It's New to Them!

Our next-door-neighbor's kids have outgrown their sandbox so Dawn offered it to us. I am normally really weird about things that aren't new. I'm not sure why I'm like that, but I have never gotten into the whole garage sale and secondhand store scene, much to Lorne's chagrin. For some reason I decided to take this sandbox. It's probably because I could see that it was in okay condition (even though she got it at a garage sale herself) and it would save us having to go out and buy one ourselves. The Easter Bunny brought the kids sand toys so it worked out perfectly. I was also thinking that it might end up in a landfill somewhere, so I thought us taking it would be a way to contribute in a small way to the environment. Yes, I have been watching Human Footprint on the National Geographic channel! I think often about trying to be less wasteful. Lorne calls me a Hippie on a weekly, if not daily, basis. I keep telling him I cannot be a Hippie because I drive an SUV and live in the suburbs.

On a side note, I recently purchased ten Envirosax which are reusable grocery bags and EcoBags which are reusable produce bags. It's more work, but I always feel better when I load up my disposable diaper wearing kids into my SUV, and leave, knowing that I have prevented another twenty or so plastic bags from ending up in our oceans or who knows where else. My only complaint with Oprah and all of the other Powers That Be begging me to "Go Green" is that they don't take into account the fact that my checkbook dives into the red to do so. Why is it so blasted expensive to eat organically and Save the Planet? Would my kids rather have a workable ecosystem or go to college? I think the jury is still out at this point. All I know is that I feel guilty when I buy a #7 plastic or spend $67 filling up the Tahoe. But hey, I'm Catholic, so guilt is a daily part of life, right? :)

OK, back to the post at hand:
The kids and I were at Home Depot at 8:15 this morning buying play sand and more flowers for the flower bed. There was a very nice lady who helped me because I didn't quite think through the logistics of getting two kids, eight plants (two being bushes), and 200 pounds of sand into the Tahoe by myself. I ended up driving home and dropping off the flowers into the garage and going back for the sand. It was worth it because Sawyer has already spent almost an hour playing in the sandbox, or should I have been thinking of the fossil fuels.......

Sawyer is so excited about his sandbox!

He realized I was taking pictures so he had to get all shy.