Eleanor can crawl!

We’ve had bare hardwood floors since last fall when we had to put our German Shepard to sleep. Before that, our beloved Nikita needed carpeting in order to get enough traction to stand up. Unfortunately she also found it to be a great spot for “accidents”. Often, I might add. Needless to say, soon after she left our lives the rug did as well. I like hardwood floors, but I missed having a little padding to roll around on. With Eleanor starting to become mobile my desire for a rug increased ten fold. The poor little thing would try so hard to crawl only to end up sliding backward on the slick hardwood surface. She would get her legs wedged under the couch or end up underneath a chair and scream out in frustration.

In lieu of exchanging Christmas presents this last year Steve & I decided to get rugs. One for the living room and one for the basement tv area. As shipping a large rug is not cheap, we waited patiently for Flor to have a free shipping period. I am so proud of us for being able to hold out and I’m so happy that we now have a rug. But no-one in the house is more happy than Eleanor who is now the one appreciating the traction that a rug can bring.

We loosely based the coloring off this vintage 1970s Marimekko.

It’s half of a scrap left over from a Marimekko framing store my parents once owned. It measures only about 18″x24″ and my sister has the twin. As was common in the 70s, my parents stretched it onto a wooden frame for me to hang on my wall. Unfortunately, this piece was lacking the name of the print on the selvage. When I saw Flor’s Tonal Vision I thought they would compliment each other well and am very happy with the results. (The colors in my photographs are a little deceiving as the print is not quite as vivid and the rug tiles are more so, but you get the picture.)

Flor rugs come in just under 20″ squares. They ship in boxes and put together with adhesives on the back in a jiff.

As if this all wasn’t enough, Flor’s commitment to eliminate their negative impact on the environment by 2020 is impressive. My favorite part of this? We can call the company at any time to pick up the tiles to be recycled into new rugs. I’ve added enough rolls of carpeting and area rugs to the landfills in my lifetime. (Actually, the wall to wall carpeting we tore out when we moved in 10 years ago is still in the attic. But it will eventually makes it’s way to a landfill as well. Sigh.)

Incidentally - my house never looks that clean. We just had to move all the stuff to put the tiles down. Also, the basement rug is a subtle brown stripe. I think it will look good against the brick red cement floor.

Ice

Golden Icicle by paul+photos=moody

Fortunately we’re starting to wind down the icy season but I’ve still been thinking a lot about how best to deal with ice removal.

The most common way to do this is with salt, aka sodium chloride. It does an effective job and is readily available. However, it has many downsides:

• It dries out the soil and interferes with plants ability to take up water, thereby, making the area only desirable to invasive weeds.
• Ingestion by children is also a risk. Although I’d like to think my 3 yr old son wouldn’t eat any, I’ve seen him take a big mouthful of snow right by the street. We then had a good talk about yellow snow but I think the concept of salt may be too complex at this age.
• Another huge downside is salts effects on animals. If a dog gets salt stuck between the pads of their paws it can actually burn. I remember my German Shepard limping and even laying down when the irritation would become too much.
• For those of us who live near water, such as the Mississippi, the salt is washed to the sewers in the spring which in essence poisons the river as it is not filtered before dumping into the waterway.
• Salt can also damage your walkways by aiding to the cycle of freeze and thaw.

I won’t even get my thoughts on road salt but we should think twice before adding our own imprint to these issues.

I’ve been thinking a lot about my own solution to this problem and thought I would share my findings with you. The first thing I suggest is trying to keep your walkways clear of snow. This allows what moisture is there to dry during the warmer hours of the day. I know it’s tempting this time of year to let the snow sit as it will melt soon but you risk pooling melt water that freezes by morning. I need to work on this more as I can be quite lazy at times. If keeping the walkway clear doesn’t do the trick, here are a couple more options:

• Course sand – it doesn’t melt the ice but it does provide traction and has a minimal impact on the surrounding area.
• Use a salt free agent, such as calcium magnesium acetate or Safe Paw, and chip away with an ice breaker (looks like a flattened hoe/also used as a lawn edger). Don’t go overboard, simply use the compound to loosen the ice and make your work easier. Too much of a good thing…

Now I just need to get that leak in my gutter over the front porch steps fixed!

 

Rid the world of junk mail & telemarketers!

Old Mailbox photo by WineVines

Anna’s tips for reducing junk mail and telemarketer phone calls:

1. Sign up for the National Do Not Call Registry.
2. When you receive annual Privacy Notices don’t just toss them. Look at them and find the “opt out” information. Technically, unless you officially “opt out” anyone you have an account with can continue to make sales calls to you or mail you marketing materials. Not only that, but if they disclose it in their Privacy Notice, they can make your address or phone number available to their “associates”. From that point it spreads like wild fire! Simply follow the directions listed on the Privacy Notice to put out that fire.
3. For those remaining calls – don’t get mad at the caller! I doubt any of them actually enjoy their job, they are only trying to make some money. It’s the company you want to stop. Simply interrupt the caller and ask them to put you on their Do Not Call List. This is different than the National Do Not Call list; it is the company’s internal list. Not answering or worse, being annoying or rude when answering, will NOT stop the calls. It just puts bad karma out there.
4. Stop those infuriating cash advance checks from credit card companies! Just because you have a credit card with XYZ Company doesn’t mean you can’t stop them from sending you these weekly irritations. Not only are they bothersome but also unsafe. If they fell into the wrong hands you could have a nightmare to deal with. Every time you receive one of these mailings call your credit card company and request that you be removed from their mailing list for cash advance checks and other marketing materials. It may not stop those being sent with your statement but it will stop the rest.
5. To end pre-approved credit card offers go to the combined credit bureau agencies Opt Out Prescreening website. You will need to fill out the form online, print and mail in to ensure your request lasts for more than five years.
6. Finally, register for the Direct Marketing Association’s Preference Services to reduce junk mail and even spam from the associations members and prospects.

Keep in mind that some of these options will take a month or two to start working and will need to be redone every few years. Yes, this takes a little work, but in the end you’ve made life more peaceful and saved some trees in the process.