QuirkyKnitGirl

No pictures yet, but I have finally got all the furniture I need for this apartment!

Yes, the apartment I moved into in September.

When I moved I got rid of some pieces I didn’t love – namely, my desk – and since the new place is bigger I had room to add things. I upgraded my crappy shelves to a nice cabinet for magical supplies, got a new and better desk, and finally this month found a patio chair and a china cabinet, thus completing the major furniture purchases.

The patio chair is quite possibly my favorite thing ever. It’s pink, with an ice cream cone painted on it, and it’s delightfully adorable. It gives me a perfect place to sit and enjoy my garden, or at least watch the aphids destroy my rosebush. (I got aphid spray. I want to get ladybugs, but had a hard time finding any. I’ll keep looking, I’m sure the aphids will return.)

The china cabinet is also fantastic. I had a hard time with this, because either I am very picky or everyone else in the Bay Area has horrid taste in china cabinets. Also, fairly certain I hate any furniture style that originated after 1945, which is an aesthetic my budget does not necessarily support. But I did find one, and it’s lovely.

I’m so pleased by this — it makes a HUGE difference in how my apartment looks and how I’m able to store things and be organized. Its also making a great difference in my mood. It’s just so much pleasant to be here, even more than it was before. I lived in my last apartment and it’s cloud of misery for so long, I’ve almost forgotten what this is like…

Yesterday was Earth Day. I found myself thinking about how far we have to go; I suspect I’m not alone in that. There are always things I can do as an individual and there are certainly a huge number of things we still need to accomplish as a society to become greener.

But I also think it’s a good time to reflect on what I am doing. I’ve greened my commute, riding my bike and taking a ferry that’s powered by biodiesel. My new apartment has better insulation and windows, cutting down on my utility usage. My car, which I only drive a few days out of the week, gets pretty good gas mileage. I use reusable shopping bags. I’m attempting to grow at least some of my own produce.

There’s more that could be done, but it’s easy to feel helpless in the face of such huge issues. Sometimes, reminding me of the little things helps.

I also remember why — that the Earth is beautiful, the Earth is our mother. It’s our responsibility to take care of her, to love her and to honor her. If we don’t, then we’re the ones that will face the consequences.