Thursday, June 26, 2008

Just lazing about on the green, green grass...

Now that Scott is not working at the casino full time we are able to enjoy some sunny summer afternoons in the backyard. And it's not like we have a huge space to keep up but weeds and grass like to grow and when they get too big they must go! That was almost Suessian, it must be all the reading to Jackson that brings out my inner Cat in the Hat! So Daddy worked in the yard while Jackson and I hung out his laundry.



I love when the weather is nice enough to use the umbrella clothes dryer. And with just the right amount of breeze and sun, Jackson's sheets and blankets have dried faster than putting them in the electric dryer. It's great to know as well that we are conserving energy and making it just another part of our everyday 'green' life. We try to conserve energy where we can with turning out lights and unplugging appliances and chargers when not in use. We have cut down our garbage to one small bag a week with the help of composting, recycling and most importantly Jackson's cloth diapers.

When we were using disposables in the beginning when his bottom was too small for cloth, we were putting a whole bag of just diapers in the can each week. It made me feel so wasteful and lazy to know that these diapers would never breakdown and they would become these petrified poop balls for hundreds of years. And not only is there the waste aspect but the whole issue of viruses and bacteria from untreated human poop. Yuck! We also choose to use small cloths instead of disposable diaper wipes. Initially it was due to the rash on our poor boy's bum but as we looked more into the costs and waste as well as all the chemicals in wipes we decided, how much more effort is it to use cloth wipes since we are already using cloth diapers. So we are very proud to be a cloth diaper family and share our experiences with all those who ask. But we do not judge others, as we know we fall short in many other areas of 'green' and cloth diapering is a choice that the whole family has to agree on or it just doesn't work. I am so blessed to have such a supportive husband who doesn't mind getting his hands a little dirty once in a while and who will spend that extra 30 seconds when it comes to our choice of diapers. Which by the way are BumGenius 3.0 if you haven't seen our previous blog posting on choosing a favourite.

Wow! That just sounded like a public service announcement on the environment. Well here's some more where that came from...
We aren't doing it to be 'green chic' as is the trend nowadays. We are just making it an every day thing so Jackson will just grow up knowing that it's the norm and not a huge effort it be globally conscious.

And now back to our afternoon of leisure in the backyard playing with Daddy. If you watch closely you will see how much Jackson is picking up his dad's idiosyncrasies. He has started to rub his right ear just like Daddy does when he is in deep thought or contemplating life in general. The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree or was that the nut!

2 comments:

Sheri said...

I like your video, Joanne!

Good for you for using the clothesline. It looks like it also provides some nice shade, too.

I've not been so good on the environ front lately. The lasting changes we've made are not buying the little yogurt containers (just buy the big ones) and regular recycling. It certainly reduces our trash. Sophie is also good about turning off lights when she leaves the room -- they really enforce that message at daycare too.

Sheri said...

Hey Joanne,
Cute video! I need to figure out how to insert one of those in my blog.

Good for you for using the clothesline. It looks like it provides some nice shade too.