I Guess You Thought We had Fallen Off the Face of the Earth

It seems that way. We've been so busy with the holiday buying season, and trying to have a little family time of our own, that the blog has suffered. That's one of the challenges of a small company like ours. The good news is that we are busy making buyoutsidethebox.com your one stop shopping website for art and unique things this holiday season. From exquisite pottery and art glass to jewelry and items from our gourmet gallery, we think you'll be amazed at all the beautiful things you can buy on our website.

On a personal note, over the Thanksgiving holiday, we were very blessed to have most of our family gathered. What I thought would be a great hit with the grandkids, a viewing of Happy Feet, was mostly a bust. By the time all the adults joined in to watch our Netflix movie, the little ones, already overstimulated by all the fun were ready to wander. Oh well. I'd heard so much about the movie, but what turned out to be even more enjoyable was the March of the Penguins, the Academy Award-winning nature documentary by Luc Jacquet about the Emperor Penguins who live at the South Pole. This amazing documentary, probably provided inspiration for the creators of Happy Feet. Viewing it has inspired me to become more proactively "Green" at our house than we already are. The delicate eco system this highly specialized species lives in is at risk as is all the earth.

Are you recycling? If your recycling doesn't outweigh your other garbage, you should probably reexamine you recycling procedures. We live in a remote area, and so don't have curbside pickup, but we manage to haul as much recycling material to town as if we did have curbside service.

And as much as I enjoy looking at catalogs that come in the mail, especially this time of year, I'm proud to think that our online only gallery does not contribute to the deforestation of the earth. I found some pretty interesting info on the topice at http://www.41pounds.org/. For instance did you know:

• More than 100 million trees are destroyed each year to produce junk mail. 42% of timber harvested nationwide becomes pulpwood for paper.
  


• The energy used to produce and dispose of junk mail exceeds 2.8 million cars.
  Save water. About 28 billion gallons of water are wasted to produce and recycle junk each year.
  


• You waste about 70 hours a year dealing with junk mail.
  


• The pulp and paper industry is the single largest consumer of water used in industrial activities in developed countries, and it’s the third-largest industrial greenhouse gas emitter (after the chemical and steel industries).
  


• The average adult receives 41 pounds of junk mail each year (about 560 pieces). 44% goes to the landfill unopened.
  


• On average, we receive 10.8 pieces of junk mail a week, compared to only 1.5 personal letters.
  


• More than 62 billion pieces (4 million tons) of junk mail are produced each year.
  The majority of household waste consists of junk mail.
  40% of the solid mass that makes up our landfills is paper and paperboard waste.
  Junk mail inks have high concentrations of heavy metals, making the paper difficult to recycle.
  


• $320 million of local taxes are used to dispose of junk mail each year.
  California’s state and local governments spend $500,000 a year collecting and disposing of AOL’s direct mail disks alone.
  


• Transporting junk mail costs $550 million a year.
  

So, it's pretty compelling news to me that I need to enlist in one of these services to stop those pretty catalogs from coming to my house. I'm online anyway, and shopping anyway. I can enjoy my surfing knowing that I have done my part to slow global warming.

Take a look at this gorgeous menorah by Andrew Jackson Pollack. But order now, or he'll be too busy to create one just for you in time for the holidays. Don't forget our rewards program with free gifts. Cheers!--Ruth Mitchell