Happy Earth Day!

All right so at one point in our marriage, lets say for every year we were married until 2006, we did not recycle. For shame! How many tons of recyclable materials have we put in the landfill?

To give myself an idea of what would happen if we stopped recycling or went back in time and determined how much we were putting into the landfill, I did a little experiment. I collected everything that our family uses over a two week period and instead of putting it in the recycling bin, I collected the items for your viewing pleasure.

I know, I know. Who uses that much? Granted we had company in town for a few days out of the two week period but geez.

So where do we go from here?

I found some very interesting sites that provide resources about recycling. I had no idea you could recycle so many things.

There is actually a Center for Hard to Recycle Items where I live. Who knew? Some items they charge you to recycle and some are for free. Check out this website. It is quite possibly the coolest website ever. Did you know you can recycle wire hangers, batteries, foam padding, carpet and foil. http://www.ecocycle.org

Here is another fantastic resource that I am using. http://www.officiency.com/recycling.html#eyeglasses

So a plan is now in place to solve the top recycling excuse our family has (if we are not sure if it is recyclable its easier to just throw it away). I have created a system where all potentially recyclable or give away items are placed. Those items that can go out each Friday in the "little purple box" are placed in one area and the other harder to recycle items (plastic bags, batteries) and give away items are placed in another and I will collect them until I make a trip to the local recycling or donation center.

A couple of ways we have decided to positively impact our contributions to the landfill/recycling center:

1) Buy in bulk whenever possible.

2) Invest in rechargeable batteries.

3) Bring our own hangers to the dry cleaners or return the hangers to the dry cleaner for them to reuse.

4) Bring our cloth shopping bags with us to all stores and not just to the grocery store (Babies R Us, Target, ect.).

5) Make use of Craigslist (under the free section) for items that can not be donated or recycled but may be of use to someone.

The Latest and Greatest in the World of Adalyn

So what has our little bundle of joy been up to these days?

She has started to say her own name pronounced "Ada". Some of her other new words include Happy, Gogurt for Yogurt, Man as learned by Mommies 007 t-shirt and Couscous.

Adalyn spent some quality time with Grandma Borosky and loved every minute.

Here she is reluctantly posing for her Easter picture mid nap time.

Adalyn or rather mommy or maybe both are absolutely loving her new teething ring aka celery :)

Adalyn is clearly enjoying running away from mommy and daddy ...

















and has a recent fascination with making funny faces and a love for shoes. Hmmm. We know where the funny faces comes from but shoes?? Can you say Auntie April or Grandma Miller?? Oh yeah.

She brings her new favorite shoes to me and says in her most endearing voice, "help me"



















We have 6 teeth total with 2 more on top making their debut.







And we can't forget her favorite hair bows. She brought them to me in bed this morning lowered her head and grunted so I would put them in her hair.

Just Between Friends

My MIL Carolyn turned me on to a wonderful organization called Just Between Friends http://www.jbfsale.com/home/. If you haven't been to a sale or heard of them I highly recommend checking out their website. This is a second hand children's sale where local parents all join together on one day and consign their items. There are fees associated with consigning and an entrance fee of $2 to attend but with a little creativity you can end up paying less. The Just Between Friends website advertises ways to lower your consignment fees and get in early on sales by volunteering for the event. You can even sign up in advance to receive free entrance into the sale. Which by the way I will be doing for the next sale I attend.

The event was held over two days and on the second day almost everything was half off. I decided to go on day number two because I planned on avoiding the temptation of buying something full price and wanted to save on gas by not driving twice (it was about 45 minutes from my house). I spent $42 in total and was able to buy a ton of items. In addition to all of the outfits seen in the pics I purchased a bag full of great children's books as well. Some for Adalyn and some for her cousin Ayden.

Here are some more examples of what I was able to find.

This outfit cost me .50 cents(minus the onesie she is wearing :)! I bought this one in a group with four other outfits for $2.50. What a bargain.

I splurged on this one for $3.00.

This one was only $1.00... :)



And here is all of my clothing loot.