an interesting predicament

I have become very aware of how much waste my household produces and how many unneccessary items are used. I realized its time to think about the "carbon footprint" I leave behind. So I decided to take some small steps to lowering all this. When I go to a store, if I really don't need the plastic bag they are about to put my little purchase in, I ask them to save their bag.

That isn't as easy at grocery stores. So I began the purchasing of reusable cloth totes. I have a variety of kinds now that range in size, color and material. My favorite remains these wonderful green cloth ones from Harmons.

So the other nite after a rather large shopping trip I realize, I don't have enough totes with me. So I ask the bagger, excuse me...do you know when you will be getting any more of these fabulous green bags?

His response caught me off guard. We get them from FRANCE and they are currently stuck in customs.

My face went blank as I realized that in order to save the landfills in Salt Lake City, we were ordering cloth bags from France and having them shipped here. talk about carbon footprint.

What can I say...I was trying.

so...last nite coming home i was being SUPER careful. we had a snowstorm from hell blow in. so coming home i turn to head down MY street and my car decides it wants to go the other way - and gain speed as it goes. my eyes squeezed shut i braced myself and the car seat behind me as we slammed into a stop sign and up into snow bank. as i looked around i realized that hitting the stop sign had prevented me from slamming into the brick wall that was behind it on a few feet.

tears swelled up and i panicked unsure of what to do. phone calls were made to jason who was stuck on the freeway (he finally made it home five hours later) and to my mom. i had no idea what to do. i could see my house only a few hundred feet away but the snow and wind was so bad i knew it would be a last resort to abandon the car and take lola on the trek through the snow. i could see the house that kindred was at, waiting for my arrival as he had gotten locked out of the house.

30 minutes passed and many cars. finally...a truck pulled up and offered to try to push me out. after many attempts we realized this was not gonna work. he got on the phone for me and called a tow truck company he knew, only to be told it would be atleast 3 hours before anyone could help. at that moment another truck stopped. the guy said...i saw what you were trying to do and knew it wasn't gonna work so let me pull you out. he hooked us up to his truck with a tow line, the other truck got behind us to push and after a few moments of holding my breath...we were out.i got to the house and unloaded lola. kindred came home. and we waited for jason. he finally made it home at 1030.

this morning we went to go shovel his car out and found that someone had STOLEN OUR SNOW SHOVEL. i went to go get in my car to head to the office and found that my tires are flat. FLAT. like the car is actually tilted to the side.

seriously. ARE YOU KIDDING ME.

it could have been so much worse. 60 kids were snowed into their elementary school last nite. 36 kids were stuck in a school bus in a snow bank and neighbors were trying to get the kids off the bus via four wheeler. over 500 people ended up camping out a Maverick gas station unable to make it up the hill between provo and salt lake city. over half of the cities schools were closed or delayed opening due to snow or power outages. and over 200 people had "severe" accidents resulting in medical care.

i should go down and take a picture of the stop sign before they fix it. :D

yummy

Lola has decided that this morning is the morning to try to taste new things. I was using a pen which she very much wanted but upon insertion into her mouth realized she got something different than she was expecting. Then it was my arm. not just a little nibble but in fact clamped down and latched on. pretty sure there is a nice baby hickey forming. next i found her phone rattle which seemed to do the trick till she realized she couldn't get it into her mouth in its entirty. that has proved to be quite frustrating and she moved onto my hands. i am currently using them to type so it's as if she is helping me compose this blog whilst simultaneosly trying to get them to her mouth for tasting.

now...we have a MILLION teething toys scientifcally designed for chewing and nawing on. all of these toys have thus far met the same fate...rejection. discarded to the floor as quickly as the taste of plastic touches her palate.

but hey...it's only 630 in the morning...there is an entire day left for experimenting on tasty new things and the grunting of boredom has taken over the excitement of test-tasting.

ingenious rationalization

it's been one of those weeks that makes you really reflect on life. i love my life. there are things about my life that i look at and ponder, "how did i deserve that?!" on a daily basis i have to send up that unspoken thanks for the things that make my heart swell to the point i am sure i am not going to be able to breathe the next breath.

and then there are those things that i have, on a daily basis, a "headbutting" situation. i try to figure out how my life can be so damn good and i still have these crappy things wedging their way into my happiness. now i could spend all evening listing out the stupidities i deal with and the annoyances that are like nails on a chalkboard in my brain...but that isn't what this is really about.

i have decided to rationalize what it is that goes on in my world. or perhaps i really have figured it out. my life is just too damn good. i bought into things like "the secret" and had things actually happen for me! i am surrounded by people who love me and if i asked them, would take off the pants they are wearing and hand them over - regardless of the location. i have a baby who has started showing me that she actually loves me. i have a husband who, although he acts like he doesnt' really like this, loves my bossiness and lack of tact.

so here is my rationalization...things are soo good in my life that the being who is has decided to throw some yucky challenges my way. just to see if i can handle it. which of course i can cause, well...helllo!!!...look at where i come from. and i guess...i guess i'll put up with it for the time being.

but soon enough i'll grow tired of it...rant and rave about how tough life is and then i'll pick myself up from the floor and figure it out again that life is way too good to not pay attention.

the family lost and found

last week i took a trip to houston texas. it was a good trip full of business and presentations and meetings. a few weeks before i had decided to reach out and make a connection that i am pretty sure didn't really even exist.

i have family in houston. my dad's side. his brothers kids...my cousins...all live around there. Michelle, Laura and Keith. the last time i saw Michelle and Keith was in Montana about 20 or so years ago...none of us could remember exactly. Laura, I saw in August 2006 at my fathers funeral.

Unsure of what I was doing, I decided it would be fun to try to get together with them. There really wasn't much there to base our relationship off of. A few funny memories of a game of Uno and then off we all went on stories of our lives and where we had been and what we had all done.

What a blessing it was to be able to sit down and get to know them. There is something incredible about that concept of "family" that can bring people together who have very little in common and who have never had a chance to build a relationship. I only hope I get the chance to do that again soon.