Inspired Creatives

Still trying my hand at crochet. I’m starting to remember why I prefer knitting. Getting the hang of it though. Now I can use these flowers to cover up my mistake on the clutch I attempted recently.

The other day as I was sprinkling the last of this shredded cheese over my salad, and about to absentmindedly toss the bag in the recycle box, I stopped short in my tracks.  Ok, let me back up and be completely truthful about this scenario.  I was actually scarfing down the last of that shredded cheese, bag poised strategically over my mouth like a bag of chips, head tilted back at just the precise angle to savor (er inhale), in oh so savage a manor, every last shred of that cheese.  Wew, that piece of humbling truthfulness is out.  I’m a slothful savage, I admit, when it comes to getting the last morsel out of a container.  But that’s not what I’m posting about here.

I stopped mid-toss to the recycle box because I realized, for the first time, that this resealable ziploc inspired plastic bag just might have a little more life in it.  Why, in my efforts to reuse, reduce, recycle, do I think it a travesty to throw away sandwich bags or freezer bags I’ve purchased after one use (as long as there hasn’t been anything really yucky in them) , but never thought about reusing the countless bags that come into the house already containing purchased foodstuffs?  I’ve already become my mother in that I’ve started saving bread bags.  I can’t remember my mother ever actually reusing those saved bread bags, but like her, I’ve got enough stocked up that in case of a nuclear holocaust, we at least have bags to get us through.  No non-perishable food, but lots of bread bags.  And don’t get me started on aluminum foil…  Got enough of that, meticulously washed and folded, to transmit to Mars.

So, did I have an epiphany?  Is this a “going green” breakthrough?  Or am I taking things a little too far?  You might say, why are you still using plastic anyway?  Well, I am cutting down.  Baby steps, you know.  I did use one of those bread bags in my husband’s lunch the other day, much to his chagrin (“are we that poor now we need to save bread bags?”).  No dear, we’re supposed to be reducing, reusing & recycling. The “that poor” part can be debated, though.  Men are sometimes slow to “get” these socially/environmentally responsible things.

One disclaimer on reusing these types of bags:  Only reuse those bags that you are certain you can get absolutely clean.  Wash in really hot sudsy water.  Turning them inside out helps to get in the nooks and crannies.  Make sure they are left out to thoroughly dry, again inside AND out, before storing.  We want no salmonella, e-coli or other yucky yucks entering into the mix.  Getting yourself or your family sick just wouldn’t be worth the reuse would it?

So,

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