Beer Can Furniture

Right before we went on vacation--(Yes, we actually left the state to visit my mother-in-law and sister-in-law.) I took a big load of recycling to our Re Planet recycling station and got $16.95. This means I recycled 339 cans! Thank you to Mashelle and Chris who donated their recycling to us after the poker game.

This brings our GRAND TOTAL of cans/bottles recycled to 7,459. ($372.95)

While on vacation, we went to the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum in Orlando. While there were a few sights I could've done without-- the guy whose snake goes up his nose and out his mouth, the lady with plates in her lips, the man tattooed like a snake-- there was a room full of "stuff made from other stuff". There were underwear and purses made from cigarette (ew) and gum wrappers, a life-sized model of a Rolls Royce made from match sticks, and this: Doll Furniture made from beer cans. I don't know if I'd let my kids play with toys made from beer cans, but it's an interesting way to reuse materials!

Still at it!

Over the holidays, I may not have been posting (bad Can Mom) but I never stopped recycling. (Unlike these people -- "The Free Market", Kevin Donohue, a Texan and football/tech blogger. These people proffer up the ideas that "we should pay other people to recycle our stuff for us." (Okay, fine.) And they also pooh-pooh the idea that person by person, can by can, bottle by bottle will make a difference. I say that every person can make a difference. We can make a difference by the things we buy (or don't buy.) This is known as voting with your wallet. How many people have bought a cloth bag recently? And if you actually use them, it makes an environmental difference!

I'd like to thank Ariana, a complete strange who made a difference to me yesterday. Having posted on Craigslist that she had some recycling that she didn't want to take to the recycle center herself, but wanted to give to someone who might need it, she read my blog. (Hi, Ariana.) And while in the area, we stopped by her house and got a large bin full of recycling. (I think Ariana and her friends had a good New Year's Eve.) But between my parents visiting and drinking 2 liters of soda daily, my own Christmas Eve and New Year's parties, and Ariana, we saved another 225 bottles and cans. (Over the past month, I've also picked up about 498 cans from my husband's office party and 394 from friends and various "found treasures.") So, in December
we found and rescued a total of 1,117 more cans!

OUR TOTAL IS UP TO 7,120 CANS AND BOTTLES!
(and that makes $356)

Anyway, thanks Strangers, thanks friends, and thanks to all those who recycle, reuse or donate the things you use, from my kids in their favorite recyclable present received this Christmas: