Week Two...A Greener Goal

First I should clarify that the idea here is to carry over the goals from each week. I didn't really think of this aspect of my idea when I came up with it...I was so consumed with the whole thinner/greener/richer thing that I didn't think that by the end of a year of doing this, I was going to be pretty busy trying to keep up. I'm picturing my house in disarray, my child looking like an orphan and my husband moved on to another family, all the while I'm racing madly through each day, trying to keep up with 52 goals.

So clearly, not every goal is going to stick, at least not every week.

But for week two, it was highly attainable for me to keep up with my week one goal (exercise 5 times a week) and add in another one. I had a busy week with two road trips to visit old friends, which equals a lot of time spent packing, driving, and drinking (not all at once, of course.) Doing the exercise thing was still do-able...after all, I did it the previous week didn't I? But I decided to make my second weekly goal one that was less time consuming.

After learning that the dryer is one of the biggest contributors to the electric bill, I had made a half-hearted attempt to use it less. Basically all this meant is that I hung baby bibs on a pegboard in the laundry room, and laid out swimming towels or rugs to dry in the sun. Big whoop. I had intended all along to have a clothesline and, well, this was the week to make good on that attempt!

I don't own a drying rack, but I did find a ball of string, and the lower part of our house consists of beams that hold up the deck above it--perfect for stringing up a clothesline, I thought. I headed down and was delighted to discover hooks on each side of each beam--as if it was just meant for a clothesline! I tied up my twine and hung my very first load out to dry! I was so excited!

Unfortunately, I failed to consider two things. One, the location of my makeshift line was about as far from the laundry room as you can possibly get. Trying to get down the basement steps to go out this door with a full basket of wet clothes and keep a small child from sneaking down the stairs and possibly breaking his neck proved quite difficult. And two, the lovely flower boxes that decorate the outside of our deck are directly above the clothesline. So when G2 came home that evening and watered the plants, he also watered the freshly dried clothes (which I had failed to collect after seven hours because it was a pain in the ass.)

Ok. Onto plan B. There was nowhere just outside our laundry room door to put up a clothesline--its a brick patio. We also live on the side of a rocky mountain--so pounding stakes into the ground isn't desirable either. In the interest of sticking to my goal, I got my ball of twine and rigged up a ghetto clothesline strung between the patio light and the deckchairs. Hey, whatever works! In addition, adirondack chairs are great for drying items like towels, sheets, and dog blankets.

Overall assessment--First, for the exercise goal, I managed 5 times--although one of my walks was with some friends and we had tumblers of wine in hand. But I digress.

Second, I did 9 loads of wash this week and ran the dryer 3 times. Not too bad. I can't hang everything...I'm the kind of person who counts on the dryer to return my stretched out jeans and shirts to shape. And, I'm not really interested in ironing my husband's polo shirts for work when the dryer does just fine at getting out the wrinkles. And, nobody in our house is willing to put up with stiff, scratchy bath towels. But everything else--baby clothes, workout clothes, pajamas, wash rags, dishtowels, swimming towels, underwear--goes on the line. Or, as the case may be, the deck chairs...