An Eco Friendly Funeral?

I’m a cemetery buff. I admit it. You may think it’s weird, but it’s true. I love cemeteries and have ever since I was little. My grandma’s farm was right next to an abandoned one-room white church and small cemetery. My mom and I used to walk up to the cemetery and wander around looking at the graves. My dad used to mow the cemetery when he was younger. (Although this is where my dad’s ties with cemeteries end. My mom and I are working on him though!) Enter husband who also loves cemeteries, and you have the perfect family. For Mother’s Day, we went to a cemetery near my parents’ house that we had never been to before and saw some beautiful architecture, flowers, shrubs and graves (see below).

I ran across this website the other day, advertising an eco-friendly burial. It’s located just miles from where I grew up. I never knew such a thing existed. “What is it?” you ask. It’s a burial that doesn’t use a vault or embalming fluid, nor a tombstone. Everything is biodegradable. Basically it sounds like they just dig you a hole in the middle of a field or a forest, lower you in, and then cover you up with dirt.

Now don’t get me wrong. I love eco-friendly things. But as a traditional cemetery person, I just can’t jump on this bandwagon. I don’t like the idea of cremation either. I want to be laid in the ground and have a nice tombstone so my descendants can find me a couple hundred years from now. The genealogist in me just can’t imagine being buried without a marker.

What do you think? Yay or nay for eco-friendly funerals?

Baby Pics

I'm in the mood to post baby pics of my little sweet pea. Please bear with me, this will only last a moment!

The cousins, born 2 1/2 months apart. Mine is the shrimpy one!

The cousins again, after Joel had gotten a little bit bigger.

Projects One, Two, Three

Here's what I was up to yesterday and the day before, in case y'all are interested!

Feed the baby. Burp the baby. Change the baby. Pump breastmilk. Repeat. Repeat.
Put baby down for a nap. Get some me time. Yay!

Work on the kid stove:


Feed the baby. Burp the baby. Change the baby. Pump breastmilk. Repeat. Go to CVS and Walgreens and get some amazing deals like free-after-catalinas Colgate toothpaste (savings of $4.50). Hit a couple thrift stores looking for Hawaiian shirts for a themed wedding this weekend. (Found one for hubby and a dress for me though I spent ten bucks... a little more than I like to spend at a thrift store)

Baby fell asleep in the car so I get some more me time. Make a kid tool belt (Why am I having such a hard time finding a toy hammer? I saw one the other day at a thrift store but it was too babyish and didn't fit in with the other tools I had already thrifted). I altered the instructions... more on that at a later date.

Not quite finished- still have to attach the strap to wrap it around the waist. Aren't all the thrifted tools cool? Each one was about 50c.

Baby wakes up hungry. Feed, burp, diaper, pump. Put dinner on. Watch Life After People with hubby. (That show is fascinating). Hubby watches the rugrat while I have some more me time.

Do a wardrobe refashion. Take a beach coverup that doesn't fit, cut out the middle, and sew the hip part back on underneath the bust to make a tank top for this still-fat-after-pregnancy belly.

I know it's hard to tell, but this is not quite knee length.

The finished product! It hides the chubby belly pretty good. Good as can be expected, anyway.

Tough Meat Tuesday

Memes are all the rage now, aren't they? I had never even heard of the word "meme" until a couple days ago! I actually had to go to Merriam-Webster to even find out what it is. (I know I'm a dictionary nerd).

What about Tough Meat Tuesday? That's one that I don't think exists yet. With the current economy being what it is, we should all be making use of cheap meat. There's lots of people who do meatless days (especially Meatless Monday) but my hubby is a carnivore. He likes his meat, and I couldn't stand to watch his sad little face if I were to sit a vege pizza or some kind of tofu burger in front of him once a week.

Today I'll be crockpotting some pork shoulder to make barbecue pork. What's going on in your kitchen today?

Dung Bunnies. (Bunnies made of Dung). And a Kid Stove.

Yes, you read that right. I just had to share this with you. I've been surfing the web since Joel fell asleep, and I ran across this website that sells rabbits molded out of horse manure. Apparently, you put them in your garden and over the course of the year, it disintegrates and fertilizes your plants. I know that manure makes a great fertilizer; this takes it to a whole new level.

In other news, I'm in the process of crafting something! I haven't done anything crafty lately, and I was feeling the itch. I was in a felt-food-making-frenzy this past winter, and I knew that I wanted to make a little kitchen to go with it. I found this today, and it serves as the inspiration for what I'm currently making. Basically you take a plastic container and add the red coils for the burners, and voila, you have yourself a kid stove. Mine's a little different than hers. She used paper to create the stovetop, however since the plastic container I'm using doesn't have a clear bottom, that would not have worked for me. I am using the blue plastic container that the wet swiffer refills come in. I know, those things aren't very eco-friendly, however back when Licorice the Rabbit (not to be confused with a dung bunny) was alive, they were what did the best job at cleaning up after him.

First I spraypainted the swiffer container's lid black. Next I tried red pipe cleaners to make the coils, however that didn't work out too well. I switched tactics and instead grabbed a small round butter lid and spraypainted it red. I'm still waiting for it to dry, but once it's dry, I'll glue it down to the black surface with some craft adhesive. I also will need a second one, but that will have to wait until I finish up the next tub of butter. I also used a cap from a 2 liter of pop, spray painted black, as the knob to "turn on" the burners. I am planning on gluing it down, however then it will not turn. If you have any ideas as to how to make it turn, please let me know!

Here's some half-way done pics:

What $2.52 Can Buy You

Yep. It's quite the haul, isn't it? The cheese was 2/$3. The coffee filters were 99c. The soup was on clearance for 80c. The toothpaste was $4.50 but you got $4.50 back in Register Rewards so it's like it's free! The deodorant was on sale for $2 plus I had a 75c off coupon. I used $8.50 in Register Rewards (RRs), so I only had to pay $2.52 OOP (out of pocket).

Now I can't get that song out of my mind. You know, the one that goes, "Get down with OOP! Yeah you know me! Get down with OOP! Yeah you know me! ..." Oh wait, it's OPP. Nevermind.

Menu Planning Monday: 5-18-09

For those of you who are visiting me from orgjunkie.com, hello! Let me introduce myself briefly. I'm a new SAHM to a beautiful little boy. I've been on maternity leave from teaching since my son was born in February and since then have been laid off due to a levy failure in my school district. My husband's salary is only about half of mine so needless to say, we're living pretty tightly now!

I had my first menu planning experience when I was in middle school. My best friend was in charge of cooking dinner every night for her family. Her mom was a dietician at a nursing home and so she was probably used to coming up with meal plans. She would write everything out on a calendar and post it on the fridge so her daughter knew what she was supposed to make each day.

Fast forward 15 years. I've embraced it on and off for several years, however now that I'm a SAHM, I'm going to stick with it! (I think). Wish me luck :) Without any further ado, on to the meal planning.

Due to the fact that we have not one, but two weddings to attend this weekend, plus one rehearsal dinner and a graduation party, I don’t have to cook a whole lot this week. I think that three homemade meals will be enough, and leftovers will fill in the rest.

BBQ Pork in the crockpot to use up a bottle of barbecue sauce, and Jenny’s Baked Oatmeal Bars.

Extreme Nachos, consisting of some tortilla chips (we currently have 2 ½ bags to use up), ground turkey browned with taco seasonings, cheese, and salsa. I first made this in eighth grade for Spanish Class when everyone would bring in a Spanish or Mexican dish, and we would party like it was 1999. Even though back then 1999 would still be five years in the future.

And for dessert and/or breakfast, something that really doesn’t go with nachos but does use cereal (which is always a good thing when you’re trying to use up twenty boxes):Breakfast bars.

And last but not least: Chicken and rice with Asparagus Sauce that uses several egg yolks. To use up the whites, I’ll make Egg Drop Soup and Egg White Cookies.