Back Track

Goodness gracious, has it been that long? So much has happened over the long winter months that I don't quite know where to begin. The Post Consumer Project is officially over, but unofficially I'm still doing my darndest to not buy new. I'm preparing a long-winded post with some summative comments about the project but for now, I'll just say WE'RE STILL HERE!

So to give you a sampling of what we've been up to, here are some pictures that go way back, first from Halloween, then some of Christmas, and Ezra's third birthday party.


Hallowe'en: I thought it was fairly obvious that we were thematically dressed as Red Riding Hood, the wolf, and Grandma but you wouldn't believe how many people thought Ezra was Eeyore, or that C was an "old drunk flashing pervert", to quote my neighbour. Granted, his wig was a bit scraggly, and he was mashed into my small flannel pajamas, but still. Come on, people!






Christmas: For Ezra's gift this year, we sourced a huge lot of Thomas the Train tracks and accessories from Craigslist. There is so much, that we could probably lay tracks from Guelph to Toronto. Instead of wrapping it up, C and I spent hours on Christmas Eve setting up an amazing configuration of bridges and tunnels around the tree. When Ezra saw it, he exclaimed: Holy Mackerel! So cute. And speaking of mackerel, Ezra also got fish oil in his stocking. Vitamins were allowed and little ones need their Vitamin D!


Ezra's Party: This year, I sweated and toiled for weeks before the party. It wasn't so much the preparations that stressed me out, it was the baking part. I'm a bad baker. Like, epically bad. Bakers should never say such things as "I wonder if I can substitute this for that", or "that's probably a cup". But I do.

So I started preparing for disaster, in the hopes of avoiding it. I ended up baking 4 cakes, just in case! And I want to thank everyone who I badgered for advice. You saved me so much heartache! I didn't settle on the easiest cake to make, either. Behold, the banjo cake. The cakes are chai spice cake and chocolate (neck), with white chocolate cream cheese icing. Oh, and fudge brownies around the edges! Yummmm!



I also made these cute little felt hats. We can use them year after year, and they're sweeter than the store bought ones if I do say so myself!

Dig in!

Project Complete

Behold, the motley crew. Not bad for a first effort but something's a tad amiss. Is it the eyes? Too light? They look like they're up to no good. Which is probably the case.

The red guy needs a little contrasting cache-pot for his head and I should also throw a running stitch around his neck to taper. He's got a body builder's neck!



Hand In Hand More Monkeys Come
Dum Diddy Dum Diddy Dum Dum Dum

Handmade Holiday

I must be crazy. Between cleaning and packing (we move in less than a week!), I have convinced myself that there is time to make Christmas crafts. Behold, my Xmas gift tags! I picked up the fabric last year from Value Village. It's a curtain panel but I really liked the funky lines and shades of green. Perfect for these mini Christmas trees. I added some colourful beads from the bead jar (everyone should have a bead and button jar!) and then zigzagged the edges onto homemade paper. Some are a bit wonky but I like them like that! The paper also has an interesting history. I got it from my neighbour Carolyn, who made a huge batch of it for her wedding invitations. She ended up calling off the wedding (tells me she narrowly missed a bullet there), and was left with stacks of the stuff. She sold it to me at a garage sale for five bucks. I have so much of it, you'll be seeing it for a long time!

The Dala horse at the end is one of the felt Christmas ornaments I did last year. Can't wait to get the tree up! Huge priority once we move in.

Anyway, I'll shut up now and just show you. Time to get back to work!

Miss Thrifty

To some people (not mentioning any names), it may appear that I spend my days combing Craigslist and Kijiji for used stuff. OK, I admit it. I do spend an unhealthy amount of time searching for stuff like retro sofas, used dishes, and of course, the perfect living room lamp that continues to elude me.

So we went ahead and bought the house in Guelph. My first inclination was to just give up on the project in despair. After all, we just bought a HOUSE. A used one, sure, but a HOUSE nonetheless. That's the purchase of a lifetime and the greatest failure for a family who has sworn off buying anything for a year. And then there's the stuff to go inside it!

Still, before we pack it all in and label this experiment with a giant FAIL, I will do my utmost to outfit my house by thrifting. I have to keep reminding myself that it is a work in progress that will require patience. Gradually, it will all fall into place. And it's OK to have it looking a bit bare for the time being. It's tempting to run to Ikea for the quick fix but I will persevere. In the long run, if I hold out for pieces that are unique, eclectic, whimsical, and well-made, they'll come together to make our home feel more like ours. I will use Made With Love By Hannah as my thrifty inspiration. I love her house. It's lovely and crazy and quirky all at the same time and yet, it's not me at all. It's her. And if you haven't already, you MUST meet her.



OK, so I would totally love her mushroom garden furniture but I also have to live with Christopher. And only in an alternate universe could Christopher live with Pookie and velvet paintings. But the Goodwill is full of treasures waiting to be found and loved again. My design aesthetic leans towards mid-century modern with a crazy impulse for kitschy atomic accents. Think boomerang coffee tables and fiberglass lampshades. I'm just getting started but check out my latest scores. Jumpy claps!

Set of 4 retro blond oak dining chairs. $20 bucks each.


12 piece set of Kathie Winkle vintage dishes, 99 cents a plate at Value Village. SCORE!


Retro 60s Sectional on Craigslist. She's a BEAUTY! Just have to get those portobello mushroom pillows recovered.


Right now I'm in the midst of cleaning up the set of chairs. I plan to cover them in this fabric.


And last, but not least, here is my sewing work in progress. Got my monkeys' bodies all sewn up and their appendages stuffed. Now just have to sew them together and put on their faces! I would say cute but in this state, they look very very creepy. I'll post the before and after shots later. For now, check out those stubby legs!

The Home Front

I have a sneaking suspicion that this year I will eat my words. It's going to hurt when this happens, like dipping those words in tabasco sauce and rolling them in a marinade of glass shards. I will wince and crunch them down and confess to you: "We're thinking of buying a house". And just when you recover from the shock in time to deliver a mocking--well, it's about time or you gotta grow up sometime--I'll take another swig of that broken glass like a Hells Angels biker and finish my sentence. Wait for it--

IN GUELPH.

I never thought I'd be ready to leave my beloved city and indeed, I am not. But this apartment is getting cramped and wouldn't it be nice to have a burrow of our own. I know, I know. I've always sworn this way and that that I am a free spirit unencumbered by such mundane responsibilities as paying a mortgage or mowing the lawn. Hell, you still won't get me to mow the lawn. I'll pluck my own dandelion greens to make a salad before you get me to run a mower but you get the point. It's time to turn a new leaf.

The whole process has been kind of weird. We take Ezra to look at houses and people nod appreciatively and spout nonsense like, good choice, RIGHT choice, you can't raise a child in the city. And C braces himself as my colour rises and I say YES, you ABSOLUTELY CAN raise kids in the city and have access to AGO day camps and Night At the Museum at the ROM and author series and Nuit Blanche for kids and way better schools where all the kids aren't just white but that renting sucks and if we had half a million dollars laying around we wouldn't be there having a surreal conversation about high efficiency furnaces and the likelihood of vermiculite in the walls.

I love Toronto and I've lived here for a long time. This city is a true love of mine so don't ever ever rag on her. I would be lying if I said it wasn't hard to leave it behind. It is. But the time has come to court a new suitor, and Guelph has caught my eye. I don't think I'm settling. I like Guelph and am hoping that like will soon grow into love. Comes a time when you settle down.

Ezra's Room

The time has come for my little man to move to a big boy bed. And since I never got the chance to do up a baby's room, I'm getting pretty darned excited about choosing bedding, and decorating his new digs. The theme I'm going with is Canadiana-nature-camping-hunting lodge. Here is some of my inspiration. I figure I can source a vintage log cabin quilt, or at the very least, a quilt top which I can finish. I'm eyeing C's old plaid shirts too for throw pillows and appliques. Time to put on my thinking cap and figure out how to do this within the framework of the project! Keep you posted. Here was some of my inspiration...








Of course, I'm trying to source everything vintage. I also can't wait to try my hand at those log pillows. Anyone want to show me the fine art of quilting?

Quickie

Gah! It's been ages and I owe you a post. It's getting hard now. For one, I'm THIS CLOSE to buying some hair conditioner. Ezra won't let me near him with a brush and he has three tiny dreadlocks that may need to be cut out. And I'm starting to have the same problem.

There's also the mattress situation. I forgot that this year we would have to transition Ezra to a bed. The frame part was easy but there's something kind of yucky about buying a used mattress for him. We may just have to give in on that one.

The sewing is going very well but not quite fast enough. As Christmas looms on the horizon, I'm breaking out into a cold sweat. I plan to make sock monkeys and bean bag chairs and kids pjs and all kinds of fun stuff. We'll see how far I get. The kids may get passes to the zoo instead. As long as we don't buy "stuff", I guess it's OK.

Take a look at the dress I made for myself. Without the belt, it's kind of a sack but hey, it's my first garment!

Fruits of our labour

I have all but abandoned this blog but fortunately not the project. Summer is a time for doing, not for writing. Right now I'm up to my ears in Italian plums from the tree in the backyard, not to mention Tom's enormous zucchini (sounds dirrrty). Today I baked up a fruit crumble, adding wild blueberries, and peaches from Frank's tree two doors down. I plan to take it out back with some forks and see who emerges. If all goes according to plan, it'll be plum tart tomorrow!




Update! The crumble was a success. So much so that Tom and Frank got out the ladders, and Ezra went a pickin' again. Who likes pie? Check out what a trip to Frank's garden can yield!




In other news, Ezra is obsessed with guitars and watching old reels of Bob Dylan on You Tube. How in the world did that happen? PS: That's a library copy of Rolling Stone--I didn't break the rules!

In Honour of Hillside

I’ve decided to take this occasion to finally introduce myself on this blog. Indeed, this buy-nothing project is a family affair. There is more than one of us contributing to this endeavour, although my better half has very much taken the initiative and lead to make sure this thing sticks. She is the environmental engine with endless enthusiasm that keeps us ticking along. I’ve tried my hand at making toothpaste, but my bicycle maintenance skills have certainly fallen well behind her sewing productivity.

So what of the occasion that finally solicits my first contribution? It seems fitting that following our fourth visit to this fantastic festival, I should file a post. The Hillside Festival is a three-day music festival that takes place annually in July at Guelph Lake Conservation Area in Southwestern Ontario. The diverse, top-notch music presented at this unique festival should in no way be downplayed; however, Hillside goes beyond the music to encompass a sense community and consciousness that serves as a noteworthy model for what is possible. The Hillside community has grown up from its early days at an area park in Guelph more than 25 years ago to a full-blown music extravaganza that is run by an army of more than a thousand volunteers. You won’t find any corporate concessions or ads at Hillside. Aside from the logos of some local brews and the purveyors of very tasty food served up on site, you’d be hard pressed to find much in the way of a profit motive save the eclectic artisans offering their wares and the guys running the honey wagons, keeping the port-a-potties clean. Hillside takes its environmental impact very seriously and has undertaken extensive initiatives to lessen it. From reusable dishes washed by those ubiquitous volunteers, to the plentiful refreshing water dispensed free of charge from a large tanker, this festival proves what is possible.


And possibility is the point of this project. It is not about perfection. It is about embracing the possibility of living more in tune with our natural world. Our challenge is finding alternate ways of doing things to lessen our impact. Hillside encourages us by demonstrating solutions to this challenge. The Festival is not about denying oneself in the name of eco-consciousness, but rather living it up responsibly. Hillside’s solutions serve as a refreshing and courageous counterpoint to most other large-scale events where tap water is bottled in indestructible plastic for your convenience and beer cups overflow from garbage bins. The wasteful alternative was highlighted for me during a recent visit to check out the Jays at the Rogers Centre, where sometimes living it up includes a few beers. Not surprisingly, this posed a challenge to the project. I was left to scavenge a used cup from my friend with the hope that he didn’t have a cold and that this would qualify as less impactful. The problem was that the bartender refused to refill a used cup, despite the fact that the keg was tapped and she was pouring from cans! Yes, we reached a fine level of absurdity as we were not only wasting energy to recycle a can, but now we must pour it into a brand new cup too. Now to some this may seem a small detail hardly worth the trouble. To me, who has a serious eco-anxiety surrounding waste, particularly of the spatial kind, this small detail needs to be multiplied by all the beer patrons that night, this year, and at all the other sporting events around North America. This ridiculous waste doesn’t have to be. Hillside is an example of what’s possible.


Hillside is a shining light for what is means to care about the planet. It was great to spend a weekend at a place where you were encouraged to bring your own dishes, rather than scoffed at. You were required to reuse your beer cup (had to be purchased for $2), rather than feeling slight embarrassment for trying. And that is a key message for me from Hillside: we’re not the only ones. It’s okay to take these things seriously. In fact, I suspect future generations will appreciate it. So it’s time for me to hold my head a little higher when I take my reuseable container to pick up pizza slices; being the change is good. Thanks for making it fun, Hillside! See you next year.

Dropping Acid

A trip to Value Village proves how limited the thrift option can be. Check out the sweet jeans C had to choose from. I had to BEG him to try on this pair of acid washed AWESOMENESS. All it needs is a fanny pack and the look is complete.