Going Green

Lately I’ve been focusing on being more aware of the environment.  I’ve been recycling for awhile now, usually filling up tubs in my garage and then hauling them to the nearby Dillons recycling bins.  A nuisance, actually.  I finally got around to calling Waste Connections who hooked me up with my very own 18 gallon blue recycling tub! You should have seen how excited I was to get this!  Now I not only recycle cans, newspapers, and magazines, but I can add plastic milk/pop bottles to my list!  This morning I dropped off 3 computers at the Household Waste recycling place.  2 of the monitors stopped working awhile ago and all 3 CPUs died.  They were cluttering up my storage room so I decided to get rid of them.  Ken took the “brains” out of them first so any sensitive material won’t fall into the wrong hands.

So what else might I be doing?  Well, I take canvas bags to the grocery stores and I’ve actually gotten into the habit of actually keeping them IN the car so I don’t forget them!  That cuts back on the plastic sacks I use, even though I do take them to the recycling bins too (Both Walmart and Dillons have bins for those inside the stores.)  I’m keeping a big box of paper that I can recycle too since no one else takes junk mail or the children’s old school papers.

Next up, garage sale!  I’ve been cleaning out and the neighborhood-wide sale is May 15-17.  Even though I’ll be participating for just the Saturday, I’m hoping the draw of a neighborhood might help get rid of some of the extra clutter accumulating around the house.  Even though I just finished the Britches and Lace consignment sale, I have some items that weren’t quite consignment caliber but could get me some extra $.  Not to mention some older furniture that we’re looking to be rid of as well as lots of miscellaneous.  And what’s wrong with that?

Tomorrow I’m working on the vegetable garden.  I only have strawberry plants and tomato plants right now but Mum has some onions that she’ll give me and some beans.  I wish we had a Farmers Market closer to us but the one we have is a good 30 minute drive away.  With gas at $3.49 a gallon, who wants that?

So, I’ll keep you posted with what else I go green with.  I’m still very much hooked on Moneysavingmom and Freebies4Mom.  I’ve gotten some really cool samples in the mail lately from hand lotion to cereal and soon the green Clorox line!  Check it out!

A Short Week In Review

What a week!  Thankfully, I wasn’t needed for jury duty (yet) although I may still receive another letter to call me back in.  I’m supposed to be available until May 30th.

I  have been looking forward to this week for quite some time, mainly because it was going to be EASY!!  On Monday I had a PD afternoon so I only taught in the morning.  On Tuesday we had a field trip to a bowling alley to reward the 3rd-5th graders for doing their best on the state tests.  Today (Wednesday), I only  had my class until 1:30PM because we had parent/teacher phone conferences for the 4th nine weeks.  Tomorrow is an inservice day and Friday is conference release day which means I’m OFF!  Who wouldn’t be happy about that schedule?!

A Day for ME!

Friday I was “sick”. I’ve been so exhausted between family stuff, school and state testing, and just life in general that I was feeling like I had been hit by a truck. So I called in sick and had my sub plans done Thursday night before I left.

I started the day as usual, getting up and ready, making lunches, dropping the Jocelyn and Wesley off at school, took Taylor to an orthodontist appointment, dropped him off at school, and then I went home. I made myself some scrambled eggs with ham, brewed a cup of tea, and leisurely flipped through a magazine whilst determining what I was going to do with myself all day. Ken had left me a note telling me to enjoy myself and not do chores but I’d already started a load of laundry when I saw it. Oh well, a load of laundry or two doesn’t take that much effort. I did some scrapbooking before heading out to lunch (McDonald’s drive-thru) on my way to the DAV. Ken and the kids detest shopping there because I have to dig but I was very pleased to find a pair of Old Navy shorts for Ken or Taylor, depending on who they fit best, Jeans ($3.98) and shorts ($1.48) for Wesley, a poncho ($3.98) for Jocelyn, and a pair of denim capris for me ($2.98). I went to TJMaxx on the way home and found a handbag for spring/summer (I’ve been looking for one since January!) and Mother’s Day gifts (yep, even before May!) Then I headed home to do more scrapbooking before Ken and the kids made it home.

I can’t tell you how incredibly refreshing it was to do something for ME. I was feeling extremely taken advantage of in all areas and now I feel I can attack life with my usual vigor. Ahhhh, I need to plan time like that more often.

I’ve been Summoned

Last month I had received a notice that I could be a potential juror. I filled out the questionnaire and mailed it back in, half expecting to be let out since I had to put my spouse’s occupation. Surely having a detective for a husband should account for something! Apparently not. I got another letter this weekend that told me to call on the 21st to see if I’m needed on the 22nd. As you can imagine, I am far from thrilled.

The last time I got a jury summons I was extremely pregnant with Wesley. My OB/GYN was kind enough to write me an excuse although that only got me out of it for a few months. When Wesley was 3 months old and I was nursing, I had to go back. With hindsight, I should have just gone when I was ready to pop. At least I would have served. As it was I was dismissed for the murder trial (thanks to knowing too many of the cops on the case) and had to do an insurance case. Whenever I could, I pumped sitting on the bathroom floor in the women’s restroom. Ick.

Well, at least I’m not nursing anymore and my children will be in school. Going to jury duty is a privilege that I wouldn’t have been able to do if not for being a registered voter. As a prior resident alien, I would never have been able to complete my civic duty. However, the amount of work I have to do to get ready to potentially be away from school is phenomenal. Sub plans take A LOT OF WORK. And then you’re lucky if you have a sub that actually teaches what you want them to. In any case, I’ll call in on the 21st to see if I’m needed on the 22nd, and enjoy the break from the classroom.

Good Sites

My friend Krissy got me hooked on www.moneysavingmom.com with great information on how to save money from stores like CVS (wish we had these in Wichita!) and Walgreens using coupons and in-store coupons/advertisements! (Did you know that you can use both a STORE coupon AND a manufacturer’s coupon at Walgreens!?)  What’s not to like about getting stuff for next-to-nothing!?!

I found www.freebies4mom.com from that website, too, and I’m hooked on that one as well! I love getting samples and free stuff by mail so this was prime for me! Even though some of the stuff isn’t in our area, it’s good to know! For example, the site mentioned FREE iced mocha from SONIC tomorrow night as well as FREE coffee at Starbucks and FREE breakfast drink from Jamba Juice! Oh yeah, did I mention that they were FREE?! So, if you get the chance, check them out. I’ve listed them in my sidebar.

Runnin’ Wild

WOW — What a weekend! Saturday was a blur starting off with the Runway Run courtesy of Hawker Beechcraft. We had a great time running/walking the 2 mile race then enjoying the health and fitness fair afterwards with lots of free stuff and carnival rides!

Darren came in 1st in his age group and 3rd overall. I came in 1st in my age group and both Jocelyn and Wesley came in 3rd for their age groups.

After the race we managed to go home for a bit, with no water due to a leak. We headed to Taylor’s soccer game at a Y way, way out NW before getting Jocelyn’s friend, Megan, for a sleepover. Then off to Talliano’s for pizza. Today I was trying to catch up on laundry since I wasn’t able to do any yesterday as well as cleaning up the garage in preparation for a garage sale, trimming yard stuff and cleaning up! It seems like I need to go back to work just to rest!!

Off to Robinson he goes!

Taylor, Ken, and I sat down and went through the decision process last night about middle schools.  It is soooo nice to have a choice in the matter but at the same time, it’s stressful too!  We looked at the websites for the schools and talked about what we all wanted in a middle school.  Even Allison, the other middle school and feeder school for Bostic, claimed they had a rigorous academic program.  Taylor ultimately decided that he did indeed want to attend Robinson, stating that the idea of not having to wear uniforms (a big reason for not liking Bostic) and intramural soccer helped his decision.  Ken and I are thrilled, as that’s what we wanted anyway.  He’ll have to maintain a 2.5 GPA for 6th grade but I think he’ll have so much fun with the projects that he gets to do that he won’t have any trouble.  They’ll still continue with his gifted work in LA as well.  I actually had the opportunity to observe at Robinson when I was getting my degree and loved the stuff I saw.  We’ll be at the Open House for 5th graders later this month.

Fractions for Lunch

This morning when I was making sandwiches for Jocelyn’s lunch, she specifically asked to have her sandwich with the crusts cut off and then cut into four pieces.  She then explained that she was learning fractions at school and she wanted to eat 1/4 of her sandwich with each bite!