Reduce Waste this Holiday Season...Reuse,, Recyle...

Reduce Waste this Holiday Season. Sounds easy, it is... Just some simple planning will help generate less waste. Plastic wrap, gift wrap, leftover food, decorations all can be reused, recycled, with careful planning waste will be much less this year. As a consumer we can make a difference. Before you buy something, look and see how is it packaged. It will help. Also, plan waste-free meals, creative ways to use up leftovers and do not purchase more than you need, then toss it out. And also recycle the Christmas tree... save those traditional decorations from year to year, it will be those special memories to look forward to every year. Try to get everyone in the family involved. It will be fun and also a learning process.  Enjoy this holiday season with less waste....

Grandma's kitchen drawer

All through the years Grandma Emma had a special place in her kitchen where she kept all those needed little treasures. We called it her junk drawer, it wasn't junk, just didn't have a better name for it. It was a small drawer on the right side of the kitchen sink. On any given day you would find some basic items that were used often. Always a pair of scissors, usually a pair that she brought with her from Norway and took such very good care of. A needle, thread, string, thumbtacks, rubber bands, paper clips, some assorted yarn from knitting projects, tape, crochet hook, small bits of other recycled items that had been saved in case someone needed them. It was organized and never removed from the drawer and used without properly returning it to its home. Grandma Emma was really good at recycling so many items. Even though we didn't have that word yet. She was saving and careful, she had a saying that she lived by " Waste not, want not" and it still works till this day. I think of those words often, especially when I'm at the grocery store. Do we need it or just want it... will we use it or waste it. A careful way of life is in so many ways is a simpler way of life... Truly simple living through the years that I practice now.

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