Get Green!!

Making your home green is sooooo much easier than you think. Since I'm now pretty much obsessed with the idea, I thought I'd share some of my fave and easy-peasy ways to make your home safer for you and the earth :)

<-- This one is pretty much a no-brainer. Reusable bags EVERY TIME you shop! This one is $1.50. It fits in your purse and Target gives you $.05 back every time you use a reusable bag! Just think of how much plastic (and eventually $$ you save!)

These are 2 great items for your kitchen! Seventh Generation paper towels are 100% recycled. Although we try to use cloth for most things, every once in a while you need a paper towel. And dishwasher tabs that work waaay better in my dishwasher than the cascade brand we were using. Not only are you not flushing terrible chemicals into the streams and oceans (yes, you are killing sea animals, just like BP!!!), but the cardboard box is made of 100% recycled paper.



Laundry. 1. Quit the dryer and get a drying rack. Save $$ and energy! 2. Try method! It's concentrated (less trash!) and even the container is made of 50% recycled

plastic!


In the bathroom: 1. Soap in boxes is so much better & cheaper than body wash in bottles. Plastic can only be recycled so many times before it becomes toxic, and most soaps come in recycled cardboard, so if you aren't going to recycle then at least buy a product that has been. 2.Give recycled t.p. a shot. It's amazing how much virgin paper is wasted on our waste! 3. www.preserveproducts.com

these products are made from recycled materials AND you can recycle them with their easy mail-back form! They even have a toothbrush recycle program you can sign up for and they will send you a new brush every 3 months! You won't have to remember when to switch anymore!

And cleaning: Using one concentrated, natural all-purpose like Simple Green saves space and oceans :) Also, Seventh Generation antibacterial keeps the chemicals that can cause asthma attacks away from kids, but still germ-free!!

I love anything by Seventh Generation. They dedicate 10% of their profits to organizations working for change, they even used recycled packaging, all their products are natural, they offer coupons on their website, and you can find them at stores like Target! Why would you not buy their products?

Lastly, I know what you are going to say. "I can't afford green products." But, it's not true.

You can! I've included a cost comparison that I found in RealSimple magazine on laundry detergents. Also, check into coupons on the company websites. I also stock up when these products are on clearance at Target (which is often- you know Target). And many things you can do in your home don't require buying anything and can cancel out any extra cents you're racking up to buy something good for you.

CoMpOsTiNg!!

On a recent visit back to Mammoth Lakes my Bestie from Mammoth, Sarah, and I decided to make a compost box!! I've been wanting to do this for a while, but couldn't in Mammoth due to bears and can't in Monterey because we live in an apartment. Sarah, however, has just moved into a fabulous place with a barn/garage. It's an ideal place to keep our compost box bear free!

So here's how we did it.

Step 1: Supplies. Sarah and I went shopping at K-Mart which is where we found all that we needed for our compost box. We purchased about 80 night crawlers, two plastic tubs, one garden stone, and we picked up a free newspaper.

Step 2: The box. Poke holes in the sides and bottom of one of the plastic tubs. This is so that the compost can breathe and any liquid will drain out into the other tub.

compost juice and it's such great fertilizer that you have to dilute it before using it on your plants!)

Step 3: Break apart the garden stone and place it in the bottom of the 2nd tub. Place the 1st tub with the airholes on top of the stones so that the

1st tub fits inside the second.
Step 4: Add potting soil, worms, strips of newspaper, and food particles such as peels of fruit, veggies, etc.

Step 5: Enjoy!!

Other rules of thumb I've learned from the FABULOUS Sarah :)

1. No meat, cheese, or fatty substances. This will attract flies.

2. To keep flies away tape paper soaked in tea tree oil to the box.

3. Stir your compost regularly to let air in. This helps with the decomposition.

4. Break apart egg shells. This helps them decompose faster.

The "Other" Mountains

I have to marvel at the versatility of our Lord.

On a recent trip home to Tennessee, we took a hike in the Smokey

Mountains. Although I still feel that this area is my home, I felt as if I were in another world.

Over the last year of living in the Eastern Sierras I had forgotten the beauty of the Appalachias. They are so vastly different from one another. In seeing the snow-capped jagged peaks here in Mammoth for almost a year, I was happy to return to the laid-back rolling hills of Tennessee. I'd missed the warmth it brought me. Not just in temperature (praise God!!), but also in environment. Oh, to see green foliage and bugs! (Who thought I'd ever miss bugs?!) And the people. Sure, we've made great friends here in California, but nothing compares to southern hospitality, my grandma's cookin', and family and friends, old and new, that embraced us with such welcome.

I am one truly, truly blessed woman.

A San Francisco Treat!

Every time I visit this city it's a whole new experience. Maybe because I've gone with different people every time, so I see it from their eyes. Perhaps it's just that there's just so much darn cool stuff to do! Regardless, I am in love with San Francisco....and hopefully these pics can give you the perspective seen through my eyes.

Our "tour guides" this visit were our good friends Heidi and Dustin Greene. We've known Dustin since high school and have come to know his wife Heidi this year. We can't wait until June when we'll only be a short drive from them!

They showed us around after both working 12 hour shifts at local hospitals. Luckily, there was a plan to stay awake. That's how we ended up stopping in at just about every bar we passed to "stay hydrated".

We were able to check out lots of street acts, the sourdough bread makers, and of course, Haight-Ashbury.

Oh, and I guess I should mention that all the pics here were taken with my new iphone that Hubz bought me. Not bad for a phone, eh?

Owens River Gorge

Last weekend we did a little climbing in the Owens River Gorge. It was the first warm weekend here and although the nice weather didn't last, it certainly got us "geared up" (hehe) for climbing season!

Me on the hike, "forging" the river in my climbing gear.
I found this little cactus patch along the way...
There were so many cute dogs there! I know, anyone who knew me prior to last year is looking at all these pictures and thinking, "Why is my friend outside? And why does she like dogs all of a sudden?" But these guys were super friendly!! And I saw two of my FAVE dogs: A Rhodesian Ridgeback and the sweetest, sWeeTeSt, SWEETEST Labrodoodle! This Lab below was just beautiful and great at posing, I must say.
I just thought this was an interesting rock formation. John decided that it looks like someone just through a giant baseball through the rock. Maybe God is a Braves fan??

Sea Life

This week at the preschool we learned about animal habitats, specifically the ocean. At the beginning of the week when we asked what animals lived in the ocean we heard, "A lion!! A giraffe!! Gatos (cats)!! Dragons! (That one was my favorite)." After some further investigation we were finally able to identify what lived in the ocean and where we could find the other animals, although I'm still at a loss with dragons...

Here are some pictures of some of our sea life creations. Although they both look like strange spiders they are supposed to be octopi and crabs. :)

SnOw!!!

I have to say that although I've learned a lot since moving to Mammoth (rock climbing, skiing, knitting, Spanish, how to build a fire, and certainly how to shovel snow), life sure is different here than it is back home in Tennessee!

Here are some lovely pictures of how winter has been treating us here in Mammoth Lakes, CA.
This is the view of our deck from our front window...hence, why I feel like I live in an igloo sometimes ;)

And this is our home. Covered in snow. One of those lumps in front used to be my car.
From the front door. My car is that blob on the left :)

The beauty of it all.