Thanksgiving is almost here!

It is hard to believe it has been a month since I was last here.

We have been working on our Thanksgiving menu...I DID want to get a free range turkey until I saw the price tags on them. We went to the Whole Foods Market on Westheimer and for one the size we need it was over $79! We compromised and got a gain fed, no antibiotics, ORGANIC raised turkey. Not cheap, but only $23 - so by comparison, much more economical.

We are going to prepare the dressing outside the bird this year, so we got some organic garlic, onions, celery, oranges, and apples to fill the cavity and infuse the bird with flavor. I did that a long time ago and remember all the compliments I got on the moistness and delectable taste of the turkey. The gravy that I made from the drippings was absolutely WONDERFUL.

For many years we have had broccoli, cheese & rice casserole, but this year we are going to have organic whole wild grains with organic brown rice. They look beautiful in the package, and I love rice pilaf, so am really looking forward to that dish.

My husband is just going to have to suffer this year because we are going to forgo the candied yams with marshmallows...we have family members who shun marshmallows because they MIGHT have been made with gelatin that came from pigs feet. That's fine - we found a recipe in Penseys for yams or sweet potatoes mashed with ginger, maple syrup and pecans. YUM!

Of course we will have regular mashed potatoes, too - Mom wants to make them with the skins included, so we bought a bag of organic, tiny, thin-skinned reds for that dish.

There was a dish I saw on Emeril Green that I really want to try, so we got organic Bosch pears to roast with honey & wine, and top with crumbled goat cheese. I can hardly wait.

We are still debating about the green side dish, maybe just a salad with a special dressing - we bought some organic vinegars and exotic oils at Whole Foods - now there's an idea.

I talked my mom into having home made cranberry sauce rather than canned, too. We have a huge bag of craisins (dehdrated cranberries) that I plan to reconstitute with red wine, honey, ginger, and let it cook down until it is thick.

Oh, man it is too late at night to be eating now, but I am making myself HUNGRY!

Green Way to Improve IAQ

Indoor Air Quality - IAQ - it's a big deal whether you think about it much or not. Mold and mildew are making people sick all over the world. People think - Mildew? That's the stuff in my shower - I just spray some bleach on it and kill that. What's the big deal? If that's all you are exposed to, you are very fortunate my friend. Mold is found in a lot more places than that, though - in the walls, in the attic, in your air ducts...and can you believe it? - on your ceiling tiles. You look up and see a little stain from a sweaty pipe in the plenum - no problem it will dry out. What you don't see is the porous portion on the other side of that tile that has been absorbing moisture for a long time and mold has already started to grow. It is prevalent near the HVAC vents and the air passes over the mold and transports the spores all over a building making people sick all over the place. It can cause headaches, sinus problems, aches and pains (and moans and groans), coughing, sneezing, and a general tired or "unwell" feeling.

I used to work in a huge building that sat empty for about a year with little or NO A/C, then they decided to open it back up and move my department over there. I felt lethargic and sick all day long, but on the drive home I seemed to feel a little bit better and I would feel fine in the morning, but as the day progressed I would get worse and worse. It wasn't just me because I made an off hand comment, "This "new" building makes me sick" and got raised eyebrows from several different sources. Turned out, where I was located was even not the worst part. There were rooms that smelled musty and nobody wanted to go in there. One woman complained that whenever the central air kicked on everyone who had a cubicle in that corner would have sneezing fit...not good for a call center. We all figured it was dust. Now, a few years later, when I think back, I am glad I left when I did! Now I am affiliated with New Ceiling Tiles, LLC - www.newceilingtiles.com - and have learned a lot about the ceiling business. Our tiles are made of pure PVC so don't have any porous surfaces to harbor mold, mildew, or any other nastiness. The scraps from installation are even recyclable! They cost more, but should never need to be replaced due to any type of humid condition or moisture event. One install - That's ALL!

Post Ike

It's hard to believe October is mostly gone and and it's been a month since I returned home after staying gone for 2 weeks after Ike knocked out our power and electricity. I took my Mom and my dog and hightailed it for my brother's home in central Texas where it was high and dry and NO WIND. There were other issues there with their plumbing and central air, but at least they had water and A/C most of the time.

Ike definitely gave us some rain - I could've filled up a couple DOZEN rain barrels if I'd'a had 'em. My two are full again now, and my plants still don't need watering due to the cooler temperatures, they are not evaporating so fast. I had planned to water everything with some worm tea for fertilizer, then it rained a few days ago and I am still waiting for them plants to NEED watering before I douse them with the worm tea at the same time.

Maybe this would be a good time to talk about my worm farm.

Those first thousand worms I got about 3 months ago mus be up to 2,000 by now! They eat most of my kitchen vegetable scraps that would otherwise be flushed through the garbage disposal or tossed in the trash since I have no room for a real compost pile outside. They have made gallons and gallons of "Worm Tea" for me to fertilize my plants with regularly. My plants sure love the extra nutrients, that's for sure. I put my used coffee grounds, tea bags, left-over coffee, tips off the carrots & celery, potato skins, whatever isn't meat, dairy, or greasy, whether it is raw or cooked - the worms like the vegetable matter. I have started putting it through the blender before dumping it in the worm habitat and the little wigglers love it. They process the bits faster, too. I will dump the sludge in there and go back a little while later and there will be hundreds of worms all wiggling and writhing and rolling around in it. I usually put the food on one side of the habitat, and leave the other side fro them migrate to after stuffing themselves. There they can sleep & digest their food to their little hearts desire. Since they should be kept moist so they can breathe, putting the food through the blender with some liquid ensures there is always a source of moisture to percolate through the bedding, taking the castings and secretions with it to be dispensed as "Tea".

I wanted to do something because we go through a lot of veggies and it bothered me to see so much go down the drain and take all the wasted water with it. I had a rabbit many years ago and she always got my scraps, but I don't want another rabbit, and the worms seem like a good alternative. My husband thinks I'm nuts.

My friends who are into planting and using organic fertilizers are cheering me on beause I give them worm tea, too...that stuff costs abut $8 a gallon if you go buy it or the tea bags to make it.

Water Water Everywhere - Let's Save Some

Isn't it odd that on a planet covered 2/3 in water we should conserve? Can't drink salt water. I saw on that PLANET EARTH series that a large portion of the fresh water on the planet is in ONE huge lake over in Siberia somewhere - it's more like an inland SEA - has its own species of fish & coral and plants because it is completely landlocked. I digress.

We are in a mini-drought here in Houston, TX, but Hurricane IKE will probably alleviate that situation. I hope it rains, but we sure don't need floods and wind problems. Ike's not supposed to hit for a day or two, but all my plants need to be watered NOW. I will check tomorrow and see what the forecast is - maybe they will suffice with just a little drink rather than a deep soaking since they'll be getting that very soon.

I try to conserve water by doing a few things like:

• Low flow shower heads - 2.5 gallons per minute Vs 7-10. I had to make a few adjustments in my showering technique and the change did take some getting used to, but all in all I am sure it was good idea.
• A brick in every toilet tank - I learned that trick back in the '70s-saves 8-12% with every flush depending on tank size. I also heard that some people fill a plastic milk jug and put that in their tank - good way to keep that plastic out of the land fill.
• I already talked about rain barrels (soon to be filled by IKE).
• I already talked about watering the lawn by hand, too.
• I quit washing my hair EVERY DAY...probably saves 10-20 gallons when I don't.
• We don't use as much water with the garbage disposal since I got my worm farm - that's another whole (a whole 'nuther?) BLOG entry there.
• Using the dishwasher is supposed to conserve water over hand washing - if only I could get Mom to only run it when it is actually FULL. At least she uses the "Quick Wash" setting and no-heat drying cycle.
• Single rinse for the wash cycle - we used to do 2 rinses a lot, but then we started to use liquid laundry soap & it rinses out easier.
• We got an electric teapot that heats water REALLY fast, so don't let the faucet run to get the hot water so much.
• I found out that your hands get just as clean in cool tap water as in hot as long as you lather them for at least 15 seconds, so basically I quit running the water until it gets hot to wash my hands. I also turn it off while I am lathering them.
• Turn the water off while brushing my teeth - that's has always been a NO BRAINER. I'll never forget my Dad's lecture on the restroom procedures when he bought a motor home back in he '70s. One of the things he said that just didn't make sense to me was, "Don't leave the water running while you brush your teeth." I said, "Hunh? What do you mean?" WHY would anyone leave the water running for no reason? I did not do that anyway, so it never occurred to me that other people would DO that. I will admit that I would let it run while I was just swishing out the toothpaste, but I have even started tuning it off for the post brush rinse.

Hey, I heard that you get charged twice for you water - once to get it and then they ASSUME that all you pipe in will go out the sewer, so they charge for that, too...Not fair really - a lot of mine goes to the trees, grass, and assorted plants...or out of the household in reusable water bottles and "disposed of" elsewhere if you know what I mean. I really can't complain - our water bill is usually around $35 a month which makes it the second cheapest utility - land-line telephones being the cheapest. I think my water bill is lower than anyone else's I know around here. Not only is it easy to be GREEN, it's cheaper!

Paper or Plastic?

When it comes to shopping bags, do you use paper or plastic? Have you ever tried NEITHER?
A few months ago I decided to go GREEN and get some reusable bags made from recycled materials. Wal-mart had them for 99 cents so I bought 4. That was sufficient for what I was buying that day and I got one extra. Subsequently I have purchase one more from Wally World, two from Wal-greens, one from Kroger, and 4 from a place on line that Gives Them AWAY - just pay S&H. Check them out - ReusableBagsGiveaway.com . They change the style of the bags they offer from time to time and I have gotten two HUGE black ones with zippers and chrome grommets, and two orange and white "Pokey Dot" ones. I have given two away to my best friends with goodies inside as gifts. When I called the black ones HUGE, I was not kidding - I put an entire DOG bed in it when I was at Wal-Mart last time! It is big enough to hold all my other shopping bags with room to spare. I keep most of them in the trunk of my car so I will have them no matter where I go that way I don't forget them, too. I don't think they weigh enough to affect my gas mileage. Since SAMs Club doesn't bag stuff, I put everything in the bags when I'm loading the stuff into my trunk, and it is so much easier to get it all in the house - I used to box stuff, but the boxes frequently ended up being too heavy to get out of the trunk and I had to unload an item at time anyway - the bags are a great alternative.

I actually use them around the house for EVERYTHING. I carry one when I walk the dog to check the mail - it can be a bit cumbersome dealing with a leash and tons of mail in my hands - especially if I have gotten a package, too, so I can slip all that junk mail and bills into the bag and it's a lot easier getting home. I use one when I go to the post office or just walk down to the neighborhood post box to send something along its way...the shopping bags REALLY hold a lot and I mail SOMEthing just about every day. When I say they hold a lot - it is about 40 pounds and the equivalent of two or three plastic grocery bags. I deliberately UNDER FILL them sometimes so they won't be too heavy. You can keep one on the bottom step to hold all the little stuff downstairs that needs to go upstairs, but you don't want to make a special trip to put it away. Just grab the bag on your way up and VIOLA!

Believe me when I say - I still get the occasional plastic bag and I re-use them if they are not torn. I have 3 bathrooms, two offices, and two bedrooms that have their own little trash receptacles - all lined with grocery bags. I was actually running very low on replacement bags, but while visiting my brother, I was talking to his wife about the shopping bags and she asked, "Do you need some grocery bags?" She reuses them, too, but she still gets them when she shops, and was hesitant to just throw them all away to become landfill forever. She gave me about 200 grocery bags that she was more than glad to get rid of to make more room in her garage. That was a few months ago - it's almost time to go visit again and I will relieve her of more of her stash of bags. Look at it this way - two households are using the same bags, usually more than once and that diminishes both of our carbon footprints. We are both a little bit GREENER!

Home made cleaners

I like the idea of using cleansers that won't make me sick. Let's face it - I clean the house so the germs won't be there to make me sick...why get sick from the cleaning?! Don't get me wrong bleach has it's place and used properly is beneficial, but dang! I don't want to breathe those fumes all the time. Here is the recipe for a cleanser that scours without scratching, kills germs, cuts through greasy soap scum, and rinses easily are you ready? 3 parts baking soda & 1 part borax. That's it. I just mix it up and pour it in an old Benefiber container (reuse, re-purpose, right!?)
It is fun to use with some vinegar in the toilet because it foams up. Vinegar also kills germs, cuts grease, and even loosens hard water deposits... good stuff. I like to use vinegar on my cutting board in the kitchen. Sometimes I use Hydrogen Peroxide diluted 50/50 with plain water. It has no fumes, kills germs, and gets out stains from wine and red meat.

One of the best things I have learned to use in my house for cleaning is MICRO-FIBER. Those cloths are GREAT. Use the cloth dry for dust-mopping...I attach mine to my old Swiffer mopper - works great. Get the micro fiber cloth wet (PLAIN WATER) and mop up any residue, stains, dribbles, splatters...those little fibers quickly wipe away all that stuff and you don't even need to use any chemicals. I like to use them for wiping mirrors and windows-streak free. I get one damp and wipe away fingerprints from cabinet & drawer fronts, doors, knobs, and jambs - no chemicals needed and doesn't harm the paint job. I clean my spectacles with them - like I said before - streak free - and they wipe away all the spots without any chemicals. The cloths are washable - toss them in the washer with other items that are not linty and do NOT use any fabric softener on them. I just hang mine to dry - no worries that way- use them over and over. How sustainable is THAT? I keep some in the car for WHATEVER. Wipe the sweat off your face (Houston, Texas remember) dust the dashboard, soak up a spill, cover your arm if the sun is shining in too hot, put one over your face while dozing (not if you're the DRIVER PLEASE!) The cloths USED to be expensive, but I have bought some recently at SAMs Club for less than $10 for 24.

Clean your house if you are so inclined, but try not to poison yourself or the Earth in the process! Green and clean - that's what I'm talkin' about!

Air Conditioning Mister

In Houston, Texas A/C is not a luxury - it is a NECESSITY! At least for me. We are in a very low-lying, flat, humid area. My Mom dubbed it, "The Arm Pit of the US." It is a very sweaty place for sure. My A/C system is about 8 1/2 years old and still going strong, but I KNOW they have more efficient technology out there now-a-days. I just want to get a few more years out of my extremely costly investment. Not only was it a chunk-o-change to buy and have it all installed back in 2000, but when they did it they made a HUGE mess of the ducting and seals in the attic and caused my electric bill to SOAR over $1,000 two months in a row...in the SPRING time. I can't even imagine how high it would ave been in the summer. They refused to take responsibility for it even when I went up in the attic and showed them the problems. Needless to say ARS does not get a good referral from ME.

In order to make my old unit a little more efficient I bought a mister device last month that attaches to the outside unit. It has a paddle that acts like a lever to turn on the misting tips whenever the fan kicks on and the breeze blows the paddle upward. When the fan turns off, the paddle drops and turns off the misting tips.

The idea is the mist cools the air in the immediate vicinity of the unit so the air being sucked in to cool starts out at a lower temperature and doesn't require as much energy to cool it down further. When I first hooked it up, it actually felt like the air coming out of my vents inside was a little cooler than it used to be - probably my imagination...but I am a bit of an optimist. To assist the system even further I put an umbrella over the unit so in the hottest part of the day it is shaded. My next bill bill should tell me if I made a difference or not. They say your A/C can be as much as 60% of your electric bill around here! My house is ALL electric, so it could be a smaller percentage - 45% maybe? But if my system is running 20-30% more efficiently, I should be able to see a difference in my next electric bill.

A couple of months ago I decided to forgo a LITTLE bit of my comfort and bumped up the thermostat to 77 degrees. That was 2-3 degrees higher than I usually kept it and it made a difference of $60 on our electric bill. My husband is perfectly happy with that temperature, but my Mom & I use fans to keep us a little cooler. Hey fans are cheaper than A/C! I already turn the thermostat way down in the winter - 6o-ish - but I saw a show on TV that says that is a little too cool for everyday living, and you should keep it closer to 65 for respiratory health reasons. Oh well, maybe that's why we got sick the past couple of winters. I will still keep it WAY below 70 this winter though, that's for sure...my husband can wear 2 shirts.

Whenever the time comes for me to replace my old A/C unit, I will get one of those super efficient ones. Even if they cost a little more initially, it is worth it to use less energy. Less energy - smaller carbon footprint - now that's GREEN!

Watering the GREEN way

I started watering by hand when I got my rain barrels. I did not think there would have been enough pressure to make the sprinkler effective anyway. Even after moving the rain barrel to the back patio, I still water the lawn by hand out front. My rain barrels are now hooked up in tandem out back because the one spout there would fill up one barrel in minutes, where the barrel in front, where there are 4 spouts, sometimes wouldn't even get filled up all the way. Now I still only need one spout, and the overflows are attached to fill the second barrel. I must say that my plants sure seem to like the rain water better than the chlorinated/fluoridated water we BUY. AND it's Free! This has been a very dry summer, and my barrels have only gotten filled up twice since I got them...I guess I should pray for more rain, but then my husband has to work in it. Gotta' take the good with the bad I guess.

I remember years ago when there was a rather extended period of drought here in Houston there were water conservation regulations implemented and one was you could only water your lawn for 1/2 hour a day and then only by hand - that way you don't waste so much due to over-spray or FORGETTING to move/turn it off. I don't know how many times I left the sprinkler running too long. I started using a timer, but sometimes I would be occupied elsewhere and would not hear the dang thing go off. Watering by hand ensures you only put the water where you want it to go, and of course you won't forget about it if you're actively involved. This not only saves water, it subsequently saves money.

I just love doing the things the GREEN way...it's so FRUGAL!

CFLs

I switched my whole house over to CFLs last year. My sister had mentioned it to me the year before and I had a COUPLE of CFLs in the house, but never made the leap to switch out ALL the incandescent light bulbs in my 2,383 SF ca. 1983 townhouse...I knew it would be over 2 DOZEN and those little suckers are a bit pricey. Then I started noticing them at SAMs Club in bulk packages and that brought the individual price down somewhat. I made a decision to buy a package of CFLs whenever I went to SAMs until I had my house converted. It took a few months and I saved all the old bulbs. I donated two BIG boxes and a bag of bulbs to charity. They were all in working order when I removed them. Some had been in the same ceiling light fixtures for over 20 years. If these CFL bulbs last 10 times as long as incandescent, they will outlast the house! At first I hesitated to switch them out due to the initial cost, but spreading it out over several months made that a lot less painful. PLUS:

• My new bulbs burn cooler, so the A/C doesn't have to cool off that extra heat - saves $$$
• They use less energy to produce the same amount of light - saves $$$
• They last longer so will not require replacement as often - saves $$$

So all tolled - I should be saving money by now - PLUS I am reducing my carbon footprint by using less electricity.

I feel so GREEN and it really was easy.

Some things I've Done

Since I chose a GREEN theme for this BLOG Page, I will list a few of the things I have done to reduce my carbon footprint.

1. Switched ALL my incandescents to CFL bulbs
2. Of course we turn off lights in rooms we have vacated
   
3. Started watering the lawn by hand rather than the sprinkler
4. Rain Barrels
5. Kill switch/remote control outlets for my electricity vampires
   
6. Worm Farm
7. Mister for my A/C unit outside.
   
8. I reuse and re-purpose plastic and glass containers
9. Reusable Shopping Bags
10. I raised the A/C thermostat to 77 degrees
11. Water saving Shower Heads
12. Ethos Gasoline Additive
13. Water filter for drinking water
14. Drive less
15. Stick to the speed limit
16. Make my own household cleansers
17. Swap DVDs and Books for ones I want to see/read
    

I will elaborate on these items separately in future BLOGS...this is just the list to start.

Recyclable Ceiling Tiles!

I'm always looking for ways to be a little greener and decided to look up past the CFLs.

Now you can have a ceiling that is waterproof, doesn't off-gas, never needs replacement due to deterioration or moisture, they'll never mold, and the left-over bits from installation are recyclable! Check them out at www.newceilingtiles.com . They have the tiles and now you can get the suspension grid that is Rust Proof and lasts as long as the tiles - DECADES!

They look great and cost a lot less than replicated tin, that's for sure!

This could be the very last ceiling you'll ever have to install.

New Ceiling Tiles, LLC