Thursday Thirteen

Being Green

It's actually pretty easy being relatively green. :)

The first 9 items on this list were from Indiana Living Green magazine. I added the last 4.

1. Determine and use your recycling options for paper, cans, cardboard, and plastics.

2. Visit a farmers market and buy locally grown produce and meats, or join a Community Supported Agriculture program for a weekly subscription to local food.

3. Water your lawn as needed, rather than on a schedule. [Better yet, xeriscape and don't water at all!]

4. Reuse and recycle clothes and furniture by purchasing them used from consignment and thrift shops. When they are no longer needed, be sure to donate them back or hold a clothing swap party.

5. Support stores that carry local products and ask for locally made goods wherever you shop.

6. Conserve water by planting native plants in your garden. [See point #3 again.]

7. Organize a recycling effort at your work, church, or school.

8. Make a connection with a local butcher, farmer, and meat provider. Let them know you appreciate their efforts to offer you high quality, wholesome products.

9. Include a rain garden or a rain barrel in your landscape plans.

10. Grow your own food. This is good for both the environment, your health, and your wallet. Also, bake and cook from scratch as much as possible.11. Think thrice about printing things out, and use both sides of a piece of paper.

12. Hang laundry out to dry. Use shower steam to "iron" out wrinkles instead of turning on the iron.

13. Leave the thermostat set at 79 in the summer, and 65 in the winter. Don or shed clothing as needed instead.

Join the Thursday Thirteen fun! Visit other Thirsday Thirteeners and let them know you're participating by leaving the link to your Thirteen in your comment.

"To accomplish great things, we must dream as well as act." ~ Anatole France (1844 - 1924)

Thursday Thirteen

BOOKS!!!
Now that I've outed myself as a bibliophile, I think it's appropriate that this TT is going to be about books. This week, it'll be non-fiction because that is the bulk of my reading these days. Next week, I'll tackle fiction. For this particular topic, I wish it were Thursday Thirty or Thursday Three-Hundred instead of Thirteen!

I'm putting this list into sub-categories for greater clarity. And I wonder where ds#1 gets his penchant for classification from.

A) Books I have read and highly recommend:
1. Getting Things Done by David Allen. Inspiring! I've put some of his ideas into practice already. I have read lots of books on organizing, and this is, by far, the best one.
2. Craft Inc. by Meg Mateo Ilasco; in a similar vein, many books by Barbara Brabec are really good too.
3. The Real Science Behind the X-Files by Anne Simon. How can one make a great show even more enjoyable? Find out about the science that drives the episodes.
4. A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking. My only complaint about this book is that it doesn't have enough equations in it. The expression "a picture is worth a thousand words" applies to equations too.
5. The Primal Teen by Barbara Strauch. I am so not letting my boys drive until they are in their 20s!
6. Homeschooling for Excellence by David and Micki Colfax. This was the book that helped me convince dh to homeschool the kids. They are a fascinating family.
7. Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. Our family listened to this as a book on CD (ds#1 subsequently read it when he was 10), and was very moved by it. For our homeschool literary co-op couple of years ago, I recommended we read the kids' version, Chew On This: Everything You Don't Want to Know About Fast Food, and the kids liked it so much, they still quote from it.

B) Books I have not read, but that come highly recommended to me, so I have put them on my list (loooong list) of to-reads:
8) The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory by Brian Greene. I saw part of the PBS show on this topic, and it was fascinating.
9) Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen. I actually have started reading a couple of chapters of this during a Native American History homeschool class my kids took, and I plan to do a history unit with the boys based on this book.
10) The Portable Atheist by Christopher Hitchens. I hear this man is articulate and witty. This would round out our study of world religions...or non-religion as this may be.

C) Books I'm currently reading:
11) The Small Business Bible by Steven D. Strauss. Lots of info - I think my brain is on overload...
12) The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan. Mr. Pollan is an excellent and thought-provoking writer. I am planning on reading In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto at some point too.
13) The Simple Living Guide by Janet Luhrs. I need a constant reminder on how to simplify my life, and this is it.

Join the Thursday Thirteen fun! Visit other Thursday Thirteeners at:
http://thursdaythirteen.com/2008/06/12/thursday-thirteen-149th-edition/ and let the TTers know you're participating by leaving the link to your Thirteen in your comment.

"To accomplish great things, we must dream as well as act." ~ Anatole France (1844 - 1924)

Thursday Thirteen #1

Firefly Mom talked me into the Thursday Thirteens, with the threat of stalking me forever until I do it. ;D
So here is my first ever list. [I can't do very many graphics because our satellite connection's been horrible today.]

13 songs I’ve been known to spontaneously erupt into, in no particular order:

13) Pollyanna – as sung by Doris Day – "Everybody loves a lover. I'm a lover; everybody loves me..." How can anyone resist such a cheerful song?

12) Almost Heaven – John Denver – we used to have to drive through West Virginia a lot when we had to visit my FIL on the east coast, and I break into this song as soon as I see the state's welcome sign.

11) Spring Fever – or that's what I think it's called; I'm not sure because I don't even know what movie it came from or who sang it. I saw it on an old show, That's Entertainment, many moons ago, and it attached itself to my consciousness. "I'm as restless as a willow in a windstorm..." Alliteration – maybe that's why I love it.

10) The opening song to Gentlemen Prefer Blondes – "We're just two little girls from Little Rock..." One of the funniest Marilyn Monroe movies, next to Seven Year Itch. Usually, I follow it with "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend," also from the movie.

9) Voi che sapete – from La Nozze di Figaro – I don't actually sing this as I know not a single word of Italian (ciao and grazi don't count), but I love to do a vocalization of the melody, which is hauntingly beautiful.

8) Crazy – Patsy Cline, and a bit of Nora Jones – an all-round great crooning song for those sadder moods.

7) Once Upon a Dream – I usually stay away from things Disney, but this is a very pretty song that is almost operatic (and I had wanted to be an opera singer for several years in my youth)

6) Oh What a Beautiful Morning – from Oklahoma, of course – it's not like I'm a Broadway musical fan, but I listened to this album a lot when I was young because my parents had the LP (Shirley Jones as Laurie). I break into this song usually in August when we drive by the ubiquitous corn fields (gee, corn fields in the mid-west…get out!) on a sunny day, to the kids’ chagrin. "...the corn is as high as an elephant’s eye! And it looks like it’s climbing way up to the sky..."

And sometimes, too, I’ll break into the Oklahoma song itself when we see hawks soaring – "...sit alone and talk, and watch the hawks making lazy circles in the skyyyy!"

5) C'etait Toi – Billy Joel – it's the only adult French song I know since I don't know any Edith Pilaf. And I only know one verse to "La Dernierre Valse." It sounds really good in the shower.

4) L-O-V-E – as sung by Nat King Cole – happy, cute ditty. I used to sing it to ds#1 all the time when he was a baby.

3) This Can't Be Love – also as sung by Nat – I can't get enough of this man's voice and his style. My version isn't quite as nice, but it's a catchy tune.

2) When I Fall in Love – Nat, again, and a touch of Rick Astley – weird, I know. Sappy, but a nice and easy vocal piece.

1) A song that I think is called "In the Morning" - no idea who sings it. A high school friend had taped it for me back around ’84 or so, and I don't think I even have the tape anymore, but it's another sad song that sounds great in the shower.

** I tried to look for some audio clips as suggested by Suzanne, but it's taking me forever, so I'll stop. :} If you go here though, you can listen to a clip of "When I Fall in Love" and other Nat songs. Mmmmmm

To accomplish great things, we must dream as well as act." ~ Anatole France (1844 - 1924)