Empty

Half a loaf of French bread, with butter and still feeling empty.
He is leaving soon.

Greener Than Thou

I get so tired of hearing how "green" others believe they are. I will admit that I follow a few so-called mommy blogs where they piss and moan about how being a parent is hard and occasionally throw in a post about how much green/healthy/ more organized we are than the rest of the world.  While I don't want to become a "Mommy Blogger", I do appreciate some of what I read there.  The other day I read a great post about a Mom admitting to spanking her child in a parking lot. ( I say Good On Ya Ma!) 
But I have had enough of the claims of "green parenting." 

There is a big difference between teaching your children to be "green" and  teaching your children a full understanding of the impacts of human activity on the earth.  I grew in in a house with no running water until age 7.  We were a 1-car family of 6 for most of my childhood. My parents grew and hunted our food, had chickens for eggs, and made goat cheese from the milk of our goat.  (It was disgusting, sorry Mom.)  We wore used, handmade, hemmed and re-mended clothing. My mother darned our socks. We didn't buy things in plastic packaging because that packaging used petroleum products to create it and will stay in a landfill for hundreds of years. We didn't use paper towels or paper napkins or eat processed foods. We didn't have a clothes dryer, didn't use air conditioning in the car, and composted everything - including the outhouse pit.

It's true my parents have since eased up a little bit. They have modern plumbing.  In 2000 they got an electric clothes dryer and became a 2-car family. In 2005 when I graduated from college I gave them my dorm microwave - which they begrudgingly accepted, though they still refuse to use plastic containers in the microwave, ever, AND they unplug it every night so that it's not using electricity to display the time.

I am no-where near as "green" as my parents were and are.  I am however more eco-aware than many people I know and I credit that entirely to my parents.  Here are a few things I feel are most important in attempting to show the earth some respect:

Use phosphate free dishwasher detergent ( I love Method)  WHY?
Use a clothesline instead of the dryer whenever you can.   WHY? 
Sort your trash and recycle, even if your community does not.  WHY?

Finally teach children to value the earth, the trees, and the air and teach them WHY we need to be more environmentally conscious. Teach them that ORGANIC foods are not necessarily healthier for us...... but growing things out of the earth without the use of chemical sprays and pesticides is good for the EARTH.   If we fuck this place up, we won't have a place to post blogs about how we are more "green" than others.... ;)

Ownership

Today on my news feed there were multiple references to owning your actions and this image in particular caught my eye. 
How often during the day do we blame others -  our spouses, our job, our location, our parents, our children.....
Who do you most often find yourself "blaming?"

It takes a strong individual to own their actions, their stories. Integrity, honesty, truthfulness; first with  yourself and then with the world.

I find that blame creates no solution to a problem. Only I can create a solution to a situation I do not like. Often, the only solution is to let it go.   Or maybe, you need to write about it.

nap
after beach.
sand
between sheets.

How to Fix a Bad Day

I have to fix a lot of things while SeaHusband is away.  (See previous post) But the one thing that "breaks" most frequently seems to be the most difficult to fix - my attitude.
Sometimes it's busted from the moment I crawl out of bed and am met with grumpy/poopy children and sometimes it the heat of Summer and the monotony of my "stay-at home" days that builds throughout the day and by 2pm I'm a hot headed woman with a redneck past and am ready for some serious road rage with the dip shit who is tailgating my grocery-getter. Always it leads to thoughts of SeaHusband and the life we choose to live - apart much of the time. There are a few things that work every time to calm my nerves and save the children from a grouchy Mom - Momster.

1) Exercise. A good sweat. The only way this is accomplished with two children is to keep my temper in check long enough to get them both changed/ pottied, bundled, snacked and buckled into the double stroller.  Then we get underway and I run my aggression out for 30 minutes or so and return feeling MUCH better.

2) We keep a certain space in our house clean and un- cluttered and use the space for yoga or meditation. It's amazing what 5 minutes of deep breathing in a quiet space can do. I can return to the kids/chaos with a clear mind and forage ahead with the domestic duties with a new attitude.

Sometimes there just isn't time for either of these things and I have to trundle ahead carrying my bad attitude on my shoulders. The last resort?  SMILE. Just fricking fake a smile for 5 minutes and see if it softens the Momster within. It usually does for me.  :) 


What do you do to fix your bad days?

Happy Fourth of July!  Cheers to Independence!