Saving the Earth

Yesterday, after several discussions and an odd dream about the issue, we decided to stop buying bottled water. We will be lessening our carbon footprint(s) AND saving money. And more importantly!! We now have room in the fridge for our "natural" turkey.

Generally we go through 3 cases of bottled water a week. Four weeks a month, 12 months a year, and on and on. So that's a lot of plastic bottles in a landfill.

We got a new filter for the water in the fridge. We got a super cute little brita filter pitcher for inside the fridge and we got a faucet filter thingy for the kitchen sink. Quite the new set-up.

The only issues I have with the whole thing so far are that it isn't at all convenient. It is stupid slow to fill the pitcher. The water out of the fridge still tastes like crap. The sink thingy leaks all the time and doesn't shut off very quickly. And I can't drink out of any of our glasses because 1. They taste like milk residue (blech) and 2. they are filthy.

Why are they filthy?? Because the dishwasher sucks. It always has. I'm sure it was the cheapest model the builder could possibly find. And the water here is too heavy to get anything clean. It leaves buildup or something all over the dishes. Especially the silverware and glasses.

What? Try a new dishwashing detergent? Oh silly, that doesn't work. I have tried them ALL. Literally. I actually went to Wal-Mart yesterday and got a new kind that was recommended by the random Sears employee I talked with. But alas, no work-y. I tried it out over night by putting in clean glasses and silverware. They actually came out dirtier and filmier than they went in. GROSS!

I used to get this great hard water specific dishwashing detergent from some amway friends, but it was expensive and I am not really friends with them anymore. And I don't want to buy stuff that way....So I am out of options.

Yes, if you have stuck it out this long to read all the way through to here you can tell it all makes me grumpy. But also!! It makes me grumpy that I am in exactly the same situation I was in 4 years ago. Same crappy dishwasher, same bitching about people coming over to eat and having gross dirty dishes and silverware to serve them dinner on, and same glasses that taste like milk. Ugh. The literal only difference is that instead of having Tim come over with his wife while Chad cooked, is that Tim is here and his wife isn't invited.

All of this follows on a few weeks of feeling again like I am just going nowhere, getting no further down the line in anything. It makes me want to drink heavily and swear.