Sweden is one of the best countries in the world when it comes to recycling. There are green recycling containers all over the place. You recycle your glass - coloured and plain - your newspapers, paper bags, everything cardboard and paper, soft and hard plastic, metal, batteries, light bulbs, clothing. The list is endless. At the supermarket, it costs to take a plastic bag, so a lot take a cloth bag with them, or reuse plastic bags from home. We usually take a bag of recycling on the way to nursery.
We also compost all our food waste. We have three bins in the garden, which are solely for that. One for new waste, one for waste breaking down, and one for the almost ready to be put on the garden waste. As it has been such a long cold winter, they are getting quite full, but I noticed today that the new waste is sinking - which means all the lovely little munching maggots are waking up.
As well as the little recycling centres dotted all over the place, we also have a large recycling plant where you can go with EVERYTHING -furniture, garden waste, paint, you name it, we can recycle it. And this plant is a treasure trove, because there is a large shed where you can leave what you no longer need/want, and find something you do need/want.
I leave a book and come home with a fabulous storage bench for the hall. I leave some plates and cups and come home with Donald Duck comics. So far, I have exchanged my unwanted goods for the following : one red child's bicycle in perfect condition, one cycle helmet, two fabulous garden chairs, glass bottles for the cordial making season to come, books, comics, a kitchen chair, toys for the children and gorgeous gingham curtains for the youngest kidlet's room. Oh, and best of all, a box of handcrocheted pieces of lace.......now washed and pressed and looking so prettily ready for crafting.
Its called Upcycling. So in theory you could cycle to leave your recycling and upcycle your cycle for ...........well, that's the most fabulous part of all!
Wednesday, 26 January 2011
Monday, 24 January 2011
And the winner is....
Maxine Jelinek!
Congratulations Maxine on being my first giveaway winner. You were the random comment chosen using this site
You are the lucky winner of the mrsmacolsson shopper bag!
Please email me your address so I can post off your loot.
Anne-Louise
Congratulations Maxine on being my first giveaway winner. You were the random comment chosen using this site
You are the lucky winner of the mrsmacolsson shopper bag!
Please email me your address so I can post off your loot.
Anne-Louise
Sunday, 16 January 2011
Snow and the Giveaway
I have a friend in Australia who is currently sweltering in over 30 degrees heat, and having problems sleeping! I thought she might be cooled down by some of these pics, and I KNOW her boys would just have so much fun with the mountains of snow we have here right now.
Having said that, today it has been a balmy plus 2 degrees, or 2 degrees warm as the Swedes say! For the uninitiated, that means super slippy everywhere. There is a layer of slush on top of ice on top of hard packed snow, which makes for difficult driving and whoosh walking (that's when you are walking along quite happily and whoosh! you are lying flat on your back in the most undignified manner). Now those savvy Swedes have studded car tyres which are fabulous with the difficult driving conditions, and for the whoosh walking...well you can buy these rather unattractive spikes you fasten over the soles of your shoes which totally eliminates the indignity of ending up flat on your back for the umpteenth time.
Our neighbour's car!
Picnic?
We have so much snow they have to drive it away in lorries from the streets. Once the snow melts, the grit is gathered up again and recycled the next winter.
A traditional Swedish house
My rascals. The snow heap is taller than the apple tree!
Our house with the youngest rascal checking for mail.
Snow on hedge meets snow on road.
And these are what you need for optimum snowball making...
Crocheted mittens in gorgeous ecological natural dyed wool....hmm, who could get those I wonder?
If I write in capital letters, I amn't shouting, just reminding you of the GIVEAWAY.
REMEMBER TO LEAVE A COMMENT BEFORE JANUARY 24 AND YOU COULD WIN A MRSMACOLSSON SHOPPER. REPOST ON YOUR FACEBOOK PAGE FOR AN EXTRA CHANCE.
If you want to post anonymously, that's fine, but write your name or initials in your post so I can work out who you are!
Oh, and I know the captions for the photos are slightly off....I have tried redoing them but failed miserably!
Having said that, today it has been a balmy plus 2 degrees, or 2 degrees warm as the Swedes say! For the uninitiated, that means super slippy everywhere. There is a layer of slush on top of ice on top of hard packed snow, which makes for difficult driving and whoosh walking (that's when you are walking along quite happily and whoosh! you are lying flat on your back in the most undignified manner). Now those savvy Swedes have studded car tyres which are fabulous with the difficult driving conditions, and for the whoosh walking...well you can buy these rather unattractive spikes you fasten over the soles of your shoes which totally eliminates the indignity of ending up flat on your back for the umpteenth time.
Our neighbour's car!
Picnic?We have so much snow they have to drive it away in lorries from the streets. Once the snow melts, the grit is gathered up again and recycled the next winter.
A traditional Swedish house
My rascals. The snow heap is taller than the apple tree!
Our house with the youngest rascal checking for mail.
Snow on hedge meets snow on road.And these are what you need for optimum snowball making...
Crocheted mittens in gorgeous ecological natural dyed wool....hmm, who could get those I wonder?
If I write in capital letters, I amn't shouting, just reminding you of the GIVEAWAY.
REMEMBER TO LEAVE A COMMENT BEFORE JANUARY 24 AND YOU COULD WIN A MRSMACOLSSON SHOPPER. REPOST ON YOUR FACEBOOK PAGE FOR AN EXTRA CHANCE.
If you want to post anonymously, that's fine, but write your name or initials in your post so I can work out who you are!
Oh, and I know the captions for the photos are slightly off....I have tried redoing them but failed miserably!
Monday, 10 January 2011
Happy New Year 2011 and a giveaway
This is a big year already! In exactly 2 weeks I turn 40, in a month our youngest will turn 3 and soon start in daycare and I need to decide what to do with myself!
As in what kind of job will I look for? What would I LOVE to do? Well, those of you who really know me, know that I would really like to just be mrsmacolsson, with a successful etsy shop, supplying lovely non massproduced items, and converting Sweden to be a nation of tea drinkers from teapots, thus required my gorgeous tea cosies.....
With all that in mind, I move on to resolutions. I have never been a fan of those. First, because its incredibly hard to keep them, and the usual ones like being a kinder person/losing 500 pounds by tomorrow/clean the bathroom daily/find my inner self today just sound plain daft. I KNOW I should be a kinder person/should lose a few pounds/clean the loo/and I know what and where my inner self is - believe me, she needs working on, but that's a daily resolution, not an annual one!
So, what about resolutions then? Well, I will try to build up mrsmacolsson into something more viable, and I will try to find a job which allows me to still be wife, mamma and me. So now that decision is made, let's celebrate!
A friend posted a payitforward idea on my facebook page. That gave me the idea of a giveaway! One lucky person will win a mrsmacolsson cloth shopping bag - no restrictions on location! In order to enter you have to do the following:
1. mention me on your facebook page (say something nice, please :))
2. like my facebook page and
3. post a comment on this blog when you have done the above! (on the actual blog page, not on the facebook note link!)
I will then use a fabulous random post number generator to pick the winner. Don't worry if you already won my facebook pay it forward, you could just double your payitforward surprises!
Closing date.....well, let's make it January 24. I'll be away on that date, but as soon as I come home from my secret romantic birthday trip, I'll be generating that number.
Good Luck!
As in what kind of job will I look for? What would I LOVE to do? Well, those of you who really know me, know that I would really like to just be mrsmacolsson, with a successful etsy shop, supplying lovely non massproduced items, and converting Sweden to be a nation of tea drinkers from teapots, thus required my gorgeous tea cosies.....
With all that in mind, I move on to resolutions. I have never been a fan of those. First, because its incredibly hard to keep them, and the usual ones like being a kinder person/losing 500 pounds by tomorrow/clean the bathroom daily/find my inner self today just sound plain daft. I KNOW I should be a kinder person/should lose a few pounds/clean the loo/and I know what and where my inner self is - believe me, she needs working on, but that's a daily resolution, not an annual one!
So, what about resolutions then? Well, I will try to build up mrsmacolsson into something more viable, and I will try to find a job which allows me to still be wife, mamma and me. So now that decision is made, let's celebrate!
A friend posted a payitforward idea on my facebook page. That gave me the idea of a giveaway! One lucky person will win a mrsmacolsson cloth shopping bag - no restrictions on location! In order to enter you have to do the following:
1. mention me on your facebook page (say something nice, please :))
2. like my facebook page and
3. post a comment on this blog when you have done the above! (on the actual blog page, not on the facebook note link!)
I will then use a fabulous random post number generator to pick the winner. Don't worry if you already won my facebook pay it forward, you could just double your payitforward surprises!
Closing date.....well, let's make it January 24. I'll be away on that date, but as soon as I come home from my secret romantic birthday trip, I'll be generating that number.
Good Luck!
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