My bicycle sat in storage for months because we didn't have the time or money to fix it. It had no brakes and the chain kept falling off so it was very unsafe. We finally found the time to get it to the shop and thought we had the money to pay for the repairs. But it turned out to be one of those months where unexpected bills pop up and surprise you. The shop agreed to hold onto it for another week while we scrounged up some money. Today - finally - we were able to pay the shop owner and get our bike back! Well, my bike. Originally, it was the bf's but he decided he didn't want it anymore so I "inherited" it. The bike is a very cheap mountain bike from Wal-Mart that the bf bought long before he met me. You can really tell how cheaply made it is and he doesn't like putting up with "cheap crap." He wants to buy this $500 bike he saw in the store and swears up and down he's going to save up for it so we can ride together ... but I know how unlikely that is.
Anyway, I am happy and mobile now. I hope to be able to ride to work a few days out of the week but it's about an hour's worth of biking so I don't know how feasible that will really be. I need to get my legs used to pedaling again. I just went around the block today and my legs were hurting. I feel pathetic. -lol-
While I was riding I remembered a game my sister and I used to play when we were younger. All girls want a pony at some point; it's just a fact of life. We were no different, but of course we couldn't afford a pony so we would pretend our bikes were our horses. We turned our playhouse into their "stable" (which my dad thought was awesome because we ALWAYS put our bikes away when we were done riding -lol-) and gave them names. We would have races with them and we would hitch up our little red wagon to the back of mine (I was the older, supposedly more responsible sister) and use it as a cart. We'd pull each other around on roller blades as well, using jump ropes for reins. We would play outside for hours! Riding today made me wish she had been with me so we could play again. I know so many people miss their childhood but how many people actually try to bring it back? If my sister and I remember something we used to do we'll usually pick it right back up for at least an hour or two. Tea parties with stuffed animals, anyone? =)
10.14.2010
10.13.2010
Farmer's Market Frugality
Is that a word? Frugality? Anyway, nothing amazing here but I was proud of myself because I legitimately found a way to arrange errands so that I could get to the Farmer's Market (which is hardly ever on the way to anything for us). I not only found time to do all the driving but also to go to the bank like a grown up, do the shopping at the market, come home and clean and put away all the groceries, get to school JUST in time to take a mid-term which I'm pretty sure I aced, and ... well, I think that's it. But that's a lot! Really, it was. And the best part out of all of that? I filled a shopping cart at the market and it cost me all of $25.00 - true story. Want to see a picture?
I must have bought 7+ heads of lettuce! The eggplants were on "special" so they were BOGO which was awesome. And I decided to get one thing we've never tried before. After browsing for a bit I decided I'd really like to know what cactus pear tastes like so I bought two. =)
When I got it all home I started washing and storing it all. If I don't do it the day I buy it I just don't do it period and then it goes to waste. We have a little black and tan dachshund that thinks he's a rabbit. He's always sharing their food and playing with them and he's young so he's about the same size as them. He will gladly and willingly eat lettuce. In fact, he gets upset if you try to take it away from him! I dropped a piece of chard while I was washing and he snuck off with it. Isn't he cute?
So that's about it for today. All the cool bloggers are doing this "Food Waste Friday" thing but I can't keep track of weekdays. I cleaned out the fridge today so I'll do my food waste Friday on a Wednesday. I'm happy to report that out of a well-stocked fridge, the only food waste we had was a few little key limes and 1/3 of the smallest bag of shredded cheese (which bf bought for tacos and couldn't finish). That's it. =) We're pretty good about keeping track of stuff and using it up. We're too tight on money NOT to keep track. -lol-
I must have bought 7+ heads of lettuce! The eggplants were on "special" so they were BOGO which was awesome. And I decided to get one thing we've never tried before. After browsing for a bit I decided I'd really like to know what cactus pear tastes like so I bought two. =)
When I got it all home I started washing and storing it all. If I don't do it the day I buy it I just don't do it period and then it goes to waste. We have a little black and tan dachshund that thinks he's a rabbit. He's always sharing their food and playing with them and he's young so he's about the same size as them. He will gladly and willingly eat lettuce. In fact, he gets upset if you try to take it away from him! I dropped a piece of chard while I was washing and he snuck off with it. Isn't he cute?
So that's about it for today. All the cool bloggers are doing this "Food Waste Friday" thing but I can't keep track of weekdays. I cleaned out the fridge today so I'll do my food waste Friday on a Wednesday. I'm happy to report that out of a well-stocked fridge, the only food waste we had was a few little key limes and 1/3 of the smallest bag of shredded cheese (which bf bought for tacos and couldn't finish). That's it. =) We're pretty good about keeping track of stuff and using it up. We're too tight on money NOT to keep track. -lol-
10.12.2010
The "what's in it for me?" View of Community
I received a call from the office of our community today, informing me that "several residents" (most likely my downstairs neighbor) have been complaining about our dogs. First of all, we don't have dogS. We have dog. No S. But we do foster dogs when a nearby rescue needs us to. So, yes, occasionally we have dogS.
The current foster dog is slightly larger than the others have been, and he did slip his leash once. Apparently, this has caused "several neighbors" to go into a panic. The office is receiving reports that the dog is allowed to run loose all over the community and is "unruly." They've been told we don't clean up after our dogs and that we're just generally breaking ALL the rules. In actuality, the only rule we're technically breaking is the one-dog-rule. We own only one dog, and the apartment community has been overlooking the fosters since they come and go. But I was told today that we must keep only one dog in the apartment.
The funny thing about all this is that the downstairs neighbor (who is not very friendly and is afraid of dogs) has only said something to me about the dogs ONCE, at which point I gladly took care of his concerns. That's it. Now I'm hearing that the office is receiving complaints frequently? What's up with that? What happened to the days when neighbors HELPED each other? Why does no one stop for a friendly chat "just because" anymore? Nowadays we only talk to our neighbors if there's a natural disaster or some large event that forces us to rely on one another. There is this pervading "what's in it for me?" attitude. If there's nothing in it for them, they're not going to bother with you. We recently had a squirrel rip into one of my delivered food packages and destroy $40 worth of food. The neighbor knew about this because he had asked me when I returned home if that was my package that the squirrel was getting into. Why in the world didn't he shoo the squirrel away and bring it inside until I got home? Where I used to live, people did that for one another all the time. We had an elderly neighbor receive medications in the mail that we gladly took inside for her until she got home. She was very grateful for our help and everyone was happy. There was nothing in it for us but we didn't want her medications to get stolen or overheat in the Florida sun. Why couldn't our neighbor have taken our package inside? Losing $40 worth of food for us is a HUGE deal. It means we pretty much go hungry for a week. We were very upset.
And now this dogS business. What the neighbor doesn't understand is that the dog we're currently fostering is a difficult dog. He is aggressive towards male dogs and that makes him very difficult to place, but in addition to that he was never taught how to properly walk on a leash and he has a LOT of energy. He's a big dog! He's been passed around from foster home to foster home for months now, and he's finally found a home where he fits in. He even gets along with our MALE dog! That is a HUGE deal! Because this dog has had no stability in his life up until now, his behavior issues were only getting worse. We're finally making progress - even getting him to walk noticeably better in his harness - and he has to be uprooted again. By not being a little tolerant, this neighbor is forcing this dog to loose his home. In fact, the dog may have to go into a boarding situation because there are no other suitable foster homes available right now. Sitting in a metal box 24 hours a day except for walks is NOT going to help this dog improve or find himself a home. And I seriously doubt that the neighbor would care about any of this even if I had the patience to explain it. :(
Anyway, my point in all of this is that we should work to form a REAL community where everyone is available to help one another. Not some false sense of community where, because all the buildings look uniform and everyone has a designated parking space, everything is wonderful and lovely. No. Life doesn't work like that. We NEED one another. We can't just go into our holes and pretend the neighbor next door doesn't exist. Be a little more tolerant than you're used to and expect the neighbor to do the same. This would work, people. It would make things a lot easier all around the country. Americans are too selfish and we need to get over it. Ask not what your neighbor can do for you, but what you can do for your neighbor.
The current foster dog is slightly larger than the others have been, and he did slip his leash once. Apparently, this has caused "several neighbors" to go into a panic. The office is receiving reports that the dog is allowed to run loose all over the community and is "unruly." They've been told we don't clean up after our dogs and that we're just generally breaking ALL the rules. In actuality, the only rule we're technically breaking is the one-dog-rule. We own only one dog, and the apartment community has been overlooking the fosters since they come and go. But I was told today that we must keep only one dog in the apartment.
The funny thing about all this is that the downstairs neighbor (who is not very friendly and is afraid of dogs) has only said something to me about the dogs ONCE, at which point I gladly took care of his concerns. That's it. Now I'm hearing that the office is receiving complaints frequently? What's up with that? What happened to the days when neighbors HELPED each other? Why does no one stop for a friendly chat "just because" anymore? Nowadays we only talk to our neighbors if there's a natural disaster or some large event that forces us to rely on one another. There is this pervading "what's in it for me?" attitude. If there's nothing in it for them, they're not going to bother with you. We recently had a squirrel rip into one of my delivered food packages and destroy $40 worth of food. The neighbor knew about this because he had asked me when I returned home if that was my package that the squirrel was getting into. Why in the world didn't he shoo the squirrel away and bring it inside until I got home? Where I used to live, people did that for one another all the time. We had an elderly neighbor receive medications in the mail that we gladly took inside for her until she got home. She was very grateful for our help and everyone was happy. There was nothing in it for us but we didn't want her medications to get stolen or overheat in the Florida sun. Why couldn't our neighbor have taken our package inside? Losing $40 worth of food for us is a HUGE deal. It means we pretty much go hungry for a week. We were very upset.
And now this dogS business. What the neighbor doesn't understand is that the dog we're currently fostering is a difficult dog. He is aggressive towards male dogs and that makes him very difficult to place, but in addition to that he was never taught how to properly walk on a leash and he has a LOT of energy. He's a big dog! He's been passed around from foster home to foster home for months now, and he's finally found a home where he fits in. He even gets along with our MALE dog! That is a HUGE deal! Because this dog has had no stability in his life up until now, his behavior issues were only getting worse. We're finally making progress - even getting him to walk noticeably better in his harness - and he has to be uprooted again. By not being a little tolerant, this neighbor is forcing this dog to loose his home. In fact, the dog may have to go into a boarding situation because there are no other suitable foster homes available right now. Sitting in a metal box 24 hours a day except for walks is NOT going to help this dog improve or find himself a home. And I seriously doubt that the neighbor would care about any of this even if I had the patience to explain it. :(
Anyway, my point in all of this is that we should work to form a REAL community where everyone is available to help one another. Not some false sense of community where, because all the buildings look uniform and everyone has a designated parking space, everything is wonderful and lovely. No. Life doesn't work like that. We NEED one another. We can't just go into our holes and pretend the neighbor next door doesn't exist. Be a little more tolerant than you're used to and expect the neighbor to do the same. This would work, people. It would make things a lot easier all around the country. Americans are too selfish and we need to get over it. Ask not what your neighbor can do for you, but what you can do for your neighbor.
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