I love you Internet for all the free things you bring my way. Recently I found a Web site where you can print out free coloring pages of the alphabet for your kids to scribble on at their will. Here’s the first one we started using: Alphabet-soup.net.

Then, I did a quick Google search and found trillions of them. With all of these pages to print I wonder if I’ll ever go out and buy a coloring book.

Recycling has been a topic of conversation lately in my office, and we did a story on the topic as did our local newspaper.

Evey time I toss a plastic container, water bottle or other “triangle 2″ item into our recycle center I think of Al Gore. We started home recycling after watching “An Inconvenient Truth.” But what do we do with the items that that you can’t recycle at your curb?

For months, my husband has had a computer that he needs to recycle. We can’t toss it in the trash because it’s got toxic chemicals in it. We have yet to find a suitable/appropriate home for the computer so it sits in the playroom, along with a hundred other items that need to be put in their place.

We have too much stuff, as I’ve written about before. Too many items. But, what do you do with things like computers when you don’t want to disappoint Al Gore? We keep them until we 1.) find the time to figure it out and then find more time to get it to the appropriate recycling location 2.) finally say, “screw it, Al” and toss it in the Sunday trash.

Recycling must get easier. We barely have time to get recycling to the curb in time for the Monday truck to get to the house, let alone have to make a call to find out where it should go, then have to drive to to the appropriate location. I can barely get out the door with clothes on in the morning.

Well, my recent “Martha Stewart Living” magazine has a listing for a Web site that will help: www.earth911.org. You can search by item you want to recycle and by zip, giving you a listing of local establishments that will accept your item. Now, if only I can find someone to get me dressed in the morning, I’ll have enough time to drive out to Timbuktu to drop off my recyclables!

We are fortunate enough to have received annual passes to Walt Disney World for Christmas this year, so we headed out for our first visit recently. Planning only a half-day since we can go back when ever we want this year. Here’s what’s on my packing list for the day:

• Fanny sack (driver’s licenses, cash, Credit Card)
• Sunblock
• Visor
• Camera (with charged battery)
• Cell phones
• Stroller
• Bottle water
• Juice box
• Snack
• Diaper bag (check to make sure diapers are in it)
• Change of clothes for toddler
• Flip-flops for the water area
• Tylenol (I always need one at some point in the day)
• Baby blanket to cover stroller

One of the most important rules we have in our family is that everyone wears tennis shoes to the theme parks. We spend all day on our feet and need to protect them and make sure everyone is comfortable all day long. The flip-flops are for the areas where our son can splash through water so he doesn’t have to go barefoot. You’d be surprised by what we see on people’s feet at theme parks: All I can say is, “ouch! My dogs hurt!”

Take this list to heart if you are going to any type of day event — it doesn’t have to be a theme park. Proper planning can make the difference between an enjoyable day spent together vs. a day spent looking for things you’d wish you brought — or worse, days spent nursing sunburned children and adults!

R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Find out what it means to me
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Take care, TCB

Oh (sock it to me, sock it to me,
sock it to me, sock it to me)
A little respect (sock it to me, sock it to me,
sock it to me, sock it to me)
Whoa, babe (just a little bit)
A little respect (just a little bit)

Aretha Franklin’s famous song is part of my theme for the new year. It’s my new year’s resolution: Respect.

A few years ago my husband and I decided to keep the resolutions simple. Sure, we always want to lose weight, eat healthy, exercise more, clean our house more often, the list goes on … but with too many resolutions it’s too easy to let them slip away as we move on with the year. With one, simple resolution we realize it is easy to keep.

For the past two years we had the same resolution: “Keep it simple.” When posed with two options, choose the one that is easier to fulfill. This can be interpreted in so many ways, but it really helped us realize that we over analyze so much in our lives. By keeping it simple, we are able to have so much more time in our lives to do the things that really matter. Since we did that resolution for two years in a row, it is pretty much a part of our lives. Now, we’re on to something new.

Respect.

I got the idea this year from Peter Walsh of TLC’s “Clean Sweep” TV show. He is the organization expert that asks his clients if they respect their precious heirlooms that have dust all over them. Every episode of the show, it seems, shows him asking one of the homeowners if he is respecting his items he claims means so much to him. Peter makes his point that if the item is so important, it needs to be respected. (Read my post about how Peter helps a woman with a hoarding problem, from the “Oprah Show.”)

Although our resolution is mainly about respecting our possessions, it really goes so much further. We’ll be asking it of everything we pass this year: our bodies, time, home, others.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Find out what it means to me

Aretha Franklin was talking about a man when she sang that famous song, but to me it means a way to find out what truly matters.

I didn’t get my packages in the mail as I’d hoped this weekend, nor did I mail my Christmas cards. So, now I’m even further behind schedule. And, Christmas, need I remind you, is one week from tomorrow.

I did get some down time this weekend, so at least I have my sanity.  Tonight I’ll have to hustle to get the rest of my “to dos” done.