Day 74- I confess

So it's been a while, I think it's mostly shame. Shame of buying plastic water bottles. Since my last post, I've gone on a binge. I really want to blame it on traveling, considering that's when I wind up getting them; but I also brought one home from work. In that time I have also lost two, yes, TWO reusable bottles. I almost lost the second one twice. So needless to say, it's been a bad few weeks.

The upside is that beside the bottles, the Hubbs and I have been doing really well. The Hubbs takes food with him to work, and I have as well. So that means less plastic! Yay! And I've also ordered a glass straw. I'm a little on the fence about the straw, it's creepy! Whenever I think about glass straws all I can think about is Chinese torture.

Here is your useless info for the day: There is a form of Chinese torture where one inserts a glass straw up a urethra... and then breaks it in situ. Sounds wonderful, right? Anywho, that's what I think about when I think of glass straws. Maybe it'll be pretty and then I won't care!  So we shall see.

In the meantime, it's off to the camping store to get some new water bottles. I'm thinking stainless steel. Thoughts?

Day 53- Wedding stuff

Note: I may have been slightly hyperbolic about cadbury eggs. I like them, but normally I don't have more than 8 a year.

ANYwho (MOM), this past weekend the Hubbs and I went to a wedding in Dallas. It was really very beautiful, and the first wedding that we've been to as a married couple. During the dinner and cocktail hour I noticed that there was lots of plastic cups and plates. This got me thinking about our wedding and how much plastic there was that day. But really, there wasn't that much plastic (and!! I have pictures for you) at all. Let me explain.

Let's talk about decor first. Yes, I did order table clothes instead of renting them and they all came in individual plastic bags and I had a ridiculous amount of cranberries, but that was about it. All of the centerpieces were wheat wrapped in ribbon, sticks stuck in cranberries ( I think we practically had a bog  there) and candles with rocks. So mostly plastic free, yes?

I must confess as a general rule I'm cheap, so when we picked out serving ware,  I didn't want to pay for real china. We had Whole Foods cater the whole wedding so one of their options is something called verterra plates. Turns out that verterra plates are made of the fallen leaves of the gumdrop, and they also look really cool. In addition to the verterra plates, we had cups made of corn and normal silver wear. We also had normal plates for cake; because really, who wants to scrape frosting off fallen leaves of the gumdrop?

And the best part? Whole Foods was awesome and composted the leftovers and my bog of cranberries. So, it is possible to be pretty plastic free. But if I thought of this idea before the wedding, now THAT would be a blog! 

Day 47- The Joys of Easter

Wow, I've been AWOL for a while. Sorry 'bout that. I do have some fun updates though!

1) As most of you know, it's Lent right now. I am sad to say that I was unable to find a King Cake, which is just as well. Will won't eat King Cake until the baby is found, so I would be eating King Cake for days. Anyway, for Lent I gave up bacon. I was really good for the first 3 days, but then it was Sunday and I couldn't have bacon, so I had oatmeal. Let me just tell you, in case you didn't know, oatmeal does not compare to bacon. In case you are wondering, the Hubbs gave up soda.

2) At the end of Lent is Easter! I LOVE Easter, both for the bunnies and for the ham; it's my second favorite holiday. The best thing about Easter is the eggs. I don't just mean the deviled eggs, but also the Cadbury eggs. Now, I don't know if you've ever had a Cadbury Egg, but they are full of gooey tastiness.  I gorge on them for 2 weeks and I'm over it, but I do look forward them every year. The BEST part? They are foil wrapped, so my Easter is totally fair game. Sadly I can't nestle them in a bed of astroturf grass, but maybe I can get some weeds off the side of the road. Oh, yes. And Easter also means deviled eggs.

3) I've decided that this blog needs more pictures, I mean, who wants to READ? Last week, I bought some really cool wrap things, called kids konserve wraps.

Let me disclaim that, yes, these are plastic, but they are also reusable and they have a Velcro so they really well. Of course, I grew up in California and lived in Texas, so I have mad burrito wrapping skills.   I can use them to wrap cheese and take left overs. I've been carrying one around in my purse so if I need to take leftovers I'm not unprepared. Sadly, they came from a website called ecobabybuys, which freaked The Hubbs out. He was a little freaked out by baby things coming to the house.

So there you are, one picture!

 

Day 38- I have comments!

I just realized that I have a total of three comments. I feel so loved! No really, I do, it's like I'm a blog celeb. I'm on the W list, eat your heart out Kathy Griffin.

So, I would like to tell you about The Hubs and his amazing shopping skills. As some of you know, I have been vexed by toilet paper for a while. I suppose I could get off my lazy bum and find a janitorial supply shop to find paper wrapped paper. That seems a little redundant, but eh, whatevs. But Will found paper wrapped paper at Whole Foods. AND HOLY CRAP!!! I just looked online at Staples, and I can totally buy TP wrapped in paper. And I can have a glorious 48 rolls at a time. TP FOR ALL!! Ok people, you can come to my house and use the bathroom now. I know you are all piddling your pants in joy, but at least you have something to wipe with. Ok, enough TP jokes.

We also have been looking for mayo, well Will has been looking for mayo, I was content to make it at home. I don't know if you remember, but mayo used to come in those wavy glass jars? Then you get to use the jar to hold nuts and bolts and stuff? Yeah, doesn't happen anymore. Now we have easy squeezy jars, but we can't buy those. So anyway, not only did The Hubs get TP, but he also found mayo and old school milk containers. So for those of you keeping track- I can now have my sweet taters with a garlic mayo. I had it tonight, it was good. Then I ran to the store today and I found plastic free q-tips! Today, I feel that I defeated plastic.


My friend Erika also found this article for me: Beyond BPA

I haven't had a chance to can a lot of things, but the farmers markets are opening soon!

Day 33- Post Disney Bloat

As no one knew, the Hubbs and I went to Disney! It was really fun and an even bigger challenge to work with our plastic free lifestyle.

We brought a nalgene with us, and didn't buy a single bottle of water the whole time! But I couldn't stay away from 1) straws and 2) mickey mouse ice cream. I can't help it, I like to nibble his ears. Sorry Mickey. The interesting thing about disneyworld is that the staff or "cast member" is not allowed to give you  lidless cups. Though I kept trying to give the lids back, but alas, my Margarita needs to be lidded. Thank you sir, I shan't drop a drop.


So that's about the most exciting thing that has happened recently. We are doing some house shopping this weekend. That'll be a post.... The plastic free move.

Day 23- Foiled by Pho

You like what I did with the alliteration there?

So in general, living plastic free is only as hard as you make it. There are plenty of things that you can get plastic free, it just requires a bit more work. There are things that you cannot get plastic free, so you weep quietly on the inside. And then there are things that I can get plastic free, but they will ellude the Hubs. Case in point: Pho.

First of all, I need to sing the praises of Pho. Have you ever had this stuff? It's almost as delicious as bacon. Pho is a Vietnamese soup that normally comes in a huge bowl with noodles and thin slices of beef.

Like this

There's nothing for scale, but that bowl must be a large as my head, and my head is pretty normal sized. Pho is a wonderful left over from when the French occupied Vietnam, rice noodles in a clear broth that you add basil and siracha to for some kick. Whoops, just drooled on my keyboard. hawt. Generally,  one does not eat Pho at the restaurant, but rather, gets take out. And that's what we did. Getting take out requires significantly more thought now that we are trying to be plastic free, and we didn't think about how to get the Pho home, we just thought about getting it into our bellies. So I arrived home looking forward to Pho, and was greeted by the following scene:

Noodles, meat, onions and cilantro (yeeeck) in a plastic bowl with a plastic lid

Basil, sprouts, lime and basil in a plastic baggie

Broth in a plastic container

All wrapped up in a plastic bag

Times 2.

Sigh.... I about wept. We had been trying so hard to be plastic free, I was the crazy lady who shoveled snow with a mixing bowl because I didn't want to buy a plastic shovel (and it already snowed, what of it?), and NOW?! I have 10 pieces of plastic. So, I have to think about take out some more. And don't worry, I still ate the Pho. As I said before, it's delicious.

We also got ding dongs over the weekend, I remember them as little foil wrapped pucks of chocolate and high fructose corn syrup. But now?  Pucks of chocolate and high fructose corn syrup hermetically sealed in a plastic bag. I guess that's ok though, I haven't eaten a ding dong in years.

The point is, sometimes we are still stumped by everyday things that we haven't thought about. So, more thinking for us!

By the way, did anyone watch How I Met Your Mother last night? My south Pacific garbage patch made an appearance. And it's twice the size of Texas, but 1/8 the size of Canada. Tru Fax.

PPS- I know there are misspellings, I can't get spell check to work. Fret not, I will get it fixed.

Day 19- I like Vinegar... a lot

One of the biggest questions that I've gotten since starting the plastic free life is; how do you get things clean? Most cleaning supplies come in some sort of plastic bottle and I've yet to come across somewhere where I can refill those bottles. I suppose I could revel in filth, but the Hubs said no. So, it's time to find ways around the plastic.

It's been rather interesting finding plastic free stuff. It really does require extra work, and for those of you wondering, no, we haven't found TP yet, we bought normal stuff at the store. The point really is, cleaning stuff should prove to be as difficult right? Well.... not really. I personally don't get the anti-bacterial stuff, so finding alternatives is actually pretty easy. Instead of using commercial cleaning stuff, I use a lot of household things. To wipe the counters down I use hot water with white vinegar. From what I understand, vinegar will disinfect germs and cut grease. And no, the house doesn't smell like vinegar.  The best part is: 1) Vinegar is super cheap and 2) you can get it in glass bottles. The cool thing about vinegar is that you can also throw it in the wash as a fabric softener and it'll keep the colors brighter too! Eat your heart out cheer.

I have lots of leftover bathroom cleaner. I apparently became a bathroom cleaner hoarder sometime before the move, but you can use vinegar there too! I mix it 3 parts water to vinegar and spray down the shower and shower curtain so I don't have mildew or hard water build up. I use that same mix to clean off the counters too. As for the toilet, well, I haven't gotten that far... But I have ideas. Maybe baking soda? There might be a later ode to baking soda.


Oh, and if I have a cold I drink little amounts of apple cider vinegar. I told you... I like vinegar... maybe too much. Vinegar intervention?


Check this website out for more ideas on how cool vinegar is : 100+ vinegar uses