One Small Change

Today is Earth Day and the final day of the One Small Change challenge that I've been participating in this year. I had fun doing it and it's made me more aware of bad habits that I have. So far I'm sticking with all my changes. I've had a few mishaps, drank one or two cokes, turned on my heater when I didn't need to, but overall I'm doing pretty good. Although I'm not walking as much as I should. I haven't walked to the store at all in April. I guess I'd better get busy!

I'm sure you all memorized my changes but here they are just in case you forgot:

January - Walk to the store at least once a week instead of driving. Bring cloth bags to avoid the plastic or paper choice.
February - Keep heater off unless it gets below 65 in my apartment.
March - Quit drinking diet coke.
April - Use less water. I think I've done best with this one. I'm paying attention every time I turn on the water and am not letting it run any longer than necessary.

I'm planning to continue with the changes and hopefully start some others. There are a couple of things that I'm not doing now, like using paper towels, because money is so tight. When that isn't the case (hopefully soon!) we'll see if I can maintain those changes!

I think the important part of this, at least for me, was making me aware of what I do. Like most of us, I tend to do things the easy way and not think about the impact on the environment, other people and myself. It's good to think. Painful sometimes, but good!

The picture doesn't really have anything to do with the post but it seemed like an Earth Day type of picture. I'm not sure where it was taken - it's one of my daughter's pictures that I stole. Well I guess it isn't stealing, it's on my computer! Anyway if you read this Jill maybe you can tell me where the picture was taken. I thought it was nice!

April Plans & March Updates!

I'd like to start this post by pointing out that I am not crazy. I have the professional opinion of two psychologists on that. Admittedly both balked when I asked them to put it in writing. . .

That said, here is my plan for April! I joined napowrimo and committed to writing a poem every day in celebration of National Poetry Month. I also joined nablopomo (don't you love these names!) and committed to doing a daily blog post for April. Seriously, they said I wasn't crazy. Really. Anyway be sure and come back in April and read my daily posts & I'll update you on poem status. Or I'll give up and hide my head in the pillow and cry.

March One Small Change: My change for March was to quit drinking diet coke. I did pretty good. I did have a coke a couple of times but I just bought an individual bottle, not a six-pack and I'm still committed to not drinking it any more! It was kind of difficult because I really like the taste and I think I was having diet coke cravings. Anyway I'm proud of myself for doing this and mostly sticking with it!

April One Small Change: I have one small bad habit. I tend to use more water than necessary. When I do dishes I let the water run when I could turn it off, same thing for brushing my teeth and washing up. So for April I'm going to use less water. I feel like this will be easy but I suspect it's going to be hard to remember. I think I'll make a sign to remind myself!

March Libraries & Reading: I went to the library four times. One visit was to a new branch, North Natomas. I read nine books in March.

U is for Undertow - Sue Grafton Latest alphabet mystery series
Call the Dead Again - Ann Granger British country mystery
Nothing Was The Same - Kay Redfield Jamison Jamison's account of her husband's death & the differences between grief and depression
Borderline - Nevada Barr Latest in mystery series
The Places that Scare You - Pema Chodron Accepting what happens, ways to deal with life and not become angry and bitter
The Fellowship of the Ring - J.R.R. Tolkien Ok if you don't know what this is about there is no hope for you! I've read this, I don't know, maybe 20 times and I never get tired of it.
When Things Fall Apart - Pema Chodron More on dealing with life . . .
Sometimes in the Open: Poems from California's Poets Laureate - edited by Bob Stanley Poems (bet you wouldn't have figured that one out)
Socialnomics - Erik Qualman Using social media in business

One Small Change Update

Oops a little late with posting this but . . . I guess I'd give myself a B for February. My change was to keep the heater off unless it went below 65. I definitely used the heater a lot less this month but there were a few times I turned it on when I could have just put on a sweater. My windows leak cold air in and sitting in the living room can feel pretty cold even when the rest of the apt is at 68 so I gave into temptation a few times. It was a good change though and I'm hoping for a lower utility bill!

On to March. I've been worrying over the last few days what to do for March. I spent some time reading other blogs to get ideas and finally came up with one. This is a good change for me and for the environment and, ok I'm just trying to avoid writing it. Gulp. I'm going to quit drinking diet Coke. That will eliminate all those plastic bottles and save money. There are a lot of plastic bottles too. I usually drink 2-4 bottles a day (and then wonder why I'm awake at 3:00 am). Today is the 2nd and I have one bottle left I'm going to drink and that's it!

Good change. I can do this. I can. Really. I hope.

One Small Change Update

My One Small Change for January was to walk to the store and use cloth bags. I did pretty good but not as well as I could have. Where I would normally have driven, I walked to the store three times, to the post office once and to the library once. I did use cloth bags every time I went to the store (and library). There were definitely times I could have walked and I didn't. I used rain as an excuse but it really isn't a very good one. I have a big umbrella and as my mother used to say, you aren't sugar, you won't melt in the rain.

I felt a little disappointed in myself but when I thought about it actually it isn't so bad. This was a pretty major change for me and I did do it so I think I'm mostly pleased!

February could be a disaster though. I was desperately trying to think what to do and came up with a great idea. I'm just not sure I can do it! I'm going to keep my heater off unless it gets below 65 in my apartment. I generally keep things pretty warm, partly because I have sinus problems and getting cold makes it worse. Also I think it's kind of a habit just to turn the heater up. Instead of putting on a sweater or moving around I just turn on heat. I'm sure some people reading this are laughing now but seriously this is hard for me. It's kind of weird but I get stressed when I get cold. I'm not sure why and 65 really isn't cold but it feels like it to me. Lest you think I'm completely awful, I should say that I never leave it on at night.

I think this is a very good change for me and an added benefit should be a lower utility bill. So that's February. Hopefully I won't be an icicle at the end of the month!

one small change update

I had to go to the post office today and I realized that it's another place I should be walking to instead of driving. So I bundled up, grabbed my umbrella and walked! It's 1-1/2 mile round-trip and I felt pretty good (and only a little wet) when I got home. I felt very virtuous - got my walk in and saved gas and the environment!

One Small Change

Thanks to Andrea at My Life's Second Half, I was pointed to the One Small Change project. It's a pretty simple and very cool project. Between now and Earth Day (April 22nd) you make one small change each month that will have a positive green impact. You blog about it at the beginning of the month and then at the beginning of the next month you blog about how your change process went and then choose a new one for the next month. I'm kind of nervous about doing this because I'm afraid I'll mess up but I'm going to give it a shot.

My change for January is actually two but they go together. There are 2 major grocery stores and at least 4 small neighborhood stores within walking distance of me. Yet when I want something I still get in my car and drive to the store. And often I buy just a few things at a time that I could easily carry. So for January I'm going to walk to the store at least once a week instead of driving. The second part is that I'm going to bring my cloth bags with me to avoid the plastic or paper choice.

So we'll see at the end of the month how I did! If you're interested, please click on the link above and join the project. If you do, send me a link to your post!