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. :)

better...

...late than never! I have been exercising my big booty off today! I got some motivation from somewhere...out of nowhere...yesterday to lose this weight I have gained. I lost around 15 pounds about this time last year, and somehow (OMG! why is it so easy for me to gain weight???!!!) have gained every single pound back. ok...I am not going to talk about all of that anymore, actually. Back to today...I worked this morning and then was home with the kids the rest of the day. I made lunch, and we ate outside, wind blowing, sitting on our pink quilt. I had to get jackets for the kids, we all laughed and ate, and just had so much fun. Lunch remains and dishes on the quilt, we ended up staying outside for hours! I trimmed back 5 dead butterfly bushes trying so hard to bloom again around all of the dead branches. I cut back this whole crazy area we have in front of our house and took all of the branches and brush to the woods in the back. Kendall sat in the iris bed for about an hour telling stories with a couple of acorns and sticks and such she picked up off the ground. Isaac filled up his watering can from the outside spigot, soaked himself, changed into some pajamas, and was right back outside watering and playing and riding. Kendall moved to the back to the sandbox for her second hour. I raked leaves, pulled weeds, swept, played with the kids some, and then went inside for cleaning and laundry and eventually dinner. The rest was welcomed by the kids, who ended up playing with playdough for the rest of the afternoon until dinner. After dinner, the kids and I (Tim has court on monday nights) drove to downtown Statham and parked and walked all over the place. We jogged some, walked lots, and found some little alley ways through which to adventure.

My arms are seriously sore from clipping/chopping/whatever with some very simple clipper/choppers. I ate well today. I am so happy to be on a good path.

loss

My heart is so heavy and full tonight. I have two friends who have recently found out about their husbands having an affair. Another friend's husband passed away (in his 30's) suddenly after collapsing and being transported to the hospital. My dad just returned from California where he was taking care of his sister and her family for a month, as she is dying from cancer very soon. Someone on Tim's side of the family and with whom we are close just found out he has bone cancer. My step father is quite sick and just not thriving or functioning very well. My mom's treatment for lymphoma has not begun to work after 4 weeks, as the doctors originally thought it would, so fear and terror are knocking at the doors of my heart. It is her birthday this week, and I am so very grateful to get to celebrate.

"Celebrate"...that word has struck something in me as I write it. I can not celebrate fear and anger and hurt. I can celebrate life and my incredible relationship with my mom. I can celebrate my marriage and the openness and vulnerability and respect and submissiveness and closeness and depth we share. I can celebrate the relationships I have with women that will be at my side in any hard times that may ever come my way.

Boy, life can be so tough. I think getting older has brought many more tough times in life. Besides what/who I mentioned is on my mind tonight, two close friends experienced tragic loss (husband, daughter) within the past year. My best friend's FIL is very sick, and this will be one of the first losses of a parent Tim and I have experienced with close friends. I mean, whoa...thank goodness getting older has brought many more joys with it as well.

Am I exercising? NO. In fact, I am looking forward to the end of the month when I can start a new challenge. Am I still feeling unhealthy and like I wish I was losing weight and working on being healthier? YES.

failure

Well...must be honest. We are not exercising much over here. I worked a TON last week. I was away from home from early morning until later evening on tues, thurs, and friday, and pretty much could not move when I got home those days and had a busy Wednesday afternoon/evening as well. I basically only exercised on Monday. I feel gross, but am not sure if it's just the superficial kind of feeling of failure at something I said I would do on this blog, or the ten pounds I have gained since a year ago at this time, or my general low mood lately. Probably all of the above. I spent last week on the road to Commerce and Elberton and Watkinsville and Athens and back and forth all over again. With that, came stops at McDonald's, gas stations, and Subway (very familiar with the gas station subway in Comer on my way home from Elberton). I "needed" food and coffee and coke zero and this and that to keep me going. I had very little energy to pack food from home each night/morning, and so I just got and stayed on a roll spending money and eating lots of unhealthy stuff. Oh yes...the doughnuts. I got a dozen doughnuts one night on my way home after working and driving over 14 hours that day. I mean, it's understandable, but so yucky.

So...the most prominent things I feel today are that I don't have anything cute to wear, I want a $50 haircut (I love Lyric at Republic!) but spent all of my extra money and now don't have enough for groceries for the rest of the month, I wish my stomach wasn't so flabby and fat and don't understand why I don't see this sort of problem for anyone else I know, I hate that I started drinking soda after stopping for so long...and really, I think I'll stop there since there is little reason to think of more. :)

Am I really a failure? of course not. I totally know that I am amazing and strong and am doing great things in my life right now. I am even beautiful. Who isn't? I don't like the standards for beauty at all in this world. Of course I am beautiful. I have great character and love. God made me perfectly. Why do I look at myself with the same standards I hate as my judge? I should stop.

I should also spend my Christmas money on a haircut and clothes. But...then I will have none, and I will be insecure. lol.

The Exercise Life

It is seriously way past time to announce the challenge for the month. Our challenge to ourselves this month is to exercise 30 minutes a day. Have I already missed? yes. It's super discouraging to not be 100% successful, as we learned from last month, but it's also not good to look at the challenges that way either. I mean, challenging ourselves not to consume plastic in November was super hard, and we made a couple of mistakes, and I felt incredible about the outcome. Why in the heck would I be discouraged that we averaged having sex 6 out 7 days of the week or exercise 4/8 days so far. I really do want to do much more exercising for the rest of the month and get closer to the goal, but the challenge can be exhilerating and great no matter what.

I love The Simple Life by Janet Luhrs. She suggests never ever to spend money on using a gym, but rather to use the "Earth gym." I love the concept so much! Exercise is so very inspiring to me when I think about ways to use the earth gym. One night, I called my neighbor, and we walked together and talked about super important things going on in her life. It was such a great way to exercise at no cost to me and connect with a friend. One day this week, the kids and I drove to downtown Statham, parked, and walked all over town. We went to the little Statham library and gathered some free magazines for a couple of people I had in mind, checked out books on CD and a movie, and then went to Subway and bought a bag of sun chips for the kids to share as their treat. I let Isaac lead the way a couple of times, I took us through a little alley way b/w a couple of buildings and houses to the sidewalks of the main road, and then we got back in the van and drove home. It was so great to be out in space, without the boundaries of walls, moving our legs back and forth and back and forth, thinking about how grateful I am to walk and watch my healthy kids walk. I need more time for using my earth gym soon. This has been an insanely busy week b/c I committed to working at a nursing home in Elberton in addition to my usual work and half a day at treatment with my mom and a couple of church meetings. I had two 14 hours away from the house days starting from early morning, and there was NO way that I was going to exercise when I got home. Nearly impossible, it seems.

So, this weekend and next week will be much simpler, and I am going to try to really look forward to spending time moving my body and improving my health and my body.