What To Do??

Here's the problem....due to the drought in our area, the school I work at has gone over to all disposable trays in the cafeteria (to save water from washing reusable trays). I have been disturbed for a while about the amount of waste this is creating (we're talking about upwards of 700 styrofoam trays a day in the garbage!) So, I've been looking at recycling options, but I can't find a recycling center anywhere close that accepts styrofoam...the trays do have a recycle symbol on them (#6). Any suggestions out there? I would really appreciate it if anyone had a good idea. :) So far, all I can come up with is offering the students some sort of incentive for bringing plates from home. :(

Nonprofit of the Week #5 (Kind of)

Through the World Wildlife Fund's newsletter, I discovered Earth Hour 2008. It's a global effort to turn off the lights and conserve energy for just one hour at 8:00 pm on March 29, 2008. I think we'll take that opportunity to hang out by candlelight....you could turn it into a romantic evening or an adventure with the kids. :D

Valentine's Day

A bit overdue, but I thought I would bring you a Valentine's Day update. On the day itself, John and I exchanged "gifts" when we got home from work and ordered dinner from Outback to bring home. (We both hate the crowds and insanity involved in actually eating in a restaurant on Valentine's.) He gave me a heart-tastic pen with fluffy stuff on it....it lights up when you write with it! :) I gave him a card and a red paper clip....long story, but trust me it wasn't just the act of a delusional nitwit that caused me to give my husband colorful office supplies for Valentine's. We're really not big on the whole concept of Valentine's Day...we feel like the obligatory gifts and whatnot are nearly meaningless, yet we seem unable to let it go altogether. Strange, that.

Grace went to a dance the Friday after Valentine's....can you believe they have dances for 1st graders? That seems odd to me. She didn't like it at all. She said it was too loud and too bright....that's our party girl! :D She gave little cards to John and me...they had tatoos with them which you can see in the following pictures:

I also received some super-sweet handmade Valentines from my students...here's a sampling:

Stay tuned for a nonprofit of the week post to come later this evening. :)

Nonprofit of the Week #4

A lot of you are probably aware of www.freerice.com, but just in case you're not, I thought I would feature it here. It's a really cool web site where you can practice your vocabulary and earn grains of rice to feed the hungry at the same time. Each word you get right earns 20 grains of rice (which are paid for with advertising). There's a FAQ on the site that does a great job of answering any questions. Have fun getting your learn on. :)

Me Vs. Urine Stench....Who Will Win???

I had a fabulous day of letterboxing today with my friend, Dina B. We had already found a few letterboxes, planted 3 more letterboxes in the world and had lunch when we headed out for a letterbox located on a local greenway. We enjoyed the greenway, saw a deer with new antlers running along a creek, found the box (which had a great stamp) and then headed back to the parking area. Since we were both in need of a restroom, we chose to use the port-a-potty there in the parking lot. This port-a-potty had one of those nifty foot pump hand washing devices in it which I made use of (as did Dina before me)....after getting back in the car, we made the horrid discovery....our hands smelled like pee! Old, stale, super freaky nasty pee! Dina busts out the baby wipes and we rub our hands almost raw trying to get the smell off. Then she pulls out some lotion to help rid us of the scent....but to no avail. We still smell like pee hands. Well, we were heading to another park and we figured we would wash our hands for real there. And we did....multiple times with enough soap to kill a gorilla (if soap killed gorillas). Still we smelled like pee. And we continued to smell like pee as we continued to find letterboxes, stop in a drug store for a couple of things, etc. Not until I got home and washed my hands for about 3 years did the stench go away. Geez. Moral of this story? I think it may be better to just walk away from the port-a-potty and hope for the best than try to be sanitary in one of those things. :)

Weekends Are Goooood

I've had an all-around fabulous couple of days. I went to visit my mom on Saturday and my dad on Sunday. I learned the fascinating fact that there are still doctors who make house calls. That worked out fabulously well for my mom who needed some antibiotics, but didn't really want to wait the 48 hours needed to get van transportation to her doctor's office. She seems to be on the mend, so yay for doctors who make house calls! On Sunday, I went for a walk with my dad...we walked for about 5 miles and found a letterbox along the way. I was also able to get 3 letterboxes planted on that trail. Woohoo.

Speaking of letterboxes, I discovered last night that one of mine now has a "blue diamond." For those of you who don't partake of the greatest hobby known to all of humankind, that means that people have rated that box high enough for it to be in the top 5% of letterboxes out there. Woohoo, again! :D

Other highlights of the weekend included an awesome pair of boots on sale, eating at a super-yummy Italian place with my dad and finding organic strawberry preserves.

I neglected to mention a nonprofit of the week last week, so let me point out what I discovered tonight at Starbucks. You can purchase a pound of coffee in the store, write a message on it with a permanent marker and leave it in a basket there for them to ship to soldiers who stationed outside of the country. If you agree with the war or not, a soldier deserves a decent cup of coffee. :) I think it's pretty cool that Starbucks is picking up the tab for sending all of that coffee overseas. (Yes, I know that Starbucks stands to gain something here, too, but they don't have to do what they're doing. They also sponsor tons of toy, school supplies and food drives that do not profit their stores nearly as much.)

I'm still waiting to hear from the Adopt-A-Highway people about our stretch of road. I'm impatient to hear if we got the strip of road that I requested. I'd like to get to it. :)

Have a great week, world!