"New" Toys

I responded to an ad on Kijiji recently and brought home some 'new' friends for Ian (is it wrong that I want to play with them too?). You may be acquaintances with them yourself. What would the world be without Fisher Price Little People? These are the ultimate in green toys. I have so many fond memories of playing with these little guys. I'm happy Ian will get to share the joy (when he's older and stops putting things in his mouth!). I was lucky enough to snag both the complete sesame street playset and the tudor family house with all of the accessories. Those new fisher prices little people don't compare to these guys. They just don't make things like they used to...

Back on track.

I'm happy to report that things are getting better around here. The proof is that the cloth diapers are back in action again after several months of being MIA.

I started a new job this week. I'm managing a team again after two years and although it is somewhat daunting, it feels good! Strangely, although I now have more responsability at work I'm also being more productive at home too... Not sure what you call that phenomenon but so far so good. Granted this week was only week 1 of the new job, so who knows what things will be like once I have a full workload but I can honestly say that I'm in a good place. I love the team. They are all very nice. My walk to work is a little shorter which is nice. It means more time with Ian in the mornings and in the afternoons.

So back to our challenge. I'll have to count down how many weeks I've missed.... since mid to early August I think. We have been doing green things despite not blogging about them.

1. We got a rain barrel that is hooked up to our downspout.
2. I recently bought Ian a new toy from plan toys (wooden toys made out of organic rubberwood).
3. We brought all of our recycling (paper and cans) back from our vacation in Maine with us because we couldn't find a place to recycle our stuff there... which is pretty crazy.

There is more but I'll leave it there for now. Hope all is well with you!

Confessions of Momma Greenlunn

When I started this blog in January 2008 it never occured to me that transitioning from being at home on Mat leave to being a full time working mother would be so hard. I knew it would be hard but I didn't realize it would be THIS hard. Most days I feel like a failure. Like nothing I do is good enough because there just isn't enough time in the day anymore to do things right. Mornings are a race to get out the door. After work it is a rush to get to daycare, pick up Ian, get home, figure out what to make for dinner, feel guilty if it isn't as healthy as I'd like, bath time, play time, bed time, do laundry, clean bathrooms etc and flop exhausted into bed for tomorrow's race that starts all over again. So being back to work has been a transition. It has been about slowly letting go of 'perfection'. Which is much, much harder than it seems. It is letting go of control and realizing that this is the new normal. Leisurely making a gourmet dinner after work is just no longer an option. Having everything perfectly in it's place (including my sanity) is no longer an option either it seems. So for now the greenlunns are doing the best they can to keep it together. To juggle those millions of balls and not being too hard on ourselves when we drop a few of them.

So here go a few confessions: Living life green hasn't been as much of a priority in the last few months. It seems I'm always forgetting to bring my cloth bag with me to the grocery store, and the cloth diapers haven't seen much use in the last few months. It pains me to admit it. It does. The truth is that for the next little while I'll have to rely on all those other good people out there saving the world while I work to save my own little world and try to keep our household working. This doesn't mean we aren't living green, we're still doing most of thing things we've committed to doing -I'm just acknowledging that at this very moment in our lives keeping sane has become a bigger priority than being uber-green. So instead of pretending I'm 'super-mom' who can save the world and work outside the home full time, stay sane and be a good mom. I'm acknowledging that: I'm not perfect. I can't do it all -and maybe for now that's ok.

Transition to full time working parents

You may have noticed that my posts have gotten shorter and that I'm not posting as regularly as I was. Having gone back to work a few months ago has put the blog on a very long 'to do' list. Sometimes I never make it down to the bottom of the list.... Being a full time working parents is hard! So many things to do so little time! I don't have time to write a full post today but I'll get there eventually!

GreenLunns are on vacation

The GreenLunns are on vacation for the next two weeks! Yay vacation! We'll spend the first half getting our life in order (cleaning the house) and the other on the coast of Maine enjoying a much needed change of scenery. There is nothing like the ocean to refresh and invigorate. Originally we had planned the ever trendy (and green) 'staycation' but we had a last minute change of heart... Have you ever just needed an adventure, something totally different from the everyday? White sandy beach here we come! It's exciting to think of hitting the open road and showing Ian the ocean for the first time. I LOVE the ocean. It is the closest thing to heaven in my mind.

So changes #31 & #32 go a little something like this:

Change #31... I've got a cold and I've noticed this habit I have of always grabbing two tissues instead of just one. So from now on I'm only grabbing one tissue at a time and going back for another if I need it... because they are made of trees (looking forward to getting my stickers!).

Change #32... We are getting our carpets cleaned tomorrow. We opted to go with a company that provided a no chemicals option. No nasty chemicals on our carpet and in the air we breathe.

Change #29 - Green camping

I'm behind on my blogging. Oops!

So change #29 (which is last week's post if you're counting) is all about green camping. Two weeks ago we went camping with a bunch of friends of ours at Silver Lake Provincial Park which is about 20 minutes East of Perth. We had a great time. We were 10 adults, 4 kids, 3 babies and 2 dogs. It rained. It poured. We had fun in the sun. We ate a lot. We did a lot of running around (after the kids, the babies and the dogs).

We also (for the most part) camped green. Derek and I didn't bring any bottled water, choosing to bring a big reusable water container with tap water from home instead. We brought our own plates and utensils and used them (all except for one meal). We made sure to recycle our cans and bottles and generally created as little garbage as possible.

In addition to this we learned a valuable lesson. Camping with a baby is possible. It's also a very dirty business. How many rocks did I fish out of Ian's mouth? 14.

Change #30 - Shaving my legs with the water off

So change #30 (which is this week's change if you're counting) is all about conserving more water. I was thinking this morning as I was shaving my legs while the water was running in the shower that there must be a more efficient way to do this. So I turned off the water while I shaved my legs. Less water wasted+less water running into my eyes while I shave my legs=conserving water & fewer cuts. It's win, win really.