alrightythen

Thanks to those of you who commented with your reading preferences. Let's get to it, shall we?

All have decreed and agreed; thus the topic for this post is "everything". Unfortunately, I'm still missing that little cable that plugs from the camera to the computer so I can get the current pictures off and show you guys what we are up to. Bummer.

Weather or not
But here are a few shots of the type of brilliantly sunny and crisp winter days we have been enjoying lately...


I don't think the date on this one is right. This was in Valdez, probably the winter of 2006-2007, taken from the parking lot of the trail that went out toward Shoop Bay, right over the top of the garbage dumpster. Oops, did I just ruin it for you?

This one is Mt McGinnins, I think, from Auke Lake right around Christmas time of 2003. Greg was the shutterbug on this one. This is what we see every Tuesday and Thursday on the way to/from preschool. I just love how the trees look so frosty and delicate.

And this is the Mendenhall Glacier taken from across Gastineau Channel (part of the Pacific Ocean) from the boat launch on North Douglas Island. Circa December, 2005. Ish.

That concludes the picture portion of this post.

Plastic is killing me
The Lockwood Anti-Plastic Brigade doesn't seem to be making any headway. Wait, that abbreviates into Lockwood APB... not quite the mood I was hoping to set, although I'll tell you what, there just might be an APB out on me if I can't find some meat packaged in something other than plastic. And I mean TODAY. Right now! We are a very carnivorous bunch, but we want to spare the planet from run-off and plastics-borne pollution through leaching. How the heck am I supposed to do that when most meats are packaged in not one but TWO layers of plastic wrap around not only the aforementioned protein product, but also a handy STYROFOAM tray? Ugh!

Seriously, this stuff is amazing!

Otherwise, plastic consumption is way down around here. And that is a very good thing. Remember my teaser a few weeks ago about the best product ever? Well, here it is: BAKING SODA!

Now, if you happen to be in your twilight years, or are at least a marginal housekeeper unlike yours truly, you likely already know this little treasure well. I come from neither a generation or family who passed this simply miraculous catch-all down, nor have I ever been really interested in alternative (or any but easy, quick and cheap) cleansing methods, but sodium bicarbonate is my new best friend. Here are just a few of the things we now use it for (but I find new uses every day!):

• deodorant! Absolutely, hands-down, the BEST for this purpose. Even if I wasn't worried about the dangerous toxins in deodorant itself or in finding "dodes" in a non-plastic container, I would still never stop using this odor- fighting wonderment. This might be too much information: My lumberjack of a husband now uses it exclusively. Since we've now detoxed completely from that chemically poison the grocery sells, we can sometimes go days with only one application of baking soda. Yes, even the lumberjack, the guy who works out every morning and then rides his bike to work four miles each way... last week he mentioned that he keeps forgetting to  put his "pit powder" on. Still not stinky. :)
• toothpaste!
• hand cleanser!
• exfoliator!
• grout scrubber!
• laundry stain pretreater! (need to use a brush and scrub a little)
• foot fungus killer!
• body powder!
• shampoo alternative!
• I'm thinking the list is endless.... if anyone thinks of something else, let me know!

Speaking of APBs (Yes we were - earlier. Scroll back if you need to...)
Mommy got what you'd call a "moving violation citation" a few days before Christmas. Happy Holidays from the Juneau Police Department, huh? Anyway, it's complete bunk and now I've got myself a court date to prove it's bunk. Wish me luck on Jan 26th, wouldja? I'm prepping for my defense these days and hoping to avoid not only the $65 fine, but also the 4 points on my license, possibly making our insurance go up. Plus, well... it's just the principle of the whole thing, y'know? I shouldn't be penalized for something I just flat out didn't do, right?

Suffice it to say, I can't go in to detail here, but it was "the Perfect Storm" of conditions that day. I'll let you know how it turns out. I'll let you know if the baking soda holds up in court.

I've got to close for now, but I promise to be back soon to tell you the tales of If you wanna, you could let me know what would be your top choice and I'll jump to that one first. See you next time!

1. first dance lessons for both girls,
2. soccer for seniors,
3. Atkins for me,
4. our house got sold, we think,
5. spring break in the Northwest,
6. thoughts of escape,
7. homeschool shenanigans,
8. and much more...

Pick a Topic, any topic...

So, I am awful at blogging.

There! I've finally admitted it. Now you can all join in and commiserate with me.

Okay, enough of that; let's find a solution...

AHA! Here's one: I'm going to lay out a bunch of the things that are running through my brain, usually following the phrase, "I've got to put something about this on the blog..."

Once we get a few (is five too many to hope for?) votes in the comments section, I'll go ahead and wax poetic about whatever you guys pick. About a week between choices and the actual post, I figure, so we can tally the mountains of votes. Ha.

Ready? Here are your choices for this week:

1. What in the heck are you still doing playing competitive soccer at age 40+ (including the results of the Holiday Cup Tournament I just won played)
2. What are the kiddos up to this year/semester/week? (some activities include ballet, swimming, horsemanship, preschool, and AWANA)
3. How's the weather up there? (Will include some scenery pictures of AK)
4. What's going on with your anti-plastic fetish? (Lots of insight and some links to share, as well as our new FAVORITE PRODUCT OF ALL TIME!)

Okey-dokey. Have at it in the comments and no fighting or name-calling, please. I will get to all of these exciting issues eventually.

I'm excited to see what you guys want to hear about. Thanks for reading and playing along.

Gasp! A post with pictures!

Well, hello dear readers! I'm so glad some of you are still with me....

It has been an amazingly convoluted and action-packed few months up here in the Great Land. We had our trip back east including a jaunt around Lake Michigan. We started homeschool. Amelia started preschool. I'm in the choir at church. Greg is traveling quite a bit with work. Mix in all the other miscellaneous stuff like the fact that the house we are renting is for sale (lots of strangers traipsing through our chaos), some hunting and fishing trips for mostly Greg, plus illnesses and injuries, and you've got yourself a better picture of what's going on up here.... yes, you're right - it's the same ol', same ol'. A lot of it.

All these pictures were taken with a disposable camera, thus the surreal 110 film quality. Classic, huh? Very retro!

Here's the big KING crab that Greg and the girls caught in mid-October. (editor's note: Greg informed me after I published, that this crustacean is indeed an Alaskan King Crab. Yowza!) 

 What happy Alaskan girls! They were so excited about that huge crab!

 Amelia learned how to ride her bike this summer; she is fast and fearless!

And a few pictures from Greg's moose hunt in September.

A new glitch that we hadn't anticipated has recently tossed us like a rogue wave. We have sold our microwave, are no longer using the dishwasher, and have not only gotten rid of most of our plastics and other synthetics (like polyester and nylon), but also are trying not to purchase or acquire any new ones. It is impossible, I'm here to tell you.

Need a hole in the head? Need a reason to find fault with every consumable item currently manufactured? If not, don't read this book: Slow Death by Rubber Duck.

Look at this little guy:

Isn't he just adorable? He's also toxic and likely has known chemical properties that disrupt hormone development in children. Nice!

Seriously, after innocently picking this up off our "new book" shelf in the local library, I can't UNknow what I now know. I have tried for three weeks now to purchase groceries without also purchasing plastics. NOT YET POSSIBLE, at least in Alaska. We have no bread stores where I can purchase fresh loaves in paper sacks. All our cereal, even the bulk stuff is in plastic bags. I've taken to making my own noodles and bread. And crackers. And just how am I supposed to buy meats? The teen/young-adult goofballs at our deli department don't even know what "butcher paper" is. Help! Don't get me started on my Teflon, Ziplocs, and yogurt container issues.

Aside from being exceptionally dangerous to both the immediate and the long-term (like in, "up to three generations after exposure") health of humans, plastics will be with us forever: once plastics are created, they can't be UNcreated. They will NEVER go away. Yes, they can be recycled into lovely hats and sweaters and fashionable eco-fleece products, but what happens when those garments are worn out or become out-of-style? Yes, they can also be reused, given to charity, or consigned to the less fashion-conscious among us (me, thank you very much), but what of them after they serve their useful life?

Greg has this great fleece jacket that he's had longer than he's had me. It's blue and in places, it is worn through so thin that I can see his tee shirt beneath it. Not even a (really tall) homeless guy is going to want it, but guess what? Earth can never be truly rid of it. It will not biodegrade. The only close way to make it be gone is to burn it, but did you know that fleece is a PETROLEUM PRODUCT? Yes, it is made from a combo of two different petroleum derivatives, including antifreeze. So burning would surely send something toxic into the very air we like to breathe.

The next time you see an environmentalist in her fancy Polartec (c) coat, spouting off about how we need to save the trees and birds and animals, let her know she is killing our planet, wouldja? Please, do not get me wrong (or send me hate mail) about this - living in Alaska, being the outdoorsy folks we are, we have basically survived in fleece for 10+ years. I think I knew that fleece was just soft, fluffy plastic all along, but I never realized how invasive and pervasive and dangerous the compounds and polymers in plastic are and how easily they are ingested and absorbed into the human body. It's quite scary, really. (Here's a mind-blowing fact: right now, in the US, the burden of proof regarding the toxicity or relative safety of a chemical, plastic, product, medicine, food, etc is on the consumer... the consumer must prove that something is dangerous before the FDA or the company who manufactures it will pull it from production. CRAZY! With what we know of the hazards of plastics and other toxins, shouldn't whomever wants to utilize it/market it first prove to us that it is safe? I mean, am I way off base here? Did we learn nothing from Agent Orange? Alar? Lead-based paints? Why can we still be subjected to all manner of lethal, insiduous products in such a sneaky, profit-driven way?)

In fact, most plastics do eventually break down. "Fantastic! Finally some good news!", you may think. Sadly, the breaking down just serves to make teeny, tiny sloughed-off pieces that look very similar to krill and plankton. (Take that, ocean creatures!) And to think, only about 25 years ago, plastics were still only rarely used for food packaging, let alone for clothing.

Remember when milk came in glass bottles? Me neither. But remember when Coke did? How about mayonnaise or ketchup? Some of you may know how much my husband loves ketchup. Actually "loves" might be too weak a word. I think "needs" would better describe his relationship with that tangy sauce. You may not be aware of this, but it is extremely difficult to find affordable ketchup in a glass bottle. In Alaska.

I mentioned already that polyester is not a naturally occurring fiber, right? OK, since in AK, cotton is NOT our friend, we are now aiming for all-natural fibers such as wool, linen, silk, hemp, ramie, jute, and bamboo. However, depending on how these fibers are processed, they can be just as harmful to ecosystems as plastics. What is a girl to do?

Well, for starters, here's a great list of how to reduce your dependance on plastics, if you're interested:

http://fakeplasticfish.com/plasticfreeguide/comment-page-4/

Nothing will change if we do not hit the companies in their collective pocketbooks. If we stop purchasing their products due to the unethical packing, maybe they will revert to plastic-free papers, cardboard, and glass.

We can tackle the garment issue in another post. For now, here's a promising brand ...http://www.ibex.com/

Are ya with me?

Oh, wait, one more thing - an incredible irony: What are store-bought reusable grocery bags made of? Yes, polyester! Ha! Gotta laugh at that!

Glad to be back. Hope I can keep this to a regular, once-a-week post, at least. Let me know your thoughts on any of this, will you?

Randomosity

We had quite a busy summer what with a trip to Prince Of Wales Island, many fishing excursions, soccer, soccer and more soccer, and of course, our big trip Back East. We'll have more on that trip in an upcoming post; for now, here are a few random glimpses of the summer.

The girls love playing outside in the rain with their umbrellas and rain boots.



Mama bear and her two babies out by the Mendenhall Glacier. We like to go watch them catch and eat salmon, and try to figure out what a porcupine is.



One of the last times we were out at the Glacier in the summer, it was a beautiful, flat-calm, clear day. We don't get those very often, so it was definitely a reason for a picture!

Oh, these are a bit older, I guess. Amelia turned three in April, 2010.

And this is the day before we left for our Back East Trip. And oh, what a trip it was! Come back soon for all the details.