Hey, peeps. Anyone up for a No Buy July* Spend-Off? We need to do NBJ again, but would like to make it a little more exciting by having a contest...
Come on. You with us?
*Here's a little summary Ben wrote about NBJ last year: NBJ is really about the spirit of the endeavor, as opposed to the guidelines. It's simply an exercise in extreme frugality - most of the stuff we buy we don't need in the 1st place. Now, you're going to have to get gas, etc. Granted. But even that "etc." is up to you.
Cheapskates unite!
Showing posts with label No Buy July. Show all posts
Showing posts with label No Buy July. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Crashing Through the Rain
(sing to the tune of Jingle Bells)Crashing through the rain
in a Nissan Maxima
Through the fence we go
screaming all the way
The car has some big dents
Lucas doesn't cry
It stinks to crash the car that way
But at least we're all ok
As you can see, there's a hole in that fence. It wasn't there Saturday morning.
We went on a Saturday adventure down to South Austin to visit a cool nursery to ask about fruit trees, then on a few other errands. On our way home it started to rain. We got to the curvy part in the road and that's when it happened. Ben tried to slow down, but that put the car totally out of control. We started going left into the other lane. There was a red truck coming towards us. Then all the sudden we zipped off the road and went straight through this fence. Unfortunately we went right into the brick part of the fence. And we flew through it! Bricks everywhere. We weren't expecting to bust through the fence with such ease, but we really did. AND I didn't even say a bad word. I said, "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!" as we were about to crash. Ben was silent (until after we crashed). And all Lucas said was, "I want to go home." He didn't really know what to think. He had a couple of lip quivers but managed to keep his cool (better than me).
The owner of the house saw the whole thing and was very nice. After we crashed the rain started to pour and Ben ran around dealing with the guy while I stayed in the car with Lucas hoping no one else would have the same fate and hit us.
We managed to drive the rest of the way home safely and even got to keep a souvenir brick to place on the mantle. As far as the damage, we will find out on Monday if she's totaled or not. Poor little Maxima. We'll need a new bumper, grill, hood, fender, and door. We hope, hope, hope it's not totaled. We love that car!
We're grateful to all be ok. We very likely could have ended up at the hospital if we would have hit the oncoming truck instead. I know that somebody was watching out for us - maybe that's why we went off the road so quickly and into the wall.
By the way, did you know the road is more slippery right when it starts to rain? It's because of all the oil on the street. After it rains for a few minutes, it washes away. It's weird because I've seen way more people slide on wet roads here than in NM. I don't know if it's just our backwoods neighborhood or what.
Here's the damage. Feel free to make your own assessment/estimate... Here's to No Buy July! (and June, probably)
We went on a Saturday adventure down to South Austin to visit a cool nursery to ask about fruit trees, then on a few other errands. On our way home it started to rain. We got to the curvy part in the road and that's when it happened. Ben tried to slow down, but that put the car totally out of control. We started going left into the other lane. There was a red truck coming towards us. Then all the sudden we zipped off the road and went straight through this fence. Unfortunately we went right into the brick part of the fence. And we flew through it! Bricks everywhere. We weren't expecting to bust through the fence with such ease, but we really did. AND I didn't even say a bad word. I said, "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!" as we were about to crash. Ben was silent (until after we crashed). And all Lucas said was, "I want to go home." He didn't really know what to think. He had a couple of lip quivers but managed to keep his cool (better than me).
The owner of the house saw the whole thing and was very nice. After we crashed the rain started to pour and Ben ran around dealing with the guy while I stayed in the car with Lucas hoping no one else would have the same fate and hit us.
We managed to drive the rest of the way home safely and even got to keep a souvenir brick to place on the mantle. As far as the damage, we will find out on Monday if she's totaled or not. Poor little Maxima. We'll need a new bumper, grill, hood, fender, and door. We hope, hope, hope it's not totaled. We love that car!
We're grateful to all be ok. We very likely could have ended up at the hospital if we would have hit the oncoming truck instead. I know that somebody was watching out for us - maybe that's why we went off the road so quickly and into the wall.
By the way, did you know the road is more slippery right when it starts to rain? It's because of all the oil on the street. After it rains for a few minutes, it washes away. It's weird because I've seen way more people slide on wet roads here than in NM. I don't know if it's just our backwoods neighborhood or what.
Here's the damage. Feel free to make your own assessment/estimate... Here's to No Buy July! (and June, probably)
Saturday, July 19, 2008
A few funny things from this week...
Lucas is such a funny boy. Here are a few happenings from this week:
We scored a watermelon at the Pioneer/Patriots festival last Saturday, which was great since it's No Buy July! Lucas found it to be quite useful - not only could he roll it around, he could use it to get into stuff. Then he got to eat it - watermelon is one of his favorites foods.
On Monday I made cinnamon rolls for the very first time by myself, without my mom. I actually did a good job. I used a recipe from a cookbook, so they weren't as good as my moms, and I didn't put enough sugar and cinnamon in the middle, which is a pretty common mistake in the cinnamon roll world, but they were good none the less.
Ben was reading books to Lucas the other day. This was the view from upstairs:
And finally Lucas saw me drinking my noni juice the other morning and wanted some also. So, I gave him about a teaspoon in a glass (I only drink an ounce) and he made the funniest face when he drank it. But, he kept wanting more. He did this every time I remembered to get the noni out this week. Here's a video of him on his second glass.
We scored a watermelon at the Pioneer/Patriots festival last Saturday, which was great since it's No Buy July! Lucas found it to be quite useful - not only could he roll it around, he could use it to get into stuff. Then he got to eat it - watermelon is one of his favorites foods.
On Monday I made cinnamon rolls for the very first time by myself, without my mom. I actually did a good job. I used a recipe from a cookbook, so they weren't as good as my moms, and I didn't put enough sugar and cinnamon in the middle, which is a pretty common mistake in the cinnamon roll world, but they were good none the less.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
No Buy July, Day 2
Today was officially day two of NBJ. And, I'm glad to report that I haven't spent a cent. Last night for dinner Jeana and I decided it would be fun to have a baked potato bar, so together we created quite the delicious feast. Jeana made great chili and I made the cheese/broccoli sauce. We rolled the potatoes in kosher salt before baking and they were really yummy. We were stuffed by the end of our meal. We finished it off with the worlds best reduced-fat mint brownies and we were all quite happy.
Tonight I decided I should try something with beans and rice since that's what we've been joking about. So, I found this recipe and altered it a bit. I used two cans of beans, threw in some garlic, a cup of tomato/chicken bouillon, and more cumin than it called for, and topped it with a dollop of sour cream. It would have been good with a squeeze of lime juice, too. And if you're feeling totally wild, you could grill a chicken breast or something to go in it, too.
I liked it, Lucas liked it - especially after he dipped the beans in his blueberry yogurt, and Ben liked it also. It was a success and a totally cheap meal. it probably cost $3 total and it's enough for two meals. It would have been $3.75, but I grew my own onions on the back patio this spring!
I used my leftover rice and some leftover canned milk from last week and made some rice pudding, which I love. I basically just made a stirred custard and added the rice to it (as opposed to baked rice pudding).
FYI - if you eat dinner at our house and you throw your food on the floor, you have to pick it up. If you're Lucas, you can even eat it off the floor, just as long as it gets picked up.
Then you can go out to play.
Tonight I decided I should try something with beans and rice since that's what we've been joking about. So, I found this recipe and altered it a bit. I used two cans of beans, threw in some garlic, a cup of tomato/chicken bouillon, and more cumin than it called for, and topped it with a dollop of sour cream. It would have been good with a squeeze of lime juice, too. And if you're feeling totally wild, you could grill a chicken breast or something to go in it, too.
I used my leftover rice and some leftover canned milk from last week and made some rice pudding, which I love. I basically just made a stirred custard and added the rice to it (as opposed to baked rice pudding).
FYI - if you eat dinner at our house and you throw your food on the floor, you have to pick it up. If you're Lucas, you can even eat it off the floor, just as long as it gets picked up.
Then you can go out to play.
**If you have any fun, cheap recipe ideas let me know. We can all share on the blog! And let me know if you want to participate in NBJ - we can all share our results in August!**
Monday, June 30, 2008
No Buy July
Well, it's officially time to start the second annual "No Buy July." Ben came up with this idea last year to see exactly what we could live on in a dire situation... and to try to save up some cash. If I remember correctly last year, it was only a couple hundred dollars that we saved which means that we don't really waste a lot of money... Ben thinks I could have done better, but I wasn't going to not buy food for crying out loud! This year I'll try to do more with beans and rice... we'll see how we do. Anyone want to join in on NBJ?
Thanks to my sister Lisa for Lucas's new threads. She figured she better fill his closet for the summer now, since I can't fill it in July. She's such a nice aunt!
On another note, Ben just found a freakin' scorpion in our bathroom and that makes me really aggravated. Ahhhhh!
And on another 'nother note, doesn't Lucas look hot when he puts his food in his hair? If only I could achieve the same look with hair gel...
Thanks to my sister Lisa for Lucas's new threads. She figured she better fill his closet for the summer now, since I can't fill it in July. She's such a nice aunt!
On another note, Ben just found a freakin' scorpion in our bathroom and that makes me really aggravated. Ahhhhh!
And on another 'nother note, doesn't Lucas look hot when he puts his food in his hair? If only I could achieve the same look with hair gel...
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