Thursday, February 25, 2010

Cheating Leads to Fender Bender

I became enamored with what I thought sounded like a fantastic new invention, a carpet rake! What's a carpet rake you ask? A nifty cleaning device designed to pick up dog hair from your carpet. Simply brilliant!
My dog sheds like no other. If I could shalack him I would. I've actually had dreams of drowning in a giant hairball. This carpet rake invention sounded like the answer to my (ahem) hairy problem. I rationalized this purchase by telling myself it was a cleaning product so therefore not new.
So I drove myself to the Home Depot all excited to rid my house of unwanted dog hair. After explaining this new fangled invention to the helpful hardware gal I was turned away without a carpet rake. None to be had - online only. Grrr!
It was snowing heavily as I walked back to my car sans rake with plans of ordering it online. As I started to back out of my parking space I collided ever so slightly with a cream-colored luxury car. I say ever so slightly because seriously there was so little damage I had to pinch my eyes together to actually see it.
Unfortunately, the owners of said car were not as nice as their car and I now believe that my insurance company will be paying for a new bumper. C'est la vie.
If I hadn't become so intoxicated by the prospect of a hairless carpet and stuck to my resolution I wouldn't be purchasing a brand new bumper for an ugly, extravagant car.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Valentine's Day Euphoria

2/14/10

Since I started this endeavor I’ve purchased one new thing, well, actually two; damn it! The first was right after the beginning of the year and was a gift. I had little time and nothing in my ‘gift closet’ that was appropriate. The gift was about $15. I justified this purchase because it was a gift. Can’t get through a day without a good justification.

The second purchase happened today. I blame it on Valentine’s Day euphoria. I got out of the gym at about 3 p.m. and walked right next door to PetCo to buy Cadence, my dog, a new bone for Valentine’s Day. Not that he knows it’s a sweetheart holiday but I do and I felt that I needed to get him a new bone because I was planning on clipping his nails that evening and he hates it. So I walked in and instead of a bone, which counts as food so therefore, not new, I bought a stuffed, red, squeaky toy! I didn’t even think about it until I got out in the parking lot, realizing that I didn’t buy a bone but a NEW toy. Unfortunately, Cadence has to go along with this not buying anything new dogma too. At least he liked it and was happy to have it after the nail-clipping session.

So, two things in a month and a half. Overall, I think the experiment is going well. It's very liberating – really. I walked into Target a few days ago to pick up a prescription and normally I would stop and look at the sale clothes rack. More often than not I would buy a silly little shirt or skirt or something else I don't need. On this trip I walked directly to the pharmacy and walked out. I didn’t feel like I was missing out, I felt a distinct sense of freedom.

Speaking of Valentine's Day - I had decided back in December to send out Valentine's Day cards since I was too lazy to send out Christmas cards. After the first of the year, I realized that with my New Years Resolution I wouldn't be able to buy cards so I ended up making them from stuff I had in the house. I'm not super crafty but it was fun to do and I think my friends liked them better than a store bought card anyway!

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Not Buying Leads to Allergic Reaction

2/6/10

To blog or not to blog? Will anyone really care what I have to say about not buying anything new for a year? I’ve been told that blogging is more about the person blogging than it is about people reading the blog. I can live with that. I like to write and don’t much so this will now give me an excuse to do so.

I’m not the first person to decide to not buy anything new for a year or a specified amount of time. I don’t remember why it occurred to me to do this, it just did. I already enjoy shopping at resale shops anyway so it seemed like a good idea and something fun to try. While a lot of people think that recycling really doesn’t help the planet, I beg to differ. I do, maybe naively, believe that one person can make a difference. So, here I go.

I’ve been doing this since the beginning of 2010. It’s my New Years resolution. I’ve already stopped smoking, exercise 4-5 times a week and have upped my 401K contributions so I was struggling to come up with an appropriate resolution. To not buy anything new seemed like a bit of a challenge - but a fun one.

Today became annoying after making cookies for an open house. Food does not count as ‘new’ so instead of buying a plant or kitchen utensils, I decided to make some cookies to bring as my gift. These cookies contained coconut to which I find myself allergic. I made the cookies and of course had to try them to make sure they were suitable. I ate two of the smaller ones, changed clothes and went for a run. Halfway out, my eyes started to itch and swell and I’ve spent the remainder of this lovely, what I thought unfettered, Saturday in bed sleeping off a Benadryl.

Lesson? I’m allergic to coconut. The cookies were a good, not-buy-anything-new idea even if they took my day in a different direction.

Since I’m stuck in the house so as not to scare anyone with my bug eyes, I’ll spend the evening making Valentine cards.