Sometimes I will post a short entry like this one because I would like to have a question answered.  I am in the process of asking my grandparents these very same questions, but I like to compare and contrast their answers with the stories you share.  So it is time for another What Would Grandma Do? question.

My grandparents saved everything out of necessity.  I do not have to.  At this point, I have the privilege of choosing to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.

On Monday, I took on the Grandma Challenge of using all-natural bar soap because it helps me reduce my use of packaging along with a few chemicals I think I am better off without.

Today, I tried to wash a piece of tin foil so I could reuse it.  I do not think it is going to make it past a second use.  Either modern tin foil is too flimsy to reuse or I need to buy some heavy duty foil.  Perhaps I simply need to live without it.

What did your grandparents save for reuse?  What do you save for reuse today?

When I first came up with the idea for My Grandma Was Green, I thought it would be a good excuse to read some books on the topics of sustainability and simplicity.  I have a stack of them sitting in my living room.  However, after two weeks of writing and reflecting on What Would Grandma Do it is clear to me I will be sufficiently challenged by the stories of my grandparents and yours. 

As I sat down to write each post, I was tempted to simply reprint your stories and write something like, “See!  There it is!  There is so much wisdom right there!  It is so obvious!  Why did I not see it before?”  Each comment and story felt like a precious gem to me.

One of my fondest memories of my Grandma Pickies is watching her hang dry her clothes.  Even though she passed away a couple of years ago, her clothesline still stands. It is a testament to another era and a different way of doing things.  It only took a few moments of reflecting on this one memory for me to realize I could learn so much from the generations before me.  Your stories challenged me in the same way.

And so this is going to be one year of “All Grandma, All the Time.”  I am going to put away my stack of books.  I am going to keep things simple.  I am going to focus on the stories.  I am going to follow my gut.  I am going to laugh.  I am going to cry.  I am going to wrestle through the wisdom and follies of generations past.  This will honor the spirit of my grandparents and yours more than anything.

Please keep the stories coming.  I am committed to making them the heart of My Grandma Was Green.  You can post them in the comments section or write me anytime at april@mygrandmawasgreen.com

I do plan to read and highlight books about my grandparents’ generation.  If I decide to read a book on the topic of sustainability, I am going to head straight to www.beabookworm.blogspot.com.  It is a wonderful site, full of down to earth reviews on “ecologically relevant books.” 

When I was a little girl, we would go out to eat once a month.  Our favorite place to go was Red Lobster.  I would order the all you can eat popcorn shrimp with a Shirley Temple (Sprite and cherry syrup).  Even as I write this, I can picture my family shuffling to sit in a corner booth with a red and white checkered table cloth.  I can hear the squeaky noise my skin made as it rubbed against the seat.  I can practically taste the salty shrimp crunching in my mouth.

I still love to go out to eat.  It feels special because of my childhood experiences.  I go out at least once a week.  That sounds like a lot, but it is pretty accurate when I consider ordering in and a quick sandwich here and there.  My kids view going out to eat or ordering in as a very normal thing.  I remember when McDonalds came to town, whereas my kids consider fast food signage a part of the landscape.  I like to think of going out to eat as entertainment, but it is actually a pretty run of the mill activity.

I can probably say the same of movies.  Going to a movie theater alone with my husband feels like a treat because our kids are not clamoring all over us, but watching movies is another very normal activity.  We regularly rent movies online.  We also rent them from the library.  I like to pretend we are going to library for books but my kids race home to watch the videos, not to read.  I am working on that one!

Speaking of reading, I think it used to be its own form of entertainment.  My kids have more books than I can count.  I read somewhere that Abraham Lincoln owned only a few books growing up. He read each one so many times he had them memorized.

I know I have a lot more leisure time than my grandparents did.  My life seems to be focused on maximizing my time for leisure, relaxation and entertainment.  Consequently, a lot of acitivites my grandparents would have labeled as entertainment feel like a normal part of my routine.  We do other things as a family besides eating out and watching movies but I am hard pressed to think of anything that truly feels like entertainment they way I remember Red Lobster as a kid.

I am really curious about how my grandparents would have defined entertainment.  What did they do as a family?  Did my grandma spend time with friends?  Did my grandpa meet up with the guys?  Did my grandma and grandpa go on date nights?  What Would Grandma Do For Fun?