It’s been an amazing week. A near perfect week. I am so grateful for this day and every day. My husband made me French toast for breakfast and cleaned the kitchen. He told me, “Happy Mother’s Day” and bought me some small gifts that I really wanted. In truth, I ordered the presents for myself — but I’m totally okay with this, as they were something I wanted to try out. (I’ll get to this part of my Mother’s Day post in a minute.)

It’s Sunday and hubs has been spending nearly every free minute of his time with me and my son since he returned a couple days ago from a week-long road trip. He didn’t remember Mother’s Day until yesterday evening. He was actually shocked that Mother’s Day had arrived so soon –> Of course, I casually pointed out that Mother’s Day is always near our son’s birthday EVERY YEAR. –> but you know, my hubs’s memory is questionable and we won’t get into the number of his past head injuries.

So he woke up this morning and made me breakfast and this was after taking us to lunch yesterday and out for breakfast the day before (Yes, I’m feeling fluffy around the middle — and yes, I still ate the cinnamon raisin French toast.) And when I thanked him he said, “all the other things we’ve been doing since Friday were for the kidlet and he wanted to do something just for me.” <– Sweet, right?  I love hubby. And I don’t want to go out and do anything special today. For Mother’s Day I need to be home and relax after the BUSY week.

Because sometimes happiness is relaxing at home, knowing I’m cared for, and my needs are met. I have two jobs I love and a supportive family. That is my bliss. And… I picked out an Earth friendly Mother’s Day Present for myself – which for me, is special.

Because… Mother Earth is the source of all life and without our home we’re all screwed. Royally ‘effing screwed. <– That’s the title of my next romance novel, by the way. Totally kidding.

Every plant, animal, our water, air, and soil should be respected and taken care of. This has been on my mind a lot lately and I’ve reading too many devastating stories on the health of our planet and the environment. Having the “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” mentality engrained into my brain since I was child and taking care of our Mother Earth isn’t anything new. I’ve taken steps to be a more conscious human since I was a little kid, but recently, the “single use plastics” issue has been in the forefront of my concerns.

Here’s a blog post from National Geographic for more information:  Pesky plastic: The true harm of microplastics in the oceans https://blog.nationalgeographic.org/2016/04/04/pesky-plastic-the-true-harm-of-microplastics-in-the-oceans/

I made a promise to myself: From now on, I am using less plastic.

So I ask myself again, what can I REALISTICALLY do for the planet that I’m not already doing?

Which sort of leads to the real reason I’m blogging today.

To share the Mother’s Day gift I’m excited about trying.

This is what I bought:

Organic Reusable Food Wraps by Etee    https://amzn.to/2IfPwHF

Reusable produce bags (The ones I bought are now out of stock but there’s a wide variety of them on Amazon.)  Similar to these: https://amzn.to/2Kkp7Jy

If I can make small changes in my daily routine that have less negative impact on our planet, then I’m doing SOMETHING. And all my little somethings will add up over a lifetime. What if we all made one small change every year – and taught our children to live in a similar way and continue our efforts? This could change our world for the better. 🙂

I started this post talking about my “near perfect week” and it has been fantastic, but it’s also been stressful. I don’t want anyone reading this and thinking Jody’s blogging because she leads some perfect fantasy life where all she does is sit around thinking up ways to save the planet. The truth is, I’m tired. I haven’t slept well for a week – or maybe 11 years. And after all the running around and enjoying the birthday celebrations and activities:

Last night, just after midnight I woke to the sound of my dog vomiting. I jumped – literally threw myself out of the bed – grabbed my glasses (so I could see any dog puke on the floor – and NOT step in it) to rush the dog outside before the puke hit the floor, or at least minimize the mess. And I shoved my hundred-and-twenty-pound dog out the door, turned around, and stepped right in cold dog vomit. (I was actually grateful it was on the tile and not the rug.) I limped to the bathroom trying not to dwell on the feeling of slime with hard chunks stuck to my foot and washed up in the bathtub, then returned to the hallway and cleaned up Nugget’s mess on my hands and knees. I eventually climbed back into bed and listened to my son cough and blow his nose because with all the birthday fun, he’s managed to acquire a cold. Yay. Not.

My poor kid feels like utter garbage. — Always keepin’ it real around here.

And I woke up this morning in a decent mood because somehow within the mystery of it all – the positive and happy moments and the less-than-stellar and challenging times that keep me humble – life is wonderfully complex and worth it.

And I just wanted to write this all down before I forgot. (I can’t blame past head injuries, my memory is awful.) Plus I’m excited about using less plastic and wanted to share what I found on Amazon to help me do just that – use less plastic.

Whatever you’re doing this weekend and the coming week, I hope it’s grand, or relaxing, or whatever you need it to be. Happy Mother’s Day to you, your loved ones, and our planet.

Cheers,

Jody