Five simple things

Hello.

It's already December 1. 24 days until Christmas-jeez. I can't even get over how quickly some holidays come and go, but I wouldn't say that time flies. It comes at the same pace as it came when I was younger. It just seems like it comes faster, I think, because we have a lot more on our plate to get done before that holiday approaches. I had most of my Christmas shopping done in October-I like to stay ahead-and I mailed a few of the boxes on Thursday. There's still three more boxes left to mail to family and friends in Arkansas, but I always approach the holidays with a game plan. Since moving to Oregon, away from everyone I normally buy gifts for each year, you have to have a plan. Otherwise, you get behind and you stay behind until the first of the year. One of my pet peeves is people that always use the word "busy" as an excuse and that excuse always follows with, "I got behind." The best way to not be person that wears "busy" as a badge of honor is to always be prepared, even for the unexpected. I ordered our Christmas cards on Monday and we are currently waiting on their arrival. I can't wait to share pictures from our Christmas card photo shoot at the William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge. We took at least 300-500 pictures and The Mr. and I sat down and went through them all to pick out our favorites. So stay tuned for that blog post coming soon. I love when December rolls around and you get other's Christmas cards with photos to see how much everyone has grown, changed, and had a wonderful year to share. Can't wait to see how many people start their Christmas letter with, "It's been a busy year for us..." ha!

Here are five little things that made this week great!

1. This picture.

This time of year I like to go through pictures we've taken throughout the year and find the best ones to frame, or pass along to family and friends. This pictures was one of the keepers. It was from Veteran's Day this year and I think The Bean fits in the picture well. I almost used this one for our Christmas cards, but our photo shoot gave us a lot of great ones to pick from. This picture will definitely find it's way into a frame soon.

2. School memories.

Going through papers and getting rid of things throughout the year I found a gem of a picture. My class of 1995 senior picture. Such fun memories from this day. We took a serious picture and then this one. Hilarious! The Mr. found me right away-knowing how goofy I was/am. Kudos to you if you can too. 

3. This box.

This is the FabFitFun winter box. It was full of some great items. The Ahava lotion and the FabFitFun TV exercise ball are awesome! This is a seasonal box and you can get one here.

4. Burlap print.

This print is hand painted by me and is selling out quick in my shop. If you'd like to have one before Christmas, you can place your order here and I will get it out to you as soon as possible. They are almost gone, so grab one fast. The shop is right this way.

5. Sneak peek.

Here's a little sneak peek of our Christmas card photo shoot. How great is this? Our little min-pin, PITA, is such a trooper.

A few more things:

• Our Blue Friday Blue Movement Cleanup

• South North South food recipes

• Julia Child, Seen Through Her Husband’s Lens

• "Possible" Christmas to-do list

• 25 Magnificent Facts About Oregon

Have a great weekend!

Blue Friday-Blue Movement cleanup

Friday, November 24, 2017, was Blue Friday. To some it was Black Friday, but not in our house. We haven't participated in Black Friday for many, many years and the only time we went was twice, back-to-back years, and after a good kick in the leg from a lady with steel toed boots the last time we went I decided it just wasn't worth the effort, the money, or the time-or pain. The kick she gave me was on accident, but nonetheless it left a rather large hematoma on my leg for over a month.  So for a good alternative to the madness and the consumerism we decided to do something completely different and clean up a waterway around us by joining forces with United by Blue. 

The Willamette Valley has some of the most beautiful views with water or a snow capped mountain in the background, especially this time of year. This year, being our first year to participate, we decided to keep it small and clean up the local canal that runs through the city here. The Lebanon Santiam Canal has a stretch that is surrounded by a park-Ralston Park. There are a lot of homeless that congregate at the park during the day and into the evening. There is also a lot of foot traffic through the area too. Most people that visit the park are respectful, but once in awhile we get the few that don't seem to care and litter their trash, clothing, and cigarette butts. Tons of cigarette butts. We ended up clearing over 60 pounds of garbage. Most of it could be recycled, which made us sad to know that someone couldn't take the time to place the items in a recycle bin instead of the ground near water, or in the water. One of the cleanup crew member we had said the perfect explanation of why: It's because some people just don't care. heartbreaking, yet true. So to remedy that "don't care" attitude, help out year round and clean up after yourself and the ones that don't care. The more care you put into something the more it will offset the others. Here the highlights of our cleanup this year.

We received our kits and were really excited to get started with the cleanup. United by Blue included a Blue Movement bandanna with the kits this year and we wore them proudly. The kit also included a trash bag for waste, one for recycle, and some heavy duty rubber-tipped gloves.

We began the cleanup efforts at 2:00 p.m. west coast time and worked until 5:00 p.m. when the sun started to set.

We covered the entire length of the canal that the park surrounds. In between trash collecting and cigarette butt removal I took pictures of the cleanup.

Plastics are definitely not for the environment. 

A shoe.

The Bean removing rusted metal chicken wire.

The Bean found some unusual items in the canal. Here he found a broken window that someone had thrown off the bridge, but missed and it hit the bridge and broke into several large glass pieces.

Getting down and dirty with the cleanup.

Plastic bags, Mylar balloons, cigarette butts, plastic container and bottle, chicken wire, glass, etc. It was absolutely shocking to see so much liter in our city's canal. Extremely disappointing.

United by Blue has great information on the Blue Movement on their website, Twitter, and Instagram. We will be setting a time and place each year where we live in order to participate. If you would like to get involved, you can do that right here. Or here!

Remember, every little bit helps and it does more good than you know! And I probably don't have to state this, but the best thing you can do to help out with the efforts is to not litter, pick up other's litter when you can, and always try to recycle items that can be recycled. My number one suggestion would be, don't bring waste into your home in the first place and stop using disposable items, especially plastics. Simple changes in your habits can have a big impact overtime.

-UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not. -Dr. Seuss "The Lorax"