Working towards a more green life

I have been remembering more and more to bring my reusable bags to the store since we got the ones that fold into their own pocket and have those clips on them.  When I get home I always turn them inside out and let them dry (sometimes things like the bag of lil carrots gets them wet) so unfortunately that is where they stayed when Jeff and I went to visit my mother this weekend. 
Actually, our only goal was not to stay with my mother.  That was more of a convinience thing, since she would watch Kalifornia while we went to the going away parties on Friday and Saturday night.  She did get one of her baby teeth, so that was cute.  Mother's Day went fine, though Jeff went alone to go out to a late lunch with his family since mine planned to eat at the same time.  Our families are so different.  Mine was trying to keep me there as long as possible, and he spent less than 3 hours total with them all weekend including when he stopped by there on Saturday while I was resting up for that night (and trying to somewhat recover from the night before). 
Kali had a great time playing with my mom's dogs, and even got to spend a smidge of time with Precious, my dog that is guarding my mother's yard (and seems to attack any dog that she doesn't like as in my mom's Princess).  She did try to pull some dominance moves on Kali, but I had her by the collar so that didn't go too far. 
I am now officially looking for a "real" job.  My hand made designs just aren't cutting it anymore, not that they ever really were.  Being vegan and eating organic is expensive, but I know it will be better in the long run.  I just wish Jeff would eat better, less Hot Pockets and maybe start liking a salad or something.  But tonight he did say he wanted to start eating more fruit.  That is good.  He likes fruit, mainly lemons. 
Making our home more green does help ease on the moneys, but having a boyfriend that refuses to let me set the thermostat any higher than 72 (he freezes me sometimes) during the summer doesn't help.  And the way he drives... sigh.  Like a bat out of hell, or worse.  Talk about wasting gas.  My car is more than ten years older than his and we get the same gas mileage.  Yes, his is an Eclipse convertable, mine an Oldsmobile... but it just seems that his tiny car should do so much better than my pretty big car. 
I do love big cars.  I've had to move very quickly before, shoved my whole life into a Buick Century.  Had to leave a few things behind, but the two dogs I had at the time were in my passenger seat. 
Last week I did a good cleaning of my hermit crab tank, and they loved it.  They were so active afterwards, exploring their "new" area.  I rearrange every time I clean. 

My etsy shop is still up, too.  www.roguedecadence.etsy.com.  Feel free to check it out whenever... or buy it out, whichever. lol.

Oh, something I want to do.  I want to start posting daily blogs here focusing on what I did that is "green" for the day.  Today my biggest project was finally cutting some old t shirts into cleaning rags.  I have some I might even be able to use as cloth napkins (I am a little hesitant, as I am not so much a sewer and can't really hem them).  Jeff is constantly begging me to buy paper towels.  I refuse.  They are a waste, a waste of trees and a waste of land (being tossed into landfills).  There are other options.  Newspaper or coffee filters can be used, with vinegar water instead of windex or the like of course, to clean windows.  I have a sponge for the stove, and a separate one for the tub.  Old rags for other things.  The list goes on.  I do want to get some more cloth napkins, just don't want to pay a pretty penny for ones that are too fancy (or - gasp! - dry clean only) for daily use or just aren't practical.  If it isn't practical, I don't want it.  The other green thing I did today was to clean my stove using a sponge  and vinegar water.  But I pretty much only clean with vinegar water, so no biggy. 
The home made dish soap is working very well.  I am still not even halfway through the batch of laundry soap I made back in Febuary.

I am refusing to buy anything new that doesn't HAVE to be new (like toilet paper, etc).  If it is new, I make sure it is eco-friendly, preferable fare trade, etc.  I would like some new clothing.  My closet is so full of stuff my mother and grandmother got for me... and so what if I have gained a bit of weight.  Who said vegans have to be skinny?  But when I see Jeff buy a new video game but then fuss at me for the price of groceries, I get quite upset.  It just doesn't seem right.  And when Kali chewed through one (not the only mind you) of his chargers for his PSP (which he bought cheap off a friend, so that isn't so bad though that money could have gone to something better, like groceries) he went out to Wal-Mart and bought a new one.  I begged him to let me check on Freecycle or something, but no.  That idea seemed so foriegn to him.  He hates the idea of going to thrift stores, too.  I need to get him into the awesome world of fleamarkets.  Maybe when we get a bit more cash, like those stimulus checks. 
But it boils down to me wanting to spend money on food and him wanting to spend it on electronical stuffs, mainly video games. 

Another funny thing.  I got a ticket Friday before last when I was staying at my mom's and on my way out to my favourite night spot.  Yeah.  So on the 16th I might have to go back.  The cop pulled me over for speeding (no way my car was up to what he said, I had just left a stoplight and my car doesn't excellerate like that) but he changed it to reckless driving.  Sigh.  It's still not cheap at all.  But I dont' have to worry about loosing any points, so that is good.  I really don't want to drive back there on the 16th to pay it, having to leave here before 7 am and all, so maybe I will call them tomorrow and see if we can pay it by mail or something.  That would help a lot. 

Ok, enough of this.  I'll post more tomorrow.