Monthly Archives: November 2007

Who is Paying Attention to Mexico?

This isn’t one of my usual topics here, but it’s one I think is very important. It’s a huge story that has been tremendously neglected by the mainstream media, yet it has impacted more people than the fires I recently had to flee.

I’m talking about the flooding in the Tabasco region of Mexico. At least 900,000 people flooded out of their homes, with more rain possibly coming. I’ve read that 70-80% of the region is flooded.

And yet the United States government has so far only pledged $300,000 of aid. Is it just me, or is that pathetic?

At the same time, the media coverage of this is barely there. I haven’t been watching all that much news lately, but just scanning news sites shows relatively few stories. I mean, I expect my local news to still have something of an obsession with the fires and the recovery; that’s pretty natural. But national news isn’t doing a very good job of covering this story either.

If you want more on this story, the post over on Feministe lead me to the Women of Color Blog, and the posts at both are well worth the read. This is a situation that has steadily been getting worse, as at least one landslide due to this has occurred as well.

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Feeling Proud of Myself – Fixed My Dishwasher

I’m not that great at repairs, but if it’s something that requires research online to figure out the problem and not too much tool use, I may well be up for it. And that turned out to be the case with my dishwasher.

I noticed this morning when I ran it that it was leaking out of the bottom of the door. Did a search on Google and came up with ApplianceBlog.com’s forum. Found out that a leaky dishwasher door can be caused by the door vent being gunked up, and that they just pop right out.

So I looked inside,saw a vent I could pop out and ewww! Put me in mind of rotten cooked cabbage. The smell was horrible.

Cleaned it out and now there doesn’t seem to be a leak anymore.

Feeling pretty good about this because my landlord’s tendency is to replace rather than check out the chances for repair. I didn’t mind when the washing machine broke and they did that, since I had already figured out it was well beyond my meager abilities in that area, and the machine had a few other problems that I had been working with anyhow.

But replacing the dishwasher turns out to not be necessary, and even though it took my time and won’t save me any money, I’m happy. It’s one dishwasher that’s not going to junk quite yet.

This is Why You Conserve

Very interesting post on Workerette today on just how important water conservation is. She spotted two articles that I think are very important to read.

wasted water

The first is about a town in Tennessee that is out of water. The water is turned on in the town for just 3 hours a day. As you can imagine, those are 3 hectic hours.

The second is about the Georgia Aquarium, which is having to drain tanks because there is so little water available, and everyone is having to do what they can to cut way, way back on their water consumption.

These are issues that many states in the southeastern United States are dealing with. I won’t be surprised to see similar problems in a lot more states, and I am fully aware that southern California is reliant on other areas for water.

The suggestions for conserving water on the Workerette site are good. I do a lot of them already, although some aren’t possible for a renter. No choice about my washing machine, for example. But I do at least wash full loads whenever possible. And while the kids do still prefer baths, they take them together.

But I also like to think about outdoor water use. I don’t keep a perfectly green lawn. I do keep a vegetable garden, but that of course has benefits that I won’t trade for a lower water bill, and something would need to replace the garden anyhow.

We water the lawn just enough to keep it pleasant for the kids. It’s not that perfect green; doesn’t need to be. I scolded my husband for rinsing ash from the fires off our walkway rather than just sweeping them. Thought he’d know better by now….

We compost food waste. This may not seem like a water saver, but if you compare it to the practice of putting it down the garbage disposal in the sink, it can save some significant water. And of course it’s much better than throwing it in the trash, when you’re not thinking in water terms.

I have one kind of funny way to save water in the kitchen that only works on warm days. If I need hot water, I turn on the cold side. The reason for this is that our pipes must run under cement or something, because if the day is even a little warm the initial burst of water in the kitchen sink quickly turns hot. Scalding hot if the day is hot. I’ve seen steam. It’s annoying if I want cool water, but nice when warm is needed.

I don’t know how soon more communities will be facing severe water shortages, but it’s something we all need to consider and prepare for. The better we get at being efficient with our water use the easier it will be to adapt when there is no choice but to use less water.

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Getting the Kids Ready for the Holidays

Children look forward to the holiday season, especially (for those who celebrate it) Christmas. For many kids it’s a time to get a ton of new toys, many of which will only be used a few times.

There are a lot of things I intend to do with my kids to get them ready for the holiday season. Some of it is to just plain clear things out, the rest to help them to understand what they should and should not be expecting from Christmas.

christmas presents

Step one, to be implemented within the next few weeks, is to agree on the toys we will be getting rid of. Due to the sheer range of stuff they receive for birthdays and prior Christmases I expect to be disposing of at least half.

My kids are unusually good about this. The last time we did a toy cleanout my daughter was delighted by the thought that poorer kids could get to use her toys that didn’t interest her anymore. She kept that up when we cleaned out her old clothes a month or two back. It may be a bit more difficult to deal with my son, who hasn’t had to do this himself before, but I think he can start to get the idea.

Step two is somewhat ongoing, due to my daughter’s current phase of wanting everything she sees a commercial for. Pretty much all parents know this phase, I think.

But I’ll be stepping it up pretty soon, as we update last year’s Christmas list. I have a website for my daughter, and one of the things it has is her Christmas wish list. Last year she couldn’t read, so I could get away with making comments on the things she was asking for, and let people know which things I really didn’t want her to have. It was the simple way of dealing with the fact that kids generally want much more than they ought to have.

But this year she’s just starting to read, and I think she’s old enough to understand why I won’t be putting everything she wants on her list. Of course if I did that, it would be pretty much the entire store.

I don’t expect my kids to want all the environmentally friendly stuff, but when I see something along those lines that appeals to them, I encourage it. I also encourage toys that require more creativity, and so avoid toys that are more set in what you’re supposed to do with them, as well as most television character toys.

Another thing I encourage them to ask for is craft supplies. I love to have a lot of things around the house that requires my kids to think, do and be creative. My kids have a box of supplies ready for all their whims. It can leave a mess but is so much fun to see.

I know some families get very picky about the toys their kids get and try to avoid plastic ones. That has always sounded pretty challenging to me, considering what is available these days. But I do want to be pickier about the plastic toys allowed. I find it hard to give up the idea of my kids playing with Legos, for one. It’s a tough decision sometimes.

Talking about what Christmas is and what it should be is very important to me. There are a lot of ideals beyond “gimme, gimme” that need to be taught. Sharing, giving to the less fortunate, for example. Appreciating what we do have. It takes time and patience to instill those values, but I hope to do well at it.

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