Waste: Day 17

We have been keeping busy! We have been embracing the local community/friends for entertainment. The fair parade was the best weather I have experienced in my 7 years of Washington Town and Country Fair Parades! The boys had friends over for a sleepover… and what is more entertainment than adding two extra kids to the mix!?!? :)

Eric and I adding our own entertainment to the parade!

I have mostly enjoyed this month… but there have been a few inconveniences (it wouldn’t be a fast if it wasn’t, right?) Shopping local… this is great, sometimes pricey, but great. The problem I have with it comes solely from my inability to always plan ahead. There are no local stores that are open 24 hours so that I can have the opportunity to think, process, and shop alone after everyone has gone to bed or before everyone wakes up. I must do my shopping after 7am or before 8pm. This becomes a problem when I have slim to no food in the house, a husband that leaves for work at 5:30am, and 2 extra kids… a.k.a. more kids than spaces in a car to go to the store. This makes for creative thinking. I had no cereal, no milk, no bread… and 6 hungry children for breakfast. What did I have… cans of biscuits and lots of fruit! This became my first attempt at homemade donuts. I was a tad scared of burning them or being doughy in the middle… but they were AWESOME! I will be doing it again… soon!

The clothes line is finished! My awesome husband participates (unwillingly… but participates none the less) in all my crazy adventures. I appreciate him so greatly for it. He didn’t ask or want to do any of it, but he does it anyway. :) I haven’t got to hang clothes out yet because it always looks like it could rain at any moment, but tomorrow looks promising!

We spent the day trying to embrace the last moments of summer before school starts. We spent a couple hours at the library picking out all the fun books they want to read before getting back into the school routine. I found a couple of books to help me through the rest of this month and one to start preparing for the next fast. We supported the local SnoBiz for one last shaved ice… it was good! And found some more cloth napkins at a second hand store (though a tad over priced if I do say so myself).

Tomorrow has 2 projects in the plans and hopefully some clothes on the clothes line!

Thanks for joining me on the journey!

Waste: Day 14

It has been a productive week! We took some recycling to the Franklin County Recycling center on Thursday… had some big helpers and they earned a whopping $7.

They used their money that afternoon at the New Haven Farmer’s Market. We went to down to get some tomatoes to make some salsa. We ended up buying flowers and cinnamon rolls (along with the tomatoes). We sat and listened to a traveling band that was playing at the market that day. The kids enjoyed their cinnamon rolls and were completely enchanted by the duo. It was super great to sit and watch, just enjoying the things all right there in our community.

Friday was a lazy day… but had a very productive day today. We went to the local hardware store to purchase all of our items for the clothes line. Also spent some time in the local second hand store looking for a few items I have been hunting for but can’t find (or find or a reasonable price)… still no luck.

We spent the afternoon moving swing sets, building clothes lines, and making pickles. All of these things felt very “waste fasting worthy”, but I am not convinced any of them will turn out fantastic. Only time will tell :)

kids drug the post down the hill

This is my "moving the swing set" face.

Hard at work with all his "help"

2 gallons and 1 quart of pickles... hope they taste better than they look!

I will say this about the month and it’s financial impact… there are some things that you can definitely get a much better deal on by shopping around, especially if you are looking for something specific that isn’t likely to be carried by a local merchant. There are TONS of things you can find at thrift/second hand if you are willing to go on the hunt and be patient. I have found myself not spending more on groceries this month than I normally would. This came as a surprise. I really expected to spend more. But I think the fact that I am aware that shopping local and farmer’s markets is more expensive has made me much more particular about my purchases. This is a good thing. I will say the exact opposite about eating locally. We have spent WAY more than we normally do on eating out this month. We don’t normally eat out a lot, but I find my self wanting to try all these local places that I don’t normally eat just because I am focused on supporting local this month. (This might also explain the not so high grocery bill :)) I think I need to just make a list of all the local places I want to try, and then spread the wealth over then next few months. :)

The girls are very excited that their green house is actually producing plants (and so am I!!!). It makes me want to plant and herb garden in my kitchen windowsill… though I am not great at using herbs other than oregano and cilantro… might need some herbal tips before I venture down that road.

Three kinds of flowers growing!

Tomorrow will be the finishing touches on the clothes line and a pickle taste test… wish me luck!

Thanks for joining me on the journey.

Waste: Day 11

I was feeling a bit under the weather today… so we didn’t accomplish much. Every time I got up to do something, I would have to lie back down. I had 2 projects lined up for the day and neither one of them were completed. 

We were supposed to turn all of our cucumbers into pickles today… but we didn’t make it that far. I did however have two cute assistants that helped me scrub and clean all the cucumbers to they are ready to be pickled tomorrow.

I was also going to work on my non-paper paper towel project today. I only made it as far as pulling all the material out, never even got to pull out the sewing machine. So I am hoping that I have a bit more energy tomorrow and am a bit more productive in the project department.

I love that my girls argue over who gets to wash the dishes. We also have the same argument between all four children on who gets to vacuum. I know this will pass soon and I will have to beg/threaten to get these chores done, so I am going to treasure the moment while it is here.

By the late evening hours I was feeling a bit better so we got to have our “local entertainment” met by walking the dog and kids riding bikes. Great end to an otherwise yucky, unproductive day.

Thanks for joining me on the journey.

Waste: Day 10

This morning we almost missed recycling day! We are blessed to have a community that picks up recycling and provides the containers to collect them in, but it only happens on the last Tuesday of the month. We have recycled for several years now, but this month we have intensified our efforts and have more than normal. 

Eric had asked me to have the boys put the recycling bins out this morning, and we were having a lazy morning and I completely forgot about it. Brayden heard the recycling truck coming down the road (because of the rare cool July weather, the windows were all open) and we all went into panic mode trying to get the 4 bins to the curb before the truck reached our house. We made it, but no time to snap a picture of the vast amount of it before he hauled it away… you’ll just have to trust me that we had a LOT!

We also took a trip to Todd Geisert’s produce stand to get some fresh produce and some pork. I was surprised at the amount of people that were there. I was only there for about 10-15 minutes and there were 6 different cars that came in to purchase things while I was there. I also got to drop off a ton of my plastic Wal-Mart/Target bags that I was wondering what to do with. I saw a sign there last week that said they were in need… perfect! We picked up a ton of small cucumbers to make pickles this week… excited about that. My canning expertise stops at spaghetti sauce and salsa… that is as far as I have ever gone… nothing past tomatoes… we will see how it goes. :)

The girls and I did a little earth friendly project today that they have been asking to do for a while. Addi got a little Princess Green House for her birthday (thank you Hill family) and they ask me to do it often. I decided I could put them off no longer, seeing as we have been focusing and talking about going green for almost 2 weeks now. So the girls and I assembled the green house, everyone picked which princess they wanted to represent their cup of flowers, planted the seeds, colored the growth chart, and now waiting to watch them grow. The girls were excited. I was excited to see we should have plants within the week… this will be a good visual for them… hoping they actually grow. :)

It’s been a great Week!

Thanks for joining me on the journey!

Waste: Day 9

Today the kids and I spent the afternoon in the city. We had to pick Eric up from work, so we decided to make an afternoon of it. We met up with Eric for lunch at the Blue City Deli… I highly recommend it! It was super yummy, and very Mom and Pop. We then headed to the zoo for the afternoon while we waited for Eric to get off of work. We do the STL zoo a lot. We love it! This totally hit the mark with using local attractions as entertainment, so off we went.

We spent the next several hours at the zoo… face painting for all my little people was a rare treat for the day, everyone got to choose which animal they would like to see, and then a carousel ride and it was time to pick up daddy from work. Fun afternoon and some major cool points for mom (because of the face paint that I always say no to was a yes for today ;)).

A lizard, panda, colorful kitty, and tiger at the zoo.

I have also started washing all the dishes by hand rather than using the dishwasher since the purchase of the drain rack. This is definitely saving in the water department… not so much in the time department. 

This is what your counter tops look like when you don't wash dishes all day

Fact 1: you can not let the dishes pile up for an entire day and expect to get them done in 10 minutes when washing by hand. 

Fact 2: when allowing people under the age of 4 to assist… there will be more water on you and the floor than in the actual sink.

Fact 3: when allowing little people to help with the process of clearing the table and hand washing dishes (which takes time) you get so much more out of it than clean dishes.

Addi and I had a nice little mommy/daughter visiting time today. I also had a verse come to mind when we were washing and rinsing and she kept asking, “is this how you do it mommy?” “where do I put this one mommy?” “can I turn the water on mommy?” Proverbs 22:6 (I dig the New King James Version on this one) Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.

I know the Lord was not talking about washing dishes in this passage, but it really hits home to realize that EVERY single thing we are teaching (or not teaching) our children impacts their future. Whether it is teaching your child to be kind and compassionate and put the needs of others before their own, or to pick up their dirty laundry, clear their place at the table or wipe their feet when they come in the house... both sets of skills will effect them (and their spouses)later in life. 

Sometimes it becomes very overwhelming in moments of clarity to think of all the things I want to teach or “train” my children to do in the short time that I get to be the primary influence in their life. There are just so many things I long to just put in their little minds and hearts. Sometimes I get so lost in the busy day to day routines, trying to get done what needs to be done, that I forget I am to be teaching and training my children, not always doing it for them. 

This month has been so great thus far. Almost everything we are doing has been family oriented. We talk about things we can do as a family, we are enjoying entertainment together as a family, and we are shopping and picking things from gardens and farmer’s markets as a family. Even if we walk away from nothing else this month… it is an AMAZING time I am spending focusing on God’s creation with my family. The forced slowing down of things and the time spent during this month go way beyond recycling, conserving water, and shopping local. It is quality time that I don’t always take the time to enjoy or embrace. And for that I am extremely grateful.

Thanks for joining me on the journey.