Kathy:Lie down and close your eyes.
Carly:But they keep popping out.
- Four photos have been added to the photos section, including the snow cave we made in early February.
![[Image: Gillie showing off the Totoro she knitted.]](http://yanoff.org/slideshows/2010/TotoroByGillie.jpg)
- The first video of the year is up. It's a minute-and-a-half video of Carly's flute recital captured with our new Flip video camera.
- The girls aren't mangling the English language as they did when they were younger, but there's actually a new quote by Carly in the quotes section.
- One of our favorite columnists/authors, Michael Pollan, solicited for questions for his interview with Time magazine. Scott submitted a challenging question and it not only appeared in both the print and online versions but it was also chosen to head the list.
- The girls continue to knit from time to time. Pictured is a Totoro that Gillie knitted.
Yanoff Family "Green" Tip(s):
It's been a while since we posted a "green" tip, and so we're close to posting a full-page list. We've written in the past about controlling consumption, especially when it comes to precious resources such as fuel and water. In fact, our last "green" tip was back in December, 2009, where we showed a break-down of the typical water usage in an American home.
We've written in the past about conserving energy, but we've probably not touched too much on gas itself. When Kathy's 1991 Toyota station wagon began to rust through on the sides several years ago, it was time for it to go. This was the same car that Kathy received $100 for on her birthday to appear in a TV ad for Potowatomi Bingo as the "before" car in the commercial. Anyway, Kathy challenged us to live with just a single car and while it seemed daunting at first, it's proven entirely possible. (We donated that old car, by the way, rather than selling it or trading it in.)
What helped is that the two of us carpool to work in the morning, and Scott's subsidized bus pass (thank you, NM), it used for his commute home. When the weather warrants it, riding a bike to work or the Shorewood Library makes for one less car trip, and with a grocery store, drug store, video store, bagel shop, and several other businesses within walking distance we force ourselves to use our car only when we're pressed for time, or we're in the deep part of the winter. It's surprising how often we are attending the same meeting, recreation department offering, or show that our neighbors do and we choose not to carpool. We're getting better at that, though, but it's definitely tough to get out of the "on-my-schedule and in-my-personal-bubble" mentality. We rarely take the car for a single-purpose trip, so at least once the car is warmed up we're using it for multiple destinations which makes for better fuel efficiency. (And, our lone car, Ruby the red Honda Fit, happens to be more of a gas-sipper than a gas-guzzler.)
In the long run, we saved not only gas by going to one car, but cash as well since we're insuring only one vehicle (still two drivers, though) and eliminating the maintenance (such as oil changes every 3 months) of the car. And with our narrow driveway, we also don't have to worry about which car gets the spot in the garage.
The rest of the 2009 postings have been moved to the archives as is customary. It's good to see a couple of comments being posted. We had to make them appear on an approval-basis only because there's a lot of spam that comes through. In response to our friend Sarah's comments from our last posting:
- The girls seem to enjoy other crossover-country when they hear it, but for now they're stockpiling Taylor Swift MP3s.
- "Human" by The Killers didn't make my all-decade list of best songs, but I do like the song and actually bought it.
- Last night, we watched the documentary called "It Might Get Loud" which features The Edge, Jimmy Page, and Jack White. We were mostly into it for The Edge's part, and the third-plus of the film dedicated to him is a treat to watch him explore his old haunts and dig out his working tapes for old hits. While Jack White is no doubt talented, the film portrays him as a bit of an outcast (but hey, maybe that's who make up most of rock-and-roll) but his guitar work just seemed to stray farther from The Edge's and Jimmy Page's enough that it was questionable why he's so highly regarded as a guitarist. At least, he must be if he was included with Edge and Page.
There are 2 comments to this post.
We would really like to have only one car. We lived that way briefly when Jeff's truck died in November. Unfortunately, Jeff works at 3 different locations and it left me in a lurch - especially when Aidan got sick and I didn't have a way to take him to the doctor. We are hoping if Jeff can get a job closer to where we live that we can get to one car.
My green tip this month is starting most of my garden seeds indoors. I'll start the flowers in March. I can't remember when to start the veggies yet. I've also started making newspaper starter pots for some of my vegetables.