Friday, September 24, 2010

Back Again?

So I really wanted to start posting regularly to this blog. 2010 has been a very sad blogging year for me. I thought 2009 was bad, but I have barely posted anything this year. I have a head full of ideas, but unfortunately, that's where they are right now...still floating around in my head. I am going to make a more concerted effort to blog more regularly so here goes the next post.

My most recent thoughts have been about the current family vehicle. I love our Mazda 5! It has been a great car for us. However, as my brother was recently rear-ended in his car, it got me thinking about some safety issues regarding crossover vehicles with 3rd row seats. The 3rd row seat in the Mazda is literally about 6 inches away from the rear bumper. Because we have 3 kids, there is always at least one child in that 3rd row.

To ease my fears, DH looked up some crash safety ratings for the Mazda 5. It has some of the highest ratings for safety of any vehicle on the market today. I did some research myself and found that rear-end collisions occur much less frequently than front and side collisions. The Mazda 5 is equipped with both front and side air bags. I suppose that if we were hit seriously enough to injure or kill whoever might have been sitting in the 3rd row, it probably doesn't matter what kind of vehicle a person was driving.

My next concern beyond safety was vehicle capacity. We have been thinking about adding to our family. We can accomodate another child in terms of seating, but there would be no cargo room left over to carry anything else. Most of our travels are just short trips to the library, grocery store, parks, etc. We rarely take long trips. I think that for the occasions that we need more room, the roof rack should more than suffice.

The Mazda 5 is a great vehicle! It is well-equipped for the price. I love the sliding doors. Mostly I love how fuel-efficient it is. I consistently get at least 28 mpg even when I drive around the city. I generally get 30+ when driving on the highway. I have gotten as high as 35 mpg. There is one one concern that will need to be addressed when the kids are older. There is not a lot of leg room between the rows of seats. Especially in the 3rd row. Once the kids are older, I think that it will be a tight squeeze for them. Still, as our kids are all still very young, I think that it is an issue that we can address several years down the road.

When I went to visit Taiwan a few months ago, I noticed that the Mazda 5 was a popular vehicle. It was also one of the largest vehicles on the road. I think it's too bad that in the U.S., the Mazda 5 doesn't appear to be very popular. For me personally, I guess the bottom line is I don't know that I need or would want a larger vehicle at least for the time being. I really love my Mazda 5!

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Back Again

I was going to give up this blog permanently, but I decided that blogging about living a more sustainable lifestyle is important to me. It's also something that I enjoy doing. So, I am going to make an effort to post more regularly.

I came across a tutorial the other day about repurposing a man's dress shirt into a girl's dress. The dresses are so cute! DH just recently retired several of his shirts. The edges of the shirts and the sleeves are worn out and frayed. I am going to see what I can do with the shirts. I followed the tutorial at http://www.dana-made-it.com/2008/07/tutorial-shirt-dress.html
and made a little dress for my 3-year old.

It took me one afternoon. I thought for my first try, it turned out okay. Here's how it turned out.