No, no. I am not crazy: I do not support holiday decorations being displayed at my local hardware store since September...Nonetheless, the holidays are around the corner and my hardware store did remind me that last December, I vouched to be pro-active for this year's gift exchange. And that included letting those who will be exchanging with us know that we prefer experiences vs. more stuff. It seems early, but letting them know before they even had a chance to gather/buy objects for us, is key and all part of the “master plan” ;). Here are some ideas, worth considering this holiday season:GIFTS-Offering...
What about Halloween?
I received a few emails and comments asking how we plan to celebrate Halloween. Frankly, I really have a hard time with Halloween. I like the activities, but in a perfect world, the celebration would be a non-commercial, waste-free, treasure-sharing (see “treasures” below), costume festival, that I would fully support. Until then...Our kids are still at an age where they want to share the fun with their friends and join them in trick-or-treating. And yet, I want to keep the tradition as sustainable as possible. But how? When in doubt, I apply the obvious rule: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rot....
Is the Zero Waste Home only about waste reduction?
I received a long angry comment this week.The commenter implied that our household was single minded... “Your lifestyle seems to be very austere” he or she wrote . “I'm wondering if you have a viewpoint on what we are all supposed to be doing here on planet earth? In addition to counting the band-aids in our trash cans, I mean”. Do you think your children find that it's a good trade off... you know for them to become social pariahs in exchange for you indulging your obsession.” Boy! How did this commenter even get to this blog? Why did "anonymous" even spend time reading it if he or she did not...
Labels:
Kids
Crappy Month and Wasteful Repairs.
Boy did we have a crappy, wasteful month. People say “shit happens”, but a whole truck load fell on us these past few weeks. Not a pretty picture, I realize ;).It all started on a Thursday evening. After a long day of work and dinner time fast approaching, I had been faced with a practically empty refrigerator (I grocery shop on Fridays), and challenged once again to make dinner with the few bits scattered in the refrigerator. I had managed to make the best of the one tomato, chunk of cheese, lonely egg and last cup of flour - and had proudly put together a tomato quiche. (These are my proudest...
Labels:
Reuse
Tomato Canning
Last week, as planned, I made a list of things-to-do away from the computer, and one of the items, which I procrastinated on for the last month, was digging out a portion of our crawl space to make room for canned goods (they store best in dark cold spaces). Well, guess what? Putting it on the list made it happen. Every member of the family pitched in (besides Zizou of course), the hero of the project being our 9-year-old who voluntarily carried 20 buckets of dirt down the 30 steps to the front of the house.I am so happy to have that done, my canned goods now have a dedicated space and so do my...
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Recipes
Time Wasters
After catching up with friends, and taking care of the many odds and ends upon my return (tomato canning, lemonade making, deep-house cleaning, sewing, house painting, wall repair, stove repair, flat tire, etc.), here I am, re-emerging with alone time (for the first time in 3 months), and an urge to write again. Sorry for the long absence!The kids went back to class and as with every back-to-school, I am set with a set of new school-year resolutions (along with most parents of school aged kids). I am ready for a new beginning, full of hope. I again hope for a better, more organized year with more...
Labels:
Lifestyle
Ideas from abroad
My last week in France. Every year, I judge my personal "eco-awareness" by how I react to green ideas abroad. This year, my eyes flashed on a few. Here is what I believe would be worth importing: - TGV (High Speed Train). When a train can take you to your destination in a 1/3 of the time than a car would, it entices you to use the public transportation. TGV's have always been fast, but they now have allotted tracks, which means that they can go full throttle on their routes. When we land in France (usually in Paris), we take this super fast train to get to our final destination (usually the South...
Labels:
Travel
Magic Butter
I made a discovery this week. It might not be one for you, but I thought I'd share it just in case.No matter how much I try to control the kids at my brother's house, mishaps sometimes occur. The boys used a swivel chair, covered with shirts (his house is not quite as organized as mine), to get a view of the Eiffel Tower from a skylight window... Unfortunately, while taking the glimpse, a shirt sleeve got caught in the swivel mechanism and streaked it with black grease. Stricken by guilt, I decided to repair the problem before my brother came home from work. I googled for a solution and found...
Less (not zero) Waste Air Travel
Today, I am suffering from the worse jet-lag ever. I wake up around 2 am, my mind starts going and I cannot go back to sleep until the birds start singing. The kids and I arrived at my brother's, in Paris, a few days ago.Rest assured. I am aware of my carbon impact when flying overseas. And I pray everyday for new carbon neutral ways (offsets are not satisfying enough) to visit my native land and blood relatives. Our weekly Skype sessions help but are not exactly an alternative to the kids language immersion or my mother's hugs and kisses. I live a zero waste lifestyle, I have reduced my meat...
Labels:
Travel
Six Month Tally
Until six months ago, Scott still took the trash out Sunday evenings. He would slip into his shoes late at night, and rain or shine, would run the 36 steps down to our curb to set the can out for pick up. Even if all it contained was a couple of band-aids. I could never figure out whether he was doing it out of habit, to retain a sense of "normalcy", or to simply make a point of using the service that we cannot (yet) cancel (our local hauler has trash pick up bundled with recycling and city composting).But one rainy Sunday evening this last January, as Scott was once again heading down the dark...
Zero Waste Dog -or Rat ;)
Zero Waste is a family affair... like I said before: in our home, everyone is on board, and that includes our dog.Meet Zizou. He joined the family about 3 years ago. We wanted a dog that would be small enough to not only fit in our small house, but also accompany us everywhere we go, whether it is by plane, car, bike or foot - we also chose his coat color to match the floor so that his shedding hair would not show :). He now can even sit with us at restaurants with outdoor seating! We figured a chihuahua would give us just as much love as a big dog. Zizou has been the answer to all our pet needs,...
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Shopping
