Green Tip #3

Not only do I recycle Ziploc bags, I recycle headers. It was time to say goodbye to Little Miss Chirper (I think I'm finally over her - it no longer pains my heart to hear a bird song), so I brought back last summer's banner. I think it was the first banner I ever created, completely by trial and error. Boy have I learned a lot in the past year thanks to trial and error.

So on to this week's green tip, which may be a slight stretch, but it works for me and hopefully it will work for you too. It's really simple and easy: Spend time together in the evening.



It dawned on me a few weeks ago that our family had developed a nightly routine. After dinner we generally retreat to the family room, each doing our own thing or playing a game, putting together a puzzle, reading a book or watching a movie (which we always do in the dark). I realized that gathering together in one room, only having one light on, one ceiling fan whirring, one computer running, dramatically reduced the amount of electricity we were using. If we were in different rooms each evening, we'd have three fans, at least three lights, possibly two computers, and maybe even a radio drawing electricity.



Spending time together, in a softly lit room, is not only very enjoyable, it will save you quite a few kilowatt hours over the course of a month. It's good for the family, good for the checkbook, and good for the earth.

George is starting a new schedule today, so I anticipate our routines will shift a bit. To help ease the change I've decided to take a little break from the blog and the computer in general. I've set up some automatic posts while I'm gone, just a few pictures, a few anecdotes - things I want to document so I can remember them later. I'm thinking next Sunday morning I'll snuggle in bed with my laptop, a pot of coffee, and catch up with all my favorite blogs. It will be like Christmas in July (to borrow a phrase from all the craft stores right now). Hope you have lots of amazing adventures this week, and gather together each night in one room to share them with your family.