Phoenix is getting Greener all the time

Today has been a day of enlightenment. I love it when out of nowhere, information you crave just lands in your lap.

Phoenix has a Farmer's Market that I didn't even know existed. I miss the local vendors we had at the Public Market at home, and I missed being able to buy local meat, chicken, and fish once I moved here. It really was a big hole I couldn't fill. When the sustainable green living mantra started, I didn't have any idea how to shop local as it seemed there wasn't much farming going on here.Wrong !!!!There are several organic growers in the area and I am just ecstatic to know I can go shopping Saturday morning and get fresh veggies and fruit. (http://www.downtownphoenixpublicmarket.com/)

I hereby take the pledge to buy locally
during National Independents Week,
June 30 through July 6,
to help celebrate the diversity and vibrancy
that makes me proud to call Arizona Home.

I fully believe in that pledge except for the last line..........not quite there yet.


As though that wasn't big enough news! There is also an online Green Market called Boxed Greens(http://boxedgreens.com/shop/home.php) and they sell veggies, fruit, breads, organic chicken, beef and all types of dry goods. Best yet-they deliver to various parts of the valley!! I can order online and they'll bring it to my office in the morning! Wow.

Then - because I work for a medical group, the pharmaceutical companies bring us lunch each day of the week. Nice perk - but most of the time I just eat salad. Being the day before a holiday I really didn't expect to find lunch upstairs today but SURPRISE(!) we had the best food I have had in weeks and weeks. (A side story: Another thing I have had trouble finding in Phoenix is good Asian food. People here think Pei Wei is Asian food. P-a-lease.) Well today I had the BEST Asian food of anywhere. The owner's name is George Yang and he's from Burma and combines the flavors of each region of Asia from India to Viet Nam on his menu. I just about had a seizure eating the Shrimp with honey glazed walnuts - it really was shrimp "to die for". The Mongolian beef and citrus chicken was right up at the top of the list too. The restaurant is George and Son . The story of the name of his restaurant is just wonderful. He was late middle aged when he had his first son. George opened this restaurant and named it "for the precious child that came in to his life as a way to honor him."

http://www.azeats.com/georgeandsons/default.htm

All of this in one day!! It doesn't take being hit in the head with a hammer to realize this was special and worthy of noting.

Stay safe and cool over the long weekend, and try not to burn the house down with fireworks!

~ Hannah
Dreaming in Colors

money, money,money.....

It seems to me that there is an abundance of talk everywhere about money these days. You hear it all day long on NPR or the news channels on cable as well as on blogs. Besides election hysteria we have finance hysteria. At first I couldn't figure out why everyone was freaking out - at my house we are average middle class - two jobs, reasonable mortgage, few bills, and a small gas efficient car for me and motorcycle for my husband. I would rather have A/C than run the dryer and save on water and electrical as much as possible. I've prided myself for being price savvy at the supermarket - and try to use coupons and sales to stretch the dollar. I belong to Costco but try to be careful and not buy bulk on items that will not keep. There are only two of us at home now, so bulk has it's drawbacks. I do love their easy to fix meals and salads though. I tend to be a sucker for the chocolate/camel apples to, when the vendor comes on site. 3 apples loaded with a year's worth of fat and calories - too good to believe. It started to hit me though when shopping at Wal-Mart and I noticed my dry cat food was $3.00 per bag higher. Then the moist cat food was $2.00 higher. Hum No tomatoes due to E-coli, lettace $2.00+ per head, bread at $3.00 plus per loaf if you want 3g of fibre, what the hell??? When I bought my 2005 Beetle, it cost me $18.00 to fill it - yesterday it was $48.00. Okay - so maybe that is why my paycheck is taking more to survive and a lot less is being saved than last year. I save for a couple of months, above and beyond my nest egg fund, in order to fly to Seattle every two months - and now it may take three months just to pay the same price I have been paying ($269) to get there. Oooh - this IS getting ugly, and I do not do poor well. I can budget and buy consignment when necessary, but I do not do poor.

I remember reading about this woman who got divorced and was screwed financially when her millionare husband hid his assets and she didn't get a dime. She basically had the clothes in her closet and her car and that was it. Because she had lived the 'life' in the fast lane, and had the cloths and style to carry it off, she lived homeless in her car for over a year and would go to Saks and Neiman Marcus to "shop" and would slip into the ladies room to wash and change clothes.Since she had been a regular customer at both stores, no one thought anything of her being there and never guessed what she was doing. If I get poor, I hope I have the balls to do it as well as this woman. She finally wrote a book about her homeless life and made a small fortune and could finally get in off the street. Kudos to her.

One of my favorite blogs is the Midlife Gals ~ SalGal and KK (http://midlifegals.blogspot.com/). They are a riot and can turn a blah day into a sunny one by being so funny. Their weekend post was about what they would do if they were suddenly rich. I used to dream about winning $85 million in the lottery, but kept forgetting to buy lottery tickets. Dah ~ When I started the frugal green mode I'm in now, I quit dreaming about being rich until I read KK's wishes if she was rich. It got me to thinking once again what I would do with the money.

1. Take a deep breath and tell myself "money will not change me" one hundred times.


2. Call my financial adviser and find out how to spend but still save at the same time. Rich people seem to have this down and we must learn what they know.
   
3. Pay off the kid's mortgage so they can buy the house of their dreams near water with a view. Help them pay enough down to carry a managable mortage amount. Insist on a state of the art crafts room for my daughter that I get to work in too.
   
4. Keep the house in Arizona, but redo the kitchen, bathrooms, redecorate it all and re-do the landscape. Use this house as one of three in various locales. Offer it out to other family members when they visit the SW.
   
5. Find a house on the coast of Oregon near Cannon Beach. A big beachy house with at least 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms with room for everyone, all at the same time, without feeling cramped. Make it a cottage looking house and fill it with antiques and recycled junk that looks great. Live there all summer.


6. Get a spot in on the coast in Costa Rica for Louie to live in when he needs the tropics. Rent it out for income when not is use.


7. Buy a condo in Seattle to use when we miss the kids. Scratch that. If we're buying their house for them they can let us have a guest cottage on the property. Since we're paying....and besides, I am a great babysitter.


8. Buy a condo or small house for Javan and Terina and a car.
9. Start a college fund for all the kids.


10. Set up a scholarship fund at the University of Washington in my father's name.


11. Contribute $1 million to a group that supplies the means for clean water in Africa.


12. Contribute $1 million to a group working on global warming.

See, I'm not greedy. I share. I'll still buy junk and refinish it - it's my style. I will buy clothes and shoes without looking at the price, more. But I really wonder if I could ever spend $500 on a pair of shoes, unless of course, I'm in Florence Italy and they're custom made just for little ol' me!

Living with this joy in my life how can I not feel rich!

Meanwhile, back in reality, I love my life. We have enough to get by and enjoy life. We have to spend wiser and think about it more, but other than the house at the ocean, I can live just fine without any of the dream stuff. I'll always want a place by the sea - and may still get it. But I am happy with all I have now. Life is good and gets better all the time. It really does.

Keep your chin up!

Hannah ~ always, dreaming in colors

In Appreciation of Etsy Sellers

I could look at Etsy sites and DaWanda sites all day and night. These two sites in particular offer a wide range of crafters and so much of what is sold is incredible. Why we ever go to the mall is beyond me. The customer service alone makes a person not want to shop anywhere else!

Some of my favorites lately are:

DebDutch.Etsy.com ~ "...for hand painted shoes & unique gifts..."
Deb Dutch Designs makes these adorable hand
painted canvas shoes for kids.
Some with a real sense of humor.

Check out her Guppy shoes...

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5606014



khphillips.etsy.com ~ Ahhh - then there's Keith over at Mudstuffing. I bought a French Butter Dish from him that reminds me so much of Provence and the pottery I purchased over there. He is so personable and will work with you to do just what you want. "He sews he throws" is the mantra of this shop. I wanted this teapot but have to purchase carefully or I'll have more than I have room for. I'm waiting for a dutch oven baking pot.

Yummy!

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5109726

viogeminidesigns.etsy.com ~ Now I have to admit if I was 20 years younger I would buy and wear one of these corsets handmade in England by a talented artist by the name of Viorica. She learned the craft from her Mum and has taken the art of the corset to new heights. They are really like a work of art. Some are rather Goth but this one shown is just gorgeous. Just read what goes into making one of these!!

"The corset is interlined with cotton fabric and lined with strong black cotton drill for durability and comfort.The corset comprises 10 shapely panels with the a metal busk front closure. 10 spiral steel bones are stitched into the seams and 4 metal bars on either side of the eyelets to ensure that you can tighten the corset as much as you like wihout the corset changing shape!"

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5843797

OscarANDTheodore.etsy.com ~ "Meet Oscar: A rough and tumble sort of chap who's fearless...and Theodore: A neat reserved fellow who loves to read and who sits quietly in church" This shop features handmade clothing for children that are so creative. She uses wonderful fabric combinations that are very Eastern Shore. The shorts I highlight here are called 'Nantucket Vacation' and make you feel you are at the beach just by looking at them! She tells a story with each item and brings Oscar and Theodore to life.....

Where are the graham crackers and marshmallows?

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5691728


SarahJaneStudio.etsy.com ~ is a mom and artist that captures perfectly that child-like love of things. Her drawings make you 'feel the love', so to speak. This shop is my favorite for graphics. Her pictures of the Elephant and friend rabbit tug at my heart! She sells both prints and cards. Please check this shop out for that happy feeling we all need so much.

'I love you friend'

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5317715

As you can see, there is a ton of talent out there. Visit these shops as a start and shop until your fingers hurt!!!!

As always,

Hannah
Dreaming in Colors

Wind power and other musings

Let the wind blow....

The other day it was really windy here and it made me think - epiphany actually. Why not have a wind farm? They seem to be cropping up everywhere - Texas and Kansas of all places. The farmers in Kasas are making more on land lease deals for the turbines than they would if they grew crops. The down side to that is the food shortage. Lord will we ever win this battle?

You try to come up with new energy resources and everyone gets excited about bio fuel and wind energy and then discover to costs too much to produce the corn into fuel and there's a shortage for feeding the world and now wind energy is taking acreage out of food production. More people are eating more grains and legums (vegan) and less meat - so it's a total Catch 22.

Anyway, I have 60 acres on a hill in Eastern Washington that is basically made of land fill. Farmers around me tell me I can't grow anything in the crap soil there is so I was thinking... The wind blows constantly, more up top of the hill than at the bottom, which would be great. A guy who bought the plat of land at the far end of my hill built the UGLIEST house I have ever seen ( yellow modular with a theme of SW stucco that didn't work out so well) and he put it smack dab on top of the hill. Hope it blows away someday but in the meantime I figure we could plant a bunch of the turbines on top and down about half way in the center of my hill which will leave me land to raise Romney sheet with a llama and room for my cottage. Brilliant. Income for my old age and energy production. All I have to do is talk to the sheep and garden.

If any of you Greenies know anything about wind farms please let me know! I need help to get this off the ground. I know nadda. I have found a few resouces (see below) but could use your advice, please.

http://www.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/windpoweringamerica/large_wind.asp

http://www.mge.com/environment/wind/

http://www.awea.org/smallwind/smsyslst.html

Hey frog! It really ISN'T easy being GREEN

The weather has finally turned warm enough for my laundry ritual of hanging the clothes outside again and the familiar slowing down and enjoying it has returned. This weekend it was in the 90's with a small breeze - just enough breeze to dry things in about 10 min. Unfortunately, I had errands to run that afternoon which cut into the cycle of wash and dry and I did end up doing the final load in the dryer after sundown. I always feel a sense of failure when I don't do everything possible to cut back on our electricity. While I'm drying clothes outside I am also running the A/C inside. I keep the thermostat at 80 day and night but 80 on a hot day just doesn't feel that cool. Last night I was raking and weeding on the West side of the house and just about died from the heat pouring off the side of the house. When we bought the house we were very aware of the sun pattern and faced the house North and South so the sun would go over the sides with the least windows. We also upgraded our insulation to the highest rating available in the attic, but now I wonder about the walls. I only feel heat on the inside of the windows not the walls. I have trees on the East side where the big windows are and they block most of the morning sun and heat in summer, but there really isn't room on the West side to plant trees. I put insulated panels on the windows, and keep the blinds closed, all of which do help, but if in May the side of the house almost caused heatstroke, what about August and Sept. ~ our hottest months?

Before we built the house, I toured the Botanical Gardens here in Phoenix several times to see the flora and fauna (if you can call it that in the desert) to see what grew with no water and no brown dirt (our dirt is light beige) and they had an experimental house you could see for help in saving the environment. I devoured everything I could learn (1994! people!!) because I knew I now lived in a desert and the rules had changed. Unlike midwesterners who show up here and put lawn in EVERYWHERE and think they're in Milwaukee, No lawn, No peonies, No lilacs, no this, no that. Cactus and plants that strive to kill you every time you garden are the norm. Plants with spikes 2" long and just sit in wait. Oh, and the weeds know just how to bury themselves INSIDE the grouping of cacti (cacti stick together a lot) so you can't possibly get to the damn weeds without piercing yourself a dozen times. Every time I do yard work I show up the next day with scratches and scars from the day before. The cacti always win. Even the trees that look so beautiful have thorny prongs 2" long on them. That friendly mesquite over there? Laying in wait.... The yellow blooming Acacia? Wants nothing more than to scar you for life. As much as I have a personal hatred for the damn Acacia in my front yard, I refuse to kill a tree in the desert. It takes patience and prayer to grow anything so I am the last one to kill something I finally go to grow in the first place!!

I have changed out all my light bulbs to the low energy kind, use as little water as possible, and hope to get an instant hot water attachment for the kitchen faucet. I hate seeing water pouring down the drain waiting for hot water and do my best to do multiple tasks - use the cool water while waiting for the hot. Makes my conscience feel better if nothing else. I do shower every day but in less than 5 min. unless I wash my hair (once a week) which adds 3 min. I smell good and use as little water as possible.

At the end of the day I just look over how I've lived my day and most of the time I feel I've done my best. I combine trips to save gas, and with hot weather arriving, my driving will be cut back and I will be staying home and building my stock on Etsy. My garden looks the best this year as it ever has, and with shade now available from noon on, watering will be even less this year than last. Slowly but surly I am getting there. It takes time to become green and it ain't easy Kermit!!

You tried to tell us!

Thanks for stopping by!

Hannah

Dreaming in Colors