Welcome to the week 4 of The Sunday Spark, a series with weekly thoughts and highlights, nuggets of learning, and a sustainable living tip for the week. This week: a look at how I made out with Dry January; how wine corks compare to screw caps; chocolate and heavy metal; and why we should make BYOC an everyday word.
The Sunday Spark – Week 4
On my mind this week: From Dry January to Dry 2023?
One of my January goals this year was to participate in Dry January, by foregoing all alcohol for the month. Although I’m not a big drinker, I thought this would be something positive to do for my health.
I’m happy to report that with just two days to go, I have resisted the temptation. Overall, it wasn’t really all that difficult except for a couple of social gatherings that put my will to the test.
As I reported last week, new guidelines released by the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse and Addiction (CSSA) recommend no more than two drinks a week. With that in mind, I’m considering making Dry January a more permanent thing. I probably won’t give up drinking completely, but I’m thinking about limiting my alcohol consumption to a drink or two at social gatherings or on special occasions.
So, this means no more cider in front of the TV on weekends or opening a bottle of wine after a stressful day at work. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.
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Three highlights of the week
It’s important to celebrate big milestones and simple pleasures in life. Keeping the trend going, here are three highlights and simple pleasures of the week gone by:
- Earlier in the week, I found a recipe for homemade rice bowls on Pinterest, and I made them for lunch on Monday. I love rice bowls, but I’ve never made them before. I used brown rice, black beans, salsa, shredded cheese, tomato, spinach, and crushed tortilla chips. They were quite delicious with a little sweet onion dressing.
- On Wednesday, I went into the office for the day. I had a chance to catch up with a good friend over lunch.
- We had quite a big snowfall this week. Although it made driving tricky, it brightened up the landscape after a dreary and grey January. And there’s more snow on the way for the weekend.
Three things I learned this week
Life is all about learning. Here are three things I learned this week:
Making it easier for readers to comment on blog posts
Thanks to Hugh at Hugh’s Views and News, I learned how to adjust my WordPress settings so people can leave comments on my blog without providing their name and email address. You can learn more in Hugh’s post. So far, I haven’t seen an increase in legitimate or spam comments, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to make it easier for readers to engage with me.
Corks or screw tops? Which is better for the environment?
All wine stoppers are not equal from an environmental point of view. Drinking wine from a bottle with a cork stopper is better for the environment than a screw cap made from aluminum and plastic. But did you know that not all “corks” are made from natural cork? Some are made from granulated cork, or synthetic cork—plastic, rubber, or bioplastic. (Source: Earth 911)
Heavy metal and chocolate?
What do chocolate and heavy metal have in common? If you love chocolate as much as I do, you might be alarmed to learn that two heavy metals—and not the kind you listen to—have been found in the chocolate supply, including some of my favourite brands. These metals–cadmium and lead–are toxic and harmful to your health. Learn more in the Mama Minimalist Podcast.
Sustainable living tip: Let’s all embrace BYOC
After writing about shopping in my January Climate Change Collective post, all of this month’s sustainable living tips have been on the theme of our shopping habits. To wrap up January, I want to put in a plug for supporting businesses with Bring Your Own Container (BYOC) programs.
Excessive packaging is one of my pet peeves. There’s nothing worse than buying a product with layer upon layer of unnecessary packing. As I stocked up on a few essentials at Bulk Barn this week, I thought back to the days when my daughter worked there as a teenager. At that time, they didn’t offer their refillable container program. I’m so glad they saw the light!
This week, why not say no to excessive packaging, and seek out a business in your area that lets you BYOC? You can learn more about these programs in this post.
So, that’s a wrap on January 2023. This week, as we welcome February, all eyes will be on North America’s famous rodents for their Groundhog Day predictions.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on any of this week’s topics. Drop me a comment below and let me know your thoughts and ideas.
Speaking of BYOC, have you ever tried Full Circle in DTK?
I’m with you regarding Dry January. I love a nice glass of red wine, but in leaner times I gave it up and just never really went back. Occasionally I’ll splurge and buy a bottle, but it’s something I do only a few times a year.
I have been into Full Circle once or twice. I don’t get downtown very often these days since our office moved to Waterloo. I definitely miss working downtown because it was handy to pop into some of those stores.
I am very jealous of the snow. I haven’t had a drink since December either but it wasn’t a planned thing.
The snow definitely is pretty and it brightens things up compared to the foggy, drizzly weather we had for most of January.
I hardly drink on a weekly basis, but use wine in my cooking fairly often. I think I would easily cut out all alcohol but there’s such a large quantity of fruit gin stored away that it would seem kind of wasteful.
Well you definitely wouldn’t want it to go to waste! 😀
Another great read Michelle! Useful tips and thanks for always being like my own Jimny Cricket for the environment and the small things I can do to help that matter in a big way!
Thanks for reading Kat. I appreciate your comment and ongoing support of my blog. I’m glad you find the post useful.
One of the things that made it easier for me (I mean beyond the fact that I have an addiction to alcohol and needed to quit drinking for my health and overall sanity) was not having anything in the house. Also because the LC was across the street and needed to be driven to, I could easily get into the car at work and get on highway instead of shooting straight across. I think though that like smoking I had finally reached the point in my life where it was time to let it go. So I did. 🙂
I admire you for overcoming your addiction, Jay-lyn. That takes a lot of strength. I drank much more when I was younger. While I still enjoy a glass of wine with a meal or a cold can of cider on a hot day, I’ve learned that I don’t need alcohol and it doesn’t enhance my enjoyment of life or social gatherings. So why bother?
Exactly. Admittedly I have had a few occasions where I have felt out of place and thought a drink would be nice because I was out of my comfort zone. Which has lead me to a thought I must now follow lol but I can say not drinking any more is awesome.
I recently read about non-alcoholic wine. Mabe that is a good substitute.
I have tried non-alcoholic wine but, unlike non-alcoholic beer, it really didn’t taste like real wine to me. I also find it is pretty much the same price as real wine, so my frugal streak kicked in.
It seems like it is hard to find too. Guess I will stick with the saying, “Life’s too short to drink bad wine.”
That’s a good philosphy!