Tupperware
so tupperware is pretty much the coolest thing ever, especially when you challenge it to its full usefulness potential. living somewhere like Bellingham, WA for so long i got a little bit spoiled with the green mentality. it’s just how people do things there; it’s a way of life. i still avoided to-go boxes up there as well on principle, but if i got one it was more often than not made out of cardboard, or you’d just get a piece of aluminum foil for the rest of your potato burrito. cool.
down here in Texas it’s a whole lot different....and i continue to be surprised at what compiles “how people do things” here, their “way of life.” i had a serious apocalyptic breakdown vacationing on the coast with my sweetie’s family when we ate at a restaurant where every single thing on the table was disposable, including utensils. we were served water in giant 20 oz styrofoam cups, beer in plastic cups, and the very table cloth was a throwaway.
even in Austin i’ve been surprised at how much styrofoam i see, and even if it wasn’t that, the fact that i have a million plastic containers in my cupboard means it is completely sensible to bring one (or two....or three) with me when i’m going to eat out. who knows what i’ll get to take home! maybe nothing, but i might get some sweet little morsels for the next night’s Shit in a Pot.... (like delicious peanuts in peanut sauce from a chinese dinner... and i got to send our friends home with the large remainder of decadent chocolate cake and strawberries ;)
it’s fun!!! depending on where we’re going i might bring a plastic bag (sandwich bag, veggie bag, etc.) for bread or something of the like. if we go for pho the bag will be blessed with some fresh basil and cilantro or mung beans. how cool is that?? (i mean, come on, basil is expensive! :)
and i get funny looks, for sure! but more often those looks are, “hey why didn’t i think of that?” or “i always mean to do that and forget.” and sometimes they certainly are probably, “woah, look at that weird hippie chic,” but hey, i didn’t take any styrofoam home from that meal, just good food. and what’s wrong with funny looks anyway? make ‘em think :)
Clothes Line
i know not everyone lives in a warm sunny climate. i totally get that. we’re actually between clothes lines right now, as our other one came down when the dying tree it was tied to had be removed. we’re planning to get some T poles, which can easily be installed in the ground with a bit of concrete around the bases.
for now (and for rainier seasons) we got an indoor drying rack, just like my friend sebastien had in ireland (where it rains a LOT!). i’ll never forget when he learned that americans (mostly) all use dryers as well as washers. he looked horrified.... “they will dry on their own! that’s criminal!” and though he may have been exaggerating a little bit, it is a little crazy.
sometimes it’s so humid here that they don’t dry all the way, so we usually do toss them into the dryer with a natural dryer sheet for a few minutes at the end. certain fabrics can get a bit stiff, especially towels.
A Chair in the Bedroom
ok i totally swear by this. if you’re like me you take clothes off and they go on the floor, into that pile that you totally plan to keep track of and not let get out of hand, because, well, that’s just where clothes go.
i actually brainstormed for a while on the simple idea of something to keep clothes that aren’t dirty off of the floor..... because really, once they’re down there there’s no hell or high water that’s gonna convince you they don’t actually need a desperate toss in the old washing machine (especially if they’ve been turned inside out ;)
so, my brainstorm really didn’t come up anything clever or special (a coat rack? a mini clothes line? our miniature christmas tree?? will was having nothing to do with that last one!) i just took a chair from the dining room table (we usually don’t need that many) and stuck it in the corner of the bedroom.
now my pile of clothes is on a chair, a safe distance away from the cold black hole of dirt and doom that is even the cleanest of bedroom floors! :)
