Re-Purpose, Re-Use, Re-Cycle

In our house Bob the Builder rules. Well, Fireman Sam and Frankly are rather popular, but Bob has all the catchy phrases; "Can we dig/build it? Yes, we can!" And in the last year it seems that Bob has really jumped on the "re-use, re-cycle, re-purpose" bandwagon.

So, we now recycle all sorts of stuff. But the big boy came home from school with a new idea, borrowed from a classmate, to gather junk on a walk and then create a robot. I'm game, sounded fun. But then it got dicey. What am I willing to let him pick up off the street of NYC and bring into the house? What is too "icky" to touch? Which led to the question, "Mom, if its that icky, shouldn't it be in the garbage?" Which meant all the really gross stuff was picked up and held by me until we got to the garbage can. YUCK!

We also recycled stuff from around the house, which makes me question where is all the clutter coming from? I really thought I was getting ahead in this battle! But I guess the Chinese New Year clean up was a couple months ago! Finally, to assembly of the robot which required more tape then I ever could have imagined (or read waste), as well as cleaning and drying the not too icky stuff (or read as messy sink).

In the end we have a homemade robot that adds to our clutter, created from inside and outside trash, which is not a great toy as it is held together by tape and will eventually disappear one evening, by the "Bad Santa (see 3/16/09 entry)". It called for a great walk outside, touching disgusting stuff, while cleaning up the neighborhood and an hour of arts and craft at home together. Yeah, we'll be making more.