What to give?

After reading "Half the Sky"...a book that shares the stories of women around the world what are marginalized because their lives are not valued but also shares stories of hope...what can happen when we invest in women.

I wanted to do something to help...since this is the season of giving, I have made a loan in our family's' honor.

How I chose-
-a woman
-a country I know ( Guatemala)
-a group...the woman is part of a lending group that will support her
-she has children that she wants to send to school

Our loan was $475 which we gave in honor of my mother and stepfather, my sister and her brother and their families, my aunt and uncle and Nate's godmother and her husband.

Here is a link to the description on Kiva

Duo Carisma Group

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

Blessings and Peace

Julie, Mark, Nate and Ben

Imgaine this....

it is the day of the Election Cycle.....

it is raining...grey...cold...windy

the family that is supposed to ride with you calls because (as the mom explains) she is meeting with "severe resistance".

They decide not to ride. You wish you could join them in that decision..but you are team captain ( even if there are only two families on the team)

you have to imagine all of this because...although you bring a camera with you...you can't get it to work..even after you buy new batteries..nate says there is rust inside the camera ( I have no idea why)

Imagine..that your kids are willing to ride even after they find out the other family won't be there...and your husband ...injured from a bike accident is determined to ride. and when you show up to sign in...a neighbor family shows up unexpectedly to ride with you...as part of the team.

Now imagine ..you are riding on the bike trail..the rain has stopped but you are riding in a head wind...and your youngest son says "Can we please go home"( he as very polite) And when you say..."Let's finish what we've started" You all do!

Although we "downgraded" to the 10 mile ride.. we all made it!!

We showed up because: Ginny and Greg, Connie and Bill, Jean and Mike, Carol, Janet, Pamela, Beth, Jack, Abby and Maddy, Dave, Alan, Kyle, Joan,Claire, Marjorie, Lisa and Matt, Mary, Micah and Austin...16 sponsors for a total of $610 ( above our total for last year)

Ben's teacher Alan said "All you have do to is ask" and that was true. Thank you all...for supporting us and for supporting conservation in Wisconsin!

WOW!

I am feeling more than a little humble tonight. On Monday we were at $65....but I sent out a few emails and posted to Facebook...and we are up to $395. We have awesome friends and family...thank you all so much for your support.

If you have donated or just just want to check our our page...check us out at The Them

It's Time

to ride in the Election Cycle!

Last year the boys were amazed to learn that if you ask people for money...they give! Our goal was $250 and we raised over $500. We rode ten miles and when we got done Nate said.."next year...25"

It's next year...we are riding 25 miles. This year we started a team..more people =more fun! The ride is September 18 ( Sunday) starting at noon.

If you can join our team ( called We are The Them of course) please do.
Go here and click on Join on Team (It is cheaper if you join by this Thursday Sept 1...cost $10)

If you can't ride...please sponsor us...our team goal is $1000.
To sponsor us..go to our team page

Now more than ever we in Wisconsin need to pay attention to who is elected!! You can be a part of making sure that our legislators protect the environment. Be the change you want to see in the world...join our We are the Them team and ride on Sept 18....or sponsor us and help us meet our fund raising goal.

It's over

Our Greener Faster Challenge is over!

How we did:

Natural Gas Usage: We actually went up a little compared to last year but were still 57% better than the Madison average of 856 therms/yr.

Electricity Usage
We did 6% better than 2009, bringing us to 22% better than the Madison average (the two big ticket items we are looking into..a more efficient clothes drier and a more efficient hot water heater)

Average Weekly Recycling: 6lbs
Average Weekly Trash: 1.6lbs
This was one of the lowest trash weights and we had four people!

Miles Driven:
62% better than the Madison average

Water:
19% better than the Madison average ( our most disappointing category...we had two water leaks that took us awhile to find and then to fix)

Food:
We averaged 80% local/organic ( no Madison average to compare to) This is the category we made the most change in. We now buy almost exclusively from Willy Street Coop...with Whole Food and Regent Coop as our back ups.

All participants got great prizes
We got a $100 gift certificate to our Willy St Coop..our favorite place to shop! And a gift certificate to Trek bikes. And 4 one month bus passes. Wow!!

I will miss the support of the other Greener Faster families..but am relieved to not have to collect any more data.


Photo: jayneandd

Reverse Shopping

We left with the van full and came back with it empty.

First stop: Home Concept. My friend Susan told me they recycle Styrofoam.
Fortunately they still do.
Unfortunately the store is closing.
Fortunately...we aren't buying anything new for the next six months..so we shouldn't have any more Styrofoam to deal with.

Stop two: Remember the computer that died within two weeks of starting the Buy Nothing New Challenge...time to get rid of it.

Fortunately Madison recycles desk tops ( at Badger Rd site)
Unfortunately you need a $10 ticket that they do not sell there
Fortunately there was a library close by and it was open.

Bonus: we found another place to recycle shoes!

Last stop: St Vinny's on Odana for everything else.

The basement is not empty by any means...but at least the floor is clear!

Buy Nothing New Meets Birthdays

Ben turned 13 this past weekend. There was concern about how we would handle birthdays this year.

Mark was quite pleased with his hunting and gathering prowess...he managed to get both gifts on Ben's wish list second hand. One was the Ranger's Apprentice Book 10...it just came out recently so we were a little concerned...but obviously some people buy them, read them and sell them back. Amazon.com used books.

The second gift was a play station move controller ( think Wii). Mark had already gotten one controller ( used) so had been watching for a second one.

What about the kids attending? We went "gift free" a number of years ago. The boys were getting gifts they didn't use and a few other families had already started the trend...so we followed along and there was no turning back. This has worked out fine...our focus is on good food, an awesome cake and something special for entertainment. This year was laser tag ( past years have been canoe trip on the Wisconsin River, a rendezvous,and a treasure hunt at Devil's Lake)

Nate's birthday is in July... We'll see how that goes :D