(**If you're looking for a goat update, skip to the end.**)
For this week's Lenten observance of caring for the earth, I ended up having to order the reusable baggies. They're not in yet, so I can't really report on how that's going.
I loved my use of www.catalogchoice.org. All I had to do was create a free account, then as unwanted catalogs came to our mailbox, I just logged on and entered the name of the catalog, source code, and our customer code. The site generates a request to stop mailings. It even sends me a follow-up email to let me know that the company has removed me from their mailing list. Love it!
By far, the most significant effort this week, though, was reducing my use of the van. I had hoped for warmer weather. We did have some beautiful, sunny days, but, oh, were they windy!
I won't bore you with all the details, but Little Boy and I made good use of our little umbrella stroller this week. I knew all the walking would be a challenge, but I was surprised how much the kids enjoyed it. Little Boy was disappointed when on Thursday we had to get in the car for a trip to Ash Flat to pick up our Co-op food order, "But, Momma, the stroller is my favorite!"
On Monday, I found this little note in my pocket just after I'd enjoyed a nice, leisurely stroll with Girl 1 to her dance class. On that walk, Girl 1 commented that "It's funny how you see things so differently when you're walking than when you're in the car."
Most days the girls rode the bus to and from school, making use of gas being expended anyway since the bus drives right past our house daily. On Wednesday afternoon, though, the bus doesn't get home in time for me to get Girl 1 to her 3:30 dance class. They all thought it was a fun adventure for me to "pick them up" from school on foot, walk them all to dance where we dropped off Girl 1, and then walk home.
I loved the way walking slowed our days down a bit. We had to plan ahead and be aware of the weather. We had lots of time to talk about the things we saw along the way. As Little Boy told me as we were parking the stroller on the porch at the end of a walk, "I can't wait for the girls to get home, and I can tell them that the birds with the red bellies is robins!"
All told, I walked 10 miles or so that I would've otherwise driven and combined several errands so that my overall miles driven were greatly reduced this week. I'm hoping that as the weather warms, we'll be able to enjoy more walks like the ones we had this week.
For those who are looking for an update on the goats, the little ones are doing well. They're so adorable as they figure out how to eat and walk and jump. They're still doing a lot of sleeping, though. Sleeping is not something I've been doing much of. I keep thinking that Razz is about to deliver, as she's been showing signs of early labor for about 2 days now. Determined not to miss the birth, I "sleep" with the monitor by my bed, listening for any odd sounds. Last night, I made 5 trips out to the shed to check on things. Surely by Monday's post I'll have more baby pics to share and can finally get some sleep!