Inas asked me to buy rechargable batteries. So we included that in our grocery list this week. I taught the girls to use fountain pens. Buying two bottles of Quink really took me back to those Quink bottles on my grandfather's writing table. Irani even got her own left-hand pen. Rudi made sure all lights were energy saving. We promised not to buy unnecessdary things, we recycle, reuse, rearrange aggresively. And the house manages to look new without us buying anything except Pledge - have to look into homemade cleaning/polishing agents soon! Martha Stewart's website is my guide.
We got the old digital camera to work, repaired watches and revamped old notebooks and pledged we will not buy unnecessarily. All the cables, chargers and what not were straightened out - again so that we don't have to buy another one when they go 'missing'.The closet under the stairs was converted to a craft and artwork centre - must be the most popular 'room' now! Playtime includes lot of claywork, drawing, cutting and pasting. And kitemaking and flying! NO MORE TOYS! Which is really quite the norm for us. The girls appreciate and love their cousins' barbie dolls and gifts from aunties - stuffed toys like Moo Moo and the likes really last forever. Even Kak Long's grey stuffed fish from her first ever sport's day and knitted pink doll from Mrs Bowling are still around (Mrs Bowling passed away some years back). We started to use soap bars and biodegradable garbage bags earlier this year. And organise cleaning the neighbourhood playground family outings once every six months.
So Inas took out the old camera made new on her bicycle and the younger girls flew kites all afternoon with Rudi.
The passion-fruit is beginning to fruit again, so are the ciku trees and ceri tree for the very first time. As Bik is back tending to the garden, everything seems to be robust and well.
A wonderful weekend.
By the way, Grandfather was all for the environment long before it was the in thing. He made sure water was not trapped in plastic bags - in fact he hated plastic bags. He always said that tisu papers and 'the abhored toilet paper' were sheer waste - towels, rags and water would do just as good a job. Everything lasted forever in his house, he tinkered on it all - the wall clock, his car, his radio, his catch-all dustbin - even the 'periuk nasi tembaga'lasted three generations. Something to think about - those household items that lasted a lifetime.
Of course he used a fountain pen. And a manual typewriter which still exist til today.
Some blogs for thought:
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Recycling Oddities: The Strangest Things You Never Thought You Could
Recycle - Living Green - Your Life - MSN Lifestyle
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