Showing posts with label Frugal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Frugal. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Board Game Challenge.
.
We used to have a habit in our house that somehow we slid away from. It wasn't that we just stopped cold one day, but you know how it is. Let's skip this tonight, there's too much homework. Or there's laundry to do.
You know how these things go. One thing leads to another and before you know it, you're out of the habit. I'm not talking about my gym habit (although that could apply), but our board game tradition.
It used to be every night after dinner, we'd play a game. Or a puzzle. But it was something, just the two of us, no tv, no music, just us on the floor playing a game with no mercy.
This week is both Turn off the TV week (aka Digital Detox week) and Earth Week.
As I was thinking how I actually miss this tradition in our home, it also has applications to the themes of this week.
No only are Board Games
an alternative to sitting around the tv, but it's greener too. And it's frugal. Instead of heading out the door, driving somewhere and spending money, you have that time at home using things you already possess.
Maybe taking things back to a simple entertainment where it's about laughs and interactions, rather than zoning out is the next step on our 2010 goal of simplifying and detoxing our household.
And maybe we can't do it everynight, but if nothing else, we can designate one night a week for this and start from there. Why not schedule in this time the same way we do yoga, girl scouts, and swimming?
It starts today. What about you? Can you give up the TV one night for a family board game?
.
We used to have a habit in our house that somehow we slid away from. It wasn't that we just stopped cold one day, but you know how it is. Let's skip this tonight, there's too much homework. Or there's laundry to do.
or Mama is mentally exhausted, so I make up a lame excuse and let her watch iCarly
You know how these things go. One thing leads to another and before you know it, you're out of the habit. I'm not talking about my gym habit (although that could apply), but our board game tradition.
It used to be every night after dinner, we'd play a game. Or a puzzle. But it was something, just the two of us, no tv, no music, just us on the floor playing a game with no mercy.
hint to parents of young children. try Candyland
. it's really random who will win and you don't have to "let" them win .
This week is both Turn off the TV week (aka Digital Detox week) and Earth Week.
As I was thinking how I actually miss this tradition in our home, it also has applications to the themes of this week.
No only are Board Games
Maybe taking things back to a simple entertainment where it's about laughs and interactions, rather than zoning out is the next step on our 2010 goal of simplifying and detoxing our household.
can anyone share how to save up the mental energy to match hers at 730pm?
And maybe we can't do it everynight, but if nothing else, we can designate one night a week for this and start from there. Why not schedule in this time the same way we do yoga, girl scouts, and swimming?
It starts today. What about you? Can you give up the TV one night for a family board game?
.
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
Urban Homesteading Plan take 1.
I don't know why I do this to myself. LOL
Work.
Parenting.
Working Out.
Volunteerism.
and now? Urban Homesteading.
This actually isn't a new concept in our house, we've been working towards purging clutter, going green, being frugal, and being more self-sufficient for years. This is just an attempt at a formalize plan and take our current habits to the next level. LOL.
So, the March/April rough draft looks like this:
- raised garden beds (that I meant to do LAST April *blush*)
- fencing in the second lot behind ours
- extending the fence on the main lot to allow the raised beds to be within the fenced area
- moving the plants from my container garden from last year to said raised beds (to be built)
- finish compost pile structure
- gutters (ok, gutters have nothing to do with urban homesteading, but just need to be done before spring rains)
- install rain barrels
Seems like a lot, and I decided it's worth it to hire the fencing done by my awesome Rent-A-Husband aka Miguel and his team. They've helped with various projects over the last 18 mos around the house, and I would give them a 100% recommendation for painting, carpentry, and other handyman type services.
One of the best things about this project, is my daughter is 110% on board with this and realizes since this will be a family garden, the whole family helps out. Good in theory, I'll update you on the reality come Mid-July when it's over 90 in the shade. ;)
Combine this with the busiest travel month I have for work, and we have a recipe for one of two things.
Either the most productive home-improvement month ever
or
The biggest FAIL on home to-do list ever.
HAHA!
So, send me links to your favorites gardening and home-projects blogs and sites.
p.s. I don't really need to blog about how home-repair/upgrades cut into tri-training, I'm pretty sure you know how that blog would read. haha


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Quotes as I come across them......
“Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, an hour, a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it last forever.” ~~~Lance Armstrong
"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." ~~~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
"I like running because it's a challenge. If you run hard, there's the pain----and you've got to work your way through the pain. You know, lately it seems all you hear is 'Don't overdo it' and 'Don't push yourself.' Well, I think that's a lot of bull. If you push the human body, it will respond." ~~~Bob Clarke, Philadelphia Flyers general manager, NHL Hall of Famer. (Will-Weber's "Voices From the Midpack" chapter.)
The reason most people never reach their goals is that they don’t define them, or ever seriously consider them as believable or achievable. Winners can tell you where they are going, what they plan to do along the way, and who will be sharing the adventure with them.~~~Denis Watley
Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not; it is the first lesson that ought to be learned; and however early a man's training begins, it is probably the last lesson that he learns thoroughly. ~~~Thomas H. Huxley (1825 - 1895)
"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." ~~~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
"I like running because it's a challenge. If you run hard, there's the pain----and you've got to work your way through the pain. You know, lately it seems all you hear is 'Don't overdo it' and 'Don't push yourself.' Well, I think that's a lot of bull. If you push the human body, it will respond." ~~~Bob Clarke, Philadelphia Flyers general manager, NHL Hall of Famer. (Will-Weber's "Voices From the Midpack" chapter.)
The reason most people never reach their goals is that they don’t define them, or ever seriously consider them as believable or achievable. Winners can tell you where they are going, what they plan to do along the way, and who will be sharing the adventure with them.~~~Denis Watley
Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not; it is the first lesson that ought to be learned; and however early a man's training begins, it is probably the last lesson that he learns thoroughly. ~~~Thomas H. Huxley (1825 - 1895)