Donna Lundy's View » Environment

Summer Fare

Donna — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 00:01:53 +0000

It might not be officially summer for another two months, but let me tell you, it’s plenty hot around here. We have been taking cover from afternoon thunderstorms every day for more than a week. Last night the storms had heavy rain and hail, plus lots of lightning strikes. I was so concerned about the lightning that I unplugged the computer and the video games so that if we got hit by lightning that they would not get fried.

In Like a Lion

Donna — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 03:09:13 +0000

March is coming in with a roar. We have had temperatures drop to just the 20′s and 30′s and we are expecting snow tonight again. I don’t like to have snow on the weekend, but if we are lucky it won’t amount to much and we can get on about our business in spite of the bad weather.

If this is the price we have to pay for an early springs, then so be it. I am looking forward to March “going out like a lamb.”

Allergie Woes

Donna — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 01:42:25 +0000

Sounds like we might need to seek out an austin allergist if my daughter’s allergies keep getting worse. I was told that she might want to start the allergy shots that so many people are flocking into Allergist’s offices these days to get. They really have made millions of people’s lives a whole heck of a lot healthier. It can take several years, but worth it in the long run when you consider how miserable having allergies can make your quality of life a real pain.

Windy Day

Donna — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 17:58:21 +0000

We have been blessed with such a mild winter, the mildest winter on record to date. So the big talk is how and when are we going to pay for this unusual warm weather. Well today we are paying some of our dues by experiencing the most outrageous wind I’ve felt since the last hurricane scare.

The wind is so strong that even the gulls have trouble walking about.

For The Love of Aquamarive

Donna — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:55:30 +0000

My all time favorite color has always been aquamarine and I have found the perfect affordable home decor at the Z Gallerie’s website today. It must have been fate because I have been looking for some aquamarine decorative accessories and I just filed for my tax return and I should be getting some cash back in the next week. I learned to file my taxes online and it saves a lot of the time that we normally have to wait for our refund (if we get a refund) so I get my hands on my money in no time, as well as going directly into my checking account.

If you get a chance you really should check out this stylish home decor and chick furniture and see all the wonderful affordable furniture and the gorgeous accessories that they have there. Check out this beautiful piece of faux coral that would, and will, look great in the piece of art I am creating with pieces of the sea’s and ocean’s that I’ve visited at, along with all of the shark’s teeth that I’ve collected ever since I was a wee one. I’ve never seen a piece of aquamarine coral before, even though it is faux – so this is exciting.

Argan Conditioner and Argan Shampoo

Donna — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 22:36:10 +0000

Last night I finally tried the Argan Shampoo and Argan Conditioner that I received as a gift for Christmas through our Secret Santa party at work and I have to tell you that I am really impressed with the way this stuff makes my hair feel and look. They combine seaweed extract with Argan oil and Vitamin E so that it gently cleans and moisturizes the scalp and the hair and by golly it really works wonders. I’ll have to make sure and thank the co worker that drew my name, it is suppossed to be a secret but secrets are impossible to keep around that place!

Sobe in Plastic?

Donna — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 02:52:34 +0000

For an occasional treat, I will enjoy a nice cold Sobe beverage. My favorite is the Green Tea, but I also like the citrus flavor and recently tried the Nirvana, which has a melon flavor. All these years the Sobe drinks have been in tall glass bottles. But today when I bought a citrus Sobe, the bottle was not glass – it was plastic. What’s up with that?

Water Heater

Donna — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:19:04 +0000

I’ve been taking a look at how to save some money lately. In these shaky times, I think it is important to save every penny we can! We recently received the electric bill, and that was motivation for me to start looking at ways to reduce our electricity usage, even now without the added extra expense of running a central air conditioner.

First thing I’m going to do is get a thermal insulated blanket for the water heater. Our family takes a lot of showers, and we run the dishwasher every day (yes, it is full when we run it, and we have it set on air drying!) and we do a LOT of laundry, so I think insulating the water heater better will help reduce our electricity usage. I’ve read that doing this will save 4-9% in water heating costs!

Insulating pipes

Donna — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 22:03:22 +0000

On my campaign to make our house more energy-efficient (for the environment AND our shrinking electric budget) I have decided that it is also a good idea to get pipe insulation for our hot water pipes. I’m going to have my hubby go to Home Depot and buy some pipe insulation and install it in the basement.

I’ve seen some little insulated boxes that fit over top of the outside water spigots to help protect them from freezing. I think that is a good idea, too. It would be awful to have one freeze and burst – especially during the day while we are not home to deal with an emergency like that.

I do try to conserve water and have always turned out the lights when I leave a room and other prudent habits. But I’m always on the lookout for more ideas on how to save money and also help the environment.

Energy Saving Solutions

Donna — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 22:29:32 +0000

Energy efficient windows are a great way to help reduce our heating and cooling bills of course, but we all know that they can cost a pretty penny to purchase and have these particular energy saving solutions installed so in this case it takes money to save money, the old Catch 22 concept, sigh. I am really interested in having a home energy audit done here, last year the heating bill about broke us and I’m sure that this year it will be even worse unless we get some of these drafty house solutions going real quick like. It is getting colder and colder at night, last night we actually hit freezing, not happy with that at all.

I love my old house but it most definitely has real issues that have become a real pain in the pocket book. We roast in the summer and freeze during the winter, even though we have a fireplace that we use most of the cold winter months to help as much as a fire place is able to. But even the cost of fire wood has gone up ridiculously high these past few years. I’d really like to find one of the contraptions that you put in front of the fireplace that pushes the hot air from the fire into the house, I’ll have to seriously start looking into that option as well.