August Challenges for 52 Weeks

I have a couple of “on going” goals that I really want to work on this month.

• Declutter apartment room by room
  
• Use up pre-packaged items in apartment (to be replace with sustainable/homemade alternatives)

Some of my other goals are directly tied into the first goal

• Give away TV (waiting for my sister to pick up)
  
• Take unused items to the Salvation Army (it just happens to be closer to my apartment than Goodwill)
  
• Use Freecycle and Craig's List to help declutter apartment
  
• Give away/Sale oversized desk in living room (that's after I clean off it's contents and actually find the desk again)

The new changes that I’m pulling from the queue are

• Give up using handicap parking spaces (except at work where I might not get a space at all otherwise)
  
• Walk or bike to cafe to use WiFi

And I did go ahead and get the Craig’s List bike yesterday, so I’m going to count that as one of my challenges for August to jump start me, but everything else is an in progress or new challenge. It's not a fantastic bike, but it will definitely serve the purpose of getting me out and exercising while I try to patiently wait for a call about the job overseas.

And in preparation for the Buy Nothing Challenge I returned the rolling book back I bought last summer from LLBean and took advantage of their 100% Satisfaction Guarantee and was able to get the duffel I'll need to pack in when I go overseas, a lunch box and a stainless steal water bottle and cozy. After the monogramming on the duffel, I only owed $15. Pretty good considering I would have just given away the back pack and had to pay upfront for everything if I did use the 100% Satisfaction Guarantee that I had forgotten about. Much better deal for my wallet this way. ^_^

Socks...and a Bike!

Hi! My name is Hope and I'm addicted to socks. Not just any socks but warm socks. And hand warmers. Cute colors are a bonus, but aren't required. They must keep me warm and can't be scratchy. Hi, Hope!

In comes Sock Dreams. I've picked up their Long Cuffable Scrunchable Socks, O Wollies, Plaid Arm Warmers, and Microfiber Chenille Arm Warmers (just to name a few) over the last year and a half.

I was bad and found out they were had a promo code for 20% off (promo code: 9yearsonline). So what did I do? I order lots and lots of socks and more of the Chenille Arm Warmers in the colors I didn't have. But this wasn't just a frivolous spending spree (in preparation for Crunchy Chicken's Buy Nothing Challenge that starts on Saturday) but also practical planning for that hopeful job overseas...I definitely don't have enough socks to make it two weeks.

Ok, so I may have gone overboard with lots of socks, but hey they are practical and I promise not one pair of them where knee highs or over the knee socks (because even though I love these types of socks my dancer's calfs and monstrous thighs just don't make them comfortable). And, and the hand warmers will now match (instead of clash) with my outfits at work since my cube is in the sub-arctic region of the room (two cubes up it's feels like heaven to me, but they are sweating). So the hand warmers aren't made from recycled cotton, but the socks are. ^_^

And I'm going to look at a bike tonight. I've been wanting to get a bike for a couple of months but couldn't afford a new one. I tried Freecycle, but there are at least three other women looking for bikes there. And of course stupid me forgot all about Craig's List where there is an entire section devoted to bikes. So I weeded out the expensive bikes and eventually found an $80 bike. A little more than I want to spend, but still a heck of a lot better than $380 for the bike I covet at Olde Town Bike, one day it will be mine but for now the important thing is not fluffy features and is to get me out exercising.

If I can learn to tackle the hills around my apartment I can bike to the local coffee shop and steal use their free wifi instead of driving there (it's only a mile, I can totally do it...even with the monstrous hills that will attempt to defeat me).

52 Weeks

So I’ve several lists to the right hand side of my page that I've added over the last couple of days. They include positive/green changes I’ve made, am in the mist of making, and want to make. The idea is to come up with 52 positive changes for my new phase of life (I have a job for now, but it’s only until September) that will hopefully springboard me into my future in the computer industry. By why wait to make a big commitment until I have that ever elusive job? So starting next month I want to be able to come back on August 1st, 2010 and see that I’ve made 52 weeks of positive changes that are going to stay with me.

Why 52? Well I read somewhere that it takes doing something seven times to make it a lasting habit (and 365 small changes seams a little too intimidating to me). I’m currently reading “Sleeping Naked is Green”* and applaud Vanessa from Green as a Thistle for taking up her challenge; I’m not that brave yet (maybe one day I will be). Another reason is that if I do go overseas, I can use a “stock” of positive changes I’ve already made to stay in the green during that transition phase. While there are certain things that may end up in a “holding queue” such has no bottled water (it’s not optionally according to my friend in Afghanistan unless I want the runs permanently) that I’ll have to back peddle on, but I will hopefully be able to balance the list out with other positive changes (like getting into shape, i.e. being able to walk 1 mile without wheezing).

*On a side note, once people get over the shock of seeing me reading and realize that it's not for grad school they immdeiately read the title and think it's porn. I've gotten numerous response like, "Hope, how dare you read that in public/at the doctor's office/in your cube." Once I let them read the back cover or the first page they blush and scurry off to let me to read my book in peace.

Face Wash Bliss

After reading about using honey as a face wash I started experimenting with it at the gym at work, to help use up my honey while I’m still employed. I’ve also been using honey with brown sugar as a nice scrub/mask. I commented the other day that between my tea rinse and the honey that I never thought a gym shower could be so yummy smelling.

I wasn’t sure it was going to work, so I didn’t fully switch and kept using my old face wash from the health food store and old scrub from LUSH. I can hardly believe it, but I’m totally hooked on the honey. The LUSH scrub was called Ocean Salt while it did a great job at exfoliating not only my face but also the rest of my skin, it tasted awful when it got in my mouth and stung when it got in my eyes. And let’s face it, this happens quite often. So when I finished my face scrub tub, last week I could barely contain myself the next day at work from telling everyone how amazing honey and brown sugar scrubs are (hey I’m already that lesbian hippy child who refuses to where make-up—to my mother’s dismay, freely talks about reusable menstrual solutions—so long as I’m only in female company—in the office, so it really isn’t that far of a stretch for me to go off about a honey face wash, but I restrained myself).

So Sunday night when I finally jumped in the shower after a long weekend of babysitting my youngest nephew (aka Fatty) I was almost shocked to squeeze out my health food store face wash and it practically run out of my hand. I don’t know how I’m gonna use up all that store bought face wash so I can use the honey full time. Here's a picture of Fatty down in Occoquan on Saturday after we went to the Farmer's Market (he just noticed we where next to a dock and there were ducks!).

No 'Poo Progress Report

Week one was ok.
Week two the tangles were bad and the gressies started to bother me but not as much as the feeling that there was something still in my hair despite a good rinse. Usually a water only wash helped clear that up.
Now at week three I'm attempting to cut back the baking soda washes from three times a week to twice a week. Still dealing with not quiet feeling clean after a baking soda wash but it's now not better better after a water only wash. Tried cutting down amount of tea used in tea rinse; made the problem worse. 0.o It's just become a huge tangled mess that feels like its got some sort of waxy build up and I don't use any product on my hair.

In the two and a half weeks that I've been doing no poo the texture of my hair has completely changed. I have two medical conditions which cause me to have some hair loss (nothing noticeable just an excess of shedding). I have a lot of hair so the shedding has never been an issue. My hair has always been baby fine, but just a ton of it (it has deceived numerous hairdressers). Now my hair has become much coarser, or maybe just each individual hair has become thicker (and this I notice on days when I don't feel like I have some sort of left over build up).

So after a little more research and a little begging for help it turns out the 1 part BS to any parts water just isn't sufficient directions. I used a 1 to 3 part mix that was recommended in several location when I made my first batch (that how I got to the messurments listed in my original no 'poo post). So I've mixed up another batch with the newly recommended 1 tablespoon BS to 1 1/2 cups water (as my bottle hold just under 2 cups of water). I couldn't find my lavender oil tonight so I'll have to add a few drops in once I finally locate where I put it. I'll give it a couple of weeks to adjust and then report on the new and improved (hopefully) progress.

On another hair related note, I decided to trim my hair in the middle of the night last night. I guess what happens with insomnia (the night before I managed to clean my bathroom). I've been growing my hair out for over a year now, probably closer to two years come to think of it. The last time I got it trimmed the hairdresser insisted on cutting in some layers but refused to part my hair at it's natural part. The result was uneven layers as my hair refuses to hold any part of than a deep side part, grrr I told her that she was screwing up my hair but she kept insisting that she knew what she was doing and it would all even out after she parted it on the side and cleaned it up. Can you tell I've had this mistake happen more than once? Probably what I get for going to the cheapy salon most of the time, but I've had them do it to me at expensive salons too. Anyhoo, I wasn't brave enough to cut the three to five inches needed to give me a bob as it would be nearly to my chinn, but I did manage to cut about an inch off and not make it look disastrous and could probably go another inch and still have it around my collar bone.

Job/lessness update: My company has been a infuriating about actually attempt to find me a position. They fell back on the slap in the face offer and stopped looking, even though I wouldn't be getting away from my mother (even though everyone agrees that's what I need to do...funny how they can't seem to help make that happen due to their laziness). My dad passed my resume on to one of the contractors at his off, exactly two miles from my apartment, that is in need of people with clearances, but they haven't called. The job I interviewed for two weeks ago never called me back, and if you don't get a call back from them within seven days it's their polite way of telling you that you didn't get the job. I'm still holding out that Afghanistan/Iraq will come thru for me in the next month, two more weeks and they will have officially had my resume for two months and I can reach out to my friend over in Afghanistan to see if we can work these from all angels.