"It ain't easy being green"

I believe that quote was taken from the infamous Kermit the Frog, but lately"green" has come to mean something entirely different.

In this day and age of recycling and trying to safe our beautiful planet for future generations, I am embarrassed and ashamed to admit, I just started recycling 3 weeks ago.

I know, I know, a collective gasp was heard throughout the blog world. I am not proud of this laziness but now that I am officially on the band wagon... EVERYONE else should join me.

My mom has been recycling her garbage for years, and has always encouraged me to do it, but I just never did... until now. Good job Nana...moms really do know best!! Thank you for saving the Earth for my little future generationer!

Last night, as I was trying to prepare for our trip and all of the fun things that go along with that before leaving your house, I just couldn't get over the sight of my once sparsely littered pantry floor. This is what it looked like as of 7:00 pm last night.
Since this picture, I have added another box of diapers, a 24 pack of coke box, 3 more newspapers and a half a dozen empty cans. Everytime I open my pantry door, I now have to say a silent "it's OK, breath Heidi, you are helping save the earth... pick up is next Wednesday" to myself.

A couple of weeks ago, I went out and bought a huge plastic tub to put in my pantry just for recycling stuff. Well, as you can see, I have FAR exceeded the limits of my 60 gallon jug. It just makes me realize how much stuff I could have been recycling all of these years, and makes me feel really guilty. Wow!

I even printed the "how to" and "what to" recycle list off the internet because I am a visual learner (ha!) and have to have a reminder right there in front of me each time I go to throw something away. I think what used to be labeled as a "visual learner" when I was in school, has really just morphed into a nice way of saying that I'm CRS... can't remember squat (I improvised on the S word, you know) to make myself feel better.
Needless to say, I am relieved that starting in September, the recycle pick up will be bi-weekly instead of monthly. I really don't know how much more my little pantry can take. But, I am VERY glad that I've done this and my trips to the big trash can outside have gone from 2 a day to probably 1 every 3 days (unless there are Trace's poopy diapers in them, can't let those stick around long... we abandoned the Diaper Genie a long time ago!)

So, now I'm a believer. Happy Recycling... GO GREEN!

Hope everyone has a very happy and safe 4th of July!!!