Talking Turkey

I woke up today at 7:00. “Bright eyed and bushy-tailed” my mama used to say. I went outside to get my paper and was stunned to see a giant log on my porch. I could barely lift it by myself. When I opened it I found a full 3 inches of paper. There was a little bit of news, but 98% of it is advertisements. It’s like the Sunday paper on steroids. I know y’all are thinking ‘so what?’ or ‘she’s exaggerating.” Not so. I am not exaggerating and there are lots of reasons why this is so not okay.

First of all, I’m a recycler. I collect any and everything that can be recycled and I deliver it the recycling center. Not for money, just for my own piece of mind. I believe if each person started to pay attention to what they’re throwing away we could reduce the amount of trash going into the landfills by over half. I am sure of this. For example, I only have to take out the trash every other week. But, anyway, I digress...all this extra paper just means more stuff I have to lug to the recycling center. Ugh.

Second (and very much related to the first point) it makes me cringe to think of ALL the paper, in ALL the homes, in ALL of Kern County that will be thrown away because nobody around here friggin’ recycles! Seriously - it boggles the mind!

And third (okay, call me a tree hugger – whatever) do we all really need 20 page, full color, glossy ads for Sears, JC Penny, Michaels, Floyd’s, Osh, Rite Aid, Pep Boys, Big 5, Home Depot, Crescent Jewelers, Best Buy, Robinsons-May, Linens-n-Things (which I prefer to call Sheets-n-Sh*t), Longs, Old Navy, Zales, Lowes, Ace, Toys-R-Us, Mervyn’s, Good Guys, Gottchalks, Office Depot, Target (I love Target), Macy’s and Kohl’s? I sure don’t.

I have to go peel 10 tons of potatoes now. I just love the holidays.

Happy Thanksgiving to all y'all.