Kitchen update

We had big plans to accomplish major kitchen reno this weekend. Nico did great yesterday with the help of a friend. Today we encountered some issues so we’ve got to make a trip to IKEA tomorrow for replacement parts. Hopefully we can get back on track this week.

Nico was able to hang the Christmas lights today. It doesn’t feel like the holiday’s without lights and decorations. I bought a small table-top tree for this year. Next year when we are not in the middle of a project and the kiddo isn’t throwing anything he thinks is a ball, we’ll put up the regular tree.

Also, I've been sewing like mad. This weekend I made a wrap-mat (inspiration and pattern collaboration from my friend Deb) and a tree skirt for the table-top tree. My wrap-mat is like this one.

On the Church Webpage

Well we are famous (at least in our minds). We showed up on the church homepage. We are the family of three (duh) on the far right.

One kitchen cabinet is in. It looks different than I pictured, but I think it's going to be just fine. I took "during" pictures, because I almost forgot to take "befores". I'll upload them soon.

A New Year Approaches

So we have been discussing this cool thing that we might do next year. After an interesting year (see posts about job layoff, etc) and even more interesting financial discussions we have come to certain realizations. 1) Times are tough and we made it. 2) Times will most likely get tougher. 3) Why do we have some much stuff?

We are contemplating what I like to call “A New Year without the New”. Essentially, we will not be purchasing anything new for an entire year. Of course there are some conditions and caveats with this. Exceptions are consumables like food, medicine, diapers, etc. and emergency situations (which will be evaluated on a case by case basis). For everything else we will either 1) do without 2) make due with what we already have 3) make our own 4) borrow 5) buy used 6) get from Freecycle or other free sources.

We are still discussing all the details. We have also stocked up on a few items that we deem “unable to due without or willingly buy used”. These items include (but are not limited to) underpants, socks, and tires.

More on this later… I think that it sounds like a fun and fruitful adventure.

Buy Nothing Day

Thanksgiving was really nice, but a little sad being without family. Thanks Navin family for your wonderful hospitality!

Today, I almost got suckered into a doorbuster at Sears, but I restrained myself. Most know today as Black Friday, but Adbusters likes to call attention to the mass consumerism and they have a campaign called “Buy Nothing Day”. You can go here for more info. It’s a subtle way to stick it to the man. We were successful!

Happy Thanksgiving! We have lots to be thankful for this year. I've begun posting some of them on Facebook. Mostly we are thankful for Ronin, Nico finding a job, and my Dad's recovery from his heart attack. We are also thankful for all the wonderful friends we have made here and all the family that we miss dearly.

The IKEA kitchen is here...

Well 1,000 IKEA boxes anyway. Nico is getting good at putting together items with simple Swedish pictures.

"Before" pictures to post soon.

Our love to all!