My New Freetime Filler

Lego Star Wars. I resisted this game when I first saw it because I thought it would be silly. A silly little kid game.

Oh, I was so wrong.

A good friend gave this game to us for Christmas and let me tell you, we have spent every available minute playing it. Addictive little game that it is.

It's easy enough that the kids can play and have a level of success, but also challenging enough that the adults have enjoyed it as well. I am not a big fan of "fighting games" because I typically struggle to master the usually challenging series of button pushes required to master a particularly crucial move. Thankfully, the Wii eliminates this because you use the Wii remote as a light saber. The buttons are simple to master and using the remote as the light saber makes winning battles pretty simple. Add to that the really funny aspect of the characters shattering into little lego pieces? Brilliant!

The biggest draw for me though is the puzzle aspect. Every level has a challenge that must be figured out in order to advance. I love that!

I feel like I can highly recommend this game to anyone. We sure do love it!

Environmental Frustration

Occasionally I decide that we need to do more - reduce our carbon footprint, recycle more, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera... (hee hee).

Only, when I do try to do more I get lambasted by environmentalists. And it always leaves me mentally scratching my head, because no matter what I do, it never seems to be enough for anyone else.

Case in point - cloth diapers. I love them. I primarily decided to use cloth because I wanted the money savings. As a SAHM, I evaluated, do I have more money or more time? While both seem to be in short supply on most days, I tend to run towards the end of the more time spectrum, so washing an extra load of diapers seemed a small price to pay as opposed to spending thousands on disposables. And, have no fear, I don't care what kinds of diapers everyone else uses...my environmental concern ends with what I do (or don't do, as the case may be) to be green.

So, I am all happy because I will save some significant moolah in the grocery budget this next couple of years only to be criticized (on a cloth diaper message board with a seriously environmental bent that I obviously missed) for my choices. Apparently buying "regular" pre-folds and covers isn't enough. You have to buy the mega-expensive natural fiber, unbleached, preferably hand-crafted by a WAHM diapers. Then I got lectured on how I was negating any environmental good I was doing by choosing cloth because I was washing them and using SO MUCH WATER. Even the fact that I own a front-loading, environmentally friendly washer wasn't good enough.

Whoops. Now I start backing away. Uh-oh, how am I planning on drying said diapers? Well, I'll use the dryer. I'll tell you what, that revelation nearly sent the uber-greenies off the deep end. All of that energy wasted. Now I am starting to feel like my carbon footprint is probably bigger than anyone else in town.

And yet, I dare not use the evil disposable. All of that water and energy wasted! And the landfill pollution! Sigh.

But then I decided to quit listening and get back to what worked for me. I'm not using any more water than I was before Junior, so that's good. And the energy bill has remained much the same. Also good. Plus, mot putting tons of disposables in the landfill is a good thing, right?

The lesson I learned? For me environmentalism has be all about increments. Little bits at a time. We bought energy saving appliances when replacing the old ones from the great cheese dip disaster of 2007. We bought CFL light bulbs. Little things that will add up. And in time we'll get greener and greener.

For now, that has to be enough and it is for me.

And before anyone even brings it up...no, I do not believe it is environmentally irresponsible to have kids in the first place. Anyone with questions on that needs to visit Books and Bairns. And know this... Angi will take you on here too if I beg enough....