That's right, I'm back...

Okay, so this is my third attempt at a blog. This time, however, I'm doin' it. This one is not attached to my other blog, I'm not announcing at work, and I am trying to keep it a separate part of my life. Now, I know that this is impossible. Like I tell my kids, putting stuff on the internet is like putting it on a billboard. Still, I would like to really be able to express myself unfiltered be worries about what people at my place of employ would think.
My husband is currently taking a class in ecology and English and has me really thinking about living more sustainably. This is something that has been at the back of mind mind for a long time. I mean, I graduated from a school that was building an ecologically sustainable dorm and raised free-range organic beef. I learned a little there.
I used to be so much better. I didn't own a lot (it's hard to own a lot when you're a nomad), and I was a good little vegetarian who didn't drive very much. Now, after six years in two big cities, I'm become a little too much a part of the culture. While Chicago didn't require much driving (God bless the CTA), the cafeteria was not meant for vegetarians and I was too depressed and lazy to keep it up. On top of that, the southside is not a haven for organic living. I was lucky to find ripe tomatoes, much less organic ones. Whole Paycheck was not a part of my student's salary.
I also started owning more. It was Chicago. I required certain clothes for going out, clothes for work, clothes for preaching, clothes to impress my unboyfriend and make him finally admit his undying love for me. I should have realized that when nive stuff from Victoria's Secret didn't do it, nothing would. Then, there was IKEA. I had never before encountered IKEA. Then I stumbled upon this wonderous world of affordable, cute furniture. And I had a lot of rooms to furnish.
Now, I live in Seattle. While it is theoretically easier to be sustainable here, everything here is sooo expensive. How am I supossed to live sustainably and sustain myself? Why can't we make it so that sustainability is afforable? I should go back to being vegetarian, but I'm not supossed to eat fermented soy products. So, I am trying to find ways to buy organic, free range beef & chicken. I'm searching out vegetable delivery options from local growers. I'm attempting to keep the clothes whore inside of me calm and buy quality (sustainable clothes that are not made in sweatshops) versus quantity (Target). It is all so hard.
Yesterday, I tried to go to Jack In the Box. I had been craving chicken fingers. Somehow, chicken fingers turned into a burger and fries. I tried to eat the burger on the way home, lest my husband catch me and give me that "I'm dissapointed in you" look. About a quarter of a way through the burger, all of the things I have learned in the past 10 years began to run through my head. The way that cow was forced to live, the unnatural things it was fed (cows are not meant to eat corn, anymore than people are meant to eat wool), all of the water that was used in creating the burger, the pesticides I was eating... on and on and on. I finally had to stop eating. I decided to eat only the fries. I went to the dumpster to throw away the burger and threw away the fries on accident. There went my meal. Someone was looking out for me. Or calling me on my crap. You decide.

And if you're wondering where the Jesus comes in, it's between the lines there, but it will come out more later.

While looking for a sweat-shop free sweater today, I came across a website with cute, not crazy expensive clothes. Seriously!! Check out their blazers. Not that you need too many, of course ;-) Fair Indigo