Basement Clean Out

Austin and I did a little basement cleaning, it was pretty amazing what we got done in about an hour. But even more amazing is how much additional stuff has accumulated down there since people have moved in. We decided to make a little area in the basement that will look like where some 35yo guy who still lives with his mom hangs out and plays video games- complete with an old couch we'll pick up from the salvation army and a tv with a playstation hooked up. This way we can get all the video games out of the living room, which will be nice. But, we have to convince some people to get rid of some stuff first cause we've managed to mostly fill 1000 square ft of open space with junk? Why do we accumulate so much junk? hmmm...

Full Up

Well, our house is all full. It has been since June...but an interesting thing has happened now: we have a waiting list! Back in January we had some friends ask if they could be a part of the house this August and sadly we had to tell them no, but that we should have room summer of '08. And there's another friend who is commuting 1hr45min to work in Lawrence until October and I wish we could offer him a place. And now we have more friends who WE would love to have move in...not sure if it would really be an option for them, but if it was it's too bad we had to say, "we'll probably have room in a year, and definately in 2 yrs". So, I just find it interesting that while many people say we're crazy and they could never live in a community house, we seem to be overflowing with people who'd like to be a part of it. I actually think it's pretty sad that there aren't more of these cause think about how much people could benefit from sharing resources and saving money by sharing rent and gaining deeper relationships. So, why aren't there more? After some contemplation, I think it's just because no one wants to take the initiative to start even a small community house, like buy a multi family house and rent some units to friends or even ask some friends to rent a big place with them. Maybe it's that pervasive fear of buying that seems to be prevalent around here. But, I just wish we could expand and make 3 more places like ours, and I know they would fill up fast.

So, any brave souls out there? There just happens to be a 3 family huge brick house 2 streets up from us that is for sale for $179K (too bad there wasn't a deal like that around when we bought). It sure would be nice to have the "Garden St House", the "Summer St House" and maybe even the "Orchard St House" and oh wait, and yes, the "Jackson Terrace House" (which partially exists already, but another would be nice)....well I can always dream :-)...and hope someone out there decides to do something crazy...

Water anyone?

I’ve decided I need to be more “green”. That is I need to start reducing the amount of resources I use and how much waste I produce that goes into landfills. Not an easy task, but there are some simple things I can do that are not difficult. I was inspired the other day when I read a news story that the mayor of San Francisco has banned the purchase of water bottles with city funds. I looked into this a little further and found these facts about water bottle usage.

*8 out of 10 plastic water bottles used in the United States become garbage or end up in a landfill (Container Recycling Institute)

*The energy we waste using bottled water would be enough to power 190,000 homes. But refilling your water bottle from the tap requires no expenditure of energy, and zero waste of resources. (PBS Point of View 2004)

*Making all of the bottles for the US requires more than 1.5 million barrels of oil annually. That's enough to fuel 100,000 cars. (Earth Policy Institute)

*In the United States in 2006, bottled water consumption reached a record 8.3 billion gallons, 185 million gallons of which was imported. The total amount spent on bottled water was over $11 billion. (Beverage Marketing Corp.)

*In contrast to tap water, which is distributed through an energy-efficient infrastructure, transporting bottled water long distances involves burning massive quantities of fossil fuels. Nearly a quarter of all bottled water crosses national borders to reach consumers, transported by boat, train, and truck. (Earth Policy Institute)

*It costs more money to drink bottled water than to put gas in your car--up to five time more--due mainly to its packaging and transportation.(Earth Policy Institute)

*Bottled water companies do not have to release their water-testing results to the public, whereas municipalities do. (Natural Resources Defense Council)

Well, That was enough to convince me. I purchased a Nalgene bottle (I lost my previous one) and got it in the mail today. I’ve also taken the Refill Not Landfill pledge to not purchase or use bottled water for the next year (and hopefully never again). Will you join me????? (check out http://www.refillnotlandfill.org/ for more info and to buy yourself a bottle)

Finally, a plumber, hooray!

Well, we officially have a plumber, and he's coming next week to get us a new bathroom :-). This is very exciting since with a few changes in some of our schedules in the last few weeks, now four of us like to get up and take a shower around the same time (but ony two bathrooms for that!). This guy came highly recommended so I hope he's as good as I've heard. As long as he doesn't let my cat outside (to be missing for 3 days), I'm happy :-)

Coffee anyone?

There's another strange and CRAZY idea rolling around in the heads of Austin and Missy. I don't know if it's my deep drive to do things people think are crazy and them prove them wrong? Or my LOVE of projects? But, there's another project on the horizon, and I think it really just might happen. But, let's review the crazy decisions Austin and I have made: Buy a condo when you only make $28K combined a year? Are you crazy? Sell your condo when you don't have anything else lined up? are you crazy? Buy a house in scary Lawrence? are you crazy? Buy a 2 family, and convert it to 1 doing all the work yourselves? Are you crazy? Live in a house with 11 people? Are you crazy? Get rid of a paid off car cause you can get by on one? Are you crazy? etc... and all of these ones have worked out...so why shouldn't another one? hmm... well, I don't want to reveal too much cause I'm still working out my plan...but if you want to know what our crazy idea is, just ask, and maybe we'll let you know :-)...maybe if YOU're crazy enough you can be a part of it with us.