flowers

My husband is so incredibly thoughtful. After 2 lawn mowers would not start and our grass could not be mowed, we all went on a walk to return the lawn mower in our neighborhood, and then take our sweaty selves home. Tim bathed the kids and put on pajamas and then came up with the idea of going to fetch some pomegranate sorbet from Kroger. Kendall fell asleep on the way there (our goal), and Tim came out of Kroger with flowers and my sorbet. He gave a rose to Isaac and a purple flower to Kendall from the bouquet. They are so fun and beautiful, and I love that he gave our little girl a flower (she hasn't even seen it b/c she has been asleep!) and also our little boy. What a man that can give a special flower to his little boy.

So...about the trash...the flowers were wrapped in that big ole piece of plastic, so there's that. I cleaned out the car today and found a Wendy's bag full of trash, a Starbucks cup, a couple of plastic candy wrappers, and a Chick Fil A ice cream cup and top. I washed the plastic spoons, recycled all the papers, and washed the ziploc bags i found.

Other trash, from yesterday and today, since I did not post yesterday...
sorbet container
oatmeal paper (reminds me i want to go back to my non packaged oatmeal, either in bulk or quaker)
sun chips bag and subway cookie paper (ate leftovers from subway from a few days ago)
a couple of small pieces of plastic/paper wrap and napkins found in various lunch bags, etc I cleaned off the table today.
diapers

Tons of recycling today. Peanut butter container, apple sauce jar, cardboard, boxes, paper, cans, plastic strawberries container. Compost was overflowing out of the bowl today too from the past two days. Just reminded Tim to take that out. :)

And now for the embarrassing part, but i promised to tell the truth about our trash, and so far, I have left nothing out! I do have pictures, but have not posted, and have also have thrown away trash at a restaurant a couple of times now, so the pictures have not included all outside trash.

Yesterday was a super crazy day characterized by me driving Tim to a couple of different cities for work while our car was getting a radiator at the shop. Boo to the cost of car repairs and also to our waste-FULL dinner. I picked Tim up from court, and we went to KFC. We ended up throwing away paper cups (no tops/straws, several paper wrappers from the $1 sandwiches, a box, a plate, and several styrofoam containers and tops, as no one can resist the mashed potatoes and gravy. yuck to our health and our trash!

Today was not much better for me. I stopped at McDonalds twice today and created guilt, some extra fat and crap in my body, and a good bit of trash. I ate a scrambled egg and english muffin with jelly in a styrofoam box (and the little bag of jelly) for breakfast and a fish sandwich and fries from a box and a paper cup with lid and straw at lunch. Ahhhhhhhh! Why do I do this to myself? The egg and English muffin was healthy, but I can eat that simple breakfast at home for cheaper than stopping at McDonalds...and then I wouldn't be supporting a really really crappy business either. Lunch was just not good all around...except that it *was* tasty.

Tomorrow is another day to make decisions and report about...not just our trash, obviously, but lots of other things about my life that my trash tells.

subway

A little Subway...for lunch with my buddy this time. Kendall and daddy stayed home from church, and Isaac and I went to church and then lunch before a birthday party. We went to lunch at Subway and created 2 pieces of sandwich wrapper trash and 2 napkins. I am allowing myself to wash the Subway cup (did not get a top or straw) and keep it in the trunk along with some other resuables so that I can take it into Subway if the cravings strike again. During the no plastic challenge, I learned that most restaurants will look at you CRAZY or refuse to let you use your own cup for a drink purchased. So...I will not be collecting trash to pile up until after the month is over, but I am going to keep a non recyclable container and cup here and there to reuse legitimately. So, besides compost, the subway trash, and recycling, here is what our trash consisted of today...
2 popsicle wrappers
plastic wrap for one sleeve of saltine crackers
apple sticker
plastic sheet sealing the pomegranate sorbet (OMG...it's my new favorite food!)
plastic ring around Earth Fare peanut butter
plastic ring around Smart Balance
paper from instant potatoes (remember...sick kids) :)
paper from stick butter
foil seal from milk at subway (bottle was #2, so recyclable)
4 diapers

The Wasted Life

I am so excited to get the focus off my waist and on to our family's waste this month. We are starting a compost pile ("pile" makes it sound like a snazzy one, huh?) and besides that, just taking a journey into the part of our life that usually does not get thought about much. We will be examining our trash each day. We will examine what we create at home as well as outside of our home. I'd love to share our trash with you each day, but we'll see if that works out or not. When I do share, I will be honest about every single piece. For today...

2 diapers (Kendall is sick and dehydrated, so that produced less waste...sort of!)
2 plastic popsicle wrappers (treat for sick kids)
Krispy Kreme cup, top, and straw (Isaac and my date on the 30th...cleaned out of car today)
inside rice cake plastic wrapper (thought about using it for packaging material though)
2 staples from tea bag tags (recycled the papers, composted the bags)
sticker from an apple
pen that no longer works
small piece of wax paper (cleaned out of diaper bag)
Subway sandwich paper and napkin (asked Tim for this treat when he left a fun party tonight, as I was home all day with the sickos and ate canned soup for dinner)
small paper cup and plastic lid from Olive Garden (leftovers from mom's bday dinner)
plastic drink lid (found on kitchen floor...not sure what from...prob not recyclable)

that's it! I recycled a bunch of paper, aluminum, and some #1 and #2 plastic from today, washed a ziploc bag for reuse, washed the popsicle sticks for reuse, and threw some food trash out to compost. Kendall threw up many times today, and we used all cloth for clean up...and 3 loads of laundry done! I swept the floor and threw all the food, dirt, and dust outside.

It is amazing how much thought it took not to just throw something in the trash can. It was good to examine each piece. I can see from today's trash, that most of what we are wasting resulted from eating out. I will need to have containers for leftovers and cups with me if I want to eliminate that type of waste.

Maybe I will figure out how to post our trashy pictures. :)