2014?

2010 is the year we hope to move to Boulder. Part dream and part goal, I hope that 2014 will see to the installation of a LifePort garage. The average system size is 4.8 kW, which will satisfy 100% of the annual demands of an average $120/month electricity bill. (Our ave. monthly bill is $115, lower in the summer, a touch higher in the winter). Yippee! Daydream or not, isn't it fabulous that such things exist and are becoming more and more mainstream? This system will pay for itself in 6 months to a year. Among other lofty goals for our Boulder existence, I also want to go down to one car, keep chickens, and perhaps volunteer our front yard (maybe some of the back yard too?) to the Boulder Community Roots Urban Gardens program. Today we were all starving at 2pm (we hadn't eaten since breakfast and constant swimming had finally fatigued us all into agreement: let's get lunch! We came home and I made PB&Js, sliced up some organic watermelon, and poured homemade soymilk into our Mason jar glasses. A few months, heck, a few weeks ago, I wouldn't have hesitated to make a quick stop at Noodles, Wahoos, Taco Bell or Panda Express for a quick meal to satisfy our growling bellies. But with goals like these, a spur-of-the-moment, quick and convenient purchase seems unattractive. Plus, my almond butter is seriously good. Yum.
I highly recommend the book Living Simply with Children by Marie Sherlock. It's a nice blueprint to adjusting life to how you want to live it, rather than how society dictates you should want to live it. Great book.