Ryan being very "Earthy"

With so many words, I thought you might enjoy a picture. But, this is my blog, and if I feel like being wordy, combined with no new pictures to show, then so be it. If you have issues with my blog, go get your own blog, then!!! My sister loves it when I say that:-)

Happy Earth Day (One Day late)!

Yesterday was Earth Day. What does one say to recognize the day? What did I do to recognize the day? Not too much, actually. I did my usual recycling, went about my day as I usually do, and that is about it. Matthew's school recognized the day by encouraging the kids to create as little waste as possible in the lunches they brought to school. The class with the least amount of waste was to win a prize of some sort. So, I spent a few minutes in the morning trying to create a lunch for him that produced little waste. I packed a lunchable and lots of ziplock bags full of things, and a capri sun. Kind of a large footprint for one day's lunch, but I did put his pretzels in a small container we had rather than a ziplock bag-a weak attempt, but better than nothing! Needless to say, his class did not win, not with parents like me out there using plastic bags that get thrown away after one use.

When I was a kid, I used to scour books on recycling, and I even created my own compost pile. My mom was thrilled, as you can imagine, to find a pile of trash along the side of the house mixed with worms I probably dug up in the flower garden she most likely just planted. I wanted to save the whales and the rain forests and the ozone.

How do I feel now? Our Earth is our home, and I believe we should take care of it and teach our children to do the same. Respect for the Earth, and the plants, animals and people on it is an important value I want my kids to have. In hindsight (by just one day), I think that next year I will do more to acknowledge the day.

Having said all of that, I think there are some crazy people out there who go a bit overboard when it comes to saving the Earth. Mike and I sometimes watch Glenn Beck, and I happened to catch it yesterday and found Glenn demonstrating what to do in case a flourescent lightbulb breaks in your home. It was quite funny, and scary, watching the "procedure" for a broken lightbulb demonstrated. I was laughing, but seriously, lightbulbs break so easily and the flourescent ones are extremely hazardous to your health when they do break. These lightbulbs designed to save energy and our planet contain as much mercury as a mercury-filled thermometer. In fact, a week ago Mike placed a lightbulb in his pocket that he was preparing to switch out with a dead bulb, and it shattered. We did not follow the proper procedures at all! We should have thrown his pants out (really, this is part of the appropriate disposal if the lightbulb comes into contact with your clothing), but we washed them with all our other clothes instead! We shook the contents into our indoor trash can...Bad, bad, BAD! That is just asking for my family to be poisoned by mercury. Knowledge is power, but sometimes, knowledge is scary. I think I'd just like my old lightbulbs back, where, worse case scenario, I cut myself on the glass or get annoyed when I bust a bulb.

I included part of the flourescent lightbulb demonstration as seen on Glenn Beck to the right under "Halarious Videos", or you can click here.

Also, because I don't want to see any of my friends or family poisoned by mercury, please take a moment (in all seriousness) to review the steps below for how to properly dispose of your "energy-saving" flourescent lightbulb in case it breaks.

The Steps (yes, I'm serious, I already said that!!):

Before Clean-up:

Air Out the RoomHave people and pets leave the room, and don't let anyone walk through the breakage area on their way out. Open a window and leave the room for 15 minutes or more. Shut off the central forced-air heating/air conditioning system, if you have one.

Clean-Up Steps for Hard Surfaces

Carefully scoop up glass pieces and powder using stiff paper or cardboard and place them in a glass jar with metal lid (such as a canning jar) or in a sealed plastic bag. Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass fragments and powder. Wipe the area clean with damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes. Place towels in the glass jar or plastic bag. Do not use a vacuum or broom to clean up the broken bulb on hard surfaces.

Clean-up Steps for Carpeting or Rug

Carefully pick up glass fragments and place them in a glass jar with metal lid (such as a canning jar) or in a sealed plastic bag. Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass fragments and powder. If vacuuming is needed after all visible materials are removed, vacuum the area where the bulb was broken. Remove the vacuum bag (or empty and wipe the canister), and put the bag or vacuum debris in a sealed plastic bag.

Clean-up Steps for Clothing, Bedding and Other Soft Materials

If clothing or bedding materials come in direct contact with broken glass or mercury-containing powder from inside the bulb that may stick to the fabric, the clothing or bedding should be thrown away. Do not wash such clothing or bedding because mercury fragments in the clothing may contaminate the machine and/or pollute sewage. You can, however, wash clothing or other materials that have been exposed to the mercury vapor from a broken CFL, such as the clothing you are wearing when you cleaned up the broken CFL, as long as that clothing has not come into direct contact with the materials from the broken bulb. If shoes come into direct contact with broken glass or mercury-containing powder from the bulb, wipe them off with damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes. Place the towels or wipes in a glass jar or plastic bag for disposal.

Disposal of Clean-up Materials

Immediately place all clean-up materials outdoors in a trash container or protected area for the next normal trash pickup. Wash your hands after disposing of the jars or plastic bags containing clean-up materials. Check with your local or state government about disposal requirements in your specific area. Some states do not allow such trash disposal. Instead, they require that broken and unbroken mercury-containing bulbs be taken to a local recycling center.

Future Cleaning of Carpeting or Rug:

Air Out the Room During and After Vacuuming. The next several times you vacuum, shut off the central forced-air heating/air conditioning system and open a window before vacuuming. Keep the central heating/air conditioning system shut off and the window open for at least 15 minutes after vacuuming is completed.

Just a little bit of venting

I lost my watch today. I am not very happy about it. Plus, I am not good at letting stuff like this go.
Maybe it is because I know that it could have been avoiding, given that the clasp has been loose and a simple pinch from some pliers would have prevented the loss, and I've been "meaning to" fix it for awhile, all while continuing to wear it. This is where procrastination costs money.
Maybe it is because I know that I will not be able to afford a new one for awhile, not one of equal value, anyway.
Maybe it is because I can pinpoint a small area in which I lost it, but know that the chance of an honest person finding it and turning it in doesn't weigh as heavily as a dishonest person coming across it and keeping it for themselves (shame on them, by the way).
Maybe it is because tonight when we were going about our bedtime routine, I glanced down to make sure we were doing good on time and was left staring at a bare wrist, and I know that in the morning when I'm trying to get August out the door for preschool I'm going to be all goofed-up and end up late, because I'm a habitual checker of my dang watch. Dang-it.
Maybe it is because I just really liked my watch.
The only thing I could think of telling myself to make me feel better was that "it could have been worse." Any and every thing can always be worse, so that phrase "always" works. Always. For example:
I could have lost my entire purse. That would be worse because not only would I be mad, but I'd have work to do to secure my belongs inside it, keep theives from stealing my identity, cancel cards, replace licenses, phones, etc.
I could have lost the stone from my engagement ring. Then it would be an emotional and monetary loss.
I could have lost a child. Much, much worse.
You get the point. So, I just wanted to vent for a moment. Now, I'm going to, hopefully, let it go........Well, right after I inform God (not feeling important enough a deal for a prayer request) that if somehow I recover my watch, I will fix it before I wear it with the clasp loose again.

Frugal Mugal

Yes, that is a nonsense term. But, it is the term I think of when I think about saving money or pinching pennies. Anyway, I will keep this up for a long as I can stand it, which I may come to my senses any minute now, but anyway, it is on my blog for the time up to that point. I usually go to the salon for my highlights, but I decided to try a $7 box of home highlights. With the economy being so unstable, I thought, what the heck, it is just hair, right! Plus, I told Mike that if I goofed it up, I'd be making an expensive trip to the salon for a correction, but I researched products and felt fairly safe that that would not happen:-)So........

This is what I did to myself. Honestly, I was fairly impressed for what I spent. What do you think?

Reagan's First Easter

Why are there so many postings of Reagan??? My gosh.

Let me explain. This is her first year of life, and she is going through so many firsts that never grow tiring whether you are on your first child or tenth child. I do this with all my kids; I marvel over all the firsts. Plus, everything is so incredibly cute and I want to share with the world (or my family and friends, anyway). So, I dressed Reagan up in a cute dress that was a gift, and took some Easter pictures. Ideally, these would have been taken outside, but again, bad weather prevented that. They turned out nice, I think.

Our Easter

Reagan's first Easter and Easter basket. The Easter bunny got her a rattle she loved!

Mike and August decorating Easter eggs.

All the kids at the community Easter-egg hunt.

Coloring Easter Eggs.

It seems like we were just celebrating Easter last year, but here we are again! Our day was relaxing and quiet. Our weather was crap, so everything we did was indoors, but the kids had a great time. It was very special to them, which made it special for me.

Reagan says "Mama"

Reagan has said "hi" and "hello" for a long time now, but recently she added some new sounds/words to her vocabulary. She says "poo-poo" when I change her diaper, "Ba-ba" for Brother and Britney, and the most recently, she can't get enough of the word "Ma-ma." My very favorite word thus far!! When you watch the clip it seems that I am the one learning the new words, as I say "ma-ma" much more than she does, but she, like all my kids, has never been one to show off for the camera. On top of it, we were in the process of hiding Easter eggs for the kids, so you can hear everyone in the background, and Reagan is at an age where she is distracted VERY easily! None-the-less, she does say her new word clearly a couple of times here. Yea:-) These times make those harder times SO worth it.

More Spring Break....

Nana out in the water with the kids-they were having so much fun out there!

Swinging is fun no matter what the age!

I liked this picture of Alyssa-she just wanted to get right in.

Just Reagan, myself, and the mystery couple in the background.

Spring VACATION

I made the boys pose at the top of the sand hill to snap this photo.

Alyssa is climbing the sand-hill here, but it looks like she is getting ready to hike a football!

We had just arrived, and I took Alyssa and Reagan to the beach before dinner. Alyssa thought the sand was so soft; She kept falling in it and was impressed on how it didn't hurt. Also, she wanted to build a sand castle as soon as possible. She was so excited!

Matthew discovering a head in the sand;-)

My cool dude, August.

Spring break hit, and we got the heck out of Snoqualmie, which I was more than ready to do. The kids and I took off for Cannon Beach, O.R., where the weather cooperated, and we had a great time on the beach. We hit all our favorite restaurants there, which included Ecola Seafood and Deli, where we enjoyed shrimp and crab boats and garlic toast (Ryan and I), and the kids had cheeseburgers (boring, I know, but they liked them!). Ryan skim-boarded, and all the kids enjoyed the sand-hill, and even got in the water. I tried to take pictures to help preserve the memories, but nothing can compare to simply being there:-)