Eco - schm-eco

Well, trying my hardest, but it's hard when you're lazy, and when Marks and Spencer have a meal deal on... so tempting. But I am thinking of where the food has come from, and how much recycling I will have with all that packaging.

Need to get back on the eco beauty. However, I have suffered with acne for years, and the only good thing I have found that works all the time in Olay. Very weird. Not sure how sustainable or how eco friendly it is. Nor am I sure what damage the chemicals may be doing. However, my acne is bearable, and my skin glows.

I did buy some eco washing balls though. These are used instead of detergent. They seem ok, and if I get 200 washes for £5, I will be extremely pleased.

I wonder if it is worth trying to convert other people, or whether it is just easier to do your own thing. I have very materialistic friends who shop at Primark and buy accessories to match every outfit. I also have a mum who is happy to buy my little girl crap (necklaces etc) that she doesn't need. They just end up as landfill. And don't get me started on my mother in law who buys value packs of bacon - 1kg for £1. I don't even know if it is from a pig! I'm sure it is a badly reared pig, injected with all sorts of steroids and then the bacon will be full of water and binding agents. Bleaurgh.

So along with ecofriendlyness, I am also on a mission to declutter and simplify my life. It's working for me, but not so much for my husband, who is a horder. We could do with a garage to horde, but unfortunately that was one of our compromises when we bought this house. I keep looking at trademe.co.nz - looking at houses in NZ for if ever we make the move back there. If we do, we will have to unhorde our lives.

Of course, that decision is a whole other blog post.....

Thinking of Home

My other home was struck by a devastating earthquake today.

I have been so emotional. I have felt sick all day. It reminded me of the feeling I had after 9/11.

I went looking for some inspiration to try and deal with it, and found this:

I find hope in the darkest of days, and focus on the brightest. I do not judge the universe.
Dalai Lama.

It's a classic, but one which is often forgotten. It is hard not to judge and blame the universe.

I wish I could be there to do something to help with the rescue. I wish I had kept in contact with some more of the people that I met.

I wish for everyone to be ok, and to have the strength to find their own hope.

Today, simply today....

I am such a bad blogger. However, it wasn't until I took a nosy to see if the page was still there that I realised I missed it. It was a huge creative outlet for me.

I am a Facebooker, but your updates can only be a certain length, and I am appalled by the poor spelling and grammar. He he! It's the teacher in me.

So, back to blogging.

A lot has happened since I began in 2008.

I'm teaching, still a full time mum to one, and am doing a correspondence course in Learning and Development. Still renovating the house. Still trying to cling to my mana and kiwiana (unsuccessfully I have to add) but perhaps this blog will be my motivation. They say that writing it down makes it permanent, a solid commitment....

So, one commitment I have made this week is to become more environmentally friendly. I was anyway, but it has lapsed due to laziness of late.

I have signed the pledge to no longer buy new manufactured clothes. I was always a big ebay shopper, but will be serious about it now. Apart from underwear / swimwear / nightwear and osteo shoes, I am determined to purchase all clothes 2nd hand, or to make my own.

I am also going to make more use of my legs and public transport when I can. This, again, is something I was good at - walking into town / work. But over the winter when it has been so dark and so cold, it was just too easy to defrost the car. However, no more!

The shopping has to change too. I have decided to make use of the Ethical Superstore for my stock cupboard / cleaning products - even if it means bulk buying to be more carbon efficient. I am then going to get all my fruit and veg from Ulverston market, and my fish and meat from the local suppliers.

Hopefully, then my recycling pile will shrink.

Oh, and last of all I am going to be planting my own this week - tumbling tomatoes, radishes and courgettes to begin with. Then a bit later I will be doing my salads. I also want to do a herb garden on my kitchen windowsill, however, I am trying to locate a second hand box, or set of pots.

Phew. Wish me luck with all this!

I'm signing the pledge

I ___Laura Crellin_______________ pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 6 months. I pledge that I shall refashion, renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovoted, recycled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, and on my own blog so that others may share the joy that thy thriftiness brings! Signed___ME x_______________.