Captain Planet Says, "Let's All Recycle!"

Long ago, before anyone read this blog - I talked about why I don't buy most plastic. Namely - it can't be recycled. At the time, I was living in a city that could only recycle PETE #1 and 2 plastic bottle. Pretty specific. And it meant my beloved Maple Cream Top yogurt was no longer allowed in my shopping cart.

Happily, our new city - Cleveland Heights - is an awesome about recycling! We can recycle ANY plastic, #1-5 and 7 - even plastic bags! We recycle paperboard like cereal boxes, too! And they even have curbside electronics recycling! Okay, okay. Chill out, Captain Planet.

Although reducing is certainly better than recycling, it's exciting to be able to indulge in my favorite plastic-wrapped treats now and then without feeling terribly guilty. Plus, we won't have to drive all our paper recycling somewhere else. One more reason to love my new place.

To find out about recycling in your city - just Google: "your city name" + "recycling." Finding out the actual rules for yourself ensures that your hard work to save recyclables won't go to waste. Otherwise, doom awaits. Or, you know, bad stuff: "Please note that materials that are not properly prepared for recycling or are mixed with non-recyclable material may be taken as refuse." (from here.)

Removing lids, rinsing out containers, knowing what you can and can't recycle, removing labels - all this might ensure that your pickle jar and mouthwash container fulfill their destiny.

Happy recycling!

PS: Several of you have emailed me wondering where my post about Gap went. I created a little blog (called, naturally - My Little Reviews) to chronicle all the adventures to come with being a Gap Brand Enthusiast - plus lots more reviews. My Worth It Wednesdays might just pop up over there. :)

PPS: Would you judge me if I created it just so I could create another header?

PPPS: Because that's totally not why I did it.

PPPPS: Mostly, anyway.

DIY Friday - Lez Get Crafty!

My earrings have been all in a tangle, and I needed a way to organize them - so why not make my own earring holder?!

I used part of a bag from oranges (reduce, REUSE, recycle, right?), a picture frame (very old and unsightly, but it got the job done), a hot glue gun, and scissors.



1. Stretch the mesh plastic to fit the inside of the frame.
2. Hot glue into place.
3. Trim the edge of the mesh.
4. Hook earrings on like so!
5. I just covered a piece of cardboard with newspaper clippings and drew a star.
6. Note along left side - I will have the FLDS scandal forever live in my earring organizer. Oh, yes.

Hope your Friday's grand!

Coffee Makes Me Smarter

So, I might like coffee. Just a little.*

Let be honest, I could have an entire blog on coffee. It’s addictive nature, the best places to get coffee, the best kinds of coffee, how happy I get when I drink coffee (I mean, really, it’s my Prozac!), how I’m scared of the no coffee rule if I get pregnant some day, and the best lattes to try.

But, I’ll spare you the pain of my ruminating on the joys of coffee.

I never had a coffee pot because I didn’t want to enable my addiction. So I unloaded what possibly amounted to thousands of dollars at coffee shops (and subjected myself to some cheap, nasty instant coffee into which I melted Snickers bars. I am not joking. Although am possibly really gross.)

Upon getting married, we were gifted a veritable mountain of money. In Target gift cards, that is. We had discussed getting a coffee pot to help defray the cost of my addiction, but didn’t register for it because we couldn’t find the Perfect Pot. Oh I wanted all the bells and whistles. I wanted to be able to program a pot of coffee for the instant I woke up, at the temperature I desired, made with a little plastic as possible.

Then I got this pesky email that annoyingly made me consider the most energy efficient way to brew coffee. I mean, it’s a blessing and a curse, really, to learn about something like that. It’s always great to know that there are better ways to do things – but, I reallywantedthebellsandwhistles, darn it!

According to Ideal Bite, here are the coffee brewing methods from most-to-least energy efficient:

1. Cold water brewing (no idea how THAT would work or taste)
2. French press
3. Moka pot on the stove (again, no idea)
4. Plain old electric coffee pot

So we went right out and bought ourselves a cute little French press from Target. It’s pretty easy to use, but I’ll admit it’s more work than a plain old coffee pot.

Why I love our French press:

• Less waste! You don’t need filters so just wash or rinse it out every time
• Cheaper – it was less than $20 and there are no filters to ever buy.
• Smaller – we live in a teeny space. Have you seen our kitchen?! So we need every square inch we can get! It doesn’t use up a plug and takes up about a 5 inch circle on our shelf. Plus, we don’t really need a 10 cup coffee maker, so our little 24-oz press is perfect for us.
• Materials – it’s made out of 80-90% glass with just a plastic handle. So someday I can recycle it! Plus, it’s just a lot less resource-intensive than a hunk-o-plastic coffee pot
• Saves energy
• It tastes SO GOOD since the coffee is freshly ground and brewed by hand. Plus it’s kinda fun (except when I’m running late and rushed! Which is every. single. morning. without. exception.)

Why it can be a pain:

• We can’t use ground coffee for drip coffee makers; we buy whole beans and have to grind so we don't get little tiny particles of grounds in our coffee.
• We have to manually boil and pour the water. Just a little more work and a little less convenience.
• No bells and whistles. At all.

Happy coffee drinking!

This is actually a freakin' awesome coffee shop in San Francisco - they have a compost bin next to their trashcan so you can compost your wooden stirrer and compostable coffee cup. SO cool.

* My heart flutters at the mere mention of coffee.

I Come Bearing Gifts

I LOVE Christmas!

I do, I really really do. My extended family gets together and is disgustingly happy - playing games, sledding, and doing things like exchanging sappy letters instead of useless gifts. We even have a caroling party. (It seems like no one carols anymore. People don't know what to do when we come to their front door. Not like I'd have any clue, either: "Crap! It's cold and I'm wearing pajamas and I can't leave or I'll look rude! Smile and endure the singing.")

I usually spend lots of time the month before Christmas trying to find exciting, personal, unique gifts for everyone. No cheap, plastic, battery operated toys for my godson (or new nieces and nephews)! Wooden personalized name puzzles or photo books or wooden sushi sets, like I'm giving this year. I love the personalized gifts for EVERYONE - Snapfish has been my best friend for the past few years. There aren't a TON of people we get gifts for - immediate family, grandparents, and my godson. Maybe some friends? That's over 20 people right there.

This year, newly married, trying to save money, and enjoying the added bonus of not doing too much of the commercial Christmas thing, (I did go Black Friday shopping. It's FUN! I like buying stuff. Retail therapy and all that, I believe in it. :) But I definitely keep it to a minimum. Because not being able to pay my bills would cause way more stress.) we decided to make our own gifts. We have been saving our glass jars from salsa, applesauce, and jelly. Plus, we have lots of mason jars lying around -- so we decided to do gifts in a jar! Sand Art Brownie Mix, Cappuccino Mix, Friendship Soup Mix, French Vanilla Hot Chocolate, Candy Cane Bath Salts, and the most endeavorous of them all - Homemade Candles.

I'm not sure how well received they will be, but they were so much fun to make together. I got to be crafty, have an excuse to watch more TV, and test the mixes, of course. :) Yum! I went the grocery store to buy all the food mix ingredients - it was less than $50. Add to that the craft store materials (wax crystals, wicks, salts, fabric, ribbon, etc) and we made 25 jars for less than $100. That's less than $4 a gift. Shhh, don't tell. We'll probably give one or two to everyone on our list (except the little kids - they get sushi), plus a small gift that is more personal. It's really hard for me to restrain from not spending more on everyone -- I just want them to know how much I love them. :)

Here's the finished product of the cappuccino, hot chocolate, and brownie mixes:

After I made the mixes and put them in jars I decorated some of the jars with green and red fabric cut into stars or trees, a la this salsa jar turned cappuccino mix:

I also cut squares out of the fabric and hot glued them to the lid, then used some hemp string to tie the fabric around the jar. For most of them, the lid can easily be unscrewed with the fabric and string still in place. I cut the labels out of card stock, decorated them and put instructions on the back. This project is pretty darn environmentally friendly PLUS it's super affordable. Score. You're reusing old jars, buying some simple food and craft items, and spending a little time to create some really special gifts.

As far as wrapping goes, it would be most eco-savvy to not wrap the gifts at all. However, seeing as how we have a bazillion bags left over from our wedding, we'll be using those some some reused tissue paper to give most of these gifts. They are sort of wrapped already, but I really love the prolonged suspense of giving and getting gifts. Kids don't love gift bags so much, since they just want to tear through the paper. So I wrapped those in classifieds and added some cloth ribbon:

it's da sushi!

The ribbon, hemp string, and fabric really made a few simple gifts look nice. I'm really excited to give these out!

Here are a few more pictures of our hard work::

First time making candles -- they smell like lilac!

Yum. Chocolate chips.

(Recipes are from allrecipes.com, razzledazzlerecipes, and organizedchristmas.com.)