Reusable Bag Etiquette

I'm so not green. I don't even recycle and I still ask for plastic grocery bags......*gasp*......oh the horror! I do, I do, it's true. But if it's any consolation I feel like a heathen every time I go grocery shopping or throw away an empty milk container.

So I've been thinking about taking baby steps to change my ways. Thinking about evolving into a more eco-minded, eco-conscious or eco- friendly family.

So, this morning I found out about Chile's Quit Now challenge through Kristin H's blog. You can visit her for the details. But the challenge starts June 1st. I'm already ahead of schedule with the smoking as I'm now on day #5 of "breathing free"..... *patting my self on the back*......

But I'm also going to try to give up plastic grocery bags. I gotta tell you that this may be even more difficult than giving up the smokes. I love plastic grocery bags. They're easy to carry......I use them for garbage under my kitchen sink.....I even have a cute little doll plastic bag holder that I sewed my self....hanging in my laundry room. This will be tough.....REALLY tough!

OK....I have a question for all you eco conscious people out there. In light of my recent "I'm not green" enlightenment....I went out a couple weeks ago and purchased, from Walmart, their reusable bags. I bought these with the best of intentions. I unloaded the groceries from my van and then put the 5 reusable bags back in my van. I figured if I kept them in my van I'd then have them when I next go shopping.

The next time I went to Walmart.....I forgot the bags in the van and ended up getting plastic bags again. UGH! Then, later in the week, I went to Target and thought maybe I'd use my reusable bags but then realized that they actually say "Walmart" on them.

So....my question is....is it OK to use Walmart's reusable bags in Target or Meijers or do I have to purchase reusable bags at every damn different store I visit? I went to Costco this past week and purchased three of their reusable bags also (they're HUGE)....but they ALSO say Costco all over them.

I realize how ridiculous it is that I'm actually asking a "reusable bag etiquette" question here....but....there you have it....I'm ridiculous!

Fitness Friday

That's it! I'm officially out of control. So this is my way of trying to regain some control of my life. I don't want to fail at my attempts to quit smoking but if I keep eating like this I will. I'm going to start weight watchers again! My sister-in-law and Busy Dad are my inspirations. My SIL has lost 22 pounds so far. And Busy Dad has been tracking his Weight Loss Wednesday's for several weeks now. So you, my trusted bloggy friends, will be my weekly weigh-in meeting. I did weight watchers several years ago after having Smurfette and lost 15 pounds....I'm a life time member dontcha know! So every Friday will become my weigh in day and I will post my weight loss progress for the week. I would love to lose 15 pounds again. So that's my goal.

My weigh-in this morning was 145 pounds. So, I'm allowed 22 points. And I think I'm allowed a couple more points if I run but I'm not sure what the allowance for working out is so until I find out...I'll just stick to the 22 points. The food in the picture to the right is my allowance for the day and totals 14 points which gives me another 8 points for 1 piece of pizza and a salad when I go out scrapbooking with my friends tonight.

I'm also failing miserably at posting my marathon training progress in my other blog so I'm going to also use my Friday post as my marathon training updates. I just can't keep up with two blogs. AND I'll post about my "breathing free" progress.

So, this past week I slacked in my training because of the holiday weekend and all the puppy drama.

Tuesday - I Ran 3.47 miles in 42:21. Averaged 12:13 mile pace. Still alternating 4 min running/2 minutes walking. Felt great. Lungs are finally on the mend from last chest cold.

Wednesday - I Ran 5 miles in exactly 1 hour. 12:17 mile average pace. Felt awesome. Still alternating run/walk intervals. But I think after next week I'll be able to bump it up a notch....maybe 5 minutes running/2 minutes walking. Weather was gorgeous! Sunshine and 67. Saw a mama deer. Tried to get a picture but she was gone by the time I pulled out my camera. YES! I take my camera with me! I ran around this lake......gorgeous views! Very enjoyable run!

Was hoping to get a run in on Thursday while Smurfette was at school but had 2 different landscaper guys come by in the morning to give me some quotes for some work we need done in the yard. And then at night we had the boys' gymnastics banquet. So I couldn't get one in.

And now it's not gonna happen today because today is Smurfette's preschool graduation day and then I'm going out for the evening with a couple friends to do some scrapbooking. Hopefully, I'll be able to get back on track this coming week.

And today is day #4 without smoking for both my husband and I.

Feel free to join in on Fitness Friday....if anyone else is interested in being accountable to bloggy land I'll post a mister linky.