me: [freaking out for some reason at the sight of our empty paper towel holder and no paper towel rolls in sight…] “JORDAN!!! DO WE HAVE PAPER TOWELS?”

jord: “uhh no. none in here” (checking linen closet)

me: “any under the sink”

jord: “umm. nope. nothin'”

me: “are you serious?!”… thinking to myself, “what are we going to do without paper towels”

and then I thought back to a post I read on [the wonderful] Nancy Geaney’s beautiful blog, Dark Horse Farm Designs, where she and her family make a decision to stop using paper napkins.

Ironically, this past week I have been into “doing my part” by focusing on separating my garbage, paper, and recyclables, using less water around the house and while brushing my teeth, (ok so maybe I still take long showers), and by using my bike for things that I may have used my car for. And then I thought.. how convenient… this is my chance to try and use less paper.

You may think it’s silly to stop using paper towels, but for some reason this seems like a life changing adventure for me. Perhaps this is because I am guilty of overusing paper products and feel them necessary at all times.

From this moment on, I am transforming from a paper towel girl to a hand towel girl. I will no longer kill a spider with one entire piece of paper towel (Jordan’s afraid of them), I will never again dry my hands with a paper towel and then toss it… I will never use a paper towel to dry a dish or wipe something down, and I will certainly never use another paper towel again to poke holes in it and peek through pretending to be a ghost. not that I did if often… but I did do it enough.

Will you take the paper towel pledge with me?!?!

As for my napkins, I’ll get there as soon as my HUGE plastic economy pack is finished… which I now feel really guilty about. If only my napkins could be as cute as Nancy’s… someday.