What's my line?

First, I digress.

If you want to see a beautiful post, go no further than here. Talk about the ability to capture a time and place.

Getting back to business. My mom made an observation the other day - "All this talk about green," she said, "and no one uses clothes lines anymore."

I have a clothes line, but I rarely use it. Why? Dunno. The crunchy clothes? My property value? Maybe, but sunshine sterilizes, saves you money, saves energy, and makes your sheets and pillowcases smell like light. So I have rededicated myself to the clothes line. Over the weekend I hung towels, dishclothes, jeans, and heavy workshirts. They dried lickity-split.



How's your clothes line doing? Drop me a line.

The Worms Crawl In...

The other day, while my husband was home with Pip and his strep throat, they put together a very snazzy Worm Bin.

First my husband took three empty Tidy Cat litter bins (why was he saving them? who knows. this is the beauty of my husband) and drilled holes along the bottom of each. Then he simply nested them inside of one another. The first image is the Worm Bin fully assembled. The second bin catches the worm poops and the third bin catches the worm juice which is used for watering plants and such. The final image is of our worm bin in action. We keep it right outside our kitchen door where it is shady all day long. Show me your worm bin. Yeah, baby!

The actual design of the Worm Bin will probably need some tweaking and if you see something VERY VERY wrong with our worm bin (like, "Ummm...how are your worms *breathing?*") please let us know. We want to create life, not destroy it.

Roughly Speaking: Cute Cute Cute

Not quite sure how this "create a link to this post" thing works...seems slightly plagiaristic, but Jenny Rough has a post up on her blog about adorable little bags made from books. Now as a librarian, I must admit that this seems slightly sacrilegious, but I suppose that that there are worse fates in life for a book than being recycled and taken on shopping trips or girls' night out. You make the call: Roughly Speaking: Cute Cute Cute.

Interested in making your own worm bin? My husband has done it - pictures and instructions to follow.

Junk(mail) in the Trunk

And Amoxicillin said "Get Thee Out of This House, Strep Throat" and Lo! It Was Done.

But I digress.

Just the other day, my Mom mentioned that after visiting my grandmother in her assisted living home, she was concerned about all the mail "solicitations" that my grandmother was receiving. Unfortunately, my grandmother is a very generous person, and I say unfortunately in this case, because she is replying to these requests with donations, albeit small ones, but donations nonetheless run on sentence. It made me realize that junk mail is not only wasteful, but in some cases, it can be downright dangerous! Here are some suggestions, Mom et al., for how to get yourself...or someone you love, off those mailing lists.

One organization that can help you manage all that junk in your trunk is 41Pounds, so called because that is the average amount of junkmail that the average adult received each year. I am willing to guess it's more - those pre-approved credit cards are heavy! So what does 41Pounds do? The can help eliminate between 80 to 95% of all your junkmail by contacting the direct marketers who send it to you on your behalf!

The catch: well, there really isn't a "catch" but this service costs - $41 for five years, which seems a small price to pay for both green and peace of mind. Also, 41Pounds does not stop mailings from non-profits, so while this may not protect Grandma from The Humane Society, it will protect her from those credit-card company offers that often land in the trash for others to find and abuse (I know, I'm getting all X-Files on you).

If you have time to do a bit of legwork on your own behalf, Junkbusters provides some templates for getting rid of junkmail the old fashioned way...you BURN it. Just kidding. You send letters to direct marketers telling them to remove your name from your mailing list and not to share your name with others. And while we are on the subject...why not try to eliminate junkmail from the start? When you order something, online or from a catalog, there is usually an opt-out option (Op-out option? What does the opt in opt-out stand for? Anyone?) asking that they do not share (sell or rent is more like it) your name with other vendors. Also, love your Pottery Barn catalog? No need to go cold turkey - but places like PB will often take you off their catalog-every-time-they-make-a-change-to-their-Tahiti-collection to a catalog once a year or once per season.

I'm going to tell my junk mail to take a hike...I'll let you know how it goes.

Yesterday: One coffee in own cup/one softdrink in evil cup
Today: One coffee in own cup

Snug as a Bug

Good day. My house has strep throat, so I am able to blog mid-day. We now return to our regularly scheduled posting.

We own a small 1950s Cape Cod with two bedrooms on the first floor, a combined dining/living room, a small kitchen, two full baths, and one bedroom in a dormered second floor. Our goal is a September 2008 groundbreaking for a modest addition: adding on to the side of the house to create an expanded kitchen and dining room, family room, and the addition of two small bedrooms for Pip and Sprout above. With all the the green buzz, my husband...um...let's call him...Heath...I'll be Heather! Oh, I crack myself up...can't help but be excited about incorporating as much green as we can...so where do I start...with the important things: rugs.

I am so shallow.

We need a combination of hearty, due to our two small children, and environmentally friendly, also due to our two small children. But can the twain meet? Before all this hullaballo I was going to Stainmaster our entire house and call it a day. Now that's not as acceptable to me. So, with an eye to the future, I've begun my quest for the perfect rugs for the dining room and the family room. I welcome your suggestions and experiences.

Signed,

Heather