A meme-renewal

I am working on an art journal challenge over at Written Down The first theme was starting, beginning, renewal. This weeks theme is Risk. Interesting, as I read on a bunch of scrapbooking blogs like Ali or Donna where these women are also starting fresh, changing. Ali is on a personal challenge to simplify her life and I really appriciate that. Donna is trying to renew her scrap area. But... for me... it is so much more.

First, I got an unexpected raise. A nice one too. About 25%. While I am still underpaid, this goes a long way. The hard part is that we need to save some money, in the event Jeff loses his job, but it is very difficult not to want to get a few things. Things that I don't really NEED, but that would make my life much more full. A car. American Club Membership. But first, we are going to put the extra 25% in savings until September, and then, we will discuss other expenses.

Onto renewal, I really want to live more sustainably here in Singapore. I dream of a deck side garden, I really dream of a small home with a garden, but that may not be possible. I want to cut back on my overall food purchases, I want to live more in tune with nature.

Problems that need to be overcome. My deck is really quite small, but in order to stay in a less expensive apartment, in a place with a great pool, a great day school for Declan, we need to stay here. Is it possible to use the bedroom deck as a Garden? What will this require and can we scrounge up supplies rather than purchase them? If so, do we need to build shelfs or other items to maximize space and light?

I need to learn about tropical gardening? Where to find books on this? I guess I will start with the library and online sources?

I want to find out more about storage of foods in tropical enviroments. We could I guess, find a big freezer, which everyone seems to say is the way to keep things dry and the humidity out... but freezers use LOTS of energy, are big areas and are not really cost efficent for a small apartment, I guess one of the only solutions is to vacuum pack, so where do I find a vacuum packing machine?

Well, those are my memes on renewal....

Simply

K