Jan 31
I had half a blog written about food when I scrapped it to send a Facebook response to a friend today. She was complaining about workout etiquette, or lack thereof. Those of you who've gone to any kind of group exercise class know what that means. Imagine a heard of cattle (albeit shapely cattle) who are supposed to be shuffling the same direction, yet a few stray cows decide they want to do their own thing and make grazing hell for the rest of the herd. That's group exercise at it's worst. Add in the sweat of one cow who thinks garlic is her best friend and you have the recreation of your local White Castle with weights and music.
So I responded to said friend that I had decided to break up my regular workout routine with a DVD from the past - Jane Fonda. It was undoubtedly from the late 80's as Jane was resplendent in a thong leotard with a leather belt around the waist and white aerobic shoes. Strangely enough it was still a decent workout, but I laughed through the whole thing.
And it just goes to show you that old is not necessarily worn out. True, there are newer, faster ways to achieve sore arms and legs, but Jane has always been a soldier when it comes to flat abs. Maybe I should invest in a workout belt to cinch my waist too. Okay, maybe not. But classes like Zumba, although interesting and fun, seem to be missing something that I can't put my muscles on.
And so I leave you on this cold night in January...er, February (the calendar just changed on me) with a quote from Jane herself. I know her life has taken a turn onto revolutionary road, but the Jane I remember kicked my butt and made me cry - in a good way.
"A good many dramatic situations begin with screaming" {Jane Fonda}
And now to find some Advil for my sore muscles. Oh, wait, there's wine left.
Jan 10
I thought I could do it. I bought the reusable diapers. I finally tried them after staring them down for a few days and imagining how they might work. I even bought flushable wipes to make the transition easier. I was wrong. Maybe the diapers are just wrong. Either way, I have three stinky diapers that I can't seem to get the smell out of and I don't want to reuse them anymore. I love the environment, but I love my house, too. And I love the couch that my daughter peed on when her reusable diaper leaked. Leaked is an understatement. She might as well have been naked for the wet spot she left.
So I did what I expect many moms have done and bought biodegradable diapers. I figured that if I wasn't willing to reduce waste, maybe I'd at least add biodegradable waste. Again, I am shortsighted.
As I was disposing of my daughter's poopy diaper today I made a snail's-pace connection that although the diapers might disintegrate in less than 500 years, there was no way in hell they were going to be able to do that locked in a plastic garbage bag and sandwiched between thousands of other plastic garbage bags in the landfill. And as I have yet to start composting (I told you I was slow to adapt), I made the grave realization that I am no further ahead saving the environment than I was before. It turns out there are biodegradable bags that will eventually break down within the confines of a landfill, so that's next on the list.
And it was the addition of yet another green item to my grocery list that put me on environmental overload. Enough already! Luckily I found an article that helped me breathe a little easier about my choices.
http://climate.weather.com/articles/greenfatigue040108.html?page=3So I'm not all that green yet. I'll settle for a nice shade of trying really hard.
Nov 6
Off and running! My first blog post. It's my husband's fault. Dino wishes I would share my endless how-to's and what-if's with someone other than him sometimes. So if you're interested, here we go. If not, try Dino's rants.
So it's true, I am a trashy girl. Some days it's even fun (ask Dino), but today it simply means I throw away a lot of garbage. I'd pin it on the kids, but I blame them for so many other things I figure I'll take this one. And please understand that by no means am I an expert on the subject of green living. I leave that to people like
Sustainable Dave. Check out his gross, but very useful, video about worm composting. It's like 7th grade science all over again.
I do recycle, carry cloth bags to the store and use as many environmentally friendly products as I can, but I'm definitely late to this party. This is just one area of my life that I have vowed to improve. My other favorite arenas of discussion are wine and workouts (I'm considering starting a class that has both), but lately I've been wondering whether I can't do more for the earth. Maybe it has something to do with turning 40; or maybe I just realized I could fill a small, albeit stinky, village with the number of diapers I have thrown away over the past few years. Alas, I am slowly changing my wasteful ways.
Speaking of stinky, I believe I turned a major corner in Greenville today. I bought reusable diapers.
I know what you're thinking. Disgusting! I'm with you on that, but I'm going to try it. Somehow I am supposed to shake the diaper so the crap falls off into the toilet and then wash the whole diaper. I've been practicing with the current diapers and I just don't see how this is going to work unless I buy flushable wipes too, but we'll see. I used disposable diapers with my first daughter, Isabella, and for the first 1 1/2 years with Ava, but I figure I can still save at least a couple hundred diapers from ending up in a landfill. I'm not ready to commit until I know whether they actually work, so I bought just a 3-pack of
Smartipants. As I said, I'm late to the party, but at least I'm here.
I am proud to be on my way to a greener existence, but you can be sure the next post on the subject will be a shitty one.
