Please, hold onto plastic bags. Pick them up when you see them. Recycle appropriately. Stop using asap. Thank you!
Now for our main attraction… The Majestic Plastic Bag - A Mockumentary (thank you YouTube!)
It’s always something!
I use resusable totes all the time. I LOVE TOTE BAGS! My mom says, “You have too many tote bags!” I say, “Can you ever have too many tote bags?!” 
Now, the problem with tote bags is that they get dirty. Reusable grocery bags are great for the environment, but reusing them over and over, throwing them in a lump in the hot car and using them for many purposes is going to gather e coli and all kinds of bacteria. That’s not including just what you and others add to the bags when you touch them and put them on counters at the store, at home, on the floor, in the car, on a bus, at the bus stop . . . you get the picture.
Bags used for food can also gather Salmonella and Listeria creating the potential to make you sick. Or, if they don’t make you sick immediately, these little creatures can cause disease in people with weakened immune systems and weaken your immune system.
However… food-safety expert Michael Hansen, senior staff scientist at Consumers Union says, “A person eating an average bag of salad greens gets more exposure to these bacteria than if they had licked the insides of the dirtiest bag. These bacteria can be found lots of places, so no need to go overboard.”
But Hansen notes that there are some reminders to good health. “It’s easy to spread bacteria from meat, fish, or poultry to other foods – in your kitchen or in your grocery bags. So we do think it’s wise to carry those items in disposable bags. Reusable bags are fine for most everything else, but it’s a good idea to wash them occasionally.”
So, do this:
1. Wash bags regularly in the wash machine or with soap by hand (no bleach necessary) reducing bacteria by 99.9 percent.
2. When bagging your goodies, make sure to separate raw foods from other food products.
3. Make sure to use plastic of some sort to bag raw meat to guard against leaking. Have a few plastic bags that are washed well after each use and reuse them in your bag collection.
4. If your bags are accumulating, go through them and decide which ones you really use, keep them in good repair and clean, store or let go of the others.
Happy reusable grocery bag bagging!
Check out my post from last fall on cleaning your purse for your health too!
If you can make it, don’t miss this great event coming soon in September by Jill Vegas!
She says, “Have you ever wished you could simply close your eyes, then open them again to find a glamorous room decorated in your favorite style? Or go on vacation for a week and return to a fabulous house that is revived and sparkling?
Well, join the club! As wonderful as it would be to have a personal, decorating fairy godmother, most of us know that it takes hard work to accomplish changes like these. The question is, how hard? How long must it take? My book, Speed Decorating, has inspired many make-overs.
If you’re ready to tackle a project this fall, sign up for this hands-on Speed Decorating course!”
This is an intense course that will change the way you look at your home, space and future. Visit http://www.jillvegas.com/events.htm to find out how you can attend!
The City of Longmont, CO fire stations are accepting used bicycles for donation to Bicycle Longmont’s Christmas Bike Program. Drop off unwanted, used bikes at the nearest fire station. Santa’s elves will repair the donated bikes! Go Santa!!
Kids receive repaired and happy bikes through charity organizations: The Safe Shelter of St. Vrain Valley, the OUR Center, the Inn Between and the school district’s Safe Routes to School Program.
This is the 21st year the Christmas Bike Program has been helping local children get a “pre-owned” bike to change their lives in an important way. A bike might enable a child to earn money with a paper route, see relatives who live far enough away that walking would take too long, get groceries and . . . just have some fun with friends or alone!
Scooters and tricycles are also welcome.
Make a difference this year. Declutter and old bike for a new life for a child.
For more information, call 303.709.6991.
Start a Christmas Bicycle Program in your community this year!
Longmont United Hospital, our local hospital, is having its annual “pharmaceutical take-back day” tomorrow from 8-2 pm just inside the main entrance, and it’s free.
Don’t flush your medications as they go into your water systems and we ALL get to share in the cocktail of pharma for years to come. YIKES! Think estrogen . . . seen any man-boobs lately? I rest my case!! Read more below.
Check with your local hospitals and see if they can take your unused and unwanted medications to dispose of properly.
TIPS ABOUT MEDICATION DISPOSAL
1. DO NOT Flush Them Down the Toilet or Pour Down the Sink
Why? Experts say it may have potential harmful effects on the environment and to us. Disposal via the toilet takes your drugs into the local sewage system. Modern water treatment plants are not fully designed to deal with medication disposal. The long-term health risks posed by consumption of even minute quantities of these medications in drinking water and the full extent of environmental damage remains unknown.
Plus, these drugs can leach into the local water table, eventually coming out somewhere, like a nearby lake or stream, or even worse out onto your own property, where pets, livestock or wildlife could be at risk.
2. Don’t Throw Them Into the Trash
Safety experts say “no.” First, kids and pets can find them. Then, your trash will eventually make it to a local landfill, where your medications could still have the potential to leach out (see water above).
DO THIS: Many municipal or local trash services now have local household waste facilities where you can safely drop off your medications for incineration. Call your local trash service for options in your area.
3. Return Them to Your Pharmacy
Pharmacies are not required to take back your unused medications, but some will.
DO THIS: Check with your local pharmacies and drugstore chains as some do sponsor regular “clean out your medicine cabinet” drives where customers can return old, expired or unused medications, supplements and other over-the-counter products. Call your local drugstore or pharmacy for options in your area.
4. Return Them to Your Doctor
Not all physicians or doctor offices will take them. Some may not be fully prepared to safely handle the process.
DO THIS: Call ahead to see if your doctor can offer safer medication disposal methods. Plus, as in the beginning article above, check with your local hospital to find out if they have a “take back” day.
5. Sell them.
Nooooooo! I’m just kidding! But, I know that crossed your mind, right?!
There are plenty of people who have 18+ gallon tubs of bottles filled with medications that “were just not the right one” before the doctor changed the script one more time. It’s very frustrating, not to mention costly, however clean out your tubs and dispose of properly. Let - it - go! See #’s 1-4 above.
An article in my local paper today says that The OUR Center’s hospitality center, kitchen and pantry needs items. I’m sure your local shelters and food banks need supplies and help too!
Declutter your pantry, closets, drawers, garage shelves, etc. and you may find plenty of overstock to share, like: coffee mugs, napkins, toilet tissue, plastic baggies, dry erase and permanent markers, stainless steel spoons and forks, packing tape, paper towels, towels and trash bags.
Their day shelter needs rain ponchos, shaving cream and razors, toothpaste and toothbrushes, feminine hygiene products and deodorant.
The center’s clothing bank needs gloves, plastic and vinyl tarps, socks, sleeping bags and large trash bags too.
The food banks can use food, but also your physical help to sort and stack items.
Dollar type and buy-bulk stores are great places to get a big bang for your buck to take new to these needy places as well.
In other words, jump in and help out as you can each month. Others will be very grateful.
Soon enough you’ll be putting away those swim suits and shorts and digging out the sweaters and socks. The beginning of the school year is a good time to do this sorting for children.
If your children have outgrown their summer clothes, won’t wear them again next year or just want to clear some space, it’s time to sort, store and swap!
SEASONAL SORT, STORE AND SWAP
At the beginning or end of each season is a good time to sort through what hasn’t seen the light of day and move it out so others can enjoy it.
1. SWAP: Some clothes may be just right sizes for friends, family or other school kids who can use them this year. Put into a SWAP box. Call these families and tell them to do the same if you all have kids the same sizes and growing into sizes you need. Plan a day at one of your homes and bring all the clothes - SWAP! Have a fun day adding to your child’s wardrobe, trading clothes for free.
2. DONATE: The clothes that are not swapable or no one has that size child - put into a DONATE box. I let the thrift store employees decide whether they are “good enough” or not to keep moving along.
Read more about SHWAPPING for adults items too!
Plan ahead! National Garage Sale Day is Saturday, August 9!
Clear out your clutter by holding a garage, yard or tag sale! Your trash will become someone’s treasure — and stay out of the landfill a bit longer! Two stones, one happy bird!
Organizing is best done with the right containers.
When it’s harvest time — which can be early or late in the year depending on what you’re growing — there are plenty of great containers available to do the right job for gathering, harvesting, canning, pickling and much, much more.
You know what a box, tub or basket looks like, but what about these: Do you know your bushels and your pecks? How about a barrel and a heap?
An old song goes
“I love you, a bushel and a peck,
a bushel and a peck and a hug around your neck,
a hug around your neck and a barrel and a heap,
a barrel and a heap and I’m talking in my sleep, about you …”
Well, here’s the answer!
Three units of capacity of fruits and grains are in the words to the song. What are they?
• a peck is 8 dry quarts;
• a bushel is 4 pecks or 32 dry quarts;
• a barrel is 105 dry quarts;
• a heap is an informal unit meaning a lot
If they’ll get you a “hug around the neck” I’d be learning about and using them really fast!! 
I love bushel baskets! Happy Heaps of Harvesting!
This magnificent horse of many recycled parts can be seen at the Leanin’ Tree Museum, Boulder, CO. I just love it!
What crafy, creative things can you do with your left over parts?
Make sure to get out and see your local treasures this summer!
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