Green Meat

Matt and I have been reducing the amount of meat we eat because raising and producing meat is more taxing on the environment.  We do still eat meat a couple of times a week and thanks to Burban Mom’s most recent post we will be looking into more sustainable meat.  I have been kind of lazy into changing the meat we consume because here in town we only have two major chain grocery stores (no Whole Foods, no Sprouts) and I have never seen grass fed beef at either.  Of course, I haven’t bothered with asking the butcher either, I just didn’t expect to find it.  I will have to check into it more the next time I go to the store, but if not, thanks to localharvest.org I did find a local farm that will deliver grass fed beef to your door.  How convenient is that?  It is way more meat than Matt and I would need so I would probably con some family members into eating more natural and sustainable meat in the process, an added bonus.  If you are interested in reading more on the meat industry check out this NY Times article.

 

On a side note here is a link to a new website that will help you make those small changes that really do make a big difference:

Keeping Busy

Matt and I are finding new ways to keep ourselves busy during the waiting period. The Ethiopian courts close for two months starting August 6, so even if we got a referral right now our case couldn’t be finalized until October/November. Plus I am pretty sure that there are still a few couples ahead of us waiting for a sibling set. We are hopeful for the end of the year, but early 2009 is looking more realistic. So, we are just trying to stay busy and keep ourselves occupied. Continue reading “Keeping Busy”

Carbon Challenge

 

 

I learned about a new challenge over at Burban Mom’s Blog.  The Carbon Challenge is a way to track your carbon footprint and see how the changes you are making are actually working out.  I like to track things so this is a great challenge for me.  I understand it is probably not for everyone.  I will post my results here at the end of every month.  Feel free to join me in tracking your carbons.

Here is the file that Green with a Gun created:

carbon-account

Share the Road

That is the title of a government campaign here in Arizona and I have heard it in other parts of the country, but it seems some motorist just do not want to share the roads with cyclist or pedestrians.  For the most part I find motorist perfectly willing to share the road and drive way around me (seriously am I that wide?), but there are a few who refuse to share the road and see how close they can drive next to you (I am talking mere inches).  Some people choose to yell or throw things, neither of those have happened to me, but they have happened to Matt plenty of times.   Continue reading “Share the Road”

One Car

We have owned just one car for about a year and a half now.  We are lucky that we have the ability to do this, Matt’s office is close to home and we have great biking weather for about nine months of the year, we also live close to the grocery store, post office, and bank, plus I don’t have to work a full-time job outside the house.   Continue reading “One Car”

Nine Months

Matt and I started our adoption journey nine months ago today.  It is hard to believe it has been nine months, the time has gone by fairly quickly.  We have been waiting for about a third of that time, if we end up having to wait the top amount of time are agency is now predicting that would be about another nine months.  It us hard to imagine waiting that long, when we started this journey we fully expected to get our referral this summer and travel before fall, even though we were told by our adoption consultant at the time we started that wait time could and probably would increase.  I chose not to listen to her wisdom until, of course, I saw the evidence for myself that the wait times had indeed increased.  I have prepared myself for the wait to last until fall, which would put us waiting for 6-8 months.  I really wanted to have Tom and Jerry home by Christmas.  Of course, if fall comes and goes without a referral I will have to wait just a little longer.  I know I can and will be patient (for the most part), but at times it can be so difficult.  I cannot wait to meet them, hold them, and just love them!

Adoption Benefits on the Rise

There is a an article on cnn.com today reporting that more U.S. companies are offering assistance with adoption.  I was very happy to see that companies are starting to treat employees who are adopting in a similar way to those having biological children.  Some companies are even offering paid time off after an adoption and consulting services.

“Never once do you feel like you’re in a separate bucket because you’re adopting” rather than having a biological child, said Huval, a senior vice president of card services at Bank of America Corp.

Afternoon at the Ballpark

On Thursday my little brother and I took my dad to a baseball game to celebrate Father’s Day/his Birthday.  We had a lot of fun and thankfully not a lot of sun as the roof was closed and the a/c was on.  We also enjoyed way more calories than a human should consume.  Oh and it was camp day, so we were joined by a few thousand kids.  None of us had ever heard the ballpark that noisy.  Overall it was a great day and wonderful way to celebrate with just the three of us.  Here are some pictures from the game.

 

We even convinced dad to scalp some extra tickets we had, we asked the cop sitting there on his bike what was legal first.  Good thing too, apparently you need a permit, but don’t worry there was a scalper with a permit able to do it for us.

Me and Jason

 

Me and dad

Our View

This last one is what the temperature gauge in the car said when we were stuck on top of the parking garage for about 15 minutes.  It was hot!

 

Mmmmm Cake!

This past Spring we got a ton of beets (I know you are wondering why I bring up beets in a post about cake, hang on I’ll get to it) from our farm share.  I tried several different recipes to use up the beets, turns out we are not really beet people.  I finally found one recipe that we love the beets in, yea that’s right it is a cake recipe.  (I make a cream cheese frosting for the top.)  It is a big hit with Matt and the neighbors!  Well any cake is a big hit with Matt, but that’s beside the point.  It is fun to see the looks on peoples’ faces when I tell them I am going to make a cake out of beets, most are resistant even though Matt goes on and on about how good it is.  (Seriously he is the one that wanted me to post about it.)  It isn’t the healthiest way to eat our beets, but at least we aren’t just composting them!

Want to go green?

So, you have been thinking about going green but are overwhelmed by everything you hear that you should be doing or should not be doing. Well on July 1, ‘Burban Mom is starting her new Step-a-Day Program.  Really it is three small steps a week.  Totally doable right?  If you have been thinking of going green and need a little help getting started this will be a great program for you.