Monthly Archives: February 2009

Baby Names (courtesy of Spam)

Peter and I have been chatting quite a bit about names for the new little one. We’ve come up with a whole list of names we aren’t keen on and a fairly short names that are still in the running. None of them seem perfect to us yet, I think we’ll have to see the little face first before we make a decision.

Having exhausted the baby name books at the library and the scads of name websites I thought I’d look for some new inspiration. Here are the first 20 names I just found in my email’s Spam folder. Add Wood to the end and let me know if you think any are ‘just right’! Enjoy.

Curtis Hart
Dudley Reid
Elma Engle
Virginia Holden
Raymond Knight
Leah McQueen
Darcy Mcghee
Helena Burkett
Harry Golden
Liza Arthur
Avis Pereira
Eldon Mayo
Pamela Bragg
Sharon Carney
Christi Zamora
Doug Cody
Bianca Teague
Darcel Burgos
Irvin Cocoran
Nanette Clement

Blessings in the guise of Freecycle

I’ve talked about my love of Freecycle here before. I really appreciate the philosophy behind the operation: Take what you have, pass it along to others, receive what you need. Less waste, less consumerism, more community.

Over the past few years we have been blessed by the existence of Freecycle. Before the birth of Catherine (and now in preparation for her sibling) Peter and I sorted and organized and purged our belongings. Instead of tossing them we listed many (most?) of them on Freecycle. Folks came and got what they needed and we were left with clearer minds and more space to organize baby items. We also were fortunate to find several items listed that we could make use of ourselves.

A year later as we packed to move 2 miles up the street we found ourselves listing more things on the site. Common questions between the two of us were, “do we need this?” “do we love this?” “is it worth packing/unpacking?” and “could someone else make better use of it than us?” So often the answers led us to posting yet another “Offer: in Beverly” and we felt lighter in the process.

In our journey to living more simply, paying off debt and making more positive contributions to our community we have continued to look to Freecycle. You can know more about loans available to you at https://bridgepayday.com/quick-payday-loans/. We may not be able to donate to every cause that comes calling, but we can pass on those things that still have value, just not necessarily to us. We may not be able to help all our neighbors who are troubled or stressed, but we are can accept their generosity and help clear their lives of ‘things’ as we receive items that they have offered. We may not be able to Save the World, as it were, but we can do our best in our own little corner of it.

This past weekend we had an experience that has further confirmed how blessed our lives are. For many reasons (some petty, some not so) we have been wanting a dishwasher. Due to the restrictions in our kitchen we knew we were looking for a portable washer, which seem to run around $400. Given our budget, which has a little wiggle room, but not much, we had been at a loss as to how to afford one. Giving to our Church and making overpayments to our debt are budget priorities, but avoiding handwashing dishes wasn’t…so we continued to pray for another solution. The most promising was a little savings plan that would build up over time, allowing us to head to Sears.

Until I saw a listing on Freecycle for a portable dishwasher…located right around the corner! A couple quick emails back and forth to the owner and we had an appointment to go and check it out. She claimed it worked, but her family just didn’t want it any more. Peter and her husband carried it down from the second floor and into our car, where it just barely fit. With a friend’s assistance on Saturday we brought it into the kitchen and gave it a test run. A few loads of dishes later we’re happy to say that it seems to work just fine!

Thanks to Freecycle, for the low, low price of $5 (we needed a connector piece for the faucet) we were blessed and were made able to continue blessing others. Need examples?
*Our kitchen now has at least twice the counter space as before (the dirty and clean dishes aren’t sitting on the tiny counters anymore!). That alone makes my heart lighter and I feel 10x as motivated to be in the kitchen preparing food for my family. We’ll eat healthier and won’t be tempted to eat out as a result.
*The family who gave use the washer now has more room in their, also small, kitchen. The washer was taking up space they wanted and now they are living lighter and making better use of their space. They probably feel good that they were able to help another local family, as well.
*By resisting temptation to “buy now” and put it on our credit card we have been able to continue to adhere to the budget that we have committed to.
*We are still able to contribute to the causes that we believe in, because we’ve kept to our budget. We aren’t taking from others because of our ‘need’.
*We’re conserving water- at least I think we are! By running a full load of dishes in the washer I think we’re using less water than we would be doing the dishes by hand. Even though we were very mindful of our water usage.
*And we’ve saved another perfectly good appliance from heading to the dump to spend the next eternity rusting away.

All that to say, I really love Freecycle and I’m really happy with our new, free, dishwasher.

Thoughts from a soon-to-be Father of Two

Rebecca’s due date is one week away, on February 27. If things go like they did with Catherine (who was born five days after her due date), then this baby would be born on March 4. We cannot, of course, predict these things, so in reality the baby could be born any time within the next two weeks (since the medical folks don’t like to let things go much more than a week past the due date). Here’s a little of what has been on my mind…

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Toasty and Frosty

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I thought, despite the warmer weather we’ve had this past week, that Peter could use an additional winter hat. So I spent the last week knitting him one.

The hat was wrapped up with a little booklet of 10 free Frostys from Wendy’s. I thought it was kind of ironic to give a gift of something to keep him warm and something to cool him off. Clever me!

Catherine’s First Haircut

We’ve been kind of lax when it comes to uploading pictures and content lately. Chalk it up to working overtime, chasing a very busy toddler and pregnancy exhaustion. What else can I say?

About a week and a half ago we finally took Catherine to get a haircut. I was really loving her wild, in her face, fly everywhere hair so I wasn’t too anxious to have it cut. But it had gotten to the point where it really did need to be reigned in a little. Here’s a nice “before” shot:

before

I’m pretty sure that I can cut her hair myself at home, but I thought that we’d take her to a professional the first time and watch what they did. So we went over to a local ‘kids only’ type hair cuttery. It was a zoo of kids and bright colors and candy! Yikes! Definitely a one time only experience for us. A stylish haircut in Franklin, TN at Scout’s Barbershop is the best choice.

The wait wasn’t too long and we were called back. An older gentleman named Thomas helped Catherine up into a pink chair and had the instant cure for her slightly scared reaction… lolly pops. Four, in fact. One to eat, one in her overalls pocket and one in each shoe. She was in heaven!

Thomas gave her a quick snip, snip and brought her hair up to just around her shoulders. A quick blow dry (with a little flip at the ends) and we were done. No harm, no foul. All in all the cut was pretty simple (and I think will be simple to duplicate) but it makes her look so much older to me! Here’s the end result:

after

You can check out all the pics by clicking here. Enjoy!