I need to hydrate more.  That is a fact.  It’s so good for the body in countless ways and I know this, but I just forget.  I run on coffee and neglect to drink the purest cleansing tonic throughout the day until I’m parched and it’s too late.  When I do drink water, I tend to chug bottled water.  We get palettes of plastic bottled water and Pellegrino at Costco and I’m starting to have major water-bottle guilt.  Our recycling bin outside is full of empty water bottles and cardboard amazon boxes.  (I have yet to feel guilty about the boxes…  Because convenience when you have kidlettes is priceless.)

I have decided that I need to be kinder to the environment.  When my son graduated from preschool this year, I gifted S’well water bottles to his teachers.  The cards read something like, “I think you’re S’well!  Thank you for a great year.”  Or something like that.  I figured it was a good occasion to buy myself a ridiculously overpriced water bottle as well.  I did it in hopes that the fancy reusable would remind me to drink more water and lessen the throw away bottles that in the end, contain water that is just water. I don’t think that alkaline electrolyte water is anything special is it?  Whenever I pay $3.00 for a big bottle of fancy water, it doesn’t give me superpowers or anything.  We have a filtered water dispenser on our fridge.  Isn’t that enough?  Does water have to be Fijian or enhanced in any way?  I’m not a doctor but I believe tap water cleanses the kidneys and the skin just as purely as the overpriced stuff right?  My younger kid was the damn Lorax for Halloween last year for Pete’s sake!  I should look into being more green.

-K

Still all the rage here in Southern California and I have planters designed for drought tolerant plants for the new house.  I’m planning on shallow root plants to add life to the 2nd and mezzanine floor planters.  Cacti and succulents are relatively easy to maintain and they offer such a beautiful array of colors to choose from.  I’m dreaming of blue-greens, purples and unnaturally bright flowers.  I just purchased a few new plants at the farmer’s market last week and am in love with the cheery bunch!

Governor Brown claims our drought is over in California, but I feel cacti and succulents in a bed of gravel as an alternative to a grassy lawn is a good idea for I want to do my part in conserving water for the long term.  Can you blame me for wanting living plants to adorn our home without the huge water bill every month?  Curb appeal is important to me- like a calling card to one’s house, so we are going all-in on this trend and starting our collection now and growing it little by little.  I am choosing to keep my plants in their original pots for now so that when the time comes, they are easy to transplant.

This is my kind of gardening!

-K

 

I went to IKEA today.  I do this sometimes because it’s relatively close to where I drop off my older child at preschool, the air conditioning is fabulous, and I can feed the younger one meatballs and drag him around with the promise of a $1.00 soft serve when I’m done perusing.  I love IKEA.  For many reasons.  It reminds me that I’m a grown up and should refrain from buying anything there.

HA!  Of course I still get stuff every time.  Heck, I’m an IKEA Family Member! My current house is filled with IKEA wares.  My kitchen for one is all IKEA cabinets. My dishes live on IKEA shelves, the kids’ toys are in a MALM, we have a damn KIVIK couch!  I am surrounded by cheap furniture at the moment.  I kind of love/hate it.  It works for now with two littles that destroy things just by looking at them.  But in my head, I keep thinking I don’t want IKEA all over my new home when we move in.  Or so I say now…  I have a sinking feeling that the new house will again be filled with practical and cheap IKEA stuff.  For one, we are reusing all of our current kitchen cabinets (and adding a few units) until we can afford custom cabinets.  The kids will get the GODMORGON we currently own, repurposed into their bathroom.  I’ve already planned out my master closets in a row of PAX units.  And how much do you want to bet our nasty, chocolate and booger smeared IKEA couch will somehow migrate into the new house as well?  Until I can afford the Design Within Reach couch of my dreams, KIVIK it is?

Yes, I’m a grown-up and I shouldn’t have IKEA  furniture all over my house, but you know what?  IKEA does a lot of things right for, well, cheap and it looks pretty darn good for the most part until it falls apart.  Yes, you have to assemble practically everything from the flat pack.  Yes, the picture book directions are hell.  (They should really consult with the LEGO people!)  But sometimes IKEA is just the right solution for the budget conscious parent with kids that ruin everything anyway.

Partial inventory of IKEA in our current home:

 

And countless other items that are not even on their website anymore…

It’s practically shameless!  I actually have more IKEA surrounding me than I ever thought possible!

C’est La Vie.

-K