My Earth is Lovely

It is a beautiful and sunny day here for this Earth Day. Hopefully the boys and I will go on a walk later, and pick up some litter. There is lots of it this time of year. As I write this I am listening to the garbage. Truck I forgot it was trash day. I looked out the window--I was so happy to see my hubby put out the recycle bin and garbage too. We had a bunch of boxes to recycle from all the work we have been doing around here. I tried to Freecycle some of the boxes. Not all were picked up. I hated to see them go to waste.

Last week our new recycling container was delivered. It looks just like trash container, except it is green, not brown. Starting in July they will be used. The reusables will be picked up twice a month instead of weekly to save wear and tear, plus gas expense. We won't have to sort the items, just throw them all in the large container. If I would have had a second vehicle last month I could have taken the boys to hear a talk about where these items go. It was presented at a library and was for homeschoolers on a day Cliff needed the car for school. I am sure it was interesting. Next month a group of homeschoolers near me will go around central Iowa and do water quality testing in the rivers and streams with an person who works at the Iowa Environmental Council. That sounds awesome!!!

Recycling has been pretty easy here since I put a separate container in my kitchen to place items for the green bin. Cliff is not fond of the container, but I am too frugal to go buy another container. It is just a 10 gallon size trash can I found on a curb about three years ago.

I feel a little guilty about us buying a huge gas guzzler last weekend. But I feel good that we buy used. We still have the 1997 minivan we bought used in 1999. We have replaced about everything on it of course. It runs just fine. And the Suburban will be well cared for and loved. We don't do a lot of useless driving around or shopping. I go shopping locally, which is about 1 to 2 miles away. We bought the large vehicle to make our road trips more fun. We plan to do more camping within the state as well. And on the first week of May the town I live in has at least 50 garage sales. This is a yearly event. I have my wish list of items made out. I am proud to say I love garage sales. I mostly buy clothes for the boys and other household items, like clocks or furniture items. We pick up lots of books and games as well at garage sales. When it is not garage sale season, and I need something, I always try to hit the thrift stores for household items we need.

I love my Earth!!!! I love getting outside. Yesterday I saw two beavers off the side of the bike trail. They were doing something with the old wood on the ground. And I saw lots of deer. I heard many birds singing and trees blooming. I saw the coolest cloud ever, too! It looked like a huge submarine. I wish I would have had my camera with me. The bike trail was also an animal refuge. I think that is awesome. The bike trail used to be a railroad.

Life is really amazing on this big, beautiful spinning Earth. I am so grateful to be here.

Love to all my Earth mates!

~Heather xoxox