Monday, January 05, 2009

i married a hippie

or at least a closet one. aaron's become a little more earth conscience since we moved to boone. first it started with recycling. we currently recycle everything. paper, plastic, glass, aluminum, each now how it's own bin in the garage. since we don't have garbage/recycle pickup he has to take everything to the processing center himself. occasionally i'll find something i threw in the garbage in a recycling bin. yes, he picks through our trash to make sure i recycle everything that can be recycled. now i just ask before i throw it away. *bust out the hacky sack.

next we got reusable grocery bags. i decided to go ahead and purchase these while out shopping one day. they were on sale for $1 a piece and i ended up buying five. they're great when you remember to bring them. they're usually in the opposite car when we go shopping and we'll always have one of those "doh!" moments when we're checking out. right now we probably use them 1 out of 5 times. although yesterday aaron informed me he used them while out running errands on his own. *smelling some patchouli in the air.

buying organic. the milk in our fridge is now organic. most of our fruits and veggies are all stamped organic. he informed me we'll be frequenting the local farmer's market once it opens up again in the spring. this i don't mind, as long as he doesn't mind the few extra dollars it costs to buy the chemical and pesticide free products, i'm all for it. *sitting in a drum circle now

we are now unplugged. anything that is currently not in use is unplugged in our house. if we leave for a weekend, tvs, stereos, lamps, pretty much anything that uses electricity is unplugged. i'm not sure if this is earth conscience or money conscience on his part. all i know is that my flat iron is unplugged every time i go to use it. *we don't wear shoes anymore

why do i bring up this closet hippyness in aaron? this weekend we purchased an all natural bed. what, you may ask, is an all natural bed?

"There are no irritants such as sulfur or boric acid. These mattresses are manufactured without the use of plastics, foams or polyesters that emit toxic gases. In addition, there are no foams or polyesters to break down, or pack down, so your mattress will last longer. Natural mattresses "breathe", providing a more comfortable sleeping surface in hot weather."

in the end, it came down to two beds. they were close in price but the organic one was a bit more comfortable. probably from all the fresh air we were breathing while testing it out! ;)

and it doesn't end there. the next car we get. i'm 99% sure it's gonna be a hybrid. plus a compost pile is in the works this spring. and i'm sure there's about a dozen other earth-friendly changes happening at the westphal house in the upcoming months. check back and i'll let you know if we'll be able to pull aaron's dreads into a ponytail by the summer.

4 comments:

acaraway said...

love your little side notes! very funny. i wish we could be a little more like that, although i'm sure it's a little irritating at first. we love our farmer's market and we find everything there is cheaper than the grocery store.

Valeta said...

My husband is a hippie too. Heh.

Unknown said...

The same thing happened with my husband over the last 4 years. It started slowly with soy taco and hiking and now he's a full on granola munching, ultimate frisbee playing, REI buying, beard having, birkenstock wearing, acoustic guitar playing, ginger tea drinking, kumbacha making hippy.

I just thought it was because we were in Northern California but I guess it's happening everywhere.

Anonymous said...

I'm about as far from hippie as a person can get and I have reusable grocery bags too. I mean, I forget them in the pantry and never use them, but it's the thought that counts. Right?!