A New Day dawned.....

Hello world, It's been quite a while since I have sat down to post anything. I am hoping I don't disappoint any of you who subscribed in the beginning of the original adventure - but I am taking my blog in a new direction.
A lot has changed since then. For better and worse I suppose. I have learned though that this is how things are and isn't that exactly the way they are supposed to be?
I a now the mother to a baby girl Belle who was born Spring 2010.All those baby posts were put into practice there!! This summer my oldest became a teenager! I have started to see the light of God shine in my son as he became a Baptized believer in Christ this same Summer. I also seen the ugly head of commercialism and peer envy in both he and my now six-year-old daughter. Don't get me wrong there, I think it's lovely to have nice things. I just don't believe the clothes make the man or the girl for that matter.
We withdrew Addy from public school, a conflict of interest I suppose you could say was the general reasoning, and have begun homeschooling her.I am really enjoying it so far.
I became inspired by other bloggers, the Bible and a huge source of tutorials to be a mend and make due mom. I resolve to take only what I need, share what I have, make what I can, buy local and and handmade when I have to.
My Dad getting sick with cancer and realizing the his overexposure to environmental toxins caused it (also in the absence) only served to further my belief that changing the way we do things was no longer just a hobby or idea but was fundamental.
As my husband has grown closer to Christ we as a couple have experienced a conviction over haul! A lot of things have become less important. Some have become essential to who we are and what we are here for.
You know what hasn't changed much..... this desire to be as basic as possible to cut out all the fancy and just be who we were created to be.
A light was shined on us and we began to share ideas and search for answers in the Bible and in the old wisdom of the generations before us.
Dave Ramsey points out that our grandparents *(these would actually be my great grandparents) didn't go into debt for homes - they saved for them, That same generation grew most of their own food. All these women sewed, made fabric in some way, had basic health and healing knowledge, most taught their children at home for sometime anyway(in rural areas), canned what they grew and made use of all that was given to them.
That is the generation that I admire, and that is the generation I believe balk and shake their heads at my generation. My generation for the most part that wastes, rely on instant and has no idea how to do anything for themselves in most cases, including programing the technology that does everything for us!
It is my sincere hope that even though some of you may not be believers, you are concerned for our shared world, and that you will stay and continue to see where this goes. I don't seek to offend anyone,believer or non, nor those who believe and still aren't going green... just sharing my slice
So where are we now? What's all this have to do with the green life? Just you wait and see.
Crystal

Did you know that more than 186 Million bottles of soda and water are sold a year? Even if you recycle all the bottles there is nothing to do with those caps. Most recycling centers won't touch them due to the type of rigid plastic they are.Most are #5 and have a higher melting point than the plastic bottles that they cap.

So what's a green girl to do?

Well, start by avoiding buying those bottles to begin with! Choose a refillable bottle or cup to drink from. Chartreuse offers great options for this... the stainless steel water bottle comes in two great sizes and a number of colors.You can also use an Eco Cup or Not a paper cup, to drink from especially for things other than water.

If you find it hard to avoid buying those plastic containers, we all know about America's soda consumption problem.. then what do you do with the caps?

You have a few options:

I use them as math and color manipulative. I home school my five-year old daughter so the bottle caps are great to use to practice her counting and sorting skills. They are free so if she needs to learn to count to 1000 I can always get my hands on more! The variety of color and sizes offers re-enforcement for her color recognition as well.

Of course, if you have read any previous blogs you know my daughter is avid about doing something with anything that can't be readily recycled so I have some reuse tips for those caps too.

Here are some Craft Ideas

~Use the bottle caps as magnets. You can paint or decorate them however you want. I have cut my kids faces out of some of my scrap booking photo cast offs, glued them to the edge side of the bottle cap and then added a piece of magnet to the flat side of the cap. It is an interesting and unique addition to the fridge! If you want to be super green reuse pieces of those magnets that come on the front of the phone book vs buying magnetic strip tape.

~ Something else we have tried , is making stamps from the caps. You can use those foam shapes that you buy in the craft store and glue them to the flat part of the cap. You use it just like a regular stamp- just ink it and go! You can also cut shapes from sheets of foam(both of the foam types can be purchased at the dollar store or any craft store). A greener option is to use the corrugated cardboard that is also known to be not so recyclable. Use a cookie cutter as a template and cut a shape out of the cardboard then hot glue the bottle cap to the back of the shape for a handle on the stamp. I have also read that you can use puff paint to write a phrase in reverse and use that as a stamp, I haven't tried it though so I don't know how well it works.

~ The last craft option I have is a welcome mat! Using cloths line, I poked holes in the corresponding sides of the bottle caps pushed the line through and I strung together enough bottle caps to make a standard sized mat. I have also tried a non toxic spray adhesive and the foam drawl liner/rug no slip mat thingy. (available at the dollar store). You just unroll the product, (I would do this outside) spray the adhesive and then arrange the bottle caps on the mat flat side down. It works well but it isn't as durable as the first option you will have to make occasional repairs! I have seen a few instructions where you nail or screw the bottle caps to a piece of ply wood... I haven't tried so I would be interested as to how well it works.

~ You can use the above option on a smaller scale and make coasters. or even place mats.

One thing I haven't tried is a wall mural but when I ran across this article when I was researching this article I had to share this,Michelle Stitzlein is an artist who does sculptures, wall art murals and teaches lectures all about art with bottle caps! Take a look at the photos they are amazing! I guarantee they will inspire you!

Lastly - if you just aren't into the craft thing... then you can send-off your caps to be recycled. Aveda a cosmetics company in Blaine Minnesota, offers you an opportunity to send them your bottle caps for recycling, into new packaging for their products. You can also have a local school or charity sign up and get some cash for your efforts.

No matter what you do , do with your caps I hope you don't just chuck them in the trash!
They are obviously not bio degradable and a lot of wild life find them a consume them resulting in death.

If you try any of these projects or have any ideas of your own - leave a comment and tell me about it, I would love to know how the ideas turned out!

Sorting your trash, will help you be most successful in your recycling and composting endeavors.
You can buy all sorts of containers if it helps you to start fresh with a organizational system. I however found it more economical to use what I already had.
Here in Kannapolis we don't have curb side recycling pick up so we actually have to deliver our recyclable to the stations in town. I thought of that when I chose to re-use Rubbermaid container.
You need to be familiar with how your City requires sorting to be done.Check you city's website to see if they offer recycling, if they have curbside pick up and if they have provided containers? You may also want to double-check if hazardous household waste (like paint containers can be picked up or must go to a Hazardous waste center). Here,I have to take HW to another site but the recycling, I could just throw everything in together and sort it at the center but that is just more time-consuming.
The way that the containers are at our local center, paper is one container, Glass Plastic and metal are another container and cardboard is on its own as well. I have 3 bins here at home one for the containers at the center, so all I have to do is to load my bins in the car drive to the Recycling Center and dump my bin's contents into the containers. Each bin is labeled with a post it style note. I have set up in my kitchen the 3 recycling bins, my compost container and a small trash can.
The pre sorting only takes a second having these set up. When someone finishes the last of the juice they drop the container into the proper bin. That seems easy enough. What about food?If you read the earlier blog entry on compost you know that is pretty easy as well, especially if you have made some of the steps to economize your time.
I have a compost container on my counter and a trash can with a sealed lid - when we finish a meal or snack we simply scrap what is compost able into the bin. I dump the coffee grounds into the bin after each pot and all the egg shells and such go there too!
Why the trash can then? Unfortunately at this point there are still some things that can not compost in our Back yard compost(large-scale compost centers however can), things I wouldn't want to give the worms and that are not recycled.They are few but they have to be disposed of non the less. So I put the bones, meat scraps and things of that nature into the trash. I don't fill a trash can in a week - so I have a lid on that too. I use far less bags than I have before sorting and that has allowed me to switch to a bio plastic bag. [caption id="attachment_153" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Avaiable at www.greenlifecarolina.com"][/caption] My large container outside is only put to the street for pick up about once a month. You would be surprised how little goes to the curbside container once you remove everything that is recycled and composted from your daily waste.


Since this is a NC specific blog, I thought that I should mention it is ILLEGAL to put plastic containers into your trash containers for pick up. Becoming familiar with the change in states recycling policy can in fact save you fines.
Items Banned from Disposal in North Carolina Landfills
News14 NC Landfill Ban