Podcasts

I have discovered the joy of podcasts.

My girls take a nap at the same time in the afternoon (ok Kiran only sleeps half the time but she "takes a rest" for 1.5 hours on the days she doesn't sleep). I have just realized the joy of listening to podcasts while working around the house. I can only do this now because I have a laptop whose battery does not quit after 1.3 minutes. So I'm carrying my computer around bringing Mark Driscoll or Dave Ramsey with me as I change the sheets on the bed and mop the bathroom floor. Its made those menial, repetetive tasks so much more enjoyable because my mind is stimulated.

So I'm asking for suggestions- do you listen to any podcasts? Which ones? I am open to any topic really but I enjoy thinking about Jesus. At least most of the time. Sometimes its convicting and that's not really enjoyable. Anyhow- give me some good podcasts to listen to! Thanks!

HGTV

We finally got my brother Will, our resident landscaping guru, over to our house on Saturday. He and Jonathan performed a minor miracle on our yard. We went from being an embarrassment to our neighbors (well except for the ones beside us- we always looked good compared to them) to contender for Yard of the Month (except we don't really have that competition in this neighborhood but my parents' neighborhood does! But we can't compete because we don't live there.).

Uncle Will with his favorite helper

Will told me I should come out and take before pictures....but I didn't. They trimmed bushes and trees and cut grass and spread mulch and pretty much made our house look good.

the side bed- it was a mess of weeds and overgrown bushes before

Will said it was just like an episode on HGTV. Except it took way longer than 30 minutes. And they had to do all the work themselves. And we were on a strict budget.

The front corner bed- you couldn't see the house for the overgrown tree

My job was to hydrate the workers and keep the kids out of the way. And buy popsicles for when they finished.

Ta-da! Our beautifully landscaped home. We can hear the neighbors' sighs of relief.

What Do We Have Here?

A

crawling,
standing,
cruising,

grape eating,
peek-a-boo playing,
loud shrieking,

more and all done signing,
hi and bye waving,
dramatic laughing.

17 pound, 26ish inch 10 month old.

I Have Learned...

...that I'm no good at running without a plan and a goal.

So.... I found a goal and I made a plan. Erin (Lucas) Halsey is going to drive down from VA and we are going to run the Candlelight Run. Its a 5K at night and its all lit up by luminaries. Melanie ran it last year (5 weeks after giving birth!) and she's going to run it again this year. If I can run 13 seconds faster than she did right after giving birth, then I will have met my goal.

My goal is to run my first 5K in under 30 minutes. It can be 29:59. I don't care as long as I get in under 30. That is my goal. And I only have 6.5 weeks to get there!

Anyone else want to run with us? I think we should make T-shirts. Can you even order 2 custom T-shirts? I mean I'm not totally opposed to iron-on but I'd rather it be real.

How to Eat a Popsicle

Earth Day

Emily posted about Earth Day and it really got me thinking. I was going to write a comment on her blog, but I realized I have A LOT to say. All of the sudden, it dawned on me that this earth stuff- reduce, reuse, recycle- going green- has become a big part of our lives. Its been a slow process- so much so that it has snuck up on me. One small change to recycle cans to another small (ok big) change to use cloth diapers to a small change of finally getting reusable shopping bags. Emily asked for ways that we reduce, reuse and recycle so here it goes.

What we already do:

• use cloth diapers and line dry them instead of using the dryer
  
• minimize a/c and heat usage by using fans, windows, and keeping the temperature reasonable
• Use towels and washcloths instead of paper towels and tissues 95% of the time
• Use cloth napkins every day
• turn off the water when brushing teeth, washing face, etc
• run dishwasher and washing machine when they are full only (I try- sometimes a clean dishwasher is more important to me)
• reuse towels a couple of times- we switch towels out twice a week on tuesdays and fridays
• recycle
• make my own baby food (saves lots of little jars- although i do recycle them when I use them)
• fill up my Nalgene bottles every night with tap water instead of bottled water
• use rechargeable batteries for everything that needs AAs
• use mostly CFLs
• wash almost all my clothes in cold water
• reuse paper- print on both sides, save mail only printed on one side for printing or for Kiran to color on
  

Things I'm thinking about doing

• reusable baby wipes
• composting
• making my own cleaners (I inherited a lot of cleaners from my grandmother when she moved out of her condo so my frugality says I should use them up first)
• starting a teeny tiny garden- maybe just one vegetable at first
• getting a programmable thermostat
• reusable shopping bags (I actually accumulated 3 free ones during Earth Day week but I have yet to remember to take them in shopping with me!)
  

Things I should do but don't:

• take short showers- whew I've lived with a limited (5 min?) shower and I just love love love my hot showers. When else am I ALL BY MYSELF?
• fly less- oh but I love to travel. I hope my other green measures offset my huge carbon footprint that I make by flying

One big change that we have made is our recycling habits. We started out just recycling the newspaper. Then we realized we can recycle all paper. Then since we were taking the paper to the recycling center, we figured we could start saving steel, aluminum, glass, plastic and cardboard to take as well. Then we realized we were down to about two bags of garbage a week so we canceled our trash truck service (much to Kiran's dismay) saving money every month. We are lucky that our recycling center also takes household garbage (and Christmas trees!). Now almost every time I throw something away, I ask myself, "Is there something reuseable that I can use instead of this?" I've started using more plastic containers for freezing instead of ziploc bags and towels and washcloths instead of tissues and paper towels.

I do think its very important to be careful with the resources God has given us. And to be honest, some of the enviromentally friendly things we do were orignally fuelled by frugality. I'm ok with that. I'm learning how to balance being frugal, being resourceful and being sane. I'd love to hear things that you do (or don't do) that are green!

Easter

We had a lovely Easter. We worshiped at our church then headed to Greenville for lunch with the Caskeys and dinner with the Fitzs.

William & Kiran- this is one of my favorite pics of them ever

The Fitz grandkids after hunting for Easter eggs

These are the only two pictures I'm posting because they are the only two pictures I have been sent (hint, hint family).