"Old Lady"?!

Old Lady? Old Lady! While we were at the beach the other day I was taking pictures of the girls and these little kids were playing around us and one of them said to another, "hey, watch out, the old lady is taking pictures." WHAT? Old Lady? Excuse me?

Though I have started to notice my eyes are different, what in the heck are those lines all around them? Why do my eye lids seem to stay pushed to one side after I put on my eye shadow? What is this spare tire thing that has seemed to get caught around my waist after I turned 30? Why does the skin on the back of my hands seem to be thinning? What is this gray thing growing out of my head? Why are there lines on my forehead when I'm not even scrunching my eyebrows together? Are my lips getting smaller/thinner? What is happening to my body?

Old Lady? Well, I guess. It's pretty sad, though... it's only when I've started to become an "old lady" that I've really gotten to like myself better....now that everything seems to be falling apart, I'm more happy with who I am. But, I think I might have to stop smiling, laughing and scrunching my eyebrows together. Can't afford anymore wrinkles! We never appreciate things when we have them. Never thought one should appreciate snappy eye lids....wish I would have known!

Going Green

I'm not a tree hugger and/or environmentalist, by any means, I don't even really believe in global warming (I know, I'm going to hear it from some of you for that comment), but I do believe in saving money and if "going green" is the way to do it I'm all for it! Save a few trees or land fills while I'm at it.

Here are just a few things that I'm doing:

• Reusable bags from the grocery store. If I forget them I will carry the stuff out without the bag, I usually get stopped and have my receipt checked because they think I'm stealing....

• Hanging my clothes out in the line to dry. I love this one and am totally obsessed with doing it! We have cut our gas bill in half by doing this....they smell really good, too.

• Our water heater is turned down almost to the lowest temp....our visitors don't really care for this, but come on we live in Hawaii.

• We started a garden. The picture you see is the start of it, tomatoes, watermelon, and cucumbers.

• Being efficient while washing dishes. I always thought my mom was so weird doing this, but I have totally turned into her! While I am rinsing the dishes I have the other one ready and while I'm putting the one I just rinsed in the drainer, I am rinsing the other on off.....it is really efficient, not only do I save water, but I get my dishes done really fast.

• I shop at the thrift stores or on craigslist, I don't know why more people don't do this. There is some really great stuff out there and for really cheap.

• I turn off my oven for the last few minutes of cooking. There is enough heat in there to finish the job.

• All of my electrical things that don't need electricity all the time (i.e. refridge) are connected to surge protectors and I turn them off whenever not in use.

• RECYCLE!! We don't have a program in our area for newspapers, cardboard, or the plastic items with 1 or 2 on the bottom, but my friend's area does. So I save up my stuff and take it to her place and add it to her stuff.

I know some of these things sound a little silly, but it has really made a difference in our bills and my peace of mind. I'm not patting myself on the back, just letting you know what's working for us. I don't want to be a wasteful person and I am trying....very trying (as my mom would always say).

Just A Pic Of The Family