weekend update

I've been sick for the past few days, and apparently my computer's been sick as well, so I haven't been able to update the blog in a while. Not much has changed and a lot of things have changed.

We had plans to go to a free drum circle on Friday night. I was feeling absolutely miserable, so we stayed home and watched old Lost episodes in preparation for the season premiere next week. Saturday, we had planned to clean the house and then have some people over for art night. Jon and I both felt miserable, so we cleaned a bit and then laid on the couch watching more episodes of lost. Today, I was supposed to work, but I'd rather not infect everyone else with whatever it is I have, so..... You guessed it. We'll be watching lost. If we're feeling up to it, maybe we'll take the kids and the dog for a long walk later.

This morning, I made eggs florentine for our brunch at home. It's one of my favourite things to order when we go out for brunch, and I wanted to give it a try. It turned out to be tasty, but I think it's safe to say that I probably won't be making it at home again for a long, long time. The amount of work (and cleanup) it took reminded me of exactly why we go out.

I've still been thinking about ways that we could do more with what we have. We know that we want to focus more on using our money to buy experiences rather than things. I already know what my first two expenses will be once we start spending again: a plane ticket and registration for the White Privilege Conference. Each of those things has been carefully considered, and I think the benefits definitely outweigh the costs.

The trip is to visit a good friend who moved to California last year. One of my goals for this year is to invest more in my friendships, and this trip will be a way to do that, as well as take some time for myself to recharge. I am definitely a better person, wife and mother when I've taken a bit of time for myself.

The White Privilege Conference will allow me to work on becoming a better ally to people of colour, give me an opportunity to network, and help me earn continuing education credits necessary for me to maintain my social work license.

Aside from those two purchases, I will be continuing to only buy groceries and pay bills for the foreseeable future. This is partially by choice and partially out of necessity. Due to a change in company policy coupled with the way the next few pay periods fall, we will be temporarily living on 25% less income than we're used to. Normally I would be freaking out about what that means for us. But after 30 days of Nothing, (and although I *am* feeling a bit stressed out about the whole situation) I feel thankful for everything that we do have, and I know that we will manage. We have options. So many others do not.

A while back, I'd heard about this family who was selling their house in order to downsize and, in doing so, pledged to give half of the money to charity. Rebekah passed on this link to an article about them, and I thought it was worthy of sharing.