The green thing

I received this is an email today...very appropriate and thought provoking and highlights how spoilt our society is today
 
 
The Green Thing 

In the line at the store, the young cashier told an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment. 
   
The woman apologized to him and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day." 
   
The clerk responded, "That's our problem today.  Your generation did not care enough to save our environment." 
   
He was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day. 
   
Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over.  So they really were recycled. 
   
But we didn't have the green thing back in our day. 
   
We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. 
   
But he was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day. 
   
Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind.  We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. 
 
Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that old lady 
is right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day. 
   
Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. 
   
In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. 
   
When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. 
   
Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power.  We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. 
   
But he's right; we didn't have the green thing back then. 
   
We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. 
   
We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. 
   
But we didn't have the green thing back then. 
   
Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their mums into a 24-hour taxi service. 
   
We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances.  And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint. 
   
But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful old folks were just because they didn't have the green thing back then? 
   
Please forward this on to another selfish older person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smartarse younger person. 

 

Can't sleep

Argh...... I hate insomnia!

More painting

Been busy finishing the painting in Kasey's room today, pleased that it is all finished now. I have put her bed and drawers back where they belong and rehung her blinds, her carpet comes next Tuesday, and then just waiting for her cupboard and will decorate her room and bring some of her things back....not all, as I am going to use this as an opportunity to cull a large proportion of her things and make things much more manageable in her room for both her and me! Toni did the same When i painted her room, and so far she is managing to keep it really tidy as she isn't overwhelmed with so much stuff....good for her allergies,asthma and hay fever too, as less things to collect dust.
So 3 rooms nearly done, still a long way to go to finish the whole house though, but step by step and we'll get there. Damian comes home from working away this week, so he will probably make a start on the main bathroom when he gets back. I have got to order the rest of the tiles for the rest of the house as I want them the same all the way through. Sitting down with a cuppa for a few minutes recovering and then better lock the chooks up, light the fire and get dinner organised...lots to do...

Going well so far......

today that is.....seems to be much less chaotic than yesterday. The 2 end bedrooms look lovely now that they have both been finished and the carpet has been laid

Kasey's room is looking less than glamorous though....everything has been pulled out of her room except her bed and her chest of drawers which have been moved to the centre of the room, so they can be covered with drop cloths, I have painted the ceiling and the chippie is coming tomorrow to take out the centre piece and the shelving in her cupboard and reinforce the framing around it as we are changing it to 1 big cupboard without a centre part, so that we can change hers to sliding doors as well, and then her painting can be finished off and the carpet laid in her room (and the carpet layer will need to fix his glueing mishap in the other 2 bedrooms).

I have also finished off the baby blanket for Renae for her sister, it has come up quite nicely.

The fluffy fleece was an absolute nightmare though, even using the proper stabilisers underneath, and the solvy on top, so if she would ever like any more done, then it will be on the proviso of NO fluffy fleece please...I spent a day and a half doing this, and it should have taken a couple of hours....I have managed to put some order back in the house, I have put the sewing machine away, vacuumed and mopped and got the washing on, and dropped a preservation off to the framers to be framed, and need to head out shortly to get some nails for the nail gun to finish off the skirting in Kasey's room, and to get some new door stops for the finished bedrooms, and maybe pick up the tiles for the bathroom, depending on how many there are, and whether I need to take the ute or whether I can pick them up in my car.... so feeling much, much better today...  

What a day

Got up at 5.30 this morning to drive Michael to work, had to get Kasey up early and then have breakfast at Maccas while we waited for him to finish his job...then drove him home, just about cleaned up a car on the way home who pulled out straight in front of us, had to lock Damian's ute up to avoid it, they would have been way worse off than us, small car vs Landcruiser with a bullbar, not a good outcome there, then dropped Kasey off to school, only to have her having a meltdown because she forgot her show and tell because we left so early...then got home and had to pull out all of the furniture in Michael and Toni's room for the carpet layer, discovered after he left that he has gotten carpet glue on our new wardrobe sliding door tracks.... went to do some washing, Michael was using the machine, spent all day doing an embroidery for a friend who's sister just had a baby.....has taken me ALL day....the machine was not coping at all well doing small letters on fleece....was getting very close to throwing something...grrrr, not to mention the house was like a bomb had gone off with the contents of two bedrooms in the hallway, laundry and loungeroom, which makes me feel even more disorganised. It has also been a bit pointless trying to keep everything tidy at the moment with renovations, so my daily routines have not been happening, and all I seem to do is constantly pick up after everyone anyway, I tidy up and they mess up....Toni borrowed my lovely new black cowl that I purchased after I was wanting one for ages....now she has lost it! Just logged on to facebook on my laptop....was looking at strange faces until I realised I was logged in to Toni's account....my laptop...her account...how does that work when she has her own laptop??? Then cooking dinner while 2 other adults in the house wait for dinner...hellooooo....you could help or heaven forbid actually cook a meal every now and then...  Honestly....sometimes it feels like I have just disappeared in to the background and no longer exist, I am not just Mum you know....I really, really need a holiday....and people wonder why I get stressed so "easily"..was there something in the air today?? Nothing seemed to just flow....anyway....got that off my chest now, sitting down with a Tia Maria for a nightcap....(or two) then off to bed, to put today behind me....

Tomorrow's wedding

I spent today doing some flowers for a wedding for tomorrow. These bouquets were fun to do, as they are a bit different to the norm. Red cymbidium orchids, tulips, roses and some textural elements.

Off to the city to deliver these tomorow, and then will start painting Kasey's room in the afternoon...hopefully anyway, depending on how I feel. We have the carpet layers coming on Thursday to do the kids bedrooms, so I would like to get Kasey's room done so her room can be carpeted as well, otherwise it will just be Michael  and Toni that get theirs done. We have some very gentle rain here at the moment, which is great for the gardens and they were all starting to get a bit thirsty. I still have to plant out my fruit trees that I bought at the garden show as well....too many things to do at the moment....

Garden show 2011

I went to the Qld Garden Expo today at Nambour. I went last year and loved it, so definitely wanted to go again this year. It was really cold when Kasey and I got there, but it soon warmed up to a beautiful day. I didn't go to any of the "talks" or demonstrations this year, I was there to mainly stock up on some more fruit trees and I wanted to get some bamboo plants, even so, we were there for 6 hours. But I came home with lots of treasures..

Fruit trees galore, including a fruit salad tree which has peachcott, plum, nectarine and peach all on the same plant. I also bought avocado, wampi, lychee, curry plant, japoticaba, black sapoate and some lovely anthuriums for the greenhouse in red, chocolate and black.

 I also bought an outdoor mushroom kit which will grow for a few years in the garden, the lovely big field mushrooms, as well as 2 shitake mushroom kits, 1 of which can be stored in the fridge until after the first one is finished, and it can then be put out.

I bought these lovely 2 purebred australorps at the show, they are enjoying a lovely dust bath in their new home, while the other bigger chickens are out of the pen...I think they may be in for a bit of a hard time once the other chickens go back in to their pen later this afternoon.

 I also bought this home canning kit, it has tongs, a jar lifter, lid tongs etc and a jar funnel. I also got  a couple of dummy eggs, as the girls like to lay in the wrong spot, so I hope this will encourage them to lay in the right spot. They wer also giving away these shower timers so I grabbed a couple to "encourage" shorter showers.

I picked up this sweet little sign, down from $25 to $10...

And of course, the obligatory face painting while at the show....

I bought this book the other day, I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but will get to it soon. I haved also booked in to a 2 day cheesemaking course at the end of October, we make 10 different cheeses over the weekend, so I am really looking forward to that. I have also found a local who sells native bee hives, so will purchase one of those over the next few weeks, so slowly starting to implement the ideas from my permaculture course.

Cake decorating lesson 2

I went to another cake decorating class last night. I found someone much closer, and much cheaper as well! So I should be able to afford to attend more lessons now that the pricing is more reasonable. Last night's class was basic cake covering and piping. I just took along a chocolate cake, I had to make it in a bit of a rush, as I was just going to buy one from the supermarket, but could only find iced ones....so had to rush home 2 hours before class and make and bake a cake, and hope that it would cool on time...it did luckily. Purchasing a proper high sided cake tin is definitely on the cards to collect as part of my kit, so that the cake ends up nice and high, as a lot of our cakes last night weren't tall enough, but the end result still ended up nice. First they did a demo and showed us the basics on covering the cake, then it was our turn...first covering the cake...and then smoothing down the icing, and a bit of lustre sparkle was dusted over the icing for a bit of a shimmer...

Then we were shown the basics on shell piping, and then had a practice at doing that, then it was on to doing the piping on the cake, I'm happy with my first effort at shell piping...of course with more practice it would become better..

After this we practiced piping on their practice sheets. The cake was finished off like this at class. When I bought the cake home I finished decorating it with some flowers and leaves that I made at cake class number 1...these finished the cake off nicely...this cake could be used for any occasion really, a christening, a small wedding ceremony, a birthday celebration etc.

Kasey has made short work of it though....Muuuummmmm....can I pleeeeeaaaaaasssseeee have some cake?  Amazing how much nicer cake is with some yummy icing...