Car-Free Goal...Reached!

Hey, everybody!

So it's the last day of January. Have you had a good month?
I know I sure have. :)

And relating to those 2013 New Year Resolutions I blogged about, I am checking in to give you an update regarding the "be car-free at least 4 days a week" one... I am glad to say that I stuck to it very well!
In fact, in the whole month of January I only drove the car on three occasions! And I only rode in a vehicle on five occasions! Wow!!
We filled up exactly once and that was for that looooong trip to the roller rink.
Though I must be honest and tell you that that doesn't mean our car wasn't out and about -- Dash took it on many a trip to Ella's preschool for drop-off/pick-up and for little errands here and there when he wasn't feeling up to biking...
Oh, well! I like to think that at least my efforts cut back on all the potential driving that could have happened.
I hope to keep this up in February too and as the weather gets better hopefully Dash will opt out of driving too! :)

Until next time, Happy Car-Freeing!!

Relaxing Wednesday

Ahoy, mateys~

So I had planned on doing another photo-intense post today, but instead am opting to just give a general report of the relaxing vibe here in the Dashiell household.

This morning, Ella Rose played at a preschool friend's house, allowing me to do child-free grocery shopping for the first time in a long while. Call me crazy, but it can feel like such a treat to myself when I do that. Ha!

Then, when I got home, I found William asleep on Dash's shoulder while he was watching "The Price Is Right" -- aaaah, memories. That show was quite the staple in our home when Ella was a wee little thing, and some of you may know how Dash and I went on the show for our 2nd Anniversary~ :)
Anyway, I got a little shut-eye on the sofa until it was time to get Ella, and then picked her up via bicycle.

The rest of the day was spent pretty nicely. I dug up my collection of pressed flowers from last spring, gave William a nice bath, walked the dog while chatting with my mom, and helped to make some delicious black beans for our weekly Mexican Night meal.

Now I'm updating to you here while Dash finishes up a little project he's working on -- when he's done, he's going to give me a massage. Scoooooore ;)

Well, I hope you're all having a nice Wednesday evening and looking forward to the second half of the week.

Updates on a standing William and long-haired Ella coming soon...

Til then, Happy Wednesday!

The Many Uses of Cutie Boxes

Hey there, ho there.

I've been thinking these days that maybe the initial intention and focus of this blog -- simple, greener living -- has fallen by the wayside, in favor of updates on the kiddos and our daily adventures and such.
And so I'm devoting today's post to something that does add to a simpler lifestyle: reducing and reusing.
Namely, in the form of Cutie Boxes!
[you'll see in the photos that we also buy our mandarines/clementines/mikan from other vendors like Trader Jose's and Bee Sweet too]

Dash's expansive video game collection -- all organized thanks to yours truly ;)

By saving these handy little boxes from the grocery store we are reducing our need to purchase "real" storage containers by reusing them instead.

Our cookbook collection on top of the fridge

Every winter, when the clementines are in season, we buy at least 3 or 4 boxes worth, so we've accumulated quite a few boxes!

Ella Rose's coloring book collection

Not only are the boxes sturdy and clean (despite having held a delicate citrus fruit), but their dimensions are just perfect for so many media in our lives (games, books, videos, etc!)

Our VHS collection under the TV

 Also good for wardrobe organization~

William's socks

Once we went to Costco and picked up this discarded box too!

Mega-size! To hold Ella's oversized books.

These boxes make an appearance in pretty much every area of the house. Even the bottom of the stairs:

To hold our many mittens and hats~

I think I got just about every Cutie Box in the house...
But I'm always finding new opportunities to use them!
Next time you get a box of clementines, instead of discarding the box...consider it for its many fabulous uses.
And then share that use here! :)

Until then, take care and Happy Boxes!!

Ella Rose's Drawings

Hey hey,

Good morning, this rainy winter morning.
As you can imagine, the weather these days has been keeping us indoors quite a lot, as I'm sure it has many of you too.
One of our favorite indoor activities (be it rainy or sunny) is drawing.
You've all seen Ella Rose enjoying her chalkboard and it's definitely visited daily, but we've also been focusing more colored pencils these past months. When I visited my mom back in November, I pillaged the drawers in my room for art supplies and brought back a pretty extensive collection of colored pencils! Here are some "masterpieces" she's made these days:

"Princess Jasmine with a cat" -- love the slippers!!

A mermaid -- she draws these a lot

A fairy -- also popular these days

Sailor Moon!!! Yes, I've let her watch the movies. She is her mother's daughter after all. ;)

You may also noticed some letters on her drawings -- she is eating up letters and simple spelling so much recently. I promise I will record some spontaneous drawing challenges for you to see her spell on the fly - buya.

Yes, I am a shamelessly proud mama. Take it!! :D

Also! For your piece of mind and mine, her drawing paper is always scrap paper, using the backs of anything from printed contracts to junk mail. And a friend has recently agreed to bring us scrap paper from his job soon too. Look forward to it!
 

Until then, take care and Happy Drawing!!