It’s funny how having a kid can change your perspective of the world. I always wanted to be good person, but now that I have a pair of tiny eyes following me, I’ve realized that I need to be a role model day in and day out. Itty Bitty watches every move I make, whether it’s drinking my iced tea in the morning, brushing my teeth, or even how I treat my friends and loved ones. He is my little shadow, my Padawan, and he’s made me a better Tall Mom.
Now that he is walking and understands a great deal of words and phrases, I’ve tried to make simple changes in my life. Changes that make me a better person, and hopefully make a small impact on the world.
For example, I’ve toned down my potty mouth. Granted, I still drop a few expletives here and there, but I’ve tried to watch my foul language when Itty Bitty is around. It’s been tough, especially since I’m married to the swear-slinging Tall Dad, but I’ve made a conscious decision to cut back and use more appropriate adjectives.
I know I’m leaving this world on Itty Bitty’s hands one day, and I want to make sure it isn’t littered in unnecessary garbage – so I’ve been working on upping our recycling at home. I’m not going to lie, living with a non-recycling raised person like Tall Dad (ps non-recycler should be a swear word) has made this task a bit harder, but I will continue to teach both of my boys the 3 R’s – reduce, reuse, recycle!
My Day starts when I use my Keurig. In fact, I use it at least once or twice a day – even in the summer – because of the wicked awesome ability to brew over ice.
I digress…
I also love teaching him about plants. He loves smelling and touching flowers, so we purchased a beautiful container garden for our front porch. A few weeks ago I went out and made a new container garden with cherry tomatoes and basil.
Every day Itty Bitty and I sit out on our porch, me with my iced tea, and he in his little pop n play.
We look at the trees, the birds, and wave hi to the dogs. Itty Bitty always wants to touch our tomato plant, and I was so excited to show him our first ripe tomato this weekend!
Small victories my friends!
The sweet tomato was shared by the two of us, after which Itty Bitty signed for “more.”
Thank goodness I bought backup tomatoes at the market, because the rest of mine are still growing.
This is the first year I’ve ever dabbled in gardening, and I love the whole idea of composting. I think it’s incredible that bits of unused food and even coffee or tea grounds can help our plants grow.
So even though I don’t have a huge garden, nor a big compost heap in my backyard (we do live in a tiny apartment after all) I still like that I can introduce Itty Bitty to it through our container garden or recycling anything we can.
Who knows, maybe my Padawan will be recycling on his own one day and blossom into a full-on composting Jedi.
Without the potty mouth. Hopefully (but not likely).
Keurig makes a Ba-gillion varieties of k-cups. If you want to see the great assortment, head on over to your local Walmart like I did.
The brew over ice varieties have this cute little blue logo on the side of the box.
To make these delicious beverages, and to possibly save yourself some money by not buying iced tea elsewhere, simply run your Keurig like you would for your hot beverages, but this time, have a plastic tumbler filled with ice to hold your drink.
It is very important that, when brewing over ice, you must be using a plastic cup or tumbler.
Brew your favorite and newfound Brew Over Ice flavors on the 6oz (small) or the 8oz (medium) setting for the best brew taste.
Here’s a cool video showing you how it’s done: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b12OUIiia0
