The Radioactive Duck Returns

My unexplained hiatus has ended. Life has taken some interesting turns and I've decided to return with a different view of things.

I spent much of this winter traveling for work.  I managed to travel to LA, San Diego, and Southern Cali in four days before returning home for a week to set out on a six week adventure which took me to Seattle, Detroit, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Shannon, Ireland, Dublin, Ireland, Honolulu, Chicago and Minneapolis.  The travel was long, but I learned so much and was instrumental in putting together our next software release largely based on the user feedback that I collected.  I made many new friends while traveling and had many unique opportunities come my way.  I managed to get a few extra days of relaxation here and there by traveling direct to my next destination instead of returning home for a day before heading back out.  I got to enjoy hot yoga in Vancouver, two road trips in Ireland (from Dublin to Shannon and Shannon back to Dublin), and three whole extra days in paradise.

I had surgery yesterday for my spinal cord simulator and have two weeks off from work.  This was my fourth battery since 2003 and the third location of the battery pocket. I've decided that during this time I wanted to revive Ducktales.  Some of the things that I would like to focus on in this new incarnation of Ducktales are:

• Genealogy research - continuing my exploration of my family tree
• WeightNot - my current weight loss journey through the WeightNot program from Ravel Med Spa
• Corset training - waist training and corseting
• Wicca and Reiki - my journey on my spiritual path

I of course still want to work on reducing my footprint and living "smaller". For me living smaller has many meanings.  One important meaning for me is that living smaller means living with less bills.  This is something that is difficult for many of us, especially with how the economy has been.  It's a goal and maybe one day I'll reach it.  Living smaller also means literally living small; need less space and having less extraneous clutter.  I've learned clutter comes in many forms and sometimes clutter can be emotional clutter.  While learning to release the emotional clutter is bound to be the most difficult undertaking, the reward of cutting the cords and removing the hooks of the emotional clutter are bound to reap countless rewards.

My Summer of Buying Nothing Challenge

I am giving myself a Summer of Buying Nothing Challenge, June 10th to September 10th.  The following items will be exempt from "buying nothing" but will be restricted to a budgeted amount:

• Groceries and Jenny Craig food
• Gas for Zoё
• Maintenancefor Zoё
• Pre-existing bills
• Medication and doctor's visits
• Yoga monthly membership
• Magick and coven supplies
• A small Father's Day gift and/or card
• DMV fees for Zoё and new driver's license

Along with buying nothing, I will also be evaluating where I can reduce the things I don't need/don't use now that I have a clearer understanding of the items I use in my much smaller (but bigger than I hoped for) space--yah no more two bedroom apartment, hello shared house.  I will also be looking at where I can make changes in my current routine that will allow for me to make further reductions, such has using the communal microwave down stairs and selling my personal microwave.  Sadly I had to purchase a refrigerator because there was literally no room for me to even have a gallon of milk communally stored (but I did choose a small energy star fridge/freezer combo).

So what does this mean right now?  Well it means I'm gonna have to find a hair detangling option from what I got that doesn't leave my hair greasy and actually detangles.  I've tried ACV, lavender water and coconut oil and I'm still shooting blanks.  This weekend is DMV, Zoё maintenance and recouping from my reunion last weekend.

Unannounced Hiatus Over

There is light at the end of the tunnel and my unannounced hiatus is over!

For the last four months I've been working 12-13 hour days (not including travel time between jobs and home) and even managed to juggle three jobs for about a month. Speaking of work, I accepted an IT software development Project Manager position with the government. It's been a rough transition into the team, but the developers have finally realized that I understand what they are saying I just don't know the specifics of their applications (I don't hold a masters in IT/IS for nothing you know). As of this coming Sunday I will only be working one job and be able to get more than 5 hours of sleep.

In other big news I moved out of my apartment and into a shared house this week. In the process of down sizing and preparing for the move I had a small set back in down sizing due to some purchasing frenzies the move created. I'm working on taming that and trying to buy handicrafts or organic products. But I did make great strides in reducing my belonging.

• ✓FreeCycled Couch
• ✓Dresser returned to parents house
• ✓Bed frame returned to parents house
• ✓Desk returned to parents house
• ✓Bedside table returned to parents house
• ✓Cleaned out old papers from desk and "to be filed" jumbo box

Things that have backslide:

• Homemade Shampoo/Conditioner -- I had a scalp issue that I tried to resolve with organic shampoo/conditioner, then the ACV stopped detangling my hair...looking for alternatives now
• Make deodorant -- Currently using Tom of Maine’s deodorant due to coconut oil melting
• Ban fast food -- Haven't been home enough to avoid fast food :(
• Eliminate red meat from my diet – I haven't been sticking to :(

An Update of Sorts

Well it seems like forever since I've updated because frankly it has been forever.  A lot has been going on this last month.  This biggest news is I got a roommate halfway through the month.  This is a huge help.  I also started my second job which has me running around like a mad woman.  I've got a third job in the works which will become my full time job and the other two will just be part time jobs.  I'm hoping that I will still be on track with the new job for a move in May.  I've got my finger crossed.

Despite being incredibly busy this month I still managed to get some changes made.  Here's a recap of the COMPLETED challenged from January:
✔Clean desk and reduce to one desk
✔Get roommate
✔Reduce debt by 25%
✔Replace eco-laundry detergent with lavender castle soap
✔Replace toothpowder with pepperment castle soap
✔Switch to recyclable razors

I moved to the smallest of the three original desk.  I still have a few things hanging around in the old desk, but for all intensive purposes I'm using just the one small desk.  :)

I got a roommate!

My debt is slowly decreasing.  I'm proud to say that minus my educational expenses I've reduced my debt by almost 25%.  Things are still rough, but I made it through January and I will make it thorough February.

I've totally switched the lavender castle soap for my laundry detergent.  I love love love it.  All my clothes smell great now and not too perfumey.

Peppermint castle sap as toothpaste rocks!

I totally switched to recyclable razors and am thrilled with the results!

The plan is to get some challenges up for February by the end of the week, but I've got a lot on my plate for the next couple of days.

January Challenges...and Changes Already Made

Alright I've got some challenges up and ready for this month.  Here's the list so far:
→Clean desk and reduce to one desk
→Reduce debt by 25%
→Switch to recyclable razors
→Take unused dresser and bed frame back to parents
→Use up pre-packaged items in apartment
And as this post goes one I'm sure I'll be adding to this least as I've already made some changes this month.

First up, I've gone from three desk, one with a hutch to two desk with no hutch.  Now in the next 21 days I want to go from two desk to one desk.  This will require me to get some desk stuff I have stored in the closet out and continue to evaluate what I have and what I really need.

Next up is to reduce my debt by 25%.  Selling my car as me almost to this goal.  I have one more payment this month and then I can officially say I've reduce my debt (ignoring my student loans for the moment) by 25%.

I've really wanted to switch to recyclable razors for a while and I've finally made it down to my last razor.  So now this is just a matter of me making it to Wegman's to pick up the razor or checking in the Natural Grocer again for them.  Hopefully in the next week or so this can be checked off.

I talked to my dad over Christmas and he said to continue to harass him and he'll borrow someone's truck from his hunting club and get the dresser and bed frame.  I might even have a desk ready for him if he waits til the end of the month.  He claims he didn't know I was waiting for him to get the furniture.  Oops daddy had a senior moment.

As always I'll continue to use up the prepackaged items in the apartment.  Slowly but surly this is getting done.

I found two wonderful new (to me) uses for castle soap.  A drop or two of peppermint castle soap makes wonderful toothpaste.  I like this much better than my toothpowder which still taste pretty bad.  I also found that a 1/4 a cup of lavender castle soap works just as well as laundry detergent and doesn't leave any perfumery smell on my clothes after they're dry.