Perhaps they fear me. I don’t know, but this is what happened yesterday. Adult daughter and her boyfriend come into the house bearing a pizza in a box and stop when they see me. “Can we have this?” she asks. She opens the box, shows me the pizza and the accompanying foil packets of Parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes. Green waste and recycling, no plastic at all.
“Yes,” I said. “Enjoy.” And they did. Julia 3, Plastic 2
Mr. Husband had a no-plastic adventure yesterday as well. He had purchased some foot spray from Target, but all four cans were defective (that happens a lot with Target products, I find, but that’s another topic and Challenge for the future). He took the cans to work and found a plastic bag somewhere in the office. He returned the cans and left the plastic bag with the customer service desk. He then purchased four more cans of foot spray and refused the proffered plastic bag, opting instead to put the cans into his pocket, holster-style, like some kind of cowboy fighting athlete’s foot. “I’m Anti-Fungal Man!” (cue theme song). He followed up this little shopping venture with his usual stop for popcorn and soda, enjoying popcorn in a paper bag (yay for traditions!) and refusing the straw and plastic lid to his waxed-paper cup beverage. Julia/family, 4, Plastic 2
So it seems the family doesn’t hate me (yet), but rather are entering into the spirit of the Challenge with alacrity.
More fun with family: Today, in the pouring rain, we are off to a family open house and barbecue (perhaps we can eat indoors? she wonders hopefully). I purchased graduation cards a few weeks ago and had planned to buy gift cards to give. However, in light of the Plastic Purge, I decided to enclose old-fashioned checks instead. I have been keeping my used gift cards in the past few months, thinking I could always recharge them with money, and I may yet do that. Otherwise, this is another example of plastic that gets used essentially once, then discarded. I’m thinking that cash or check gifts are a greener alternative — dollar bills, expecially, since they go on being circulated til they fall apart, and are then recycled by the US Mint.
Stay dry, peeps.
PS: SORRY SORRY SORRY about the stupid ads that appear with all the plastic stuff. It’s computer-generated. I’m sorry. Really, I am.
I was punked by plastic. In my grocery shopping adventures Thursday, I cheerfully bought two (minuscule and pricey) glass jars of mustard, and when putting them away, discovered Ambient Plastic (unnecessary extra plastic) bands around the lids. Why? Why is this necessary? (insert existential yawp here.)
I opened the waxed paper bag of salami I bought at the deli counter yesterday, after expressly forbidding the use of plastic in my order, and found the thin blue plastic sheet she used to load up the bag and not get her hand greasy. I guess they always throw that into the customer’s package? I wonder if they couldn’t use some tongs or a fork, because even if they don’t put it in *my* bag, they still used plastic and are still throwing it away (hello, landfill) after one use. (*facepalm*)
Oy vey.
But in good news, I got my new smaller gray garbage can today from ACI. It’s the same size on the outside, with an insert about the size of a three-year old (very handy if you have a Terrible Three undergoing a terrible tantrum)…(I kid!). So far no one in the family has forgotten about the absent kitchen trash can and tossed stuff under the sink. And so far no one has cursed me about the strange healthful foods I brought home yesterday. They will, however, when they ask for pocket money and there is none, because I spent it all on glass-, metal- and paper-packed goodness for their bellies and their futures. I told you they were gonna hate me.
In an errand today, I dropped off two items for dry-cleaning (silk and angora, two items I prefer not to mangle at home). I go to Garden Cleaners on Webster Street. I asked that they use no plastic bag to sheat my cleaned clothes and they assured me that would be no problem; it was written into the computer instructions. And no extra charge. It never hurts to ask. I also told the pharmacist at Kaiser “no bag” when he was trying to shove an already-boxed medication into a plastic envelope for me. Julia, 2, Plastic 1.
I will delve into the plastics problem in the bathroom later this month, but for now I’d like to illustrate a common product issue and how to solve it:
Exhibit A: Bad Plastic. Toilet paper wearing a protective coat of petroleum byproduct.
Exhibit B: No plastic. Toilet paper rolls bought, individually wrapped in recycled/recyclable paper. I compost both the wrapper of the new roll as well as the paper tube of the old roll at the same time. This is the CVS brand of recycled TP, and they often have it on sale. Plus you get those CVS Extra Bucks for buying the store brand and sometimes that leads to extra coupons or cash back. (Note: CVS also carried Crystal Dairy products, a California dairy.)
Exhibit C: Two versions of the same product, with some plastic, and with Bad Plastic. I use Claritin (generic) for allergies. Buying the box of 30 or fewer pills means several sheets of non-recyclable plastic-and-foil-wrapped pills. Buying the bottle of 30, 60 or more means one plastic bottle, recyclable. It’s all about choosing wisely.
Comment Follow-Ups
Jon mentioned that oatmeal comes in cardboard containers — albeit with a plastic lid. I didn’t buy any yesterday but it’s one of our staples here. If I buy it in bulk, I will take along an empty oatmeal container, and avoid the extra plastic, so thanks, Jon, and duly noted. Also, though individual packets of instant oatmeal are generally enveloped in paper, the product itself (instant oatmeal) has been found with traces of mercury, so I buy just the basic old-fashioned rolled oats. I prefer my breakfast without mercury or cancer, thanks.
Wendy asked where I found mayonnaise with a metal lid, and doh! I forgot about the lid. Looks like I bought a glass jar with a plastic lid. Plastic, 2, Julia 2.
Don’t have plans for Mother’s Day, except … whee! we are taking a drive in the a.m. to go see the house we just made an offer on. If we get it, what a great Mother’s Day gift that will be.
I have become totally house-obsessed lately. Like, sleepless, racing-mind, forget-where-I-am-obsessed. I seriously need to be locked in a little box until a purchase is complete. I will probably torture my husband to death by suddenly stating something (to him) incomprehensible like, “brown and white checks, don’t you think?” or “Isn’t it nice how the dishes match the kitchen?” He’s like, “huh?” <-- kitchen that we don't own (yet), not the rented kitchen in which we live now.
Insane, I know. As if he would know what dishes I was even talking about. I am speaking a kind of flea-market-shabby-chic gibberish that he does not comprehend. He said, “Honey, it’s going to be a long 10 years if you’re going to talk like that all the time.” Ten years being the time we planned to work on fixing up a house til it was livable and we could move in, etc. I dont think it will take that long, to fix the house or to drive him crazy.
Luckily, I don’t think he listens most of the time. Kind of like me with his baseball conversation (who did what on what base? huh?). It’s our version of “yes, dear.” All lovingly meant.
Our latest bid is on tiny house, 650 sq feet (I exaggerate — it’s just 648 sq feet). Eat-in kitchen, living room with wood stove, two small bedrooms, a big bathroom which is also the laundry room. Potential for gray water system is high, easily done, with a tall above-ground basement level. Needs a new roof but with a good price on the house itself, we can get a roof done on such a small house for not so much more. Some drywall repair and carpet-tear out (there was a leak that came through and wrecked the ceiling and carpet). I’m afraid there’s nothing you can do with a used funky (moldy?) carpet besides the dump, is there? Suggestions? Same with crappy once-waterlogged drywall. I hate to throw stuff away if it’s useful, but what can you do with torn-out drywall? I’m all ears.
I’ve already planned where the apple tree, the compost bin and the laundry line will be (as well as what color to paint the bedrooms…). There’s a neglected side yard that can be terraced for veggie and flower gardening, and I think I will have room for a bee yard behind the house. I can also probably have chickens there (loose, but with a coop for night), once we are there full time.
Since the house is tiny, we will have to be ruthless about what to take. That means no piano, for one thing, unless we chose a piano instead of a couch. I’m afraid the piano will lose. That also means the boxes and boxes of holiday decorations in the attic will have to get passed on at some point (I’m trying not to grin from ear to ear about this one). The little area was once a Boy Scout camp, made into a tiny development from the cabins. So it’s cute and small — with a tendency to get a little overgrown/funky in an organic-hippy kind of way. I’m pretty sure the neighbor across the street has a hoarding problem. Or needs to go to the dump. Or is planning to … I don’t know. I have no other guesses besides the hoarding one.
Best thing about this tiny house is the location, walking distance to a beach at the river inside a regional park, with fishing, hiking, etc. Far enough away that it’s not likely to flood, and all the cabin/houses are on stilts anyway for that reason. Many, many opportunities for green living and Compacty goodness. Cute little local grocery store about a quarter mile away, and a small town (2K population) a 5-minute drive away — it’s bikeable, but all uphill to get there, so I will need to work up to riding my bike to town. At least the ride home would be downhill. . .
I could go on but I won’t. I’ll save that for Mr. L. S. (Long-Suffering) Husband … Happy Mother’s Day to all y’all, including dads and fur-parents.
Working on my challenges this week has kept me busy. Want the deets? Read on…
1) FYI, don’t put nonrechargable batteries into a recharger. They blow up. This happened a few minutes ago and we then had a nasty battery acid spill to clean up. It was my fault — I’ve been hounding the corps about recharge the batteries! I stuck them in there but apparently didn’t realize. I just stuffed them in. Oops. Sorry. Mr. Husband not amused.
2) We are coasting toward payday and I’m sticking to my no-shopping-til-payday mini-challenge, because we had so much leftover holiday foodstuffs that I couldn’t see the back of the fridge. I’ve spent a few days actively eating down the extra and preserving, freezing, feeding to the chickens, etc. Today, for example, I emptied the cookie jar into a gallon ziplock bag and rolling-pinned it to make cookie crumbs. These will make a sweet pie crust for an ice cream or pudding pie, can be used to make a parfait or trifle, or merely sprinkled over ice cream or yogurt. A tablespoon of mixed up cookie crumbs is better than munching my way through a mountain of Christmas cookies. Far fewer calories, no waste. No leftovers. (I know, whoever heard of a leftover cookie?)
3) My ever-over-achieving friend Max at My Roman Apartment is doing a 52-kinds-of-jam-in-52-weeks, and I guess that means one per week. Well, rock on, Max, my dear, I can’t go along for the ride. But I did make marmalade out of a bunch of citrus fruit that was going south. A couple of hardening pink grapefruits, a lime that was turning into a golf ball, some sliced lemons that we had with seafood, a handful of orange peels, plus 5 homegrown oranges that were not exactly Sunkist quality…are now about 7 jars of beautiful sweet citrus marmalade. It’s very orangey, but you can taste the lemon and the grapefruit notes. It’s just divine. (hold out spoon) Taste it! I reused several jam jars for sealing, and a couple of other jars for the fridge that have lids but couldn’t be sealed. I will play Marmalade Fairy later in the week and deliver jars to some local friends who asked. I think I’m getting some Meyer lemons and yellow grapefruit in return — yummy!
4) Simplify, pare down, declutter — we got all the Christmas stuff off the walls, tree, front porch and floor, into boxes, and finally up into the attic. As we did so, we started rearranging the living room, and now it’s a spacious, wide-open modern-looking place to sit. I would take a photo of it, but my batteries died, and then I exploded them trying to reload, and…anyway, I’ll get a photo in a day or so and post. Also noticed that we need a dust mop of some sort. Something to grab dust bunnies better than a broom, which just seems to chase them away.
5) The savings and couponing are all going well — nothing to report, since I haven’t been shopping this week, but I did some work toward taxes, I’m sniffing out coupons and savings every day, and have pretty much decided it’s foolish to pay full price for anything if you can find a discount or a barter for it. We’re working on getting a new computer for The Boy, for example, for his room. A friend of ours is assembling a Frankenstein model out of lots of leftover parts. He — our friend — does this for a living, and naturally, his living room is full to the brim with extra computer bits. We’ll be getting a super fast up to date computer with sound system, fully loaded, made outta leftovers saved from oblivion or landfill, when all is said and done. This is a lot for a 13-y.o.’s birthday gift, but we decided a) it’s an investment for his middle and high school years that can be upgraded easily, since our buddy is creating the computer, and b) it’s actually a safer deal to let him have his own computer for homework and such, so that he won’t monopolize and crash the house computer (with financial records on it). If we went through Best Buy or wherever, we wouldn’t be getting this good of equipment for anyone — not even the house.
6) The Handmade Challenge/MIY continues as well. We needed jam, I made marmalade. We needed salad dressing, I whipped some up. I need my shoes polished; I’m doing it tomorrow. As we continue through the living room and into the next few rooms, there will be a lot of making it myself. Curtains, pillows, painting furniture…and back into the kitchen, where I’ll throw some stuff in the bread maker tomorrow and see what pops out. I’ve got to find that half-made Scrappy Sweater I was knitting last winter (out of scrap yarn, of course) and get back to work on it.
Time for bed, sleepyheads. May your days be filled with ruth and grace, and your nights full of dreamless sleep, or dreams of wonder.
(PS: that’s the chalk board on the kitchen door. Fabi, our German student, added the I <3 U.)
