Looking Into You

I am excited to say that I am finding more and more Earth Friendly products to purchase, for home and for work, and that it is becoming easier to make a "green" choice, each day.  I am finding that I am thinking before I select a product, and if I find myself really not wanting to make another stop to purchase a "better" choice in a product, I feel it, it tugs at my brain, telling me that this is not really what I want to buy.  It is as if, I can feel my self learning to change, or becoming more conscious of my decisions, and if I make one just to simplify my life, I can feel it.  It doesn't feel good, as if I am letting someone down, and trust me, I is not Jackson, it is myself!  I hate it when I give up on a quest.
So above you can see that I located recycled toilet paper, wrapped in paper!  Which certainly makes more sense to me, than being wrapped in plastic!  I could not find paper towels that are wrapped in paper as of yet, but I am purchasing recycled paper towels, and diaper wipes for work, and it really does excite me!  The sad thing is I am not kidding!

Above is the new bar shampoo that I has finally arrived, it is from Apple Valley Natual Soap, and it is definately an improvement over the hemp variety.  The two flavors that I purchased are Marshmallow, and a Berry blend.  I used the Berry this morning and it rocked!  I didn't feel as if my hair was going to crack off, even once today!  Tomorrow I can use the Marshmallow and then have a Smore poptart for breakfast, and I can feel like I am a girl scout, maybe I can use my plarn to make a sit a pon!

See. That could definately be made of plarn, and after yesterday I have enough plarn to make sit a pons for every girl scout in East Central Illinois!

Wait, I hear you say, I thought the whole green thing was becoming easier, more natural, and you were consciously making better choices??  Well, yes, that is all true, but there was this one little issue yesterday.......

I went to the store and did some shopping, look at the "green chlorox anti bacterial wipes", that I purchased!  I did some other shopping, cat food in cans, not plastic, a few other green cleaning products.  I arrived at the check out counter, and realized that I left my awesome reusable shopping bags in the car!  Now, sitting here right now, I know that I could have parked my cart, ran out to the car, and retrieved my bags, and then made my purchase.  It wouldn't have taken five extra minutes. 

Well, I didn't do that.  I thought to my self, self you don't have that much stuff, it won't be that bad....just pay and leave.  I wasn't feeling the greatest about forgetting the bags, and I assured myself that I would reuse the plastic bag which would house these items, or create a collage with my dogs of all my plastic mistakes over the past few weeks, and hang it in the living room.  So, as I am paying, the cashier starts telling me that they are out of medium sized bags.....and frankly I am not really listening, so I go to grab my ecofriendly purchases and this is what I see:

This picture doesn't do this bag justice.  It is draped over my stove, and takes up the whole front of the stove.  It is big enough to house a three year old child!  So if I had any hope of sneaking out of the store with out anyone who I might run into, not noticing my plastic bag, it was gone!  I think this could be recycled into a tent, with that an my new sit a pon, I could become a scout leader!

The title of this entry, Looking Into You, is my favorite Jackson Browne song from the early days.  I know I have many favorite songs of his, but this one is really one I love, and one that I haven't heard him sing in person for many, many years, if at all.  I did notice that he has been singing it occasionally on his current tour, which is exciting. 

 

 And I looked into the faces all passing by
It's an ocean that will never be filled
And the house that grows older and finally crumbles

That even love cannot rebuild
It's a hotel at best, you're here as a guest
You oughta make yourself at home while you're waiting for the rest

I know what this song is written about, or what I have heard Jackson say this song is about, however, as I have said, to me it is about what I think about when hearing his words, that influences me, and my life.  The same song can mean different things to me at different times in my life, and help me work through a variety of situations.

Today the message that I am taking away from this fabulous song, is about the challenge of moving on, and making changes.  In many ways life is a hotel, and we are all guests, with an unkown amount of time to spend and make our mark in the world.  Each stage of life can be seen as a hotel, on the very individualized trip we call "our life", and as we travel through the decades, we find ourselves needing to change our hotels either through choice, or necessity, sometimes due to situations out of our control, sometimes due to the evolution of our family, and the eventual ability of each family member to be responsible for their own lives and the paths that they eventually choose to follow. 

It is not always an easy thing to do, but it is part of the cradle to hearse experience! (to steal a line from Jackson)

Tomorrow I am going to pick my daughter up in Chicago and we are heading to Grand Rapids to see Jackson Browne, himself.  So, if anyone out there has an pipe line to Jackson, I would really like to hear Looking into You!