Halloween Part 2

Becoming dependent on the corporate world for Halloween costumes, decorations, and candy can be an example of waste in another way besides money.  It is a wasted opportunity for creativity.  

Getting kids involved in the process of making costumes, spooky decorations, and creepy holiday treats gives them the opportunity to express themselves in new ways.  It also provides an opportunity to build skills that will be useful in other situations.  Bringing their costume ideas to life involves being able to envision a plan and then collect the materials to make that plan come to fruition.  Using scissors and glue can be opportunities to practice fine motor skills.  Measuring and baking can provide opportunities for following instructions and improving math skills.

Losing these creative skills can be problematic for adults as well.  You might find yourself at the mercy of an industry that really doesn't care about you, and isn't so creative itself.  Witness the rise of "Hookerween."  Grown women are supposed to brave a brisk Autumn night in tiny scraps of cloth bearing descriptors like "sexy" or "naughty."  Now please don't take this as prudishness on my part.  I don't mind if women want to dress in sexy costumes.  The problem I have is that this is almost the only option available in many costume shops.  I also have a problem with the fact that these little snippets of cloth foisted on women cost the same amount as full coverage men's costumes.  Selling 1/3 of the costume for the same price means that these companies are making an exorbitant profit on women's costumes.  I have no intention of letting the costume industry fleece me out of that kind of cash.  My costume this year?  A (full coverage) velvet, medieval style dress from a thrift store...$4.95.

Halloween Costumes

Somewhere along the way, Halloween (like so much of our lives) has been co-opted by big corporations.  In the same way that people have become convinced that they can't cook without a prepackaged, freeze-dried miracle in a box, our society has increasingly become convinced that Halloween is something better left to the experts.  And when people become incapable (or believe they are incapable) of creation, then they are left to the mercies of the creators.  

If you go to a costume shop, you can easily expect to spend $50-60 for a costume.  Even many children's costumes will run $40+.  In a time when so many folks are struggling to keep the lights on and food on the table, spending that kind of money just isn't feasible.  Don't be convinced that costumes must be expensive or elaborate for a night of trick-or-treating.  Below are some of the costumes that we have created for little or no money:

Batman:  already owned pajama top and a $3 mask.

Robot:   $5 worth of dryer vent hose, $3 can of spray paint, duct tape and recycling bin scrounging

Plants vs Zombies:
sunflower:  green pajamas, fabric scraps from sewing box, Easter headband (no new spending)
zombie:  jacket and tie from thrift store (about $5), soccer practice cone (already owned) and grey face paint (about $2)

Wasting Time on Perfection

So my last post on this blog was in July (yikes!).  Now, I have been out of town and busy and dealing with kids and all that.  But that isn't really why I've had such a long hiatus.  I had such a long hiatus because I wasted time wanting to create the perfect next post.  I didn't just want to fix the faucet; I wanted to fix the faucet and take pictures and document and etc.  And what actually happened was that because of this, the faucet never got fixed and I didn't start blogging again.  It is important to remember that sometimes the perfect is the enemy of the good.  And sometimes perfect is the enemy of getting anything at all accomplished.

An obsession with perfection has been the source of a lot of waste in my life, mostly wasted opportunities.  I have often had a fear of look foolish or just not being good enough, and so I just didn't try.  I suspect I'm not the only one.  I realize that this is a silly way to waste my time, and it is a lousy example for my kids.  So, I'm jumping back into this blog with the idea of failing better, having fun writing, and sharing with my friends and family.

Wish me luck.

My good intentions OR The road to Hell is paved with leaky faucets

Creative Commons Image by Droidicus

So my kitchen faucet has been dripping for a long time.  I'm not exactly sure how long, but it would be safe to say that it has certainly been dripping for months.  My usual technique for dealing with malfunctioning plumbing or appliances is to wait and see if they heal themselves.  (Don't laugh!  It has worked more than you would imagine.  Certainly at least once!)  Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case with this faucet, whose drip is even more constant than before.  I did a little measurement today and it looks like it is dripping at the rate of about 1 and 1/3 cups of water per hour.  That's about 32 cups of water per day (or 7 1/2 liters) per day.  Yikes! 

So even though I think that water conservation is important, why hasn't this been fixed?  I even bought the rubber washers that should do the job.  It is at this point, gentle readers, that I should let you in on a secret.  I have virtually no spatial skills.  I'm one of those people that have to turn a map in the direction I'm facing before I can read it.  So the idea of taking apart  a faucet is a little intimidating to me.  This is especially the case when I start researching the solution and get diagrams like this one:

Image used by Creative Commons License

I even tried looking at the This Old House website for advice.  Those folks seem so friendly!  And they even wear the common folks' plaid shirt and jeans uniform.  But I couldn't even tell which faucet we have so I could get started.  I understand the instructions were theoretically in English, but it might as well have looked like this:  τον καθορισμό ενός βρύση.  But obviously, losing nearly 8 liters of water per day is unacceptable.  So I'm going to enlist my much more handy husband and hopefully this problem will be solved over the weekend.  I will do my best to document the process in such a way that even technologically challenged folks like myself will feel able to take on the job of their own leaky faucets.

There are no concrete flowers OR That asphalt jungle is metaphorical!

Honestly, I've never seen the point of watering lawns in the first place.  When it gets hot and dry enough for the grass to turn yellow or brown, that means you don't have to mow it.  But IF you feel compelled to water a plant that gives no sustenance and scant beauty, please don't do this.  Watering the pavement is worse than a waste of water.  Spraying water on to roads and parking lots is a good way to shunt toxic runoff down the storm drains.  It's also a good way to encourage an accident as people happen upon puddles and slick spots that shouldn't be there. 

If you can't manage to go a week without fighting the lawn wars, please consider investing in a drip irrigation system.  It uses less water.  It doesn't soak the sidewalk.

Photo by jellyluna via Creative Commons license.

Tote your own bucket.

Even though water is one of our most precious resources, it is also one of the most squandered.  Why is this so?  I contend that it is because with modern wells and modern plumbing our water doesn't seem so valuable.  It is cheap.  It is plentiful.  It is safe.  It is easily obtained.  Unfortunately, our brains are wired to see things that don't require significant effort and resources as valueless.  I think that my background (almost unknown in modern America) is part of the reason that I value water so much.  Between the ages of 6 and 13, my family had no running water.  Every bit of water we used either came from a hand drawn well or out of the nearby creek.  When you have to carry a bucket with all the water that you drink, cook with, or wash with, you start to look at water differently.  You see it as a precious thing. 

While I don't advocate everyone disconnecting from their well or city water supply, everyone should have some experience supplying their own water.  Try camping at a site that is distant from water.  Or, if you aren't ready to "rough it" yet, at least try this experiment:  Limit water usage to a single tap in the house for a few days.  Carry water for your bath, for your dishes, your laundry and so on.  Not only will this give you a much better idea of the huge volume of water used in most homes, it will teach you the value of every drop.

Try carrying your own water, and share the results of your experiment here.

Photo by Ganesh K through a creative commons license.

Water, water, not everywhere...

Like most of the Midwest, St. Louis is currently suffering from an extreme drought.  This lends to thinking about one of our most precious (and most squandered) resources...fresh water.  In the coming days, I will be spending a lot of time talking about how water is wasted and ways that we can reduce that waste.  I'll be spending some time on my water wasting pet peeves (golf courses, I'm looking at you) and also 'fessing up to some of my own water sins.  (Yes, the kitchen sink is still dripping.)  Return to this spot soon for more on water issues.

Image by D. Sharon Pruitt via a creative commons license.