2010, Here We Come

Dear Friends and Family,

A new year and a chance to look forward and back and pontificate. Here's a link to last year's post, but I'm not going to peek at it until after I write the bulk of this year's post.

How to begin writing about the year just past without writing about P? She's eight months old now and the changes continue to come faster than I ever thought possible. She's playing in a diaper box right now with Mr. mouse. We drew a dashboard on one end and have been pushing her around in it like it's a small car.

One of Mr. mouse's friends once told me (before we were even expecting) that God gives you only as much child as you can handle. And, in that regard, I think she was 100% on the mark. P's a happy baby (now that she's on Zantac) and she sleeps well and eats well and she does well with the long weekdays and semi-structured weekends. I still have trouble believing we've been entrusted with her care. Really, they should have tests and licenses required before allowing people to become parents.

And, because P can be so encompassing, a lot of stuff has fallen by the wayside. I have grand ambitions that 2010 will be better. First, once P is done breastfeeding, I'll get back between 2.5 and 3 hours a day that I currently spend on feeding and pumping. And, once she's done breastfeeding, I can tackle the weight loss without being afraid of losing milk supply.

So, here begins the look at the "stuff" that constitutes what I care about:

baby... maybe: Everyone asks - are we going to have another? And, much as I love P, I don't think we will. Baby #2 won't be P in miniature. And, the experience won't be a rewind of P. It'll be a whole new experience and it'll be that much more complicated for involving four moving parts. For now, I'm happy with one.

clutter diet: For having an infant in the house, we've done well on this front. P has a crib and mattress, a pack and play (that we use for a changing table), a swing and bouncy chair (that are both going on Craigslist soon since she's outgrown both of them), two strollers, and a high chair. We have a couple of tubs of toys and books. And, a scary collection of plastic (bottles, milk storage vials, and pump accessories). But, overall, we've kept it sane as far as the addition of stuff. And, because we had to clear out the basement and garage to make room for her, she's net negative as far as clutter is concerned. And, because I need to clear out space in the basement for P stuff that I want to save, she continues to force us to manage our clutter.

green is good: For a tiny baby, P has a carbon footprint the size of Texas. She has diapers and wipes. We kept the house cool for her over the summer and warm for her over the winter. We drive to school/daycare together every day. And, our laundry and dishwasher consumption has skyrocketed. This one will require some thought to kick start again.

korean soap operas: I had the "talk" with my mom while we were home for the holidays. She'll come out to visit in February, but realizes that moving out here into our basement for six months isn't going to happen.

make your mark: I'm not sure how this will play out. This is still something that I want to do, but I'm still not sure how, yet. For Christmas, Mr. mouse and I made charitable donations instead of buying each other stuff. I donated my share towards The March of Dimes (because they provided so much info on premature babies when I was afraid P would be early), The Heifer Organization (providing livestock to people in need), and a local women's shelter (because everyone needs a partner when fighting abuse).

money matters: We've been fortunate. We've been able to chip away at the pile of debt that everyone seems to carry around. And, with luck, we'll be free and clear by the end of 2010. (Yes, that includes the mortgage!) Our strategy? We live on one income and we save the other. It required a lot of discipline when we first started back in 2001, but, now, it's second nature. I am the first to say, we're fortunate. Both of us enjoy our work. And, both of us earn enough to make living on one income possible. But, it's not a walk in the park. Money is like closet space. Whatever you have, you use up, and wish you had 10% more.

mouse pad: This year, we WILL tackle all of the water ingestion.

the first year: P has headphones on while sitting in her high chair. Mr. mouse is getting ready to puree some avocados and some fish. She doesn't like the food processor. Hence the headphones.

travel: Eight flights and two road trips down, P's a seasoned traveler. We just need to get her a passport.

wellness: After P hits her one year mark, I'll begin this in earnest.

work: I enjoy it. It pays the bills. I wish it was a shorter commute.

Okay. Now, I peek at last year's post. Hmmm... not far off the mark. I'm okay with it and looking forward to 2011.


Cheers!
mouse

Re-Inspired, Re-Energized and Re-Committed to Be Green

Dear Friends and Family,

Last night, Mr. mouse and I got the chance to hear Al Gore speak.

And, I'm realized I needed to get over the guilt and step on my carbon footprint scale. I've been drinking bottled drinks. And, we've been keeping the house warm. And, I've been driving when I need to. And, I've had diapers looming in my future. And, A/C for Pioneer. And, I just thought, my goodness, I can't do this!

Well, I can. Okay, I don't think I'll ever be able to convince Mr. mouse to use cloth diapers. But, that doesn't mean I can't be doing my part to try to make this world a better place for Pioneer when they grow up. Al Gore reminded me last night that at the rate we're going, the summer polar ice cap will be a distant memory within the next five years, before Pioneer even goes to school.

I'm going to do my part to slow or reverse that trend.


Cheers!
mouse

01.19.09: Basement Work Weekend

Dear Friends and Family,

This weekend was originally slated for house clean up and party prep. But, we decided to use it to continue work on the basement.

The weekend started with a trip to the doctor's office to check-in on Pioneer's progress. I didn't have much new to report and the doctor thought things were going swimmingly and didn't have much new to add. Easy enough. Next appointment in four weeks. We have a gestational diabetes screening at that point along with another ultrasound and another thyroid check. Then, we go to every two weeks for appointments.

On the way home, we stopped by Home Depot to pick up paint chips. They have a new Freshaire Paint line by Glidden. No volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which means no paint smell. It goes on beautifully. I'm a convert. I love it. Granted it's about $20 more a gallon which isn't trivial. But, for the fact that the house didn't reek of paint all weekend, and we only needed one gallon - I'm sold.

We painted one of the walls in the basement. I didn't want to paint the whole basement this past weekend. But, we wanted to put up shelving and I did want to paint that wall. So, we decided to go with an accent wall. That way, when the rest of the basement gets painted, we can go with a different color and not worry about matching or anything. We're so clever sometimes ;)

Then, while I met with our homeowner's association to figure out our snow removal woes, Mr. mouse went to Ikea to pick up our shelving system. We went out for Chinese Saturday night. Afterward, Mr. mouse removed about a foot of carpeting by the newly painted accent wall area since our shelving would be a lot more solid on bare floor than carpeting (which is eventually going away anyway).

Sunday, we put up the shelving. Then, we started moving stuff around in the basement. It's like those games we used to get as party favors where you've got to get all the numbers in order, but only have one space free and you need to move a million and one pieces to get the first number in place. I fell asleep close to midnight with a sense of accomplishment, but thinking there's still a lot more work to be done.

I woke to find it all done beyond anything I could have imagined in four hours. And, Mr. mouse reorganized the kitchen to boot. This, I need to rewind the tape and explain some.

Our electrical company was offering a $25 incentive for old refrigerators and freezers. Granted, we used ours for storage and it wasn't plugged in, so it wasn't consuming electricity, so I'm not sure we were their target audience. But, we figured it was a good opportunity to have someone haul away the fridge for free, in fact for a $25 check that'll be arriving in 4-6 weeks. They picked up our fridge on Friday.

We needed to move all the stuff out of the fridge and into boxes. And, once they took the fridge, out of boxes and into a kitchen island we have. And, we needed to clear out a bookcase from the guest room, soon to be Pioneer's room, and bring it downstairs for the stuff that used to be on our island. With me so far? Well, in addition to the basement, Mr. mouse did all of that last night as well.

Granted, the house still needs to be cleaned for the party. And, there's still a third of the basement to get through. But, it feels absolutely AMAZING to see the progress. And, for the third that we still need to get through, half of it is designated sell/donate, we just need to get it on it's way, so it's really a sixth of the basement that remains. Whoopee!


Cheers!
mouse

CSA Box Contents

Dear Friends and Family,

After a four week hiatus, we're getting a box tonight. Due to bad rains, our CSA had to skip a shipment (and tack one on at the end). The last box we got is long gone. We had some snap peas go bad (I forgot about them), but other than that, we ate it all.

According to the newsletter, we can expect:

• green peppers
• cabbage
• carrots
• bottle onions
• garlic
• sweet corn
• melon
• cauliflower
• heirloom tomatoes
• new potatoes
• red tomatoes
• chard
• lemon basil

And, we get an egg share (a dozen eggs).

My plan of attack (in order of preference):

Tomatoes can be used with our crazy basil to make caprese salad. Melon. Fruit is delicious. Carrots, pre-cut into 3 oz portions for easy snacking. Sweet corn will get roasted and then made into a salad with beans and lime and cilantro. Bottle onions will roast on the grill. Chard gets made into soup, I'm sure. Green peppers will most probably get roasted on the grill. Potatoes get eaten randomly. Which leaves cabbage, cauliflower, and lemon basil. Things that make you go hmm.

And, our garden. I've been having a ton of fun with the garden. The tomatoes and peppers are doing great. We've had 54 cherry/grape tomatoes so far. And, each one is a luscious bite of juicy, red, tomatoey sweetness. There's no comparison. Supermarket tomatoes just taste like water afterwards. We've had 16 banana peppers, 11 jalapeño peppers, and 28 cayenne peppers; it's enough to share. I sent some home with B for Chef M. I repotted the peppers this weekend to give them more room to grow. I'm planning on taking them in for the fall and growing them indoors over the winter. We'll see. Very happy with my peppers. Our zucchini, which was supposed to be the easy, sure-fire thing, has turned out to be a total bust. One sad little zucchini fruit so far and the plant is doing this crazy twisty-turny, climb out of the soil, don't fertilize thing. I've just about given up on it. And, our melons? We have two of the most adorable little cantaloupe growing on our melon vines. We'll see if they grow into anything edible. Next year, I may just do a crazy batch of tomatoes. Or, I may try other plants in lieu of the zucchini.

The other thing grand experiment we'll be embarking on this week is trying to harvest the seeds from the CSA box. I want to try saving the seeds from the melon and the tomatoes. We can plant them next spring and see if anything comes of it all.

And, last but definitely not least, our neighbors got in last night! Well, at least the Mom and Daughter did. Dad wasn't scheduled to come in until Friday. They picked me up at work and we headed out for conveyor belt sushi. Today, they're headed out to Lincoln Park today to go to the zoo, do a cupcake crawl and enjoy the neighborhood walks. I hope the weather cooperates.


Cheers!
mouse

Electricity Tracking: July 2008

Dear Friends and Family,

We got the next electricity bill. And, at 536 kWh, it's definitely up from last month's 336 kWh. That's 200 kWh of A/C, my friends. I'm not complaining, it's still down a whopping 55% from last year's 1,187 kWh.

I have more good news on the green front. I found a potential option for our roof. The key search terms were vertical axis wind turbine residential. The vertical axis is key for roof mounted applications which would be the case in our situation.

Mariah Power has a unit, the Windspire, that generates 2,000 kWh a year. By my math, we'd need two to meet our general needs, three if we wanted a some of our A/C covered. It's got potential. Will have to mull it over and keep an eye out for alternatives.


Cheers!
mouse

CSA Box Contents

Dear Friends and Family,

Wow. Box #3. We didn't do a good job on the last box. So our plan over the next two weeks will need to be particularly aggressive.

According to the newsletter, we can expect:

• romaine lettuce
• cucumbers
• baby onions, leeks, or scallions
• raspberries
• snap peas, snow peas, or green beans
• fennel
• zucchini
• cabbage
• potatoes

And, we get an egg share (a dozen eggs).

And, leftover from our last box:

• kale or collards
• garlic scapes
• zucchini (one)
• grape leaves
• cucumbers

And, we get an egg share (ten left).

My plan of attack (in order of preference):

Raspberries. I love berries. Salad with the lettuce and the cucumbers. Cucumbers and depending upon which peas, as munchable snacks. Green beans, snap peas, zucchini can all be stir fried. Potatoes can be made into a hash with garlic, onion and a little olive oil. Mr. mouse uses the fennel with fish. Garlic scapes, grilled with a little olive oil. Kale or collards, hardy green and bean soup. Grape leaves, stuff them with rice and make dolmades from them. Cabbage, stuff with rice and ground beef. And, last but not least, baby onions, leeks or scallions, seems like something we can use fairly quickly and easily.

And the garden, lots of banana and jalapeño peppers, three pollinated zucchini, and lots of tomatoes. The peppers are growing nicely. I hope of harvest a couple more soon. The zucchini is now officially a science experiment. I pollinated another one yesterday. Tons of blossoms on the cantaloupe, but no signs of fruit yet. And, lots of green tomatoes, but no red ones yet. The rosemary is still looking mostly brown with some signs of green. And, our basil is officially out of control. And that covers the food update for the next couple of weeks.


Cheers!
mouse

CSA Box Contents

Dear Friends and Family,

It's Wednesday which means we get to pick up another box. We've made good progress on the last box. The mint, radishes, and pea tendrils are left from it. We'll use the radishes and pea tendrils in the salad this week (forgot to add them the last time) and the mint is becoming mint ice cream.

According to the newsletter, we can expect:

• lettuce
• radishes or turnips
• strawberries
• kale or collards
• garlic scapes
• sugar peas or snap peas
• frisee or arugula
• zucchini
• grape leaves
• cucumbers
• kohlrabi

And, we get an egg share (a dozen eggs).

My plan of attack (in order of preference):

Mint, must make ice cream this week. Strawberries, five ounces a day until they're consumed. Garlic scapes and zucchini, grilled with a little olive oil. Kale or collards, hardy green and bean soup. We made it with the escarole last night and it was delicious. Salad with the lettuce, radishes (both this week's and last week's), pea tendrils, cucumbers and arugula or frisee. Sugar peas or snap peas, I'll munch on one or stir fry the other. Grape leaves, stuff them with rice and make dolmades from them. And, last but not least, kohlrabi, not a clue on what to do with that one.

And the garden, have one banana pepper growing, several zucchini and several tomatoes. Tons of blossoms on the cantaloupe, but no signs of fruit yet. And that covers the food update for the next couple of weeks.


Cheers!
mouse

CSA Box Contents

Dear Friends and Family,

We signed up for the summer crop share this year. And, our first box is tonight. I'm so excited - fresh, organic, local produce. Life is good.

According to the newsletter, we can expect:

• rhubarb
• mint
• lettuce
• radish
• spinach
• hardy green
• asparagus
• strawberries
• green garlic
• sunflower sprouts or pea tendrils

And, we get an egg share (a dozen eggs).

My plan of attack (in order of preference):

Strawberries, five ounces a day until they're consumed. Sadly, I think they'll be consumed too quickly. Mint, ice cream, oh, it's so good. Asparagus, grilled with a little olive oil and kosher salt. Lettuce and spinach, washed and made ahead into salad mix for lunches throughout the two weeks. Sunflower sprouts or pea tendrils, probably stir fried for dinner one night. We eat pea tendrils that way, so my assumption going in is that the sunflower sprouts work the same way. Which leaves the rhubarb, radish, hardy green (e.g. kale, collard green), and green garlic for us to figure out during the two weeks.

Fun, fun, fun. And, lots of blossoms now on the zucchini, cantaloupe and tomato plants. I can't believe I'm so excited about something I so took for granted - my food. It's going to be an amazing summer.


Cheers!
mouse

Electricity Tracking: June 2008

Dear Friends and Family,

With my new found heat tolerance (another reason I suspect the thyroid ain't what she used to be), we were able to make it through May without turning on the A/C. And, I'm happy to report we hit a new low in our electrical usage: 336 kWh for the month. Yeah!

If you're wondering what drove the latest drop, my guess is it's the last of the benefit from unplugging the second fridge on Earth Day. Since we unplugged it in the middle of the billing cycle, the last bill had three weeks benefit and this was our first full month.

Seven more kWh to my next goal of 329 kWh, but I don't think we'll be playing that game until August or September. We've already had a couple of days now where I've caved and turned on the A/C. Still, we're getting to the point where wind power is becoming a real possibility.


Cheers!
mouse

SIGG Water Bottles

Dear Friends and Family,

Remember back in February when I made a note to self to buy stock in SIGG? Of course not. Well, just to prove my point, here's the link. When I purchased my bottles, there were about six or seven pages of bottles. And, I picked four. And, in April it was down to three pages and I picked (but didn't order) two more bottles. I was trying to coordinate with a friend and by the time she went to look, it was down to two pages of really lame bottles. And, we passed on ordering.

Fortunately, I found my two bottles while in Austin and bought them there. And, now, when you go to the website, it all makes sense.

Our Swiss factory is working around the clock to produce and ship more bottles to us, but the demand has currently and for the near future - exceeded the supply.

Score: 1 for mouse. I love it when I'm right.


Cheers!
mouse

Thinking Ahead to January

Dear Friends and Family,

It's May, and I'm already thinking ahead to next January. Because, I was appalled at the level of trash you can generate when you have 70 of your closest friends over to party. Granted, a lot of it is recyclable (e.g. beer bottles), but a lot of it also got thrown in the trash.

I'd been scanning the aisles and the web for affordable, dishwasher safe bowls/plates and cups. And, we found a bunch at Target (of course) for $0.33 a bowl and $0.25 a cup. And, we bought out the store by work, and one of my friends from work bought out her store. And, we bought out the store in Detroit. And, the store by home. And, then, realized we had too many. So, we returned a couple of cups.

So, for our Chinese New Year party next January, we'll have 240 shiny, new, reusable bowls and cups. We've toyed with two different options - letting them become full of graffiti with people decorating on top of decorating each year until each bowl/cup is a unique work of art -OR- tagging each bowl/cup with a phrase so people could remember theirs. We could do compliments (e.g. charming) on the bowls and locations (e.g. London) on the cups. Both options have their appeal. Fortunately, we have months to decide.


Cheers!
mouse

Electricity Tracking: May 2008

Dear Friends and Family,

electricity usage: 360

Woot! Last month, we used 425 kWh of electricity which was 25 kWh below our first goal of 450. I wanted to wait a second month to see if it was a fluke or it was sustainable. And, wow, yes, it was. I guess unplugging the old refrigerator on Earth Day was well worth it. I can't imagine plugging it back in now.

Goal #2 would have been 405. Goal #3 would have been 365. Goal #4 (the current goal) is 329 kWh per month. I'll keep you posted on the progress.


Cheers!
mouse

Happy Earth Day

Dear Friends and Family,

weigh in: 122 (ugh)

It's Earth Day 2008! What will you do to make a difference?

My game plan is to unplug the second fridge. I wanted to do something that'll make a difference every day, not just today. And, it'll save us between 50 and 60 kWh of electricity per month. We have some leftover beer and wine from January that needs to find a home in the main fridge.

Okay. I'm four bottles of beer and and one bottle of wine away from being able to unplug the second fridge. The four beers are totally expendable. So, if we have the wine tonight, we should be able to unplug the fridge. Done.

So, I'm doing my part to save the Earth by toasting it with a bottle of wine tonight. What could be better? That was easy. (And, more importantly, real. At our run rate, that's a 10% reduction in electricity usage.)


Cheers!
mouse

New Google Maps Feature

Dear Friends and Family,

I have to say it, I love Google sometimes. They just added a new feature to their maps functionality that allows you to get directions using public transportation (in addition to the driving directions they've always provided).

www.google.com/transit

has a list of the different cities covered and

maps.google.com/help/maps/transit/index.html

has a short video clip on how it all works.

I have to admit it, I am excited.


Cheers!
mouse

03.31.08: One Day Away from April

Dear Friends and Family,

Can it really almost be April? Wow.

The days fly by. The weeks fly by. The months fly by. And, before you know it, the years fly by. And, by default, life flies by. I wonder, will we wake up one day and wonder where all the time went? I have a sneaking suspicion we will.

Saturday, like all Saturdays we're in town, we slept in. But, wait, our weekend started Friday night. Friday night, we went out to pick up the mail and my glasses finally arrived. Yeah! Then, since traffic was bad, we stayed out in the burbs for dinner (Korean) and some impromptu grocery shopping at a Turkish supermarket. We picked up some bulgur, pilaf, pistachios, and Turkish Delight.

Now, back to Saturday. We slept in. And, I'm trying to remember what we did, but we had an amazingly slow start to the day. We headed out to look at window treatments since J.C. Penney was having their annual window treatment sale. And, we found a couple that we liked. But, even with the sale, I was having a little sticker shock. I just don't think they're worth that amount of money. We checked out a sample book to look at the options at home and headed downtown for Earth Hour.


The premise was to turn off all non-essential lights for one hour to remind people of how much extraneous energy we consume. We had turned off all of our electrical and gas usage (minus the two refrigerators, one cordless phone and answering machine, and one dusk to dawn light that doesn't have a switch) before heading out for the day, so we did our part. It was pretty cool.

It was midnight before we got pizza for dinner. So, we crashed pretty hard afterwards. Sunday, got up, got ready, headed out to our favorite bar for breakfast and an F1 race. It was from two weekends ago while we were in Florida, but they were closed last weekend for Easter. It all worked out okay. Then, home to look at more window treatments online. Ultimately, we decided to go the super cheap route and hang some valances from the original mouse house. Total outlay: $0. Cheaper than anything at J.C. Penney, Home Depot, Three Day Blinds, really than anywhere we looked. Hit Target from some odds and ends. Roasted a chicken with acorn squash for dinner. Watched the last couple of minutes of the Kansas/Davidson game. And, turned in for the night.


Cheers!
mouse

PS: My sister's wedding is set for Saturday, September 27th. Fun and games.

Earth Hour: March 29

Dear Friends and Family,

Sorry. Got distracted reading about Earth Hour, and composters, and garden seeds, and before you knew it, the morning disappeared. And, now, I've gotta hustle to get to work.

Here's the link to info about Earth Hour.

http://www.earthhourus.org/

Cheers!
mouse

101 Cookbooks

Dear Friends and Family,

No flashes of brilliance this morning. But, want to share one of the better cooking blogs I've been reading. Lots of gorgeous photos and inspiring recipes.

www.101cookbooks.com

I'm eager to spend some time in the kitchen this weekend. It's almost spring!


Cheers!
mouse

New Morning Transit Entertainment

Dear Friends and Family,

I'm super excited about a website a friend told me about.

www.dailylit.com

You can subscribe to books, and they email you an installment everyday at a specified time. Perfect for my morning and evening commutes. And, it solves the dilemma of not getting the paper or magazines or books since it doesn't generate paper. And, I'm not adding to future landfills with another electronic device.

I ordered The Time Machine. My first installment is due at 6 o'clock this morning. I haven't been this excited since I found out my lovely friends at Google have an SMS account.


Cheers!
mouse

Organic Wine

Dear Friends and Family,

I ordered two bottles of organic wine this morning from www.wine.com. They have a nice filter built in to sort by organic wines. Then, I sorted by California, thinking staying within the hemisphere is nice. I selected a red and a wine based on price and ratings.

• 2004 Luna Merlot, $30, rated 93 and 91
• 2006 Grgich Hills Fume Blanc, $30, rated 93 and 91

Knowing my wine consumption rates, that'll last me well into 2008. I'm excited about getting them. It's step 1 on another exciting journey.


Cheers!
mouse

Massive Catch Up Post

Dear Friends and Family,

Just need to catch up on the million and one little things that make life interesting.

1. weigh in: 121. Get out of town. From five days worth of eating? Time to start counting again. Today. New approach obviously doesn't work.
2. January budget: $465.45 ($105 haircut, $85 water bottles, $62 gym, $59 coin sets, $55 napkins, $26 train pass, $17 Weight Watchers, $15 OM Yoga intermediate, $12 taxi, $11 lunch at work, $11 Amos' stocking stuffer, $7 coffee at work, $2 parking)
3. Action Item #7: Paperless statements for American Express. Less paper is a good thing.
4. Action Item #8: Paperless statements for Master Card. Ditto above.
5. Action Item #9: Bought napkins for the home. Nicer than "paper" and they're reusable.
6. Action Item #10: Bought water bottles. They're metal, so none of the leaching controversy.
7. overall health: excellent. Still have blacking out in the morning. Great.
8. cholesterol: doing better. HDL: 50. Up from 41. Still want to get it over 60.

Phew. I think I'm all caught up. A week and a half's worth of posts in one. Sorry for the data dump. It's almost Friday!


Cheers!
mouse