these things

These things I know to be true..... (idea from Oprah)

Packing is easier 2 days before departure date, instead of the morning of.

Sour cream and onion potato chip dip is worth the stinky breath.

Sit ups and crunches are never fun.

My mother-in-law loves completely & unconditionally, all the time to all people.

Bed time is a child's enemy and a parent's pleasure.

Humidity will always make my hair crazy big and out of control.

Marriage proposal memories are always sweet, no matter where or when.

Julia Roberts smile always makes me smile.

Sisters are like roots, they provide you with a foundation and supports new growth.

Losing your Dad is never ok... whether you are 25 or 41.

Puerto Rico only looks good.... all of the time!

Gray hair will never be a welcomed guest on my head.

BLT's are better with mayo on both pieces of the toast.

Hubs is a nickname for a chubby hubby that is cute and has green eyes.

White sheets are all that matter.

The @ symbol is beautiful in its simplicity and structure.

Red fingernails are perfect for vacation.

My students have a love/hate relationship with me - of course.

An organized closet is symbolic of an organized mind.

Dehumidifiers need positive affirmations everytime I empty the water.

Surprise dinners with neighbors are god's gift to me.

Anyone that has a 5 year old that reads with them is blessed. Thank you Jakey!

incredible

I have married the man of my daughter's dream.

She dreamed of a few new siblings to love and boss around.

She dreamed of someone to dance and sing with.

She dreamed of dinners together.

She dreamed of someone fun.

lights on a Thursday night

What a fun Thursday evening! Girls evening in the circle, so we decided to make it special...

We started with a fire in the pit in the back yard, though with wet wood and only math papers to burn - we were slow on the start.

top 10 reasons

Top Ten Reasons that I wish

"Julie from California" was

"Julie from Charleston."

10. Julie chats with Elizabeth that makes E feels like she has something important to say.

9. E and I could have hugged Hannah on her birthday a few days ago.

8. Julie is smart, pretty, interesting, and always up for an adventure!

7. Julie is inspiring me to be meat free again. Our friend Marceen was the first vegetarian that I had ever met, so now that Julie is going in that direction.... hmmmm

6. Julie can read a poem with such emotion as if she actually wrote it.

5. She has long brown hair too, thank goodness Bob likes that too.

4. Julie makes me laugh, almost nonstop. I am truly so happy around her.

3. Viv and E would play little polly pockets well into the night while Julie and I hang out.

2. Nate now understands why he will have to buy me a plane ticket to CA every year.

1. I have learned how to be a friend from Julie - circa 1996.

bragging... only after being shamed

Very few people would be bragging about their curbside when it looks like this!
But not me! I am so proud to be showing you this picture because it illustrates our family mission this month, (ok, maybe more my mission) but we are all on board.

It all began with my arrogance of being a 'recycler.' I wore a glittering tiara made of recycled milk cartons and alumimum cans because of my recycling pride. Yet, instead of being a true model of Green - I was only half way working the system. Little did I know that I would be called to the proverbial carpet (though a carpet made of cork or other renewable resources).

Cody, Missy, Julie, and Kathy were hanging out with Nate and I, exactly a month ago. So, as Cody begins to place a glass brown bottle into our trash - I quickly announced that WE recycle and there is a special container for brown glass bottles. Boy did I sound pretentious as I said that to our friend. Though how wrong this whole conversation would turn. There on the edge of a Green Lecture, did he begin to pull out items in our 'trash' that should be in the recycle bin. A few key quotes from that night....

"Tortilla chip bags are recyclable, oh, so are potato chip bags."

"Bottle caps aren't trash," Cody had good reason to point that out since he contributed about 5 to the trash can.

"Why are you putting your veggie peels in the trash and not into a compose pile?"

"Your city recycling program doesn't make you separate?" Huntington resident Missy asked.

"Half of this 'trash' isn't trash at all."

"Styrofoam can be taken to another recycling plant."

"I have more recycling than trash," braggart Julie stated.

It was mutiny! So, after a careful analysis of my trash and recycling habits - I vowed to turn over a new green leaf. So this last month, our goal was to have more recycling than trash (take that Julie). To use less packaging and to recycle everything that we could.

This picture demonstrates our effort. Note that 5 of the bags are yard waste that will be sent to the city compost pile to be used to make new, black healthy soil. The cardboard boxes will quickly decompose and the plastics/aluminum will be melted down and reused.

Now I can brag a bit more sincerely and with a bit of a smaller (recycled) tiara.