Green Goal: Shirts and Sheets to Bags and Skirts

This year my New Year's resolution is to be more green - something reasonable and small, like using cloth bags every time I shop. Surprisingly, it has been a bit of a struggle. My top hurdles are #1 making sure the bags get into the shopping cart from the car, #2 making sure the bags get into the car in the first place, and #3 getting my husband to use the bags even after I hand them to him on his way out to the car. And even when I do remember, we never seem to have enough bags for our purchases, so I am working on making a strong bag out of recycled materials. That way I can have several stashed all around so that I will never be caught unprepared. It sounds so simple. But for some reason this project doesn't progress. I suppose I could adopt DC's new bag tax and put 5 cents in a jar for every bag I use, that way I could have a tangible reminder. Or better, make sewing those bags a family project so that I have a little outside pressure to produce and use them. Or maybe I should just go cold turkey and put a "no plastic" date on the calendar. At any rate, that pile of recycled fabrics that I have been saving for bags isn't just gathering dust. Today I made a very cute set of skirts from several menswear shirts I had slated for bags. I picked them and a sheet up at Goodwill for $3.

The first post

So I've been thinking about blogging for a long time, and today something was different. Maybe it was seeing my little boy perched on a bike years too old for him, shoes on the wrong feet, heading down the hill with me clinging to his shirt. He knew he could ride that bike, and he could. But he's 4, doesn't always use brakes or know his right from his left. Still, there he was, riding that 20" with handbrakes and gears and smiles and me. Look ahead! Don't watch your feet! Slow down or you will fall! Or maybe it was knowing that my husband was out running 50 miles on a trail he had never seen, because he dreamed it and did it. That simple. Sure, there was planning and training and research, but he would have boarded that plane, laced up those shoes and run even if all the lead-up hadn't been so smooth. And even when he realized that there was mud (which he didn't expect) and hills (which he did, but seemed higher halfway through the race) he still went on. So, with my two men in mind, I begin this blog to record the ways we move forward, make discoveries and push our boundaries, while we embrace the little moments, treasure what we already know and love, and stay true to who we are.