Z Good Life

composting 'n stuff

We've been recycling for nearly 15 years. We use the bins provided by our city's sanitation service. We also pay for a large composting can for food scraps and yard waste. Plus, we have a regular garbage can. It is picked up once every 2 weeks. Sometimes it's full to the top. Sometimes it isn't. Sometimes the lid is closed. Sometimes it has to be left open because it's so full.

Imagine our surprise when we discovered a few $5 "extra" charges on our garbage bill. Occasionally, we ask for an extra pickup, but we had only done it once this summer. I called the company and the receptionist said we get charged $5 extra if the garbage can lid is not shut COMPLETELY, i.e. "plastic touching plastic." WHAT?! In all the years we've lived here, we have never been charged for having our lid open! In fact, most times we weren't even charged extra if we had one bag that wouldn't fit inside the garbage can. The receptionist assured me that the $5 charges have always been outlined in their pickup procedures. 

Pretty frustrating. I had a sit-down with the kids and told them we're going to be MUCH more careful about putting the recyclables into the recycling. Period. And no more scraping food into the garbage can! ALL food scraps, tea bags, soiled paper, etc. are to be placed in an empty cat litter bucket in the mudroom, which then gets emptied into the large composting can in the alley.

The cat litter bucket got really yucky really quickly! NO ONE liked to dump it, because it also had to be rinsed by said dumper. I've seen countertop composting crocks online, but they are outrageously expensive -- up to $45 and higher! I happened upon this little beauty for $17 yesterday:

I know. It looks like a fire hydrant. But, it goes nicely with my Fiestaware and it looks cute on the counter next to the sink. When I get tired of looking at it (or tired of the infernal hoards of fruit flies), I'll make room for it under the sink next to the garbage can. I plan to buy some biodegradable liner bags next time I'm at the store. Now it won't be such a yucky job for the kids to take the compost out to the composting can!

We haven't had any additional surprise charges on our garbage bills, but I recently heard that if your garbage can is "too heavy," you can also get charged extra for that! I don't recall seeing scales on any of the garbage trucks. Who determines exactly what "heavy" is?

"cuh-a-tuh"

Lily received a darling learning laptop by "vtech" for her birthday. It teaches mouse control, upper case, lower case, letter sounds, left/right directionality, matching, numbers -- all sorts of fun things she's really interested in.

I've played with the toy a little so that I will be able to help Lily if she needs it. Today I played each of the 30 activities/games, and was SHOCKED when I played the "letter sounds" activity. According to this toy, the letter B makes the sound "buh." WHAT?!? Not only that, the letter C makes the sound "cuh," and the letter D makes the sound (yes, you already know it's coming) "duh." It does the same thing for nearly every single consonant sound! Even the letter M is pronounced "muh," as opposed to the sound you make when something tastes good -- "Mmm."

Fortunately, Lily is not learning to read from a toy. Her mommy is teaching her to read. If she was learning letter sounds from her laptop,  she'd see the word "cat" and sound it out like this: "cuh-a-tuh."

Don't get me wrong. It's a great little toy. She loves it, and we will continue to use it. This is a perfect opportunity for me to talk to her about the proper way to make letter sounds.

Happy "Muh-un-duh-ay-uh" to you all!

common sense

Lily and I went to the park by the ocean. It was a sunny day, and we had each other all to ourselves!! *happy dance* I took a few pictures while we were there. (What mama can resist a dandelion bouquet?!)

 

We went for a nice walk, explored the beach, and Lily played on the playground. There were some other parents and children at the playground, too. I couldn't help noticing when one little boy handed a cookie to his new playmate. His mom seemed proud of him for being big-hearted, but the other mom was preoccupied with a busy toddler. It turns out there was a severe allergy issue! Nothing happened, just a very big scare.

I have to ask you all: Would you EVER share food with a child you don't know, without first asking his parent if it's OK? Food allergies are becoming more and more common. I don't have a child with food allergies, but I am very aware because I know that tons of people DO have them.

I'm not sure why this incident bothered me so much. It just seems like a little common sense would have gone a long way.

t-shirt talk

I get a kick out of cute t-shirts. Simply couldn't pass this one up at The Gap yesterday...

However, I am troubled by many of the t-shirts I see in stores and on kids. They're intended to be sarcastic and funny, I suppose, but I do not believe this "sarcastic" trend in t-shirt sayings teaches children to honor their siblings and their parents.  Here are a few:

For boys or girls:
"Blame it on my sister/brother."
"My sister/brother started it."
"Sister/Brother for sale. Cheap!"

For boys:
"My sister is a witch."
"No sister zone"

For girls:
"Saw it. Wanted it. Had a fit. Got it."
"If you think daddies don't have favorites, you don't know my daddy."
"I'm the favorite."
"My brother is an alien from outer space." 
 
I saw one particular shirt for boys titled "MY LIFE." It looked like a cartoon strip of a boy in 3 different settings. In the first setting "School," the boy was sleeping. In the second setting, "Home" (I think at the dinner table?), the boy was sleeping. In the third setting, "Video Games," the boy was wide awake and wildly brandishing his video game controller. What does that say about kids? More importantly, what does that say TO kids? And why is that funny?!

I am not opposed to t-shirts with sayings. Just the ones with tasteless sayings! Summer had a camoflage t-shirt last year with giant gold bubble letters: "YOU CAN'T SEE ME." Funny! I think my all-time favorite is the t-shirt Erich's mom bought for him: "My mom thinks I'm cool."

I'm going to step off my soapbox now. If I fall on the way down, I'll be sure to buy myself a t-shirt that says: "I do all my own stunts."