Lately, I have been quite obsessed with moving to a small town. Not that Anchorage isn't nice, but I feel like I am missing out on some things. I feel like the hustle and bustle of the "big city" is getting to me. Plus, I feel like if I lived in a small town more people would share some of my core values... mainly about how they shop.
I'm not a fan of chain stores (with the exception on Costco... I love Costco. And I shop at Target more than I should, but I digress). I feel like they undermine local stores and they encourage people to fill their lives with things they may not need. Obviously, it is hard to shop exclusively at small, local shops. I would love to buy all of my clothes at boutiques, but my budget doesn't allow me to. And we don't really have a local grocery store. But with those two exceptions, I have been trying my best to shop local. There is a book that I have been interested in buying that Barnes and Noble has in stock... but I have decided to wait until I can get my hands on it at work, or at Title Wave so that I can support a local business. I try very hard to make my money speak for me.
I feel like if I move to a small town, more people will share this value (even if it is out of necessity). Plus, I think it would be nice to live somewhere that my kids could walk from one end to the other and I wouldn't have to worry about them. There are obviously down sides to living in small towns, but to me it sounds amazing. I think something that makes it more appealing is the fact that everyone thinks I am crazy for wanting to do it.
But alas, since we refinanced our house this year, it will be a while before we get to live our small town dream... in the mean time I am going to live in my little house, shop locally, and tell anyone who will listen to do the same....
Oh, and a quick note. If you didn't know, you can hook up your Carr's card with your AK air account and earn miles for shopping! Amazing. I just did that today... I'm probably the last person to find out about it, but in case you are like me, you can go here and sign up. :)
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Craft Fair
I went to the UAA craft fair today, which was quite exciting! I bought myself a very cute bag with owls on it (pics later... too lazy at the moment) and bought a pretty exciting birthday present for a party I am going to tomorrow! I was going to make the little guy something, but since I subbed all week my free time was pretty much non-existent and I found this and it was PERFECT! Let's hope he loves it as much as I do!
Another thing that was a bit interesting at the craft fair was running into my bosses. They are fun ladies. They joked about how I should buy them a stained glass piece for Christmas and teased me for buying a bag I could have easily made myself. I explained to them that I COULD make the bag, but I never would. So it was worth it to me to buy something hand made and enjoy every bit of it! Plus, since I didn't make it, I won't be overly critical of it, as I often am of my own work.
There was also a booth of hand knit and crocheted items run by people that I recognized from the shop... we tend to have to follow them around so they don't put things in their bags... if you catch my drift. Now I realize why they are so motivated... if you can cut your investment down to zero, your profits sure do skyrocket! People are always surprised when I talk about shoplifting at the quilt shop. Everyone is always stunned that it happens. And, until I worked there, I probably wouldn't have believed it either... but it is AMAZING how much stuff walks away. Sometimes we will find empty bolts in the stacks, which means someone just took all of the fabric off of it and walked out. We have even had whole quilts stolen.
But, we just got a phone call that the in-laws are on the way over, so I need to frantically pick up!! AHH!!
Another thing that was a bit interesting at the craft fair was running into my bosses. They are fun ladies. They joked about how I should buy them a stained glass piece for Christmas and teased me for buying a bag I could have easily made myself. I explained to them that I COULD make the bag, but I never would. So it was worth it to me to buy something hand made and enjoy every bit of it! Plus, since I didn't make it, I won't be overly critical of it, as I often am of my own work.
There was also a booth of hand knit and crocheted items run by people that I recognized from the shop... we tend to have to follow them around so they don't put things in their bags... if you catch my drift. Now I realize why they are so motivated... if you can cut your investment down to zero, your profits sure do skyrocket! People are always surprised when I talk about shoplifting at the quilt shop. Everyone is always stunned that it happens. And, until I worked there, I probably wouldn't have believed it either... but it is AMAZING how much stuff walks away. Sometimes we will find empty bolts in the stacks, which means someone just took all of the fabric off of it and walked out. We have even had whole quilts stolen.
But, we just got a phone call that the in-laws are on the way over, so I need to frantically pick up!! AHH!!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
I'm Dan Sullivan...
Our city is having a hard time financially. So what did they decide to do?? Hire a special lawyer and investigate if our former mayor knew this was going to happen. This lead to a 60+ page report being put together and the assembly spending time reviewing this report.
WHAT?!?!
We are POOR, we shouldn't spend money on things that DON'T MATTER. It doesn't matter if Mark Begich knew we were going to be in a budget crisis... are we going to drag him out of DC and convict him of something? No, because he didn't commit a crime. So all this money, time, and energy is a waste....
And we wonder why we are in a budget crisis....
Seriously... sometimes I just want to move to the middle of nowhere and live in the woods....
WHAT?!?!
We are POOR, we shouldn't spend money on things that DON'T MATTER. It doesn't matter if Mark Begich knew we were going to be in a budget crisis... are we going to drag him out of DC and convict him of something? No, because he didn't commit a crime. So all this money, time, and energy is a waste....
And we wonder why we are in a budget crisis....
Seriously... sometimes I just want to move to the middle of nowhere and live in the woods....
Monday, November 30, 2009
November Wrap Up!
I looked out the window into the backyard the other day and found this:
Oh, my crazy Frito. He misses the summer hammock and has decided that the wheelbarrow is a good substitute.
In other dog news, today is my LAST day puppy sitting and I could not be happier!!! While he sure is cute, he is a pain in the butt. His refusal to sleep has really disrupted my schedule, and I don't deal well with having my sleep interrupted.
As far as knitting goes, I have started and finished a hat out of the book Hat Heads.
It turned out a bit smaller than I like my hats, so I will be knitting myself another hat with larger needles. This hat is a sample for a class I'm going to be teaching at the shop, so it wasn't a huge deal that it didn't fit. The class is going to be for beginning knitters who want to learn how to knit in the round and do simple color work. Considering this hat took me three days to finish, I think it is a very do-able beginning project.
I hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend! We got a fair amount of snow, so I am hoping to get Snickers his skijoring gear this week so we can go out this weekend... here's to hoping I don't break anything! :)
In other dog news, today is my LAST day puppy sitting and I could not be happier!!! While he sure is cute, he is a pain in the butt. His refusal to sleep has really disrupted my schedule, and I don't deal well with having my sleep interrupted.
As far as knitting goes, I have started and finished a hat out of the book Hat Heads.
I hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend! We got a fair amount of snow, so I am hoping to get Snickers his skijoring gear this week so we can go out this weekend... here's to hoping I don't break anything! :)
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving!
First off, Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you have somewhere to enjoy this holiday, and people to share it with. I will be spending it with my parents and my in-laws... sadly W is still out hunting and won't return until tomorrow night... let's hope he returns with a deer in tow!
The other night I was watching the Biggest Loser (because it is too hard to knit, spin, or sew with the puppy. He is obsessed with yarn and has stepped on my sewing machine pedal a few too many times to make it fun anymore.) and one of the ladies on there had something pretty interesting to say. She was talking about how a mother/wife is supposed to be the caregiver of the family and how she has given so much of herself to everyone else that she lost who she was. She didn't know who she was or where she was going anymore. While at the ranch, she had realized that you have to take care of yourself to take care of other people. You need to put yourself first... because when you take care of yourself, you have so much more to give.
This really spoke to me. Last year, when I was teaching, I felt like I was losing myself. I spent so much time working, worrying about work, and being upset about work that I didn't have a lot of time to do the things that I loved. Once I made the decision to not go back to teaching, I felt like a weight had been lifted off of me. I started to realize that I was in charge of the direction my life was going to go, and I wanted it to go differently. I started sewing, knitting, and picked up spinning. I found myself again. I have been struggling with the idea of having a family, as I don't want to lose myself again. I know what it is like to be unhappy with your life and how it feels to not have time to do the things that you love. I can not have that happen, as I don't want to be that person.
I'm very lucky that I have a very supportive husband who always stands by my side and helps me make good decisions. He has told me that he will make sure that I will always have time for myself and will help me out when I need it. My husband is so supportive, he is out trying to kill a deer to feed me through the summer! :)
Again, Happy Thanksgiving. And count your blessings, because I am counting mine.
The other night I was watching the Biggest Loser (because it is too hard to knit, spin, or sew with the puppy. He is obsessed with yarn and has stepped on my sewing machine pedal a few too many times to make it fun anymore.) and one of the ladies on there had something pretty interesting to say. She was talking about how a mother/wife is supposed to be the caregiver of the family and how she has given so much of herself to everyone else that she lost who she was. She didn't know who she was or where she was going anymore. While at the ranch, she had realized that you have to take care of yourself to take care of other people. You need to put yourself first... because when you take care of yourself, you have so much more to give.
This really spoke to me. Last year, when I was teaching, I felt like I was losing myself. I spent so much time working, worrying about work, and being upset about work that I didn't have a lot of time to do the things that I loved. Once I made the decision to not go back to teaching, I felt like a weight had been lifted off of me. I started to realize that I was in charge of the direction my life was going to go, and I wanted it to go differently. I started sewing, knitting, and picked up spinning. I found myself again. I have been struggling with the idea of having a family, as I don't want to lose myself again. I know what it is like to be unhappy with your life and how it feels to not have time to do the things that you love. I can not have that happen, as I don't want to be that person.
I'm very lucky that I have a very supportive husband who always stands by my side and helps me make good decisions. He has told me that he will make sure that I will always have time for myself and will help me out when I need it. My husband is so supportive, he is out trying to kill a deer to feed me through the summer! :)
Again, Happy Thanksgiving. And count your blessings, because I am counting mine.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Color
Color plays a pretty big aspect in my life. Between working in a quilt shop, quilting, knitting, spinning, dyeing, etc... I think about color a lot. I think about what colors work together, what colors I like, what colors I want in my room... it's a lot of thinking.
One place that I never expected to think about color was eating...
This summer W and I started to change our diet. We knew that we should eat better, and since we were thinking about starting a family, we wanted to get ourselves healthy to set a good example. We started eating at home almost exclusively and we joined Full Circle Farms, which is Community Supported Agriculture. What that means is that every other week we get a box full of fresh, organic fruits and vegetables.
W is much better at meals than I am, so he does most of the cooking. There are a few things that I cook... tacos, enchiladas, and spaghetti are my "things". Everything else, I rely on him for. I may help him do the cooking, but he decides what to have and I am thankful for that. It is amazing how different our plates started to look when we changed our diet. They were so full of color!
Plates that were typically full of browns and whites, were now speckled with green, orange, and sometimes even purple! And I loved every second of it. I can tell when my meals aren't as healthy as they should be, because they look monochromatic and dull. Like when I have pancakes and sausage for breakfast, I can tell that I better have orange juice and walk the dogs a few extra blocks!
I am glad that my plates are more colorful now... they are not only more interesting to look at, but healthier and delicious!
One place that I never expected to think about color was eating...
This summer W and I started to change our diet. We knew that we should eat better, and since we were thinking about starting a family, we wanted to get ourselves healthy to set a good example. We started eating at home almost exclusively and we joined Full Circle Farms, which is Community Supported Agriculture. What that means is that every other week we get a box full of fresh, organic fruits and vegetables.
W is much better at meals than I am, so he does most of the cooking. There are a few things that I cook... tacos, enchiladas, and spaghetti are my "things". Everything else, I rely on him for. I may help him do the cooking, but he decides what to have and I am thankful for that. It is amazing how different our plates started to look when we changed our diet. They were so full of color!
Plates that were typically full of browns and whites, were now speckled with green, orange, and sometimes even purple! And I loved every second of it. I can tell when my meals aren't as healthy as they should be, because they look monochromatic and dull. Like when I have pancakes and sausage for breakfast, I can tell that I better have orange juice and walk the dogs a few extra blocks!
I am glad that my plates are more colorful now... they are not only more interesting to look at, but healthier and delicious!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Black Friday
So how many of you brave the retail world for Black Friday?? I always do... I'm crazy. I get up at 4am, wait in line, etc. etc. I normally have one "big" item that I need to get on Black Friday. This year, I don't really have too much on my "need" list, as I actually already have most of my holiday shopping done. So I will just be on the lookout for great deals on things that I might want, such as some new clothes and DVDs. W teases me that Black Friday is my favorite holiday, next to my birthday....
Still puppy sitting. The second night went well. I think he was so tired from not sleeping the previous night that he went right to sleep. Last night, he whined for about 45 mins before finally conking out. He gets up earlier than my other dogs, which is a pain. I don't like being up at 7am if I don't need to be.
I'm working on a new quilt (surprise!) with a teacher friend from school. We are making a few different quilts, all using the same fabric. We spent all day Sunday ironing and cutting the fabric. So far I have 12/75 blocks done for the first two quilts. The blocks are buggy barn stars, so they go together really quickly (no seams to match...) but because the blocks aren't just two colors (like normal) I have to lay each one out before I sew it so it is taking longer than normal. They look pretty amazing though.
I also still have a few sewing projects to complete for Christmas. I would post about them, but I have a sneaking suspicion that would ruin the surprise for the recipients. :)
Having the house to myself for the past few days has been kind of nice... I am allowed to leave fabric, ironing boards, yarn, etc, all over the house. One BIG downside is I have to do all of my own cooking. That is tough. W is very good at coming up with meals. Me, I'm good at cooking mac and cheese. And, as much as I love mac and cheese, I can not wait for W to come home Friday night!!
Alright, back to doing more productive things. Sorry for the random post.... I will try to be more coherent later. :)
Still puppy sitting. The second night went well. I think he was so tired from not sleeping the previous night that he went right to sleep. Last night, he whined for about 45 mins before finally conking out. He gets up earlier than my other dogs, which is a pain. I don't like being up at 7am if I don't need to be.
I'm working on a new quilt (surprise!) with a teacher friend from school. We are making a few different quilts, all using the same fabric. We spent all day Sunday ironing and cutting the fabric. So far I have 12/75 blocks done for the first two quilts. The blocks are buggy barn stars, so they go together really quickly (no seams to match...) but because the blocks aren't just two colors (like normal) I have to lay each one out before I sew it so it is taking longer than normal. They look pretty amazing though.
I also still have a few sewing projects to complete for Christmas. I would post about them, but I have a sneaking suspicion that would ruin the surprise for the recipients. :)
Having the house to myself for the past few days has been kind of nice... I am allowed to leave fabric, ironing boards, yarn, etc, all over the house. One BIG downside is I have to do all of my own cooking. That is tough. W is very good at coming up with meals. Me, I'm good at cooking mac and cheese. And, as much as I love mac and cheese, I can not wait for W to come home Friday night!!
Alright, back to doing more productive things. Sorry for the random post.... I will try to be more coherent later. :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)