More bang for my buck!

I need a whole new wardrobe. One that actually fits so I don't have to feel like a stuffed sausage all winter this year.  I did that last year & ME. NO. LIKEY.
BUT I do not have money for a whole new wardrobe.
Or at least not one from a regular source, like Addition Elle, H&M or Voluptous or Old Navy. And I'm tired of having shapeless formless sweatpant type things from Walmart as my 'entire' wardrobe.
I want some decent stuff.
But even when I do come into some extra cash, I'm trying to be 'thrifty'.   We are, after all, trying to save for a trip this winter & hopefully some baby-making assistance in the near future.

So I thought & I thought...

And I donated a tupperware bin full of designer clothes that are too small to my local Value Village
and then... BING! An epiphany!

If I'M donating all this primo stuff that I barely wore (because I sadly outgrew it once I became a happy, cozy & comfortable house wife type:read, I now wear sweats 75%... 85%.... ok ok ... 95% of the time) then there MUST be OTHER women (who are perhaps at the OTHER end of the process that I am just now beginning, of losing weight & shedding the shlumps that sometimes come with a finally-forever-comfortable-relationship) who are also donating their stuff....

AND BEHOLD! THERE WERE!

*bonus to shopping at Value Village? Recycling clothes is good for the earth AND your wallet!*  So, I only spent $72.29 and this is what I got:

 H & M T-shirt dress to wear with leggings - pant style of choice for me to accommodate my tensor bandaged knee - was so unflattering 'cuz 'till now I only had one longer top to wear with them...

 Green fleecy high-necked sweatshirt...

me likey, for those comfy loungy days, so I don't have to look so shlumpy....

 Danskin sweats -  great sturdy material, for those same comfy/shlumpy days...

 Dark Rinse 'curvy cut' jeans, to make space for the bootay ;)

 I LOOOVE this wooly grey sweater - 

the lines are so perfect for my figure, accentuating my smallest part - my waist!

 Old Navy long sleeved waffle tee - can never have too many of these. 

And this one is in my fave colour! It matches the inner rim of my glasses!

 A Big Long comfy sweater - again, to go with my leggings & Uggs..

.Maybe a big braided leather belt...

 Another one... this one is actually a really great teal colour... the picture didn't really show it that well. I plan to wear this one  with a slinky long sleeved tee under (the cable knit part is kinda peek-a-boo, and it's got short sleeves), and with black leggings and my black slouchy boots or uggs.

And, of course my two helpers, Blue & Topper...

making sure that I make the right choices to keep the fashion police away! 

And for my next blog post? Look forward to pics of all the fur babies -

in their matching Halloween getups! :) 

But for now...  what do you think of my shopping spree at Value Village? 

Wishful thinking....

I've settled into a sort of strange mental cave, driven to spark a change but still physically restricted.
I'm learning to let my brain & my fingers help me imagine what I will do once my knee gets better...

Let me share some of my wishful thinking.

D and I wish to go out into the country to roast a turkey on an open fire for Thanksgiving (for my American readers, Canadian Thanksgiving is coming up this weekend!)

The venue yet undecided, I just want to see trees.  I have no stipulations, just nature & more nature. And a comfy chair by the fire & cozy blanket ;)
The fewer humans the better (other than our immediate posse).

I wish my parents would want to roast a turkey with us.
I'll leave it at this. I'm not even going to open this can of worms during this post....
lets leave the family drama outta it...... 
 
But more than that, I wish that we had a family of our own to take.

I long to see vibrant autumn reds, smell the smoky crisp air, feel the fingertips of October chill on my cheek & snuggle in warmth of my cozy fall layers.

I long for hayrides, corn mazes, face painting and apple bobbing.

I long for a tradition of picking & carving pumpkins, striving for the most ghoulish, glowing gaze. Roasting seeds. Pies.

What do you long for? What are your family traditions for Thanksgiving?

One other thing I long for? Sharing. Caring. Togetherness.

How WE'RE living...

MTV does it, so why not the Twitterverse?

I'm not sure who thought of #twitterhometour, but I heard about it through @karmapearl - and a big thanks goes out to her!   I think this is such a fantastic idea!

What better way to really get to know one another than to invite each other into our homes?

The interior decorator part of me wanted to have a picture perfect #twitterhometour, but then I realized, this isn't my portfolio, it's my life.

And my life right now is situated in a 2 bedroom apartment in Toronto.

But the commune is coming - I can almost smell it in the summer(ish) air! We spend a lot of time looking at listings for vacant land out in the country nowadays.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy the video - Originally D recorded one, in great detail, of our living room, and all it's inhabitants, but YouTube was being extraordinarily stubborn so I couldn't upload it (it was too long I think, plus, our new camera has really high resolution therefore, large file size)

Utopia - The way it's all gonna come together...

D and I had a really interesting conversation to do with our life tonight. I'm not going to get into the details in this post (need to gather thoughts and have a early morning blog session for that one!) but....after D and I finshed talking this we  started discussing how we'd  like to formulate the "laws" of Utopia. We both wrote this post together (WHOA! we did something together! for my BLOG! big stuff people!)

Ok here goes....


1. Everyone eats together.  Like at camp. One big happy family, each taking turns cooking for everyone else. 








2 Minimal dish philosophy.   This means everyone has a bowl and plate (made by themselves? during a commune pottery class?   Or just get THAT guy to make yours... I'll bet he makes A LOT of bowls!), a fork, knife and spoon, a cup (etc...etc...) and everyone washes their dish&utensils in a fun fountain (like, remember those fountain sinks that there used to be in elementary school? The ones with the foot pedal? I friggin loved those things) with everyone else after eating :D  Doing dishes ain't so bad if it's fun, and you only have to wash one dish!




3. Zero-footprint law.   This means - well... you all probably know what it means... but for those "non-camping"types, it basically means you aren't to harm, alter or destroy any part of the land/forest/swamp/ WHATEVER you happen to inhabit. That means if you put it there, you take it away when you leave, and leave no evidence of it ever being there.   Or even better - leave it there, but make it organic so that it can one day be one with it's environment.





4.NO NEGATIVE NELLIES!  And D INVENTED THIS ONE!!! HOLY SHIT. Was that a pig?  I'm on the 17th floor and I seriously think a pig just flew by. 
But seriously.  You all know my mantra - positive thinking = positive living.
Anyone that's not down with that?  OUTSKI!





5.Nothing living is to be harmed.  Ok within reason.  Like, you can still eat veggies and fruit and all.  And we can eat meat and all that good stuf..... but like... don't go tramping around on ant hills for fun, or tearing through Charlotte's Web just for a laugh. 



6. Eco-friendly living.  This one is kind of obvious, but we will utilize only renewable sources of energy.  Solar, Wind, Hydro(the good kind, with the things that take energy from waves) etc etc.





7. Limited impact on the surface.   Whoa... Dinny's getting really excited talking about this one....   We can tap into geo-thermal energy easier this way, and uber cool in the summer, nice & cozy in the winter... We'd be good to go if there were a nuclear meltdown, or something...   And it's just all round cool. And we'll have Free Spirit tree-spheres up on the surface so if we want to go above ground for the night, or if a guest shows up and you don't want them to know where exactly  the house is (aka secret laboratory *whispers D*) there's an awesome little pod waiting.

OK I'm babbling.



 8. no CIGARETTE smoking and no ALCOHOLIC drinking.   As in, if the majority sees  a problem with your drinking, there WILL be an intervention.  And if that doesn't work... OUTSKI! 

Oh. we are ganja friendly, but again, if you're a total stoner pot head douchebag mooching off everyone else.... OUTSKI!

9. NO CABLE TV .  We shall still have fast internet.  D and I have been getting by just FINE this way, and limited exposure to the commercial BULLSHIT is excellent.  And I LOVE watching stuff with no commercial breaks.  YAY. 

10. Absolutely NO vehicles that emit emissions.
If that means you gotta ride a f'ing horse, then do it!   Oh.  Good luck pooper scooping that sucker.



And thaaaaaat's all folks!  Well, for now anyways because it's 10pm and we are going to watch a summer camp inspired movie.  Not sure which one yet, but if you know a good one we're always open for suggestions! (movie suggestions OR Utopia suggestions)


Please comment - hearing from you makes me happy!

Wordless Wednesday - well.... sort of wordless Wednesday

Feelin' nostalgic this morning and I felt like reminiscing on some of our past camping trips.

Come along with me for the ride!

OOH D still had his long hair in some of these pics. :D

These two pics are of the same house, taken from different angles & 3 years apart. 

Yes, we are creatures of habit!

D first thing in the morning - my sleep lion roars!

I'm gettin' hungry!   Better start cookin'....

yum.  Food tastes much better than Frogs. 

 I love windmills.  Wave of the future. I HOPE!

Pictures do not do the nighttime justice.

 It was breathtaking.

Quiet early mornings...

perfect for fishing.

I love sleeping with the tent fly off....

This shot took about 2 hours to get - we were on an inflatable raft, floating around in the lake trying to get a shot of us kissing under the harvest moon.  We kept drifting further and further away... took about a zillion shots because we would spin out of position the second the moon was behind us... It was quite fun! ...............................

This particular trip was VERY VERY RAINY.  Hence Shanty town.

BUT we ate VERY VERY well....

Ahhhh.... our canoe... which sprang a leak on this particular trip.














These pics sum up my love for Canada....
and demonstrate the reason we should really just pack up and go live in the woods.

I hope you enjoyed the trip!  Please let me know if you like the photo-post! Not sure if this is a popular idea, but if it is, I have TONS of home-zoo (etc.) pics to post!