Sustainability, 3 months

I've been on this whole sustainability kick lately. With all the rage over climate change and the price of food rising every month it seems, it has just led me to start thinking about how our family can be more sustainable. I calculated our carbon footprint a while back and it just about made me sick. This, in part with the rising price of a gallon of gasoline, led us to purchase a new commuter car for me. The Trailblazer at 16-18 mpg just wasn't going to cut it anymore. We looked for about two weeks before we bought this white Pontiac Vibe. Doing so has broken my three cardinal rules of vehicular ownership... 1) Never drive a 4-banger, 2) Always have leather, 3) Always have lighted vanity mirrors. Its hard to admit, but I now drive a 4-cylinder, cloth-seated Vibe with no lights on the vanity mirrors as my daily beater. At least it has a sunroof! :) Now don't get me wrong, its really not a terrible car... its just not my Trailblazer. The switch went a lot smoother for me than I thought it would... I thought I'd HATE the Vibe, but I don't. Now I don't LOVE it either... and probably never will... but I can deal with that and the incredibly loud amount of road noise if I'm saving oodles on gas (yeah for 33 mpg!!) and reducing my carbon footprint. :)

As another chapter in my quest to become more sustainable, I've been doing a lot more research (in the very little spare time I have anymore) on canning and preserving food. I've learned that I'm going to have to invest in one of those 2-burner propane camp stoves (like a Camp Chef) to do my canning, especially if I want to do the boiling water bath canning. My ceramic cooktop just isn't going to cut it... I knew I should have stuck to my guns last year and gotten what I really wanted... basically the same range I got, but with the electric double ovens and a gas cooktop range (instead of the smoothtop electric that I have)... but oh well. I can get away with doing pressure canning on it by the sounds of it, but not BWB canning. Kind of a bummer, but at least there is an alternative... plus it might work out better that way anyway since I won't have to heat the house up so much if I do it outside. I've been looking into canners a lot, too. I think I'm going to get a pressure canner so that I can do everything I want to do... and it doubles as a BWB canner if I want to do that, too. They're more expensive, but I think it'll be a better investment for me in the long run if I continue canning (which I hope to and probably will need to if the price of food keeps skyrocketing!).

Anyway, those are just but a couple of ways I'm looking to become more sustainable.

So my little man turned 3 months this past Tuesday (May 13th). Its hard to believe he's already 3 months old. But yet it feels like he's been around for so long. Just goes back to the fact that I can't imagine life without him, I guess. Carson is still very vocal and smiley. He's chewing on his hands almost constantly now, it seems, drooling the entire time. One of these days, he'll end up getting his entire fist into his mouth with the way he tries shoving it in there. He's starting the everything goes to my mouth phase, too. He's always pulling his burp cloths, blankets, and towels into his mouth. He's not too into grasping many of his toys and putting them to his mouth yet, but he will do it with his little plastic rings. Its so fun to see him develop and grow.

Here's a pic of a Saturday morning... Dad and son in their white t-shirts and watching tv... yes, Carson loves watching tv now (this drives me crazy!!)... he's definitely his father's son. :)





Carson loves his baths... and bubbles!