Reducing your environmental impact this holiday season

photo from:eartheasy.com/give_sustainchristmas.htm

Over the years Skott and I have been slowly trying to integrate more "earth-friendly" practices into our lifestyle.  The Christmas holiday is no different.

It is very overwhelming to me when I read articles about reducing my carbon footprint.  There are so many ideas and suggestions out there that I feel like I don't know where to start! 
My suggestion: 

pick one that you can easily see yourself realistically doing.

Start there.

For example:  many years ago we started recycling christmas cards to use as gift tags the following year.  If the cards had writing on the back side of them, we would use wrapping paper remnants and glue over the writing.

We also re-use gift bags like crazy!

And as much as I hated it when I was little, we save bows too.  If the bows get crushed, we remove the staple in the middle and use them for ribbon the following year.  We haven't bought bows in probably 5 years.  One year we hit an amazing clearance at Costco and bought some wired ribbons and beads.  We use these to decorate packages.  And we re-use them.  Year after year.

Another idea that I love is a tradition my sister Justine has.  It is a wonderful way to cut back on the amount of wrapping paper used each year.  (I tried to find a picture, but couldn't).

She uses giant, homemade "Santa stockings" made out of fabric.  They are velvety with a drawstring top, much like what you would envision Santa himself carrying.  Each child has their own "Santa bag" and on Christmas day, they awaken to find their bag full of (unwrapped) gifts.  This idea could be carried further to incorporate many other sized reusable fabric bags for individual gift "wrapping". 

So tell me, what are some eco-friendly practices you have?

What new lifestyle change are you pledging to make?  For some ideas, try this link http://www.green-christmas.org/ 

Skott and I are doing homemade gifts, many of them made from recycled/repurposed materials.  Pics to come after the holidays :)

Unique gift ideas

 We picked up these two funny cookbooks off Amazon.  (We originally saw them way overpriced in a local gift shop).

With the holidays coming up, I thought I might share some of my favorite websites for unique gifts:

http://www.uncommongoods.com/

Some items are extremely overpriced, others are reasonable.  Very good creative stimulation nonetheless

http://www.thinkgeek.com/

Love this website!

http://www.live-inspired.com/

Geared mostly towards paper products (cards, stationary, etc) with lovely colors, images, quotes, etc.  I'm sure my more talented friends can do many of these themselves.... but alas, I have not the skills

and of course, googling "upcycled" or "recycled" on etsy produces a wealth of awesome ideas!

So tell me, what are some of your favorites?

Seagulls!

There is a particular area on the beach where we walk sometimes that there are literally hundreds of seagulls gathered.  Not exactly sure why, but it makes for beautiful photos:

View from our window

Looking out our kitchen window

We're not crazy about the duplex we are renting right now.  It's got plenty of room, garage, two bathrooms, etc, but it's not really "us".  It is very much in need of an update but it was the best we could do at the time.  One of it's redeeming graces is the location:  very quiet street, back about 4-5 blocks from ocean.  We don't have an ocean view, but we can hear it very clearly. 

Living room windows



Our "yard"

We will just stay in this place for as long as it takes to find the perfect home to rent.  We have decided not to buy a home right now so we can remain mobile, if necessary.
Life is good.  We are very content.

Our disney princess

Sooooo, the "joys" of having an aging senior dog who is also a former puppy mill rescue.... will lead you to drastic solutions when their failing bodies no longer maintain complete bladder control 
(See this link for more info on puppy mills:
http://www.puppymillrescue.com/what_is_a_puppy_mill.htm
or simply google the very censored Oprah special on puppy mills.)

Poor Izzy is having a hard time with her back end.  Her crippled little legs do a shuffle/drag movement now, and when she attempts to run, her back legs work in unison, rather than opposite of eachother.  Quite comical to watch, but sad at the same time.  She has started having more "accidents" and we were tired of shampooing carpets and rugs every day so we came up with this ensemble:

This was our first attempt but the diaper wouldn't stay on

 

Makeshift elastic "suspenders" did the trick!

Ironically, the only diapers we could find that were the correct size were some Disney princess pull-ups.

My little princess

Crack cream anyone?

I must still have a very juvenille sense of humor, but some things like this still make me laugh:

this was a sale tag that printed.  I did not hang it :)

Along the same funny note, I have a couple stories to share

On the first day of the grand opening, I was helping an elderly couple load a TV and their groceries into their car.  The old man was very frail but still pretty spunky.  After I was done, he grabbed my arm and asked me if I would like to go to Dairy Queen with him :)

That same day I was approached by a short little round hispanic lady with limited English.  She was asking me if something said 5/$5 if she could buy just one and get it for $1 or did she have to buy 5?  I told her yes, she could just buy one for $1.  She stomped her foot and got really mad and practically growled "He wrong! Where my husband?!" and stomped off to find him.  I really wanted to follow her and see what happened when this poor guy got it :)

Getting life back

My last day doing my temp job at the retail store BiMart was yesterday.  I met a lot of great people working there (as well as some incredibly "challenging" people... if you didn't catch that from my facebook postings. haha).  Working both jobs was a lot harder than I expected, and I'm not as young as I like to think I am.  So, after having a meltdown on poor Skott and crying myself to sleep Friday night, enough was enough.  My only concern was that the casino was only part-time and I really needed full-time income.

Well, a strange thing happened Friday night at the casino....

I was actually scheduled off that night since I had to work a couple of extra days earlier in the week. (I was grateful things worked out this way, as I had to do a weekend of 12 hr shifts at BiMart for their grand opening).  I was unable to sleep much that night, despite being totally mentally and physically exhausted.  Skott text me around 5am and I was awake to answer it.  He said he had a suprise for me but I had to wait until he got home.

The suprise:
I was made full time at the casino that night.

I don't believe in coincidences such as these.  I know this was an answer to my prayers and an indication that this is what I should be doing right now.  I no longer doubted my decision to leave BiMart (the job was offered to me until the end of Christmas).

It is hard for me to accept the fact that I don't have a job in Biology. 
but I am not giving up!
I am going to be looking at places and organizations I can volunteer with over the winter.  Next spring I will be ready to apply for seasonal and temporary jobs.  Most of the jobs in my field of interest are grant funded and we all know what is happening with the budgets these days....  But I have faith that something will come along, someday.

I am really excited to be able to spend more time with this guy: