Going Green Yahoogroup - Join It!

I'm not sure if I've ever posted about Burbanmom - but I can tell you that I read her blog avidly. She lives not far from me (ok, a little further south), in a -- you guessed it -- suburban community. Don't let that lull you into a false sense of security, though, she's an excellent taskmaster and has no shame when it comes to greening her own life or, via her new group, yours. That's why I want to so wholeheartedly recommend that you join her in Going Green with Burbanmom.

For those of you who belong to the old-school DC Urban Moms list, or local neighborhood listservs, this group is just like 'em. Except that it's peopled by folks who joke about composting landlords who won't allow green gardening efforts to get off the ground. No, seriously, it's a group of fellow trying-to-be-green folks (all of them in various stages of conservation but most of them, as far as I can tell, most definitely darker green than me! Which is all good, right, more for me to learn!).

It's not too late to join in -- Burbanmom's first two challenges were to green your energy choices (more on that soon, I promise) and to start line drying. I b'lieve she even said the words, "Stop whining about bird poop." SIGH. I just today bought a fold-away rack that I can install above our bathtub (every little bit counts, eh?) and I am going to look into a retractible multi-line drying system for our sun porch.

So anyhoo (heh heh), if you want to join an active group of folks who will email you advice on all your green questions (like my recent query about what to use to fill up some stuffed animals I've been making without resorting to polyfill, plaintive request for suggestions of specific projects to green an elementary school, and musing about whether rain barrels will attract mosquitoes -- all questions for which I am still actively soliciting answers), send an email to Going_Green_With_Burbanmom-subscribe@yahoogroups.com (no need to have any message) or check it out here!

Thanks so much to 'Burbs for setting up such a useful resource. Let's all take advantage of it -- and each other -- to muddle our way through to greener lives.



*Image courtesy of sxc. Read more!

Memes Part II: The Rest Is Still Unwritten

A while back, the marvelous wreke asked me to share a favorite quote and dedicate it to three other hopelessly dreamy inspired bloggers who keep the love going. I finally got to meet Ms. Havoc today for the first time, despite being fed a steady diet of wisdom and craziness (only the good kind) from her for the past five years via DC Urban Moms.

There's a thread up at the DCUM Forums tonight about random acts of kindness and I really think that wreke should be up at the top of it. She's had a looong week and I think dragging out in the rain to meet up with a virtual stranger (heh, heh) probably rated low on the list of things she just had to do today. But as an early pioneer in the world of blogging, much less mommy-blogging, she knows the power of the community she helped to create. We talked about it today; in some ways, finding sympatico peeps via their writings and commentary online is a hell of a lot easier than hitting paydirt on the street. Heck, she's found lifesaving community online.

It was great to meet Ms. Havoc - I will tell you that she is just as dry and hilarious in person as she is online. Maybe even a funnier storyteller if that's humanly possible. Let's just say she and her DH have a good falling-in-love story. And her life? Despite the fact that she's slated for a doozy of a (routine) treatment tomorrow (IVIG - please send her good thoughts), and self-deprecatingly knocks herself for her dark humor? She's a big marshmallow at heart, and one with a deft sense of the marvelous to boot.

That's why I know she will appreciate the fact that when I pulled out of the shopping center where we had coffee over by her house? and got in line right behind a giant Chevy Tahoe with the vanity plate JRZGRL? not that there's anything wrong with that! and also? could I really make that up? I really didn't need to pull up next to the woman driving to realize that it wasn't wreke with that very very blonde 'do. Thanks, wreke, for sending me this song as I drove off in a soft rain:

Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else

Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

from Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield

This quote is dedicated to a few people I know who, as far as I can tell, are reinventing and still defining themselves, some of the many women in the blogosphere I read avidly who are still searching for their voices. They are women who reach out to create a conversation and community that transcends their individual blogs: Doodah (who is outside in the beautiful spring and may not blog until winter, which is inspiration enough); FoodieTots (who shares her savoring of life with her young son, delicious recipes, and her thoughtful consideration of the origins of her food); and BeanPaste (who balances feeling weird about blogging given how lucky we all are to even have time to focus with being the funniest tosser-around of the word stigmata and often the most poignant writer I know). Those of you who know me IRL will know that I mean for this tag to be a love tap. As the spirit moves you...

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