Envious of those able to be green, that is. I like “being green”. You know, environmentally conscious? But has anyone noticed that it’s a lot easier to be green in a city? Ironic, isn’t it, how the further removed from nature you get by moving to a concrete city that the easier it is to be green in your choices? I live in the middle of nature here, but it’s awfully hard to be green when there’s no mass transportation (and it’s too frickin’ cold to walk - hello, the wind chill is -48 right now… what in mother earth’s ass am I doing walking even two blocks to work? I’m gonna freeze my skin black walking back home in the morning if this wind doesn’t die down!), no recycling whatsoever (even for newspapers or cans), no organic anything, the “farmer’s market” is mostly a joke, (and only open for about 2 hours, one day a week, for 2 months, usually while I’m sleeping, thank you very much for this job), and you have to travel 60-90 miles ONE WAY to buy essential supplies like… underwear. Everything is shipped in from billions of miles away. Buying ‘local’ is a joke on most things. I consider “made in Montana” about as local as I can get, and frankly, there just isn’t a whole lot that’s locally available.

My house is not really my own - I rent it from my parents. I can’t make changes to it to greenify it for two reasons: a) uh, it’s not mine, hello, and b) I am just not that rich. It’s all electric everything, meaning, it’s an electricity HOG. It’s poorly insulated. The toilet-that-ran-for-months was finally fixed after my mother gasped at the $80 water bill - something I’d asked my father to do many times (it’s not exactly a normal floating ball toilet, okay? It’s weird. I didn’t know how to do it.)

I’m trying to greenify my life a little, nonetheless. My car gets good gas mileage, and I don’t go very many places, really. I fill up maybe twice a month on average. I’ve purchased a couple canvas bags and use them not only for groceries at the local store, but to tote things around in everywhere. I just purchased a $20 aluminum water bottle to spare me from constantly buying single-use beverages to pack to work, where the water is pretty well undrinkable. That’ll save money and reduce garbage.

I use cloth pads. When I started this cloth pad venture a couple years back, I never thought I’d like them as much as I do. I can’t imagine going back to spending $10-$15 a month on bleached, chemical-drenched feminine hygiene products when cloth is cheaper, reusable, and far, far more comfortable. I just need to make more of them. My stash is a bit small. *lol*

I’ve been freezing more of my leftovers for later, instead of just throwing them out. Reducing waste there, and in buying more things in bulk, and things with less packaging (read: fresh food, not processed food) helps considerably - and I eat better, too.

I use paper towels only for messy jobs - cat vomit, for instance - and for cleaning up kitchen spills. Never for wiping my hands after I’ve washed them. (I’ve yet to break friends of this habit, despite the ever-present hanging towels and reminders.) I intend to buy a few packs of cloth napkins to cut down on paper towel usage there, too, but I’m afraid I’d need quite a few of them.

I’ve been slowly transferring my cleaning to natural products. I like (and use) Method’s products, which are nice, but expensive, and available only at ONE store, in a city I rarely get to… so I do plenty of cleaning with baking soda and vinegar - this, by the way, makes a nice, nontoxic toilet cleaner, but does use QUITE a lot of vinegar.

I’d like to do a bit more of that this year. I’d love to start a compost pile - especially with the chickens - but I don’t have the resources right now, and more, I may be moving into an apartment in late August (in a city, heh) and may not have any good use for compost anyway. Hmm. With any luck, I’ll find a way to get a house, rather than an apartment, though!

And moving, you ask? Why yes. This year, with my credit card debt 100% eliminated, and my car very nearly paid off, I’m headed back to school. And that’s another thing the city has that this beautiful little rural, close-to-nature town just doesn’t: opportunity.

I’ve been enjoying my latest knitting projects. Slowly (hands hurt, excema, tendonitis, dry skin, grah!!), but surely.

In order, the above photos are my peppermint socks in some yarn from Gypsyknits, my first chevron scarf, in a couple beautiful STR colors (and oh, how I am in LOVE with this yarn! so soft!), and a snowflake ornament that wouldn’t take me a half hour to finish, if I’d just do it….

However, my Fetchings were finished just before midnight on December 31st, so I have finished something recently! Here’s a blurry photo. Maybe I’ll get a better one later, if I think of it later. I made these in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, on way smaller needles than called for so they’d fit my tiny hands. Love them. Here they are:

In other yarntastic news, I’ve received my second shipment of Sundara’s Seasons yarn club, which is as gorgeous as the first… And also, I’ve joined the Rockin’ Sock Club!!! I didn’t think I’d make it in, but hallelujah, I did!

That whooshing sound you just heard? That was all my spare cash.

It’s officially 2008. Okay, it’s been 2008 for well over 48 hours now, but give a girl a break - I’ve got a life, and it’s not /all/ lived on my blog… or, eh, something like that. I rang in the new year at work, which wasn’t very exciting, but it was better than A, who spent the whole night puking her guts up, and not because she had too much fun, either. Flu’s going around, and I’m popping vitamins. Getting sick isn’t the way I want to start out this year’s 366 days. (Yeah, you hear that? 2008’s a leap year. You get an extra day to be good, or bad, or whatever your conscience calls for.)

I intended to do some sort of 2007 roundup of things I’ve done this year, most notably, in my knitting and all, but until I get around to that, here’s a survey I’ve seen flying all over the web in the last few years, most notably coming from All & Sundry. Did I do this last year? I forget. I’ll look it up once I’m through.

1. What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before??

Most notably, I raised chickens on a whim. Also, I knitted socks, bought ’serious’ furniture (you know, the kind where you go to a furniture store and spend a couple thousand dollars on something that might last a few years, instead of going to Walmart and spending a couple hundred on something that most definitely won’t…), played the Wii, and made all sorts of delicious new recipes in my very own crockpot. I’m sure there’s other things, too.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year??

Didn’t make any. Thank god. And no, I haven’t made any for 2008, either.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth??

No one particularly close to me gave birth. A couple cousins did, but I scarcely know them. A’s sister did, but I’m not real close to her either. I’ve never seen any of these babies, though of course, I wish them the best.

4. Did anyone close to you die??

No to that, as well, though we had a close call last March with Grandma R. I did have a few chickens get killed off by a fox, but I don’t think that ‘counts’ in this case.

5. What countries did you visit??

None.

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007??

An acceptance offer for one of the tech schools in Montana, and enough money to go.

7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why??

April 9th - the day I was supposed to get my chicks.
June 28th - the day the sheriff’s office got shot up.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year??

Actually doing one of the things I’d been wanting to do (raising chickens) instead of just wishing and daydreaming about it. Fun, too!

9. What was your biggest failure??

Not even bothering applying for school because I thought it just wouldn’t happen. I was probably right about the outcome, but I should’ve applied, nonetheless.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury??

Nothing serious but for a while I had a severe cough that took three visits to the doctor, a useless ultrasound, an x-ray, and ultimately some allergy medication to clear up, a month later…

11. What was the best thing you bought??

My couch. Or maybe my dining table. Ooh, so hard to decide.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration??

Celebration? Uh, gosh. No one I know had celebratory behavior.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed??

Bush’s. *lol*

14. Where did most of your money go??

Aside from taxes and loans? Toward my new furniture. :) It was well worth it, too. And I spent an extraordinary amount on craft supplies (*cough*yarn*cough*) and on books and magazines. But I deserved it, dammit.

That said, I did pay off all of my credit card debt, have not yet missed a bill payment, and paid off nearly $3000 of furniture in just under two months, thanks to savings, a generous gift from my father, and a lot of dedication. So clearly, I am doing well, financially, and I don’t feel guilty about how I’ve spent my cash. I mean, face it, crafts and books are my ONLY leisure.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about??

Chickens. *laugh* And yarn!!!! And I was really damned excited about my trip to the waterslides with A. It was a ton of fun, too.

16. What song will always remind you of 2007??

Gosh, I don’t know. Maybe Saving Me by Nickelback, or If Everyone Cared or… I don’t know.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:? a) happier or sadder? ?b) thinner or fatter? ?c) richer or poorer??

I’m neither “happier or sadder” - these emotions just don’t cut it for me on the big, sweeping time scale unless you’ve just gotten married, had a baby, or lost someone dear to you, none of which happened to me. But I’m more satisfied, less depressed (not that I was overly depressed to begin with, but I’m less so this year) and enjoying more of my life. I’m fatter, but not by a whole lot. 10 lbs maybe? Thank you, birth control, and you, too, junk food. I’m richer in a way - I have less debt, I make more money, and I have more ‘nice things’ to show for it. But I have little actual cash on hand, much less than I did at this time last year, believe me. Last year I had this thing called ’savings’…

18. What do you wish you’d done more of??

Taken more pictures. Gone out of town more. That just never seemed to work out for me this year - every chance I had, practically, was foiled by something or other. Work or money or weather, or the lack of any suitable companionship having none of the aforementioned problems.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of??

Bitch. I did a lot of bitching last year.

20. How did you spend Christmas??

With family, and at work. It was nice.

21. Did you fall in love in 2007??

Not with anyone real. I may have fallen in love with a fictional character or two.

22. What was your favorite TV program??

Watched a bunch of JAG. Hey, it was on at an hour I could watch. I liked L&O: Criminal Intent… But really, my schedule at work gives me few TV options, and I don’t subscribe to any sort of television at home.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year??

No. Didn’t develop any new hates for people.

24. What was the best book you read??

So hard to choose. Harry Potter is an obvious one, so I’ll go beyond that and add The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, and Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, and possibly The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. All of them were great.

As for nonfiction, I really liked The Circle Within by Diane Sylvan.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery??

Gosh, I don’t know. Daughtry, maybe.

26. What did you want and get??

Chickens!!!

27. What did you want and not get??

A spinning wheel, or even a drop spindle. Maybe this year.

28. What was your favorite film of this year??

Harry Potter? The Bourne Supremacy? Did that come out this year, even? I saw so few movies this year I can’t even remember them.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you??

I did practically nothing for my 25th birthday, which was a bigassed letdown, since I’d intended to take a vacation to The Big Big City with Mom or something, but Grandma got sick and ended up in the hospital and… yeah.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying??

A million dollars. Hey, it’s true. But honestly, my year was pretty darned good.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007??

Uh, practically nonexistent. *lol* I’ll call it “Walmart Style”.

32. What kept you sane??

Tea. Really. I needed it.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most??

None come to mind at the moment. I don’t, as a general rule, fancy celebs, except in that casual: “Wow, he’s hot” sort of way when I’m watching a movie. But they’re too distant to me to really fancy them at all.

34. What political issue stirred you the most??

Gugh. Which didn’t? Can we say that Everything Bush Does stirs me up? But I’ll say that lately, I cannot believe that in these modern, enlightened times, living in America where we, the good democratic people of the world, are supposedly so much “better” than our worldly peers, are actually debating over whether waterboarding is torture so we can determine whether or not it’s okay to use it on people we have declared enemy combatants so we don’t have to declare them prisoners of war and treat them fucking humanely as per the Geneva Convention. The fact that public polls on the subject are split fifty-fucking-fifity is even more outrageous than our politicians discussing this, and frankly, I am ashamed to be an American right now.

Ashamed.

35. Who did you miss??

All the friends I hardly ever see. :)

36. Who was the best new person you met??

B, my neighbor who moved in across the street from me, and who’s done so much to help me out.

Wow, is that the end of it? Well, here goes.