Not only is this family living on 1/10th of an acre that is a self-sufficient farm they are also working on greening their home and cars all while blogging about it.

The food looks fabulous and it’s all grown right there at home.  I think my menu plan is feeling a little envious.

If you live in the Pasadena, CA area and are interested in an evening of lively discussion, food and possibly a little garden swappage check out their Film & Food Night.

What: Film Screening of SEED HUNTER & Local, Vegetarian Potluck

When: Sunday, August 23  (6:00 PM – 9:50 PM)

Where: 626 Cypress Ave, Pasadena CA (see map)

Cost: $10 (children under 12 are free) A small entrance fee is required to help pay for facility rental, dvd screening fee, sound system, and purchase of eco friendly compostable dinnerware

Space is limited so please RSVP by calling 626.844.4586 or filling out the online reservation form

Event Schedule  (entire event will be held outdoors so please note time change)

6:00 PM – event starts / Freedom Gardens Swap N Meet

6:30 PM – 7:45 PM – local food potluck

8:00 PM – SEED HUNTER (50 minutes)

9:00 PM – discussion / pop quiz and win prizes!

9:30 PM – event ends

I love their thoughts regarding the potluck portion of the evening…

If not FROM BACKYARD then locally produced.
If not LOCALLY PRODUCED, then Organic.
If not ORGANIC, then Family farm.
If not FAMILY FARM, then Local business.
If not a LOCAL BUSINESS, then Fair Trade.

There is so much going on I don’t know where to start.  I took a few days off as the family was traveling and my oh so perfect schedule was thrown into chaos.  Okay, I don’t have a perfect schedule.  But I do have chaos.

(I haven’t digressed in a while, so here goes…  The husband put on one of my favorite albums as we sat down to our computers tonight.  I’m slightly distracted because it is so soothing and I greatly enjoy it.  I also greatly enjoy a husband who loves music completely yet plays an album he doesn’t love because his wife does.  Was that enough digression?)

Back to your regularly scheduled meanderings.  To start off on a high note, I won an award while on vacation.  (Can you be on vacation if you don’t have paid employment?)  It may come as a surprise to those of you who don’t know me, but I can’t remember the last time I won an award.  It might have been that 5th grade science fair.  I won a trophy a few years back, but that was for gambling so I don’t think it counts.

This time, I’m truly honored.  Angela, from My Year Without Spending, gave me a Superior Scribbler Award!  Thanks Angela.  What started out as an idea no more well thought out than the one to join the Compact has really changed my days.  (And if that sentence doesn’t just emanate Superior Scribbler I don’t know what does.)

The first Superior Scribbler was an accomplished journalist/blogger/teacher.  In her wisdom, that Scribe passed along her appreciation for other scribblers.  And so on, and so on, and so on…  Almost two years and 800 recipients later is little ol’ me.  This blog has become a part of my daily life in so many ways.  Beyond the enjoyment I receive just from writing, I have come across some amazing people and ideas that have enriched my thinking about living within our means and how to give the most to my family while still keeping something for myself.  If I can pass that along then I truly feel accomplished.

As with any award, there are a few hoops to jump through.  Here are the Superior Scribblers’…

1.  Each Superior Scribbler must in turn pass the award on to 5 most-deserving bloggy friends.

2.  Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author and the name of the blog from whom he/she has received The Award.

3.  Each Superior Scribbler must display The Award on his/her blog, and link to this post, which explains The Award.

4.  Each blogger who wins the Superior Scribbler Award must visit this post and add his/her name to the Mr. Linky list. That way, we’ll be able to keep up-to-date on everyone who wins This Prestigious Honor.

5.  Each Superior Scribbler must post these rules on his/her blog.

To fulfill rule #1, I give you my five (in no particular order)…

acme eclectic – it’s not girly/frugal/design/food/green/parenting or anything else you might think I would read, but it’s great writing and it makes me sound well read when in conversation with the husband.  Check it out, you might be surprised.

Good Pens – I like a good obsession.  I also like pens.  I don’t obsess about them, but the Good Pens Junkie does.  If you know how to retrofit a vintage ballpoint with a $2 Bic insert (or you’d like to), this blog is for you.

Pleasure Notes – through some pretty serious ups and downs Emma has blogged about life.  Specifically her life, with some great randomness thrown in.  I especially love the weekly flowers she brings into her (and at least digitally my) home.

Dispatches from Utopia – I found this blog via another project she has, Eating Well on $50 a Week, which I found out about from my father-in-law.  Cari is truly a kindred spirit.  She lives in the city I hope to one day call home.  She feeds her family well by cooking her own food and she has a sense of humor.  Sounds just like me right?  Okay, so she might actually be a writer with training and skill but other than that I’m sure we have a lot in common.  Check her out.

Creature Comforts – I couldn’t not give props to a design blog.  As you know, I’m a design junkie.  I love a good design idea.  I love a good design download.  And whoa, a design freebie?  You’ve got my number.  Creature Comforts has all that and more.

. . .

If you don’t spend all your time checking out these great blogs be sure to come back.  I have some ideas, and some blog changes, up my sleeve.  As a Superior Scribbler I will do my best to enlighten you.  Okay, maybe I can at least amuse you.  If not, too bad, I amuse myself.  And that’s enough for me.

So this blog has become something of a morphosis project for me.  It is a platform for me to talk about what’s on my mind.  Whatever that is.  Like, how can we get back to Laura Ingalls as a role model for our little girls instead of Britney Spears.  No, that wasn’t really on my mind.  But now it is.  Glad I have boys.

All digressions aside, I just don’t have anything to say about how living a Compact life has affected me today.  Instead, I”ll tell you how it’s going to affect me in the future.  Here are six projects I’d like to try.  Why are they Compact?  Because they all involve using recycled materials.  And isn’t that the basis of how to live a Compact life?  That was rhetorical, I just want to see how many times I can say Compact in one post.

Hello??

You still there??

Thought I’d lost you.  Back to the projects…

I am a sucker for a monogram.  I might be working on this one tomorrow. Round up scraps of pretty patterned paper and a few frames. Cut a piece of patterned paper to fit the frame opening. Die-cut or hand-cut an oversize monogram and, if desired, a mat. Mount the initial to the patterned-paper background with adhesive foam, add the mat, if using, and slide the assembly into the frame.

I have a mission.  Collect as many frame pendants and frame pendant wanna-be’s that the thrift stores have to offer.  This may take a while, but I think this project might be worth it.  Love the charm of it.  (sorry couldn’t resist.) Use up even the tiniest pieces of leftover or favorite fabrics with these wineglass charms. Cut small squares of selected areas of the fabric and insert each into a frame pendant. Earring-hoop wire threaded through the pendant loop makes it easy to attach the charm to a wineglass stem.

I love decorative balls.  All the different kinds Crate and Barrel, Anthroplogie, Z Gallerie and every other corner design store have been pushing as must haves for the well photographed home.  Now who’s got the last laugh?  And the last dollar saved? An easy craft to make, these fabric-wrapped balls use up scraps from your stash and can be displayed in a pretty bowl. Cut strips from coordinating fabrics and use glue to adhere them to foam balls. Select a variety of fabric patterns and use both small and large balls for extra interest.

This is a definite favorite!  I always said I can’t draw without a ruler.  Now they have an even better use in my studio. Use a miter box to cut old yardsticks to length, creating colorful and graphic photo mats that turn basic frames into works of art.

Next time I see a Hannah Montana suitcase at the thrift store I’m grabbing it.  I always worried about the girls that just had to have such things.  Guess they have a higher purpose after all. A small suitcase from a secondhand store becomes a graphic and colorful storage unit when prettied up with paper and paint. Remove and paint the hardware. Decoupage the case with scrapbook paper. Replace the hardware, securing it with metal glue and decorative brads painted the same color.

I’m more of a favorite old mug kinda gal, but any excuse to have a wood plane sitting on my desk has my attention. Turn an old wood plane into an all-in-one desk set simply by drilling a few holes. Look for inexpensive or damaged planes at flea markets, garage sales, and auctions.

All images and ideas borrowed directly from the Better Homes and Gardens website.

On my usual meanderings through the blogosphere I came across a great post over at The Non-Consumer Advocate.  Like me, she is a mom who joined the Compact and has been reviewing what it means in her life.

“Which brings me to the term conscious frugality. To be mindful with one’s money without being miserly or blowing it on poorly made stuff that’s was never manufactured with longevity in mind.”

I have to say, that could mean a departure from the tenets of the Compact.  So far this year I have been quite happy to shop used for what we have needed.  It has met our needs and I don’t think we have missed out or bought less than comparable quality because of it.  But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t consider buying something new of great quality, (and for that I mean production quality, not necessarily brand quality or cost) that will last my family for years to come.  Think about it, many of the things we (being me) buy at thrift stores and flea markets are 15-20 years old at least.  If they weren’t quality to begin with, they wouldn’t still be around for me to be the second, third or subsequent owner.  The problem lies in the fact that most things are not made the way they used to be.  Which brings us to the stuff issue.

Reading Ms. Wolk-Stanley’s post reminded me that my desire to join the Compact was not to limit my family to second-hand goods, but to take a year to look at what we buy, what we spend our money on and perhaps save some of that said money.  Conscious frugality.  It has a ring to it.  I like it.

A while back I was wondering if giveaways would be permitted by the San Francisco Compact originators.  And then I wondered what I would do about the issue.  I have to admit I’ve put my name in for several online giveaways since that post.  I figure, if I win a gift card is it really any different than being given a gift card as a gift?  But I do limit those entries to stores I would really, really want stuff from.  Not just plastic cash to rush out and buy crap.  This is me holding to the “what are we spending our money on and is it really necessary?” aspects of the Compact.

And if it’s a giveaway for actual product, 90% of the time it’s for handmade stuff being given away by the artist or on their behalf.  So I think that’s okay too.  On a good day I consider myself an artist.  So if I can support another artist I’m all for it.  The more entrepreneurial the better.  I love Jonathan Adler’s stuff but I’m not running out to get it saying “he’s an artist, it’s okay”.  I like the little guys.  And gals.  You know, Jonathan Adler 20 years ago.  This is me holding to the “what are we buying and bringing into our home?” aspect of the Compact.

This change in the rules, or bending of the rules, or lack of fortitude on my part is due in large part to Sommer Designs.  Well, that may be passing the buck a little bit.  It goes back to my need to recover those pesky chairs.  I’ve been looking and looking but I haven’t found any fabric that I like in the used market.  There was one piece today that came really close but the chairs are (an awesome!) bright green so not the easiest to work with.  But back to the blame game.

While I was doing everything but writing a post last night (which basically means I was spending way too much time on Twitter) I was reminded of a blog I like.  As I was wandering around the blog I ended up on Sommer Designs’ main site.  Which led me to her Etsy shop.  Specifically her fabric remnants shop.  So, see if you can follow my logic here.  I need fabric.  (And rather quickly, I’m a procrastinator.)  Can’t find anything at the used shops.  I found an artist who is based nearby.  She has scrap fabric that I really, really like.  (No this picture isn’t what I chose, but don’t you just love it?  I do.)  I can pay a nominal fee for her extra yardage and pick it up tomorrow morning in person.  It works for me.  Maybe if you’re really lucky I’ll finish the project and show you pictures tomorrow.  Do you feel lucky punk?  Well, do ya?

And maybe if I get lucky I will get one of her great bags for the days I don’t have to carry O’s, animal crackers, diapers, sippy cups and all that other fun stuff!

[image: bingo card no. 1 by michele bosak]

photo by thru jens eyes'

I had a completely different post planned but it will have to wait.  I just found out about this awesome idea and had to share.  I am so glad the Compact organizers understood the sacrifice of one for the benefit of many.  All in the name of well-being and supporting the local community I can partake guilt-free in recreational services such as massage, manicures and pedicures.  The original exceptions didn’t specifically state mani/pedis but I write the rules in this house.  Don’t I?  If not, just let me believe it.  But, back to my nails.  How great would it be to have a nail salon that actually claimed a “healthy environment”.  I know, sounds like a contradiction in terms right?

photo by green LA girl

But alas, it’s here.  At least if you live in Los Angeles it’s here.  It’s called Recess.  How great is that name?  It makes me think of all the fun had running around the playground with your best girlfriends.  Only now your girlfriends are grown up and need a place to share their newest secrets.  Green LA girl stopped by and wrote a great review.

The things I love most: their eco-friendly space – LEED based design for gosh sakes!  (Ask me another time about LEED, I’ll tell you an exciting tale about architecture and the environment.  And how the two CAN work together.  It’s close to my heart.)  They have organic bevvies to go with the bamboo-cotton towels and toxin-free nail polishes.  Best of all, they will recycle your old nail polish bottles.  Seriously.  I bet you didn’t even know that nail polish is considered toxic waste.

Now I know what to do with that blue polish circa 2004 that I never got around to finishing.

I’ve spent the last hour or so catching up on some reading. The only thing really relevant to this blog was the most incredible tub creation I’ve seen. I really must have that. I’m hoping I don’t have to find a way to make it but if I have to I will. Trust me, I’ll do it. Maybe not this year, or even this decade but I will do it. (I got kinda shorted on that one as we are almost done with this decade but you get my point.)

What I was really reading were blogs written by some great friends of mine. They are all so interesting and different. We each have our own things but I love how blogs let us peak into each others heads and see what’s going on. This blog is typically on the lighter side (just my speed) but this post made me realize I have really been ignoring the big picture recently. If I don’t wake up in time to hear the NPR news and I don’t check any news websites I can really stay insulated. Having no TV is good for the electric bill, keeps my kid from finding out about Sesame Street and we can enjoy people looking at us like we have no running water when we tell them (“What? That’s just crazy. How do you survive?” has been heard more than once), but it also makes it really easy to ignore everything outside of my favorite blogs and people. Maybe I should think about that. I’ll get right on that. Tomorrow.

My husband like to tell people I am a bartender, so not true. I was one, for a while, a long, long time ago. Although it hardly counts if you only serve wine, beer and the occasional rye and ginger. Now I just refer people here. If I ever get to the point where I can drink regularly again (don’t even ask what I mean by that) I plan to try as many things from this list as I can. I can never decide what to have when I do actually get out so maybe I’ll find my perfect match. Is his name Jack perhaps? I think not. But I’ll keep looking. And besides nothing in the Compact says I can’t buy alcohol, that’s practically food right?

I was just talking (texting really, but what’s the difference right?) to a friend about her well-placed clutter. She is one of the lucky ones that gets to live in a Hollywood home with actual character. Which in Hollywood, unless you’re famous, means you have a small (read quaint) apartment/duplex/bungalow not much bigger than my ex-boyfriend’s dorm room. So in a home with character you may choose to live with less open space if you and/or your husband have a liking for big and/or little things. So to her I say, love your stuff and plan for the day when it looks like you have a sparse living room because it’s so big. If that’s your thing. Or just love your stuff because it’s like whipped cream.

Some days I just want to talk about nothing at all. Okay, you’ve probably already learned that’s more like most days. But some days are worse than others. Maybe tomorrow I will think some more about how I can save my family some green. Or save Mother Nature’s green. But today was just about whipped cream.

Thanks ladies!