To celebrate Earth Day I suggested to my sons that we clean out a creek near our house. I thought for sure they would moan and groan about doing physical labor, but believe it or not, they enthusiastically replied, “Sure, Mom.” In fact, they approached the job with determination and vigor. Turns out, they were just as disgusted as I was that people were deliberately throwing trash out of their car window as they drove by.

“I don’t get it, Mom. Why can’t they just wait until they get home to throw their trash out?”

“I don’t know, dear. I guess they just don’t care that they are ruining our environment.”

“That’s so, so…WRONG.”

“Yes. Yes it is.”

As a mom, this was such a proud moment for me. I felt like all of my “preaching” about the environment was actually getting through the noise of the video games, television, and computer games they surround themselves with on a daily basis. Perhaps I’m doing something RIGHT? Hallelujah!

Now, if I could only get them to clean their rooms.

Man’s best friend has been dissing the man (a.k.a. my husband) lately. She used to come to him with wagging tail, kisses, and sheer puppy joy. But then…something happened. None of us are quite sure what it was, but all of a sudden she became “woman’s best friend.”

“Look at that. She totally blows me off. I’m the one who takes her out every morning, feeds her, takes care of her, and now she’s totally ignoring me and goes right to you.”

It was clear my husband felt dejected. I kind of felt bad for him…for a second. Then I realized that at various times during our relationship those words….that feeling…is something I had felt and tried to convey to him. I couldn’t resist saying…

“So, how does it feel?”

Our family is big on the whole green living thing and we try and recycle anything and everything possible. Fortunately, we live in a town that is also very environmentally conscious and they recycle just about everything at our local transfer station.

This isn’t the case where my sister lives and it drives me…and her…crazy. When I visit and have something in my hand, like an empty yogurt cup, that we would normally recycle I always ask, “Do you guys recycle these?” Usually the answer is “no.” It is of no fault of their own. In fact, my sister took it upon herself to stop the constant flow of catalogs coming into her home by signing up at www.catalogchoice.org. Unfortunately, not all companies will participate in this service so she called all of the non-participating companies and asked them not to send them anymore.

When I got through the terrible twos, trying threes and frustrating fours with both of my children, I thought it would be smooth sailing after that. WRONG! Right now I am encountering the Nasty 9’s with my youngest son. Somewhere along the line he got it into his mind that he’s in charge and everything I say or ask him to do is dismissed like old chewing gum.

“Drew, can you take the dog out.”

“No.”

“Why not.”

“I’m busy.”

“Doing what?”

“Watching TV.”

“Uh…that’s not busy. C’mon, it’s your turn. Remember how much you wanted this dog in the first place?”

All of a sudden, out of the blue, my dog decided she didn’t want to “eliminate” in the rain. Not only that, but she refused to go into the section of woods in our backyard that she’s been “eliminating” since she was a puppy. I don’t know what gives. Is it the wet leaves? Is she bored? Is it just a ploy to get us to take her for a walk? Who knows?