Happy Earth Day!!

This is actually a meaningful day to us this year. In the past few months we've readjusted our habits to make our footprints a little smaller when we leave this Earth, thanks in part to the desire for less trash, the discovery of big recycling bins (at last!) in our little city, a kick in the pants by good old Al Gore and the quiet inspiration of my niece in Calgary who has been environmentally conscious for as long as I can remember.

So far we've:
* changed to reusable cloth bags for our grocery shopping
* changed our most-used lights to CFL lights with the plan to change the rest as they burn out
* set up bins in our kitchen to collect anything that we can recycle
* set up a composter (just yesterday!) in our garden.

... small changes so far and we're probably still miles behind most of the civilized world, but we're always looking for new things we can do, like using vinegar and baking soda instead of Mr Clean, for example. We have a long way to go, but we're really having fun with this. I'm ridiculously excited about composting. I've been carefully following the rules, so it had better work! In any case, I'd rather have the kitchen gunk out there instead of in my garbage, so it seems I can't lose.

Mr X's passion for change kind of surprised me, but I'm so glad he's on board with this. It's my kids who, at first anyway, thought we were crazy. Hah.

Happy Earth Day!

April 14,10pm and all's well

Well, it finally feels like spring today. I feel human again. That was possibly the ugliest winter of my life. It seemed like it went on for 6 months. Probably because it did go on for 6 months.

Chaeli and I had the funnest day ever today. We learned how to do a 15-piece puzzle (well, actually I knew already; she learned) Chaeli made jokes and did funny things all day (she helped me fold laundry and put about 30 pair of socks on, one pair at a time) and because it was so nice, I decided we should go out to the park.

As soon as I put Chaeli in the stroller, she was excited to get going. When we were walking down the street she had her hands out and her head back and she was singing and laughing and soooo happy. We got to the park and went on the slide a few minutes but it was so wet and mucky that I decided we should go to another playground up the block. I showed her where we were going so she wouldn't be upset about leaving, popped her up on my shoulders and we headed across the field to the other park.

It was really snowy and wet there, too, but I thought we could work around it. I put her in the swing for a few minutes then took her out to go over to the slides. I grabbed the stroller and caught up with her just in time to see her heading for a HUGE puddle. Too late. Down she went, right in the water. I grabbed her and whipped her pants, socks and shoes off because they were drenched. So much for the park. We had to go home. wah. I had an extra pair of socks and a towel in the stroller (and it was about 22c, so not cold anyway) so I wrapped her up, put her in the stroller and headed back home. She was not happy to leave, but I think she realized that we had to, so she was a good sport. I think she enjoyed the stroller ride as much as the park anyway.

So, anyway, after an absolutely perfect day, she ended up in the hospital with croup again tonight. :( She had a runny nose today, but seemed in perfect health otherwise. Nyckee says it's like that every time; she seems fine other than a bit of a cold, then suddenly she can't breathe. They're so good at the hospital here, though. They get her right in and hook her up to the nebulizer for awhile until she's good to go. So, I hope she'll be okay tonight. Nyk has the vapourizer going, so she should be. I hope her puddle episode didn't make her sicker.

Mitchie and Mark are at Mark's cousin's wedding tonight. She came home to change from a skirt to her black capris and oops, I had worn them last week and they were in the laundry. Busted. Clean at least. So I had to iron them up and de-cat-hair them for her and she was off again. She looked absolutely gorgeous. Wowsers. Mark keeps drunk-texting me as I'm typing here. So cute.

Mr X has been in bed since 8:30. It took me about a half hour to realize he wasn't in the bathroom. I think I'll join him soon and start in on my new book. I just finished On the Beach for about the 4th time, I think. I love that book so much. It always takes me a couple of days after I finish reading it to remember that it does matter what I do today because I won't be dying tomorrow, most likely. You have to know the book to make any sense of that, but I get so into it that I actually start to plan like we're all dying right away. And, oddly, it's fine. But then when I remember it's just a book it's such a relief to know that we're still going strong.

The book I start tonight is Memory Keeper's Daughter. I've heard good things, but it has a tough act to follow, after On the Beach.