No news is... you know the rest

Hmm haven't had much to say lately, about my day to day life.

Cooking: tonight, quinoa and chick peas from Dreena Burton
House cleaning and organizing: today, painted window frames, washed windows and curtains
Work: schleppin' books
Fiction: finally The Eight is getting good
Non-fiction: almost done The Omnivore's Dilemma
TV: very much into the Numb3rs and House reruns
Music: James Bond songs, Nina Simone, Peter Paul and Mary
Library: Doh! I think I had stuff due today
Movies: Still watching Henry V over and over, thinking about my story
Writing: Doing some plotting for Hen, but haven't gone Full into writing mode yet... trying to get my home in order first
Job Hunting: nothing to do right now
Buddies: Hanging with Pablo, and gossiping with my Work Husband
Real Husband: Mostly we're bickering... I think school has ruined my marriage. Better get it worked out before the 10 Year Anniversary next month.

Litter Land

I like these kinds of fun cat box ideas... but if we cover our boxes, they would need a second exit. You can't let a cat get trapped in a multi-cat household. Bad etiquette.

Composting Dilemma Part 2! Oh the drama of it all.

The Greening of Miss Mabel continues on my Practically Moral page. Tune in to find out the exciting conclusion to my compost problem!

Green Clean Up

The Greening of T-Scone continues...

A couple months ago I finally purchased greenie-bulbs, to slowly replace the regular ones.

I've got my kitchen organized so I can wash and clean jars and containers, and then I hope to buy more stuff from the bulk store. It's not necessarily cheaper, but less packaging.

I'm going to post a "no flyers" notice on my mailbox (after I get a translation into French from the step-mommyness.)

At the grocery store I avoid the little veggie baggies if I can, but for some things they're still convenient. I think the little dryer baggies from the dollar store (meant for drying delicates in your dryer) may work well--in terms of not adding too much weight.

The long-term problem that's bothering me is composting. You can get indoor composting units, but where would I put the dirt? Maybe I could go out in the middle of the night and spread it on people's lawns.

Hey! I never did finish my 100 Goals List. I have failed. But look, I can put all these green goals on it, to plump it up! Woo!

Eco-ventions

This is pretty funny. It's the most high-tech self-cleaning cat box I've ever seen. It's actually ecologically better than cat litter, since it has rewashable granules (that the machine washes), but I won't buy something like this til they've been on the market longer. One glance at the reviews on amazon shows how often this breaks down, which is not a surprise considering how complex it is.

I also didn't see whether it plugs in, or runs on batteries. I didn't think through my last Robot Purchase, which was the shower cleaner--because it took up so many batteries! I was clearly in a Delusional and Desperate School Phase when I bought that thing!

Right now I'm using a spray bottle of shower cleaner, but when it runs out I'm going to come up with a homemade cleaning solution for the shower (vinegar or whatever--I'll just do a little googling. At worst, I can use Hertel.) I'm about to run out of my eco all-purpose cleaner too, and though it's from a company I approve of, I may also replace that with homemade cleaner.

My real challenge, though, is to figure out how to make my own Lysol wipes. I can get eco-animal friendly ones from Method, but again, the expense. I've kept my empty bottle for experimenting. I need to find some sort of cheap, thin cleaning cloth... I wonder if cheese cloth would work. But can I get them rolled up in such a way that they'll pull out of the bottle like the disposable wipes do? That would be cool.

My best eco invention has been my face cleaning cloths. I took new soft dusting cloths and cut them into squares, and put them in a jar. I use them in the place of cotton balls or cleaning pads. I leave a small mesh laundry bag next to the jar for the dirty ones, and toss it in the washing machine.

On the subject of corn: It's the Great Cornholio!

"There will be more bungholes after me!"

High Fructose Corn Syrup: The Devil's Baby? Find out now, on the Miss Mabel Show!

I'm reading Michael Pollan's previous book, The Omnivore's Dilemma. I borrowed it from work, but I'm going to have to buy it because it is blowing my little pea sized brain.

I have so many thoughts about this... I don't know where to start. Aiiiieeee. I'll try to post short thought-updates on my Practically Moral page, where I like to blab about politics and food. If you don't read them... well... you'll just have to suffer through me speechifying you every time we meet. ...I'll have to carry a script around with me, so I don't forget all my speechify points.

But here's one.

1. The US government (under the influence of food production industries) encourages farmers to grow as MUCH corn as physically possible.

2. Farmers grow corn like mozefozes.

3. There is so much corn on the market, that its value is low.

4. It costs farmers more to produce corn than the price it sells at, which is why the government has to subsidize them; this is also why farmers need to produce tons and tons of corn, to make back enough money to stay afloat.

5. The beneficiaries of cheap corn are the food producers--those who take corn and turn it into corny weirdo products; and then those food companies that buy the corny weirdo products to make new breakfast cereals.

7. SO: If you're an American, your taxes (about a quarter, I think he said) to subsidize farmers aren't really subsidizing farmers (at least re. corn and soy beans, the biggest sector of the industry) -- you are really subsidizing corporations.

8: And added to this, the glut of cheap corn means that every industry possible tries to use corn every which way they can, which is why beef cows are fed corn even though it makes them so sick, they also have to be fed antibiotics with their feed.

And presumably this is the same in Canada. And this type of economy is affecting the countries the US sells corny weirdo products to. They sell corn to MEXICO for God's sake, the home of corn! Because no small farmer can compete with this, growing corn the old way, or the old old way. (Old way=growing less corn, using chemical fertilizer. Old old way=using farm animals and bean crops to enrich the soil, on self-sufficient farms with multiple animals and crops.)

Dr Oz has been on Oprah a lot in the past couple years denouncing high fructose corn syrup, which is found in almost every processed food. I wasn't too freaked out because when you eat vegan you naturally gravitate away from processed food, so what little I consume probably isn't that bad for my health. The only change I made was to increase the amount of food I cook at home.

But now I see high fructose corn syrup as demon spawn! I'm not anti-corporation by default, but what the industrialization of food has done to animals, peoples, economies, and the environment is just immoral. I'm sure there are many, many lovely people who work in the food industry... but ah! ah! ah! Ahhhh!