We were in the area so as a free & fun family activity we attended an Ecofest at GCC today. One daughter got her face painted an another walked around calling her friends on our cell telling them how lame it was, how I made her come, and could they meet her @ the library later. Which is were I'm posting from. Multi tasking - left brain posting right brain convert opp on children.
Hubby wandered around ended up meeting an old high school friend who is involved with green energy. I got some up close & personal demo's of solar hot water heaters and solar panels. Besides numerous "green" vendors (some were clearly in the gray area of green) there were both electronic & sneaker recycling.
We recycled two old computer towers, saving us the cost of a trash ticket. $10 city fee for disposal. In our hood if you buy a ticket for an item always place a few layers of clear tape over the bright orange ticket/sticker. The tickets get snatched off your item. Kinda like registration stickers on license plates.
We declined the offers of reusable cloth shopping bags since we have more than enough made from old blue jeans.
One of our long range goals is to be solar powdered for all things electrical. Some great state & federal incentives out now. Hopefully all those programs will still be there in the next few years. While we can't hang a solar panel until the roof is replaced we can lower our overall consumption.

Daughters are done picking out DVDs movies to check out, (did you know that many libraries offer movies & music besides books ?) & I have bread to bake. Need whole wheat sandwich bread for lunches this week, also owe a barter debt of one Pumpernickel loaf, and Greek bread for 5 lbs. of feta cheese acquired last week end. Good day to bake it's been cold with feeble attempts at snowing.

Can you believe it's been 40 years since the first Earth Day ?
What are your plans to celebrate ?


~~ pelenaka ~~

LBYM

Living below your means -
While a lot of peeps who read that phrase will automatically translate this into the concept, “self denial” it is never the less a very valuable lifestyle tool. Unfortunately like all good lifestyle tool this guiding principle takes effort. Often a huge amount of effort. More than I had anticipated I mean this is me we are talking about. Piece of cake.
Roadblocks are if not constantly then almost weekly being built on my path to saving for a new roof. It is as if the gods know that I have coin. I myself have been really good about not dipping into the roof fund even for just a taste of bread.
Items that require cash keep popping up as if I’m related to the Rockefellers.
First it was DD#3 lack of a confirmation dress. After spending a few hours in several area thrift stores no frilly frock could be had that we both agreed on. Not to mention what’s with the new vintage clothing trend so popular? The 2nd hand retail prices on ’80’s party gear had outfits costing more now then back in 1987. If I had only known I would have saved all those men’s styled pinstriped suit dresses with the huge shoulder pads. Yeah I fancied myself an uptown girl.
LSS we ended up in a retail store’s changing room trying on numerous dresses ala Miley Cyrus. Finally we settled on a nice sundress with spaghetti straps that had a cute cropped jacket to match. Right length, right amount of cleavage, and almost 100% cotton (no dry cleaning). Daughter instantly fell in love with this high priced piece of cloth.
Quietly under her breath she began the assault. Mentioning that she would wear this for her 8th grade graduation. Also any upcoming weddings or occasions. Then she began counting off the already owned pairs of shoes that would match this ensemble. Deal was sealed when she mumbled something about wearing this for her wedding.
On sale for $65.
Quick cell call to gf who was able to go online for a promotion code. Quick chat with store manager to see if she would accept the code in numbers instead of an actual bar code that needs to be scanned. Me, “I would like to buy this dress but it is over my budget without a discount. Would you be able to accept a promotion code without an actual paper coupon?”. Manager,“ Yes, if you have the code we can punch it in”.
DD#3 snarked something about if we had our cell phones online then we wouldn’t need to call around for a friend who could go online. True that but how many times do we buy retail dear daughter?
Cashier just punched in the combination of letters & numbers which took off 15%. Dress came out to $57 something tax included.
Part of the quid pro quo between us will be that she take on a greater share of chores without nagging. Good deal for me now that I am back to work.
Still wish that we had found something to our taste up in the attic stash.
My son my only son mentioned in our twice weekly phone call that he had wanted to attend a leadership camp sponsored by his high school’s ROTC unit but that his father had said money was tight ( he hasn‘t gone without cable in the last 20 years). Deal was struck - after the conference when he came home for his Summer visit he would either pay me back in cash or barter. Barter - help with home improvements such as an upcoming interior wall removal. If he’s unable to snag a Summer job then he is to volunteer @ a neighborhood hospital.
Money order for $100 to cover his camp.
　
~~ pelenaka ~~
Who is giving some serious thought to a jail house tat on her right hand - LBYM