Weekend WrapUp

We had a really great weekend. It was a very busy one.

It started on Friday night with Tim's prom. They went to the Ivy House for dinner, and we all met there for pictures. It was my son's first time in a tux....he looked great! And his girlfriend was beautiful. Here are a few pictures!

my son does NOT like to smile for photos, plus although he wouldn't admit it, he was nervous.

I tried to make him laugh....

...and eventually succeeded.

Of course I had to get into one shot!

They both said prom was "amazing". I'm so glad they enjoyed it.

After the picture session Elayna had a softball game. She did very well and her team won, again! I was supposed to work an extra shift that night, but ended up being cancelled, which was just fine, thank you!

Saturday was super busy but fun. On Saturday morning, Elayna had another softball game in another county/town. They won again, and she did very well again. She's really improving, and it's exciting to watch!
Afterwards, we went to Pioneer Days with my sister, niece, and niece's fiance. It's a craft show with lots of different activities that is held every year in a nearby town. We got some fresh veggies from local farmers and a pepper plant for our yard!
When we left there, we really got busy. We needed several things for the house, and several things to accomplish my Going Greener goals. We got the materials to make laundry soap, materials for a clothes line, a window herb garden, and several other things for the house....ran a few more errands and then went home to get busy.
Not like that, you pervs!
{That was later.}
Ahem! Anyhoo, we got SO much accomplished, it was great!


Then on Sunday, we were so exhausted we slept in...way in...and got up in time to pick up Andrew, then John had to work an extra shift. The girls stayed an extra night with their dad, so it was just me and Andrew at home. We were totally lazy!
The weekend went by way too fast and I was not ready to see it end!
Hope you all had a wonderful weekend, and if you blogged about it, link up here!

ETA: Last week, I mentioned that my reader was down. Well apparently, it was constipated but over the weekend had a major blowout. I now have 740 unread posts in my reader! If I haven't been by lately, it's because my reader was holding your posts in. I'm going to have to mark all read and start over - in a NEW READER!! So if I haven't been by, I promise, it's not you....it's my reader. (GRR!)

Earth Day 2010

Today is Earth Day, and it couldn't have come at a more appropriate time in my life.
When we found the house that we just moved into, I immediately made a commitment to myself to start being more "green" once we moved in. We have a huge yard, so there's more room for some of the things I wanted to do. Also, the house is bigger and comes with a large, sparkly, refreshing money pit called a pool! So this will increase our energy bills. I want to save money anywhere I can, while going green!
These are my green goals thus far:



1. Recycle more. I want to be more conscientious about recycling, and try to recycle everything that I possibly can. While we were moving, I learned that there is no recycling pickup at our new home. But that's ok, we're just adding a trip to the dump to our weekend routine. This one is starting immediately.

2. Start a compost pile. I have plenty of room and plenty of grass clippings & other organic matter. This is good for the environment and keeps a lot of stuff out of the landfills. I'm hoping to start this weekend.

3. Install a clothes line. I'm going to start line drying some of our clothes. It saves energy, a win for the earth and for my finances! (I also never, ever wash in hot water. I don't even hook up the hot water to my washer.) We're doing that this weekend.

4. Make my own laundry soap. I learned about this over at Loving Mom 2 Boys' blog, and I'm really excited about it! I'm also doing that this weekend.

5. Plant vegetables/herbs. Although I have the room to plant a big garden, I lack the time and the know-how. I know my limits! But I may plant some tomato and pepper plants, and a few herbs. I also am going to make an effort to buy locally whenever possible. This will be done in the next few weeks, hopefully.

How about you?
Obviously not everyone can plant gardens and put up clotheslines, but you can start thinking of smaller things to do. Here are a few of my suggestions:

- Switch to energy saving light bulbs.
- Use cloth shopping bags. (buy a stash and try to keep them in your car.)
- Plant a small indoor herb garden.
- Buy locally. (learn how that helps here.)
- Visit www.EarthDay.org for more ideas and tips.

Happy Earth Day!