Inspiring!

I have been reading a book called "Seven Ways to Change the World" by Jim Wallis. My brother gave it to me when the one I asked for, by Joel Edwards, for my birthday had not arrived. He is still reading that one and I still have his! It really got me thinking but it was a blog that got me moving.
This summer I heard about a lady who was caring for 39 children. Crazy, insane, is that even legal was my first reaction. I was quickly told from a number of people that actually this was someone with great courage who was following the call of God on her life and kid after kid was benefiting from an amazing heart. So I started to check out the blog. I have laughed and cried reading it.
She is truly maladjusted in so many ways ( and it is true that she strives to stay sane at times!). She has made some real decisions about how she will live. I love her blogging about her gardens and all she harvests and they eat. And yard sales.......... seems to me that they work so well. They have got to be better than the charity shop trolling that I need to do. Our weather. (AGAIN!!!!)
Is it crazy to believe in angels that stock yard sales for deserving causes? If anyone deserves such an angel then I believe she and her kids do.
If you want to be challenged then check out www.thebodiebunch.blogspot.com and read Saturday 27th September, 2008.

A friend has also started a blog. It is worth a look. She's both smart and real which makes for interesting reading. www.iblamedorisday.blogspot.com

Time.

I have blogged all week in my head. It has been like a running conversation but apologies to anyone out there who may have checked in and found nothing. Actually there is so much to say that I have struggled to know what.
I have an idea now for my kid's Christmas gifts to nearest and dearest...100% recycled but I cannot say a lot more. It came to me at the caravan last weekend when we had taken a couple of days out to recharge the batteries. (Backfired a bit when the littler boy decided to have one of his worst nights on record! But the weather was GREAT!)
At the caravan too I realised again how easy it is to not recycle but i find more and more I just cannot do it. I cannot consign a bottle to the landfill, or a milk carton or a few empty cans of Scrumpy Jack so I washed, bagged and hauled them on home in the car as I know here where the facilities are. I love when the kids ask which bin things are to go in.
I am four weeks into a chemical free house in terms of cleaning. Such simple ideas with the bicarb, soap and vinegar. I love it. The only slight suspect at the moment is the toilet but I am not sure that is great blog material. I bought another micofibre cloth today. You have got to love them!!
Have not yet hit the second hand clothes stores and planned to check them out week one of my challenge but there is only so much time in a day and so much energy for that matter.
I am realising that a lot of this takes time but if we cannot prioritise things that we feel are important something has to be out of kilter somewhere, right?
And.... a final thought. A 40th Birthday invite in Nov. Beach party. (Inside obviously. This is Scotland, my friends.) Dress code? Cocktail dress! Me? Charity shops? Maybe it would be easier to decline the invite!!

I draw the line at underwear!

Our little girl needed tights for school as she was "just freezing" with her socks and the littler boy's big boy pants were not quite big enough. So it was off to ASDA. I just can't do second hand for those. (Could you?) And I just don't know yet about fair trade shops for these things. Do they exist and can we afford them?
I did shut my eyes and run passed all the clothes on the women's shelves tho.

Christmas, Cars and Butterflies

I had my first challenge about Christmas on Monday morning at school. The annual Christmas staff night out........and a child waiting on an immediate reply as I was the last person to respond. I scanned the note. The Witches of Eastwick at the Playhouse in Edinburgh followed by a meal at a very nice Italian across the road. I quickly calculated at least 45 quid by the time I added train and drinks. Yes I need to spend time with colleagues and celebrate work well done, at times with many battles. No I cannot justify that amount of money. What to do when the child with the note is obviously not leaving without an answer. I ticked "No" and added "Sorry". And now with the decision made I am having to think it thru.

Our old car had it's MOT test today. (ie is it road worthy?). This has caused us some angst. At what point do you replace a car which would mean a loan which would not be ideal? I would love a new car but have to admit that some of that is total pride at driving round in a beat up one. However I discovered last week that beat up cars given a good wash look so much better. And Terry from the garage has just called to say that the car has a year left in it yet. Passed the Mot!! I might even give it a polish!

Our butterflies have been a lovely addition to our house but it is just not where they are meant to be and this morning was dryish so it was time................. . With a very tearful little girl we took them into the garden and opened the top. They did not move at all. I had a sneaky suspicion that maybe they were all dead. Later on this morning I was in the garden with our littler boy and two of our butterflies were fluttering around. We were both very excited!! Here's hoping they may remain for our little girl coming home for her lunch.

What first?

Some days I know I will think little about the steps I want to take and other days like today I will have so many options that I may be in danger of doing nothing. I need to make a list and work it thru sensibly but I hate lists. I work on the principle that if I cannot remember it then it isn't worth it. Maybe, and it is only a maybe, I need to rethink this.

So at church this morning we heard some great stuff on stewardship. I liked that a lot and was in danger of amening out loud! We do not own, we are entrusted to care for our resources, our planet and such. Stewardship so fits with my faith. I need to be adding something to the title bar of this blog.............? Needs more thought.
Then I read some info sent thru with my recycle bins schedule. I can cut down on unwanted mail in two or three ways. Yep, need to. Then there was a section on love food hate waste. The average family in Scotland waste 610 pounds (yep money not weight) a year. How can we justify that when 35,000 kids die each day from preventable diseases. It makes me physically hurt. This house needs to move to be waste free. www.wasteawarelovefood.org.uk was recommended. Need to check it out.
And there is the site that Beth recommended in her comment. I have checked this out and her Mum's site. In fact that is really what gave me the kick into this but that is the story for another day.
But the highlight of our day was that we had four butterfly births today. Our kids were very excited. Auntie Susan had bought us the Butterfly garden kit and we have watched and cared for our wee catterpillars for four weeks now. What a journey and what a thrilling outcome! And yes there is something about them not flying free but we will let then go. Please can we have a warm sunny day?

Timber...............!

Today the forecast said light rain. In Scotland at the moment you translate that as go out and do as much as you can, keeping your rain coat nearby. We headed to our allotment project, stopping first at the Farmer's Market to buy our monthly treat of freshly smoked fish and some local veggies.
Our job today was to start moving what seems like a ton of stones off an area we plan to plant as soon as. It struck me that five years ago we had helped Von lay these down, in the hope of creating a maintenance free garden. Nothing is maintenance free in a garden, my friends. If we had only had a bit of vision we could have had five years of fruit and veg and actually been certified organic, me thinks. There was little joy in this task but we were all outside in the fresh air. It strikes me that we will need to put in some diary adjustment to give the time to this if we really believe it is important to us and what we want to be about. Maybe a few hours of some hard physical work is exactly what we need to pause and evaluate what is important.
We also decided to tackle the trees that were now so tall that they were among the electric cabling at the bottom of the yard. Von had had a good go but had taken fright at the thicker trunks. Mike was less cautious. A flimsy short ladder and a cheap saw and a wife slightly anxious about what might happen! When he had sawn what he thought was enough we attached Von's washing line and then the whole family (Yep.. Mike, Mo, the little girl and the littler boy) all grabbed the rope and pulled, shouting heave ho and then "TIMBER!" And I am pleased to report both came down and the electricity is still running in the neighbourhood!!

Finally a blog!

I made a commitment to start seriously looking at how we could become maladjusted, at least somewhat, small steps on the path, at the end of our trip to the US this summer. Mike was 100% in. He took no convincing altho we both saw the irony of our trips to Old Navy that very morning and even our discussion taking place in Tubby's in Savannah.
Then we get home and the pace hits fifth gear on day one. Five weeks later it takes a Georgia game (Go Dawgs!! We're wearing the hats and the shirts! Seriously!) to cut me some slack to start blogging.
Why? For two reasons. It keeps me accountable even if no-one reads it. And......hopefully out there, there are other people who are already commited to living differently and making those changes which small on their own can add to a bigger world changing picture! I need to learn from you.