Need Some Light

I should start out by saying I didn't start buying these light bulbs for myself, but that my dad gave them to me as a gift one year for Christmas. You see every year for Christmas my brother and I each get a special gift just from my dad. Now it has turned into Bo and I get a gift and Sister in law and brother get a gift. We open this after all other presents and it is something that my dad has thought of and picked out himself. One year as little kids we got ball gloves and as a teenager I got a cordless phone. It is always special and a surprise, but as I have gotten older the items have turned more to items for the house, which is great. The first Christmas Bo and I were married my dad got us a 6 ft. ladder. At first we thought this could come in handy at some point. Now, I can't tell you how many times we have used it.

Sorry, I kind of got lost there. Now, back to the light bulbs. These light bulbs were expensive when they first came out so one year my dad gave me several for Christmas to help me get started in changing out my light bulbs. Since then I have changed out almost all of my light bulbs, and I think at this point I only have a few lights that don't use these bulbs. My dad help start me on the path to save energy. I have to admit I don't think they last as long as the packaging says, but I don't keep the stuff to send them back in for the grantee. Bo actually has a friend who has a spread sheet to keep track of his light bulbs and he has gotten many for free. I just don't think that is worth my time.

If you haven't I would suggest changing out your old light bulbs with these energy efficient one when your old ones die.

Reuse

I know that you are tired of hearing about my pear trees. But I'm so excited about them. I just have to share a recycle idea with you.

Yes, that is the leg from a pair of pantyhose tied around my tree. No, I never thought I would have a pair tied around a tree in my yard nor did I ever think I would talk about them on the internet. But you never know what is going to come your way one day.

You see my tree was leaning. Bo and I were trying to think about what we could stake it up with. For some reason I remembered my grandfather using my grandmothers old knee highs to tie up his plants. Actually I know why I remembered it. It is because I always thought it was funny to see my grandmothers knee highs tied around the plants in the garden.

But I have to agree the materal is soft and strectches which is great for plants. My grandfather would say that it was gentle on the plants. Lucky, for Bo and I, I had a pair of pantyhose that had a run in them. I cut out the legs, cut them in half and then tied them around the tree. I know that my neighbors think I'm crazy, but it works. This is just one more way to reuse something that otherwise would be in the garbage.

Keep The Inside Cool

When I first meet Bo he already had the house we live in now. And from the first time I stepped foot in it I had ideas on how I wanted to change it. He actually let me paint the dinning room and kitchen before we were even engaged. This was the start of a lot of improvements we have done since then.

I need say that I have gotten many of my ideas from my dad. Because he has always looked for ways to lower the cooling cost at my parents house. My first idea was to put darker screens on our windows. This is something my parents did at there house. Well the screens on the windows at our house do not cover the entire window so it would not block the sun coming.

So I had to come up with a plan to help block the sun from heating our bricks. My idea was azaleas. They are some of my favorite flowers especially when they grow large. This year is the third we have had them. They are beautiful and functional.

I can't wait until they fill in and grow taller. This wall gets a ton of the hot afternoon sun, and I would love for them to help block some of this from heating this wall.

As I drove out of my neighborhood today I noticed that very few houses had anything planted on the side of their house that gets tons of sun. Just think of the amount of energy used to cool all of those houses.