First things first: Remember, today is the last day to sign up for your free $25 (or $60, if your spouse/partner signs up through you). Thanks to everyone who signed up through me - they don't send name-specific emails, so I don't know who signed up. If you haven't signed up yet, do it!
EDITED: They've extended it to May 15! So - sign up, and then refer all your friends and make some easy money!
Now for the real "post", as rambly as it may be:
Recently, I've tried making some real steps towards reducing our footprint. As Sammy is becoming more and more aware of things, and more and more capable of understanding things, I've really started examining what we do and what I want him to learn. And since kids learn from example...
We've always recycled, but I'm looking forward to setting up a "real" recycling center in the house, with compartments for paper, glass and plastics, and making more of an effort to buy things with as little packaging as possible. One thing I would love to do, once we're post-surgery and my head is out of my ass, is really research where our food comes from and make a considerable effort to buy as local as possible. We've already signed up for the local CSA, and I'm looking forward to taking trips to the farm with Sammy so he can begin to understand that food doesn't just magically appear. I'm hoping, now that he's older, we can really have a fruitful garden out back as well. We had a great summer of composting before Sammy was born; I'd like to get back to that. I also need to get off my butt and reserve a rain barrel before they're all gone again. We would use that water to water the grass and garden, rather than from the hose - reducing our use AND our water bill!
I've become a tad bit obsessed with "money saving" blogs. There's a whole world out there of people who can feed families of four on $40 a week. I swear, we spend that on milk alone for Sammy. Still, it's made me really aware of how unnecessarily frivolous we can be. Throw in the recent hunger riots happening - my eyes have really been opened to how much we waste. I'm not sure how much I can do for the global effort, but I do truly believe that little changes at home can have a wonderful snowball effect. At least that's what I hope. One thing I do feel bad about - we've always used disposable diapers. We've used Seventh Generation, so there's less processing, but in the end, they still end up in landfills. And I don't feel that our other efforts balance this out. Guilt, guilt, guilt.
I'm also a huge fan of freecycle, which you probably already know. It really upsets me to think back to college, when there was a huge dumpster outside our townhouse and we would just toss whatever we didn't want or need. How much of that will still be sitting around somewhere, wasted, leaking crap into the (already threatened) water supply? How much of that could have lived a second, or third, or even fourth life with someone else? How much of it could have been recycled?
I am really starting to see how much easier it is to maintain a house when the only things in it are things we truly need (or truly want and appreciate). I've learned that memories will still exist without the things I've attached to those memories. Do I still have a box of Sammy's infant clothes? Hell yeah. But the most of them have been freecycled, and the other junk I've held on to for years just because? Most of it is gone. There is no need for it - the clutter is more than just taking up space in our house - it, I believe, truly clutters up our psyche as well.
It's rather freeing to make these small changes, and it's important to me that Sammy learn the importance of taking care of the Earth and the community around him. I want him to understand that he is a part of something much larger than himself. He's already grasped the "we're giving this toy to someone else who needs/wants it" idea, and he seems to rarely get attached to "things", which makes me feel good. Of course, he's only 2 and so much can change, but I'm hoping that by living these values every day, he will live them as well.
My name is erika-renee, but call me eka - pronounced "eh-ka." I'm suddenly somehow 32, though I still love pigtails and overalls and silly, happy things. I live north of Boston, and I'm happily married to 
I'm a mama!
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