Recycled Reindeer Ornaments

Some old bottle caps and branches from my dormant lilies should put a smile on faces this winter.

Our Brownie troop made Recycled Reindeer Ornaments to decorate a wreath for a local fundraiser recently.

Here's how we did the project - perfect for small gifts by little hands or a snowy day craft. It's quick but the girls enjoyed it.

Supplies:

Plastic bottle lids, cleaned (even if you avoid plastic, certainly a neighbor or coworker doesn't)

wiggle eyes

pom poms

glue

small twigs, branches or sticks

ribbon to adhere to back

marker if you'd like to add other accents, like a mouth

Glue the items together as below. Add ribbon loop on the back.

 Here is the finished wreath! Adorable.

This is linked back to Motivation Mondays and the More the Merrier Mondays.

Upcycled desk system for kids

My daughter has struggled her entire life with organization. She gets it honestly, as my coworkers who have seen my desk can attest.

We have tried everything to help her. Planners. The Brownie organization badge. You name it.

Our latest project came courtesy of the school pizza fundraiser. No, it wasn't a prize for selling, either.

You see, each year, we're stuck with the question of what to do with the boxes leftover from the pizzas we buy for our house. And then I got inspired by Pinterest. Somewhere, along the way, we'd seen a project about project drying racks out of pizza boxes. Granted, the post has long since left me, but the idea stayed pinned in my brain.

So this year, I took a stack of pizza boxes left over from storing them in my freezer (I don't put the boxes themselves in due to space.)

I folded in one side and stacked them, then went nuts taping row after row of peace sign, heart and flower duct tape I'd bought at the school supply clearance.

Ten minutes of effort and a few dollars' worth of duct tape later, and my daughter was blessed with a surprise on her desk: A new organizer for all of her random papers.

Now she has plenty of space for her looseleaf notebook paper, her construction paper, and her various works of art in progress!

The best part was SHE was inspired to do something as well. She took a McDonalds Happy Meal Halloween bucket that was otherwise destined for the Goodwill bin and redecorated it with Monster High duct tape for a storage bucket for her rolls of duct tape. She even took a toilet paper roll and made her own pencil holder.

What ways have you creatively reused or upcycled items to organize your home?

Recycled Jesse Tree Ornaments

I'd been kicking the idea of a Jesse Tree for a few years now, but it usually was in the middle of December, when it was far too late.

Then I got the email yesterday morning: Walking the Seasons had a last-minute need for a Jesse Tree ornament swap, and would I be interested? 

Interested, yes. Time and cash-strapped, most definitely. Add in the fact that I needed to get them in the mail this weekend, and I just eliminated any hope of running to the store for last-second supplies.

The solution? A recycled Jesse Tree ornament that ended up being a whole-family affair.

Here's how we pulled off 28 ornaments in little time, all by using items in our home.

1) We took cardboard boxes we'd yet to recycle and mod-podged scrapbook paper to it for a background.

2) We traced a cup lid for the round ornament shape and cut them out. We free-hand cut tear drops, the shape we were assigned to, and adhered them to the ornament, then covered them all with a layer of Modgpodge to ensure no loose ends.

3) I had  bottle of pearlized coating for stamping that my mother had given me some time ago that I had not used, so we used a small layer on that to add additional shine to our tears.

4) We punched a hole in the top and threaded some leftover ribbon through.

Simple but effective for symbolizing tears of pain and abandonment in the Old Testament.

I'm excited to see how the others turn out and introducing this new tradition into our home!

Easy Brownie Girl Scout Service Project: Plastic Lid Recycling

I'm a firm believer that service projects should be something the girls can do, not something that requires extra work from mom and dad. That's why I was thrilled to find a simple recycling project that ties into both the Brownie Household Elf badge and the Wonders of Water journey.

Last summer, I was reading Beth Terry's book, Plastic-Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too, and stumbled on a nugget that cried out for girl involvement:

While no organism can digest plastic, there are quite a few animals that are harmed while trying: according to Greenpeace, at least 267 different species are known to have suffered from entanglement or ingestion of ocean plastic debris, including seabirds, turtles, seals, sea lions, whales, and fish.38 Leatherback sea turtles choke on plastic bags they mistake for food; Laysan albatross chicks starve with their bellies full of plastic bottle caps and lighters...

But how can second graders in Indiana make a difference in the world's water? By becoming aware ad learning how recycling can impact our world.

I thought, let's do a plastic project that won't require a lot of space or mess, and will bring to their attention all the plastic that we use.

For a month, the girls were challenged to collect all the plastic lids they could. While we didn't charge them to specifically look for No. 5 plastic, we asked them to look for clean lids from milk jugs, water bottles, soda bottles, prescription bottles, etc. The girls were asked to bring them to the February meeting, with the girl collecting the most winning a water prize (in this case, a "snow" making science kit that we stumbled on at clearance.)

The girls collected more than 300 lids - which, compacted, fits into about a half of a cookie case. The lids will be sent to CapsNCups, based in Evansville, Ind., which collects bottle caps and No. 5 plastic cups to downcycle into an array of secondary products ranging from mud flaps to stadium seats. Even better, since I have family in Evansville, we won't waste the shipping and will just bring the box to them at our next visit.



Need other service project ideas for Daisies or Brownies? Check out previous posts on Christmas shoeboxes and shoe collections for tornado victims through Soles for Souls.

Easy worm bin for vemicomposting

Vermicomposting has been on my list of things to try, but I will be honest in that I've been a bit reluctant to step foot into the world of composting with worms.

After an evening composting class where I saw a worm bin - created out of a file box - I figured it was worth a try. My oldest child is obsessed with worms, and after all, didn't they want a pet?

The owner parted with a cupful of worms, and armed with directions, we created our worm bin in about five minutes.

I reused a styrofoam cooler that was used to ship insulin to me. It's been collecting dust in my garage for a year, as I've never really known what to do with it. 

I poked holes for air in the lid.

Inside, we added the recommended mix of worm food: Shredded papers (newspapers and others), a banana (covered to deter fruit flies) and some dill and weeds. We mixed in the container of worms and, well, worm poop, and are letting them do their thing!

My little guy's job is to feed the worms - I learned that  a pound of worms might eat 1/2 pound of food each week, and they love banana peels and eggs. My oldest's job is to make sure the environment stays damp but not drippy.

It will be an interesting experiment to say the least!

Sit-upon sewing tutorial

Sit-upons - the name says it all: Something to sit upon to keep yourself clean and dry (and hopefully itch-free) when sitting on the ground. 

I remember my mom making these for camp when I was a Scout. That sit-upon lasted through several summers of camping, storms and mud pits, and I finally tossed it when my volunteering at camp days were over.

Flash forward two decades, and my daughter got her camp letter. Sit-upon topped the list. Of course, now it was cushioned with the "You can use a stadium cushion" line. Which we don't have in our home. 

Granted, I was tempted by the on-sale Jayhawk stadium seat cushions that were selling for $5 each. Really tempted. But knowing I was buying not only for my daughter but my son and I, that's a lot to store over the next few summers. Especially if we didn't know if we'd ever require multiple ones again - and that I knew these were easy to make.

How easy? A Brownie could do it. Seriously.

My old Brownie Girl Scout book has directions on how to do it. And supplies cost me a mere $3 for cording at Joann's.

Here's how:

Spread out an old vinyl or plastic tablecloth or shower curtain, folded in half, and lay several layers of newspaper on top. Trim to fit to a preferred size. (You know what you need!)

By hand or machine, stitch the sides together. Include a piece of cord on two corners so you can easily tie around the waist. (Great for campers who are hiking a lot!)

A few minutes of work later, and you're set. I made three sit-upons in roughly an hour. My only delays were a cranky sewing machine!

While sit-upons are great for camping, I've found since making them that they are fabulous to use when you're weeding or gardening and you prefer to sit down rather than kneel.

Tooth fairy pillow tutorial

With each lost tooth as a child, we would slide our tooth into our "Tooth Fairy pillow" at bedtime to find a dollar bill the next morning. My mother had saved my lace-trimmed pillow for me, which my daughter now's used five times.

But I figured my little guy, when his time came, would not be all about the velvety fabric and lace. Instead, I made my own in very little time, created out of reclaimed denim.

My husband had some worn-out jeans left in a pile to donate. Given there were holes, I wasn't sure how well they would be received at a donation agency. Instead, I used the denim fabric for a "boy" Tooth Fairy pillow.

First, I created the pattern for the pillow by folding a letter-sized piece of paper in a triangle, cutting off the overlap, to create an 8 1/2x8 1/2-inch square. I used that as the pattern for the base of the pillow, avoiding any hems or stitching on the areas I cut from.

For the tooth pocket, I cut about 1/4-inch inside of the stitching of the back pocket, creating a pocket-shaped piece of fabric that was slightly smaller than the original back pocket. I used a needle to tack the edges down for easier sewing on the sewing machine.



Then, I created a "double stitched" look by running the piece, pinned to one side of the pillow, through the sewing machine twice. One line of stitching was the width of the sewing machine foot, and the other was halfway between the first line of stitching and the edge.




Then, I pieced together the pieces on the reverse and stitched it until it was mostly shut. I turned the pieces right-side out and began to stuff it. (Yes, you will see I am not the straightest sewer out there.)


When the pillow was stuffed, I turned in the loose edge and hand-sewed it together.

My little guy was so proud to have his own tooth pillow! Even though he's a few years' off, he's excited about it and even asked to take it to daycare.

Recycled Nativity for the kids

Yesterday, our church had a display of more than 50 Nativity scenes for show. It only took a few minutes before I realized that Baby Jesus could be in jeopardy if He came out in our house this season.

Rather than risk my "good" pieces to the whims of a toddler and his 5-year-old partner in crime, we opted to make our own set this year. It took time, and leftover materials around our house.

With empty toilet paper and wrapping paper rolls, a shoe box for a manger, and the backsides of work paper, we created a Nativity scene worthy of any child's imagination. And the best part, the pieces are easily replaceable!

(You can find directions and printables here.)

Sending gifts of Christmas past

The 4 a.m. hits were large HDTVs yesterday, from what my weary eyes could see...but what are you doing with your old TVs come January? In today's Green Phone Booth, I'm sharing resources on where you can recycle or donate reusable TVs, printers and other electronics.

Recycling glue sticks

Glue sticks - from a mom's perspective anyway, are a far better alternative to piles of glue poured on, well, anything. But the containers pose a problem, and frankly, our budding artist goest through the sticks quite quickly.

Did you know you can recycle them? I read on the Green Phone Booth that Elmer's glue offers a glue stick recycling program. What a great idea! You can get the details here.

The children are watching

You ever wonder whether your kids are paying attention? It doesn't matter whether you're leading deep discussions at the dinner table. Actions speak louder than words.

Case in point: Our toddler has decided it's high time to start recycling his sippy cup. when he's done drinking from it. We've caught him at this more than once!

Green on the Cheap: APLS Carnival Round-up

Welcome to the revived APLS Carnival! This month's theme was "green on the cheap" - in other words, balancing sustainability with smaller pocketbooks. If the recession's got you down, no worries! We've got some great ideas to get you motivated again.

Speaking from experience.
Several APLS'ers shared openly how their family overcame or averted a financial crisis by simply living more frugally.

Abbie at Farmers Daughter shares her evolution in going greener and living more frugally, giving three easy ways to pare back expenses and live more sustainably. Read her post to see how she saved $7,000 last year alone! Impressive!

Heather at Simple-Green-Frugal shares her life of voluntary simplicity and how she got there. "I believe it is in times of crisis that we discover what we're truly made of," she writes. Read on to her comments - she's so simplified her life that she could make a move with only her compact car - taking one trip! I'd love to hear more about how she was able to pare down - our family has a long way to go!


Another Heather, at Heather's Homemaking, offers simple ways her family was able to live more frugally so she could stay at home with her children. I think I'm going to have to figure out how to make the cloth napkins - what a great idea!

Steph at Greening Families shares how her family overcame debt by following the three R's. "Anything that broke or wore out was examined for possible other uses and most of the time there were multiple possibilities," she writes. As an example, she shares ways to get new life out of old pants.

I come clean on how my family's financial crisis has impacted our lifestyle choices and admit to wondering whether I'm being good somedays simply because I must. "Like a dieter who’s craving chocolate, I think about the things I want to buy but are simply out of reach at this time."


Spending smart.
Perhaps any future problems will be averted just by watching how we use the resources we have.

At the Green Adventures of a Big City Girl, Heather cost-comparisons shopping while cutting coupons with buying locally from CSAs and other local vendors. "I was a big coupon clipper. I mean BIG. Like I had a big binder filled with baseball card sleeves of thoroughly organized coupons," she writes. "I had no idea I could do this and actually NOT spend more money than I used to on groceries. Cheap, unhealthy, processed, full-of-pesticide-and-fake-ingredients groceries. And I'm really enjoying the process of learning about new vegetables and introducing them to my family. Dinner is an adventure every night and so much fun to be trying new things."

Kellie at Greenhab shares the challenges of greener birthday party planning when the guest of honor thrives on Chuck-E-Cheese. "I decided to stop hanging my head in shame when my son's birthday came up, and to put my money where my mouth was. Or...put my money back in my wallet and put my conscience where my mouth was. Something like that," she writes.


The Conscious Shopper at the Green Phone Booth admits to her green envy but realizes that prevention can be the best policy when it comes to waste. "Going green can be expensive - at least in some ways - but sometimes the greenest path is also the cheapest," she writes. "And once I realized that, my green envy subsided, and I was able to get creative with what I have."

Lisa at Retro Housewife Goes Green talks about the toughest lesson of learning to be more sustainable: That buying less truly is more. "Green has become so mainstream everywhere you look is some new product telling you how it will help you be more green when most of the time we don't need it," she writes.

Beany at the Middle Way, who admits to "being a tightwad when it was uncool," waxes on how we've put our money where our mouth was and what morals our economy has supported. "I think a strong evaluation of the new American values is long over due. I think people do need to think long and hard at what it means ...when one can zip 100 miles to a job with no consideration of that mode of transit is doing to the environment that surrounds us. Who benefits when one can buy apples for $0.10/lb from Guatamela. Why does one have to maintain vigilant eye on what product is currently the subject of a salmonella outbreak?"

CRSTN85 writes about how you can help the economy and the environment at the same time. "It should be second nature to check in with neighbors to see if they could use something you're getting rid of, and if not, it should be donated rather than left by the curb where hopefully someone will take it before the trash pick up date," she writes.

Thanks to those of you who participated in this month's carnival! Look for September details to be posted shortly on the APLS blog.

8-20: My apologies to Jenni at Web of Life! I'd forgotten to include her in the initial post. Check out her tips on being green while saving green, from thrift-store shopping to investing in microfiber cloths. "Basically, I spend next to nothing to keep my house clean. Now if only I could get somebody to clean it…" she writes.

Second life for lids

Recycling glass bottles and alumimum cans is routine for most of us. But what if you want to do more?

Michele emailed me the other day with this question:

I finally caved and am paying for curbside recycling.... (The company)
doesn't accept (for "safety purposes", I'm told,) the lids on ANYTHING. No
steel vegetable can lids, no spaghetti sauce jar lids, no milk jug caps,
etc. I got the feeling I was annoying the CSR when I was asking specific
questions on what was accepted and the response was a quick, "No, you have to
throw THAT away, too." Do you know who would take these (I'm especially
concerned about the steel can tops). It just seems like such a waste to
throw away perfectly good metal.

Unfortunately, I'm in the same boat. Our local recycling company has similar rules that admittedly are a bit aggravating. I checked the Keep Indianapolis Beautiful recycling directory, and while they have a ton of resources, you may just have to call to see whether they accept particular items. I'd love to know whether anyone does, in fact, take these kinds of items, or if they are deemed just a big "hassle" or workman's comp risk for getting hands cut.

I did a Web search and found that, if you're brave, you can reuse these lids (and their accompanying bottles or jars) for varying crafts, such as candle holders or bath salt jars. (While I did see some references for re-using for canning, I'd be a bit leery about that as they might not completely seal, and you're at the risk of botulism...)

But, if you want to get a bit creative, you can try these more unusual ideas for what to do with lids:

• Use for a conveniently sized paint palette for a touch-up job around the house.
• Use old metal lids as candle holders.
• Use to cut perfect circles for biscuits or cookies
• Save your old metal lids for kid's crafts.

Related article: 10 Ways to Reuse a Glass Jar. (from NatureMoms.com)

Electronic waste recycling this weekend in Indy, Bloomington

It's time to finally do your spring cleaning!

IUPUI and IU Bloomington are hosting "e-Waste Recycle Days" this week, and are opening drop-off sites to the public this Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Drop-off locations are IU Bloomington at N. Dunn and E. 17th St. and the Indiana State Fairgrounds.

There is no fee to drop off materials (see list of what's accepted below), and you are not limited on quantity. (Read FAQs here.)

According to the site:

130 million mobile phones alone were discarded in 2005. The National Safety
Council projects that nearly 250 million computers will become obsolete in the
next 5 years, amounting to an estimated 3.2 million tons of eWaste. Researchers
have estimated that nearly 75 percent of eWaste is in storage.

MATERIALS ACCEPTED AT THE EVENT:

Computer Systems and Accessories

• CRT Monitors
• LCD Displays
• CPUs
• All-in-Ones
• Laptops
• Servers
• Switches
• Hubs
• UPS Systems
• Keyboards & Mice
• Speakers
• Hard Drives
• Optical Drives
• Wires and Cables

Handheld Devices

• Cell Phones
• Pagers
• PDAs
• Two-Way Radios

Home Electronics:

• Microwaves
• Audio & Video Equipment
• Televisions
• DVDs
• VCRs
• Stereos
• Camcorders
• Cameras
• Radios
• Games Systems

Office Equipment

• Fax Machines
• Photo Copiers
• Printers
• Scanners
• Surge Protectors
• Telephones
• Typewriters
• Adding Machines

MATERIALS NOT ACCEPTED:

• Hazardous Materials of any type
• Batteries not Integral to Computer Systems
• Contaminated Equipment of any type
• Cracked or Broken CRT Screens
• Smoke Detectors
• Household Appliances
• Hairdryers
• Styrofoam
• Cardboard
• Paper
• Light Bulbs

Learn more by visiting http://indiana.poweron.com/p/default.

I am the wierd neighbor

Every neighborhood has its share of quirky neighbors. I guess I never realized before that I'm the local representative!

Sure, everyone leaves their cans on a kitchen counter to recycle after a get-together. But here, we have the cans and usually lots of dishes to do as well after a party. There's a set of Stonyfield yogurt kiddie cups on the counter, washed and drying to mail back for recycling.

Not to mention the daily line-up paper bags of Sunday newspapers, mail and assorted papers, and plastics, tin cans and aluminun to recycle.

Heck, my husband even washes and balls up the aluminum foil to recycle after cooking, to make a poor three-point shot into the bag.

Upstairs, in the loft, there's another line-up of boxes. What outgrown kids items to sell back. What to give to a friend. What to donate to the next drive.

But the neighbors can absolve me of my wierdness. After all, that's within my home. It's that whole "outside" thing that's making them shake their heads.

The other day, I mentioned the compost bin situation to a friend of mine in an attempt to commiserate with her over her trampoline issue. Her reaction? Crinkling up her nose in disgust. Come on, this is vegetable bits, not manure! And if you do it right, there's little or no smell at all.

Then yesterday, we ran into another neighbor as we're meauring out where to put the raised bed. She sort-of accepted the veggie bed (though I've found some great plans in some of the books I'm reading!), but her eyebrow definitely raised and I think I saw a "I'm so glad I'm moving" expression when I mentioned the dwarf blueberries we were thinking about adding to our yard to help meet our bush quota.

Nevermind that my home is one of the most landscaped on the street. When you break out of comfort zones of the people around you, you become the wierd neighbor. And I think I'm OK with that.

The holidays are over. Now what?

The Christmas tree is staring me down. It's a week and a half after Christmas, and I'm feeling the guilt of not having taken down my decorations.

Each year, I'm faced with the question of now what? What can I do with the decorations I'm not in love with, the Christmas cards I'd gotten or the tons of Christmas bags my kids received?

The truth is, I can reuse or recycle most of them.

Holiday decorations
While you've likely heard of Christmas tree recycling in your neighborhood (it usually is tied with trash pickup), you can also recycle your dying Christmas lights as well. You can mail old lights to organizations such as HolidayLEDs.com or Christmas-Light-Source.com. The copper, glass and plastic can be stripped and recycled. You could also extend the usefulness of your Christmas lights by using them in your garden with a cold frame. ]

Your unwanted Christmas ornaments can be donated instead of trashed. A domestic violence organization I work with locally collects Christmas decorations in good condition to help spruce up survivors' new homes.

Have a live wreath? Toss it in your compost bin or use the needles for mulch.

Greeting cards
You can reuse your greeting cards in a number of ways:

My husband's aunt introduced me to the idea of using previous year's cards as holiday gift tags.

You can repurpose them into new cards. You can do this yourself, have your kids do it or send them to St. Jude's Ranch.

You can use them for kid art.

Gift wrap
Gift bags can find a second, third, fourth or fifth life by being reused as long as they remain in good condition. If you're feeling crafty, you can just add a little reinforcement to keep the life up.

Hang on to your leftover wrap. Whether it's bows or paper in good condition, you can reuse them for next year.

While gift boxes can be recycled, they can also be stored for next year (unless you're dying to buy more) or find a new life as a children's art project or diorama.

OK, now I know I have no excuse not to clean up...

Mini Marathon responds on plastic situation

The 500 Festival Mini Marathon has responded to my initial e-mail regarding its plastic problem.

Ben Pawelak, the Indianapolis 500 Festivals' Ticketing and Customer Relations Coordinator, wrote to me today:

First of all, I would like to thank you for your e-mail. In moving to the D-Tag this year we considered many factors, but most of all was the overall health and safety of participants. Historically, we have seen a good number of people who faint or suffer injuries in the Mini-Marathon do so while they are waiting to have their chip removed. The switch to the D-Tag will help lessen the number of people who suffer injuries at the conclusion of the race. Rest assured that, as with all aspects of the Mini-Marathon, we will continue to monitor the D-Tag’s effect and will discuss changes for the 2010 race.

My response:

As a three-time participant in the Mini, I understand that fainting may occur at the finish line. However, attributing that solely to getting chips removed is ludicrous. Any person who has appropriately trained for a half-marathon knows they should keep moving to cool down after completing a race.
If there truly was a health issue, wouldn't the Mini Marathon organizers more appropriately design the finish line area?
Again, to be true community stewards, we need to look at all waste we generate. Proudly applauding ourselves for bottle recycling while contributing to the amount of waste we generate in our community sends an extremely mixed message.
I urge you to reconsider the use of disposable chips for future races. My children thank you.

We'll see whether I hear back.

Mini Marathon sends mixed message on plastic recycling efforts

Is the 500 Festival Mini Marathon going green or not?

I just read my December issue of the Min-E-Newsletter, and I'm a little surprised that one of the largest half-marathons in the country is giving lip service to the idea of going green. Read on:

This month has been very exciting for the organizers of the Mini-Marathon. There will be two new additions to the 2009 race. The first addition is the D-TAG: a new disposable timing device!

What is it? This year, participants will receive a disposable timing device instead of the rental chip that has been used in the past. The device is called the “D-Tag”! How do I put it on? Click here for directions on how to put the tag on your shoe on
race day.

How will it help make the participant experience better?

• No pre-race chip check at the Expo necessary
• Less backup at the finish line area
• No post-race chip removal or return fees
• You can toss it in the trash or keep it as a keepsake after the race

The newsletter then goes on to state the second "exciting" initiative:

The second addition to the 2009 Mini-Marathon is the RECYCLING INITIATIVE: A new way to promote a healthy environment!

If you haven’t heard already, the 500 Festival has announced a new recycling effort for the 2009 OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon and Finish Line 500 Festival 5K with the help of Aquafina.

The Aquafina Green Team will be on hand to provide recycling kiosks and support
staff at the Mini-Marathon finish line and at the Post Race Party in Military Park. The recycling kiosks will be used to collect water bottles from participants as well as any plastic cups or aluminum cans. So be on the lookout for these on event day and help us make an effort towards a healthier environment!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it a little odd to applaud oneself for launching a plastic recycling effort at the same time as announcing that they will create 39,000 or so disposable plastic chips that will just go into the same landfill as the water bottles or cans would have gone? Who in the world totes a soda can or a plastic water bottle for 13.1 miles so they can tote it to the finish line? I've done four half-marathons and can say I've not seen anyone do that. (Though I did see a guy chug a beer at the start line once...)

And given that the Mini uses paper cups, not plastic ones, along the race track, I'm doubtful there will be much impact by allowing recycling kiosks. To me, this smacks of a bad publicity stunt.

I've e-mailed the Mini Marathon organizers and have asked that they reconsider using disposable chips in future races. I urge you to contact the Mini Marathon as well. E-mail raceinfo@500festival.com with your feedback on this issue! (And post your comments here as well.)

Finding a new life for tired music

Each morning, en route to work, I pop in a compact disc into my car. And each morning, I sigh and mutter, Can't listen to that in front of "them," and hit fast-forward through all my "oldies" but goodies (?). So much for my trips down memory lane.

Guns n' Roses? Gone.

Poison? Plenty of phrases I'm just not ready to explain - or hear my child repeat.

Quiet Riot? Quite the eye-opener when your then 2-year-old parrots back "girls rock your boys" on the first time she's heard the song.

Ugly Kid Joe's "I hate everything about you?" (purchased after being dumped of my now-husband on Valentine's Day) Out of the question when you're trying to knock "hate" out of someone's vocabulary.

Keep laughing. I've probably got them all.... And for the record, my spouse is the bigger problem, with his penchant for burning custom compact discs.

While I'm not prepared to get rid of my compact disc collection just yet, there are some that are admittedly just cluttering up my bedroom. I could probably get rid of those demo CDs from my tenure at the college newspaper, but haven't. Frankly, no one would take them.

There are places you can go to recycle those CDs. Or you can be crafty and do something with them. I've seen them as elements in scrapbook pages. But there's much, much more that people have apparently tried in that bored moment on a rainy afternoon.

Make-stuff.com suggests these ideas (and many more):

• Christmas light reflectors or decorations
• Coasters
• Candle displays
• Recrafted into bowls

But the most creative use of old music I've seen is this: turn them into weights. Maybe for your New Year's Resolutions, you can tackle two bad habits?

Have we forgotten the first R?

Reduce, reuse, recycle. I heard this so much growing up. Now it's all about the latter two - and "reduce" seems to be forgotten.

This week, we took our recycling to the curb, and once again the containers threatened to overflow out out of the green box. And each week I briefly wonder whether I should call waste management and beg for an extra container. After all, I'm resorting to traveling elsewhere to drop off my papers. We have too much stuff, even with making about half of our baby's food, those little jars still add up.

The reality is if we just shift our consumption a bit, we might have less to worry about.

Many containers can be bought in bulk, meaning less plastic or cardboard waste overall. Those okastic containers for butter or other things can find a second, temporary life as food storage (before my husband tires of the overflow in the cabinet.)

The key though is reducing what we do bring in. Less prepackaged foods and more produce and home cooking. Cut out the daily newspaper (not sure how we acquired it anywau), and let magazines expire. Buying secondhand kids clothes that are only worn for a few months, anyway. Hiding the paper towels and reaching for cloth kitchen towels and rags.

Eco'burban recently wrote:

...we realized we were recycling too much. Why have a bin full of empty glass
iced tea bottles, plastic milk jugs and aluminum cans when you could make your
own tea or lemonade and have your milk delivered to your doorstep in returnable
glass bottles?

So...are you recycling too much?