Tropical Smoothie

So we went to Tropical Smoothie for lunch the other day. I got a pita pizza, Matt got some sort of chicken sandwich, and we shared a smoothie. Afterwards, there was way too much trash. We dined in and it looked just like if we had gotten it to-go. Ridiculous...

Publish your own E-book

Professors are always writing their own material and sending us to Target Copy or the UPS print shop. But what if we could get that same material--but without paying for the paper or ink?

Well, we could. Here's how:
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-18438_7-20010547-82/how-to-self-publish-an-ebook/

Wouldn't it be great to pay, say, $5 for a book you can read on a laptop, than say, $40?

Cup Speakers!

Earbuds aren't loud enough to party with, but these speakers amplify the sound from earbuds without using an excess energy. Best part? They're just paper cups and toothpicks.

http://www.yankodesign.com/2008/11/13/macgyver-tries-ipod-speakers/

Netflix

I recently got a Netflix trial subscription. It is amazing! I can watch it on any PC, my iPad mini, and on the TV through the Wii U. So, next year, if we have the ability, we may replace our cable with netflix. It is much, much cheaper. I'm not sure if it is environmentally friendly or just frugal, but I am definitely ok with just frugal.

Rain barrel

Next year I want to have a rain barrel. I am not sure how to do that without gutters, but I will definitely need a barrel. I wonder if I could get one for free? I remember my dad made one. It was up on blocks so that gravity provided the pressure for the water to leave the barrel out of a hose at the bottom. We also saved milk jugs to store the water during the rainy seasons. That way during the drought, we had a reserve to use on plants. So I definitely want a storage space for those jugs as well as the barrel. Perhaps if I make a rain chain that will work without gutters to direct the water into the barrel...

Digital Coupons

So next month Publix will be debuting a new digital coupon system. You go on their website, select coupons, and then when you check out, type in your phone number and any coupons that apply will automatically be used. You don't have to print them or clip them!

Here is a page explaining how it works:

http://publix.couponselectionpage.com/offers/all

Paperless Semester

For Christmas and my birthday, my parents got me an iPad mini! Super exciting, now I can download a butt-load of apps and play a bunch of games. 

But, in terms of school, I have discovered it is excellent at making me paperless. By far, the most useful app I use is Notes Plus. While it did cost a few dollars, it was definitely worth it! I tried almost every free version and this one definitely had the best features. I can hand write notes for class with a stylus or type them with my bluetooth-enabled keyboard. I can impost pdf files which came in handy when I discovered all of my Bio II lecture slides were available in a pdf format. I can export my notes in a variety of formats. I can even record lectures that are saved with the notes I take. I am a little organization-crazy so one of the most important features this app had that others did not was the ability to layer unlimited notebooks and folders. There is also an upgrade that enables the app to transcribe handwritten text into typed text. 

I don't have a smart phone, so with wifi I am connected to the internet's wide world of awesomeness. I can save documents I want to be able to access on Google Drive (which has its own app and even allows documents to be set viewable offline) and can always download class forms from BlackBoard. 

Celery and Lettuce Update!

My lettuce has been growing! It probably grew about 4 inches so far! I will transplant it into a green bean can and dirt soon.

The celery though got cut more recently so it hasn't quite grown as much. I'm going to make Matt eat some soup so I can have one of the much wider Progresso cans for the celery when it gets a little bigger.

It is so nice having my own little garden inside, even if we don't have any real green space!

Recycling Paper

So I have a fairly recent fascination with paper. Well, I guess a refascination. I learned how to make paper way back in elementary school for a Girl Scout badge. That was a small rectangle of course purple paper. Pretty much just newsprint and food dye.

This past summer I made paper with my cousins. We gathered green bamboo leaves from the ground in the backyard and blended them to make the slurry. I ended up adding a little blended newspaper because I was afraid the bamboo wouldn't stick together. I have no clue if it actually needed that though.

To make our frame, I just cut a rectangle out of a foam tray with an exacto knife and staple some wire mesh across it. The slurry was put in a plastic bin the size of a shoe box and sifted around to catch the pulp. Once there was plenty on the screen, I just placed paper towels on both sides and pressed some water out. They dried on the porch and eventually I popped them out of the frame and put them on a drying rack.

The paper was thick and coarse but it maintained the natural green color of the leaves without any dye! That was very cool. I think I could have used a cloth, like cheese cloth, instead of the mesh to make something with a finer texture. To make it thinner, we could have rolled it between the paper towels with a rolling pin.

The pieces were so small because of the frame and so they weren't of too much use. We ended up using them to mat some photos we took at the zoo that summer before we put them in frames. It looked really cool!

SInce then, I have really wanted to make more paper. So, I have been keeping paper in my apartment! Matt doesn't really like it too much, I think, but it's better now that I organized it. That was simple -- I just turned some cereal boxes inside-out so they were brown and stacked them. Instant paper organizer!

Hopefully this summer I can make a larger frame using a picture frame and some cheese cloth. And I want to use a mortar and pestle to grind the paper into pulp. That way the paper would be recycled without the use of any energy! I also want to experiment with different leaves and such with different combinations of paper. Should be an eventful summer!

HW 3 update #2!

So boiling water and adding baking soda sucks. I have now started just placing a scoop of baking soda on the back of the toilet. When I am in the shower, I just grab it and dump a little in my hand. The powder mixes with the water in my hand (perfect temperature, not too hot, not too cold!) and becomes a thick paste.

This works so much better for me! I couldn't find a spray bottle so thicker was the way to go. This is simple, easy, very little prep! The paste is a little gritty, but I like the way it feels -- it exfoliates a little and I know it's working into my hair. I leave it in my hair for about a minute, then rinse it very well. Yay!

I don't think I've hit the magic point yet, but I'm definitely not ready to go back to regular shampoo. I think that has a lot to do with the length of my hair. If it feels weird, I barely notice because I don't ever have to mess with it. When my hair was longer, it used to be in my hair all the time and I would be bothered if it was the least bit greasy or weird.

Shampooing with baking soda is so convenient. Imagine traveling without having to bring shampoo! It isn't a liquid so it can go on planes in larger quantities, you can bring it camping and just add water when you need it! It makes so much sense to just add water to the powder when you need it. Why have we been buying, bottling, storing, carrying huge bottles of liquid around for so long?? Powders are much better.

I haven't tried the vinegar conditioner yet. I have some white vinegar, but I figured that has to be diluted and would be best if I hade a spray bottle. I will bring one back over after spring break and try it then.

Re-growing veggies!

So we went grocery shopping yesterday! Yay for food!

While it's great to have bread and milk and eggs, I am super excited for the lettuce and celery we bought!

Yes, I like lettuce and celery, but I'm not a fanatic. I'm excited because I found a tutorial on the internet for regrowing your lettuce and celery. So cool!

Basically, you chop off the end of the stalk -- the end you don't really eat anyway and ends up in the trash or compost -- and stick it in a shallow dish with water. Then add sunlight and wait!

So we cut off the ends and put them in small tupperwares. They live on our kitchen table half the day, but we put them in the windowsill before we leave for school each day.

Eventually they will need to be in soil, but not until they are larger.

Fingers crossed for great results!

Laundry time!

This weekend we have to do laundry...

That means carrying all our dirty clothes, detergent, and quarters down a few flights of stairs to the laundry facility in our complex.

We don't use cash much, and so we have to conserve our quarters as much as possible. So whe the washer and dryer each cost $1.25, we try to save a little money by not electrically drying our lighter clothes.

Typically, we pay to dry our sheets, towels, jeans, and any dirty coats. These things get to use the highest heat setting and so we get the most for our quarters. Everything else we trek back up to our apartment and drape on a folding drying rack that is stored under our bed.

Usually, though, we have too many wet clothes for that one drying rack and we end up hanging the clothes on hangers in the shower or along the bedframe or the back of the coach or the towel rack or... Basically, there are clothes EVERYWHERE.

While our main motivation is the moolah, we also end up helping the environment, right?

Yep! Saving the environment, one load of laundry not-dried at a time!