July is here!!!!!

Yeah it's July!!!! I should have posted this yesterday but things are just a little hectic this week. Monday we overslept and we were late for school. We have finally started to get our rain like we should be getting in the monsoon season. It's put a damper on my walking to school everyday but that is ok. With the temperature being in the 90's most of the day and then trying to keep up with the kids I am still losing weight. (I have dropped a pant size!) But I also need to wrap up one green challenge and update on another.

Ok over at THF there was the BYOB challenge. This was a great one and one that I thought I could do. Like I said before I started out really good. I still have to go check the bag under the sink where I keep my plastic bags but I think my count is really low, for me, I think I ended up with 8 of them. The last time I bought some fruits and veggies I skipped the plastic bag for them and had the bagger just put them all in my net bag. The bagger did look at me a little funny but once he put the first few things in he was fine with it. Plus I was reading on another blog about how your going to wash the fruits and veggies anyways so why does it matter if it's going to be on the conveyor belt. (I wish I could find the blog now but I will look for it). I want to get a metal basket for my fruits and veggies which I think would be great for the Farmer's Market anyways, maybe I will look into this one. I would really like to have something like a basket so i have less bags to use, they would also be good when I go to the FM and buy honey and other stuff in jars.


The second challenge, which is going on for 2 more months, is the quickie 5 minute challenge. This has been a little hard for me. I love taking a shower but have been doing it. I even have my daughter down to a short shower. I was at another blog and it was talking about how to get extra water for plants and the like. I have been doing this and I am curious to see how it effected my water bill. I just wish I could get hubby to shower with the pot so I can water plants and turn the water off when he brushes his teeth. I've gone in a couple of times and he's looked at he like I turned the lights off on him, lol. It will take awhile to get him on board with the sink business but I think I am just out of luck on the shower thing.

But he did bring up a valid point. With all the stuff that we use in the shower, body wash and oils, that it can't be good for the plants. But I old him that the body wash that Savie and I use are organic and harmless so it's no worse then the water that comes out of the sink, besides if the soap was harmful then the spot where the water drains in the side yard wouldn't have plants year round.


So here's a quick re-cap of the challenges.
The BYOB challenge: good results, very few bags, but more then I would have liked.
Quickie challenge: so far so good and hopefully good for my water bill.

Challenges, challenges......and the heat to

Ok so I've said it before I am trying to be green and doing my part to be good to the earth. I am also doing two challenges. I know I've talked about one all lot, the BYOB challenge, but I don't think I've mentioned the other one just yet. It's almost over and I haven't said a word about it. It's a quickie of a challenge to, a 5 minute shower. Is that possible?

Yes it is. I have been trying it for the better part of the month and most days I do take a 5 minute shower. The day that I hurt my back I took an 8 minute shower and that's because my back was hurting me and I wasn't moving as fast as I normally do. It's a little harder to get Savie, my daughter to do it but it's getting easier. Hubby is not on board with this one and still walks out of the bedroom to take his clothes off. I just don't get it. But with the heat the way it is it's easier to get her in and out without a lot of water being used.

On that note, the National Weather Service has given the monsoon an official start and end day. It's a good thing and a bad thing. It's great that we have a date to start and we know what to expect after that day. The monsoon is a big deal around here since there are a lot of washes and draws, dry creek beds and the like, and there are also flash floods. We live near a wash and last year I heard a flash flood coming down in before I ran out to see what the noise was.It's quite a site to see that much water just coming at you.

Every year there are several people who think they can cross the wash/draw and get stuck or washed away. Last year we saw on the news that a family of 3 got stuck in a wash, a mother/father/child, where the child who was about 2 or 3 yr was washed away, just ripped out of the mother arms and the body still hasn't been found. It's sad. And it's not just family's or people there are also military personal who have lost their lives because of flash floods. But I need to change the subject and talk about happier things.

Because of the heat I finally broke down and bought Savie and pool for the backyard. Now before you think that I was just being a bad mommy by not putting one in wait until you see the pictures of the backyard. I had a hard time trying to decide where to put this. There wont be a lot of posts from me this summer because our house gets to be about 99 during the day and our swamp cooler doesn't blow as well as I would like it to. But I am hoping that once I get some curtains up there will be a change in the temp in here. I am hope, lol. Well I hope that everyone has a great day and I will post/talk to you later.