Tuesday, November 30, 2010

November wrap-up for Anyway project

Domestic Infrastructure - these are the realities of home life, including making your home work better with less, getting organized, dealing with domestic life, etc...

  • getting the tin roof done on the back of the house done except 2 pieces of flashing
  • finishing the plastic on the crawl space insulation carry over to next month!
  • sealing up the cellar foundation carry over to next month!
  • build a cold closet in the heated basement may carry over to next year because I can't decide exactly where to put it

Household Economy: Financial goals, making ends meet, saving, barter etc...

  • selling off a Les Paul guitar that hubby doesn't use much ad has been posted
  • finding cheaper house insurance (done! and savings have gone to charity donations)

Resource Consumption : in which we use less of stuff, and strive to live in a way that has an actual future.

  • reduce daytime light use as much as practical we're both getting better at this
  • batch cooking have used my thermal cooker lots

Cottage Industry and Subsistence:: The things we do that prevent us from needing to buy things, and the things we produce that go out into the world and provide for others. Not everyone will do both, but it is worth encouraging.

  • knitting socks for myself, mittens as a Christmas gift I gave up on the sock pattern after I broke a bamboo needle; did finish one pair of mittens and started another
  • putting together some baking mixes for Christmas gifts made up some bean soup mix for gifts

Family and Community: Pretty much what it sounds like. How do we enable those to take the place of collapsing infrastructure?

  • teaching a celiac neighbor how to make no-knead gluten-free bread not gotten to the gluten-free yet, but she did learn how to make the wheat no-knead bread for her family

Outside Work: Finding a balance, doing good work, serving the larger community as much as we can, within our need to make a living.

  • volunteer work with Peterborough Greenup's Urban Forest project (GIS mapping and data analysis) entered one inventory area of tree points; starting to investigate use of iTree (free from the US Forest Service) for them
  • volunteer work with the Festival of Trees' Green Team (we sort recyclables out of the festival's waste stream, saving upwards of $3000 in tipping fees so more money goes to Hospice, Hospital, and another health agency). worked the Teddy Bear breakfast; also came home with some great reusable stuff for Christmas decor and wrapping that they were going to put in the landfill

Time and Happiness: Those things without which there's really no point.

  • Nordic walking to enjoy the fall sunsets and warm afternoons found a new trail that takes me to a good grocery story with an LCBO next door; also walked to my Quaker meeting twice -- these are half-hour each way walks. Feels great!
  • fiction reading (second-hand or borrowed books) finished two books
  • making digital photo collages of our year's travels for our scrapbook ran into some computer issues so had to spend time and energy on those - continue to next month

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