Monday, June 9, 2008

This and That and Everything Else

This is supposed to be my Project Support Beauty In Nature post, and I will get to that in a bit, I promise. If you are a regular reader you know the last few weeks have been very, very, busy in the Cyberbones household as we prepare to move from Indonesia to Europe.  Last week all our worldly goods were loaded into boxes and shipped off.  If all goes well those same boxes will eventually show up at our new house in Germany where I will get to unpack all those boxes.  It has occurred to me perhaps we should minimize our junk, as we seem to have far too much stuff.

Today the last of our pets are gone from the house and the only inhabitants left are human.  The fish moved last week to their new aquarium at the office.  The ongoing meal worm experiment was returned today to the classroom from whence it came, and now Mrs. Wolff can find a new home for the creepy crawlies.  There seem to be no shortage of volunteers to take a box of bugs. I will not miss the darkling beetles, the meal worms, or their great great great grand grubs, but I suspect the boys will. 

The cats also left today, although we are not giving them away. They are off to stay with the crazy cat lady, AKA Aunt Teri. They will enjoy hanging out in the Kentucky wilderness, bird watching, squirrel chasing and being spoiled rotten.  Sort of summer camp for cats.  Lucky cats.  They will rejoin us in DC to head to Germany.  Actually we will rejoin them in mid July when we head to Kentucky for some family fun.  Fluffy and Bing are well traveled felines.
















My poor babies look so unhappy! 

Bye Bing, Bye Fluffy! Say Hi to Teri for me.


Now on to project support beauty in nature!  Lotus at Sarcastic Mom posted today about toilet paper and the waste it creates.  I guess we do kill a lot of trees in the interst of keeping our bums clean, but I do like a clean bum. 

 Since moving to Indonesia I have learned the solution to the toilet paper crisis, just don't use toilet paper.  Most bathrooms here don't have toilet paper, instead they are equipped with this handy little sprayer you see on the wall.  After you do your business you use this sprayer to clean your private regions.  Voila! No toilet paper waste!

The fancier bathrooms sometimes have a little sprayer hidden under the toilet seat so that when you turn the little knob on the side of the seat it will come out and spray you in the... um... yeah... this is a family blog so we will just say it sprays you where you need to be sprayed after using the toilet.  It is called the Eco-Washer and provides endless fun for my three year old son.  There is even a model called the Washlet featuring heated water, warm seat, anti slam lid, air freshener, and blow dryer.  My husband is fond of saying "For that price it better wipe my bottom!"  Well this toilet seat will!  Truly, this isn't a joke, think of it more as a bidet and toilet all in one. Now you can have that shower fresh feeling all day long.

While I am on the subject of Supporting Beauty In Nature I saw a wonderful segment this morning on CNN eco-solutions about a recycling project in the Philippines.  Did you ever wonder what happens to the big billboards when they change out the pictures?  I know I didn't. Well a group in the Philippines is doing amazing things with this often wasted material.  Take a moment to watch this video.  It is inspiring and well worth a few minutes of your time! 

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

My brother and sister in law live in Japan and all the toilets there have that sprayer. Of course, they also talk to you, make fake flushing sounds, have heaters and lights with motion detectors.

I have a spray nozel attached to one toilet, but I use it only for rinsing baby diapers before putting them in the wash. Maybe I should try another practical application. :)

Lotus (Sarcastic Mom) said...

You know, I tried to use the mini-shower sprayer that we bought to help clean out cloth diapers as a bidet type sprayer, it's pretty much just like what you have pictured here.

But... um. It used the tank water. And, um... when I tried it... I found out... IT IS FREAKING COLD.

My nethers could not hack it. Heh.

Great idea, though! Thanks so much for posting about it!

Terio said...

I have been preparing for Fluffy and Bing all day and I had to catch myself and say, "Hey, they aren't people coming to visit! They don"t care if the house is cluttered or the bed isn't made!" I then quit running around worring about the dust bunnies as the kitties (There will be 4 for awhile) will love to chase said bunnies! I don't think that is has hit Kevin yet that there will be FOUR cats in the house! I wonder which kitty will be the boss. I think Kitten or Fluffy; they are older.