BNN Updates...

Now that it has been two weeks since the BNN Challenge began, it’s time for an update. We haven’t bought anything new but we do have a few “new” things. I made my first EBAY purchase, I have made quite a few gifts, given a few birthday and Mother’s Day gifts and received many gifts.  I also have updates on some of the other changes we’ve made.

In addition to the earrings I made for Mother’s Day, the kids and I also made a handful of picture frames to give to some of the ladies at church on Sunday.   Then we made this vase- I just spray painted it silver. At first I tried a decorative touch but when that didn’t work I just painted it back silver. I love that it looks so much like mercury glass. I will attempt more decorative ideas later but for now….



Finished product with flowers from our garden

Then I took this old mirror that we had gotten and that had been cracked during our move and I revamped it with more spray paint and some chalkboard paint. Tim asked me what I was going to use it for. Hmmm, yes it looks better but I guess it isn’t exactly all that useful. Maybe the kids can practice letters on it….

first try: latte color



I like the blue much better

For Mother’s Day I got a beautiful frame from Patrick that is being displayed on our bookshelf and a few handmade cards that I will cherish forever! I also had 2 different friends show up with gifts on different days. I was so surprised and their gifts were so thoughtful! For Mother’s Day I wanted our clothesline to be put up so we gave it a whirl but we made a few mistakes and so that gift will be enjoyed a little later. I will make sure to blog about our trials and errors with the clothesline so that no one else makes the mistakes we did and to hopefully show off the final product.

Now for my EBAY purchase! For someone as competitive as I am, EBAY is very exciting and maybe a little addicting so I think I am going to have to be careful turning there when I “need” something. When we began the BNN challenge we identified a few areas where we are really wasteful and our over use of paper towels immediately came to mind. We use paper towels as napkins for dinner, to clean every surface of the house, to wipe up spills and even as tissues. Needless to say, between 5 of us, we use a waste  use a lot of paper towels. A friend recommended finding vintage fabric to make towels or to use as towels and while I love the idea, lots of fruitless searching at thrift stores had me turning to EBAY where I scored 4 vintage towels.

Since we started the BNN 2 weeks ago we have made some other changes as well. I have started to save every receipt so that I can really see where all our money goes. I also started washing dishes by hand. Because our dishwasher isn’t draining this is something I really have to do but I must say I can’t wait to get our dishwasher fixed so I can hang up those pretty gloves and look at them instead of actually using them. Although I haven’t officially compared Tide and our new homemade laundry detergent, I must say I think the homemade stuff works just as well. It doesn’t have a strong perfume smell but leaves the clothes smelling fresh enough.

To help me resist temptation throughout the challenge and beyond it too, I spent the last week unsubscribing to dozens (literally) of catalogues, coupons and advertisements that we get on a daily basis, be it from the postal service or email. I don’t know about you but I find it difficult to resist emails that read “Today Only: 75% off the most fabulous shoes ever, plus free shipping” or “All kid’s clothes an additional 25% off, Starting at 3.99.”  At the very least I open the email and look at the pictures, but usually I end up browsing the site and maybe even purchasing something, "since it's on-sale" or "to treat myself." In addition to emails, we also get a ton of catologues sent to our house. I almost always flip through them, but not this week. Since I know I can’t buy anything it was great to just throw them right into the recycling bin before I even went inside. I saved time and money. The next day I called and had them remove me from their mailing list and I spent an entire 3 hour naptime unsubscribing from all the automatic sales updates I receive to email. It’s embarrassing but from what I can remember I unsubscribed to at least 19 companies mailing list. Yikes!

Another day at naptime Patrick
tried to undress himself and ended up
with his shirt around his waist. He
then walked around like this for hours.

I have also started to read "Radical" by David Platt and I've been really thinking about what I want out of this challenge spiritually. If I’m going to honest, this is the part of the challenge where I have the least amount of confidence and it’s a challenge for me just to write about it. I’m young and have sooo much to learn about God, the Bible and pretty much everything religious so I am often wary of speaking out loud about such things. I don’t want to be wrong, sound stupid or drive people away so I usually just avoid the topic altogether with everyone except a few of my very closest, non-judgmental friends. 50 pages into Radical, it has been interesting to get a “different” perspective of the American church and the American dream. I am excited to read-on.

Getting ready to run. I in no way reccomend
doing this!

 

Package from Afghani-Danny

And yet another change that we will be making is that starting on June 1^st, I will be a Sunday School teacher.  I don’t have much other to say about this except that I am a little bit excited but mostly incredibly nervous because I’m not so sure the kids will listen to me and, once again, I feel like I have no business teaching kids something I still know so little about. Thankfully the ladies at church have agreed to help me whenever I need it and I have my own Mom’s example to follow as well.

James 1:19-27

19 You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for your anger does not produce God's righteousness. 21 Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls. 22 But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. 23 For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; 24 for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. 25 But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act--they will be blessed in their doing. 26 If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.