Quote of the weekend, from Stringy:
It's been so nice having one place where all my keys, bags, outdoor gear live, a one-stop shop, that I'm thinking of setting up a laptop/charging station to keep all of my electronics in one place too. Plus that way all my electronics could be plugged into a strip that I can switch off easily to reduce vampire power drains.
You are at the end of Week Four. We're learning that many effects of the Cure lend themselves to a way of life that is not only simpler, but also greener. From Maxwell comes a request for your "done" list. Please put yours in the comments below, and see Kathryn's comment on our last Green Cure post for an inspiring example.
We've been traveling this week, but we'll still get our three meals at home in our kitchen. We've been thrilled with our weekly organic grocery delivery, which has inspired us to cook more at home and have friends over (it's easy when there's already a bunch of food there!) We swear we're feeling better, too.
• Need more inspiration on the cooking thing? Head over to The Kitchen.
• New to the cooking thing? Is Maxwell's roast chicken recipe just too intimidating for you? Don't stress about it. Take small steps towards cooking from scratch, but start by cooking something that really tastes good. Check out A Twist of the Wrist: Quick Flavorful Meals with Ingredients from Jars, Cans, Bags, and Boxes by Nancy Silverton for quick, elegant ideas, many of which are focused on less processed prepared foods, like takeout roasted chicken.
• Keep an eye out for good looking, simple bookcases-this co-editor would appreciate some help with the deIkea process. :)
This Week's Assignment:
In the Deep Treatment we tackle the Living Room. For some of you this may be a big deal, for others it may not be as much trouble. Either way, this is probably the time to tackle your BOOKS. These are a very pesky element that can be very hard to edit. You are also cooking at home three times this week.
The One Room Workout gets to tackling shopping and considering Carb and Protein furniture if you haven't already. I urge you to buy quality when you shop. In addition, if you are entering prices into a shopping list/spreadsheet, don't forget that we have these available here for you to use.
Info:The Cure posts will go up twice a week on Mondays and Fridays, allowing for plenty of comment space. We will be pulling comments and pics to the front page post each week and everyone is urged to take pics and post them to this great Flickr pool or simply tag them with "ATgreencure."
(The last post is here - all Worksheets are here - The Book Blog is here)
Okay - I'm back. After eleven days of being away (in San Francisco, where I might note Valencia Street has sprouted quite a few design shops which I unfortunately did not have time to visit).
I'm feeling really behind (having missed almost two weeks) and am trying to decide whether to try to start from where I was at the end of week 2, or just skip ahead to week 4.
Hmmmmmmm.
I do want to paint my floor SOON before the weather gets cold.
view betsbillabong's profile
Do whichever week involves painting the floor, since forces beyond your control put a time limit on when you can do that.
This is one of those cases where the "right" answer is the one that solves your homemaking problems most effectively.
view wende in the twin cities's profile
Good point, Wende. I will probably try to do it next weekend, although a family emergency may have put the kibosh on things for a while. I'm also feeling more and more like I should really feed that hungry outbox a bit more before I paint. But how long will NYC's warm weather keep on?? That is the question!
view betsbillabong's profile
My outbox has been very busy. I have given away a lot of things to friends, to freecycle, and multiple trips to Goodwill. I have removed many many bags of recycled paper from the house, and broken my attachment to old magazines and catalogs. I have accustomed my husband to going through the outbox with me regularly.
I was surprised at how some of the walls of my house feel (and at how dusty the walls of the stairs were).
I've taken my kitchen faucet apart and put it back together again. (Miraculously this by itself stopped the leak, although by now the part I ordered to repair it has arrived.)
I have cleaned my front stairs and waxed them.
I have shown off my apartment to my parents, and been told "you have a cool house" by a 3 and a half year old girl. I have had 27 people over for dinner and games one evening (this is a normal monthly occurance for me) and six toddlers with parents one day.
I've figured out that my style is something traditional (colonial revival?)
I spent four hours scrubbing my kitchen floor (don't ask) and then sealed it with an acrylic to help it stay clean.
I have thought a lot about color, although I need to practice looking more before I make any significant color decisions.
Most importantly I have started to look at my house, not just live in it. I've been taking pictures of things I'm proud of. I look at how my house appears, not just what it is. This is new for me.
view chenoameg's profile
I've embraced the idea that I likely will not be finished within the eight weeks, but that instead, I have developed a more sustainable rhythm that includes taking better care of my home. In terms of finishing "on time," in the coming weeks, I have a few too many social commitments--including hosting a "Fractured Fairytales" costume party and participating in a "Where's Waldo?" game in downtown Portland--to devote the necessary time to my living room.
Aside from sweeping, I didn't get much done in my living room this weekend. I did reorganize my bedroom closet by color while I was doing laundry and putting away clean clothes. Although I'm compulsive about certain organizational things (novels are alphabetical by author, CDs alphabetical within "type of music" subgroups, hats boxed by color and season, etc.), I have never tried organizing my clothes by color before. I was quite thrilled that when I searched for my black capri pants this morning, they were easy to find--and if they hadn't been there, I easily could have found about a half dozen other black options to wear, rather than digging through various colors of pants or skirts. (I previously "kind of" grouped clothes by category--pants, skirts, vests, tops, etc.) Grouping by color also makes it so much easier to see what belongs where when I'm putting clothes away. So, aside from sweeping and mopping, my closet was my "big" accomplishment this weekend.
Back to what I was saying about developing a more sustainable rhythm... One thing I've noticed since I've been more focused on adopting more ecofriendly practices is how well they go together. Riding my bike to work means that I'm not racing off in fear of missing my bus, so I can take a few minutes to water my container garden of herbs and vegetables. Knowing that I have salad makings growing outside my apartment door makes me more likely to stop on my way home from work to pick up a few extra items to cook at home--and being on my bike makes me more likely to stop too, since I ride within a block of a Wild Oats (or I can ride another six blocks past my apartment and go to Fred Meyer).
Cooking at home has made me want to have friends over to share meals so I'm now hosting dinner parties every three weeks or so. Knowing that I will have friends over on a regular basis keeps me mindful to keep my apartment picked up and also inspires me to do some projects to improve my apartment. Bringing leftovers from meals cooked at home helps me reduce the money I was spending eating out at lunch (my previous way of catching up with friends) and frees up money for apartment projects.
So, overall, I find myself generally slowing down with my hectic schedule and taking better care of my apartment, which makes me want to be home more often rather than constantly having my social life take place away from home. That said, I have a Puss in Boots costume to make before next weekend...
view bohemiangirlpdx's profile
OK, so maybe that was less of a comment than a mini blog.
view bohemiangirlpdx's profile
This weekend was, finally, a productive Cure weekend. Got the outbox, which was overflowing, completely purged via one serious trip to Out of the Closet.
My weeks have gotten a little confused because of some trips out of town. But I did decide on a color to paint my bathroom (more on that later) and sold the futon successfully on Craigslist to make space for a desk. Now I just need to find the right desk.
Oh and the landing strip is looking really good. Will post pictures ASAP.
I'm keeping up with the cleaning and have rediscovered how to make a pretty decent non-chicken chicken noodle soup recipe, adapted from one my mom always made as I was growing up.
The End.
view StephanieK's profile