Greener grocery shopping

I was so excited today! Today was the first time EVER that i have been able to go to the grocery store and use ONLY my own bags (made from post-recycled materials). It has taken me awhile to accumulate enough "grocery bags" for me to be able to put the entirety of my groceries in them instead of using some plastic bags.

There is so much we can do to help the environment and be better stewards of the earth (beyond changing our light-bulbs to the more energy efficient type)- it is so simple!

I have been so inspired by many of my family members: both McBrayer and Sheely. here are some ideas that have been implemented within our family:

1. use cloth napkins instead of paper napkins. each person is designated their napkin for the week - you have assigned seats at your house anyway! if not, just color-code!

2. do away with using paper towels when cleaning. use sponges and wash clothes as much as possible - these can be washed and used again.

3. reuse water bottles and paper bags. also, i reuse ziplocks - just wash them with the rest of my dishes and hang them to dry.

4. because i drink coffee EVERY DAY, i bring my own mug to starbucks (they will charge for a grande size usually) - i save SO much paper and plastic without using their cups. also, if i do use their cup, i never use a sleeve - those things are useless.

5. recycle, recycle, recycle. there are a lot of things that are recyclable that you usually wouldn't think about. like those worthless bags that you put your produce in at the store.

6. we only buy organic milk that is made from local cows - cuts down on the pollution to get it from the farm to my supermarket to my fridge.

7. absolutely refuse to use Styrofoam

okay, those are just some of the ideas that i could remember are being implemented in my family. do you have any ideas or anything you are doing? PLEASE SHARE!!!

McBrayers in K-tucky

Landon and I spent our Easter and the end of last week with all the McBrayer siblings and spouses in kentucky. It was SO GREAT to get to be together! There were no babies, and Landon's parents weren't there either - just us "kids"! Haley brought her boyfriend and Preston brought his fiance, so for the first time, every one of us had a significant other = 14 people! We had a blast.

We met at The Land Between The Lakes national recreation center near paducah. where we got to spend time smoking cigars, talking, playing games, viewing wild elk, turkey, bison, deer, and a bald eagle! we also spent a lot of time around the camp fire, and eating our excuisite cuisine prepared by justin, and landon (and others).

i'm sorry there are no pictures - i left my camera battery charging in our kitchen the entire time we were gone. pretty sure it's got a full charge now!

on our way (which was not on the way) to kentucky, we stopped by justin and anna's house in columbia, Missouri where we got to see our precious, precious, precious nephews! we love them dearly and wish we could bless them with little cousins to beat up.

another hilight of our trip was receiving our canoe! Our camp spot was right on the edge of a lake, so we got to take our canoe into the water several times. that was fun.

all in all, we were SOOO blessed to get to be with family finally! It was amazing to all get to be together - the first time that has happened since Christmas of 06 - and some members have been added since then. Next time we will all be together is Preston and LeeAnn's wedding in North Carolina in May - not too far off!

So that's about it.

Signs of SPRING

My heart has been so encouraged lately, as we have had sun here every day for 5 days in a row - wow, that's 3 weeks worth of sun in only 5 days! In those 5 days, every day was above 32 degrees. Though our lawn has become a mud-pit for our puppy and the town of Gurnee has administered a flood warning for their residents for days; i am loving this. Yesterday i got my fingers dirty in the cold dirt that runs around my house, pulling back the damp, dead leaves that fall left behind to seek (AND FIND!) the beginning of spring coming through what looks like desolation. I planted daffodils last fall and their little arms are poking through the dirt. I can't wait to see them reach for heaven and scream "SPRING" in these coming days.

Day light savings make my mornings at work longer. but never the less, i look forwad to and love to watch the sun rise each morning! i'm pretty lucky - most people don't get to see both the sunrise and the sunset each day!

I've been reading a book called, Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, one of my most beloved writers. This book is not a novel, like everything else i've read by her. It is a story of a year in her family's life where they committed to the lifestyle of "locavores". Reading about how her family became stewards of the earth - how they only bought and ate meat and vegetables (and most everything else) from a 60-minute radius from their home. As i have been so challenged to become a better steward of everything in my life (including and especially the things i consume and this earth that i have been called to subdue), i have been really moved by this book! I went to the library yesterday and rented books on how to start my own vegetable garden with heirloom plants. I am so looking forward to the growing season! I can't wait to go to the farmer's market on Saturday mornings and pull my own strength and food out of the ground! What a priviledge, to grow food for my family and to be a part of God's great power in creating and nurturing life. Obviously, i have probably become a little over-zealous about growing things. but i have just been so inspired and really really excited now that i have (for the first time) my own piece of land to do with what i please!

i don't know if you remember my mum fiasco when we first moved here. we'll see if i can learn to encourage my plants survive beyond 2 weeks. I sure hope so!

Please let me know if you have any tips on gardening or just life in general.

Starbucks - "where everybody knows your name"

So far, this has been a week of new FRIENDS!!!

One of my regulars at Starbucks told me that she feels like we are her "Cheers". I LOVE that we can be that place for those who frequent often. When i was in college, i had a starbucks down the street that was "my starbucks". i loved the employees and they knew my name and what i wanted to drink (and often gave it to me for free). They also began to spend time with me outside of starbucks - seeing movies or coming to campus crusade. They were my starbucks family - i loved going to see them and i felt so cared for when i was there (spent many hours studying and meeting with ladies at this starbucks!). I think because i had such a wonderful experience at starbucks as a customer, i feel a great priviledge in treating our customers with special care. When many of my customers hear my voice through the drive-thru speaker, they say, "Hannah! It's me!". of course, because i have many regulars that say this, i'm always thinking - "who's YOU?" But i LOVE that these customers feel like they are my ONE special customer - that when they exclaim that "it's me" that i would know who they are. Some of them, i know why they are and what they drink right away (i'm trying to memorize voices with cars...on top of names and drinks). So... I'm honored to work at Starbucks and interact with our wonderful customers DAILY.

On top of that, our store just hired a new lady. She is my age and just got back from 2 years of missionary work in South Africa. Oh, i am so thankful for her, and am so grateful for the prayers of those who have been praying for a friend in my life. Someone to help carry the burden (and joy!) of showing the love of Christ to our customers and especially our co-workers. She came over for dinner Monday night and was our first non-relative visitor! She brought pictures from Africa and we talked about the joys of Africa and the difficulty in coming "home". I hope to support her as i remember the challenge of returning home to find a place that is so different and to find that you, yourself have been seriously changed by Africa, yet those around you think you are who you used to be. I'm excited to get to know her better.

Last night we had someone else over for dinner! (we're on a roll!) One of Landon's classmates who is ALSO from Georgia and who is ALSO a rock climber. It was wonderful to have him over. It was fun to hear he and Landon talk about philosophy and about their classes and reading material. Of course, much was discussed about georgia and rock climbing as well. Really fun time.

We are so grateful to God for bringing friends into our lives - we have been so lonely at times! God is so faithful.

Landon is "enjoying" his spring break this week. packed full of taxes, fixing his car, reading for class, writing a paper, working, and tons more taxes, he is kept really busy. but i have loved having him near while i'm working at home. He was still awake this morning when i woke to go to work and was so sweet - he made me breakfast! what a wonderful husband - even to make me breakfast while i'm groggy at 3:30am. Right now, he's catching up on some rest :)

just a taste of our life...

One day I came home from Bible study and found this sitting on my couch:


HOT STUFF - 'nough said.

And this winter has been SO cold. I thought that when i saw pictures of iced-over windows in winter scenes, that they were only idealic but not realistic. I woke one morning and winter screamed, "is this realistic enough for you?!"

..."yes, thanks"

in case you missed it:

Wow. The lunar eclipse was amazing last night. Landon and i really enjoyed watching the moon change into this beautiful orange as it was cast in the earth's shadow. How amazing. Really put my life into perspective. I wondered how many times this has happened before, and how many people have seen this moon in this way... and how huge and amazing God is. And then, that somehow he formed me in such love and care as he did the moon, and i'm in awe of more than just the orange hue. i'm in awe of God. it was brilliant, and i was so happy to get to experience it!

We were grateful to have a night free of clouds, which doesn't happen much out here. We even got to pick out constellations and Landon saw a shooting star. Not too often that we get to enjoy the night sky. What a beautiful night.

Free the Gnomes!

I thought i should pass on this word to my fellow Illinoisians (?). FREE THE GNOMES!

though http://www.freethegnomes.com/ campaigns against "oppressive gardening" in both the United States and Germany, I'm campaigning for some piece of mind! Gnomes are creepy. (remember one of my first blogs from the mid-west?) I don't know why people out here are so into garden decorations and short, fat little men with pointed hats, but i think it's just creepy. Free the gnomes! or basically, just get rid of them.

Actually, with the gnomes beneath the snow right now, i'm not sure why i'm hollaring this. i guess i just woke this morning thinking about it and was sort of creep-ified and just keep thinking about it periodically. sooo...

what's my deal?

I am quite fickle when it comes to the weather. We've had (A LOT) of snow for quite awile. I actually really do like the snow. but now i'm tiresome of it. It's a pain when you're trying to make a turn across traffic and you can't see the opposite direction of the traffic that you must merge into because of the TOWER of snow that the snow plow discarded there a week ago. I got a voicemail from the village of gurnee warning me that we've had so much snow this winter that they have run out of salt and whatever chemicals they throw on the roads, so to only drive on major roads because they would only be icing major intersections. what? how is that possible. salt is...salt! well, landon and i actually favor the salt=less roads. not because we like to slide around like the ice-capades, but because it turns everything white and then our puppy loves to lick our cars when we get home. that's just gross. what i really wish would change is the COLD!

but then i remember the post that i wrote a little over a month ago where i was complaining about the melted snow. i said i either wanted snow or nothing at all, but the flooding and mud left behind by the snow was worse than the cold. so.... what's my deal?

i'm not sure if i just don't want to live contentely, or if i just want so much to look forward to (warmer weather!) but i do know that i am weird.

landon and i ran into one of my co-workers at wal-mart today and i stopped to say hi to her. once i told her i'd see her later and we had walked a few isles over landon asked me why i'm so socially awkward these days. what!? i mean, i knew that after i returned from africa and people would wish me "good morning" and i would say, "good morning to you" that i was just a little too influenced by my african friends, but that sort-of wore off. but i'm finding myself talking on the phone endlessly about stupid things to people who really have better things to do (like ACSI co-workers). and when i actually talk to someone in PERSON, i'm fidgetty and always trying to get out of it - assuming they have better things to do. what's my deal? i AM socially awkward! Landon asked me why i've been this way so much lately, and i realized that i am VERY limited as far as my social interraction with people. that must be it, i guess. you know, how homeschooled children are a bit socially awkward until they are integrated into society? i guess when the only people that i talk to at length are my sister on the phone and my husband in the evening, i might be weird in all other social situations that require getting to know someone or making small talk.

welp. i'm not sure how to work on this. quite honestly, knowing that i'm socially awkward may make me even MORE easily distracted in social encounters. geez, i seriously need a life.

Lessons learned in seminary: Walking on Water

One afternoon Landon called me in a panic during his daily walk with the dog, "Sheels, you HAVE to come down here!". So i dragged myself from my work and parked behind the local highschool (actually to where the picture behind the heading of our blog was taken) to find the forest submerged and usurped in ICE! Landon was waiting with a smile on his face. We both agree that we've never seen anything like it: ice, as far as we could see. And this ice was crystal-clear. Landon held my hand as i stood with my feet together and he pulled me through the forest. It was amazing! See landon "walking on water" and he's holding up a block of ice so you can see the thickness! Really an amazing afternoon.

Janelle's visit to Gurnee

sorry for the lul in posting. my little sister has been visiting us and i have been giving all my attention to her! i was SO SAD to drop her off at the airport today, but was so grateful to have her here these last 8 days.


I did try to give Janelle some-what of a complete tour of the town-plus-chicago. Of course, i stillw as working a few jobs, but Janelle was so sweet to help me with some things for quite a few hours so we could take a day off and go down town. We had quite variable weather, so we were restricted in some ways....anyways....

Well, of course, we started (and ended) her visit with some snow-shoeing! We just had to watch out for speedy snow-mobilers. Those guys zoom by us so fast - i can't believe they're allowed to do that on the trail! well, i think it is what many people around here do for fun in the winter (God-forbid they do something physically active like skiing or something).

Wednesday brought over a foot of snow! we had a full-blown blizzard in town!! Landon shoveled our drive-way more than once in a day. He seems pretty up to it, though, in this picture. The roads were covered in our town for days, so we had a hard time leaving, but there was much work to do, plenty of coffee, and Janelle brought some chick-flicks with her!
Landon received a pasta maker for his birthday, and made his first attempt at home-made pasta! Spinach ricotta ravioli with alfredo sauce and a bottle of Merlot (3-buck chuck!) was DELICIOUS! It was a lot of work, but was well worth it!
We went to the Art Institute of Chicago and had an amazing time walking among some amazing artwork. Walking around downtown chicago in the evening was also fun, as we had coffee at starbucks and then had dinner at a Thai restaurant. We even ran into an old friend from our time in Colorado Springs. (Callie - let Brandon know...) I was walking in the dark down Michigan avenue and noticed this guy walking past me watching me sort of creepily, then he grabbged my arm! (AAHH!) when i turned around i was looking at the face of an old friend! Will Forsythe! So weird to run into a Colorado friend in downtown Chicago on a Friday night. Awesome!
Look at this beautiful lady in the snow!!!! We will miss you, Nell