Day Eight

I've officially made it past the one week mark, and... I have one reader, yay! Unfortunately, she's only read the first post. Ok, my goal for this second week is to pick up at least one more. That would DOUBLE my audience, woo!

This week, I finished the clean-up on my yard, and am now ready to start putting plants in the ground! I also went from being able to do 15 really weak girly pushups to 20 (still girly) pretty decent ones! I've sweated, prayed, mopped, shoveled, walked and been grateful for every bit of it.

What a week :)

Today, I:
Left the truck at the office and walked around to get my errands done.
See the above mentioned walking, yay!

Oh, does anyone recognize this plant? It's popped up on my "lawn chair" and it's quite pretty looking... but if it's something nasty, it's gotta go!



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Day Seven

I am... tired, cranky, cold, and I just want to go to bed. Since I'm trying to pay attention more to what my body's telling me... I'm gonna go to bed!

But first, I'd like to mention a little something, One Love For Chi. Chi Cheng is (NOT WAS!) the bass player for the Deftones, and has been in a coma since November of 2008. I'm not going to get into the whole story here, but his family and friends started organizing prayer groups (and fund raisers, his insurance screwed him) in early 2009. This website was born out of that, and is a place where many of the fans share their prayers and wait patiently for updates on his condition. There's even a way to record a short message for Chi, which will be played for him!

So today, to do something for someone else AND for myself, I prayed.

Who/what do you pray for?

Today, I:
Gave it to god.

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Day Six

A day and a half of netti pot rinses, and a hand-full of () that I got from my naturopathic doctor last spring, and... I'm enjoying spring! Granted, only time will tell if I've truly beaten the allergy-monster, but it's a good start. Even if this is only a temporary reprieve, it couldn't have come at a better time!

The air conditioning battle started at work today... the hazards of having a menopausal co-worker I suppose :) But as soon as I was done with my work for the day, it was time to go OUTSIDE.

I stopped by the parental home base to drop some stuff off, and mama had the genius idea of "suggesting" that my little brother join me for the afternoon. This served the dual purpose of giving me a little extra help and a much needed second set of hands, and getting the kid outside and away from MLB2K9 for a little bit.

This was the perfect day to have extra hands! There was furniture to be moved, dirt to be turned, weeds to be pulled... we had a busy afternoon ahead of us.

Also... I cheated a little.

To prove a point, the bro just HAD to give it a shot at starting up the mantis. He's a 16 year old boy, and apparently that means... *he* has the magic touch. Two pulls and it was purring like a kitten. Well, it was already going, so... I let him run it across the garden. JUST to loosen the top layer of soil.



Cheating aside, we got a lot of good hard work done today, and it's time for this tired girl to go to bed!

Today, I:
bagged up more greens to take to the ecology center and "recycled" last year's potting soil to enrich this year's herb bed.
spent 2+ hours playing around in the garden, and had strawberries for desert!

Not much to show in the yard, but here's what the deck looks like at this point:




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Day Five

Spring has come to Long Island, folks, and with spring comes pollen.

Saturday was so beautiful! I opened every window to air out my apartment and then headed outside! (You knew that already, of course, because you read my last post, right?)

At the end of the day, I just couldn't bring myself to close those windows. My place smelled so fresh, my cats were so happy, how could I? I fell asleep with the windows wide open...

... and woke up Sunday with a face full of pollen. I felt so miserable that I couldn't even go to see two of my friends' daughters' christenings! I took some tylenol cold and sinus, or something of the sort... usually I avoid meds whenever possible, but I determined to make it to the party. I had spent half of saturday night making cupcakes for Ava's christening (this was my gift to her parents) and damn it if I wasn't gonna deliver the goods!

Well, ew. I absolutely hate how I feel when I take stuff like that. I was flying high for a little while, crashed HARD when I got home, and woke up feeling like I had out-drank all my Checkmate friends twice over... Is that really how I want to deal with a little pollen getting me down?

By now, we all know where this is heading... I'm going to tackle my allergies the greener way! (You'll see a lot of loose uses of the word "greener" on this blog, make peace with it.)

As soon as I woke up today, I drank 2 glasses of water and stripped my bed. I took one advil (to counter yesterday's mistake, and make it possible to go to work today. baby steps, remember?) and spent 5 minutes giving myself a little sinus-draining massage to keep the nasty stuff moving. Then, I busted out my trusty netti pot! I've decided that I'm going to try my mom's suggestion of rinsing twice a day with that sucker to keep pollen and other allergens from setting up house. So far, so good... made through the work day with slightly itchy eyes, but no additional symptoms... I'll keep y'all posted.

It may be too late this season, but I'd like to try and remember to try the whole local honey thing for the fall... more on that later.

Today, I:
Picked up a grocery bag of trash at west meadow beach...
... while taking a niiiiiice long walk along the sand bars.

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Day Three/Four

Saturday, my big goal was to tackle the actual dirt in my garden. I had this genius plan (my first mistake, having a plan!) to dump the soil in last year's pots on the strip of sand-and-clay I call a garden... then I was going to mix all that good stuff in with my parent's Mantis. Quick, easy, effective! Lame.

I went down to my parents' house and asked my dad to show me how to use it. He had some trouble getting it started up, and a little trouble keeping it running once it started, but he said with a little fidgeting I'd get it going. He mixed up some gas for me, helped me load my new table into the truck (more on that later!!) and I was on my way.

One sore arm and lots of cursing later, it occurred to me... just how green is a gasoline powered garden tool?

(Yes, I've decided to spin my inability to start the blasted thing into an environmental message.)

So... I continued straightening up the yard, emptied a few more pots, and made peace with not getting that particular chore done that day.

I think tomorrow I'll go and borrow my parents' pitch fork. Greener gardening, and a little exercise! Isn't that what this is all about?

Today, allergies set in and I had a christening to go to. Not much to report on the greener side.

This Weekend, I:
I learned a valuable lesson, accept that some jobs just need to be done the 'hard' way.
I did 15 more "girly" push-ups, and they were a little easier this time!

Just for show and tell, here's the blasted Mantis:



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The planet doesn't need to be saved!

Just so no one thinks I'm taking things too seriously, here's what George Carlin has to say about all things green:



Personally, I'm inclined to agree with him. That doesn't mean we shouldn't keep doing what we're doing, though! We just need to change how we think about it. We're not working to save the planet, it'll "shake us off like a bad case of fleas"... we're working to save ourselves! We're looking to protect this "version" of the planet, the one that can support human life.

On that note, I'm off to the beach! What's the point of "saving" it if we don't take the time to enjoy it?

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Day Two

Today, I had a genius idea. Tackling my messy yard kills two birds with one stone! I can clean up the yard and get some exercise at the same time!

This was the perfect day to start this project, too. Got to leave work at 3, I had tons of energy, and darn it all if the weather wasn't just PERFECT for gardening.

So here's today's little something for the earth and myself... my yard!

Today, I
filled one bag with leaves and other yard refuse to take to the ecology center's compost heap.
spent two hours cleaning up last year's plants... and maybe dancing around the yard just a bit, too :)

For reference, here's what I'm starting with:





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Day One!

Today is the day after earth day.

Today, I spent a lot of time reflecting.

I am miles away from the person I was last year, but there are still many more miles to go. I thought about how I've taken more pride in my apartment and my yard. I thought about how I take care of my two wonderful rescued cats. I thought about how I eat healthier... not all the time, but I try! I thought about how I've been working for my dad for two years now, and how much I LIKE my job. I thought about how I respect myself more.

And I thought about how much I think about myself. Wow.

So I am going to spend 365 days... thinking about something else. This lovely planet I call home, and the other people I share it with.

I am also going to spend 365 days doing little things to help my body. By eating locally when I can and walking more often I will be supporting the local economy, polluting less, and... just generally spreading a little joy whenever I can :) Plus, it's been proven that losing weight has a ton of additional benefits including improved gas mileage!

I'm not promising to post every day, but I CAN promise that I will strive every day to be a little bit greener, a little bit better, a little closer to the best person I can become.

Today I:
watched an hour of tv, instead of keeping it on for company all night.
did 15 "girly" push-ups!

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