Plastic

I had an evening to myself tonight, since Louis fell asleep even before Olivia did. I decided to check out something good on Netflix and stumbled across a documentary called Adicted to Plastic.

I suppose it wasn't new info about how dangerous plastic is to our health and planet, but it was something to see the visuals of the plastic found floating in the midde of the ocean or in the stomach of birds who died from eating too much. I've already mostly made the switch from plastic water bottles to glass mason jars (with a straw and lid for the car) but the movie helped me more strongly commit to not using or buying plastic bottles. Now I just have to get Louis on board.

Over the past few years, we've (okay *I've*) been phasing out plastic throughout much of our house, but especially the kitchen. It started when I was pregnant and nesting and I'm still working on it. We no longer have any plastic storage containers in the kitchen and use glass for mostly everything.

Olivia never really used plastic utensils or dishes and it kind of creeps me out to see other kids using them. Except for the new addition of Legos to our home, most of her toys are wooden. I hope I can keep it that way as long as possible. For like the hundredth time this year, I wish there was a local Waldorf school.

This past Christmas was hard in a few ways and I've been kind of bummed about it. A family with two older girls who adore Olivia gifted us two garbage bag sized bags full of their hand-me-down plastic My Little Pony houses and bits. Thinking O would love it, they were very generous with their intention and I definitely appreciated it. But, oh my god. When we actually displayed everything and Olivia was oohing and aahing over it all, I was horrified.

The end result was that she got to pick 3 pieces she liked best and all the rest was immediately bagged up to be donated to Kiddie Kollege. The remaining three pieces will join the rest in about a month. There just ain't no way it's staying here.

I spent so much time after Christmas running around to return about ninety percent of the gifts we received (excluding those from Santa and grandparents, of course). I made lots of homemade stuff to gift this year and when we received a ton of plastic in response, it's like ugh, why even bother.

So many of my friends are posting on Facebook about de-cluttering for the new year and griping about having too much stuff. Most of the birthday parties O gets invited to now ask for no gifts. So, if everyone has too much stuff, why can't we just stop the obligatory plastic gift giving? The past few Christmases have been the least enjoyable I can remember because of the overwhelming consumerism of the whole process.

I was gifted a couple jars of pickles and jam from a neighbor today and I was beyond thrilled! I can't wait to ask her about recipes and see if I can learn a thing or two.

I spent most of today thoroughly cleaning Olivia's room and the living room. I ended up clearing out a huge bag full of unnecessary stuff. The rooms look and feel great but I wish I could spend less time fussing with our stuff in general.

This year will be the year of de-cluttering! No more plastic!