"Green" thoughts for a Saturday night

I'm back! It feels like I have been gone forever!

That was a tough few weeks! I must apologize to my loyal readers for disappearing, but such is life sometimes!

I wasn't able to post at all in the past week and a half or so because our computer cord sparked and melted right before my eyes-so I was computer-less. $86.95 later I am back online and not too happy with apple for not recalling my faulty cord.  I am just thankful that it happened when we were home. I don't even want to think about what might have happened if we weren't here!

I know I missed Friday favorites so I will make it up to all of you next week with a really good one :) In the meantime here are some fun musings I feel like my readers can appreciate as much as I do!

Last night as we were cleaning the house (I know, what an exciting Friday night hubs and I had!) hubs came in the dining room where I was going through stacks of mail to recycle and he told me that we didn't even fill up one full bag of garbage this week! We didn't have to put the garbage out because we only had half a bag. Do you know how exciting that is for me? We have really been trying hard to reduce our waste in a lot of ways. We're not using paper towels anymore, I upcycled some old curtains into cloth napkins, we recycle everything we possibly can down to the toilet paper rolls and yogurt containers, and we even found biodegradable sponges! So I think we are doing pretty good at reducing our carbon footprint. That made me really happy! I also chuckled because our recycling bin is completely full every week, sometimes to the point where I have to set some aside for the following week. Now that is progress!

Speaking of reducing our carbon footprint, about a week ago I was talking to one of the parents of one of my first graders and she told me that they went to the beach the week before. She said that her son insisted on spending half the afternoon picking up trash on the beach! He said "Mrs. N. would be SO sad to see all this litter on the beach...what if it gets in the water?" I guess I may have made an impression! Another parent told me that her little girl was very concerned about recycling now, and insisted that they not throw out anything that could be recycled. Another little girl in my glass came to school all excited because her mom bought her reusable containers for her lunch box to use instead of ziploc bags. These are SIX YEAR OLDS!!! And on Friday at an assembly I was so proud because our school ran an essay contest for each grade level asking them to write about some way to help take care of our planet. A little boy from my class wrote an essay about recycling and he won first place for first grade! I was so proud of him! And what was even cooler for me was that two other students that won first place were in my class the past two years. I guess I must really drive home how important it is to take care of the earth with my little firsties! Not to mention they turn into such good writers under my tutelage apparently :) It just goes to show that whatever you say to kids REALLY gets taken to heart. They may not seem like it sometimes but they ARE listening! And how amazing is it that these kids care so much at such a young age. Think about all the good they will do throughout their lives if we keep teaching them about reducing their carbon footprint!

Farmer's Market season is really starting to get into full swing. My little miss and I headed out to the opening day of the Williamsville farmer's market today which was so much fun. I strapped her into the k'tan and we enjoyed sampling homemade organic cookies, fudge, cheeses, and more. We got some delicious, fresh lettuce and tomatoes, organic dog treats for my pups, and I even got some oatmeal and almond olive oil soap from bath & bliss, a local company that makes natural products. And I also was able to finally try out my new produce bags! I did as much shopping as I could at the market, then we headed over to Wegman's where we finished up. What a great way to reduce the use of plastics while still keeping your produce fresh! I got these at Target in the dollar section and am kicking myself for not grabbing more! Lord knows they will most likely be gone when I go back! I love love love reducing the amount of waste we bring into the house and these bags really help us accomplish that!

Finally, I have to say that I am so excited because some things are brewing over here at The Good Life. I don't want to give away too much before we are ready to unveil but I will tell you that you will love what is coming! So keep your eye on the blog and also on our facebook page for the latest news!

Love and Laughs,

Danielle