight when I leave for the grocery store. This is fun! Please tell me you're participating too?

If you decide to make the produce bags, please use Jennifer's tutorial. It's very easy to follow and the bags really are quite sturdy.

I've got another great post for later this week that features a Sew Mama Sew tutorial. It was a special Valentines project that I helped the grandkids make for their parents. Beautiful and so much fun!