Buy Nothing, Create Something Week

Back at our fall retreat in September, our Regeneration (College and Career) group at WMB decided that we wanted to do something to raise awareness about consumerism in our lives. So we decided to have a "Buy Nothing" week, during which we don't buy anything (other than a set budget for food). We also discussed how the fact that few of us know how to make many things for ourselves impacts our need to consume. So we changed it from simply "Buy Nothing" to "Buy Nothing, Make Something"

Last night, my Mom taught a group of us how to make soup and biscuits and we made a huge batch so we all have a couple lunches for the rest of the week. Quantity cooking is better and so much cheaper! The rest of the week will include "Trick or Eat" reverse trick-or-treating (collecting food for the food bank), a community meal, Urban Croquet (sounds fun eh?), a night of learning to sew/knit/etc and a movie night.

Maybe this week you could think about how you can buy less and make more...

A Narrow Escape from Certain Death

So, I'm sitting at my desk, when I hear a HUGE crash coming from outside. I get up to investigate and see our 7-foot long, steel (read: enormous and very very heavy)sign on the ground. It is not supposed to be on the ground. It is supposed to be hanging at the top of the second storey of our office. The wood it was attached to apparently rotted and down it came. My first thought was: "That could have fallen on my HEAD! I could have DIED!" I was just about to go out and get the mail after all. Providential Timing is all that has saved me!

LOOK OUT!

Weekend from Heaven

I had the best Thanksgiving weekend ever! Normally I don't go in for the "and then I did this" type of blog post, but I ask for your indulgence this one time:

Friday night, my cousin Jaime came over for a sleepover, we watched What Not to Wear, drank some wine, and she taught me how to smoke a pipe. I felt like I needed to ponder something (think Sherlock Holmes).

The next morning my dad picked us up and we went fishing. We wore waders, which Jaime thought were "like a home" because they were so big. We got to the river and it was really really high. So we couldn't fish at the spot we wanted to because we would have had to cross the river and we couldn't because it was too high. Walking in the water was fun though. We ran into a small child on our way back to the car and he remarked excitedly "Dad, I see some FISHERS!" I am a fisher. We tried another spot and my dad and Jaime saw a fish.

Saturday and Sunday were full of family and food. Good times.

Monday I got to call Carley and catch up on her England adventures. I finished off the night with some Friends watching accompanied by some knitting.

Best weekend ever.