July Tally

Assuming 1lb of CO2 is released for every mile driven (using a car that gets 20mpg) here are my results for July:

LBS CO2 saved: 16
Miles Biked: 15 (how'd that work?)

Total for four months:
LBS CO2 Saved: 99.1 (ugh! wanted to break 100)
Miles Biked: 59.5

back on the bike!

I did it! I rode my bike to the gym today! I only skipped three weights; two squats and the lateral raise. All scare my back muscles just thinking about them.

I don't think I'm ready to try to ride to work yet. It's still a little iffy.

Before and after pleated dress

Before: drop waist pleated shirt dress

After: regular waist pleated shirt dress. More pleats in the back to adjust for size difference between hips and waist. I plan on adding a sash and that will make the back look bustled.

sew right

High on muscle relaxers and barely awake I went to my first reconstruction sewing class. I brought my dress that I had originally made with a drop waist and we are taking it up to a regular waist. I'm super excited.

I was teased about my original construction not being symmetrical. I knew that was the case and tried to take the teasing with a grain of salt. My instructor is pretty hard core about doing those extra little steps people like me skip. At first I was kind of annoyed, but then I realized this is going to make me a much better sewer and it's not just about fixing this one dress, it's about learning how the techniques to do it again.

I only took half a muscle relaxer today, which means I'm awake, but my back still hurts. : (

20 minutes on..

I'm supposed to ice my back twenty minutes on, twenty minutes off. I'm also getting me some generic vicodin, a muscle relaxer and aleve. I have a feeling I'm going to be feeling yucky tomorrow morning.

Monday, I went to the informational meeting about the Recycouture class. It's going to be lots of fun! I can't wait! And I almost made a friend, in fact everyone thought that since we happened to walk in the door at the same time we must have come together. But alas, she's going to take the beginning sewing class.

Damn, I need a life! : p

I'm going to bring in the dress (pictured a couple posts down, half finished) that I made that needs some alterations. It's a drop waist and I learned, too late, those don't look great on me. So that's going to be my first project, redesigning that into a regular waisted dress. I also have a sweatshirt I made for a now ex-bf that I chickened out of giving. I LOVE the painting but of course the hoodie is way too big for me. What else should I bring in? Any suggestions? Doesn't have to be things out of my closet....

*excited* and ready for more ice.

Thwarted!

After my awesome thrift store finds I went to the gym yesterday and proceeded to hurt my back, again. So there will be no more bike riding this month, probably no sewing since I can't sit and the dishwasher will remain filled with clean dishes because I can't bend over to unload it. That's right, I had to wash dishes by hand today simply because the two positions I"m comfortable in are standing and lying down.

At least I can't go shopping for new items either.

sewing table

I went thrifting today in search of a sewing table. There is a laptop table at Fred Meyer that I have been drooling over but it's 21st century quality and a hundred bucks. Today I came across this
table:

Not only is it beautiful, but I noticed it was heavy and had a hinge.... look what's inside!
Apparently it IS a perfect sewing table! Going out of business sale brought it to $30!

I also got a cute blazer/jacket for this fall and some black liner fabric.

Before and after, owl skirt

This is a skirt I got who knows when. I know I wore it in 2000 or so. It has been sitting in a bag to go to Goodwill for months.

Yesterday it went from this phase to....



Today it got it's final addition:

Here's a close up of my owl:


It has button eyes that aren't showing up very well in this shot. Also, ignore the poor ironing, I'm still working on that. ; )

Re-couture

I found a cool local class I want to take! It's about redesigning second hand clothes. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it! Here's her blog. I've been meaning to start doing things like this but I just don't know how to get started or what's possible! Yay!

holy nuclear waste, Batman

From Grist:

Earthquake causes nuclear headaches in Japan

A strong earthquake hit northwestern Japan yesterday morning, and aftershocks continued into the night. The 6.8-magnitude quake killed at least nine people, injured more than 900 others, and flattened houses and highways. It also led to a fire, leak, and waste spills at a powerful nuclear plant. The Kashiwazaki Kariwa facility, which produces the most electricity of any nuclear plant in the world, shut down during the event, but not before a transformer caught on fire and a reactor ruptured, sending about 315 gallons of radioactive water into the sea. The trembling also toppled at least 100 barrels of nuclear waste stored on site. Company officials delayed, then downplayed news of the damage, saying there was little environmental risk. But others in the country, which is home to 55 nuclear reactors, were left feeling uneasy. Weakness in the face of quakes is, said Aileen Mioko Smith of the Japan-based eco-group Green Action, "the Achilles heel of nuclear power plants." Or one of them, anyway.

Solar

I really want to try and make this. It's a home made solar generator. Should be enough energy to power things like a laptop, or a fan. We don't really use a lot of power at our house so it would just be a fun experiment that could lead to something more.

I sent the directions to my dear friend, Hot Jake, who is in Australia right now getting his master's in renewable energy. yeah, let me just point out he was hot even before he decided on this degree..now it's nearly unbearable. Good thing he's on the other side of the world! Umm, as I was saying, I sent them to Jake and he said they looked doable and if I waited for him to come home he'd help me with it. (*swoon!*) So, I may have to wait a year and a half to build it, but at least I'll get some flirting in. (ha! and now that 'lead to something more' has taken on a whole new meaning! :p)

When is it good enough?

I'm pretty annoyed. I feel like the conservationist elite are poo-pooing anyone else's efforts to do something right. There are blogs bashing McDonald's because even though their UK fleet is switching to biodiesel made of their own grease, they still suck as a corporation and how dare they try to greenwash themselves. Bloody Hell! I too try to stay away from their sketchy farm practices but they are going to truck that food around whether they're using biodiesel or not. So why don't we support them with at least a little bit of laudation.

It's not just McDonald's people complain about: "Petroleum's bad but ethanol isn't good either. Plastic's bad but corn plastics aren't either. " Stop whining and recognize that someone saw a problem and tried something new. It's a start. Where are the voices saying "great! This is a fantastic start. Let's put this on the market as a temporary alternative but in the meantime keep working!"? It's all "whine whine whine, nothing you do is good enough."

It's this same sect of environmentalists who turn off the rest of the country from doing anything green. They feel as if it's all or nothing. I push my resistant family into doing things I know they can accomplish. My mom uses her canvas grocery bags I made her. I'm working on getting her to recycle more items. If I push too hard, I'll turn her off and she won't do any of it.

Since part of my complaint here is that people who point fingers and complain often don't offer solutions, I suppose I better come up with a solution or two. They may not be ground shaking, but if you feel like commenting perhaps you'll have an idea or two to add to the list.

1. Know the limits of those you're pushing.
2. Make them feel good about what they are able to accomplish...then push a little more.
3. I am not an engineer, but I am going to be a teacher. Part of my duty will be to educate and inspire my students to become scientists who may develop better alternatives.
4. Lead by example.

Boy Bands the cause of global warming!

Quick product review

I was at a friend's all weekend and I forgot my shampoo. Sat. came along (one of two hair washing days) so I grabbed her roommate's Dr. Bronner's. Bad idea. I have very weird hair. It's curly, but gets over conditioned very easily. It's only the day after it was washed and already it's feeling yucky...stringy and slimy.

Most people's hair isn't as finicky as mine, I'm sure, but I'm going to keep using my Bronner's as a cleaning agent off my body.

back on track!

Rode to work today! Woot! Of course, when I got there I ran into SB who proceeded to make fun of me for not getting up the hill and later told me about the sixty miles he rode yesterday for fun. I haven't ridden 60 miles total in three months. hmph.

In a couple of hours I'll get back on my bike to ride to the gym. That puts me at 5.2 miles today alone...almost the entire total of last month. go me!

June Tally

I wish I could hang my head in shame. Here is my June tally:

CO2 saved: 10.8
Miles Biked: 7

Total for three months:
CO2 saved: 83.1
Miles Biked: 44.5

Even bluebirds fall sometimes I guess.