Wednesday, November 4

Ten things that piss me off about being Green

1. Crusts of bread hanging around for quite a while waiting to be smashed into breadcrumbs

2. Catching the bus to work in the dark, cold mornings in the dead of winter

3. Planning. Endless planning and organising to ensure efficient living on all levels. Sometimes I just want my brain to stop, it all to stop and hop off for a while!

4. The research and time that goes into any purchase. Sometime I just wanna 'grab' something!

5. Having to walk past the stinky and sloppy imported French cheese mountains at the markets

6. Everyone in the family having a good excuse when I get cranky at all the dishes thy have left piling up until enough are there to make a wash-up justifiable (i think this is my no.1 !)and knowing Im not going to have a comeback to this water saving argument

7. Always being the bad guy and endlessly reminding children to 'turn it off!' Besides which it just reminds me of my mother...

8. Wanting sometimes to just splurge to 'show my love' but pulling back in the name of less stuff and not necessary. Again, it reminds me of my mother...

9. That if I dont eat or organise the leftovers, they may get left in the fridge for a while

10. Coming home from work and making pita bread, tortilla or pizza dough coz all that plastic packaging really pisses me off

Small 'personal is political' potatoes I know, but I didnt even get started on the volunteer and activism work that gets done around here...

What pisses you off about Green living?

12 comments:

greenfumb said...

Most of the things you said. Especially the bits about being the bad guy, the endless bloody research and always being the one to eat the leftovers.

I always used to buy NZ made products to support my native country, now because of all the food miles etc I have to buy Australian. Sorry but your vintage cheddar just doesn't do it for me.

And Australian parmesan is like vomit - I buy Italian and say a few Hail Mary's or at least the non-believing equivalent.

BUT I love to see the look on people's faces at work when I tell them that I grew my own lunch!

Kerrie said...

The endless planning ahead that has to be done is my #1 whine. Shopping is my big bugbear, having to remember to take bags, wrapping, jars etc. I've been good about keeping up lately & making sure that I restock the supply as soon as I have unpacked the shopping, everything goes into a big tub and it sits by the door for when I next walk to the car.

Right with you on being the bad guy...I tire of hearing my (mother's) voice when I ask the kids to turn off anything they aren't using when they leave the room. I feel like an incessant grouch some days.

We use a dishwasher so the piled up dishes aren't a problem, (...shudder I know). We do use bicarb instead of the commercial dishwasher powders/tablets and our dishes still sparkle. We use it on the eco cycle and pack it as full as we can to justify turning it on. Had to purchase more crockery etc. so that it is really full. We do not use the element to dry the dishes but rather open the door slightly and leave them to evaporate dry.

I know that the piled up dishes would drive me insane though.

I have solved the dry bread crusts problem by having a bag to store them in on the go in the freezer. As they accumulate I put them in the bag and when it is full or when I need breadcrumbs I do them in one big batch. That may or may not work for you Kel.

Laura Jane said...

Yep, I reckon thats a fair old list of piss-offs.

I don't live NEARLY as green as you do, I don't think I could stand all the endless planning and justifying, even if I (or my seventh generation) don't go to heaven. And I do have wa-a-a-ay too much stuff already, but somedays.... I know. Its a big cop-out. I was sad to miss the home-made pasta, but that dried Italian we ate was pretty good!

I like the idea of the crusts in the freezer.

( Aha! the WV is 'retil' - add an A and what do you get?)

Kale for Sale said...

I always think in terms of croutons and not breadcrumbs. That's so funny. Next time I'm making crumbs! The one green thing that pisses me off is not using clorox to make my whites white. In fact every biodegradable laundry soap we've tried doesn't get clothes as clean as the industrial strength. Small potatoes as you say but it bugs me.

Katy said...

I'm not anywhere near as good as you but my green bug bear is when people look at me (or actually say) Iam the lunatic for not feeding madam preservatives or Mcdonalds, etc - I have had someone say I am depriving herof her childhood. Dishes - I hate the piled up dishes.

( I tried to make it to the CSA but we all ended up sick - maybe next time x)

Minni Mum said...

Yup, all of the above plus:

1. The endless crap my kids get from their peers because they don't get canteen money &/or junk food in their lunchboxes every day + we don't have a Wii/ Playstation/ DS console + we don't eat at Maccas, and

2. Constantly feeling like I have to justify (& explain) my actions every.single.time I do something that isn't 'normal', like refusing to use plastic wrap or let my kids watch commercial TV, and

3. I'm so bored.bored.bored. with the eye-rolling I seem to get every day, like I'm deliberately out to inconvenience everyone I come across.

Argh! Vent over :-)

A Vision Splendid said...

LOL What a great idea for a post!

Mine would have to be:

1. at social gatherings where everyone brings something and someone will say very loud to me in a singing style 'sorry, it's ONLY a packet mix'. Like I am the 'cook from scratch' gestapo and they will be severely punished for not sifting the flour and creaming the butter.

2. The local blog reader who I seem to run into all the time in the supermarket and she will scrutinize my trolley and say 'ooohhhh I see you DO buy 2 minute noodles' and I have to launch into a justificiation about having a fussy eater who needed to take them somewhere (wtf? and why do I have to justify?)

3. When people talk for ages about television shows and I have NO idea what they are talking about. I sat through a long discussion about who should be voted off/ on a show the other day and I had never heard of the people. Isn't anyone interested in who will feed China or how we can be more like Cuba after their oil crisis ? Apparently not! lol

4.Being at social gatherings where plastic plates/ cutlery are being used because they are "better than having to wash up" and sitting in deathly silence when I pipe up and say "I wouldn't mind doing the washing up......{silence}.....{uncomfortable silence}.........;>)

5. Fencing off sections of the garden so the chooks don't trash it. Somedays I wish we didn't have the girls, but they are far too lovely and their eggs to valuable to ever go back to not having them.

Ahhhh!!! That feels better!

Michelle

naturewitch said...

Hi Kelly

Yeah, pretty much what you said - I'm the light nazi at home and the "if you're not using an appliance, unplug it" nazi. Not roles guaranteed to make you popular...

But my personal biggie in the pissed-offedness stakes is when I flood the laundry (yet again!!!) because I forgot to put the grey water hose on after saving the suds for the next wash and the rinse water overfills the tub and it cascades all over the floor. And just because I got distracted doing something else, like weeding or harvesting or planting or something.

Oh, and feeling guilty if we get takeaway, which is probably our biggest non-green thing we do.

But it's all worth it, really. And every time I look at my developing garden and the bees and so forth, I feel like we're heading in the right direction. xx

Kelly said...

greenfumb- hmph! vomit! i'll forgive you just this once.LOL

kerrie- we have an uber eco $$ dishwasher too, packed to the limits but we have loads of plates, the dishes come in the form of needing to be scrubbed pots n pans. The last things you really want hanging around. I had thought about the freezer for bread but my system is to put them on a cake rack so they dry naturally and i just need to smash em on a week-weekn half. I figured if frozen fresh then they need drying again anyway???

laura jane- you'll just have to come visit again. i will be less busy , promise! LOL on the word veri- sometimes it jusk KNOWS.

kale- I wear blacks to compensate! Croutons...magic idea, swapped recipes. Never thought of that but i have to say breadcrumbs are more versatile...except if you want salad, or soup...argument ditched.

katy- depriving them of a childhood by not feeding them Maccas?? Thats too sad! What a comment on modern life! Go you! Sorry you missed the meeting, hope all better and maybe see you next time.

julie- eeeks, how annoying. Im also a bit shocked...maybe down here its a lot more accepted as we dont come across this much. Time to move!

busywoman- you had as all laughing out loud with that. Brilliant. Thanks for that! Plastic utensils have a way of making me feel a bit queasy. Im shocked that people still buy the stuff! Yeah, lets talk about Cuba! Fascinating place. It was cuba or paris for our 'moon.Romance won, we figured Cuba be a good stop off on our sea voyage.

naturewith- Im afraid we had a giggle at yours too! oops, i havve distant memories of that scenario.Its a shocker!

blue milk said...

Walking past the French soft cheeses - that IS green of you!

Karin said...

All I can say is my goal is to become half as green as you. I'm just not there yet. I'm a work in progress. But I do plenty of sewing up of scraps, curbside furniture reclaiming and I'm very particular about toys. :-) I never step into Toys R Us. It gives me the heebie jeebies.

Paula said...

I know I'm late to this, but you know what pisses me off about being green? Seeing all the non-green a___h___les continuing to f___ up our planet!!! Especially the ones in government!!!! ARgggh!

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