5.22.2010

Saving the World...

Well, lately I have bitten the bullet and begun bringing my own reusable shopping bags with me when I grocery shop.  Let's face it, the benefits of reusable ones are numerous. I bought my first one last summer, it's ginormous by the way, and I use it as a swim bag. It's light weight, folds up super small, so it's like built in carrying capacity when I'm on vacation. I saw that my Disney Movie Rewards could buy them, so I thought, why not. And ordered 6 with my DMR points.  So, I'm gonna break it down with why I  use 'em and some tips too.

  • They hold WAY more that any the plastic bags.  Where normally a trip to Walmart would have me making 30 trips to get all the bags (OK more like four trips) in, I can generally get everything I need into 3-4 bags.  Five if I am getting milk or diapers.  Plus, the checkers will load 'em up. No more bags with 1 item in it.  It's like the old school days where one bag is for cold stuff, one for grocery and the other one for toiletries, toys ect.  
  • The handles are long enough you can put them over your shoulder. So,say you have to unload and carry a baby, it is SOOO much easier. 
  • They're cute. I mean come on, they are.  I'm a little too OCD to have the mishmash of bags like my Mom has. She has one or two from every local grocery store. Aside from my Fresh N Easy bag, all of my grocery bags are green just like this picture.  Plus, the Disney company makes a donation to their conservation program when you buy them.  It's like a double whammy.  
  • They are so much more than a grocery bag.  Mine become last minute sleepover bags. Toy haulers. Beach bags and more.
  • Finally, NO MORE dozens of crackly wadded up plastic bags to manage.  You see, they other bags frustrated me because you aren't supposed to throw them away, but you can't put them in your recycle bin--which I find ludicrous by the way.  You had to take them to a store to recycle them. 


Really, if I had to guess, I bet I have saved a hundred or more grocery bags since I started using them a few months ago.  It's not a lot, but it makes me feel like I am helping, ya know?

The hardest thing about using them, honestly, is remembering to bring them with you into the store. I keep mine in the trunk and try to pull them out and put them in the front seat so when I get to the store, bam, there they are. 

Secondly, when you purchase fresh meat, or wet veggies, you end up having to wrap them in a store plastic bag first, and that sorta defeats the purpose to me, but whatever. 

Thirdly, on the negative side of this list, is the checkers' reactions.  They always seem so bugged when you DO bring them in. But frankly, your store sells them so suck it up, I'm trying to do my part so don't give me crusties when I bust 'em out.  

So try em.  Everywhere sells them. Target, Fresh N Easy, Sprouts and other stores (not Walmart, they're too cheap) even give you a bag credit (usually 5cents) when you use them. Betcha didn't know that huh?

Next up, I am thinking about getting one of these babies.

A compost bin.  Dang that Curious George, he showed me just how easy it is to make your own soil.(Season 3 Episode 4 Much Ado About Nothing-- I couldn't find it on youtube, but it's a good one.) And since I have it in my head to plant a garden this fall, I need soil!  We had a compost pile growing up. I totally remember the gallon ice cream bucket that we'd be forced to trot out after each meal,to the back corner of the yard and dump on the pile.  Luckily, that was the extent of my composting duties. There were too many Daddy Long Legs back there for me to want to learn more about the whole compost process thing.  Do any of you compost? Just curious.  Now go buy some reusable grocery bags.  You won't be sorry.

5.09.2010

It's Good to be Queen...

Mother's Day is one of my favorite holidays.  It's right up there with my Birthday and Christmas.  I love being spoiled, pampered and getting to ignore my Motherly duties for 24 hours.  This year I got a kick out of the questionnaires that came home from school with the kids, so I had to share...

My Mom, by Bra (we call him 'Brae'- we're working on having him add the 'e')

My Mom is playful and fun.
She likes taking long naps and my little brothers.
My Mom gives me delishis brones and choclite cookies.
She has pretty jroolrey and me.
I love my Mom because she baked brownes with me.
I love Mom because she walks home with me.

and

My Mother (it was fill in the blank, his answers are in bold)

My mother is 29 years old. She has blonde hair and blue eyes.  We live in a white house with cunfe (comfy) furniture. My mother does special things for me. The nicest thing she does is she helps me. Her favorite day is her Birthday.  Her favorite thing to do is play with me and my brothers.(he erased the last part)  My mother is a good cook.  The best thing she makes is choclit brones (chocolate brownies).  Someday my mom will always play with me.

Love, Bra

and Berkley did this...and on the back was this...
What I love about my Mommy...


My mommy is special. 
She gives me to eat. 
She helps me sleep at night.


-Berkley

Cracks me up.  At least last year Braden wrote my favorite hobby was 'sleeping' so I have moved up to only 'long naps.'  In my defense, last Mother's Day I was 7 months pregnant...

Last night Rusty and I went on a date to see Iron Man 2. I liked it a lot, and it is always fun to get out of the house with my hubby.  This morning Rusty made me breakfast and got the kids all ready for our 8am church. After church, Brenner and I got a nap and then we headed for dinner at the Beck's house. Yummy as always. We are having dessert with my family later tonight. Plus, what a better way to end the evening than with The Amazing Race finale?!

Here are a few snap shots of my gifts.  I have been wanting a mother's necklace for a long time, but none of them fit enough letters for my boy's names, so when Rusty found one that did, he ordered it. And I LOVE IT! Plus, I get to pick a spa treatment when we are in Hawaii for our anniversary, and the boys each made me cards and little gifts, and I got Red Roses. Awww.

Thank You to my Mom for being an amazing example to me, and for my Mother in Law for raising Rusty right. To my sisters, who are awesome Moms, keep it up!

Thanks to Braden, Berkley and Brenner, for loving me even in my many short comings,for keeping me young, for teaching me patience, for making me a Mother, and for feeding your baby brother Cheetos when I was blogging.

5.07.2010

Take Me Out...

Braden is just a few games away from finishing his very first baseball season.  I wasn't so sure about getting him in Little League, because he'd always done soccer, and never even played T-ball. But Ami convinced me that if we did the same team, at least the boys would both have each other if they were really crappy, since neither had played before.  (In Ami's defense I added the 'if they were crappy' part).

Low and behold, not only did we make it onto the same team as Stratton, but Reed from our ward was on it too!  We have a nice team, some awesome players, but most are average, which is great.  We've won some, killed it in others, and had mercy shown by the run rule.  All in all, its been a good season. Our team isn't super hard core, and the coach puts so much emphasis on learning the basics, and teaching and fairness. It's awesome.  Anyways, here's some pictures from the season.

Goooooo Red Sox!

This season ran the gauntlet of HOT HOT HOT to sooooo COLD. Two weeks ago I had to make a HoCho run at the 3rd inning cause we were all freezing, in AZ in April! When does that happen?!
Of course Braden has to have all the gear, so he now has batting gloves, bag, helmet, ect ect. Looks like we're in baseball for good now to make it worth it! Ha.
Does the 1st Base Coach look familiar?
Proud Papa and Mama!
I think he played just cause it meant he got to go to the concession stand every game (hence the green AirHead in his mouth)
Getting a HIT!
Seriously, do you LOVE his ears in this picture???
Stratton & Braden
Reed & Braden
Thanks you Coach Pitch- you've been fun, we'll be back in Spring, hopefully we can eeek out one more season before he head to Kid Pitch! Ah, that sounds scary to me! I am so grateful for our amazing Team Mom (Ami), she went above and beyond. And Rusty got to be a assistant coach so he pitched, played catcher, and helped with the line-ups.  Why do I feel like Coach Bob was gearing him up to run a team, hmmmmm.  Really, we had a fun group of kids and parents. But I have to say, whom ever decided that 7-8 year old baseball games should be 2+ hours long, should be drawn and quartered. AND a lot of the games started AFTER 6 at night, some at 7:30, so we had a pretty tired Braden some mornings.  Sorry, ignore my rantings...

I am in shock a little that it is May already.  I looked at my calendar and in a week Braden has Dive Camp for this Summer's Dive Team.  Already? Crazy!

A big thanks to everyone who came out and supported him, especially if that meant watching my sleeping kids so I could go!  Hugs! Go Sox!
As I play catch up, posts will appear in chronological order so, scroll down because there is sure to be a new post below...