I can’t believe I’m about to write a post on how to go green in a home you own. Because the truth is, I don’t feel like our family follows many of the rules…at least not the ones that require major investments of time or mullah. Frankly, at the moment, we’re short on both of those commodities. However, there are some really easy things that us homeowners can do that renters kind of lose out on.

1. Use organic fertilizers. This is a great one. I don’t have experience with this brand of fertilizer, but it’s made of fish emulsion (a nice word for poop), but it has been deodorized so that it can be used anywhere. Our dog rolled in a bunch of the fully odored stuff last summer. It takes several washes to remove the stench, so odorless is definitely the way to go.

2. Install a lower flow shower head. You don’t have to choose between water pressure and the environment anymore. It’s possible to conserve water, and still have a nice shower. And with these options from $5-$60 at Low Impact Living, it’s easy to fit any budget.

3. Use eco-friendly paints. Green Living Ideas has compiled a guide to environmentally friendly paint options, and it really is worth a look. They say that pollution is actually higher inside of our homes than outside (even in smoggy places like L.A.), and toxic paint is a big cause of that.

4. Send the gas powered tools packing. At least here in the heartland, there are no emissions standards for lawn mowers, weed whackers, etc. And that means that around here, they are huge polluters. I know for a fact that midwesterners pride themselves on a well kept lawn, and we don’t have to give it up just because our mowers are pollution machines. There are some great electric options out there (like this and this), and if you can’t seem to spring for a new electric weed whacker, they are a great item to look for at a garage sale (my folks bought one last summer for two bucks, and it works great).

As for our family, we’re still working on the going green thing in our new home. I’d like to put up a clothesline, find a second hand electric weed whacker, and finish installing our CFL’s as the light bulbs continue to burn out, but all in all, we’re doing alright with it.

Any tips for going green in a home you own?

I don’t know if we happen to live somewhere that is right out of the south in the 1970’s, but I witness racism, religionism (okay I’ve never heard that word, but it should exist), and basic ethnocentrism all the time. I consider myself pretty worldly especially for someone who was raised in Missouri. I’m fairly well traveled, bilingual, oh yeah, and I happen to wear a turban. The turban isn’t something that you can tell from my profile picture, since that was taken before I made the commitment to wear it, but in my everyday life, it is one of the first things people notice about me.

I think that I have a really accepting attitude about all different types of people, but I guess I kind of thought that if nothing else the turban would send the message of “bigotry not accepted here”. However, the other day I was running through all the hustle and bustle that would be the rest of the afternoon. As I got my daughter in her car seat to pick my husband up from work, our next door neighbor happened to be outside wearing his baseball cap, cut off shorts, and enjoying a brewsky (I only bring this up because of what he then said).

Neighbor: “Hey, I’ve noticed all the Mexicans and blacks coming by to look at your house…have any white people come to look?”

Me: Blank stare

Neighbor: “It’s not that I have anything against them or anything, but ya know sometimes you get the Mexicans in there and before you know it there are twelve cars out front and they have moved their whole families in there…but I’ve known some good Mexicans though.”

Me: “Ummm…I think that the only criteria that the landlord has is a decent credit score…”

At this point we were interrupted by a (white) couple who had just pulled up and were asking about whether or not they could see the place.

Neighbor: “The landlord wants someone with good credit. Please have good credit.”

I was done talking now. Part of me wanted to tell him about the absolutely lovely people that had already been in to see the place (a sweet African American couple who looked like they were just starting out, and a very nice hispanic woman with a young son) I had had pleasant conversation with both sets of people, and couldn’t imagine NOT wanting them as neighbors. I’m still kicking myself for not standing up to my neighbor. I wish I had said or done something that let him know that I don’t agree with or condone those types of comments or attitudes…and whether or not that changed the way he thought, at least it would set a boundary letting him know that he couldn’t expect a sympathetic ear when it came to that. This is not the only time that I have dealt with this sort of stuff, but it’s the most recent. I think I really need to get better at having an answer. Afterall, it is my job to pass my values on to my kids, and I would like to set a stronger example.

How do you react when you notice racism? What would you have done in my place?

We’re waiting…

That’s what this Spring break has been so far. We’re waiting to hear if we get the house. Everyone (the lenders and both agents) say that the outlook is good. That most likely we’ll take possession in the next couple of days, but it’s hard to trust that when we’ve been burned before.

I was writing on my personal blog yesterday that it was looking like we were going to have to write another check in order to extend the contract, and the way that things were going I didn’t think that was prudent.

We’ve got the first two days of the extension covered, but we’ll have a choice to make if that isn’t going to be enough. The choices are: A) Write another check of hard earned money, and hope that the deal goes through. There are no guarantees in real estate and this is no exception. We could lose all of the money that we have put in and have nothing to show for it in the end. But…it might make the deal go through. B) At five o’clock on Wednesday we walk away. Knowing that this house was a rare one. Knowing that the space and layout and repairs needed for that price are not the norm. Knowing that it will be difficult to find something comparable or nearly as good. Knowing that this price would have given us so much more financial freedom. Knowing all of that, we could walk away.
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The other night I was nursing my daughter and chatting with my husband. I joked with him that I’m not going to nurse the next baby because I love our oldest best. He laughed and said that I better nurse the next one. Breastfeeding has become part of our daily lives, and that’s a very happy thing in our family, because it almost didn’t turn out that way.

I read an old post on Alex Elliot’s Formula Fed and Flexible Parenting the other day that got under my skin. It was about the laws that are banning hospitals from sending unrequested samples of formula home with new moms. Alex Elliot’s argument was that it is wrong for states to pass this kind of law because it limits a mothers choice.
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This year is shaping up to be one where I’m really working on deciding what has a place in my life and what doesn’t. The decluttering of the house is going well. Our home office is better today than it has been in months, and other than a few dirty dishes (which I will tackle in a few minutes), and some toys on the floor, the house is actually in order. It’s interesting that my New Year’s resolution was to have a more organized house, but I think what I really wanted was a more organized life.
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Okay, so it’s Tuesday, and I want to talk about the environment again. Sure there are lots of ways that life needs to be sustainable, but making sure that our planet remains inhabitable is number one on the list for me. I don’t know about anyone else (but I assume others feel this way too) if I think about the environment long enough I get kind of depressed. Sure I’m enthusiastic when I get out and use my clothesline, but when I read about how horribly dirty coal is and that 50% of the electricity generated in the United States comes from coal, and that coal is the biggest air polluter in the U.S, it seems like I’m quite the insignificant little speck.

So, if you haven’t noticed, I’ve been thinking about coal lately. I often muse to my husband that my 5-10 year goal is to have our house off the grid. I don’t really know which route we’ll go for that, possibly it will be a combination system of solar panels and energy efficient appliances. Or maybe it will be something new and innovative that I don’t even know about yet. However, it sometimes feels like there’s nothing much that I can do at the moment to reduce our country’s coal consumption. So to combat the feeling of ineptitude, I’m writing (in hopes of getting others going on this, too).
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Quite a while ago now, I wrote a blog post where I ruthlessly made fun of my husband for his “idiosyncrasies” when it came to how he organizes his stuff. You see, among other things, he used to keep his CD’s in alphabetical order by category, and listen to them in that order. He also used to be a total freak about scheduling out our day. A lazy Saturday might have an itinerary like this “Well honey, from 8:15 to 9:45 we’ll be at the farmer’s market, and then go to the coffee shop until 11:30. I would like to walk the dog promptly at noon, and grab lunch at say 1:06…so that I have time to walk my normal route, and get a 12 minute shower in.”

Okay, maybe it wasn’t that bad, but I do remember a time when we were dating where he told me that we were going to hang out with friends and that there was no time table involved, but had a near brain hemorrhage when I took 20 minutes to get ready.
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For our family, I happen to be the stay-at-home parent. Sure, I work from home. But, I’ve noticed that when you are mainly home all day, people expect you to be able to drop pretty much everything at a moments notice.  There are of course some wonderful exceptions including: fellow moms, my own parents, and my husband, but most everyone else doesn’t get it.

Being that I pretty much have unlimited access to the phone and a car during the day (unlike my husband), I have pretty much taken over the responsibility of anything that needs to be taken care of during business hours. That includes but is definitely not limited to: dentist appointments (making the appointment and keeping it), anything having to do with the city offices (i.e. property taxes, and car registration), repairs to the car (taking it to the shop…not fixing it), talking to insurance companies, etc. etc. etc… Seriously, the list goes on and on.
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My plan for today was to write a nice little post all about Al Gore’s plan to help reverse climate change today, since he just addressed congress yesterday. However, when I started delving into my research to get some other people’s takes on what he said and what that means for everyone else, I couldn’t find much of anything but snivelling editorialists taking cheap shots.

Okay, I know I shouldn’t have expected much when I clicked on an editorial from Fox News (I don’t trust them much), but still, it’s disappointing. Dan Gainor described Al Gore as a groundhog. I’m sure that the imagery is not lost on anyone, but let me just lay it out there. Groundhogs are afraid of their shadows. So I guess that would make Al Gore a coward who is afraid of a figment of his imagination.
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