Thoughtful Thursday Links

It's been a busy week but I have not stopped thinking.

We have had some recent bumps in the road but we have also had some good successes. There have been some things that I have had to just let go of and accept as a temporary situation, but I feel pretty good about it getting easier down the line... easier for others to understand how we live as well as more routine for us, with more solutions to some of the bumps we hit.

Last week I got asked by another parent to help out with a class party. I missed the meeting where everyone signed up for different jobs and shifts because I was stuck at work and couldn't find coverage, but I wanted to help out somewhere in the mix of class play, last day of school grilling for fund raising and a cast party for the class. Anyhow, the night before the party, I got and email requesting that I help by going out and buying a case of seltzer, which was, I was told, just 12 plastic bottle that come wrapped in plastic. Well... you can imagine my issues here. I contemplated finding a seltzer maker and making it, but with such short notice there was no way to make that happen and besides - where would I find bottles to fill (ideally glass)? After much moral dilemma, I asked another parent to help out by buying the seltzer for me. I offered to take a shift he was working but he agreed without wanting much in return. I did, however, give his son a ride that night... so I sort of helped him in return. I guess.

We also had our first gathering where we asked people to not bring or leave any trash. We asked them to bring their own plates and utensils and cups for eating. It went pretty well! Our dilemma here was the packs of hot dogs that were given to me to grill that came in disposable packaging. We now have 3 packages from hot dogs (good organic ones!) added to our trash... but that was mostly it. One piece of watermelon was brought with some plastic wrap on it, so that is in our trash as well, but it doesn't seem to stand out to me as much as those stinking hot dog wrappers. My next challenge to myself is to try and find a way to get grillable meat without packaging.

And then today my kids had dentist appointments. In the waiting room I looked over at my oldest son and he was standing, staring at me in horror - he had accidentally grabbed a plastic cup and filled it at the water cooler in the corner of the room even though our water bottle was sitting on the chair next to him. He said "mom, I'm so sorry... I wasn't thinking". I have to admit, I was surprised that after a month and a half of working on awareness, he would take a disposable cup like that. But I handled it well I think - I pointed out the water bottle right next to him and then I told him that it was ok, but he had to make sure that he took it home and added it to our recycling. He agreed that was a good idea, especially because there was only a trashcan in the room.
After that we had the free give aways in the little plastic bag issue - I immediately returned the bag that my daughter accepted but I asked her if she would truly use everything in it (toothbrush, name brand toothpaste and floss in a plastic holder). She said that she would so I let her take it (one step at a time). And then I spoke with the dentist and he had some interest in why we didn't want the bag so I started telling him about what we are doing. He wants me to send him some info about more conscious recycling, which I thought was a good sign... we will see how that goes. But when my oldest was done, he took the toothbrush and floss, but left the toothpaste because he knew that realistically, he would never use it. This is a start... but ultimately, I want to be able to refuse all of this stuff and teach my kids to refuse it as well. Someday.

I know, I know... I'm supposed to be posting links, but there are so many things everyday that require a lot of thinking. I am trying to think about everything so there is potential content everyday, but I'm also trying not to be overbearing here.

But I will share some links of things that I've been checking out this week:

Here is the newest list of the most important fruits and veggies to eat organic... even though I am a strong believer in eating everything organic whenever it's possible.

Oh and, you can read about how formaldehyde has been added to the list of known carcinogens.

Watch this clip from a show that I discovered, the first episode that we watched was about music and recording studios and gear and how to reduce the energy used (very close to my heart this one is).

And this article is worth checking out about keeping cool without using so much energy.

Ok, that's all I've got.
It was Thursday when I started this post, I swear...