Elias and I spent the morning planting perennials in our flower bed and picking peas and tomatoes. I should say Elias was picking tomatoes and eating peas right off the vine. No picking involved, just grab and bite. He loves tomatoes, which is a good thing considering we have 30 tomato plants that are overflowing with tomatoey goodness. I love gardens.

The big change for me this week (it's been awhile hasn't it?) is to save the water from my shower and water my plants with it. I cannot get in the shower until it has warmed up. I know it's not very environmental of me, but I don't like getting blasted with cold water first thing in the morning. To offset that wastefulness I will save the water for better uses.

Folk you!

We spent the weekend at the Calgary Folk Fest. Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday all day and night and Sunday all day and night. Phew, that's a lot of folkies. To be honest, the music wasn't as good as past years, but I love the people. Everyone is just so darn nice, it's refreshing. Living in a city of over a million people can get a little exhausting, and generally people aren't that friendly. They are in too much of a hurry to be courteous. So being surrounded by 30,000 of the nicest people you ever did meet was just lovely. Elias had a great time entertaining the people around us. At one point we were navigating the chariot through a throng of people and he was yelling "beep beep!" Where he comes up with this stuff I don't know, but it sure is funny.

About the music. The highlights for me were the Be Good Tanya's, even though we were navigating the crowds trying to get the main stage during one of my favorite songs and their set was too short, it was fabulous. 

Ani DiFranco was amazing. I remembered why I have loved her for so many years. She is a little fireball and she can rock! Her music has changed so much and I love each new album she puts out. She sang a few new songs and I was amazed at how calm and happy they were. Not angry at all, in fact one of them was called "I'm not angry anymore" and she's not. She's bubbling contentment. Having babies does that to you.

While we were out having a folkin' good time, something evil was lurking in the vegetable crsiper in my fridge. A forgotten cucumber was slowly rotting and spreading its evil mold spores throughout the drawer, ruining everything in its path. I just emptied it out and I didn't even compost it! Horrors! I threw it in the trash, where it will never break down. I couldn't stomach the thought of chopping all of that moldy produce into small chunks. Oh the guilt!

Speaking of stomachs, mine is undergoing some changes these days. This is why I never blog, feel sick at the thought of moldy broccoli, and want to eat sausages all day. What's up with that? My belly is going to grow to about the size of a beach ball, until about March, and then at the end I get a baby! Talk about saving the best for last.

It's the middle of July and already I am dreading winter. I think it's because we haven't had a very warm summer so far, sure there have been many days where it's been HOT but a lot of them have been rainy. Today feels like september. Elias and I went for a walk this morning and after about one minute he started "uppa momma, uppa momma" so I cuddled him up and he said it was "told" which is Elias-speak for cold. Just like "tootie" actually means "cookie." He has his own language.

I have been spending some time in my garden lately, mostly weeding. If I wasn't out there every 2 days I'm certain the weeds would take over. Everytime I go outside I have to pull at least a few weeds. It's an obsession.

Next year I want to build a green house. I'd like to see the weeds just try and get in there!

As for my weekly changes, there hasn't been many lately. Actually I have regressed! I started buying crackers again and I have even bought tooties, I mean cookies! Horrors! Since the year is more than half over, I thought I would compile a short list of changes I like, and those that I don't.

Some things that I don't miss:

1. Tissue. Cotton hankies are so much nicer

2. Soft toilet paper. I don't notice the difference now, but Mike, well lets just he say he's a little more sensitive.

3. Disposable feminine hygeine products. I love my cotton pads. Weird.

4. Disposable baby bum wipes. The flannel ones do a much better job and are quick and easy to make.

5. Paper towels. Did I mention that I stopped buying them? It just happened and well, I didn't even notice. Cotton napkins are much nicer anyway, and so fancy when you have friends over!

6. Bottled water. All I have to say is Ewwww. What a waste of money.

7. Superstore meats. Yuck.

8. I would like to write Starbucks here, but I must admit every month or so I get a hankering for an iced coffee. Did I mention I live in suburbia?

9. Gross candy bars. Now that I've given them up, a regular chocolate bar is not so appetizing anymore. Give me organic fair trade chocolate, dark please...

Things that I do miss:

1. Salon shampoo. Oh how my hair longs for good ol' salon shampoo. I have tried everything"natural" and my hair is a tangly mess. I got desperate and spent $50 on Oh-so-natural-aveda and my scalp turned bright red. I had to return it. $50!!! I must have been temporarily insane. Some people say that they don't use shampoo at all. I might try that, when hell freezes over.

2. The bliss of being ignorant. I can't claim that I have ever been ignorant. I was born an environmentalist, but sometimes I wish that I could be.

that's all for now. I promise to post more now that I don't feel like something the cat dragged in.