Well, single parenting has me busy with alot of things... and has prompted me to simplify the 'to do' list a bit by suspending the blogging. Sorry about that! Our bicycle commuting continues. We've had much better weather for it in January and February than we had in December. I'm considering December the true test of commitment and am pleased to report we passed the test, continuing to commute by bike despite nearly constant rain throughout the month.
Hopefully I'll be a bit more reliable here going forward than I've been the last couple of months. In the meantime, happy Lunar New Year!
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Sunday, December 5, 2010
ZipCar
With the car gone to Oregon, and bike commuting not always practical, I joined ZipCar. I figured there would be occasions when I need to go further than my legs are willing to pedal, or carry more than will fit in the Burley. Today was one of those days. We completed our first ZipCar reservation. It was fabulous.
I have to say it was a little weird just using someone's car without ever speaking to them. I reserved a car about half a mile from home, which meant a 15 minute hike from the house. We loaded up the car seats in the little red wagon, donned our rain gear (with garbage bag 'raincoat' for the car seats), and hiked on over. The kids were troopers. Once at the car I installed the car seats, installed the kids, stowed the wagon in the trunk and we were off. We went to church, we went to lunch, we did the weekly grocery shopping, brought it home and then drove the car back to its parking space. Loaded the car seats back into the wagon and trooped on home in a rainstorm. Along the way we stopped to float leaf boats down a rushing river of water running along the curb, stomped our way through a couple of good sized puddles, and generally enjoyed the foul weather. Nothing like youngsters to help you see the joy in any situation. Once home, after sliding out of our wet clothes, we capped our outing with hot chocolate & marshmallows and another screening of Polar Express. 'Tis the season!
I have to say renting a car by the hour, for just the few hours you need it, and not having to worry about gas, tolls, etc. is fabulous. They make it really easy too - get to it, unlock it, get in, and go! Way to go. Thank you ZipCar!
I have to say it was a little weird just using someone's car without ever speaking to them. I reserved a car about half a mile from home, which meant a 15 minute hike from the house. We loaded up the car seats in the little red wagon, donned our rain gear (with garbage bag 'raincoat' for the car seats), and hiked on over. The kids were troopers. Once at the car I installed the car seats, installed the kids, stowed the wagon in the trunk and we were off. We went to church, we went to lunch, we did the weekly grocery shopping, brought it home and then drove the car back to its parking space. Loaded the car seats back into the wagon and trooped on home in a rainstorm. Along the way we stopped to float leaf boats down a rushing river of water running along the curb, stomped our way through a couple of good sized puddles, and generally enjoyed the foul weather. Nothing like youngsters to help you see the joy in any situation. Once home, after sliding out of our wet clothes, we capped our outing with hot chocolate & marshmallows and another screening of Polar Express. 'Tis the season!
I have to say renting a car by the hour, for just the few hours you need it, and not having to worry about gas, tolls, etc. is fabulous. They make it really easy too - get to it, unlock it, get in, and go! Way to go. Thank you ZipCar!
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Another step
And now we are a bike-commuting family. We were proud of ourselves a few years ago when we sold the second car. We've been managing pretty much without issue ever since, having just a single motor vehicle. Every once in a while the logistics get a little hairy, but generally we do ok and don't miss that second car. Since our move closer to work last year I've been suggesting that we could now eliminate the remaining automobile. My partner has been pretty resistant to that idea, and the car has remained. But today the car left the state and now I get to make good on my assertion that we don't need a car in the city.
This morning was day one. I attached the new-to-us Burley double bike trailer to the back of my bike, affixed helmets on both munchkins and myself, and we were off. My poor bike has been locked up for over a year, so the muscles that move it forward were a bit surprised to be called out of retirement, but that's a change for the better. It was pretty much a non-event to be commuting to school and then work on the bike. I was pretty delighted to discover the "trunk" behind the seats in the Burley - plenty of room for my purse, book bag, and the kids stuff. Too cool.
In addition to the simplified, human powered transportation, we simplified the cable TV subscription this week - eliminating a pretty hefty chunk of that monthly bill (and the premium channels that went with it). We'd considered quitting completely, cold turkey, but ended up taking a less drastic first step in that area. Ah well, the good news is we're headed in the right direction.
This morning was day one. I attached the new-to-us Burley double bike trailer to the back of my bike, affixed helmets on both munchkins and myself, and we were off. My poor bike has been locked up for over a year, so the muscles that move it forward were a bit surprised to be called out of retirement, but that's a change for the better. It was pretty much a non-event to be commuting to school and then work on the bike. I was pretty delighted to discover the "trunk" behind the seats in the Burley - plenty of room for my purse, book bag, and the kids stuff. Too cool.
In addition to the simplified, human powered transportation, we simplified the cable TV subscription this week - eliminating a pretty hefty chunk of that monthly bill (and the premium channels that went with it). We'd considered quitting completely, cold turkey, but ended up taking a less drastic first step in that area. Ah well, the good news is we're headed in the right direction.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
A Simple Holiday
The holiday season is upon us and once again I find myself struggling with how to celebrate the season of gift giving while maintaining our minimalist objectives. How do I give gifts that celebrate the season without buying into the buying that has defined the holidays? Earlier this year I set upon a plan to knit a pair of warm and comfy socks for everyone on my gift list. I made a little progress at that, knitting four pairs of socks between March and October. But then I reached the end of my rope and just needed a break from sock knitting. Now I'm debating with myself - if I don't have a pair for everyone, should anyone get one? If I don't wrap these socks, what will I wrap? How do we celebrate simply without looking cheap?
I wish I could say I've got great answers to this question, but I'm stumped. I know we can reuse and recycle and that will help. But I also want the gift to be meaningful and useful to the recipient. I don't want to be just turning my 'stuff' into their 'stuff'. So once I again I find myself stressing about making this all work. I'd love to hear your ideas!
I wish I could say I've got great answers to this question, but I'm stumped. I know we can reuse and recycle and that will help. But I also want the gift to be meaningful and useful to the recipient. I don't want to be just turning my 'stuff' into their 'stuff'. So once I again I find myself stressing about making this all work. I'd love to hear your ideas!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Taking a tip from Feng Shui and Maria Montessori
Where does inspiration come from for you? What motivates you to consider changing long standing habits? For me, motivation comes from an endless hunger to learn more about every and anything. And as I learn I am motivated to incorporate a little of what I've learned into my life.
Among other things (like lack of money), living intentionally with fewer physical possessions was encouraged, for me, by things I learned about the principles behind Feng Shui and the Montessori method of education.
Feng Shui teaches that chi (energy) needs room to move or it becomes stagnant and drags you down. It needs gentle movement or becomes forceful and knocks you over. So strategically aligning the things you have - and having not too many things - is very important. Stuff under the bed? Invites dust (bad for chi) and blocks the movement of chi. Lots of furniture in the living room? Blocks the chi, draining your energy. Using dishes with little chips in them? Bad chi. As I looked around my home with an eye toward the movement of energy through my space, I discovered opportunities to open up the flow of energy by eliminating that which blocked chi. Living with less opened up the spaces we are inhabiting, making them more comfortable to be in. That's the beauty of chi.
Like Feng Shui, Maria Montessori teaches that too much stuff overwhelms the young child, blocking their ability to do the important work of making sense of the world around them. One of the guiding principles of the Montessori method is The Prepared Environment. Montessori teaches that children learn best in a prepared environment, a place in which children can do things for themselves. In the prepared environment learning materials and experiences are available to children in an orderly format. Each object has its own place on a child sized shelf, and none compete with any others for space. The open shelving makes all the materials visible and accessible, attracting the attention of the young child and sparking their innate desire to learn by working with whatever has attracted their attention. Learning about the Montessori method has encouraged me to consider what is available to my young children and to make sure that there are a few, well made of natural materials, things for them to work with when they want to. We are big readers and have lots and lots of books, but we put no more than a dozen on the book shelves at a time. Every so often I rotate them out, putting new ones in their place. This lets us enjoy all our many books, without overwhelming our limited amount of shelf space.
I'd love to hear where your inspiration came from! Please comment and share!
Among other things (like lack of money), living intentionally with fewer physical possessions was encouraged, for me, by things I learned about the principles behind Feng Shui and the Montessori method of education.
Feng Shui teaches that chi (energy) needs room to move or it becomes stagnant and drags you down. It needs gentle movement or becomes forceful and knocks you over. So strategically aligning the things you have - and having not too many things - is very important. Stuff under the bed? Invites dust (bad for chi) and blocks the movement of chi. Lots of furniture in the living room? Blocks the chi, draining your energy. Using dishes with little chips in them? Bad chi. As I looked around my home with an eye toward the movement of energy through my space, I discovered opportunities to open up the flow of energy by eliminating that which blocked chi. Living with less opened up the spaces we are inhabiting, making them more comfortable to be in. That's the beauty of chi.
Like Feng Shui, Maria Montessori teaches that too much stuff overwhelms the young child, blocking their ability to do the important work of making sense of the world around them. One of the guiding principles of the Montessori method is The Prepared Environment. Montessori teaches that children learn best in a prepared environment, a place in which children can do things for themselves. In the prepared environment learning materials and experiences are available to children in an orderly format. Each object has its own place on a child sized shelf, and none compete with any others for space. The open shelving makes all the materials visible and accessible, attracting the attention of the young child and sparking their innate desire to learn by working with whatever has attracted their attention. Learning about the Montessori method has encouraged me to consider what is available to my young children and to make sure that there are a few, well made of natural materials, things for them to work with when they want to. We are big readers and have lots and lots of books, but we put no more than a dozen on the book shelves at a time. Every so often I rotate them out, putting new ones in their place. This lets us enjoy all our many books, without overwhelming our limited amount of shelf space.
I'd love to hear where your inspiration came from! Please comment and share!
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Poverty vs Austerity
So our new place is bereft of counter space, having 18 inches to the right side of the stove and 36 inches to the left. And that is all. For more than a year the latte/coffee maker took up a good portion of that 36 inches. My daughter and her husband brew their coffee directly into their cups, sitting the filter basket atop the cup and pouring water from the tea kettle over the freshly ground coffee.
I recently decided to take back the counter space consumed by the coffee maker. I donated it to my neighbor and we started brewing coffee by pouring boiling water over grounds atop the coffee cup. One day during the first week of this new approach, DH turned to our three year old and declared "this is what poverty looks like."
He was joking - sort of. But it got me to wondering. When you are intentional about doing without something, isn't that austerity, not poverty?
I recently decided to take back the counter space consumed by the coffee maker. I donated it to my neighbor and we started brewing coffee by pouring boiling water over grounds atop the coffee cup. One day during the first week of this new approach, DH turned to our three year old and declared "this is what poverty looks like."
He was joking - sort of. But it got me to wondering. When you are intentional about doing without something, isn't that austerity, not poverty?
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Unpacking
I am a really good packer. Maybe it comes from enjoying puzzle solving. But I can organize a closet like nobody's business. I've always seen that as a positive personality trait. But as we settled into our smaller digs, there was a downside to being spatially adept. I was way too good at cramming way too much stuff into a single small space. Too much stuff in a small space was leaving us feeling cramped and confined. Within a couple of months I realized that not having every nook and cranny filled would not only look better, it would also feel better. I have found that every couple of months I need to sweep through the house, eliminating the unnecessary and freeing us all from the oppression of the stuff that finds its way onto every flat or empty surface. It was a surprise to me that getting rid of stuff is something that needs to be done regularly when you live in a small space.
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