Zero Waste | Trash Sorting - This is Not an Audit

In 2017 I started my zero waste journey. Zero Waste is the goal, mindful practice is the action. When I use the term Zero Waste, that is my ultimate goal, but Less Waste would be a more  accurate description of my evolving lifestyle. 

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Ok, this kind of IS a trash audit. 

But now, while you’re staying home, is the perfect time to assess what trash you are creating and how to reduce it! We did a trash audit in our 6 More Months of Zero Waste series more than a year ago. Even if you were following along back then, it’s a good time to see how far you’ve come!

An audit sounds so serious. I picture sitting in the middle of a pile of garbage, sifting thru it, to see what’s in there. I prefer the idea of trash sorting. I find this to be more sustainable kind of audit. My advice is to take 3-4 bags, preferably paper, depending on what you want to sort, and replace your normal trash method with these. Label the bags if you like, or just remember which is which. Labeling might be helpful, especially if you are not the only one who throws items away in your household. Set a time limit for your sort. Maybe a week, if that’s how long it take for you to throw out the trash. Maybe a month to get a better idea of your trash habits.

Normally, I have 5 bags or places that I sort garbage into. One bag is for recycling (luckily, we don’t have to sort our recycling into categories. We put glass, plastic, metal and paper together). One bag for general trash (items that go into landfill. This is plastic that doesn’t get recycled, cat waste, human waste, and other items that don’t fit into any other spot. This area is where we generate the least waste). Compost is another area (this is where we put all food waste to be taken out to the compost pile). We keep one bag for plastic film recycling, which we drop off to our local grocery as our city doesn’t recycle it curbside (we try to reduce this as much as possible, but we still have cheese wrappers, bread bags and chip bags). Lastly I put aside plastic items like milk cartons, yogurt cups, and other items that can get a second life at the private alternative school where my mom works (they use cups for paints, create models from milk cartons and other “junk”).
Having this many avenues for waste, when I do an audit, I don’t have too much more to sort. When I audit, I like to make another space to see what plastic I’m throwing away, I like to track how much cat waste we generate. I also like to see how much of each recyclable items we have. I divide the recycling into categories; plastic, (the least), glass, and metal (the most).

If you’ve never sorted your trash before start with the basics. Let’s assume you already recycle (if you don’t, get started!) so you’re starting with two trash bins. Think about the areas you want to reduce. Here is a few good things to identify:

Sort your recycling into categories to see how much disposable plastic you’re using.
Start composting all food waste (except for meat).
Put plastic that can’t be easily recycled in a separate bin.
Pick a non sustainable item to track, like paper towels, and see how much you’re using.

Once you’ve seen how and what you throw away, here might be some next steps:

Try to cut back on disposable plastics in your recycling and trash.
Take you compost to a local farmers market, or start a compost in your backyard.
See what plastic garbage that you could love without buying or find alternatives (instead of buying tortillas, maybe make them at home?).
Try using an sustainable alternative to generate less waste (like rags instead of paper towels).

Write down your findings or leave them in the comments. What did you learn? Where were you able to reduce? What did this exercise teach you about your waste consumption?

My Favorite Books | Going Places

One of my goals in 2020 is to read more. See other books I've read or listened to here.

Recently Treehugger posted an article about some of their writer’s favorite books about travel or different parts of the world. Since we are all sequestered in our homes (hopefully!! Stay Home!) for a while, I thought this was a great idea. If you are like me, you’re taking this time to read more and recommendations for books are always good! Here are my favorite books about travel and domestic or foreign lands.

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Travels with Charley by John Steinback
Steinback wrote books that are about America. In 1960, he decided that he hadn’t actually seen America in a long time. He sets off with his dog, Charley, and his modified camper truck, Rocinante, to see the country again.
One of my favorite books of all time. If you like Steinbeck’s writing style, this travelogue is the real life version of his novels, and you will love it. One of my favorite things about traveling in America, being American, is that every place you go is both exactly the same, and totally different to, where you are from. It’s amazing to see that that tis has been true for many years.

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Travels with my Aunt by Graham Greene
When Henry Pulling, drab and conventional, meets his estranged Aunt Augusta, he doesn’t expect his world to be turned upside down. But being drawn to his mysterious and outrageous aunt, this is exactly what happens.
I haven’t read this one in a long time, maybe it’s time to revisit. Written in 1969 this is an imaginary jaunt in Europe and beyond from a master of overseas observation, Graham Greene.

The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell by Mark Kurlansky
This non fiction follows the history of oysters and how we eat them. Told from the perspective of New York through history, this is a good reminder about how everything is connected.
This isn’t a travel book, but it is a facsinating look at the Manhattan estuary and it’s history. When I want to read a book about a place, I often come back to reading about places I love.

What are your favorite books about travel or set in wonderful places that you can travel to with the book? I would love to read more books about places taht I love, while I know I can’t travel there. I’m always looking for books about or set in Brooklyn, New Orleans, Bermuda and many more places. Where is your favorite setting for books?

If you have some favorite books on this subject leave them in the comments!


Bullet Journal Check In | April - A Very Big Content Calendar

I have been keeping a content calendar and blog log for a long time now. Mine is a modified version on Femmehead’s version which I think she got from someone else.

I like to have a content calendar where I can plan what blogs I want to write and post, but also a log of the actual posts I have made. For me, that looks something like this:

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I title this page with the month and then Content Calendar and Blog Log. You don’t have to title your pages, but I find it helpful when I go thru my BuJo each day. On the left most side I put the dates and days of the month. The next few columns are my content calendar. Here I put what I intend to blog on which day. Then, I have 4 areas that I check off as I complete the blog. The eyeball symbol which signifies that I have had the idea and done some of the research for this post, even if it’s just thinking about what I want to write. Next, I check off that I have written the blog, next that I have taken the photos. Finally, I have a check for when I post the blog. Once I’ve posted the blog, I write in my blog log, what the blog was on the correct date. There is a little “C” column here for if this post gets commented on. I check each blog off on my regular series list as I complete it, if it is part of a regular series, and mark what date it was published. This might seem like this system has a few redundencies, and it does! But this is the method that I’ve found works best for me!

In my latest Bullet Journal, I have been tracking all my blog drafts this way as well. When ever I have an idea for a blog, I find the best thing to do is make a blog draft right away so I don’t forget what I want to write about. Sometimes I just put the title to remind me of what I want to write later. Sometimes I write a few lines, sometimes many lines. I end of having a lot of unfinished drafts, and many barely started drafts. I find it hard to scroll thru these and confusing to remember how far I got on every draft.

I made my Very Big Content Calendar and Blog Log in the back of the book, upside down and started from the back. This serves two purposes for me. One is that I have to consiously look at it to fill it out and theat means I’m really thinking about each blog. Two is that I won’t get it confused when with other BuJo content when I get to that section of my book.

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When I need inspiration or when I have filled out some on a blog or two, I go back thru my Very Big list and cross things off. Sometimes I decide that a blog idea isn’t going to work, or I’ve rewritten it in another post, or it’s a duplicate. In that case, I put a slash thru the entire blog note and delete it from my drafts.

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One modification I will make to both logs is to add an edited check box to my list of things that need to get done before I publish. I have noticed that many of my blogs would benefit from an editor’s eye.

How do you keep track of your drafts?

Tattoo Story: Tribute to New Orleans

I mistakenly talked about my tattoos out of order! In the last installment, I said that my cat jaw bone was my third tattoo but it was in fact my fourth! That means to me, that I have gone far too long without getting tattooed, if I can’t even remember what order they were done in. My first tattoo was created in Feb around my birthday, my second in March, my third was in May on a trip out of state. My fourth, previously written about, was in December of the same year.

This is a pretty terrible pic, but it’s hard to get a shot of the back of your own leg. Step back from it tor make your window very small to view it better. Maybe I will retake this photo one day.

This is a pretty terrible pic, but it’s hard to get a shot of the back of your own leg. Step back from it tor make your window very small to view it better. Maybe I will retake this photo one day.

My THIRD tattoo was created four months after my first. It was on a whim, in a way. I had traveled to New Orleans for the first time and was so taken by the city, I decided a permanent keepsake was in order. I only had three days in NOLA, and started looking for a tattoo shop almost from the start. I found one, way out in the Bywater, that had the right vibe for me. It was brightly colored with taxidermy and various alters, voodoo symbols and artwork. But it looked lived in. The man who I first talked to didn’t immediately put me at my ease. Scruffy and gruff he asked if I wanted a fleur de lis. Absolutely not. I tried to better explain why I was struck by New Orleans and what a tattoo momento meant to me. He got it a little more and suggested a modified voodoo symbol. Being voodoo practitioners, he and his wife could safely make me something so that I was not tinkering with bad juju, he explained. His wife would be tattooing me the next day. And then his wife emerged from the back room with a book of voodoo symbols. She was striking. Rail thin with pale porcelian skin, covered in bright and bold tattoos. She had white blond hair, delicate limbs. The longest neck I’ve ever seen, also covered in tattoos. She smiled and showed a row of silver teeth. She was eight or nine months pregnant, her huge belly protruding from her lithe body, like an hard boils egg under a silk napkin. The suggested a tribute to the goddess, Erzulie Freda, and I agreed. I was to come back the next day. When I did, the matron of the shop was very sweet, so ethereal and beautiful, perhaps an incarnation of the goddess herself, all love and ink. I laid down on the table making the regular small talk one does until the tattooing starts. When she began the tattoo, I was shocked! I had only been tattooed by one artist previously, a lovely Japanese woman with an exceedingly gentle touch. I only imagined this white light creature would be the same way. But she went at my upper calf with a determination and frim grasp. I felt like someone was digging a dull spoon into my leg, just below the knee, for more than an hour. It was hard to reconcile the two sensations together: this delicate tattooed sprite, and her jackhammer approach. In the end, I came away with a sore leg, a perfect tattoo souviner, and a great story.

Looking back at this tattoo, I realize I haven’t thought of the symbols meaning in a long time. In some ways, I wonder if it was a bit of a joke on the tourist, as Erzulie’s nature can be fleeting and vain. In other ways, I think they might have known a lot more deeply what I needed than I did at the time. This was right after I met my now husband, we were texting while I was on vacation. Either way, then and now, I believe they gave me the exact right talisman to carry forever.

Mad Cat Quilts | Pandemic Pantry - Planning is Key

Having to self quarantine is interesting. I miss things I expected to miss, like going to restaurants and bars and going to work, but I didn’t realize how much I would miss being able to thrift whenever I want and go to the grocery 2-5 times per week. On the other hand, having an unprecedented amount of time to be home, pet cats, take long walks, and cook and eat great homemade food has been pretty wonderful.

Like many (hopefully everyone by this point), we’ve been trying to drastically limit how often we go out in to the world. We have dropped from going to the grocery whenever we please to going once every week or more if we can get away with fewer trips. This means that we have had to change a lot about how we shop. We used to buy things multiple times a week whenever we thought we might need something. Now we have to really plan what we need and what we will get. We also have to figure out how to do that.

The first thing I did before our first big shopping trip was to make a list of everything we already had. I didn’t write every single items down, but I did write down a lot and everything I thought was going to be relevant. While I was taking this inventory, I also jotted down a list of meals that we usually eat, as a reminder to myself, a list of items that we needed to eat asap and dishes they might be good in, and a list of a few recipes that I want to try in the future.

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Having all these lists in front of me helped tremendously when I wrote a very detailed shopping list. I actually remembered to take the shopping list with me when we went on our first trip! Having the items and the list of meals made remembering what I was buying and why I was buying what I did very easy. I reused the same paper, with a new list for the next week’s shop.

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For the second shop, I also took a new inventory that was more thorough than the first. We ended up eating a few of the things between making the list and going shopping. I just crossed those off. Our second shop was bigger and even more thorough than the first and I anticipate a longer time between shops, which is a goal. From the first shop to the second was 8 days. We will see how long between second and third. I plan on making another inventory a day or two before we go.

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This inventory/sticking to a list method is very different from how I normally shop. Perhaps you always shop like this. Using this method allowed me to buy everything I needed but not over buy or buy duplicates. Here is my advice in easy steps:

1) Take a thorough inventory - write down everything you already have. Take note of meals you want to create, items that need to be used up, and things you want to learn to make. Remember the goal is not to hoard items, just to get you through a week or more of nutritional and pleasurable eating.

2) Write down a list of meals you can make/want to make with what’s in your inventory - You could plan it out by day and meal, or just write down the meals you normally like to eat or can make. I prefer to be spontanious, so I’ll often write meals that overlap and I can choose from when the time comes.

3) Make a shopping list based on what you still need - Think about getting thru a week or more but be careful not to over buy! We have to be even more concerned about food waste at this time. Waste not, want not.

4) Don’t forget your list! - And you reusable bags! Many groceries are not excepting refillable packaging or have done away with bulk items (in my area, at least). I do understand that these are hard places to ensure cleanliness. There is some debate about cloth bags, but most places will let you bring and use your reusable bags, as long as you bag your own groceries.

Now you are ready to brave the grocery! Good luck!

2020 Monthly Goals | March Recap and April Goals

The world changed a lot from the beginning of March to the end of March. I mostly have remained unphased, besides being suddenly unemployed, and having a completely different and new routine. Many of my plans for March were no longer possible. Here were my goals and how I did.

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Eat vegan once a week
I’ve tried this one before, but it’s something I have to more purposefully move towards.
So, I wasn’t able to eat one full day each week as vegan, but I have been eating a lot more purely vegan meals. There are days where the only non vegan thing I eat is a bit of butter. I count this as a partial check for goals completed.

Schedule two docs
I have to take my health more seriously and I need to do those things that I really don’t want to do and continually put off. Baby steps.
Wellllll, here’s where the world started to get in my way as far as my March goals go. I had wanted to find a therapist, a dentist, visit my doc, etc…. I didn’t get any of those goals going. BUT I was able to get an appointment for Tom for a new oncologyst. So I’m counting this as a partial check off.

Schedule two trips
This balances out the above, but If I don’t plan to schedule trips, I don’t take them. I have a lot of ideas where I want to go and have narrow it down and book them up. My short list includes NOLA, Cleveland, Pittsburg, Bermuda, Beacon NY…
And this was a no.

Go to Brooklyn
I’ve been saying I would go back for a visit since November 2019, it’s time to actually go.
Also, NO.

Write two letters
As soon as I thought of this goal, I received a letter in the mail and I knew I had made a good choice.
I wrote 1 letter!

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Things are looking a lot different in April than I thought they would at the beginning of March. Keeping that in mind, here are my goals for April:

Learn some and do some yoga
I’ve been putting this off, but now’s the perfect time to make some progress.

Finish some art and illustration
I’ve been enjoying @carsonellis ‘s daily quarantine art prompts and #transmundanetuesdays but haven’t actually done any yet. I want to finish my cross stitch. Many more projects I can think of!

Read 3 books
I’m really trying to get off the computer and the phone and do more of the things I love.

Be mindful of the garden
I’m not a stellar gardener. I’d like to learn to be better at it.

Continue to improve my health
Eating well, cooking, finding new low waste alternatives, and home remedies are key at this time and I want to continue this journey in a purposeful way.

This seems like a goals list that fits with my priorities and mindset for this month.

What are your goals for April?

Break Shot: My First 21 Years

One of my goals in 2020 is to read more. See other books I've read or listened to here.

Audible gave me Break Shot: My First 21 Years by James Taylor for free. How did they know I’m a James Taylor fan?!

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Although I’ve listened to James Taylor basically all my life (my mother is a fan), I didn’t really know much about his life. I knew some of the big points, like that he was a heroin addict, and that he was married to Carly Simon, that he had a cameo on The Simpsons, and that I loved his music, but that was basically it.

James Taylor came up with the title for his first autobiography while walking in the woods. He thought the idea of the first move in any game of pool, the break shot, was a perfect metaphore for his early life. The move that got everything else started.

The first thing that struck me about this book was the reading. I cannot believe how awkward a reader JT is! Stiff and mechanical, not at all conversational like he is in his concerts. This audio book reading is interjected with music and singing which can be distracting. Once I got over the reading style, or lack there of, and could focus a little more on the story, I like that his writing style is very conversational. In this book JT goes thru his life from early childhood in chronological order, pretty much. Talking about one thing will remind him of another story from years later and he will interject with that later memory recalled. But he always finds a smooth and easy way to bring you back to the present moment in the time line. Telling his childhood in time order, but sometimes installing moments from the past, and more often the future, makes this very interesting to listen to. His early life torn between the North East Coast and South Carolina, his struggles with depression and drugs, his fall to heroin addiction, and his climb to making his first record with the Beatles is all recorded in Break Shot. I might not have picked this book up on my own, so I was pleased to have gotten it unexpectedly and I will be waiting for the next era of James Taylor’s life to be written down. I would highly recommend this book for readers who like books set in New England, readers who are interested in mental hospital stories, those who like easy autobiographies, and all James Taylor fans.

Have you read any autobiographies lately?

March Plant Update

March was amazing for flowers, plants, greenery, buds, seedlings, critters, colors and getting out and about. Thank goodness that groundhog didn’t see his shadow this year, bc I think we all needed the early Spring. I know I did. It is always astonishing to me that just seeing the blooming magnolias makes me SO. MUCH. HAPPIER.

Here they are.

Here they are.

Whoever was the genious that planted this sidewalk bump out in AsBury Park with hundreds of daffodils?

Whoever was the genious that planted this sidewalk bump out in AsBury Park with hundreds of daffodils?

Loved this color combo this month. In Sea Girt.

Loved this color combo this month. In Sea Girt.

And in Asbury Park…

And in Asbury Park…

…twice.

…twice.

These chicks and hens are from my former landlady in BK. This year I finally decided to divide them as she used to do.

These chicks and hens are from my former landlady in BK. This year I finally decided to divide them as she used to do.

We haven’t done the big houseplant replant, replenishing of soil yet, but these few needed new pots ASAP.

We haven’t done the big houseplant replant, replenishing of soil yet, but these few needed new pots ASAP.

Happy by the window.

Happy by the window.

Houseplant tableau in greens.

Houseplant tableau in greens.

New monstra leaf.

New monstra leaf.

Less new, but still good.

Less new, but still good.

A day with the birds.

A day with the birds.

One side of a sunset….

One side of a sunset….

… and the other.

… and the other.

Evening walks with Magritte light.

Evening walks with Magritte light.

We had plenty of cold and rainy days in March, plenty of grey days. But the warmer weather and brighter skies made up for all of them. What a pleasure that long walks are not only allowed but encouraged while self isolating (as long as they are on your own or with your partner/person/child/parent/etc… only!). What a pleasure that it is Spring here.

Are you observing Spring where you live?

March in Review

Wow March…. OK.

1) Loveliest foot stool ever? 2) Last golden hour from the boardwalk for the foreseeable future. 3) Vitamin C. 4) friends in high places.

1) Loveliest foot stool ever? 2) Last golden hour from the boardwalk for the foreseeable future. 3) Vitamin C. 4) friends in high places.

1) Pandemic pancakes. 2) New friend named Blue. 3) Getting things accomplished. 4) Not the first ice cream of Summer, but getting close.

1) Pandemic pancakes. 2) New friend named Blue. 3) Getting things accomplished. 4) Not the first ice cream of Summer, but getting close.

1) White watcher. 2) Blue by you. 3) Shop keep. 4) THE Big Boy.

1) White watcher. 2) Blue by you. 3) Shop keep. 4) THE Big Boy.

Clearly March was not how anyone was expecting. Although there was much fear, worry, anxiety, and uncertainness, it was not a bad month for us here. We are thankful for our home, our health, our connection to friends and family, the health of those friends and family, our time together and our time with our cats.

We hope, you all, dear readers, are doing well, and staying safe.

The world is changing rapidly and it is hard to tell what each day will bring. Here is April and we will see what we shall see.

My Favorite Thrift Finds of 2019

For several months now, I’ve been wanting to make a favorite thrift finds of 2019 post. When I thought back to what my favorites were, I could only come up with two things. I thrifted far more than two things last year, of course. I could think of many things, but they weren’t my favorite, not the most practical or useful, not items I used often and with relish. So I decided to stop wracking my brain for more items. Two is enough.

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Mini thermos
I thrifted this late in the year, I can remember bc it was when a friend was staying with us. I had never seen such a small thermos! It seemed like such a useful object. And it has been! It keeps things warm for hours and is perfect for one serving. We mostly use it for oatmeal, but it’s great for warm beverages too!

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Red sketch book
I thrifted this at the Goodwill near my mom’s house (the ones where some pugs were stollen a few years back). This is a really high quality sketch book with nice thick pages. I’ve been using it this year for my monthly goals and for just playing with paints and markers.

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And there you have it. The two thrifted items that really stand out to me from 2019. Both simple, utilitarian, and beautiful.

What were your favorite thrift finds of 2019?

My Homeschooling History, Part One

Homeschooling is somthing I haven’t talked too much about in this space. Maybe bc I don’t too often talk about my history, or maybe bc I am an adult now and I don’t have kids myself. Homeschooling and education in general, but alternative education specifically, has always been a big part of my life.

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Both my parents were educators. Or at least intended to be. They met while in teaching college. I have an older brother who has a different father (also a teacher) than myself. My brother went to public school all his life, something I think my mother regretted. I was homeschooled until I was 8 and a half. My father had given up his educational career when I was still an infant, but remained an intellectual. My mother worked mostly as a stay at home mom for much of my childhood, sometimes working part time when she was able. She also did a lot of non paid work, like running a group for mothers with young children. When I was 6 or 7 my mother worked at a farm stand and I would often go to work with her. A formative experience for me.

My mother was my primary teacher and she kept extensive notebooks on my early education. My learning was mostly experience and project based. I don’t remember too much about homeschooling until I got a little older and we joined a homeschoolers group. From my perspective this group was like-minded hippyish (for lack of a better word) people, like us. I didn’t learn that many homeschoolers are deeply religious until later in life. Some people I remember clearly in the group were a jewish family that invited us to all the celebrations, played music and sang and we would all go to music festivals in their camper together. Another were a “normal” suburban family with a split level home and huge wooded back yard, we would get co-op deliveries dropped off from a big box truck in their driveway to share with the entire group. We had homeschooling neighbors who had raspberry bushes and an above ground pool. We could walk to their house from ours and they had several children but my best friend was the girl my own age. This family moved away to a magical handmade home in the PA woods, complete with wild strawberry fields, a whole tree as support beam for the house, and a cold stream with crayfish on the property. As a group we went seining in the bay, to museums and parks, went apple picking, to nature centers, made crafts, or to educational lectures and events. We visited temples, Native American festivals, churches, musical events, plays and theater, and all sorts of cultural events. We traveled to historic areas nearby when we could. Some of us also attended Nature Camp, which was a local school for all things outdoors and in nature. There we learned to walk quietly in the forest, respect wildlife, sing bird songs, build fires, identify edible plants, observe nature and be part of it without harming it.

I never remember having to solve math problems or learning historic events in a traditional way. We never had “homework” or sat down at a desk at a certain time to learn writing, reading, maths. I would learn practical skills while learning about other things and interests. In my memory this is very self guided, but I’m sure my mother oversaw everything and steered me towards learning the important subjects. We read a lot: stories and fiction, but also art books, comics, non fiction, and informational and educational books. I have many memories of being at libraries, getting read to at night, and learning all sorts of things from books. But I also distinctly remember not being a very competent reader until I was about 8 years old. We created lots and lots of art. Art was a conduit to learn about many many things as well as art itself. We asked a lot of questions. I remember asking my parents questions, our friends, librarians, random strangers. In my education everyone was a teacher and everyone we came in contact with knew something interesting to learn. We had friends who ran restaurants and I would play on the flour sacks, learning about kitchens and making change and waiting tables. At the farm market, I would help my mother bake pies in an industrial oven, make flower arrangements and wreaths, pick and sort corn, listen to Spanish speaking farm workers. My aunt owned a metaphysical shop and I would run the register, help customers and stock shelves. Everyone’s vocation became a teaching moment.

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Sometimes we took classes. Ballet, cooking, languages, pottery, and other education taught by someone other than my parents. And sometimes I went to school. I remember going to a kindergarten for a few weeks (in my memory). It was the first time I had seen a computer. It was a bizarre contraption. When I was 8 and a half, I started attending The New School of Monmouth County part time. This would start a relationship with this private alternative school that last to this day.

What was your early education like? What do you remember most? What were lessons you learned? Which of those stuck with you through your life?