Today seemed like a good time to write my farewell anti-shopping blog as I broke down and bought a pair of shoes. It’s hard to believe that the long year of no shopping is finally over. We were nowhere near any shopping malls when the 1st day of guilt-free shopping arrived (we were on vacation in Yosemite, and there are far better things to do there than shop).

So as you can see, we’ve decided not to renew our anti-shopping commitment for 2008. But this last year has definitely changed my perspective on shopping and will have a long-lasting impact on my behavior. Among the many things we learned:

- we should repair a broken item instead of replacing it with something new. This seems like a big duh, but it’s really not as easy as it sounds. First, you either need the skills and tools to repair it yourself or you need to find someone who can repair it for you. John’s broken razor was a great example. Fortunately after some experimenting and 99 cents for a replacement part, John figured out how to fix it. But if John hadn’t been able to fix the razor, where could we have taken it for repair? Even if such a place existed, it often costs more to repair a broken appliance than it does to buy new. Secondly, through successful marketing, we’re all convinced that accumulating new stuff is the path to happiness. Obviously not true or I would’ve been in a miserable depression last year. Lastly, things are made so cheaply that it’s not even worth repairing some things. Even very costly items like refrigerators are almost made with a disposable mentality. I bought a new refrigerator a few years ago, and it broke after only a few months. The same thing happened to a friend of mine (and it was not even the same brand).

This is the curse of living in a wealthy country – everything is expendable and the true costs of tossing out the old and buying new are not factored in. One of my favorite memories of China is of the bicycle tire repairmen – they were scattered on street corners throughout Shanghai. Their “shops” consisted of a small stool, a little plastic tub of water (to find leaks), and some repair materials. You get a flat tire, you stop at the corner, a few minutes later, and you’re on your way. How beautiful is that?

- it’s fun to go to the thrift store. I have to admit that this was a new experience for me. Sure, I like flea markets, but I’ve never considered buying used clothes. That just seemed a little gross to me. In fact, the only reason we went to the thrift store this year was because I was donating some items, and we decided to have a look around. I was surprised to see that the clothes were very good quality and incredibly cheap. We didn’t go nuts buying stuff, but I got a cute summer sweater for $4 and John got a full-length wool coat for $10 (it didn’t look like it had ever been worn) and some decent jeans for $4.

- Although not shopping for a year was a great test of our resolve and an interesting learning experience, it’s not necessary to take such an extreme stance. The important thing is to thoughtfully consider each purchase -- do I really need it? if not, why do I want it? can I make do with something else? can I borrow it from someone else or the library? if I don’t buy it, will I really miss it? And more importantly, if I do buy it, will I even care about it the next day or a week from now?

So I guess that's all I have to say for now.

Last night I had a dream that I bought a sweater for my mom for Christmas. I immediately realized that I had violated my no shopping rule, and then, as sometimes happens in dreams, I suddenly noticed that I had also bought her a shirt without even realizing it. All of this happened in a flash of a second. I don’t know what this means, but it doesn’t seem fair that I felt guilty in a dream when I’ve worked so hard all year not to buy anything!

A day or so before, my company had a dinner in Chestnut Hill, a very quaint neighborhood in Philadelphia. I had some spare time, so I decided to walk around the shops before dinner. To my delight, the first shop I saw was Penzey's - a great place to get spices (I didn't even know they had retail stores as I had only ordered from their catalog). I needed a couple spices, so it was fun to go there. Then I browsed in some other shops, but it was really no fun to look at things when I knew I couldn't buy anything. The problem was that I still had about 30 minutes before dinner started, and it was cold and rainy outside, so I had no choice but to hang out in the stores. It wasn't so much that I even wanted any of the items I saw, but when you know you can't buy ANYTHING, it's highly dissatisfying. Perhaps this is what led me to have the shopping dream?

This morning I heard a story on NPR on people who are addicted to shopping – going to the mall anywhere from 2-7 times per week. I think this is probably pretty extreme (at least I hope so), but it makes me wonder if John and I are just really abnormal. Yesterday we returned a gift at Macy’s and got a store credit for $95. That’s a pretty decent amount of money. The cashier told us that we had two years to use the store credit, but I wanted to use it that day so that we wouldn’t have to come back. Plus I figured this was like bartering since we exchanged the gift, and since we haven’t been able to buy anything new all year, why not? So we started roaming around the kitchen section – usually one of my favorite parts of the store. They had some nice All Clad pots, but all beyond the $95 budget. They also had some nice stainless steel utensils, but I didn’t need any of them.

So then we went and looked at sweaters. John wanted a plain black zip-up sweater, but the only one they had was rather delicate and not what he was looking for. So we wandered around the store some more just to see how we could spend the money. This was the first time I’ve been in a mall all year, and it gave me the heeby jeebies (especially the life-size poster of a male model wearing a black blazer with a yellow sweater, bright red socks, and velvet shoes). John wanted to leave and come back another time, and I said, “Okay, but let’s just be clear that I’m not coming back with you.” John responded, “why are you being so mean?” I wasn’t trying to be mean, I just didn’t want to go there again! So we reluctantly agreed to continue our search – anything so we could get out. I looked at some clothes, but they seemed so boring (especially since we had just attended the Philadelphia Craft Show which was filled with beautiful and unique handmade crafts including gorgeous clothing, jewelry and art). After another 15 minutes, I convinced John to leave empty-handed – I assured him that we would definitely “need” to get something from Macy’s in the next two years.

Each of the few times I’ve posted a shopping violation on my blog, I’ve felt a little anxious about what others would think. Would they judge us harshly and consider us failures? Perhaps I was projecting my own thoughts on others, because if anything, people have been very supportive and non-judgmental.

For example, our biggest and most flagrant violation was the purchase of John’s computer. Of course we knew this was a violation regardless of whatever justifications we came up with, namely: 1) John needs a computer now that he quit his job and is a full-time student, 2) A used computer is an iffy proposition – even brand new ones break down, but at least with a new one, you know what you’re getting and it comes with a warranty, and 3) A refurbished computer costs the same as a new one!

Surprisingly though, absolutely no one judged us harshly on this purchase. In fact, just about everyone we told said, “oh that doesn’t count,” or “well, John really needs a computer.” No one wanted to say anything bad. And upon reflection, this was true whenever we told anyone of a violation, or even a potential violation. Before our trip to Turkey and Greece, several people said something like, “oh, surely you can make an exception for this trip!” or “no one would expect you to keep your shopping ban on this trip.”

Did this make me feel better? On the one hand, it made me feel worse because I knew I failed and others were covering for me. On the other hand, it probably felt better than if someone had told me I was a big failure.

The real question though is – why do people react this way? I have a few thoughts, but really no clear idea:

- Are they trying to make me feel better? It’s comforting that people want to protect me, but why do they feel they need to? I made this pledge of my own free will & I violated it of my own free will.
- Or, perhaps they don’t see the point in making me feel worse – again, it was my decision, and they don’t want to be judgmental
- Or, does it make them feel better that I’ve confirmed that this whole anti-shopping proposition wasn’t realistic to start with? I admit that thinking this is not nice on my part, but when I first took the anti-shopping pledge, several people felt obligated to explain why they couldn’t participate. I didn’t ask them…so why did they feel the need to justify?
- Or lastly, do they really feel that it’s no big deal? I suppose this is likely – since they didn’t take the pledge themselves, it probably doesn’t have that much meaning to them.

Any thoughts?

I have to admit that I'm beginning to covet some material objects and am look forward to the end of the anti-shopping year. I've noticed that I've been admiring other people's clothes and wishing I could buy a few new shirts or jackets. John told me that he has been coveting metal-working tools. So perhaps 9+ months is when it starts to become harder?

This past weekend my college roommates and I had a reunion. After our delightful day at the spa, we walked around town and went to some shops. This was the first time in many months that I had been to any non-food store. At first I just wanted to leave - what was the point of walking through shops and not buying anything. But I didn't want to ruin the enjoyment for others, and it was fun just to look around. Seeing all the merchandise gave me a momentary desire to buy things, but I was surprised to find that I was perfectly okay with not buying anything.

So though I don't plan to renew the anti-shopping pledge in 2008, I'm pretty sure that this experience has helped me to want to buy less. We'll see, I guess.

We were doing so well on our anti-shopping pledge. There was the aikido jyo I bought to replace my splintering and warped jyo. I could justify that purchase because I got painful slivers every time we practiced and because of the likelihood that the jyo would break during practice and hit someone in the head. Then there was the mosquito magnet – harder to rationalize, but could be considered a public health issue. Finally there were the rocks that John bought to finish the patio project. We had planned to purchase the rocks in 2006 when John started the patio project, but winter hit before he could finish it. So it was really a delayed purchase from 2006.

But our most recent purchase is not really justifiable. John just resigned from his job. He’s pursuing his sculpture career and his fine arts degree. He needs a computer for school. We didn’t want to buy a used computer because there are too many unknowns and neither of us is computer-savvy enough to fix problems. We decided to get a refurbished computer – a computer that someone bought and returned. This seemed like a reasonable compromise, though still potentially risky since you don’t know why someone returned the computer. We started looking online, but to our surprise, the refurbished computers were only about $10 less than new ones. Add to that our employee discount (J&J has negotiated a whopping $10 off) and the fact that new computers ship for free, and the new one was actually $20 less! The new one also came with a much better warranty (they come to your home rather than you having to mail your computer back in), which we thought was very important given the rampant problems people have with computers. So you can guess what we did … I’m not saying we did the right thing, but we just couldn’t see our way through paying more for an inferior product.

I haven’t updated the blog lately because I haven’t had any purchases, almost purchases, desire to purchase, or any other near shopping experiences. So 7+ months into it, our only major shopping violation was the rocks for our patio. But just wanted to let you know that we’re still at it. Sorry to be so boring!

I’m happy to report that The Mosquito Magnet is officially out of our lives (we returned it on Saturday) and we still don’t have any mosquitoes. One thing I forgot is that we also put some mosquito dunks in the swampy area next door. Mosquito dunks are made of bt, the same bacteria that organic gardeners use to control cabbage worms, etc. The great thing about bt is that while it doesn’t harm fish, birds or other wildlife, it kills the mosquito larvae before they becoming the annoying biting adults. The reason I didn’t originally attribute the disappearance of the mosquitoes to the dunks is because the mosquitoes disappeared one day BEFORE we put the dunks in. But perhaps they are keeping new populations from forming. Whatever the reason, I’m just happy to be outside again.

Speaking of which, I need to confess another shopping violation. Last year, John began an overhaul of our deck. The deck was not only unattractive, but the boards were also rotting. Last summer, John replaced about 1/3 of the deck with field stone that he mined from the back of our lot. Our poor little wheelbarrow went up & down the steep hill in our backyard and moved several tons of rock over the summer. John also lost a few pounds on that project! The winter hit before he was able to complete the rest of the patio, so he started again in May. John had always planned to buy small stones for the remainder of the patio but since summer ran out before he began that portion, we forgot about it. I suppose if we had thought of it, we could've ordered it in December, but then it would've just sat in the driveway for 6 months. So, another violation, but we're not returning this one! I’m happy to report that the landscaping all came from other parts of my garden, so we didn’t have to buy a single new plant (not that we would have anyway!). You can see it for yourself at: http://riverroad.mywebfront.com/

Barbara Kingsolver is one of the only authors for whom I will actually run out and buy a new hardback book. Usually I’m more than content to borrow a book from the library. If it’s new, sometimes that means being waitlisted, but that’s okay – I generally have about 20 books on my “to read” list, so what’s one more? But when a new Barbara Kingsolver book comes out, I want to read it immediately, and for some reason, I also have a strong desire to own it. So when I heard Barbara Kingsolver interviewed on NPR for her new book, “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life,” I felt one of my increasingly rare twinges of regret for the anti-shopping pledge. But to my delight, the book became available at the library in less than a week, and I read it in about 2 days. The book is an account of BK and her family’s resolve to eat only locally-produced food for one year (with a couple exceptions, including coffee and olive oil). This, I believe, is much harder than our anti-shopping pledge. A lot of imported food is totally out (e.g., mangoes, bananas, and god-forbid - chocolate) and the rest have to be eaten in season. But it also has great rewards. If you’re a gardener, you already know the joy and satisfaction of stepping out the door to pick that night’s salad greens or biting into a just-picked tomato, still warm from the sun. And even if you don’t grow your own, there’s always farmer’s markets. It’s hard to argue against the superior taste and freshness of fruit picked that morning, or supporting local farmers & your local economy, or reducing carbon emissions by choosing not to transport food thousands of miles.

So while reading this book, I became inspired and have already started to do three things: eat more locally (the orchards are full of plump and juicy blueberries right now, so it’s foolish not to), make fresh bread more often (using my bread machine – I’m not that much of a homemaker!) and make cheese (so far I’ve made mozzarella and fromage blanc – both easy and delicious). I also wanted to try dehydrating some food so that I could enjoy it all year round. But, I didn’t have a food dehydrator. I went to Amazon to see if I could find a used one. There weren’t any used ones, but the new ones were only about $60. The thought flashed across my mind, “it’s for food, so it’s allowed.” But then I decided to try freecycle (yahoo website where you can post things you want or things you want to give away). I discovered there was also a new yahoo website called “Bucks county barter.” So I posted my request “looking for a food dehydrator.” I got two responses back. One woman wanted a twin bed or a rug in exchange, but I didn’t have either. Another woman wanted a dehumidifier or a small color TV. Voila!!! We have a 13” color TV that we haven’t turned on in about 10 years. So I called her up – she had bought the dehydrator a few years back but had never used it. Her boys’ TV just broke, and her husband was on disability, so they didn’t want to buy a new one. What’s more, it turned out that she lives only a couple minutes from where I practice aikido (Bucks county is very large, so this was a weird coincidence). So we made the exchange yesterday, and we both got exactly what we wanted without having to spend a penny. How awesome is that?

I was hoping the whole mosquito topic would never need to come up again, but it’s such a bizarre thing I had to say more. I happened to mention my distressful mosquito situation to a co-worker, and he asked, “don’t you have a mosquito magnet?” So weird. Apparently his works quite well. So I plied him with questions. Although I could not discern any error in the way we set it up, we decided to give it another go. Another tank of propane, some more “attractant” and a couple tiny compressed CO2 cylinders (to clean out the lines) later, we were back in business.

It’s been almost a week, and the mosquitoes have all but disappeared. Where are they? I don’t know, but they ain’t in the mosquito magnet. It had been rather dry lately, so perhaps they all just died on their own. But then it rained like mad the last couple of days, and they still aren’t back. I peeked into the trap, expecting to see a whole slew of those rotten little buggers, but only about 4 distinctly non-mosquito looking insects were in there. Perhaps it’s not a mosquito magnet but a mosquito scarer? Don’t know what to think or do… Anyway, with the temperature expected to hit 95 on Sunday, it'll be too hot to go outside anyway.

We returned a few weeks ago from a fabulous trip to Istanbul & Greece, and I am happy to report that we overcame the very challenging urge to violate our anti-shopping ban. As I mentioned previously, this would be a true test of our commitment. When you travel somewhere as unusual as Turkey & Greece, it’s only natural to want to bring home a few special reminders. On top of that, Turkey is renowned for its shopping (especially beautiful rugs) and that we were only a few minutes walk from the shopping Mecca of the Grand Bazaar, and it was quite a serious temptation.

Several times we discussed allowing an exception to our shopping ban – after all, we were in Turkey! We waffled back and forth and decided to see what would happen. On the 3rd or 4th day of our trip, we ventured into the Bazaar just to “take a look.” I was not at all tempted by most of the items for sale (jewelry, purses, clothing, tacky souvenirs), but I was curious to see some Oriental rugs. If we found a used one, that would be allowable under our agreement. Unfortunately you can’t just casually browse the rugs – the salespeople are very aggressive and won’t let you leave until they’ve shown you hundreds of rugs. The upside is that they serve you coffee or tea while you’re looking. We spent many hours looking at numerous gorgeous rugs, including many that were used. But although we were seriously tempted, none were just right, so we left Turkey rug-less. I was a little sad that among all the beautiful rugs, we couldn’t find one that worked, but I was also happy that we didn’t violate our shopping ban.

We then went on to Greece, where my only true temptation was an adorable purse. Although I told myself to forget the purse, I literally kept seeing it everywhere. To top it off, it was even reasonably priced (a couple years ago I fell in love with a purse in Florence, but the price tag made me forget it). I almost gave in to “it’s a special vacation, I’m going to break the rules.” But then I thought about it – this was truly one of the only things all year that tempted me, so it would’ve been really lame to give in. So the purse is still in Crete, and I’m back home :(. Oh well…

But it would be misleading to say we didn’t buy anything in Greece & Turkey – we did buy some food items – olive oil, Turkish Delights, and spices – happily all allowed!

So here’s the irony – we came home to a mosquito-ridden rainforest. It was so bad that we couldn’t even walk to the car without being swarmed. I had to wear a mosquito net over my head and long sleeves and long pants (in 90 degree weather) just to do a little weeding. I ran outside at full speed to harvest a few leaves of lettuce. All of this preamble is to justify the only real purchase so far this year – a mosquito magnet. I really think it’s a public health issue, but it still upset me to have to break our vow, especially for something as emotionally unenjoyable as a mosquito magnet. The mosquito magnet is a machine that converts propane into carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is what we exhale and what attracts mosquitoes to us. The machine is supposed to attract mosquitoes into a trap. I say “supposed to” because after being on for 2+ weeks, it probably caught 50 mosquitoes while many millions were still buzzing us every time we stepped out the door. So after violating our agreement, we’re going to return it. But that doesn’t let us off the hook – we still broke our vow. The only reason we’re returning it is because it didn’t work.

So, we are through one-third of the year, and I’ve been reflecting.

The best thing about not buying anything new: Learning to appreciate what I already have. The other day I unpacked my summer/spring clothes, and smiled to myself when I saw light-weight and bright-colored shirts, pants, dresses & skirts.

The most surprising thing about not buying anything new: there are very few things in life that are true necessities. If I resist the urge to buy on impulse, I find that I can talk myself out of buying/”Needing” just about anything and not even feel sad about it. This of course assumes that I have the basic necessities like food & shelter.

The most difficult thing about not buying anything new: We are going on vacation next month to Greece & Turkey. In Istanbul we’re staying in the “Grand Bazaar” district, famed for its shops. Up until now I haven’t been tempted by anything – we’ll see how I fare in shopping Mecca.

The first thing I’m going to buy when this is all over: A brand new Audi TT Convertible. Just kidding!

We’ve managed to get through 3 months of no shopping, with the only infraction being my new jyo (by the way, I have to admit that I got unexpected pleasure when I ran the jyo through my hands – I had gotten used to the dents and rough feeling of my old jyo. For weeks I was just happy to escape without a splinter. The new jyo felt impossibly smooth – and another bonus – it’s straight! Is it possible that such basic and simple qualities can now provide me so much satisfaction?).

I really appreciated Jenny’s suggestion to utilize bartering more. I really want to do this – I think the trick is in the logistics – what do I need and who has it? And what do I have that someone else would want in exchange for it? Perhaps I’ll draw up a list of things and services that I can provide and it can be like a bank account. People can take from it now, and later when I need something, I can ask for it in exchange.

Jenny also suggested letting someone else buy something I want while I provide something in exchange. While I like the idea because it encourages more of a community spirit, it doesn’t address my main reasons for not shopping: 1) to prevent more things from entering the waste stream and 2) to be less materialistic. For me, it’s not about whether I physically pay out the money – it’s about whether I’m causing more junk to be in the world and whether I’m buying stuff I don’t need just because it makes me “happy.”

Here’s a great article sent to me by Janaki. It captures a lot of what bothers me about our consumerist culture:

Stop Shopping ... or the Planet Will Go Pop
Posted On April 8, 2007 (1:30 pm)

Article published by CommonDreams.org - Commondreams.org
URL to article: http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/04/08/387/

In aikido, we sometimes train with a “jyo” which is a 4 foot long wooden staff. Over time, the jyos get a little banged up and worn, and sometimes they warp. When the jyos are older, they sometimes break in the middle of a strike, which is quite frightening and a little dangerous since pieces of wood go flying. I noticed last year that my jyo was really warped, but I didn’t replace it. In January I realized that replacing it was no longer an option, and so although it was annoying, I accepted the warp. But now my jyo has a chip in it, and I’ve gotten slivers the last couple times I’ve used it. I fretted to myself – what was I going to do? Sanding it is not a long-term solution (I’ve tried on previous jyos), and once they’ve gotten a chip, it’s only a matter of time before they break.

Coincidentally, Andy mentioned that his jyo was also wearing down and that he got a few slivers. Later I heard him ask Patti if there were any new jyos that he could buy. I looked up at him and I said, “Andy, you can’t buy a jyo!” (Andy is part of our anti-shopping compact). So we debated – should he just suffer through the pain? After some thought, I proposed that we amend our rules – if not replacing something causes injury, then the purchase should be allowed. This seems reasonable to me, but am I being self serving?

Making a commitment not to shop is really interesting. We have a thermometer that has both an indoor and outdoor reading (from a remote unit). About a week ago, the batteries in the remote unit died. John and I refer to the thermometer several times a day. I know we can hear the temperature on the radio, but somehow it’s very satisfying to have our own weather station. The remote unit takes 2 AAA batteries, and I'm sure you've guessed by now that we didn’t have any. Normally I wouldn't think twice about buying some batteries. But now of course that's not acceptable.

After a few days of no outdoor thermometer, by some weird coincidence, I came across a tiny flashlight that had one AAA battery in it. I knew we had another somewhere in the house (these were relatively useless flashlights that barely illuminate something one inch from your face – they were in a “goody bag” from a few years back). I found the 2nd one quite easily and, TA DA, we had an outdoor thermometer again! But alas, our victory was short-lived – the batteries lasted less than 24 hours. So sad. Anyone want to barter for some AAA batteries?

A while back I reported that John’s trusty hair clipper had died, and this caused quite a bit of consternation. I’m happy to report that he replaced the offending part, and now it’s working again – all for 99 cents! We can’t remember exactly how old the clipper is, but we’re guessing it’s at least 15 years old. If it weren’t for the anti-shopping pledge, he definitely would have bought a new clipper, and though it’s neither a high-priced or large item, it feels good not to throw it into the landfill.

The other day I went to Aikido class. Andy approached me with a very serious look on his face. Without even saying hello, Andy says, “Am I allowed to buy a new gi?” For those of you who don’t know, a “gi” is the practice uniform that we wear during Aikido class. I smile, but before I can answer, he says, “or do I have to suffer through the year with what I have?” Again, before I can say anything, he continues “I’ve only got 3 gi tops and two pairs of pants, and they’ve got holes in them.” Slight pause… And then he finishes, “I can’t buy any, can I?” I never said a word, but I’d like to think my smiling presence helped him to reach his conclusion.

Our friend Patti brought up a good idea a few months back. A lot of people start Aikido but after a period of time give it up for some reason or other. She suggested that we contact all the people who quit over the years and ask them if they want to donate their gi to the dojo. Perhaps many of them have already thrown it away, but there are probably some, like me, who would feel guilty about throwing it away but wouldn’t know what else to do with it. Then every once in a while, they’d see it peeking out of their closet, and they’d feel guilty about quitting. So we’re here to relieve them of any gi-related guilt. After Andy finished his one-sided conversation, I suggested that he take the lead in this initiatve.

Wow, another month has passed by, and we still haven’t found the need to shop. I did buy some seed starting medium, which John said counted as shopping. Perhaps it is, but since I’m using it to grow vegetables, I thought it was okay. I told John to let me know what he thinks in July when he’s eating the juicy tomatoes that I’ve grown.

Anyway, until a couple days ago, it was too cold to even think about shopping. So I’ve been cocooning and enjoying my time by playing piano and reading lots of books from the library. My recent favorites are “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” by Gregory Maguire and “The Memory Keeper’s Daughter” by Kim Edwards. I also made substantial progress on catching up with movies, but there are still many more I’d like to see.

We successfully bartered our first item. As mentioned in my last entry, we needed a paint roller. Our friend Martha happened to have an extra one and exchanged it to us for a one-night stay at our house (she’s selling her house and needs a place to stay after all the furniture is moved out). We would’ve been happy to offer her a place to stay even without the paint roller, but this worked out nicely. And now she’ll have the use of our freshly painted bathroom!

And we did put that new used coffee grinder to use – to grind flax seeds. I have to admit it was very handy because the compartment is much larger, so instead of doing 4 or 5 batches, we ground all the seeds we needed with only 2 batches. And we didn’t have to wash out the coffee grinder in order to grind flax seeds (I hate washing out the coffee grinder – it’s very hard to get clean).

We made it through our first milestone – a whole month (plus 8 days, but who’s counting?) without buying anything new! I did have a momentary urge to buy some yarn, but that passed with very little consternation. The only minor thing I need to figure out right now is where to get a paint roller. I want to paint the downstairs bathroom, and we have enough paint left over from previous projects, but we don’t have any rollers. Anyone interested in bartering?

Although we haven’t bought anything new, some friends gave us a used electric coffee grinder. They got a new one and knew John was a coffee lover. However, John already has a coffee grinder. So why did John take it? He’s afraid the grinder may break partway through 2007, and then he won’t be able to replace it. So is this dysfunctional or what? Now that we’ve made the pledge not to buy anything new, he’s getting back-ups for everything, and so we’re actually increasing the amount of material goods in our house!!!! Not exactly what I had in mind. But you don’t want to get between John and his morning coffee…

Oh yeah, the buttons Lisa, Sophie (Lisa and Andy’s delightful daughter), and I made turned out great. Can’t wait to wear my sweater and show them off!