Ahhh, 7. Sweet, sweet stupid 7.
Just completed the month of waste. I totally failed at this month. Okay, not failed. Because the word fail implies trying and then something not working. So allow me to rephrase…I hardly tried at all with this month.
My intentions were good:
Eat at local restaurants.
Shop at the farmers’ market.
Keep the air conditioner on at 78.
Seriously make sure we’re all turning lights off.
Crack down on my recycling/garbage sorting.
Plant tomatoes.
Eat at local restaurants.
Shop at the farmers’ market.
Keep the air conditioner on at 78.
Seriously make sure we’re all turning lights off.
Crack down on my recycling/garbage sorting.
Plant tomatoes.
Yes, I know that’s not seven. I couldn’t think of anything else. I don’t have a yard so composting and a garden were out of the question for me.
Here’s what I did:
We bought our pizza from a local Rosati’s and I got Orange Chicken from King Wok 47. This one doesn’t even feel like it should count.
I drove by the farmers’ market but didn’t go to it because I don’t know how they work, and I didn’t want my lack of how-to-purchase-produce knowledge to be seen by all.
The air conditioner did not stay at 78. That’s all I’ll cop to.
I turned off some lights.
I was pretty good with the recycling/garbage until the end of every week when my recycling bin was so full I would just start throwing everything in the garbage (this one might have strangely gotten worse this month).
I bought one of those supposedly magical upside-down hanging tomato plants. I must have said, “Seven is stupid” one hundred times while putting that thing together. Here’s why. I didn’t, per usual, think this little project through. So, I assembled the hanging thing, put the tomato plant in upside down, then while holding it with one hand, realized I had to get a bag of soil in it with the other hand. I got my son involved, we filled the thing, I sent him back in, then realized I needed to, you know, hang it somewhere. The only thing I had to hang it with was one of my dog’s old leashes. MacGyver would’ve been proud. Jen Hatmaker would not. So, then I read the little tag that came in the plant…may yield in 65-80 days. What the??? How does that do me any good this month? It doesn’t. So, not one tomato was grown during the entire month of waste. Don’t get me started.
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And, finally, I ran over and subsequently killed a chipmunk. No, that wasn’t on my original list of to-do’s, though it could’ve been the seventh one I was looking for. This one, obviously, was an accident. I was riding my bike and it fell out of a tree in front of me. I felt a weird bump and looked back to see it flip-flopping on the trail. I stopped my bike and watched it die a slow death. (I wanted to make sure it passed safely over into the afterlife, being the good environmentalist that I am.) Again, not perhaps what Hatmaker had in mind. But at least I was outdoors and not using my car.
So, yeah. My life did not turn upside down this month. Next month though, spending. Only spend money at seven places total all month. This month just may be my demise, not that I like to shop or anything. Til then, happy 7-ing.
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LOL what is this 7 thing? I could spend money at only seven places. I only shop at Costco.