Freecycling, the new recycling

I freecycled today. I have been a member of Freecycle TO for a while, and although I occasionally look through the listings to check out any interesting offers, I have not bothered to contact anyone to ask for any of the interesting things I see. Also, having a teeny-weenie house keeps me pretty disciplined. For those unclear of the concept, the Freecycle Network (TM) is a Yahoo group set up in various cities (originating in Arizona I think), open to all who want to "recycle" something that is still fairly usable rather than throwing it away or selling it. Its main aim is to keep things from the landfills as long as possible. So, this morning I posted an offer for a DVD player that we have. Its tray has gone on strike and will not eject. We bought a new one so instead of just chucking it in the garbage, I posted an offer. Within a couple of hours I received 5 emails asking if he/she could have it as he/she will be able to repair it. I am free to choose whomever I deem best suited to accept my "gift" so I chose the one that sent the longest email. She will be picking up the DVD from my porch this afternoon during her lunch break. I think I will be freecycling more often in the future.

After Sasha's Kidnasium session this morning (I still find overenthusiastic grandmums/dads extremely irritating (but I am hormonal)...for Gods sake people, no need to clap and cheer like its the Olympics, the kid is only crawling through the tunnel!!), I walked up a couple of blocks to this shop to order a bunch of cupcakes for Sasha's birthday brunch. I figured cupcakes are much easier as no knives are involved, I don't have to subject my daughter to the trauma of Mummy decapitating Dora or Diego for the sake of dessert, each guest can choose his/her favourite animal (I have asked for various animal/dinosaur shaped chocolates to be staked on top of each cupcake) and more importantly, they can bring some home. If I have to eat leftover cupcakes for days after, so is everyone else!! I then went to another shop to order much less elaborate Nut free and Kosher cupcakes with the same theme for her daycare celebration. Nut free because most children centres are nut free zones, you know, to avoid some kid licking the floor going into anaphalectic shock. Kosher because I think one of her little friends is Jewish. I will order the pizza on her birthday itself. I then went to the nearby supermarket to get some crab and shrimp rolls for my lunch. Which made me think about the non-kosher pizza. Should I get some sushi too? Is that kosher? But wait, the rolls have sesame seeds. The last thing I want is to have some kid die at Sash's birthday as that will so get her kicked out of daycare...will ask J how other parents deal with this. I am going to enjoy my Tuesday before it starts snowing again this evening.