Wednesday, January 5, 2011

My name is Carrie and I use too many paper towels.

Now, this blog update could be funny but I'm afraid it won't be. After reading an article in Sunset magazine about a household that throws away as much trash in a year as I do in a day I started being reflective.... about trash. Then I realized that the mom/wife of that household had a blog and I sat down to read.... about trash. Or, the lack of, in their house. I was in awe and totally impressed and a little inspired. I shared the blog address (www.zerowastehome.blogspot.com)
and the article with some friends and we began to talk about what the life of this family might be like. My friends told me that their households had given up paper towels and ziploc bags and I began to think. Uh oh. And I began to observe my family and their paper towel usage. Here is what I noticed: In one morning we used 10 paper towels (4 for picking up dog poop- long story, 3 to cook bacon and 2 for holding bagels and one for under a sandwich) . If that is average (and I'm afraid it might be more than that) than we go through 6 rolls a month and 72 rolls in a year . In my 10 years of married life works out to be 720 rolls of PAPER TOWELS. That is embarrassing. How much space in some landfill have I used? How much money have I wasted? If I figure an average of $2 per roll that is $1440. In case you are losing focus because of my impressive math skills - refocus. Paper Towels here people. I am talking paper towels. I use a wasteful product that could easily be replaced with a normal towel or plate that can be reused over and over and over again. So, after I am done with my Costco sized package of towels (that each come individually wrapped with more trash) I think we will be giving up paper towels. Cayden is on board but don't tell Jeff. He will be the most difficult paper towel convert. I think he is addicted. Step 2 - Ziploc bags. I will let you know on that one.

Here is a quote I found about paper towels: "Today, the United States is the biggest consumer of paper towels, consuming 50 percent more towels than Europe and five times more than the folks in Latin America. I believe it too. After all, I know when I go to the grocery store, an unbelievably large portion of the paper products aisle is devoted to paper towels."

Wow. Go USA.

Monday, January 3, 2011

I love when he says that

Cayden (who hears EVERYTHING) often gets many words wrong. However, we love it!

He says "ordament" instead of ornament

He says "milenican falcon" instead of millenium falcon (Star Wars for all you non-experts)

He says "Calvin and Hobbeeessss" instead of Calvin and Hobbes

He is such a great kid. The other day I realized that I asked him to do about 10 different chores in a row and he never said, "why?" or "how come?". He just did them. I also realized I didn't say thank you. Ugh. Time to be humble and tell him I'm sorry.

Bryce has a hard time with his "L's". The other day I was wearing a pair of leggings (yes, they are back in style) and Bryce came up to me and started feeling my legs. He said, "mommy, what are these?" and I said, "leggings" and he said "what are those weggings?" Ummmm... pants... I guess. He was fascinated by my weggins. He also likes to go swedding. His favorite question is still, "Why?" as in "why is it dark outside?" or "why isn't the sun out?" or "why is it Sunday?"

His big thing when he doesn't want to do something is to tell us that "I am tired of doing that". Oh Brother.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Basketball

Jeff coaches basketball. We all know this. And, to be honest, it is sometimes difficult. Okay, I will be really honest and say that sometimes I really hate it. I resent the hours away from home from November to March (and all the other months). I resent the time rehashing the games and I resent the hours spent providing support to others. But, sometimes, I am supportive and proud and enjoy his dedication. I go to games and I keep dinner out for him and I try to make his schedule a bit easier during season. However, I am afraid that I spend more time being bitter and unsupportive and that makes me ashamed. Sometimes I wish he didn't coach but then I think about being responsible for taking away something that he truly LOVES and is passionate about. I know he would quit if I asked him to but when I search deep in my heart I know that is not the right answer. When it comes down to it I miss my husband. However, I know that he is doing more than coaching basketball - he is mentoring young men in the lessons of the game and in life. He is paying it forward because he had amazing mentors in his life who coached him in basketball (and in life). I am proud of that and hope that he gets the opportunity to play that role for his own kids and I hope that the countless kids who have played for him realize what a sacrifice he has made to be good for them. Good luck this year honey!

For those of you interested in following the team there is a facebook page for Crook County Boys Basketball. And, here is a link for his recent tournaments wins:

Sledding

Can he even see?
Sledding blind?
Looking good!


Oregon is a beautiful place full of lots of activities for us! Today we went sledding a little east of town to help a family friend celebrate his birthday. It is the 4th time so far this winter that we have been to this sledding hill. I think that I got a few great pictures of our little people, and not so little people, today. The weather was good - cold, but sunny.


Some Christmas Gifts

As I said before Cayden got a small dump truck full of legos this year. They included "The Burrow", "Hogwart's Express", "Hogwart's Castle", and the "Apple Tree House". He wanted me to post a picture of all of his creations which took him exactly 4 days to put together. "Hogwart's Castle" was the biggest with almost 2000 pieces. I got a picture of a couple of them before the battery in my phone needed charging. I will have to put some more on here later!


The Day after Christmas
We decided to brave the elements the day after Christmas and go up to Hoodoo for tubing. It was snowing like mad and the roads were awful. I didn't take many pictures because it was so cold and windy and snowy. However,
the kids (and Jeff) braved the chilly temps and went down the hill about a dozen times before taking a lunch
break. Our group included the Crofchecks and Smiths (and a few others). The roads home were worse than going up as it had snowed 4-6 inches while we were there! We made it home safe and I only got these two pictures.

More Christmas

As posted earlier Christmas Day was an exciting day from beginning to end. I recently had Cayden write his thank you notes and we got to re-visit how fortunate he was this holiday season. I received a new camera for Christmas (thanks Dad and Deb) and I am working on making sure that I know how to use it. I still am taking pictures with red-eye but maybe that is just the curse of the blue-eyed!

Calvin and Hobbes - one of Cayden's favorites!

Bryce "cheese"
Good lookin' kid

Dinosaurs from Grandma and Grandpa