Of Weddings, Car Rides, and Kangaroos

 I got to pet a kangaroo. No, really, I did. Look at the picture. Look at it, I say! Kangaroos are precious and shockingly soft. Ok, now I will continue...

On Monday, my family and I returned from Nashville, Tennessee, where my brother and (now) sister-in-law held their wedding. I wouldn't have missed it for the world, but I have to admit that getting my whole family down there was quite an ordeal. 2 kids, one of them 1 year old and the other just 2 years old in the car for 12 hours is a mighty undertaking. It involves many stops, car toys and snacks, and more than a little bit of fussing. But we made it!

Andy's parents (so, my in-laws) are incredibly wonderful and generous people, and decided to rent a 4 bedroom house a few days in Nashville so that we wouldn't have to rent a hotel. ("We" included my family of 4, Andy's brother and his wife, and Andy's other brother and his girlfriend. And Andy's parents of course.) This was wonderful in theory, of course, but we forgot to account for the generous spirit of each of the other family members in turn.

You see my brother lived in Pennsylvania (where we are now) before he moved to Tennessee, and a lot of friends that he invited came from here. So when we had a house and a group of people who couldn't afford to both travel to Tennessee and stay there too, a house to fit 10 rapidly was accommodating 14 instead. Which doesn't seem like a lot more, but let me tell you, it made for a full house.

The wedding itself was lovely. An outdoor ceremony moved indoors due to weather. It was a little tight maybe, but ultimately great. I wish we could have stayed for the reception. Also I wish I had pictures, but I had no camera. So there is that. Sorry, Ben and Jordan. I can't wait to see what other people took!

Then it was off to home. This drive was not to be like the first. The first was at night. The kids slept somewhat. The drive home was to be a brutal 12 hour trek through daylight with kids who would in all probability be awake. For the love. So finding rest stops was absolutely imperative. That is how we made it to Kentucky Down Under Adventure Zoo . And this, friends, is where we got to pet kangaroos.

Oh, also we fed rainbow lorikeets.

Anyways, the not spending money wasn't perfect this month, with weddings and trips and such, (Lets face it, I probably overspent my normal budget on stuff, in the end,) but the fact is that the money we spent went to things and people that we care about, not on random stuff. I have to tell you, that feels really great. And having a little leftover cash for a trip to the zoo was pretty great too.

I meant to post this yesterday, but we lost power last night, so it didn't happen. I'll have more to say about that a little bit later.

Thank Goodness for People Who Give Away Clothes For Free

The title gives the gist of what I am gonna say here, but I will say it anyways. THANK GOODNESS for free clothes!

It became apparent almost immediately that knit leggings aren't easily repaired. I tried, people. I really did try. It just didn't work. So I was left with... one pair of jeans. It wasn't gonna happen. I was this close to caving and buying another pair of pants or leggings (one to wash, one to wear...  you know the drill) when my darling, fabulous, sporty, suddenly skinny aunt announced that she was having a yard sale and that I could go through her stack of clothes before she sold them. Score! So now I have my grey jeans, a pair of black leggings and a pair of black pants from Athleta. Its going to be possible after all.

However, there was one thing that I did end up having to buy. It turns out that not many people have a pair of size 10 gold flats that they could lend me for my brides... er... matron? (Is a brides-matron even a thing?) position in my brother's wedding on Sunday. Thrift stores were just as unhelpful, somehow. So now I am the not-so-proud owner of a pair of size 10 glittery, gold shoes that I will wear all of one time and never wear again. Not to mention a dress with an eerily similar description.

So, I'll need them till Sunday, but after that... anyone need some gold shoes?

Of Blenders and Birthdays

Yesterday, my daughter, Amelia, turned 2 years old. Oh my goodness people. I don't even know what to say on the topic... Can my baby really be 2? 2!? Heaven forbid.

Well lets face it... Amelia is incredibly bright and fabulous, and in actions, attitude and mannerisms, she's been essentially 2 for awhile. But yesterday made it official. I have a 2 year old. And I may be a bit in shock.

Andy and I bought her birthday presents before this buy nothing experiment even started... (by the way, my little challenge is almost 2 weeks old today! Hooray!) and we got her what I am sure every 2 year old wants... a pillow and a blanket. The pillow is one of those "husband" pillows with the little arms on the side that you can lean against and the blanket is actually just a piece of material that Amelia decided that she loved when we were at the fabric store one day. For my son's one year old birthday less than a month ago, I made him a pillowcase and bought him an interesting little wooden toy. We didn't do all that much.

But people, we didn't need to. Now, I don't mean this in a "kids don't need as many toys as we think they do" (though this is certainly true) kind of way or that our kids have enough toys already and we didn't want to buy them any more (ok, this is true, too...) What I mean by "we didn't need to" is that we have the first 2 grandchildren on both sides of the family and even if we actively tried to prevent people from giving Amelia and Victor toys it wouldn't happen. They would still get toys

So on their birthdays, my kids get a whole heck-ton of toys. In many ways, I am really touched by this incredible display of affection for my daughter and son. They spent hard earned money on them after all, and gave them things that they thought that they would like.

So what is the problem here?

For a while now, I have been following blogs like Joshua Becker's www.becomingminimalist.com and Leo Babauta's zenhabits.net... There are so many other great bloggers on minimalism, that it is a travesty to just name two, but those are the one's that come first to my mind. The minimalist lifestyle appeals to me greatly, and I can't honestly say that I am thrilled about adding more to our already cluttered house. I have been battling clutter for just about forever, and I am sick of it. It is one of the reasons I am doing a little "buy nothing for a quarter year" challenge for myself. With a 1 year old and a 2 year old, time for serious decluttering sessions are slim pickings, and I think the only real way that my 5 or 10 minutes here or there will make a difference is if things stop coming into my house.

Why I thought this would work with Christmas coming up is beyond me. I am clearly a crazy person.

On the subject of toys... my poor blender broke yesterday. This was no small blow to me. I use my blender for everything, and I use it hard. Shakes, mayonnaise, icing, pancake batter, you name it, and my blender has blended it. (Possibly this is how it got in such a state.) And yes, the canister is being held together by gorilla tape. It has a massive crack down the side of it and it leaks horridly, even after the masterful tape-up. Actually, I thought that would be the first to go, but you can always get a new canister for a blender, and I was counting down the days until I could ask for one from my husband and reasonably call it an early Christmas gift. What I didn't count on was black, vile smelling SMOKE pouring out of it while it was running, and the engine refusing to stop until I forced it to by unplugging it. I legitimately thought it was going to blow up. So... now its been declared dead.

Which is a shame because I used my blender all. the. time. and I can't buy a new one lest I break a self imposed challenge rule. Never fear, though, I am now borrowing one from my mother-in-law, so I won't be breaking any rules. Yet. But I want to. Oh, do I want to.

As the Seasons Change

I thought at first that I would have a pretty easy time on the clothes front. I don't enjoy clothes shopping, you know, so I figured I'd be pretty safe from temptation on that front. But now the weather is starting to cool, and as the seasons change, I am realizing something... I have next to no winter pants. I have... 1 pair of jeans that fit (and 1 pair of jeans that I am hoping to shrink into... ever the dreamer...) and 2 pairs of shockingly holey leggings. In addition to 2 pairs of just-past-the-knee length yoga pants, I will admit. But this isn't exactly wear on the go type stuff, people. So I am counting the pair of jeans and the perforated leggings. 3 things. 3. Oh dear.

I thought I had so many more cold weather clothes than this... what happened? I'll tell you. My cold and warm weather wardrobes are shockingly out of balance. In the warmer months, my preferred leg covering is skirts. Shorts just don't cut it for me, man. I don't have the legs for them. Skirts are breezy, comfy, and cute. And I have several of them. So I do ok on the bottom half... on the top, I have a very few not really exciting t shirts or tank tops. As for cold weather... I have a fairly impressive (for me) amount of sweaters, cardigans, long sleeve shirts... you know the drill, but as we have discovered, a pitiful amount of lower body coverage.

So when I looked to see how I was doing in the cold weather clothes department, my too-few shirt self just looked at all the wonderful torso and arm coverings and said "This is cake! I am totally set! We're good!" completely forgetting that I have legs that can also get frostbitten.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some leggings to patch.

But at Least I Got a Ton of Applesauce Out of it...

I bought something.

"You were only 3 days in! You gave already?" "What the heck, lady!" "So lame!" "I could do this better than you!" (yes, you very likely could.)

Yes, ok, chill. Hear me out. Yes, I bought something. What did I buy? Mason jars. Why? Because every single year, my family buys an obscene amount of apples and we make massive quantities of applesauce which we then can and use to build massive towers in our respective panties. The fact is, my family has grown from the last year, and in order to store the shocking amount of applesauce, we had to buy more jars. 

The fact is this was a planned expense that I forgot to post about. And I more or less count it as a grocery. Kinda. Well maybe it isn't strictly a necessity. So I'm self justifying a little. But the applesauce was gonna happen either way.

For the past several years, my family has gone apple picking every fall in order to have some yummy, sweet, crunch-able, seasonal goodness to much on and to make applesauce with. My 6 siblings and I all grew up eating my grandfather's (to us) famous applesauce. What makes it so good? A secret ingredient... I'll never tell! (ok, the secret ingredient is vanilla extract. Make applesauce, right now, and add cinnamon and vanilla. It will change your life.) And applesauce became a family tradition.

So yesterday, my husband, me, Amelia and Bini climbed into the car with our canning supplies and drove to the market to buy apples. (We would normally pick them ourselves, but it was just gross out yesterday. Cold, rainy, windy... I am dedicated, not crazy!) We cleaned the surprised cashiers out of all of their "second class" apples (applesauce doesn't care if your apples are a bit bruised) and packed the bags and bags of them into the car and went to "Josie, Baba's house!" and began peeling, chopping and cooking 'em up. It is a lot of sticky, somewhat dangerous work (The peelers and knives present somewhat of a hazard) But it is a wonderful, cozy time of family togetherness. And I love it!

So, judge if you want. I don't care. At least I got a ton of applesauce out of it.

On a much more important, though shorter note... My son, Bini, who my husband and I adopted from Ethiopia, has been home for one month.. TODAY! We are so blessed to have him in our lives! Maybe one day I will be more comfortable sharing more personal family stuff on here (you know, if there is a one day.) But today is not that day, people. But I still want you all to know that Bini is wonderful and we all adore him! That's all for now, folks.

No Buying Challenge Rules

And so it has begun. Today is October first and so begins my little spending fast. I've been giving some thought to how this will work, and I am going to divide it up into some categories and make some rules for each category.

Food

I've decided not to buy any for the next 3 months. 

Ok, I lie. Obviously. We need food. You may be wondering why I even need this in this list. The fact is I do a lot of my impulse buys at the grocery store. Interesting new ingredients, stuff that I like to have around but don't really need for my grocery shopping this week, a thing of gum at the checkout... 

So trying to curb this impulse, I am going to be making a weekly menu, making a shopping list and buying ONLY WHAT IS ON THE LIST, DARN IT! Not a new and innovative idea, I know, but  something that I desperately need to work on...

Clothing

I believe that everyone has their own Achilles heel when it comes to shopping. I know for my mother it is undoubtedly clothes. I have not inherited this gene from her (there is a clothes buying gene, right?) and so theoretically it should be easy for me not to buy clothes for the next 3 months. But here is the little catch... I have an almost 2 year old daughter and a 1 year old son WHO GROW LIKE WEEDS! Seriously guys. These kids grow overnight. I put them to bed in jammies that are too big, I get them out of bed and lo and behold, what were long pants are now mid calf. So here are my clothing rules/ goals:

For the Kids:
1. Figure out how many clothes they actually need and buy only those things which are deemed absolutely necessary. (ie. Amelia's toes will soon burst through the front of her shoes, her feet have grown so much. We will need new ones in the next couple of weeks. Not necessary are snow boots for Bini, who cannot walk yet.) Sound fair? Ok moving on,
2. Buy second hand, where we need to buy at all.
3. Buy only the things which will fit them now, not that size 4T dress because it is just so cute and she will fit in it eventually. 

For Me:
1. Don't buy clothes
2. Unless I magically shrink out of my current clothes and actually truly need new ones (This is the goal, people. But I am not so crazy as to absolutely expect it. For diet and exercise commitment issues, see my previous post)
3. Clothes wearing out is not an excuse to buy new clothes, unless they are absolutely beyond repair. A button or a patch I can sew on, a gaping hole in the crotch continuing down the leg I can do nothing about.
4. If the unthinkable happens and I lose several inches, buy secondhand.
Exceptions: There is one thing that I know I need to buy... I am in my brother's wedding later this month, and while I have a dress, I have not got shoes. If I cannot borrow (my preferred method) I will have to buy.

Books

Books need their own category. I love books. I love to read. But for the next few months:
No new books. This includes digital (oh beloved kindle) and audio (audible, I adore thee) and real live honest to goodness books (oh the luxury of real pages to turn!)
I wanted desperately to think of some exception... but seriously, I have no excuses. I live less than 6 minutes away from our local library.

Gifts/Toys

It has not escaped me that I am doing this OVER THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS (forcryingoutloudwhatwasieventhinking?) So here is where I am with this... 

Gifts will be:

1. Consumable (candles, soaps, yummy food) or

2. Experience based (concert tickets, memberships, weekend getaway, etc.)

3. Homemade

4. Money. This is a last resort. Except for my brothers, possibly, who ONLY want money for Christmas.

Heaven help us all. 

Art Supplies and Crafting Stuff

I am an artist (watercolors and ink, for those who are curious.) I love going to a good art supply store and just walking around, stroking paper, ogling paints, running paintbrushes through my fingers. 

Now this could be a bit tricky (Thanks to my resolution not to buy Christmas from the store this year... for the love...) but I did come up with some rules:

1. I can replace any paints or brushes that I run out of/use into oblivion, but I cannot upgrade or buy new stuff just for kicks and giggles. Also I can buy more paper only when I run out.

2. Craft stuff with be for specific projects only... Example, felt for the quiet book I am making for Bini, material for the doll I am making for Amelia, wood for the chests that we are making for them both... you get the picture. 

3. Things found at the craft store that are clearly not actually crafts, they just want you to buy them for your kids (I am looking at you, stuffed animals) are a no-no. Sorry kids. 

That's all I can think of for the moment. I may think of more.

Miscellaneous

I know that there is so much stuff that I could make categories and rules for... music, games, electronics, home decor, pet stuff, outdoor equipment... I could go on and on and on. But mostly this is stuff that doesn't tend to intrude on my buying radar so often. So for now I am just going to let it be. This is the stuff that I deal with most often... someone else might have an entirely different list. I know someone, for instance who would need a whole category dedicated to cosmetics. If I think of something terribly obvious that I missed, I will happily add to this. 

Some last things to discuss:

I will probably mess up at some point here. I've heard somewhere that to err is human, so... yeah. I am going to TRY not to and to stick to my rules 100%, but we shall see. And if I don't, I promise that I shall plead your pardon and tell you exactly what I bought. And then you can all judge me and mock me and tell me I suck at life. I mean, if you are really that mean. I have a thick skin though, and I can deal with you thinking I'm flaky. 

Also in an effort to really be conscious of my consumerist thoughts, I am going to write down what I actually do purchase... as well as everything else I want to buy. I am hoping by seeing these things on paper, I can recognize how my mind is still in the "machine" and how I don't really need them. And then, if all goes well, I can, in the end, not even want them. 

After all, wanting less is even better than having less.