I am so sorry that I have been away for a few days, but truthfully, we have been basking in the way above average temperatures and sunshine. My grass is green people!! The buds are out on the trees. Unbelievable after the Winter we had. And since the extended forecast is to return to normal temperatures which will require a sweater and not a tank top, I am soaking it all in. J and his buddy ran through the sprinkler today and Apple has been enjoying her new swing. Life truly is good at the Beach.

In celebration of Earth Day, I thought I would share ten things that I have done over the past year to try to make the Earth a better place for my kids.

1. Switched to energy saving light bulbs.

2. Use reusable shopping bags as much and whenever I can.

3. Ditched our gas guzzling Van, in such a way that no one else ever burn that much gas driving it again. But… it was also recycled for its metal/steel.

4. Drive only one of our two vehicles on any given day. In other words, Hubby takes a bus (he actually started this two years ago, but we have gone one step further) and we either drive the car or the SUV in one given day, not both in one day, unless we absolutely have to. We do keep the car (it actually costs more to insure it sitting in the driveway then it does for us to drive it in a month) because I never want to be stranded and neither does Hubby.  And I do try not to use the SUV ever single day.  I can sometimes go two or three days a week without using it, I try to walk where I can which is hard considering where I live.

5. Set lights on timers. We set two of our most used lights on timers so they don’t get left on. The timers get reset every other week to reflect the time changes.

6. Don’t water the grass unless the kids are going through the sprinkler. Hubby thinks I am crazy, but I try my best to not turn the sprinkler on unless J plays in the water. This way if we do run the water, it serves multiple purposes.

7. Use my reusable beverage containers as much as possible. I have one for each of us and I try my best to never leave home without it. Sometimes it happens and on those days I savor my drink as much as possible.

8. Recycle ever single thing I can think of, including stuff that we call ‘Junk’. On person’s junk is another man’s treasure.

And the two most recent….

9. Switched to a high efficient energy saving fridge. I can’t wait to see the electric bill this month as the fridge is almost never ‘on’. Our old fridge ran 24/7 and I hadn’t realized it until it was gone.

10. Switched to gdiapers for Apple. I first saw them over at Mrs. Mogul’s blog. She won a started kit and I checked out the site. They are a cross between cloth and disposable. I was a teeny bit leary when I got them home. They are a bit bigger than the disposables I had been using and they aren’t contoured for between the legs. But, Apple was unaffected, so I have kept using them. Hubby is a little hesitant about putting them on her, but I keep telling him he can’t mess up, they are velcro! So, I leave you with a few photos of Apple and her new pants.