Happy Birthday Jess!

Happy Birthday to my still-under-thirty friend!

Of course, I know it is already a happy one, since she is spending it with her hubby, daughter, AND brand new son, Shane!!!

Nene X-ing

While Jess and I were visiting the main island of Hawaii, we saw these signs all over. Watch out for the Nene Bird!! Apparently, they are killed by cars very often.

And just in case you are thinking you are too busy to watch out for the Nene, they even put a picture of lil Nene gosling just to pull at the right heartstring to make you wanna keep you eyes peeled.

I wanted to see one so bad! I was sure we would, as there were signs everywhere, but no. No Nene.

I just had to see this thing. I mean all the beautiful, rare, tropical birds of Hawaii, and they choose A GOOSE as their state bird!! That must be one majestic goose!

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Jess in case you don't know has moved her lil self and Maggie back to the East Coast. They will be settling down in Virginia for the next leg of their adventures. One kid born in Hawaii and one in Viginia. Hmmmm. I smell a rivalry coming on.

Sunday Seven

Feeling Green? Wanna chemically free clean? My crunchy friend, Jess, probably already knows all these, but I just found out some of them in our base newspaper.

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The Sunday Seven Uses for Lemons

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All Purpose Cleaner

Equal amounts lemon juice to water in a spray bottle is a disinfectant and removes scuff marks from walls.

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Toilets

Pour some lemon juice in the bowl and sprinkle with baking soda. Then scrub with a brush to clean the bowl without chemicals.

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Degreaser

Lemon juice is a natural degreaser. Use a few drops in a pan and you will not need as much soap to clean it. Also, add some to your dishwasher detergent.

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Scrubber

Cut a lemon in half, dip the exposed side in salt. Rub it on stainless steal, pots, pans, and granite. It will be shiny and smell great!

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Wood Polish

The newspaper says use 1 cup of olive oil (I prefer almond oil) to 1/2 cup lemon juice. Use sparingly and rub with a dry cloth. Works WAY better than pledge.

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Hand Sanitizer

Add a few drops of lemon juice to Aloe Vera gel to disinfect and remove fish and garlic smells from hands (so it says, nothing ever removes garlic from my hands)

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Clean Smelling Fridge and Microwave

Dampen a sponge in lemon juice and let sit in the fridge for a few hours to soak up yucky smells. Or add lemon juice to a bowl of water and microwave it for 30 seconds, then wipe out.

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Makes me wish I had a tree. Have you tried any of these?

Lemon is also one of the BEST aromatherapy scents, because it cheers you up. (Unfortuantely for me, it also increases my appetite.)

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Just another note on Green. This is a great blog for it:

Crunchy Chicken

Sunday Seven

Sunday Seven Dates I am Looking Forward To:

(1) July 4
I can't wait to see how they do the fireworks show here. John has to work that day, but he will be off to see the show. He heard the one last year was great!

(2) September 29
Maggie turns 2.

(3) October 2
Cole turns 2.

(4) October 31
My favorite Holiday

(5) November 21
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Movie comes out!

(6) January 1
A new year in our new country.

(7) Last Week of February
Maggie gets a sibling!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary Jessica and Adam!!

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And many more...

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Charmed Photography Launches

I am so proud of Jess! Where in the world she found the time between Maggie, Adam, and a life, I will never know. She has her website open nowfor her new photography business.

Check it out HERE!

She focuses on maternity, newborn, and children. In August, she will be moving to Virginia from Hawaii. I am sure she will be very successful!

Good Luck, Jess!

Maggie gets ready for Daddy!

If you want to see the cutest picture ever,

please check out Jess's blog

HERE.

It is a picture of her daughter, Maggie, painting her daddy a welcome home sign. His boat comes in soon, and he has not seen her in 6 months! At her age, he is going to be SO surprised at how much she has changed.

Jess

has started her own photography business, Charmed Photography, that concentrates on maternity, baby, and lil kid stuff.

Good Luck, Jess!

The Commissary Just Got Cooler!

When I was still researching Finland, planning my escape, before we got Spain orders, I learned that they pay a small fee for plastic bags in stores. Many people there, then, keep those bags and reuse them in other stores. I thought it was a fantastic way to cut down on waste. And I HATE having all those plastic bags in my house, but I cannot bear to throw them away! It is almost like littering now.

Not long after that, I saw that Ikea (a Swedish company) started the policy of charging for bags. Or you could by a sturdier bag that was better for more uses. I was so proud to see it in the U.S.

Around that time, in entertainment magazines, stars were seen carrying the ultra chic and super expensive bags used for shopping with these words on the front of the bag: I AM NOT A PLASTIC BAG. See? Even the cool kids were doing it!

Soon after that, Vonns started carrying lil black fabric bags to be used in place of grocery bags. They were 99 cents, and I picked up a couple everytime I went, and eventually had enough to not need those plastic bags! Even Target began carrying cute lil red bags that folded up and zippered close. They were small enough, that I began carrying them in my purse to be used in any store, so that I could avoid a plastic bag. Also, MANY stores have the policy of a small discount if you bring in your own bag!

Then I went to visit Jess in Hawaii, and being the ultra-hippie she has become since Maggie (way to go Maggie!), she had a ton of Chico bags. Fabric bags that squish up even smaller, so they are easier to carry around at all times. They run a lil higher in cost, but they are made of sturdier material.

Completely hooked on the no plastic-bag solution, I went to visit Grandma in TX. Even in the stix of TX, they had the lil black fabric bags for sale at the grocery store. I explained what they were for to Grandma, and told her that we may someday go the Nordic route of charging for plastic bags. Grandma said that she would wait until they "made" her buy the fabric bags. Can't win them all, eh?

After TX, I went to CO. I began preaching my bag politics to them. They patted me on the head, listened politely, and ignored me. Then I bought a few of the bags from the grocery store and a few from Target and actually put one in Grandma's purse. I am hoping I have planted the seed.

Mom made the good point that the plastic bags can be useful at home. And she is totally right. But inevitably, you will be somewhere without your fabric bag, or you will forget to use it, and you will bring some plastic home. This smaller amount of plastic bags, I am sure, would be all you need for things like the kitty box or trash.

Now here is the cool part! Yesterday, I saw that in the commissary here on base, we now have lil green fabric bags for sale!! I am so excited to see that the military family is jumping on the bandwagon! YAY!

Are you on the bandwagon??

BTW, here is an Post on this from another funny blog.

Better Rota Pics and Semana Santa

Of course, my photos are fun,

but Jess found this site of ONLY Rota pics. Some of them are so gorgeous, and you can see some of the dress and festivities of the Semana Santa going on right now. Also they do things like pay attention to the horizon line ;0)

Click HERE to see the site.

They wear robes and mask/hats that look exactly like the KKK, but they are black, white, or red. They are a centuries-old religious costume. Why the KKK adopted it, I will never know.

Thanks Jess!!!!

Happy Birthday Jess!!

FELIZ CUMPLIANOS JESSICA!!

I hope it is a happy one! Your last one in Hawaii.

Love, Jenn