Planet Green

I cannot get enough of this channel! It is easily one of my favorite channels, hands down! If you were to come over to our house and check our DVR, you would see that most of the recorded shows are from the channel Planet Green.

While you may think that the shows I watch are "crazy-hippie" shows, they actually aren't. Most of the shows I watch, and record, are about construction and home projects. Of course, the main points are being environmentally friendly and lower utility costs.

My favorite shows to watch are "World's Greenest Homes", "Renovation Nation", and "Greenovate". I love getting ideas from those shows! Every day, I am learning new stuff from every show. And every day, I am texting Mark during the afternoon about something new I learned about from a show and that we should "definitely do this/that". Luckily I have a husband that is on-board with having a green/eco-friendly home.

Today I learned about greywater recycling systems in the home. I have learned about greywater recycling systems for lawn and garden irrigation, but never for in the home. I think that greywater recycling systems are so cool! I think it's a great idea! A greywater system in your house will reuse the water used from the shower and sinks in your house, clean the water, and reuse it as toilet water. [And no, it will not be reused in your house after being toilet water.] The greywater system outside will collect rainwater from your roof, go in the gutters, and down pipes to the barrel(s) in your yard. That water that is collected will then be used to help irrigate your lawn and/or garden. How cool is that?! Personally, I find it to be really cool and I am very interested in having one or both of those.

If you have the channel Planet Green, you should watch a few shows some time. [Or you can just click on the image at the top of this post or click on Planet Green to check out the Web site.] You will learn a lot about cutting back on your utilities and resources, being environmentally friendly, just how easy it is to make environmentally friendly changes in your life, and so much more.

Whole Wheat Pizza

For lunch today, I made the boys and myself homemade, whole wheat pizza. I posted on Facebook that I was making it, and a friend of mine [Stacy] asked me if I have posted the recipe on here before. I realized that I have never posted a pizza dough recipe on here, and since Stacy asked, I am going to now.

INGREDIENTS
1 1/4 c Unbleached All-Purpose flour
1 packet of yeast
1/4 tsp salt
Parsley to your liking, optional
Oregano to your liking, optional
Garlic powder to your liking, optional
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
A little more than 1 c water, warm
1 3/4 c Whole Wheat flour

In a large bowl, mix the unbleached flour, yeast, salt, parsley, oregano, and garlic together. Add the olive oil and the water to the bowl of dry ingredients. Mix the ingredients together using a fork, and mix for about 3-4 minutes to ensure everything is mixed together. Once you are done mixing the ingredients together, add the whole wheat flour little bit by little bit.

After you have gotten all of the whole wheat flour mixed with the rest of the ingredients, take the dough out of the bowl and knead the dough for 5-10 minutes. [Knead the dough till it is elastic and smooth.]

You will now divide the dough in half and put the dough halves in a lightly greased bowl and cover the bowl for 10-20 minutes to allow the dough to rise. While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and lightly grease two small/medium pizza pans.

Once the dough is done rising, put it on the pizza pans and stretch the dough to fit the pans. Use a fork and put some holes in the dough. Put the dough in the oven for 5 minutes. While the dough is in the oven, get out the sauce and all of the toppings you want on your pizzas. When the five minutes are done, take the pizzas out of the oven. Put the sauce and toppings on the pizzas, and then place them back in the oven for 15 minutes.

When your pizzas are done, just take them out of the oven and let them cool down for a few minutes to let the toppings settle in place. After they have cooled for 3-5 minutes, it should be okay to cut the pizzas without all of the toppings creating a major mess.

There you have it! That is how I make my pizzas. I hope you try the recipe and like it. Enjoy!

WEEKEND WITHOUT OIL

This past weekend was WEEKEND WITHOUT OIL. It was a great thing that was put together and get people to be a part of. You didn't even have to spend/donate money, and you got to stay home [no worries about being somewhere on time and having to rush to get ready]. Did anyone take part in this? We did in my house. It was quite fantastic, to be honest.

On Saturday, we cleaned a few things around the house in the morning because the house was a little messy from the night before. I did a load of laundry, too, because the hamper was almost full. Then Mark got the boys' pool set up and filled with water. We didn't let the boys go in it right away because I wanted the water to warm up some before they got in it. So after the pool was filled with water, we got the boys ready in their swim wear, put them in strollers, and walked to Dollar General to get a few items. It took us about 10-15 minutes to get there, and we were walking in the blistering sun. By the time we had gotten there, Mark and I were sweating kind of badly. But you know what? I am a person that does not mind sweating, which is a great thing because I sweat a lot. After we left Dollar General and got back home, we let the boys out the strollers and they ran to the backyard and got right in their pool. They were so excited! I stayed out back with the boys at first because Mark wanted to get some stuff out of the house and garage - towels, chairs, a book, etc. The boys thought it was hilarious to start splashing me with water. I eventually got so drenched that I just got right in the pool with them and sat down. It felt nice! The boys and I had splashing fights in the pool, and they thought it was the greatest thing that mommy was right there splashing along with them. After a little while, I got out of the pool and sat in a chair next to Mark while he read a book. Eventually, I talked Mark into some yard work because of yard was looking a bit more than insanely ridiculous. We didn't use the lawn mower or any gas-powered equipment to do the yard work we finished since it was Weekend Without Oil. I enjoyed doing some yard work, even if it was really hot. [At our last house, I did 95% of the yard work simply because I enjoy doing it.] After we were done doing yard work for the day and the boys were done in the pool, we came inside and watched the Pan Pacific Championships on NBC. [If you know me, you know that I love swimming and have even met some of the swimmers on the US team!] I made dinner, we ate, and then we all just sat around for the rest of the evening. It was a great Saturday here.

Sunday was a great day, too! As soon as we woke up, we got ready for the day, then walked to Dollar General for a few items. On our way back home, we stopped at the gas station right around the corner and got a gallon of milk. [Have I mentioned how much milk Mark and the boys do not go through now?! It's so nice that we have cut the milk consumption in this house by more than half of what it used to be about two months ago!!] When we got home, "Phineas and Ferb" was on Disney, so we decided to rewind it back to 9:00 AM when the first episode was on so that the boys could enjoy their hour of the show. While the boys watched the show, I put a load of laundry in the wash and folded the load that I put in the dryer the night before. Then Mark and I went into the sun room [or Florida room as some people call it], and we went through the stuff out there. There was stuff in there that we knew we could get rid of, and that's what we did - we got rid of the stuff we have no use for anymore. We got rid of quite a few things, and we were able to compact stuff into few boxes. Also, we packed some more of the boys' toys and got rid of some others. I am happy that we went through more stuff and got rid of things we do not use. When we were done with that, I made lunch. After some time of playing, cleaning, and the boys taking a nap, I went into their room and went through the clothes in their dresser and closet. I took all of the cooler weather clothes that will be of no use here and old clothes out of their room, and then Mark and I went through everything piece of clothing. We made piles as to what would stay and what would go. [I've got some boy clothes size 6 months to 24 months/2T that we're getting rid of, if you're interested. All in great condition still and mostly Old Navy and Children's Place stuff.] After the piles were made, I started folding all of the stuff we're keeping and putting them into piles base on size, sleeve length, pants, shorts, etc. Once I was done with that, I packed it all into a suitcase bound for Florida next month. I then watched the Pan Pacific Championships on NBC because I can't get enough of swimming in my life! [I follow the sport year-round and I even know what's going on in other countries. Seriously, that sport just sucked me into a hole and I don't ever want to come out!] A little bit later, I had a headache coming on that not even medications could control, so I had to take a nap. After my nap, it was time for dinner. I didn't make Mark and the boys dinner because they were eating meat, so that was Mark's job to make them dinner. I had some spaghetti for dinner. I love spaghetti! Once we all finished eating dinner, we watched some of the Little League World Series, then Mark turned on a show on Animal Planet about Africa's Great Rift Valley and we watched that till we all went to bed. [The boys LOVED seeing the fish. All Brayden could do was yell, "NEMO! NEMO!" the whole time the fish were on the TV. When it cut to a commercial break, he grabbed a remote and tried to rewind it so he could see the fish again, but he grabbed the wrong remote. HA.]

Weekend Without Oil was great in our house! It made me realize a few things that I wouldn't have realized otherwise. Plus, it was great because we didn't drive around in our car and pollute the air even more than it already is. Instead, we got some exercise together as a family and had fun, all for a great cause! Because of this past weekend and how successful it was, I think we may do a weekend without oil at least once every month. Anything to help the environment.

I swore we'd wait a long time!

For I don't know how long, Mark has been telling me, "We should buy a house," to which I would replied, "We will, but when you're done in the military and we actually can settle down in one place for more than 4 years." I just get way too nervous about the problems that can occur once Mark would get stationed elsewhere: Will we be able to sell the house fast enough? Will we be able to rent it out if we're unable to sell it? What happens if we can't do either, and we don't have enough money to continue paying for it after so much times? Just the thought of those questions makes my stomach turn and I want to get sick all over the place. Ugh.

However, the other night when I was online and looking at houses up for rent down in Florida, I thought to myself I'll just look at some houses for sale down there because I've seen all these rentals a million times already. So I looked at some houses for sale. I just wanted to see what there was down there and I had no intentions of telling Mark, "Let's buy a house down there." I was doing good for a while till I saw a house built in 1908 with seven bedrooms and over an acre and a half of land for under $200,000. When I first saw it, I was just drawn to it. There was something about it and I couldn't figure it out right away. [I eventually realized that it reminds me of my grandparents' house that I've loved since I was a little kid. When I realized it looks like their house, I started crying. Seriously, I love their house so much and always wanted a house like there's when I was younger. It's absolutely beautiful!] I saw some other houses that I really liked, too. And all of them were for $125,000 or less! [Realty down there is so much cheaper than it is here! It's crazy!] After looking at the houses for sale, I just totally caved and told Mark, "Maybe we should buy a house. Realty is much cheaper down there than it is here, and I want to be able to live in a home where I can make changes whenever I want without having to check with the realtor and owner first. Plus, we can make the house more eco-friendly."

I know some people don't really care about the environment, or don't even care at all [which is a complete shame], but the environment means a lot to me. I have cared about the environment ever since I had Michael. I felt that as a parent, I need to be more aware of what I'm doing and what others are doing because this is the world my child [now children] will be living in once I'm gone. I want them to live in a better world than what I lived in. But over the past year or so, the environment has meant a great deal to me! So I feel if we buy a house, I will be doing the environment/world some good by making eco-friendly changes to a house.

Anyway, back to houses and Florida. Mark and I have been texting and e-mailing each other during the days the last week or so about houses for rent, and now for sale, that we like. Mark sent me a link yesterday and told me to look at this one house in particular. I looked at it, and I immediately fell in "love" with it!!


The asymmetry of the house is so appealing to me!


I absolutely love the open floor plan of the family room, dining area, and kitchen with just the fireplace in the center! Having an open floor plan is very important to me!! I have been telling Mark for a while now that whenever we settle down and buy a house that live in for the rest of our lives, the house has to have an open floor plan!



The extra space/family room upstairs is a terrific bonus, if you ask me! I love all of the large windows, too! I prefer natural lighting, and this whole house has a lot of large windows. Also, I like that there is a balcony on the second floor right outside the upstairs family room.

We are planning on making a trip down to Florida within the next 2-3 weeks to check out this house, as well as a few others. I am really hoping that this house does not let me down!!!! Have you ever just felt so drawn to a specific house, like it's absolutely one of those things in your life that you have to have? Well, this house is one of those things for me.

Cross your fingers that the house does not let me down when we go check it out!