A Word on another Mother

Thanks to inspiration from my favorite blogger, Mommypie, I have decided to add my own voice into the Green word. Not to mention that blogging is green…no more diaries, now we have online diaries where EVERYONE can read. Totally off topic.

Ok, I completely agree with Mommypie in saying, Mother Nature is pissed. And we know exactly why. From Hurricane Katrina to Earthquakes in China to Typhoons in Myanmar, and oh yeah, that Tsunami a few years back. These are Mother Nature’s words…her voice…her angry voice that yells at you from the bottom of the stairs, calls you by your full name, “James Earl Jones If you don’t CLEAN UP YOUR ROOM, I’m going to come up there and…” At this point, most little children were scared out of their wits enough to actually do something about their messy room. But, seriously, what have WE been doing to clean up OUR proverbial room, the Earth?

As my friends know, I’ve become a tree hugger in the last six months. I’ve always been pretty environmentally friendly. I have cringed at cig butts on the ground since I was five, and I’ve always believed in recycling. However, only in the past year have I decided that I too can do things to lessen my carbon foot print. Which, even if the terminology is a theory, your impact on this earth is not.

The point of my rant is I’m creating one of those question-thingys, meme, I don’t know, in my attempt to join the blogging world. Here is my question: What are three things you’ve done to clean up your corner of the messy room for Mother Nature?

I’m hitting the only two regular people I know in the blogosphere, Flemmily and Mommypie and hopefully they’ll continue this with a couple more people. Here are my answers:

1. Lowering my driving speed to 60. Not only does this ensure that I’ll never get a speeding ticket on the highway. But it’s better for the environment and my car. Lowers your gas consumption, emits less pollution. And in my lifelong struggle with road rage, it seriously slows you down a bit. You enjoy the road and zen driving (which is actually a thing) is much easier.

2. Recycle EVERYTHING at work. It used to be that I would just recycle extra paper copies, or pages I was done with, and newspapers. But now I’ve taken to recycling empty envelopes after I do the mail, extra “stuffing” paper that comes in our print jobs from the printer, and other people’s scraps. What annoys me is that our recycling big is RIGHT NEXT to the garbage can, yet I have to dig out paper from the garbage daily. And yes, I do dig through the garbage to get out the recycling.

3. Turn the lights off, lower the heat, etc. Yes, this seems obvious, but really, how much does my energy cost me and the earth? A lot. I have a habit of leaving the TV on when I’m doing nothing. Instead, all it takes is to have a good book lying around, OR, to just enjoy the noise of silence. I’m sure for most of the single moms that read this (and I’m not being cynical at all, trust me) that sitting down and doing the laundry to the TV is not exactly on your plate. But, it is one step that I take in my daily life. I also have a husband that is OCD-aware of the heating bill, and never had it high enough that I am completely comfortable, but this is replaced by sweaters, sweats, blankets, etc. It’s my owner personal take on the energy in my house. I also LOVE to leave the oven door open after I bake cookies to “use up” that extra heat while the oven is cooling down. Works great in the winter.

4. And a fourth…Cut down on my animal-product intake. Seriously. Methane is a HUGE cause of global warming. What helps is my husband doesn’t eat beef. But the Methane gas that animals produce (try saying that with a straight face) is a definite problem. I know, we can go in circles with this about how we need meat and protein and to feed the hungry, but, there’s got to be a way! It causes more green house gases to produce and eat a quarter-pounder from McDonald’s than it does to drive a Hummer through a full tank of gas.

Ok, hopefully I’ve given you inspiration to go out and seek some simple ways to lessen your carbon footprint. It’s really not a silly thing to do. Plus, you all know the saying, “If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” And trust me we don’t NOT want Mother Nature “coming up here!”

On Mother’s Day, watch out for Dads

Who’da thunk, right?

Turns out my dad is a HUGE idea stealer. I obviously can’t say WHAT idea he stole, seeing as how it’s before Mother’s Day, but seriously, he steals. ideas.

My mother had hinted to me that she wanted a specific…we’ll call it….steve. She wanted a steve to match her other steve. So, I talked with the brothers and they consented. I think for a lump sum of $x each, we should be able buy her a very nice steve. So, just to make sure my dad was on board, I called him to let him know our plan.

He agreed it would be a great gift, and mumbled something about how we could get it at the steve store in their town. Which doesn’t work as the steve store is not open on Sunday, the only day I am going to be in town for the Mother’s Day holiday. So, I waited until the weekend, and went to the local steve store in town to pick out the gift. Meanwhile, I’m calling my dad to make sure I get the right type of steve to match her other one. And as I’m about to tell the steve store clerk which one I want, he informs me that he already BOUGHT a steve for her, and NO, it doesn’t match the steve she already has!!

See? PRESENT IDEA STEALER!!! so much for being brilliant around my too brilliant father. Well, that matter has been solved. My steve won out, his steve is becoming another gift. But, my mistake for sharing with my dad. I mean, she’s MY mother, right?

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