Praying for rain

As I type this it is pouring outside. While a rarity in Phoenix - this is our Monsoon season so it's not quite so strange. But it brought me back to a conversation I had this weekend.

While driving from Phx to Las Vegas we drove over the Hoover Dam. Comments were made by several about the colors of the rock. We commented as to how much the water had gone down vs the prior water level. There were a few comments that it was due to our recent drought. A comment was then made by an elderly woman (girlfriend's grandma) that all we needed to do to change that was to pray for rain. Someone said that folks pray for rain all the time. The woman said that apparently they weren't all praying hard enough because if we all really prayed about it the Lord would deliver it.

My immediate response was that it also says in the bible that we are to be good stewards of the land, plants and animals and that if we were doing a good job there, we wouldn't have an issue of global warming and thus we wouldn't have an issue of this level of drought. She agreed with me. Said that sounded about right to her. I was shocked. See, this is a woman with very strong beliefs. Getting her to say that someone else was right after she'd made her own opinion is no small achievement. Not like I was going for a gold start or anything - but it kinda felt like I'd gotten one.

This brings up two points to me.

First - I'm tired of someone thinking if they pray for something they will get it. One of my favorite Sunday school lessons in 5th grade (Shout out to Mrs. Caradine if you are still around!) had to do with God answering a prayer. She explained that God always answers prayers - but it may not always be the answer you wanted. She said that in general there are 3 possible responses. Yes. No. Or, Not right now. That immediately struck me. All those folks who complained that God wasn't listening - when really they just didn't like his answer. It totally clicked to me. Talk about a healthy way of looking at the world. Well, at least it works for me.

Second - Why aren't more churches saying the same thing? I know it's a new trend that some churches are jumping on the environmental band wagon, but I remember making the logical jump back when I first heard of Earth Day in High School. Now days, with Global Warming being discussed in commercials, tv shows, and part of many dinner conversations - why isn't the church united behind that? Let me tell ya - they might get a bunch more miles than gay marriage. It's certainly relatable. In fact, I'd say it's one of the most important "laws" out there. It might not be in the top 10 list or anything (not that we bother to pay attention to many of those now days) but it was one of the first things Adam and Eve were told to do. Believe he really told it to them. Believe it was a symbol of the beginning of the world. Whatever. Either way - that was their whole job. Do you really think our jobs have changed?

I don't. Let's keep it clean. It's what the big guy wanted.

Contemplating small steps

I've been really awful in my "healthy body" habits for the last few weeks. Not to the point I've forgotten what my goals are, but easily to the point that I'd go 2-3 days without a really healthy meal. But here's the thing. I weighed myself this morning. No change. Mind you - I'm happy to see it, but it was a bit of a surprise.

What if 2 meals a day were healthier? And then I added in some activity 3-4 times a week? If eating bad and watching TV have had no change in weight, what would just a small amount of change consistently bring? Isn't that my ecological goal too? Consistent small steps forward?

So today I went into a bike shop. I looked at the pretty bikes and the sporty bikes. I dreamed of filling baskets with picnic goodies. Of the wind whipping through my hair. I dreamed of being healthy enough to able to ride it fast enough for long enough the wind would actually whip through my hair... I have a cheap bike that I stopped riding because it wasn't comfortable. Would I ride one if it was actually comfortable? Am I willing to pay $300-400 to find out? I'm seriously thinking about it. Or maybe, in the spirit of small steps, I should start with filling the tires of my current bike. It's a thought.

Healthy Kitty, Healthy world

That part of my brain that justifies bad decisions has just come up with a good "reason" why eating fast food isn't such a bad thing. Ready for this? Paper bags.

Funny huh? I know, I know - why would a recycler like myself like getting paper bags. I can answer that it 2 words - Kitty Poop. Yes, Kitty Poop.

You see, I recently learned about how general scoopable cat litter was bad. Bad, bad bad actually. Where to begin.
- Most have dust containing an agent that causes cancer. And when that dust on our kitties feet gets put on our sofas, pillows and hands guess who breathes it all in? The one who bought the kitty liter and all their friends and family. Nice.
- The clay that makes it "clump" was strip-mined from the ground. Yes I said strip-mined. To the tune of 2 million tons a year. Have your attention yet?
- Once the clay has been processed - it's not bio degradable. Can't be flushed. So tons and tons of kitty poop are sitting in landfills.
- Most folks use plastic bags (as they are in such abundance) to throw away their kitty poop.

So, we've got stinky cancer causing chemicals in a non-bio degradable format in a non-bio degradable bag. Oh how non-green it is!!!

I'm currently working to transfer my lovely and picky kitty over to Swheat Scoop Wheat Litter. Thought about doing the pine, but I know our kitty would hate the smell. Swheat scoop is bio degradable. But how to dispose of it..... Supposedly if you're willing to wait 20 minutes for it to dissolve a bit first, you can flush it down the toilet. Not a horrible idea, but I'm not willing to waste 12-15 gallons of water per Kitty cleaning flush every day when my city is in a drought. We often put the poop in plastic bags still around the house. (Who thinks shoe shopping = plastic bags? One day I'll learn...) But of course then it's not bio-degradable.

And now we are full circle. Fast food bags. Small. Free (with purchase). Completely bio-degradable. If my whole household goes even 3 times a week (that would be once a week for each of us) we'd have enough bags. And while I'd like to dramatically reduce my numbers there, I think there are other folks in the house who would more than make up for me. So, thanks to McDonald's, Wendy's, Taco Bell, Popeye's, Jack in the Box, Sonic, Burger King and many others not listed here - I'll be able to dramatically reduce our Kitty Poop ecological footprint. I'm not sure our Kitty cares, but I'm quite excited.

Time for a gameplan

I am in search of a plan.

I think the theory of do "better generally speaking" just isn't working for me. I want it to but I just can't commit to myself the way I should. Someone else - sure. Me? Heck no. I've gotten a bit better but we still haven't made it to the gym. I really thought we would the other night but then I got this bizarre pinched nerve from by wrist, up my arm and down my back. Not pretty at all. Couldn't deal with that and be on the treadmill. Sounds like an excuse - but it was really awful. Mind you - I most likely only have these bizarre pains because I'm too fat in the first place. Ok - that was a true but negative thought. I need to make myself think more positively. Funny (not funny "ha ha") how hard that can be!!!

So, I think I need to pick a "diet" to follow. Notice those quotes? Yea -it's like a bad word. Right now I'm leaning towards weight watchers because it seems like more of a healthy lifestyle change than some of the others. I have done Atkins in the past but could never stay on it longer than a few months. A friend of mine is doing South Beach which has some of the good aspects I liked about Atkins but you can have SO many more veggies which I think would be great. (Man I miss eating good veggies!) Then there is one out there about reprogramming your body that looks interesting (can't think of the name now) and one that I've only heard about but don't know the official name. I do know that when I read about the science behind that one, my interest was piqued. Something about the density of foods? Water content? I'll update when I learn more if it looks interesting. Heck, they all look interesting. Great marketing. But to find one that I think will both work for me AND will be one Kandy would be able to support (even if she wasn't 100% faithful) is going to require a bit more research.

Series of unhealthy events

The last few weeks have been anything but healthy. More like a series of misfortunate events.

- While our July 4th party was a blast, I was really saddened at all the plates/forks/napkins in the trash. Worse yet, my house has decided to not give them up. I pull out real plates and forks but they tell me to put them away because we're using plastic forks and paper plates. For almost every meal. I've lost control of my waste.

- We haven't been to the gym in at least 2 weeks. If I'm being honest, I think we might have gone once or twice in the last 8 weeks. We keep talking about how important it is. But then she's had a long day or I've had a long day or we have plans we can work around. I'd say we will get better but talk has done nothing before. I feel out of control.

- I've lost control of my food choices. Sure, I still buy the food, but as I'm more than ever the last person home I rarely have any input in their preparation. Last night was a great example. I had a great bag of frozen organic summer vegetables. Squash, Zucchini, green beans, red pepper, carrots. Well, by the time I got home and was told that dinner was ready, I found the package open but what was on my plate was anything but healthy. Soaked in butter and extra salt and over cooked to the point that by texture alone one could not tell if you were eating a piece of squash, a carrot, or a green bean - and all individual taste was lost. Unfortunately, this means the other two folks in my house were happy with how it all came out. How do you say to a respected elder family member "Thank you for making dinner, but please stop ruining the good food?"

- The negative out of control feelings have started to take over a bit. I know I need to trim my trees and spray down the weeds, but I just haven't been able to motivate myself. I start to feel so helpless about how things are going I decide that I might as well eat fast food. Yes, I've officially slid back.

I feel like I've lost control of my house. Worse yet the stress piles on and I start to feel less control at work. I still can't find someone to insure me, so I have no control over my health care. Feeling helpless and out of control are not the way to become more healthy. They are in fact just the opposite.

I need to find a way to re-charge the batteries. To somehow feel like I can start fresh. I'll be planning and plotting and I'll let you know what I come up with.

3 cookies for breakfast. Pizza for lunch. Pete's Fish and Chips for dinner. Chocolate cake and Vanilla Ice cream for late night snack with friends.

I remember thinking I wanted to be healthy. Obviously that's all it was if I'm eating like this!

Crap.

I'm blaming the holiday. And the stress. But for now - the holiday.

[ Note to the Me that is reading this later on. Do you want to continue to get out of breath after just clapping for your favorite team? Don't you want to wear some of the other clothes in the closet? Focus!]

I'm still drinking my water but I can't think of the last time I was in the gym. Weeks?? I'd have to look back at my blog to remember when I last weighed myself. And while I've been averaging 1.5 good meals a day - the other ones have been bad enough to negate all the good stuff. So. Time to turn things around.

Really. I know it's hard. But I have to do it.

This sucks.

Healthy Patriotism

Yesterday was, of course, the gigantic 4th of July food-fest at my house. Mmmm-mmm-mmm the patriotism was a-flowing while the burgers were a-grilling. I'm happy to report that there were actually quite a few political discussions going on in the house. Topic discussed included racism, political candidates, gay marriage, gays in the military, the movie Sicko, and the legal requirements to move out of the country. We even had some more healthy dinner choices. Sure, we had ribs, burgers and hot dogs, but the hot dogs were Hebrew National and some of the burgers were turkey! And of course we had the baked macaroni salad and the yummy corn casserole - but we ALSO had roasted vegetables, low-fat slaw, broccoli-slaw salad (Called Olympia salad though I have no idea why) and some other inventive veggie salad options such as wilted cucumber salad. We had a vegetarian friend over who brought his own veggie dogs, and with respect for him everyone was aware to ensure that most of the sides were veggie friendly (watching out for those hidden ingredients).

Yes, we had a little bit of everything. And not just the food. Our crowd represented White, Black, Hispanic, Bi-racial, Male, Female, American, Canadian, Gay, Bisexual, Straight, Single, Partnered, Divorced, Senior, Adult, Teen, Pre-Schooler, Vegetarian, South Beach Diet, Weight Watchers Diet, "See Food" Diet and many more combinations if we looked a bit deeper. But our commonalities were even greater. Friendship - and great food.

*** *** ***

And at the end of the party, as I was feeling the environmental guilt after taking out a full 30 gallon bag of trash from plates, cups and napkins, and emptying the recycle container - I noticed that there were a few folks attempting to pack up their empty dishes. This would never do. It was time to institute a new tradition. BYOT - Bring your own Tupperware. Or Plasticware. Everyone at our parties are encouraged to "take a plate" as there are far too many left overs. Most folks put this on a paper plate and cover it with foil. Our next invitation will encourage them to bring one or more small containers to take their "leftovers" home with them. I'm also tempted to tell them to all bring their own plate and forks too - but I think that might be pushing it.

I have decided that I need to look into investing in some cheap but durable re-usable plates. We do these big meals at least 4 times a year - so this could be a great investment, and a great way to reduce our annual trash output. It just might be time to sell that stock in Chinet....

Bagging my week

So, it's been a hectic and awful week. It's been unhealthy in all the un-fun ways. Yesterday was the awful mess of a reminder of how bad the week had gotten. I bought a bunch of disposable cups when deep down I knew it was better for the world if I used real ones - but I just didn't have the energy to imagine washing them all. In rushing and exhaustion I got fast food burgers for dinner. I was sick about 20 minutes later and wondered why I had even bothered to eat it. Then I had to go to 2 different grocery stores and completely forgot my bags - so I have a bunch of plastic bags. And of course there was no time to go work out. Yes, yesterday was like the cherry on top of a crappy sundae.

Today I was determined to find good in the world. To get re-inspired. Re-focused on the good. Surprisingly, I found some of that inspiration at Amazon.

Amazon is the sole distributor of the World Food Programme Feed Bag. For $60 you get a reversible bag that is sized great for carrying books, groceries or anything else that your life requires you carry around. But $34 of that goes to feed a child for a year. Yes, that's right buy a bag - feed a child. And even better, it feeds the child through the schools - which encourages the kids to go to school and the parents to send them to school. In some schools it has increased participation 300%. Wow. Not only are these children less likely to die, but they will traditionally marry later and have less children than an uneducated adult - and they are going to encourage their kids to repeat the same process.

I may not be able to vouch for how green the process was that brought us the bag, and it may not be organic cotton - but this is absolutely healthy. Like a deep breath of fresh air. Saving bags by using this for groceries, saving kids from starvation, encouraging education, encouraging smart living.

I'll admit - I'm not buying this today. Finances are just a bit tight right now. But it is going on my Amazon wish list and I may be buying this for others as well come Christmas time. Check it out and decide if it inspires you to do the same.