Almost Didn't Make it On My First Day

DSP 147: Thank You! 2007-10-11
Originally uploaded by vernhart

So the "rules" for the giving challenge are pretty flexible.  Give "something" away each day. It can be a physical gift..but can also be a smile, a hug, etc.   You would think that would make it easier, right?  Didn't work that way for me.  I spent the day asking myself "Was that a gift?"
Because I was thinking about how I might give a gift to my kids, I was very calm when Ben managed to spill the entire container of sugar on the kitchen floor ( even though he as successfully gotten cereal out of that cupboard for the past five years.)  I said " Wow, you did something different this time.  Try not to do it again.."  Is that a gift?

I said a heart felt thank you to the bus driver ( both times).  I helped plan and pay for a going away lunch for a much loved (soon to be former) colleague.  Neither felt like they were "it."

I was still thinking about giving during yoga class..which I love.  So I didn't decide on my gift until 7pm on my first day. I realized I had never told my yoga teacher how much I enjoy her class.  I love that I can walk to it. That it brings together people from my neighborhood. And how good it makes me feel. I look forward to it each week.  I made a point of staying after class to tell her.  It felt good! It felt like a gift!

Final action for 2009

I have been thinking about how to end this year of "being the change we want to see in the world"  and when I read about 29 Days I thought "There's a worthy challenge to try...and what better month than December to focus on giving.

So this month's challenge is to give one thing away for the next 29 days.  For more information visit the the 29 Day Giving Challenge

Confession: I am a little intimated by this.

Disclaimer: I'm not insisting or requiring that anyone else in the family participate.

PS: for those of you waiting with baited breath for the results of our Energy Audit. We just got it...give us chance to read it..and then I'll share our results and any actions we take.

Photo Credit: flickr hamed

Good News Bad News

First the good news: Although I don't have the final report...it seems our house is pretty energy efficient.

Here is Laurie using the infared camera...looking for air leaking...and she had a hard time.  She did find some spots but not as much as she usually does.


And here she is doing the blower door test...to see how tight our house is.  She had to stop the fan and go to a smaller one because our house was tighter than she expected.

And here she is checking our really noisy fans ( the ones I was hoping didn't really work) but it turns out they work just fine...in fact better than fine...above average.

So what's the bad news...we have a real problem with water on our windows and not just a little condensation...I wipe up puddles and we have to watch for mold.  Laurie felt this was the challenge to our house..where is the water coming from and what can we do about it.

Stay tuned...we should get the report in the next week or so.

Hat Tip Dave

My son Ben's favorite teacher ever has a blog!  It's called Teacher's Journey to Earth's Future.  He is writing about how teachers can prepare students for our future.  He wants to link to this blog as an example of citizen engagement!  Thanks Dave!

What will the photos tell us?

Cold Air Leak Under Door
Originally uploaded by CBC || Thermal

This picture looks like art...but it is actually showing gold air sneaking into your house ( taken with an infared camera)

We will soon have pretty photos like this of our house...I anticipate lots of different colors. :)

We signed up to have an energy audit of our house next week. This is a big action for us for two reasons:
1. We have talked about doing this for years.
2. It is costing us big bucks ( $400)

Will it be worth it? Stay tuned!

Mixed Reviews

Some people liked the skulls, some people thought they were creepy.

Some people liked the idea of honoring your relatives and telling stories.
Other people ( my husband) thought the post was "off topic".

Oh well...you can't please everyone.

Our October actions had to be put on hold since we were all sick for much of October!
Coming Soon....November is Energy Audit month

Celebrating Halloween

We tried something new this Halloween.  I've been thinking about ways to add meaning to our holidays ( which were once holy days).  So this year on Nov 1..we had an ancestor party.                                                      We were influenced by what Nate is learning about how Mexico celebrates Day of the Dead...so we made sugar skulls ( which was easy and fun)     Then we created an ancestor altar....we collected photographs and mementos from ancestors who are now dead ...things like Mark's grandfathers watch and a bowl my grandfather carved.                                                  We lit candles and told stories about our grandparents....the boys told stories about their rats ( we had two pet rats die this year.)  It wasn't sad or depressing...many of our stories were funny.  We all enjoyed the evening...I'm hoping we do this again.      (  Don't worry..the boys did trick or treat ...and came home with pillow cases full of candy.)