I saved 45 bottles from the landfill

My husband and I love camping, hiking, and generally just being outdoors. My husband is also into safety, security, and disaster preparedness. He believes, not unreasonably, that we need to have supplies if a natural disaster, such as a hurricane, occurs, so we have a hurricane box filled with with all of the things we were glad we had when the last hurricane wiped us out for several weeks and a few things we wished we had. However, we also each have "3 day packs." Basically, a backpack with enough food, water, and supplies to last in the middle of nowhere for at least 3 days. I guess it is his military training kicking in, but I'm not complaining too much. Better safe than sorry. I'd much rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it. It is because of this resent decision to have 3-day pack packed and ready that I decided I needed another pack and headed out to Bass Pro Shop, Dicks, and a few other stores to poke around and see what they had.

I am also "light green" as one of my friends would put it. I'm not a complete Eco-friendly "dark green" tree-hugging kind of gal, but I do my part. I reduce, reuse, and recycle whenever I can, but I also drive a small SUV. When given a greener choice vs a not so earth friendly choice I will gravitate towards the earth friendly solution, but I don't refuse to buy or use something if it isn't certified organic and packaged minimally with only 100% recycled materials. However, I saw this pack and fell in love with it! It is a great pack, large enough for everything I would need for a week with the family in the Everglades or a 3-day hump through the woods at the end of civilization as we know it (not the end of the world, 'cause hey...I don't plan on sticking around for that if you know what I mean), but the coolest thing about this pack is that it is made out of recycled water bottles. 45 water bottles to be exact. It doesn't feel like a plastic pack, it actually feels exactly like nylon, but it has 100% 450d Recycled PET body fabric and 100% 840d Recycled PET reinforcements. I don't know exactly what 450d and 840d mean (if anyone would care to enlighten me, please leave a comment!) but I know that PET fabrics are made by chipping plastic bottles and melting them. The melted plastic is then run through very small holes and hardens into yarn/thread which is then sewn into fabric. Pretty cool huh?

The pack wasn't that expensive either. Now, it wasn't the cheapest backpack I've ever bought, but it is by no means the most expensive pack we have in this house. In fact, it was fairly reasonably priced when compared to other packs of the same size and quality.

Even though it is way too hot to be doing too much strenuous exercise outside in the middle of the day, I am really itching to use my new pack!

Parking Issues

Why is parking such a hassle? I mean seriously, I get more "road rage" in a parking lot than on the actual road. I understand, especially in Florida, that the prime parking spots include anywhere with shade and close to whatever destination you are trying to get to. But WHY oh WHY do people think they can't park if they can't get to one of these prime spots? What is the point, especially in these days of high gas prices, would you drive around for 20 minutes looking and waiting for one of these prime spots? It just makes no since. PARK ALREADY!

Today, at Wal-Mart of all places, I was nearly killed. OK so maybe it wasn't that bad. More like my Jeep was nearly dinged because the woman in the car in front of me pulled 1/2 way into a space, then suddenly must have seen a better parking spot 20 feet closer to the entrance. So rather than sucking it up and pulling the rest of the way into her spot and walking (gasp!) a bit further, she quickly throws it into reverse and zooms out in order to get to the closer spot before anyone else can, forgetting(?) that I was right behind her. Was it really that important that she save a few steps by parking in a spot 4 spaces down? She wasn't elderly or handicapped in any way that made it appear as though walking was difficult for her or caused her some hardship, so what was the big deal?

And no, it wasn't that I wanted the closer spot, I hadn't even seen it yet. I was actually planning on parking in the spot on the other side of where she originally pulled into, I just didn't want to be bumped into.

In conclusion, save some gas and get a little exercise...just park!

I am

I am
A wife
Who loves her husband
And is more proud of him than he will ever know.



I am
A daughter
Who loves her parents
Even when she doesn’t agree with everything they do.



I am
A sister
Who loves all of her brothers and sisters the same
Be they biological, adopted, step, or in-law, we are all family.



I am
A friend
Who will never forget the friends she has left behind
Even though she doesn’t keep in contact as much as she really should.



I am
A teacher
Who loves and cares about her students
Even the ones other people have written off as impossible.


I am
A Christian
Who believes with all her heart
But doesn't always like the alarm clock on Sunday Mornings.


I am
A student
Who is making straight A’s
And wonders how I’m getting better grades now than I did in my undergrad.



I am
An athlete
Who loves being active and in shape
But gets lazy and doesn’t work out when she should.



I am
A dog lover
Who instead has a cat
That thinks it's a dog and is the coolest cat in the world.



I am
A girl
Who knows exactly what she wants
But can’t make a decision on where to eat or what to wear.




I am
bored
And wonder if anyone will read this
But I'm going to post it anyway :)

Face Your Pocket

I saw a link to this website the other day and thought it was interesting. Granted I can’t read Russian (Maybe my cousin Jennifer could help me out with that), but on the English version it says that it is a project to gather pictures of people putting random things that they carry around with them, either in their pockets or purses, on their scanner then putting their faces on the scanner as well, so I thought I would give it a try. I decided to dig around in my purse and see what I found that may (or may not) be interesting. Does it give some deeper insight into my life or personality? Who knows, but I was bored and this is what I did instead of my Linguistics homework (Maybe Cousin Jennifer could help me with that too!).
Let's see, I have my squished face, the wallet my sailor hubby gave me, 3 tubes of lipstick, a 500 yen coin, 4 huge safety pins, a dollar bill (all the American money I had), my thumb drive, BC Headache medicine, moist towelette, a kaeru (means both "frog" and "return" in Japanese. It is supposed to bring a traveler safely home), butterfly clip, hair tie, sharpie pen, and 3 patriotic charms. What can it all mean? Anyone have any great insight into me now, other than I must have a cluttered purse and I'm broke? Perhaps there is a reason that my thumb drive with all my my graduate stuff from all my classes so far is above my head next to the headache powder? Things that make ya go Hmmmmm.....

Now that I'm done with this I guess it is on with the homework. It isn't really that hard, I like the class actually, just needed a brain break and thought this would be fun!