Don't Procrastinate. It's Expensive.

We got a water bill statement in the mail the other day that made my eyeballs pop out of my head.  It wasn't necessarily the amount that our bill came to, but it was actually the little bar graph that compares your consumption to what it was last year during the same month or two.  I realized that for the last several billing cycles, our consumption has doubled since the year before.  Wha....???

Weird, huh?  I thought so to.  After thinking about it for a moment, I couldn't really pinpoint how we've been using so much water.  Overall we're pretty conservative in our water use.  Especially me.  I'm always super conscious about how much water I'm using while washing dishes, making sure that the dishwasher and washing machine are full before starting them, and even follow the "if it's yellow, let it mellow" rule.  AND, it's not gardening season, so there's no way I'm using extra water outside.

Then my mind went to our bathroom.  Since we moved in, I've occasionally noticed our toilet running.  I didn't give too much thought to it, it would just run for a few seconds here and there.  But now that I was actually putting some thought into it, I realized that perhaps it had been getting worse and running more often recently.  It was just one of those things that I didn't notice because it was a sound I had gotten so used to and just didn't realize it was getting worse.  After 10 minutes of searching the intertubes, I decided it was a leaky flapper in the tank that needed to be replaced.

So off to H-Dizzle we went.  We picked up a new flapper and also decided to get a new aerator for our sink.  The aerator we had was one that dispensed 2 gallons of water per minute and we decided to upgrade to one that dispenses half that much.  The total bill for these things came to $11.

We got home and the installation for both took literally 5 minutes total.

Then we waited.  Two months we waited.  With baited breath.

And today it came.  The bill to decide it all.  See below:

BOOYAH!!!

Let's break this down.  Like the graph states, the dark line is this year, the white line is last year.  This cycle, since our super easy and cheap bathroom modifications, we've cut our usage in half.  Damn.  It's even a little lower than the amount we used last year at this time.  AND, this includes the increased loads of laundry we've done to wash baby stuff to get ready for her arrival in the next month.  (Yeah, one month.  Scary.)

So an $11 fix that took a quick trip to the store and five minutes at home lowered our bill by $22 and cut our usage in half.  We're pretty pumped.

Do you have something that needs to be fixed?  Do it.  It feels so good and will save you money and save the earth a little bit too.

On My Soapbox: Doggies

Hey y'all.  This topic has been on the forefront my mind for about two weeks now and I've been trying to think of a way to talk about it without getting all fired up.  So this is my attempt at being level-minded about something I feel super strongly about.

Many of you may know that I work at a fancy private school.  Most of the families that are part of the school are very well-off and in a socioeconomic realm that I will never relate to, much less be a part of.  Since coming back from winter break, there have been several instances of these families bringing in their new pure-bred 10 week old puppies to show off at school.

Now, I love puppies and dogs.  How could you not?  They're puppies.  But every time I see these families and kids drooling over their new family members and parading them around campus, it makes me kind of sick to my stomach.

Why?  My first instinct is because they are showing off something that is more of a trophy than anything else.  That's just gross no matter what it is, puppy or not.  And any time someone starts a sentence with "well, the breeder told us to do this and this and this..."  Makes me annoyed more than anything.  I don't know...  The families are rich enough to have probably gone to a reputable breeder.  Those puppies are probably happy, healthy puppies not from a puppy mill.  There's must be something else bothering me.

(Let me just say a few words about puppy mills since that's not what I really want to discuss.  Puppy mills are hellholes.  They are like CAFOs for dogs.  They are mistreated, over-bred, and neglected.  Oftentimes the dogs from puppy mills are sick, and will develop issues later on in their lives.  Don't buy a dog from a pet store.  It is likely a puppy mill dog.  Don't support puppy mills.  If you want to know more, just google it and you'll probably puke.)

So what's wrong with buying a dog from a reputable breeder that takes care of their animals and has the animals' best interests at heart?  Nothing, really.  It's the most ethical way to acquire something very specific.  But there is something about the fact that there are already SO MANY dogs (and cats) out there in this world with no home, and being euthanized by the dozens a day in shelters across the country, that makes my heart hurt beyond words.

Let's think about the true reasons most people want a dog.  (Other than the trophy factor. That can't be helped, unfortunately.)  They probably want a new fuzzy member of the family that will bring them joy, entertainment, companionship, and to be a good friend.  Are fancy breed puppies from breeders the only dogs that will bring all of these things?  Absolutely not.  Dogs are dogs.  Sure, with a puppy or a specific breed you can start with a clean slate, and you get some specialized traits that some people prefer over others.  But shelter dogs have those traits too.  There are all kinds of dogs stuck at shelters.  There are pure breeds and mixed breeds, young and old.  True, some have been neglected and/or abused and have some serious behavioral issues that are unsafe for children and are a lot of work to rehabilitate.  I am by no means saying that everyone should go out and adopt a messed up dog and fix it.  Though it would be awesome if that happened, I know the reality of it and many people don't have the time, energy, or skill to do it well.

Let's talk a bit about the differences between mixed vs. pure breeds, shall we?

Both have their advantages and disadvantages.  With pure breeds, you're often getting a dog that has had their genes specifically chosen over many generations to have certain traits and characteristics.  You pretty much know what you're getting into.  It's a pretty good guarantee that a golden retriever is going to be an amazingly loving, social family dog.  It's also a pretty good guarantee that with a pug you're going to get an alien-looking thing with a heart of gold that snorts a lot.  For these reasons, people go for pure breeds.  (Also, if you need a dog for a certain job like hunting, a pure breed is probably a better option.)

With pure breeds though, you often get many more health issues because of the specialized breeding.  Goldens often have skin and allergy issues and don't live very long.  Pugs often have issues with their eyes and skin as well, among other things.  My years of working in the veterinary industry has opened by eyes to the various health issues that come from pure breeding.  On top if that, over the last hundred years, breeds have gotten more and more manipulated by humans that some breeds can't even reproduce on their own.  Take the Old English Bulldog for example.  They have been so over-bred that the shape of their bodies doesn't allow them to be able to mate.  The bitches can't even give birth because the babies' heads are so big and their hips are too narrow for them to pass through the birth canal.  So all of the OEB's that you see out in the world are the result of artificial insemination and c-section birth.  If all humans just died off today, which breeds would disappear too?  Dudes.

Now let's talk about those mixed mutts.  Do you always know what you're getting?  Nope.  Sometimes the breeds that are mixed are known, sometimes not.  I guess this is where the uncertainty comes in and why some people aren't as open to them as a pet.  But, if you know that the dog is mixed with beagle, then you can expect a little bit of asshole behavior and a tendency to run away.  If you don't, then you will still find out sooner or later.  I am of the mind that when you mix breeds together, you generally get all the good traits of each breed without the bad ones.  I've met many lab/border collie mixes that have the friendliness of the lab, but the brains and poise of the border collie.  I've known a golden/german shepherd mix that had the sweetness of the golden and the strong loyalty of the shepherd.  This dog lived to be 16.  No pure golden or shepherd is likely to live that long.  They had no major health issues either.  And mixed breeds are adorable.  Have you seen a corgi/shepherd mix?  How about a bulldog/great Dane mix?  Adorbs.  I'll bet each and every one of you can think back to a mixed breed dog that was or is amazing and cute to boot.

I'm not saying that you should feel bad if you purchased a dog from a breeder.  All I'm hoping to accomplish here is to open the eyes of some people to the possibilities of adopting a dog from a shelter (or a person who's finding a new home for their own dog) before going out and purchasing one from a breeder.  There are so many dogs and cats out there that are perfectly good and capable of bringing so much joy to families who want it.  And it's totally possible to adopt a pure breed dog as well.  When I was younger and our family decided we wanted a border collie, we found one that was four years old to adopt on Petfinder.com.  She was having some issues with her doggie roommate and had to spend a lot of her time in a large dog run to avoid getting into fights.  We were able to give her a home for the next 12 years to live out her slightly neurotic life in peace.

Shel was a little crazy but we loved her.

My parents now have another pure breed pug that they also adopted from a sad, neglectful situation.  He's so great and we don't care that he's a pure breed or that he has an extra curly tail that marks a high quality pug.  He could have no tail for all we care since we love him for who he is on the inside and not for his physical characteristics. (Though I love playing with his big puggy lips.)

Look at those irresistible lips...

So are you thinking about getting a dog? Please do your research. Think about the physical and personality traits that work well for your lifestyle and head to the shelter or find one that needs a home on Petfinder.  I guarantee your doggie soulmate is out there, just waiting for you to come rescue it and give it a forever home.  One final thought: puppies are cute, but so are dogs.  Give 'em a chance, y'all.

Oh and as Bob Barker says, help control the pet population.  Have your pet spayed or neutered!

Looking out for squirrels.

Nikolai was rescued from a cat hoarder's house.

Being Sneaky: A Chickie Update

Last I wrote about the ladies, poor Elsa was having a rough go with her molting.  The others were taking advantage of her sickly state and were asserting their dominance more than ever. Well, she got all better and her feathers came back to their full glory.

The other three went into their molt a few weeks later, and Elsa, being the sweet dumb thing that she is, didn't take the opportunity to retaliate.  I was a bit worried about the others though, because in the middle of their molt was when we had that super cold snap where it was getting down to the teens at night and never above freezing during the day for about 5 days. This was definitely the closest I have gotten to knitting them sweaters. But they got through it with extra corn scratch and hot meals in the morning and are all back to full plumage.

Here are some shots of the sad looking molters:

 

During their molt, they didn't eat much, which was pretty darn noticeable. This meant they weren't pooping much either, so Shawn, who has been on poop duty for the last several months, got a bit of a break too.  In the last several weeks though, their eating picked up and we were thinking this meant they were prepping to lay again. Granted, we figured since the days were still so short that we would probably see some eggs in early February. 

Boy, were we wrong.

Shawn went out this morning to let the ladies out and Abby was nowhere to be found. A peek inside the coop found her sitting in the corner on a PILE of eggs. Nine of them to be exact.  At first we thought she'd gone broody and we were going to have to intervene with some serious debroodifying.  But it turns out she was just adding to the pile.  

Since laying in a dark corner makes for egg collecting to be a pain in the ass, we changed out the old bedding in their nest boxes, which seems to have worked since we found an egg in the box later.

So there you go.  Another laying season has begun and it looks like it's gonna be a good one again.  By the way, this is season number four for Abby and Frannie and number three for Pearl and Elsa. I'm thinking this is a bit uncanny since everything you read says egg production drops by season three. I guess this is just the beginning so we'll see.  I'm thinking happy healthy chickens just means more eggs.

The pile found this morning:

They did a good job making a nice nest in the corner...

Flip 'em the Bird!

Many of you know I have a serious commute to work.  At 26 miles away, at best, it takes me 40 minutes to get to work.  With Seattle traffic during peak hours, it often takes an hour to an hour and a half to get home.

Surprising, isn't it?  Me, the environmentally conscious, tree hugging, granola eater, spending that much time in the car burning fossil fuels...  it's really a shame.

But wait!  There's a solution!

CARPOOL!

Yes indeedy.  I've been carpooling for almost the whole time I've been at my job, and this school year, I have carpooled with at least another person almost every single day.  (I think I can count the times I've driven myself alone since September on one hand.)

This year, there are five of us in our carpool.  We all have slightly different schedules throughout the week, so we're not in the same car every day together, but it works out that each of us only has to drive our own car to work two to three times a week.  We all live in the North Seattle area so we meet at a park and ride and each have a designated day to drive to eliminate confusion.  Let's do some numbers.  If I were to drive myself every day, my total mileage would be 26 x 10 = 260 miles.  Blech!  By comparison, the carpool place is 6.5 miles from my house.  Only driving twice a week, it comes out to: (26 x 4) + (6.5 x 6) = 104 + 39 = 153.  260 - 153... I save 107 miles!  Sa-weet.  At about 33 miles per gallon that I get on my car, that's at least a $10 savings in gas each week, not to mention the carbon emissions that aren't being pumped into the air.  At those are just my numbers.  Multiply that by 5 and you start feeling pretty good about the impact that it could be making.

Though the gas savings was the initial reason my workmates and I started carpooling, there have been many other benefits that have come up that really makes it even better.  Let's discuss:

CARPOOL LANE:  Duh.

SANITY: Driving long distances, especially in traffic, can lead to lapses of sanity and major road rage.  When you have others in the car with you the share in the anger that other drivers can cause, for some reason, that rage is dissipated instantly.  Instead, we just make fun of the driver and imagine scenarios that lead to their fiery deaths or ferrets chewing on their testicles.  Which leads me to the next benefit:

PEOPLE WATCHING:  It's really hard to look at other drivers when you're the one doing the driving.  But when there are two or three other pairs of eyes in the car, each looking out different windows, there are lots of people-noticing opportunities.  And the people we've seen have been quite entertaining.  Take for instance, the lady who was doing a crossword puzzle while driving.  Are you fo real?  She had it rested on her steering wheel between her hands and was seriously working on it.  That's worse than talking on the phone.  Maybe worse than texting.  Then there are the people with funny wardrobes.  Like the lady who was wearing a sweet rainbow visor, pink sunglasses, and white gloves.  Or the all the people rocking out to their music, dealing with their own road rage, and making funny faces while driving.

FINDING THE FASTEST ROUTES:  There are always various ways to get somewhere.  When you have two cars leaving the same place or going the same direction at the same time, you get the rare opportunity of a little experimenting.  Is it faster to take the exit before and get out of the traffic to take the side streets?  Is it quicker and shorter to got to the other freeway entrance?  These are things that are hard to decide when driving yourself.  But when you have two cars and two drivers at your disposal, you can find out!  Though our efficiency makes it a rare occurrence for two cars to be leaving one place at the same time, it has happened just enough times to answer some of the most dire questions.

WHAT'S FOR DINNER?:  Things get done when you have more brains in the car.  The "what's for dinner" conversation happens nearly on a daily basis and actually gets answered on occasion.  This saves headache when you get home.  Other things that have gotten done in the car: parties have been planned, tumblr ideas have been created, life concerns have been solved.  Carpool therapy- you should try it sometime.

GOSSIP:  Duh, when you have a bunch of people who work together stuck in car for two hours a day, gossip happens.  But really not as much as you think.  It's more sharing work stories and sympathizing with the daily trials and hilariosity of working with children.

CAR/ROAD GAMES: Seriously, we play them.  And they work to make an hour drive slightly more bearable.

INSIDE JOKES:  So many inside jokes.  I won't go into details since they won't make sense but let me explain one: Lately, we've begun Flipping the Bird.  Most know this as a euphemism for giving one that has pissed another off the middle finger.  In this scenario, there are no fingers involved.  Instead, we have a picture of a Western Tanager that just happened to get trapped in my car from summer camp.  One of my carpool buddies discovered this one day and has decided that it should be flashed to people who make bad driving decisions.  Sounds dumb, right?  But it's hilarious.  (Maybe I take back my sanity argument.)  It's just a fun way to release our anger out at other drivers that they won't necessarily take as offensive.  It's win-win, really.  It makes us feel better, but doesn't piss anyone off.  Most people don't even notice, but the ones that do just get confused.  We laugh.  This leads me to my final benefit:

FRIENDS:  When you spend many hours a week with someone in a very confined space in a stressful situation, you have to become friends with that person.  There's no way around it.  I think this is one of the best benefits of all.

Western Tanager is yelling at you to stop sucking at driving. (And to buy shade grown coffee.)

The picture below was taken last year in my old car.  My friend has a tumblr and always needs ideas for new pictures and posts.  This was one of them.  

If you'd like to see more, here's a link to that particular tumblr.

Tea Robot carpools to work.

Here, Have a Little Pre-ssert.

So last year I shared with you my favorite Thanksgiving recipe.  This year, I will share with you another fave.

TANG SALAD!

Tang?  Wait, isn't that the powdery orange stuff that, mixed with water, makes flat orange soda?  The stuff that astronauts drink?  The stuff that is slowly being phased out and is really hard to find in grocery stores? 

Indeed.  That's the stuff.

This recipe is one that I grew up with, and one that my grandma made every year.  It's so good.  Mostly because it's like getting dessert during dinner, or as Shawn calls it, pre-ssert.

This recipe is full of "wholesome" ingredients.  See below:

Ingredients
1 large box orange Jell-o (or two small boxes)
4 tbs. Tang
1 pint orange sherbert
1 or 2 cans mandarin oranges

Directions
Mix Tang with Jell-o and dissolve in 2 cups boiling water.  Let sit until it starts to set.  In the meantime, get the sherbet out and let it start to thaw.  It's easier to mix in when not straight out of the freezer.  Mix in the sherbet with a mixer or a whisk.  It's important that you don't mix the sherbet in while the Jell-o mixture is still liquidy because you'll get a bunch of foam on top.  Once the sherbet is mixed in, gently fold in the mandarin oranges and pour into a mold of your choice.  I use a bundt pan, but any cool mold is fun.  Refrigerate overnight and serve when the turkey is ready to eat!

Mmmm... dessert at the dinner table.  Love me some traditions.

Oh, and here's my thankful list.  It's not as well-written as last year, but maybe next year when I've gotten all mushy with motherhood I'll have some deep things to say.
* Zantac.  Heartburn is a bitch.  Zantac makes it better.  I Love it.
* Not having gestational diabetes.  I passed the test today.  Booyah!
* Shawn.  And Shawn.  And Shawn. 
* Kitties.  Mine especially.
* Bubba.  He's a good dog.
* My house.  My chickens.  My garden.  My couch.
* Family and friends.
* Being healthy.  Having friends and family who are healthy.
* Nature.  It's always there when I need it to provide calm and wonder.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Having a Conscience is Stressful

Note:  I wrote this post a month or two ago and haven't posted it until now for some reason.  But I think I will now.

I'm frustrated.

Let me explain. See, we have this couch. Well, since we're gluttonous Americans, we have two couches. One of them is the new one that we use everyday and spent a bunch of money on recently because we decided we were big kids now and needed a real couch that wasn't purchased off of Craigslist. It's nice.

The other is the one we shunned to the garage because it was replaced by the new one. We tried to take it to Goodwill, but they wouldn't take it because our lovely feline roommates scratched the hell out of the corners. It's been sitting there for a few months as we try to figure out what to do with with it.

As you can see, it collects stuff, like ugly rugs, boxes of random shit, and cat litter. It's time for it to go. But where? The only place I know where it's NOT going is the landfill. It's still a perfectly good couch to sit on. It just has slightly shredded corners and some easily cleanable stains on it. Now, the stains I can clean. The corners, on the other hand, that is going to take a reupholstery job. But who's gonna do that? Not me. I guess we could try putting it in Craigslist for $20 with the tag of: "great couch! Just needs new upholstery!" Yeah, right.

So I went on the intertubes today to see if there were any furniture recycling places. I was looking for someone who would take it off my hands and maybe take it apart to find some use for all the textiles and wood that they can get from it. The closest thing I found was a green junk removal company that will take all the reusable stuff to Goodwill and sell the rest to a company that will burn it for electricity. Is that better than the landfill? Maybe. But seriously, do all end of life couches end up in landfills or getting incinerated? That's messed up.

Our next option would be to slap a couch cover on it and try to take it back to Goodwill. But if they take the cover off and see what's underneath, will they send it to the landfill anyway? 

Why am I letting this get to me so much? Landfills have limited space. That's why. I just feel like things should only go there as a last resort. But it sure does suck to have a conscience.

Being a conscious adult is so hard sometimes.


Now, like I've said above, this post was written by me in a fit of frustration a while ago.  Since then, we have cleaned the couch with with rubbing alcohol.  (Holy shit, that stuff works!)  And have put it up on Freecycle several times.  I've gotten several emails about it from there, but none of them have amounted to any real takers.  Tonight, we had some people come look at it and say they will come back tomorrow with a truck to pick it up.  We're not quite convinced they're coming back, but wouldn't it be sweet if they did?  Keeping our fingers crossed for a new life for our Craigslist couch!

The Shop is OPEN!

Well, I finally did it.  I can cross it off my list.  I have an Etsy shop.  Where people can buy things.  It's scary.  Let me explain.

For the last several weeks, I have been doing some serious cleaning and rearranging of what will be the sort-of baby room.  Since we only have two bedrooms in our house, the baby will get a half-room for now.  (One corner of the room will house stuff like the sewing machine and our office stuff.)  So I've been going through all of my knitting, sewing, and crafting stuff and consolidating into bigger bins that can be stored easier.  I've also thrown away and donated a lot of random junk that we've accumulated over the years.  Going through random boxes unearthed a ton of completed knitting projects that I made over the last 10 years that I made with intent to sell at some point.

Well, that some point is now.  These things are pretty great, but they've got to go.  So thank you baby, for putting my butt into gear and making me take that plunge that I've been afraid to take for so long.

So check it out.  I've listed about 75% of the items that I have.  I don't know if I want to list the dog sweaters that I have since I don't have dog models of all sizes, and they just aren't as quality as the purses, but for now I feel good about what I've got up there.

I am a little nervous though about my own ability to send things out on time and whether people will actually be happy with what I send them.  But I suppose this is a feeling that all first time business owners/stuff sellers might be worried about...?  Also, I suppose I don't have to worry about that unless I actually sell something, so I should start there for now.

Come on internet!  Sell my stuff!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/MabelMakesThings

Here are some of my favorites: