Changes....

I have had the paint for Zane's room since May, but have not been motivated to do it. Well, that all has changed! On top of that, David and I have been wanting to do wood flooring for a while now. Let me just say, I was motivated. I have been very discouraged with house keeping lately. One reason, Zane follows behind and messes it back up. The other is after I vacuum it looks like I never have vacuumed. Very disheartening. So, seeing as how I am repainting Zane's room and I thought that it would make sense to pull up his carpet so I can paint the baseboards without having the part under the carpet unpainted. Well, this then turned into the WHOLE house no longer having carpet! It was disgusting! I will never do carpet again.



One thing that really bothers me is that there is nothing to do with the carpet, but put it into the landfills. There, it does not decompose and the chemicals that are in them, which we all know there are TONS of, is leached out and enters our ground water and our soil. NO FUN! In doing a search, I found a place here in Arizona that does recycle the carpet and carpet padding. The cool thing is that you can get paid $0.03 per pound for the carpet padding. It is then taken to a place where it is chopped up, sanitized and remade into more carpet padding. On the carpet, it is a little trickier. There is only recycling for nylon carpet, which we had! No payment for that, but I know that our carpet is not going into the landfills. The nylon carpet is also made into new carpet. From what I read, it is used for what they called carpet tile.



Here in Arizona, the place I found that takes carpet is A1 Planet Recycle. So, if you are getting ready to redo your carpets, it is definitely worth the trip.



Lets see how long it takes before our floors are done. David HATES the concrete, but DOES NOT want to paint it! And why not, would you want to move everything two more times before getting what you want.

Matching and Reading

Zane has discovered the joys of Cars and Mack trucks. Every work truck we pass on the road he yells "Mommy MACK!" Yes, he learned it from Cars. So what did I do, but check out lots of books about big trucks from the library. I also remembered that Grammie got Zane construction vehicles for his birthday. I had put them up to protect them. Well, Zane loves to read the books about the trucks. I even caught him matching his construction vehicles with the pictures in the books! Once he was done, he wanted to take a nap. TOO CUTE and I love when he asks me to read to him, even if it is the same book five times in a row!

During all of this we have also started to really focus on potty training. Zane has done great! We went to the zoo and he stayed dry the whole time and went on the potty there. You have got to love the places who cater to little ones and have potties that are just their size. We also went to the AMY, then had lunch at Daddy's work and Zane was dry the entire time! He stayed dry at church today also. However, this has lead to some great blackmail photos for in the DISTANT future and we are telling his future wife about all the silly things he did as a child. I can't post them, even though it is tempting.

In an earlier post, I mentioned some love birds and how they are introduced. Well, here is another reason introduced species are not a good thing. Earlier this week lightning started a fire in the Gila River Indian Reservation. It has given us beautiful sunsets, which are breathtaking. See for your self:

But they are having difficulty putting the fire out because of Salt Cedar. Salt Cedar is an introduced plant from the Mediterranean area. It hogs all the water and leaves salt deposits behind so the native plants can't survive. It is also very flammable and thrives after a fire. What was great was that ABC 15 News mentioned this problem in their 5 pm news cast! Got to love the fact that some conservation issues that are worth bring to the surface and are real get noticed. Kind of like dandelions, Africanized Bees, and Brown and Rainbow Trout and the effects that they have had on native fish in the Colorado River Basin. (Yes it is a soapbox of mine that I don't get to voice often, but the fire is a perfect reason for it!)

Weed Control

David was forbidden from using weed control spray in the backyard. So we were hand picking the weeds. But those stupid creepy crawly weeds were overwhelming. So we went with our old standby for GREEN CLEANING---VINEGAR!!!! Yes, it works. Spray it on the weed FULL STRENGTH! Yes, even the creepy crawly weeds are dying. We will have to keep you updated, but we are happy so far.

Be Green and Save Money

If you are like me you want to save money and help keep chemicals that are harmful to your family out of your home. However, the "green" cleaners and other products are very expensive and not in the budget. Well, here are some tips to be green and save money.

• Use vinegar to clean: bathrooms, floors, window, and fabric softener (does not make clothes smell)
• Baking Soda: Kitchen Sinks, Laundry Booster, Tubs, carpet freshener
  
• Laundry: Pre-soak for 15 minutes, then go to the rise and let it run the rest of the cycle, use cold water, line dry clothes. We live in AZ, the sun is a natural brightener, whitener, and disinfectant.
• Set thermostat to 80--if I can do it, then anyone can--we also have it at 78 for the hours of 10 pm to 8 am.
• Vinegar is also wonderful for your dishwasher--We had to replace our dishwasher after two years, because of hard water build up. Once a month, fill the bottom with vinegar, let it set over night, then do a quick rinse: have dishes in the machine and get the buildup off!
• Compost!!! Yes, this is one many may not like, but if done properly it does not smell! Make sure that there are NO ANIMAL PRODUCTS of any kind! Even veggies with butter should not be put in. An added benefit is that the insects will gravitate toward the compost instead of the house. You also get great soil for planting and you don't have to buy it!

The vinegar is much cheaper than household cleaners. These are gentle on skin, so no plastic gloves needed. Some may be old fashion, but it is worth it.