it seems I may have bitten off more than I can chew...

you know, in being green.

current things I'm considering:

1. eliminating/reducing my use of the blow dryer. this is going to be a CHORE. but then I read things like this, and I'm like "I could do that. dammit." It's like as soon as it is pointed out I go "dang-it, I am going to feel guilty now." I mean, eliminating it entirely isn't really possible for me--I can go without it on like saturdays and stuff, but one of my least favorite things EVER is having wet hair on my neck. EVER. A step in the right direction: waiting to dry your hair until the last possible minute so it doesn't take as long.

2. making my own granola bars. it doesn't look like rocket science. if I can make a pizza from scratch I bet I can manage these. I think I'll try next week or on Saturday.

3. making my own kitty litter. this sounds a little trickier, and I'm not so sure that gobi and hazel are going to go for it. but I could try. even if I just got to half litter and half this, that would be SOMETHING. and besides, hazel already loves to shred paper, so maybe I could let her do that part for me. :)

4. indoor plants. right now I have one jade and two little bamboos. I think I might get a few more and also try to get cuttings from the jade plant to grow. and make an indoor herb pot to get me through the fall and winter. we shall see.

so far things are going well on other fronts though...

-using the kitty litter bottles to collect our water is WONDERFUL. it is easy and convenient and has become a habit. I like it.

-greening my cleaning. it's a process. I'm working on it. I am having a hard time giving up bleach for whites. I just read that oxyclean is an acceptable substitute--both in cleaning/disinfecting qualities AND in eco-friendliness. I will try it. otherwise, I'm doing quite well, thank you, method, shaklee and seventhgenerationg.

-bokashi composting--this stuff is superawesomefantasticamazing. my plants LOVE the stuff I drain from it (it's like compost tea but slightly different) and it is now ~2/3 full. and I have only been doing it for, what, three weeks? between that and recycling our amount of waste is SMALL. by the way, we get to just combine our recyclables (lucky, I know) but it's pretty rad that we empty the recycling more often than our trash! I think I am going to try putting wax paper on the top of it (right now I'm using a plate) so it will "seal" better. I'll let you know.

-energy consumption--I am excited to get the next energy bill, is that weird? I want to know if things have helped--turning up the thermostats to 80 during the day, unplugging more and unplugging my cell phone charger if I'm not charging because apparently it (and laptop plugs) use 90% of the electricity they use for charging when they're not in use.

-spending less money--even with my recent purchases, this is going quite well. it's not necessarily green in the classical sense, but less money spent = less packaging, shipping, emissions, etc that I'm funding and creating a market for, and I'll take it!