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Thanks For Saving The Planet

Monday, April 13th, 2009 by Alyice

Do you recycle, repurpose, or reuse items? I have always been good about donating or sharing small ticket items I no longer wanted instead of sending them to the dumpster and I have found it fun to earn a few bucks by selling larger ticket items via flyers, craigslist.com, and garage sales. But I can’t say I’ve always been good about using such items within my own home.

When I was a young child, most of the stuff we bought came from thrift stores and garage sales. Then when I moved out of my mom’s home and got married, my entire house was nothing more than a showcase of miss-matched used, donated, and garage sale finds. After the first two years, however, I was determined to have “all new stuff”. I didn’t want someone else’s “junk”. I was tired of “hand-me-downs”. I wanted something that was new and fresh and never been used.

If something developed a minor crack or began to show wear-and-tear, it immediately went into the donation or sell pile and something new took its place. I even preferred to buy the cheaper, non-named brand items instead of accepting one more “gently used” item. You might even say that my nose got so far stuck up in the air that people could see my nose hairs—and it was not like we were rich, because we were a far cry from it. In fact, we were a family of three living on a single income—my husband made $12 per hour.

Then about 9 years ago things began to change. I’m not sure if it was the dusty, mildew-smelling thrift stores my friend, Tina, dragged me into—kicking and screaming, I might add—, the fact that the Midwest has a lot of miniature dumps on farm lands and empty lots, the fact that there’s so much talk about “Going Green” and reversing the damages our society of consumerism has caused on the environment, or the fact that I am simply getting older and no longer need to impress others, but I find myself reverting back to the thrifty days of my youth. And it feels good.

In fact, I’ve recently made a game out of looking for ways to reuse and repurpose what’s already been manufactured—even going so far as to visit thrift and antique stores without getting that “grossed out” feeling and without pushing my husband to hurry up and get out of there. Before buying new games and videos, we check out the local used shops; instead of buying new glass for my art jars, I use old food and beverage glass; instead of tossing out packaging supplies, I reuse them when mailing orders or gifts to family members; and just recently I accepted a donation of used wood—complete with battered markings, nails, chips, and fractures—instead of making my husband take me to the lumber yard for that perfect piece of wood.

It hasn’t been easy but when you think about the fact that Americans, alone, produce a minimum of five pounds of trash, per person, in a single day and that less than three percent of that trash actually gets recycled, leaving the rest to be dumped in landfills that do nothing more than pollute our water system, our land, and the air we breathe, one can’t help but wonder what that damage is going to do to future generations—or more importantly, our children and their children.

Studies already prove that our ozone layer is corroding at an alarming rate, that the pollution we put out on a daily basis is not only killing the earth, but every living creature on it, that the earth is suffering from our need to constantly seek out the “next best thing”, and that the human race faces many diseases that could be controlled simply by changing how we produce and consume the things around us.

If you, too, are ready to make a change, you don’t have to “go all out” right away. You can make small changes and work your way up to bigger changes. To learn more about caring for our eco-system, visit these websites:

Give thanks…

Posted in It's Gratitude, Dude! | 2 Comments »

Thanks For Strawberries

Monday, April 6th, 2009 by Alyice

There was a time when I could not tolerate strawberries. Though they looked beautiful and smelled delicious, I couldn’t get passed the tartness. Others suggested I make strawberry pie or strawberry shortcake, but mashing them up just didn’t appeal to me and it sure didn’t look appetizing. So for years the only way I ate strawberries was in canned jams and jellies.

Then as I embarked on growing my very own strawberries last year—for my strawberry loving son—I fell in love with them! Freshly picked strawberries are sweeter, and much more delicious, than the store-bought ones that tend to get picked before they are ripe and ripen during transport. And because they are rich in Vitamin C, and have cancer-fighting antioxidants, they make the effort of growing them that much more rewarding.

I still don’t like mashing them, but I do enjoy topping my ice cream or a freshly baked slice of brownie with them. And on occasions, you can find me with a bowl of freshly sliced strawberries and a side of real whip cream! In fact, when they are in season, I much prefer strawberries to my childhood favorite, watermelon.

Yes, there’s just something very rewarding and delicious about a freshly picked, sweet-smelling strawberry. If you haven’t grown any lately, I encourage you to give it a try!

Give thanks…

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Uncharted Territories

Friday, April 3rd, 2009 by Alyice

When I met my husband it was like, “kismet”. We both showed up at a dance hall where neither one of us really wanted to be: I, chaperoning my friend’s blind date, and he, accompanying a buddy who didn’t want to go out alone. To this day, he tries to tell everyone that the “crowd” pushed him into me but my friend, her date, and I, saw him scoot his way towards me as he tried to sneak a few glances my way. We had one dance before his friend called upon him to leave. “I have to go,” he said, “He’s my ride, but give me your number and I’ll call you in a few days.”

I didn’t really think he’d call, but I gave him my number. And call he did. We spent the next few weeks on the phone for hours upon hours as we talked about any- and every- thing imaginable. Those first few weeks were nothing more than a blissful blur. Then it happened, our very first date. He insisted on going Dutch then tried to impress my chaperone by buying her a pitcher of beer—and I didn’t even drink alcohol!

Despite his inability to sweep me off my feet romantically, there was something about him that captured my heart. Perhaps it was his refreshingly honest way of telling things like it is, of not being afraid to be himself, of allowing me to be me, of not trying to “make a move” right away. Whatever it was, I was hooked and there was no looking back.

He tells me that from the moment he met me, it was love at first sight. He tells me that after only a few weeks of dating he told his friend that I was the one he was going to marry. He tells me that there was just something about me that felt right.

We fell in love so fast, my head span. Honestly, I couldn’t tell if it was true love or infatuation. Even after the first few years of marriage, I wondered if I really knew what “true love” was and if we even had it. I didn’t have someone to guide me, I didn’t have role models to learn from; all I had was this amazing feeling of knowing that for once in my life I was safe and that someone had my best interests at heart. From then on we have been inseparable. What amazes me about true love is that it seems to withstand any storm life throws your way.

May this greeting card remind you to love without inhibitions, to love as though there were no tomorrow, and to not be afraid of uncharted territories.

Until next time,

Keep Creating.

Posted in It's Gratitude, Dude!, The Cards | Comments Off

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