Right now I can use Bee as my model and inspiration for pursuing goals imperfectly. Her “sleep more” resolution is trucking along very imperfectly. I believe her two-year molars are coming in but either way she has been up a lot. Today is the first time in a long time that I am not totally exhausted.

So here is to imperfectly managing

• a large-scale leadership project at college where I work
• a business trip away from home while still nursing
• potentially leaving my job
• taking an exam for further professional accreditation (this is a life video taped exam)

Yup lots of  opportunities to practice being imperfect.

I seem to be in a changing the world time in my life both professionally and personally. Rather than just quietly muddle along reducing waste I wrote the city to ask for an expanded food scraps pickup program. I will write to your city too if you send me their email address.

From over package tea to loose tea in tins

Newspaper wrapping with painters tape instead of plastic cellotape

Bee is two. Wow. It is hard to believe that two years ago  I did 50 hours of labour followed by a c section and that little baby who was in an incubator is now a two-year old.

This week’s greening it up was all about her birthday party. Her party was all things Hawaiian, beach and sunshine. What kind of greatness went on? For starters coconut bowling! How much more fun can life be? I used our water bottles as pins, cardboard from the recycling for floor protection and coconuts which we gave away at the end of the party instead of loot bags. I also used the cardboard to make the game Give Monkey the Ukulele.  Once I started hunting around I found all kinds of great things we already had at home that we could use for decorations and for a fishing game. Perfect no need to buy anything and lots of fun

Update from last week:

Using newspaper to line the garbage can works fantastically. I can’t believe we thought we needed to use plastic. I realized that I like the concept of , Change the world Wednesdays, but will properly mostly pick my own changes to make rather than follow theirs. It just has an easier flow in my life that way.

When I was 20 I was here sending out love to the loggers, universe and hugging trees.  I recently came across a blog and that made me rethink what I am doing right now. Don’t get me wrong, that tree hugger spirit stayed with me. I recycle, use cloth diapers, hang laundry on the line, get almost all of Bee’s things second hand and use transit and bike. I just suddenly realized that there is a lot more I can do.

This family produces about two small bags of garbage in a year. The whole concept of zero waste really tripped me out and it surprised me that it surprised me. I have always aimed for low consumerism and recycling, but the idea that a family could produce almost no waste blew my mind. I then went onto find more blogs from other families doing the same thing. It is possible and for most people it was really about changing some habits and then it just became routine.

I am joining Change the World Wednesdays and am going to start moving us towards something closer to zero waste. This is gonna be  a fun, slow and rambling journey filled with love. Each Wednesday I am going to try one new thing to green us up as a family and send out some love to the universe. This Wednesday we did two things since it is the kick off week.

This morning Bee and I took the bus with two monkeys  to a new store, The Soap Dispenser, that is more than happy to refill your containers. We got our shampoo and dish-soap  bottles refilled and found out we can get everything we need to clean ourselves and the house there at a great price. Score!

We also started using a two pieces of newspaper to line our garbage bin instead of plastic bags. Total success so far! It wasn’t any messier and it is one more way to reduce plastic.

The way home was the worst flight I have ever taken. For starters, we left at night and landed at 5:00am. We had no extra seat, tons of turbulence and Bee nursed on and off the whole flight so no sleep for me. I got really motion sick and then woke her up while trying to hold her and puke in the little bag. We weren’t allowed to leave our seats and she was asleep on me so I was doubly stuck. I was able to nurse her back to sleep, which is no fun while sick, but better than her being awake crying when I am sick. It sounds a little dramatic, but I always feel like the life force is being drained out of me when I end up nursing while sick. F gets super duper motion sick but came out of her drugged haze to help. (I generally do all the toddler wrangling when we travel because F gets so sick even when the conditions are ideal). There is no one else I would rather puke beside. She is very experienced at puking while travelling and puking in public places. It doesn’t faze her  and she always has drugs. I took some drugs that made me even more tired (but less sick) and then left my phone on the plane. It is still missing in action. I will never do an overnight flight again until Bee is old enough to sleep in her own seat and we can all take drugs. 

I heart Hawaii. A photographer we met on the beach caught this photo of us and emailed it to us. The mornings at the beach have been my favorite time here. Now i am going to run out for one last swim. Maybe i will swim with another turtle B-)

Here she is standing with a bag of chips. I actually suggested that she make that choice when we were looking at the refridgerator full of healthy food.

It all started with peepee in the carseat the previous day. F washed it out and put it in the sun to dry.

The next day we planned to drive across the island and car nap her. It turned out to be a two coffee morning for me, bee was squacky, it was naptime and just as i was about to put her in the carseat i saw the ants. They had invaded the carseat while it was outside yesterday. Lots of ants feasting on old cracker crumbs and raisons.

Nothing a Brunien MIL and F couldnt handle, but i needed the ultimate toddler distraction to pull us through and that is where the bag of chips came in.