This moratorium thing is mostly okay, but it sucks when everyone else in the office goes out to lunch.
Author Archives: Cabol
Moratorium: Week 1
Posted onThe snow finally melted, and we finally made it out of the house. We did have to spend some unplanned money this first week in addition to the normal groceries and gas type stuff:
– $10.00 the insurance company didn’t cover for the tow truck.
– $0.50 for the pay phone to call daycare lady so she’d know when to meet us at the end of her street because their driveway was so bad only 4WD could get through.
– $2.00 for a parking permit at work because we forgot to take my permit out of the car when we took the truck to work on Thursday (actually, I still owe my coworker for that).
– $10.00 for lunch on Friday because I packed Andy a spoiled lunch, and I really had to get out of the office.
Not so bad. Definitely could have been worse. We almost had to buy a dryer because ours conked out on Wednesday (what a week), but daycare lady just got a new washer and dryer Friday, and she gave us their old one. We picked it up today, and yeah it’s old, but it works!
We also picked up an armoire to serve as our (mostly Andy’s) closet since our bedroom doesn’t have a closet. It’s really an entertainment-type armoire, but we got it for fairly cheap from my boss. Andy put a pole in, and it works just fine. Now he doesn’t have to keep his clothes in Anya’s room anymore, and I get his dresser drawers for my stuff. Yay! (I’d paid for it two weeks ago so no moratorium violation.)
And finally, we picked up Anya’s new bed frame Friday. It’s an early birthday gift from Andy’s mom (so no moratorium violation), and Anya really likes it. It’s not put together yet, but when it is we’ll put up a picture. It has drawers!
Again, what a week!
One of the neat things about this adventure is that we’ve been trying to use what we have in the freezer and pantry. I made an apple pie today from some apples I canned when we first moved here. Or maybe even before? Hm. Andy made some chili with a bunch of the beans, and I made cornbread to go with it. Yum!
So that ends week 1. It wasn’t too hard not to buy stuff, and it’s definitely fun to say, “Moratorium!”
Captain’s Log: Snow Day 2, Moratorium Day 3
Posted onWe are still trapped by the snow. Andy made a valiant attempt to escape this morning, but he had to abandon the truck down by the pond. The electricity is going strong so far, and we have water, but I am concerned about the level of the propane tank. Will the cookies finish baking before the propane runs out? My biggest worry, though, is what we will do when Anya starts asking for her beloved “nana” tomorrow morning since she ate the last one today. Perhaps I can distract her with an icicle.
We Moved Back to Michigan!
Posted onSee, it’s true!
Yeah, um, we haven’t had time yet to get new plates for the car. Um. Yeah. Or it could be that for the first time in the three years we’ve been living in VA, we got more than an inch of snow. More like ten inches.
Too bad we don’t have a tractor, or 15 kids with big arm muscles, or a flamethrower. (Oooo, wait I do have a flamethrower!! I wonder where it is.) We are trapped in the house right now, and we may be trapped tomorrow. Temperatures aren’t expected to be over freezing until Wednesday. Andy tried to get the truck out of the parking spot and into the driveway this morning. Two hours later, and it was not happening. He said he may try again tomorrow.
I’d like to say that being trapped at home was helpful for Day 2 of the Moratorium, but it gave Andy the chance to finally load about 200 photos to the printing website. Now I want to order about 200 prints. Blergle!
Also? Anya does not like snow.
Moratorium: Day 1
Posted onToday is the first day of our Spending Moratorium. So far, we are doing very well. Of course, it’s not yet 10am, and we are all still in our pajamies. Yesterday we went out and visited our favorite stores to say good-bye: Target, Home Depot, and Lowes. We also made a stop at the chinese buffet for our last meal out. Andy was very sad because he did not find anything to buy. I did. I got a few more plants for work and some stuff to rebuild the bunny cage. Oh wait! Andy got some fabric bins/cubes to go into the armoire we bought from a coworker last week. Happy day!
Moratorium! Moratorium! Moratorium!
Spending Moratorium on the Horizon
Posted onLast November, after I realized how often we were eating out, we went on an Eating Out Moratorium. We didn’t eat out (except one or two meals when my parents were visiting) the whole month. Every time one of us would get weak, the other would shout, “MORATORIUM!” It’s a fun word. So, lately I’ve been pondering a full-out Spending Moratorium. Somehow today I managed to convince Andy we should do it. So, we are. MORATORIUM!
Guidelines:
1. Begins at midnight on March 1, 2009, and ends when our credit card is paid off.
2. No unnecessary purchases.
3. Must log all purchases.
4. Must post weekly about status.
What is allowed:
1. Medical care for the people and the animals.
2. Food for the animals.
3. Kitty litter.
4. Basic toiletries.
5. Food basics.
6. Automobile maintenance / repair / registration / inspection.
7. Gas for the automobiles.
8. Propane for the stove.
9. Febreeze refills.
10. Shoes and clothes for Anya if she outgrows what we have.
11. Birthday present for Anya.
12. Supplies needed to finish kitty room / plant room.
13. Plants for vegetable garden.
14. Baby ducks.
What is not allowed (not all inclusive):
1. Junk food (chips, cookie dough, soda, ice cream, frozen pizza, etc.)
2. Eating out.
3. Shoes and clothes for Andy or Carol.
4. Furniture.
5. Electronics.
6. Toys.
7. House plants.
8. Tools.
Exceptions:
1. Eat out once a month.
2. One 12-pack of soda a month.
3. Other things possibly excepted if both Andy and Carol are in total, non-coerced agreement that said things are necessary.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Posted onHappy Valentine’s Day!
This morning I asked Andy to take some pictures of Anya in the V-Day outfit her Grandma Diane sent. He obliged by getting a bunch of great shots in the kitchen with wonderful backgrounds like….the stove covered with dirty dishes; the cluttered microwave area; and the spot on the floor where one vinyl tile has been pulled up to reveal the subfloor.
I suggested we go outside to get some nicer shots. We parked Anya on a little bench, and Andy took some really nice shots with wonderful backgrounds like…our car and truck; the cluttered porch; and the water spigot.
I guess Anya is just so cute, Andy doesn’t see anything but her when he’s taking her picture. Awwww.
How Andy Spent His Weekend
Posted onOne day, when the moon is in proper alignment and Anya is bringing in the cash on her paper route, we’re going to renovate our kitchen and living room. One major part of the renovation will be putting down hardwood floors. To this end, Andy has been collecting a huge stack of old, nasty-looking barn wood. When he’d bring this wood home, he’d get all excited and make me go look at it, and I’d stare at him and then wave my hands around frantically and exclaim, “YOU PAID MONEY FOR THIS????”
Last weekend he pulled out his planer (plainer? playner? pleignar?) and went to work on the stack. About halfway through, he called me outside to take a look at the new, happy-looking wood, so I would calm down and stop eating so many cookies. I did calm down a bit, which was good because I had no cookies.
Here is the story of the future hardwood floors in pictures:
The boards are still a bit rough and will require some trimming and ripping and more plaeigyning before they become a floor, but that’s okay because Anya won’t be able to ride a bicycle for a few more years.
Posted on
Anya has finally outgrown the fabulous car seat her Auntie Kc and her Uncie Ken got her for her 0th birthday. Andy and I pondered buying Anya a new car seat, but we decided that we’d do as the natives do. I mean, why waste a perfectly good pickup truck bed?
Home Improvement Project #3,092
Posted onAbout two weeks ago, I started getting antsy because we hadn’t been to Home Depot or Lowes in a while, and I didn’t want the folks there to miss us. (“Hello guy at the HD in Roanoke who works in the bathroom department and who knows us well enough to run when he sees us coming!”) The weather has been too cold lately to work on the kitty room or pretty much anything outside (with a few 24 hour exceptions), so our next project had to be something indoors. It also had to be something fairly cheap since we are still paying off the kitty room supplies (Yay 0% interest!).
Meet our stairway.
On first glance it may not look that bad, but let me point out some of the features of this “rustic” staircase.
1. The walls are painted white. That’s a big demerit point right there.
2. The trim is an unpleasantly-stained pine.
3. The light fixture is one of those cheapo glass cone-like dealies that looks like something Madonna would wear over her bosom. Well, she’d probably wear one over each bosom. We just had one the fixture, though.
Our plan of attack was simple: paint and replace the glass brassiere.
Andy got started with the prep work. He filled in ALL the nail holes in the trim and did some other spackling. He was going to start priming when I happened by.
“Um, Andy. Yeah. That trim is nasty. Is there anything you can do to make it look nicer?”
4. The trim that cuts the stairway in two is all wonky and doesn’t match side-to-side and is just plain ugly. It’s made up of what appears to be bits of wood left over from other projects and puzzle-pieced in.
I believe Andy glared at me at this point. He didn’t see anything really wrong with it and didn’t want to try and change it. I admit we were both afraid of what we would find under the wood if we started pulling pieces off. Knowing the folks who built this house, one of those strips of trim probably held the fabric of space and time together.
I was willing to risk annihilating the universe, though, if it meant bringing a little more symmetry into my life. I like symmetry. Symmetry makes me happy. Plus, if the universe was at risk, perhaps the Doctor would come for a visit.
Andy got out the crowbar and I could tell that for a moment he pondered using it to whack me upside the head, but instead he started ripping off that ghastly trim. Luckily, space and time remained unharmed.
After the painting was done on the walls (the trim isn’t done yet) and before the scaffolding came down, Andy installed our new light fixture.
No, not that one you see in the picture. He spent about two hours getting that one put up, and then I walked by and said, “Um, yeah. That isn’t going to work.” Luckily by this time the crowbar was back in the workshop. Hey, was it my fault that this light perfectly aligned to shine naked bulbs right in my eyeballs as I walked past? The second light only took about an hour to put up, I only heard Andy curse a few times. (P.S. We did not paint the walls yellow. The light in that photo is horrible. We used a color called “river reed.” It’s a pale green with a bit of tan in it.)
Alas, this is where the pictures stop for now. The new trim is in but needs some work (i.e., a few tubes of caulk and a magic wand), and the railing needs to go back up. When all is done I’ll get the final photo in. It looks really nice, though. Trust me. And at around $150 it’s our cheapest project on this house so far.