CFL's IN PLAIN ENGLISH

in case you can't see the video here is the URL for it- CFL's IN PLAIN ENGLISH

CFL's IN PLAIN ENGLISH

Gawd..there is a toaster in my driveway

You know, life is really not boring with Martin's choices in vehicles. I have had a Mercedes in my driveway, As well as a 70's Satellite (some would argue that technically that is a yacht). But now he went and bought himself a 2006 Scion XB - A.K.A. The Toaster. I don't know how I feel about having to look at it everyday. Don't get me wrong it is a nice car - surprisingly roomy, got all the bells and whistles. But good god- I expect Bullwinkle J. Moose to step out of it any minute. When ever I get to drive it Martin gets all pissed off because, my words are- Hey Rocky... Watch me pull a rabbit outta my hat!

Thoughts On Chicky and Chile's Challenges

I'm sitting here refelcting on the past month- mostly on Chicky Lady's Don't buy Nuthin' challenge- 3 days left to go. If I learned anything at all it is to stop, think "do I need this now (or ever), ask myself "can I get along without it?" Surprisignly the answer would mostly be no or not now. I can also see this helping out with Chile Womman's Cut the crap challenge too buy asking myself the same questions plus, "where the hell will I put this?"

These ladies have come along to help me green up my life, and for that I am grateful! I however will not do chicky's Diva Cup challenge since I am a guy and I don't have a menses cycle. Not that I am complaining! Since I am a guy, perhaps I could get a DEVO Cup! Anyway During this challenge time I gave up cigarettes, with the help of Chantix, Of course now i eat my weight in sunflower seeds. Which I promplty spit out the shells. On the sidewalks. They are biodgradeable. I call that revenge of the smoker! Especially at my employers as they are the ones outlawing cig's on their property!!!

Any hoooow, while I will never admit to feeling better about quitting smoking, I do feel better about saving the money.

I do love my money. And my non-taxable by the State of Washington Sunflower seeds!

really.

SHAVING AND OTHER THOUGHTS

I always chuckle to myself when I see another blogger wonder what to do about personal hygene products like shaving and hair washing. Not having the hair washing gene, I generally just shave it off. Not like Stewie here, but my head. Easy answer for me. But not for others. Now my beard is another story. How do I shave my beard and still subscribe to green practices? I know Beth at Fake Plastic Fish uses a safety razor she bought at a thrift shop, but safety razors are not the norm since disposables came out. So I went on a search of better shaving methods- I bought a bar of General Ichabod Conk solid shave soap, a shaving foam bowl which I already had and a boar's bristle shaving brush which I also already had, and I know you can get them online. But no safety razor! Online sure, but like the chicken lady knows I have a 'I want it now' attitude. I have enough disposable blades to keep me in check until the end of Chicky's challenge, But I will continue to look for a safety razor. So anyway I get home and lather up with the boar bristle brush and the shaving soap. I was not disappointed in the amount of lather. And the shave went pretty smooth. I generally use shaving creme from Trader Joe's but get disappointed in the lather and the plastic tube it comes in. This solid shaving soap stuff is great and I found online I can buy in bulk and it comes in a cardboard tube with no individual wrapped bars. I have also seen it in the co-op with good wrapping! I can't say how it does for underarms, legs or other body parts but for my he-man solid beard it works fantastic. And no bad waste! I highly recommend!

GOOD LIFE, SELF SUFFICIENCY

The Dervaes family is living the green life in Pasadena, Calif. This is what living is bound to become. IT is not a sexy lifestyle. It reminds me of the BBC TV Show- The Good Neighbors(Originally the Good Life) It shows that self sufficiency can be humorous. In short Tom and Barbara Good decide to quit the rat race and start living self sufficient- in spite of their socially upward neighbors the Leadbetters, Margo and Jerry. Watching it today still brings a smile to my face, as Richard and Barbara work their finger to the bones trying to make it, with no electricity or a car, all the time rubbing Margo's nose in it. The Dervaes family seems to have gotten the lifestyle down, even making their own bio-diesel. Hopefully we don't end up like this in the world but I am afraid it is what we are headed for. At least one can find some humor in it!

Find the Good Neighbors at netflix

-RE-USE PROJECT - DUCKY UMBRELLA STAND

I cannot take full credit for this Ikea Hack. I got the idea from Family Fun.com. They say to use a small white clear wastebasket, and I thought of the Fniss Clear wastepaper basket I have a few in the garage.I was going to use them as planters. A fun project, it only took a couple of hours. The nice thing about the fniss is you don't need to use the marbles per the directions. They are already designed to be stacked.

Makes a nice umbrella stand, then in the summer use it around the pool for toys. Or use it in the bathroom for tub toys.Or put ice and your favorite canned beverage in it and use to serve at your next BBQ!

It is super easy to make - Take two Fniss wastepaper baskets, take one 12"X18" sheet of crafting foam, orange, put one of the wastepaper basket on the crafting foam or I imagine you could use felt, trace around the bottom of the basket to make a circle and draw two webbed feet. Cut out the feet and the circle put double sided tape on the circle the instructions call for making three holes and attaching with brass paper fasteners and using duct tape to seal the holes with. Put the other waste basket inside the first one. And there you have your Ducky Umbrella Stand! - I used the double backed foam tape in four spots around the foam circle- attach to the wastepaper basket. The advantage to the double backed foam tape is since you didn't poke a hole in the first basket you wouldn't need two baskets!

PAPER OR PLASTIC???

Click the strip to enlarge!

RECYCLE ANYTHING INFORMATION: earth911.org

When I first started using my own bags, I felt like one of those old ladies they talk about in this strip... eventually I got over it. It helped that I do a majority of my food shopping at Trader Joe's were BYOB (Bring your own bag) is the norm. But now I am getting in the habit of doing it at The Home Depot, Lowes, The drug store, just about everywhere I shop. It takes a changing of the mind, and sometimes a verbal "I don't need a bag" to the clerk who is getting ready to put your items in a plastic bag. If the items are larger, I don't even bag them. Even last year at Christmas I gave gifts in canvas bags, trying to hint to my family and friends that this is better than getting a plastic or paper bag in a store. I wonder if it caught on?

EARTH DAY!

Well tomorrow it is Earth Day 2008. What I wanna know is where the hell is my electric vehicle??? Why oh why detroit must I wait so long??? LOL If I was Ed Begley Jr. I would get one sooner on the company's hopes I would endorse it. Anyway enough of that drivel. I will be celelebrating Earth day tomorrow by planting 2 trees I bought long before Chicken Womman's challenge and one I got for my birthday. LOL I was kidding around Chicken womman's blog and said I was going to put up my Earth Day Lights and my Earth day wreath all made out of plastic. Hope she don't take me too serious! But I am gonna plant my trees as well as make a diagram of the front yard to get ready for some full blown manly landscaping! oh what fun I have!

Waiting Until 2010 to buy a new car!

2010 looks to be an important year for cars- EV cars. Eco geek suggests waiting until 2010 to buy a new car as there will be choices then. Including one from Chevy/GM, the company rightfully vilified in the movie Who Killed The Electric Car? My dream is coming true!!! LOL Now all I have to do is get 2 more years out of the SWIFT. Another point of disappointment in cars is Suzuki. They were building the cars with the best gas mileage on the road,The Suzuki Swift /Geo Metro, then one model year after Chevy ended the metro, they went to their gas guzzling SUV's and mid sizes. There seems to be little corporate responsibility in creating efficient cars in either Japan or the US. You can't get Dubya to sign a bill saying the minimum gas mileage is such and such, then the dumb bastard from Crawford says out of the other side of his mouth we gotta do something as the global warming worsens. We have been trying, you stupid hick bastard- Now get together with congress and DO something. Dubya -You are going down in history as the most disliked man in the office. How this man got re-elected as well as elected I will never figure out.

Aint itt the truth!

see more crazy cat pics

FPF TAKE BACK BRITA CAMPAIGN

Fake Plastic Fish has started a campaign to have Brita take back the used filters. It's appalling that they do this in Europe but not in the US and Canada. Brita US is owned by Clorox. Appalling because they are out their pushing their "Greenworks" line of eco-friendly cleaning products. Sound like a bit more of the corporate America saying how good we are while cutting down the playground swing? Well I say lets go one further...Until Clorox agrees to take back their Brita Filters, I say everyone boycott Clorox products. That would get their attention.

Earth day Card, challenges update

I invite everyone to sign the earthday card. I signed. This is a card for our earth. With the re-awakening to environmental issues, Earth Day in the 21st century continues its relevance, although its participants can hardly be described as grassroots any longer. Next week Earth Day will again be celebrated on April 22. The folks at Terrapass worked together with friends at Squidnote.com, an online greeting card company, to put together a card of environmental pledges, led off by one of their best spokespeople, Ed Begley, Jr.
So make the pledge to sign the card. And make a pledge for earth day!





CHALLENGES UPDATE:
CHICKEN WOMMAN NO BUY NUTHIN' CHALLENGE: I can happily report that I have bought nothing. Nada. Zip so far this week.

CHILE WOMMAN'S CUT THE CRAP CHALLENGE: I can happily report that I have almost completed the moving the remaining lumber from the remodel project into a nice orderly pile on the front yard. Considering thhis was all over the front yard, quite an improvement! And I have a 32" X 16" piece of drywall to put up in the office/guest room and I can finish painting! Whoo Hoo!

RE USE- SITTING AROUND PROJECTS

I was sitting around thinking "what could I do now?". Well I decided to make a magazine holder- I took a "dare " cracker box (The Celebration one) and made the standard magazine holder from All Free Crafts at the magazine holder generally cereal boxes or wine boxes (the fancy
wine in a box). Well the cracker box was the right size so I made use of it and following the same instructions cut it into a magazine holder, which I then took some old car mags and cut the pictures out of and decoupaged onto the box finishing it with two coats of polyurethane to add protection. Then a little later I decided to take a globe and split it in half! I rule the world! I then added fringe to the equator and automatically have an neat Lampshade, which I put on a lamp that has sat around the house for ages, that I spray painted blue for a new look.

Challenges Update

Crunchy Womman's No Buy Anything Challenge- I confessed I bought the Paint Stick and that The Chicky Lady has already threatened to beat me with it. I needed something to ease the pain of the job! Hey-could be worse I was looking at expensive paint sprayers too! And this works great! I also confessed to buying $27 of lumber to finish the closet door in the office. Other than that I am sin free! I have to admit that the Burien Starbucks and Lowes and home depot must all be wondering WTF? He hasn't been here all month, except Lowe's. And this sure is helping my wallet! I have bought no lattes, no taco bell or no MacDonald's all month! I have been bringing my lunches in. At work we have the proverbial microwave. And I have a coffee maker and a thermal carafe. And a toaster oven. And a George Foreman grill. so I get hot meals!

Chile Womman's Cut The Crap Challenge-Have made no progress on the garage BUT I have been organizing the office/guest room and today before work I made a lot of progress on the front yard- yes I consider the front yard as part of my clutter. The back yard too!

Peanut butter? IN a GLASS JAR???

I just wrote a letter to the Adams Peanut Butter Company (SMUCKERS) thanking them for using glass jars for their peanut butter. This is one way to get products packaged as we like. Vote with your purchases folks! And let the companies know how you feel!

How to Make a Commuter Mug

Beth at Fake Plastic Fish was wondering how a person would go about getting a comuter mug with no plastic whatsoever- I may have a solution- short of the rubber seal on the canning lid-the discussion in the comments post got me out into my "laboratory" and this is what I came up with! Of course some folks say I was just hanging out in the Lavatory at work when I came up with this but you get the idea!

You need an ordinary Mason Jar or Mason Jar Mug with ring and inner lid.

You can get Mason Jar mugs here or here or at thrift shops pretty reasonably

Get the instructions Here

CHALLeNGES UPDATES

FIrst Ms. Chickens challenge- I sinned again. I went to Lowes and bought $27 of lumber to put up the closet door in the office. And I have reused lumber in that project as well, though

Cut the Crap Challenge- I have made a lot of progress clearing out the office- It is now in the dining room! But i need to clear out before organising so that is good. And I am painting and adding a closet at the same time!

One more for the road!

Wow! Three posts -one day!!! In case you haven't noticed, I have added a few helpful links-
Top Creative Recycling Projects and Recycling Ideas and Recycling Craft Projects are some great sites that you can get some crafty ideas for recycling things around the house. My favorites are making Magazine Files/Racks out of cereal boxes and patio light covers made out of water bottles and soda bottles. How to Make a Solar Power Generator for Less Than $300 is one of my favorite DIY pages. Use the sun to power many of your appliances and laptops! And then make Pete's homemade Air Conditioner and turn off that expensive unit- I am working on a 12 volt version of this to go in the car and could be powered with the solar power generator - wow A/C in the 66 Plymouth!

CHALLENGES UPDATE:
FIrst Ms. Chicken's challenge- I sinned again. I went to Lowe's and bought $27 of lumber to put up the closet door in the office. But I also reused lumber in that project as well, though

Chile's Cut the Crap Challenge- I have made a lot of progress clearing out the office- It is now all in the dining room! But i need to clear out before organising so that is good. And I am painting and adding a closet at the same time!

EVEN ANIMALS KNOW CFL'S ARE BETTER!

SHAVE CRUNCHY'S HEAD!

Crunchy Chicken Womman's husband has been diagonosed with myeloma, a blood cancer, and Crunchy is trying to raise money for the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation. She is pledging to shave her fine head of locks if she raises 10,000 by May 10, 2008. That's right folks - Bald. Cue Ball. Borg-chick time. Personally I think she is jealous of me and wants an excuse to have my hair do. Help her out in this worthy endeavor by contributing here. Let's raise that money and shave her!

UH-OH TROUBLE AHEAD!

Just when I relax with this Chicken challenge- there is trouble in my future! The Dollar Store in Burien had shut down last year, saving me untold $$$. But I just noticed, in the same spot there is a new improved Dollar Store! I love dollar stores! Were else can you get so much Crap for a dollar! Of course I just joined up with Chile's Cut the Crap -DECLUTTER challenge hoping once and for all I would get my garage organised and neat! A goal of mine for a long time! Hopefully it will help clean out the office too!

Good Blogs, Chicken Womman Challenge Day 7

I found a couple of good blogs and added them to my blog roll- Cheap Vegetable Farmer has all sorts of little things to help me garden and Tiny Old House perfect for remodeling old houses! The gal at tiny old house, Jennifer, uses Reclaimed doors, lights and such a lot like I like to do! I will be reading these blogs to gleam ideas.
CRUNCHY CHICKEN WOMMAN Challenge day 7 I sinned today- I bought a paint stick at Lowe's. Of course as is my luck with Wagner products, there was a piece missing so back to Lowe's. I did buy another paint stick- a Black and Decker. The paint stick makes painting the ceilings so much easier. Sinning can be so much fun!

I AM A MATERIAL BOY

LOL- Chicken Womman's Challenge has me realizing how materialistic I am. In the first week of confessional- I came clean with the fact that I did buy a new compressor, I didn't let on that I am near convulsions over this challenge.

I have also discovered that while I always thought I wasn't materialistic, I really am!

It is hard to reset my mind that just because something is broken, or I don't have one or just because I can't find something (a tool) I don't automatically need to go out and buy a new one.

This challenge will probably do me more good than harm.

RECYCLING TIME -REduce REuse REcycle

The 3 R's- First off 40 Things to Do With Your Old Socks, no x-rated comments from the peanut gallery- we all know those uses LOL;P Secondly- 33 Things You Can Recycle some good idea here I never thought of and finally 3rd-13 Things You Can Make Out of Your Old Blue Jeans- some good practical uses for old blue jeans.

Broccoli Slaw!

I recentely discovered a package of shredded broccoli at Trader Joes, called Broccoli Slaw- I looked at it and thought hmmmmm... I bet I could make a decent Slaw with this. So I bought it, took it home. They had a recipe on the back BUT I just made my usual slaw dressing, mixed it in, added a handfull of raisins and a handfull of pepitas (pumpkin seeds) I would think sunflower seeds would be good instead!

1 12 oz. package of Trader Joe's Broccoli Slaw
1 handful (3/4 cup)of pepitas or sunflower seeds
1 handful (3/4 cup) raisins
Toss all together

Dressing Mix
2/3 cup of mayo
3 tablespoons of Vinegar
6 teaspoons of Sugar (or in my case- Splenda)
Mix well - poor over slaw mix

I would think this would also make a great salad using broccoli flourettes or cut up fresh broccoli instead of Packaged slaw mix, I don't think anyone wants to sit there and shred broccoli! Probably could do it on a mandolin though!

FAREWELL OLD VIDEO GAME CABINET

You have served me well. Well at least you held and old computer and monitor.
YEA!!! Some one came and took the cabinet! WhoHooo! I hope they get much enjoyment out of it. I wonder if they looked at it and thought "Hmmm...That would make a good cabinet to put a computer in" That is the trouble with putting things out on the sidewalk with a free sign on them- you never know what the people intend for them! I hope they take it to the next level, hack wise that is.

CRUNCHY CHICKEN WOMMAN CHALLENGE DAY 3
This must be what quitting smoking is like. I have the basic urge to go and buy something. I had to go pick up a prescription at Bartell's today- I love that store. The nicely stocked shelves were calling to me - but I was good and said Get behind me evil consumer goods- I ain't buying! We'll see how the weekend goes <>. Luckily I have a car club meeting on Saturday, and my aunt and uncles 40th anniversary party/breakfast on Sunday morning and already have a gift for them. Thank god for re-gifting- the finest form of Re-cycling!!!

Ready Made Magazine

I have a new favorate mag- Ready Made, and hopefully it is gonna help me get over withdrawls from the chicken woman's latest challenge! I just got my new issue in the mail- fell in love with the bench (p.46 "Solid Wold") on the cover- I could make this for my back porch! Then I found the Soda Bottle Chandeliers (page 50 "Hot Toddy") complete with instructions-hmmmm... I have some LED XMAS LIGHTS that I could use, and put these on the back porch... Lots to do and no stores! Yippee! I might just make this damnable challenge!

Conundrums

OK- I just signed for this Crunchy Chicken - Challenge yesterday, and I found out that someone stole my air compressor- I need my compressor and I hope whoever stole it realizes that it has a faulty regulator and I hope it blows up! But back to my conundrum- I need a new battery for my Honda Scooter, and also for my lawn tractor- and I know that Crunchy said "If you must absolutely acquire something non-edible or not essential to growing your own food or for your survival, then you must borrow, barter, or buy it used." I think I need my lawn tractor- of course I could just charge the battery every time I use it. But I also ride my scooter to work- Seattle weather permitting- And it needs a new battery to start! What to do! what to do! Evil Chicken lady has me under her spell! I will probably get the scooter battery and beg for forgiveness from the crunchy one!Also I will have to confess to buying a new air compressor- I already have a reprieve from Crunchy on that as I need tools for my job. And i bought a much lesser quality one than I would have normally. You like the justification on that one?

Gas guzzlers get new lives -- as tire-smoking hybrids

Neil Young changes his motor out in his 59 Lincoln for a hybrid! Actually I have thought about this kind of thing for my MG, hope more mechanics out there who can do this open shop !

How To Make A Dog Sweater From A Sock

Binky (rat-dog) wanted me to post this for all you little dog owners:
News for cats and dogs - How To Make A Dog Sweater From A Sock
Binky says this would never replace his angel sweater but it is a fashion statement.