Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Still thinking about the environmental and consumerism issues that go along with modern Christmas celebrations. This is leading me to think about New Year's Resolutions and how I can reduce waste all year round.

I have to admit, I am pretty good at that already. I produce only 1-2 bags of trash a week. The rest goes for recycling or re-use and the food crap of course goes for compost. These are some things I do:

• I save electricity and propane wherever I can. E. g., turn out lights, unplug appliances, etc.
• I use the clothes line as soon as it gets warm enough in the spring up until it gets too cold and rainy in the fall.
• Everybody in my family has a sweater or sweatshirt to put on when they are cold.
• We have ceiling fans instead of an air conditioner (although I do want to get a small window unit for the bedroom, just to use when we are in there.)
• I don't buy anything disposable if I can avoid it. I use rags instead of paper towels, cloth napkins, plastic freezer containers instead of bags, and so on.
• I donate old things to a local thrift store, instead of throwing them out. If clothes are too far gone to donate, I try to cut them up for rags.
• I hardly ever buy anything new. I shop at thrift stores and consignment shops. I love garage sales and I especially love "junking," which really means picking up stuff at the side of the road, out of other people's trash. I get some great stuff that way.
• I avoid using the plastic bags from stores as much as possible. I try to remember to carry in my own bags, or if I am buying just one or two small items, I refuse a bag altogether. When I do forget my bags, I opt for paper ones, which have other uses. If I do get stuck with a plastic bag, I try to find a way to re-use it.
• Uses for paper bags and newspapers: Of course they're good for craft projects (like my holiday wrapping paper), or for putting under craft projects to protect the floor. But then what? I have found that you can put them in the garden around the plants, cover them with grass clippings or other mulch, and ta-da! no more weeds. You can also flatten out cardboard boxes and hide them with mulch. I did this to kill a creeping-Charley problem in my garden.
• I use old plastic trays and non-recyclable carry-out containers for paint pallets.
• The plastic boxes that tofu comes in make great organizers. They are just the right size for crayons and other small objects.
• I save glass jars and their lids for storing dried foods from the dehydrator, teas, dry beans, and all the other stuff the mice like to eat out of my cupboards.
• I re-use the plastic bags that bread, apples, and so on come in from the store, to keep my own bread.
• Uses for the plastic containers that come with a pound of yogurt or cottage cheese: Start plants in them, freeze food in them (put them inside a plastic freezer bag. The bag can be re-used indefinitely.), store things in them.
• Uses for coffee cans: Line them with the inevitable plastic bags and make a small waste-paper basket (the size to keep by your desk or bedside to catch used tissues and candy-bar wrappers), store plastic bags in them for future use, plant things in them, melt candle wax or soap in them, let small children make them into drums, punch holes in the lid of one and string a shoe lace through it to practice knot tying.
• I have two plastic coffee cans that I use for counter-top compost buckets. I fill them as I am cooking, then run them outside to the compost pile during clean up. They wash up very nicely, too.

This actually started as a New Years resolution when my son was little. One of the naturalists who taught his nature class mentioned that she had stopped using paper towels. She had twin toddler boys at the time, and I figured if she could do it, so could I. That was 5 or 6 years ago. I haven't bought paper towels since. When I saw how much the trash was reduced by that one action, I started searching for more.

I love how a lot of the things we do ostensibly to help the environment actually save us money, too. For example, I don't spend anything on paper towels and napkins, mulch or fertilizer. I save money on my utility bills by conserving electricity and propane. And think of all the money I save by shopping used instead of new!

Next year I want to plant a big garden, so much that I can get almost all my produce out of it in season, and preserve a lot too. I saved and dried all the seeds from all my squash and pumpkins. Free squash from free seeds! Wooo-hoo!

As for a Resolution, I think I know what mine is going to be. Besides losing that last 15 pounds, I am going to start eliminating my use of Styrofoam coffee cups. I will have to invest in several more reusable " go-cups", enough so that no matter how many are floating around in my car waiting to come in, there are still clean ones to take with me. Then I will have to actually GET OUT OF MY CAR to go inside somewhere and give them the cup or fill it myself, rather than going to the drive-through. OK, that's gonna suck in the winter and n the rain. But consider that I bought 3 cups of coffee on the road yesterday. I reused one cup ( when you are a regular on the night shift at the Circle K, you get privileges like that) and saved myself a buck. But if I had my own cup, I could have saved about a buck and a half, and two disposable cups. That comes to maybe $5 and ten cups a week.

Some fancy road mugs from Starbucks would pay for themselves pretty quickly at that rate. Especially if I get them at a thrift store.

My anti-wrapping paper campaign

This started as a diatribe against wrapping paper. I hate the stuff. It is the biggest waste of time, money, and natural resources around. It seems to me to represent all that is wrong with current holiday thinking. How on earth did the celebration of a saviors' birth turn from a religious holiday to all-out consumerism carnage? How did spreading a little holiday cheer become an excuse to destroy the earth?

Well, anyway, I refuse to buy any more wrapping paper. Several years ago I started collecting gift bags after everyone was done digging through them. At least they get a few more runs before they ultimately wind up in the land fill. This year I found a large container of very nice fabric literally by the side of the road. (It turns out a woman was emptying out her mother's house in preparation for selling it, and I found several useful if not beautiful objects in that stash.) Some of the fabric has a holiday pattern to it. Guess what I will be wrapping gifts in this year! There were also quite a few large white pieces of pretty good quality. These turned out to be some very nice paint-stamp art projects. (see pictures) What a nice way to have re-usable gift wrap material!

We have also done paint-stamp paper made from paper bags, and finger paint paper from paper bags. Now I am wrapping presents in the paper and using, instead of bows, all those bazilion Christmas cards that get sent to me every year in the hopes of securing a donation for something or other. The cards make very nice decorations/gift tags/greeting cards all-in-one. I will save the bag paper after the presents are opened. If it's not fit to re-use, it can go in the garden to keep weeds at bay.

I'm trying to save a little wear & tear on the earth by the presents I choose, too. We are doing some home-made and some kitchen gifts. I snagged a gift for my Mom at a garage sale this summer, and a few for my kiddo, too. One of kiddo's main gifts is going to come from e-bay. I have my eye on it right now.

Christmas Stuff

I am alone in the house today 'cuz Super Ted is at work, and Kiddo spent the night at Grandma's. We went to Ted's company Christmas party yesterday and meant to go out and do some Karaoke afterward, but in a fit of largess I bought a round of drinks that used up most of our cash, and we didn't know where to go singing anyway. The party was kinda fun, but it was not as much fun as previous years, and would have been much less fun without the benefit of copious amounts of wine. The after party was really boring, so we came home and took advantage of the empty house.

I am going to get motivated to take inventory of all our gifts and start wrapping soon. It's a good day for it, since Kiddo is not here to get underfoot.

All this gift giving and materialism at Christmas really irritates the shit out of me. If you read accounts of Christmas 100 years ago or even 50 or 60 years ago, it was nothing like it is now. People gave each other a couple of things that they had bought or made or even--horrors--something that had once been their own, that they were now passing of to someone else. People decorated a little, had a nice dinner, and maybe visited with some friends or relatives. Santa Claus dropped off some fruit and nuts and maybe a little candy. And that was it.

Oh yeah--people thought about Jesus, whose birth is ostensibly the reason for the celebration.

I wonder how things got to be the way they are today, with this insane drive to spend more money, give better gifts, light more lights, spend more money, decorate more garishly, go to more parties, do more activities, and SPEND MORE MONEY every year. I hate it. I can't afford it. I get sick to my stomach every year when I think about it.

And this year, I quit. Contrary to Super Ted's reasoning, I don't really believe my in-laws will hate me if I can't afford to do a lavish Christmas Eve dinner AND give amazing gifts in the month when work is the most difficult and tips are the lowest. I don't think anyone will resent that I chose to buy propane and make my house payment instead of spending an extra 30% on gifts. This is a lean year, and that's that. I may have to once again resort to gifts from the kitchen, and you know what? It's OK by me.

This year, I am also trying to teach my kiddo something abut the true spirit of giving. He wants to make Squid kites for his cousins. A candle for his auntie. A birdhouse for Grandma. Another birdhouse for Daddy. I really really believe that this sort of giving is far superior to the semi-random distribution of store-bought gifts.

I am also trying to reduce the amount of trash that goes along with gift-giving. I have been saving and re-using gift bags for years. Eventually they do fall apart, but what the heck. Better to get 5 or 6 uses out of them than one. And better to get them for free than to pay for them, too! ;) *wink*

Faith and the Bible (and laziness and Bible-thumping)

I grew up Catholic and went to a Catholic school for the first eight years. I can't say I learned much about religion, God, or prayer, even though those things were forced on me every day. The only part of religious instruction I found interesting was the Lives of the Saints, because I liked learning about how other people lived.

In the Lives of the Saints, at least in the versions I have read over the years, equal emphasis is placed of the prayer and spiritual lives of the Saints, and on their public lives of good works. In fact, it is often easer to place more emphasis on their works, simply because the lists can be so long. My family's patron saint, for example, St. Brigid, is known for founding a huge double monastery (male and female dormitories) in Kildare, Ireland; for her kindness to the sick and poor, and for influencing many of the missionaries who spread out over Europe during the dark ages. Few details are known about her prayer life or her spirituality.

I only learned a few Bible verses in school, and Bible reading was not encouraged. IN eight years of Catholic school the only things I took away were this:

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what's coming to you in this kingdom. It's been ready for you since the world's foundation. And here's why:

I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
I was homeless and you gave me a room,
I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
I was sick and you stopped to visit,
I was in prison and you came to me.'

"Then those 'sheep' are going to say, 'Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?' Then the King will say, 'I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.' (Matthew 25 34-40)

And this:

"The most important [Commandment]," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." (Matthew 22:37-39)

Call me crazy, but these two verses, which made the most impact on my religious life, sound to me like a call to action. We are meant to do something. I myself am not a shining paragon of virtuous action, but I do what I can. Most of the time. I don't do stuff because I want something in return, and I don't do it because I am trying to work my way into heaven. I do it because, as near as I can tell, it's the right thing to do.

I have always been perplexed by people who claim you don't have to actually do anything in order to be a good Christian. I think everybody knows a few hypocrites like this. They have convinced themselves that all they have to do is proclaim to themselves and whomever will listen that they believe in Jesus--usually in the loudest, corniest, or most obnoxious way possible--and then all their sins will be forgiven and, without further effort or exertion on their part, they will be taken bodily up to Heaven at the time of the Rapture (the end of the world). People like this creep me out for a number of reasons, but mostly because I find this view to be a poor excuse for laziness and hatefulness and a perversion of what is really a very simple faith.

People like to quote bits of scripture, taken out of context, to justify the most atrocious things. If you take any bit of text out of context, you can make it mean almost anything. Here is a good example, that lots of people like to use:

So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief;^{[or little faith, or lack of faith]} for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.(Matthew 17: 20)

So people say, "I have faith. My faith is much bigger than a mustard seed, really. It's so big that I can't even contain it. I have to tell it to everyone I meet. I believe in Jesus Christ as my own personal savior. I need do nothing else. " All too often, this line of reasoning runs on like this: "My only Christian duty is to now try to force everyone else around to this same way of thinking!" which sometimes leads to "Jesus wants me to force everyone else to believe in him and his way of thinking, and I will be richly rewarded with the spoils of my crusades!" Which sometimes leads to TV evangelism, and sometimes leads to wars.

People of this ilk are overlooking a few things. In the first place, Jesus preached and lived a life of love, kindness, and forgiveness. He taught; he did not force. Furthermore, an entire Chapter of Matthew (Matthew 6) is devoted to the idea that people should pray and do good works in secret; indeed, those who blow their own horns about their own righteousness have already gotten enough fun out of being seen and heard. They will get nothing else from God.

And the most important part of all:

A mustard seed is a living thing. If you have faith like a mustard seed, that is a living faith. It may seem small from the outside. (In fact, many modern translations of the Bible focus on the size, putting in Jesus' mouth the words "If you had faith only as big as a mustard seed. . . ." which seems to me like a self-serving bend of the truth.) But the thing to remember is, it grows. It makes a mustard plant which in turn makes more seeds. A living faith, like a child (another often mis-used quotation (Matthew 19:14)) will grow and change and eventually go out into the world and do things.

People who have faith like a mustard seed, get it. They get that a living faith means acting as Jesus did when he was among the living. They get that we are called to help each other. To be good to each other. To tolerate each other. To act with love.

People who have mustard-seed faith, even a tiny little bit of it, get it. They get that believers are called to do more than just believe. A person who truly believes in Jesus and the Bible, understands that believers are compelled to do good works, because the Bible tells them so.

But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? (James 2:20)

Cooking up some Christmas Cheer

There was a big huge ice storm this morning, so we couldn't go to church. The 4-H Christmas party also got canceled, so I had a whole long day which did not involve running around. What a treat. What did I do with my whole long day? Why, I baked, of course!

I do a big formal Christmas Eve dinner for Ted's family every year. I have to start early because it is a lot of work, and I hate trying to do it all in the last few days before Christmas. So today I leaped on the opportunity to get ahead. I made:

Cookie dough for 5 dozen cookies (to be rolled out and baked tomorrow)
Home-made applesauce from 3 lbs of apples (Made slightly more than a quart)
Butternut Squash bread from Holly's recipe
Pumpkin Butter
Honey-Wheat bread.

Then I made Spaghetti Squash and Tofu for dinner.

My Holiday menu will also include:

Maple-brined turkey (This is Ted's thing. I try not to look)
Cranberry sauce made from real cranberries (Already made and in the freezer)
Pumpkin bread (Already made and in the freezer)
Marbled mashed potatoes (White and sweet potatoes prepared separately and swirled together)
Some kind of vegetables
Apple cider and peppermint sticks for the kids
Wine and coffee for the grownups.

Coffee and cookies and the chocolates my kid had to sell for 4-H for dessert.

Am I missing anything?

Santa letter

Here is my Kiddo's Santa letter. He is asking for a Geo-Trax train for his little doll, Jessica, whom he says is his daughter. And he is asking for passenger cars for his own train set. We are going to e-mail a Publish Postletter to Santa. Later: Kiddo is on the Nice list, of course.

Snow Day

So, I blew off out homeschool group today, even though we have are supposed to turn in our orders for the fund raiser, and even though it is Scholastic Book Order Day, because it snowed today.

It wasn't a big snow, only a few inches. The plows were going all night, and by morning all they had to do was scrape the new slush off the roads. But when we woke up this morning, the whole yard and the field behind us and everything we could see was covered with a blanket of fresh white snow. It was beautiful. Kiddo wanted to run outside in his jammies and play in it. As it is, he went out in a rugby shirt and his cub scout uniform pants, and snow boots with no socks, before I noticed he was gone.

I bundled up more carefully, but went out and joined him. We played Frisbee in the snow. Had a snowball fight. Loaded his sled with snow only to move it across the yard and dump it again. I also put up some Christmas decorations, brought the lawn chairs in to the garage, filled the bird feeders, and stacked bricks around the base of the chimney. (The previous owners finished the outside of the chimney with particle board and plaster, and of course it has not held up to the winters. The bricks are not a complete solution, but they are better than a gaping hole at the base of the chimney.) I decorated my front porch for Christmas and put away all the autumn things. I never thought I would have a house with a front porch, and I never ever thought I would be able to decorate it seasonally. But it looks lovely out there.