7 Quick Takes

 

1. I heard a few weeks ago that Stories for the Homeschool Heart was indeed going to the publisher.  I look forward to seeing the finished volume and am pleased to have been included.  If you would like a free copy read on:

Nominate a mom you know who has a 'homeschool heart' Tell us in less than 200 words how she has inspired you and why she has a 'homeschool heart'. Send your entries to TheresaThomasEverydayCatholic at gmail dot com OR pattiarmstrong at mac dot com. Winner and nominee both win a free copy ...of the book. Entries due August 30.

 

(cover credit Purestock/Getty Images) 

2. It's rhetorical.  

Kieran has a knack for being right where dh wants to be.  He is like Visa. ; )   The other night his father tripped over him when turning back around to grab something.  He asked in exasperation WHY he had to be right there??  Kieran, being Kieran, was ready to provide an response but then stopped and said, "Hey, Dad? Is this one of those questions you are supposed to answer or the kind you aren't?"  psst: no <g>

3. Park day at the Seewoog again this week.  

The children are making friends and Tess spent the afternoon tagging along, usually hand in hand, with this little girl.  I passed the time learning about the ICE train and planning a ladies outing to a nearby city with the lovely homeschool ladies.  A very nice day.  

 

 

  

4. Rainbow

 I am taking this as a good sign : ) 

 

 

5. Method Bathroom Cleaner 

...claims to smell like a spa.  To me, it smells uncannily like Old Spice.  Every time I use it I am right back in the kitchen of my grandparents farm pouring Coffee Rich over an itty bitty single serving cereal package and Grandpa is getting ready for the day in the bathroom right outside the doorway.  Grandpa was a reluctant farmer and probably the only man on the planet who used aftershave before starting barn chores.  I don't recall thinking anything at all of that at the time but having lived on my own farm since I realize how unusual it is. 

6.  It's All Mush

  As we were driving home after a day out I remarked in the car that I couldn't shake my headache.  "Try drinking some water, Mom," Aidan suggested.  "Your brain is 80% water."  

"Really?" I asked. "So what is the other 20%"  

"I dunno," says he, "I guess, like, mush."  

He knows me lol!  Though I suspect he may have my percentages off. Which may explain why last weeks 7 Takes contained six...  Dear Reader, you are very kind to overlook these things. 

7. Trash Talking

  Have we talked about the garbage?  Dh joked when we got here that you needed a PhD to figure out garbage disposal and he wasn't kidding.  For starters, our garbage can looks like this:  

 

 

It gets emptied every two weeks.  TWO WEEKS people!  Reason being, we are to recycle  90% of our trash.  There are yellow bags for metal and plastic and a blue can for paper and cardboard.  But you can only put plain clean paper and cardboard in the blue can.  If it is of "mixed" contents like waxed milk cartons or envelopes with clear windows it goes in the yellow bag.  There is a brown can for 'biodegradables' which is raw food and peelings, apple cores etc.  Cooked food scraps and meat are verboten. Glass goes into freestanding pick up bins located in other villages. There is a bin for clear glass, a bin for brown glass and a bin for green glass.   There are limited options for bulk pickup and dropoff but bulk is defined much more conservatively here - no more than the trunk of a modest sized sedan. And don't think you can do that more than once or twice A YEAR.  

I find myself in predicaments like the other day when they spilled the oats before breakfast.  Is it biodegradable?  Is it black can trash?  The carton goes in the blue can and the lid goes in the yellow bag.  Or standing before the trio of glass bins with a cobalt blue wine bottle in hand.  Hmmm.

The garbage  system has ramifications I am just beginning to perceive.  How different would your life be if you did not have unlimited options to store and dump?  It makes you REALLY think about what you bring into your car and your house because it all has to eventually go someplace.  I find myself thinking more carefully about purchases.  The German 'less is more' ideal becomes more and more understandable.  It is all about stewardship.   Let me tell you it does make the average American consumer  (not even talking cost here, but quantity) appear to be caught in a binge/purge cycle that would likely shock our European neighbors.  As it is, you can readily tell the American families on the street by our  volume on garbage day and we do not begin to touch the US norm. 

And so, Where is Kim you ask?  She is busy recycling.  And let me tell you, the next time some joker feels the need to tell me what my children's carbon footprint is,  and sure as shootin' someone will, I am so gonna need to see their trash can first.  Hmph. 

Comments

[Karen]

FWIW When we were there you could return packaging to where you bought the item. Lots of people left as much packaging when they bought something. Granted that was a lifetime ago.
Now you know why I have so many plates and cups, Germans dont use paper products! When the kids were in German school and there was a function we brought our own plates, cups and things.
It is all a learning curve. And the teacher becomes a student!

[Jen]

Not sure if you've seen this either yet, Kim...but even the restaurants for the most part don't do paper or plastic goods much. I remember walking into a gas station/rest stop here for the first time, and seeing the (real) plates of food set out for purchase. No paper wrapped hot dogs and such.(I thought, I'm supposed to *stay here* and eat??) It definitely is a different kind of life--less disposable.
PS the Old Spice reference brought back a bunch of memories to me too! I remember that smell when my Papa was leaving to go work his horses. Wow.

[Jordan]

Your trash situation is reminding me of what an adjustment it was when my family moved to Germany. My husband is active duty AF and we lived in Weilerbach not too long ago. Now that we're back in the US I really miss the ability to recycle so much. It feels so wasteful here to have to put things in the trash that I could so easily recycle in Germany. I do admit that I don't miss the super stinky trash that would sit in the sun for two weeks during the summer. Enjoy your time there! We miss it. : -) Though I've been reading your blog for a few years I am especially enjoying it now as you are sharing about life in Germany. Take care.