I am in love with someone who I will most likely never meet. Someone who has no idea who I am or even that he is loved. It consumes me that I can not go and get him, that I can not be his Mom (Canadians are unable to adopt from his region).

Langley is 4.5 and lives in an orphanage in Eastern Europe. He was given up as a baby by his parents because he has Down Syndrome. Unfortunately this is common in that part of the world. Children left, thrown away because there are not deemed as "perfect".  What a warped definition of the word. Every single one of the children on Reece's Rainbow are perfect. They all need a home, a family and to know that they are loved. Because I can not go and get Langley myself I am attempting to do the next best thing. I am trying to raise his grant account as much as possible to make it financially easier for someone else to adopt him. Adoptions in his region typically cost $35,000 USD and all money raised will go into his grant account which goes directly towards the cost of his adoption.

Langley is due to be transferred to an adult mental institution soon. He may be there already actually (he can still be adopted after he is transferred). In these institutions children with disabilities are locked away from society like they do not even exist. Many end up dying within the first few years of arriving due to lack of food and being contained within rooms. Their heads are shaved, they are sedated 24/7, they have no toys or books. They are often tied to their cribs or left alone in their crib all day long. They just give up on life. I don't want this for Langley. I need for him to know what the warmth of a hug and belly ache from laughter feels like. Langley deserves to be playing with trucks and baseballs, not confined to a crib in an institution.

What I am asking is simple. Help me save Langley. Give what you would spend on a coffee or on lunch. As a thank you I will enter your name into a giveaway for some amazing prizes (see list below). Joey and I will personally match every donation up to $2,000.

Click on the Chip In box located on the right sidebar or down below. This will allow you to donate via PayPal. Make sure you specify 'Langley' in the special instructions. Your donation will then be transferred to Reece's Rainbow and Langley's grant account (it takes about 2 days to show up on the website). All donations are 100% tax deductible.

I will be notified of your donation and can add the appropriate number of entries into the giveaway. If you also share via social media please leave a comment and I will add the appropriate number of entries (I have a spreadsheet of course).

If you are interested in adopting Langley or know someone who is please email me and I will put you in touch with the right people. You have my personal promise that I will do whatever it takes to help you fundraise his adoption costs. If you are unable to adopt in Langley's region but your heart is open to adoption please check out Reece's Rainbow for hundreds of other children waiting.

In London (UK) there is a massive M&M store. In one part there were theme rooms. One room was dedicated to a location project where women and girls have small businesses where they take recycled materials and make goods like purses, wallets and bags. You could find out more about the Mitz organization and also buy some of goods they have made with old M&M wrappers.

When it is cold outside it is easy to be tempted to turn up the heat as your first reaction rather than getting a quilt, being active or putting on a sweater (and socks because my feet are always cold).  We have a programmable thermostat which helps to regulate the temperature based on the day and time. You have to be smart about how low you keep it because you don't want to get sick or have your pipes freeze. We keep ours at 65F at night, 70F during the day and 73F in the evening. I am always cold (we could be in South America where it is 35C and if there is a little breeze I will shiver) so I am always wearing layers in the house. This way if am cleaning I can take off my hoodie but when I am just chilling on the couch watching Revenge Very Serious Environmental Documentaries I can still be warm without cranking the heat. 

February 9th is National Sweater Day in Canada (doesn't mean you can't follow along my dear American and Overseas friends). The WWF is asking everyone to turn your heat down 2 degrees and put on a sweater. I say the uglier the better because lets face it, no one is going to notice if you are wearing a normal sweater. But everyone will notice if you are wearing this. And hello it's an opportunity to spread the word about National Sweater Day!

This years campaigns lets you get a reminder call (last day tomorrow - Feb 8th!!) from a granny to wear your sweater on the 9th! There are lots of grannies to pick from so you are bound to find one that suits your needs. ::insert evil laughter here::

So if you live in the south or west or anywhere that doesn't really get winter this post is probably not even remotely relevant. But that doesn't mean you can't have fun and send your polar bear friends a reminder phone call from a granny of your choice!

Who is in? Will you turn down your heat by 2 degrees on the 9th? (If you live somewhere where you are lucky enough to have the AC on this time of year will you turn yours up 2 degrees?). Will you wear a sweater? 

This fall we noticed lots of our neighbours with large boxes in their driveways. We knew exactly what was inside of them...snow blowers. I have to admit I just don't get the need for one unless you have a massive driveway (so not in a sub division) or if you have back problems or if age is an issue. Hello, we are Canadian...shoveling snow is what we do. If it was an Olympic event Canada would be getting a gold medal.

There is an environmental impact to using a snow blower. They use gas and there are emissions from them. Studies from the EPA suggest that snow blowers emit 1 pound of carbon monoxide per hour which is similar to driving the average car 70 miles. There is also the noise pollution (why oh why do people snow blow at 1AM???). It is part of the reason we will never own one as long as we live in this house. Even though we have the longest stretch of sidewalk in our neighbourhood and a large driveway.  

So then why do we have a gas lawn mower? Shouldn't the same principles apply to cutting grass and snow removal?  They should but it is really rare to see someone with a manual lawn mower. For us it is because we have significantly more grass to mow than we have area that requires shoveling. If we had a smaller yard a manual mower would have been an option.

* Keep them properly maintained.

* Inspect prior to each use to ensure the auger is clear of debris (do this with the unit OFF).

* Refuel in an area where you can contain any spills. Always use a funnel.

* Think about when you need to use it. Is it really required when there is only 1cm of snow on the ground?

For the past 3 months I have been unplugging our cable box every night because I read that cable boxes can use as much power as a fridge. I have to admit that I was skeptical that ours uses that much since we don't have a PVR or HD box or anything like that. But I wanted to give it a try just in case our cable box was a energy sucking beast.

Turns out it isn't. 

I looked at our hydro bills for the past 3 years and here are the results.

Nov 1 - Dec 17 2009: 653.34 kWh (hello mat leave)

Nov 1 - Dec 16 2010: 598.04 kWh

Nov 1 - Dec 16 2011: 561.48 kWh

The difference between 2010 and 2011 (similar years vs 2009 when I was home on mat leave) is 36.56 kWh. We have billing that is based on Off Peak, Mid Peak and On Peak hours so having the cable box unplugged from say 10PM - 5PM would mean we were hitting the Off Peak and On Peak hours. Because of this I used the Mid Peak cost to calculate how much we saved by unplugging the cable box for 2 months. 

$3.63

That doesn't include the delivery charge, regulatory charges, debt retirement charges or tax so when you add that on it is a whopping $6.64. Which is 5.5% of our total bill. I'll be honest...it isn't worth it. It was easy unplugging it but plugging it back in and having to wait for it to start back up and get its signal was a huge pain. It would take a good 15 minutes to be back to normal. And when you have a toddler those 15 minutes are like 15 years.

If anyone has a PVR I would love to see you do a challenge similar to this and see what results you get. 

Tonight our cable box will remain plugged in and Joe is about a kajillion times happier because of it. With these results would you keep unplugging your box each night?