Oct 27, 2011 | A better way, Cultural chaos, Repurposed, Salvaged
I found a place of business a few days ago that models everything I believe in. The Grass Roots Eco Cleaners & Market is a wonderful place in Frisco that everyone should know about. So why is this place so great? The cleaning is eco-friendly The fixtures and...
Oct 6, 2011 | A better way, Cultural chaos, Downsizing, Just plain good
Over the past week, most of my blog efforts have been going to launching projectwarm.us. It might be crazy to try an collect 5,723 coats and blankets for the homeless by Thanksgiving, but that’s not going to stop us from trying! I started this with my friend...
Oct 1, 2011 | A better way, Cultural chaos, Trying to matter
My friend Lin called me a few days ago and asked me a simple question. “I have a few coats I want to donate. Do you know a good place where they can maybe help someone in need? Maybe a homeless shelter?” Well, if you’ve ever met Lin, she’s my...
Oct 1, 2011 | A better way, Cultural chaos |
For the first time in several months, I missed fast food. I was craving a Wendy’s chicken sandwich and fries. I was craving the food itself much more than the convenience of it, however that would be nice sometimes. My anti-fast food thing is more about the...
Sep 24, 2011 | A better way, Cultural chaos, Save $
Yes, that’s my thermostat. It’s reading 92°. No, I don’t want to turn my air conditioner back on. One cool day is all need to motivate me to turn it off until the heat is needed. I’m tired of the high electric bills. I’m fine in the...
Sep 23, 2011 | Cultural chaos, Downsizing, Flashback
I don’t usually blog about food, but clearly this is a topic that falls into the “living differently” and “downsizing” categories. Flashback to 6 years old. I remember eating cereal called Kaboom. Do you remember it? The cereal itself...
Sep 18, 2011 | Am I still here?, Cultural chaos |
There are just some things you rarely see in affluent suburban areas. I decided to walk to work this past week, and what did I see? #1, a whiskey bottle in a tree. It was empty. What? You would have checked too. I guess the good thing here is that the person...
Sep 4, 2011 | A better way, Cultural chaos, Repurposed
I said, “No fast food through the end of the year.” Why? Mostly because of the wastefulness of it. The amount of disposable plastics, paper and styrofoam bothers me. We do fast food places out of convenience. I just wanted to see how badly I needed...
Aug 8, 2011 | A better way, Cultural chaos, Just plain good, Read the fine print, Salvaged |
I got to participate in a really cool thing yesterday. New Dos and New Shoes at the Collin County Children’s Advocacy Center. Under-resourced kids got new shoes and new hairdos for going back to school. Several hairdressers got together to provide these...
Aug 6, 2011 | Cultural chaos
Yes, I said candy. If I ever needed to question how much I dislike wastefulness, this would be the telltale answer. A few months ago, my youngest asked if he could get some Jelly Bellies at the grocery store. I agreed after glancing at the rack filled with small...
Aug 5, 2011 | Cultural chaos
116°?!!?? I really have no idea how hot hell is, but I’m pretty sure we have to be close. So how is this good? I find a lot of good in this crazy hot weather. Don’t get me wrong, I’m tired of it since it’s been over 100° for over a month...
Aug 4, 2011 | A better way, Cultural chaos, Read the fine print, Repurposed, Salvaged, Save $
Yes, it’s time to start preparing for back-to-school. My kids are in denial that they’re going back soon. I’m in denial that I have to spend a lot of money on school supplies. Of all the challenges a year of no retail shopping posed on our lives,...
Jul 16, 2011 | Abandoned places, Cultural chaos, Just plain good |
18 hours in a car? Not a problem for us! Yeah, I would love to fly and get to my destination quickly, but I’m good with a road trip. There’s more adventure in driving. (Texas to northern Colorado) I don’t have photos of all the beautiful sights...
Jun 11, 2011 | Am I still here?, Cultural chaos, Read the fine print |
Procrastinating is something I try not to do, but I seem to do it well. Apparently it’s one of my many gifts… Procrastinate. Watering my plants, returning the 1,000 emails in my inbox or renewing my drivers license. The plants are dead, I have a few...
May 31, 2011 | Am I still here?, Save $
On the last day of my no retail shopping challenge, I started my day as I do everyday. I turn on my espresso machine so it will heat up to make my latte. I got one latte out of it before it started constantly running, trying desperately to fill itself up with water,...
May 27, 2011 | Cultural chaos, No retail shopping
Wow! It’s been a year already. A year of no retail shopping. It started off as a year of no retail shopping, however it ended up as a year of so much more than that. It would be impossible to sum up the year in one blog post, but I can say this. It’s...
May 20, 2011 | Creative weirdness, No retail shopping, Trying to matter
This is part of an old Apple shirt that I made into a new shirt. I like the tagline ‘think different’. It’s a great slogan and it can be applied to many things. I didn’t think about this when I was coming up with my new domain name, but...
May 12, 2011 | Cultural chaos, Flashback, No retail shopping
When I stated the challenge almost a year ago, a few people asked, “Did you buy a bunch of stuff in preparation to not shop for a year?” The answer is no. This was an idea I had when I woke up one morning and I implemented it the moment I thought about...
May 9, 2011 | Cultural chaos, No retail shopping |
Okay, so maybe I have taken this paperless thing a bit too far… or have I? Yesterday, Lindsey, my friend and coworker, said the most awesome thing to me. She said, “Happy Mother’s Day!” and followed that up with something like, “I was...
May 6, 2011 | Cultural chaos, Ideas, No retail shopping
Twenty days left in the challenge. I’m going to answer this question again, as I hear it 3 or 4 times a day now. “When it’s over, are you going to go shopping?” The answer is no. Honestly, the only thing I was going to buy is a 7.5 amp fuse...
May 5, 2011 | Cultural chaos, No retail shopping |
I personally don’t understand all the hype with the royal wedding stuff, but then again, I’ve never been one to enjoy large events, movie stars or fame. Listening to the radio about all of the consumerism around the royal wedding didn’t surprise me,...
May 4, 2011 | Cultural chaos, No retail shopping |
I’m pretty sure when God handed out our humanly traits, he did so in alphabetical order. Clearly I received my ADHD first, because something distracted me from a few of the other lines like crying and fear. I was probably off looking for abandoned clouds or...
Apr 27, 2011 | No retail shopping, Trying to matter |
Let me start by asking a few of the big questions here. Is re-gifting good or bad? Is it okay to get rid of a gift? Should you ever give a used gift? I think people mostly view these as bad things, and although there’s no simple answer to these questions, there...
Apr 26, 2011 | Cultural chaos, Downsizing, No retail shopping
I met Dave Bruno several weeks ago at SXSW. He’s the author of The 100 Thing Challenge: How I Got Rid of Almost Everything, Remade My Life and Regained My Soul. The basis of the book is simplicity, minimalism and living with less stuff. I finished reading his...
Apr 19, 2011 | Cultural chaos, No retail shopping, Repurposed, Save $, Sharing |
I was given a challenge several weeks ago to come up with an artistic creative element to do during a church service. I remembered about two years ago, I had seen some motion sand art created on a light table with a camera mounted above it. As I started fantasizing...
