This is x-posted on my blog and on the email group - but I need some compacting thoughts, advice, etc:
My trip to Vancouver this past weekend with regard to The Compact: a challenge, food-wise. I thought we would be able to grocery shop and make our own food but it didn't turn out that way, at least not the first day. When we arrived, there was a potluck that evening for dinner, so we were covered - no need to find food. One of the families - our future next-door neighbors, in fact, fed us breakfast, so again, we were covered. But we decided after the first night that we were going to stay at my cousin's the next night, as the guest room at Windsong is less than soundproof and I am quite the light sleeper. So between places we were hungry and without a kitchen so we got some BAD food at Taco Time. Then my cousin hadn't had the opportunity to cook and wanted sushi, and well, have I mentioned before that sushi is significantly cheaper in Vancouver? And that both DH and I lack the ability to say no when someone says, "Let's get sushi"? Because we do. However, those two meals on Saturday were the only time we ate out. We DID go to the grocery store and get our breakfast and lunch fixings for the other two days, and on Sunday my cousin made some amazing beef ribs (organic! slow-roasted all day! delicious!) for dinner.
*editing to add that we are buying a house in BC*
The buying of the house? Totally within the Compact because though it is new to us, it's not new! Things I want to do to the house before we move in, however, may present a different kind of challenge. I want to paint, recarpet the downstairs and install hardwood floors before we move in. I've checked and the floors can be gotten easily enough on Craigslist - yay! Paint and carpet might need to be gotten new. So what to do? See, although there is a possibility of carpet remnants or seconds, I want to get a sustainable environmentally friendly carpet that doesn't offgas and comes from natural fibers. My options as far as I know are quite limited there. And paint - I want the low VOC paints that are essentially odorless and are also eco friendly. Again, needing new. Does it fit within the boundaries of the Compact as a health and safety purchase for my family?
I really want to do these things before we move in, too - it is the optimal time, before our stuff is all in there and in the way. It makes the space ours. I admit it, too - when I signed on for the Compact, I had no idea we'd be buying a house before that year was up. So what to do? Do I get them anyway?
Of course we don't have the house YET - there is still financing to be worked out, and closing to do, and a job to be acquired by MBD. I don't feel as though I am jumping the gun though, because these things are just circumstances - I have absolute faith that this is our house. Thus my decorating it already. And it is good to think about these things, because we are taking possession in February! That's not as far off as it may seem.