Do Life Right

"Empowering all people to reach their full potential in life."

Monday, November 5, 2007

Solar Houses

As many of you know, my family and I have been planning on building a house for about four years now. We started seriously planning the house (and where to put it) in early 2004. We purchased our land in August 2004. Our biggest holdup is that our county has very tough requirements on building a nontraditional "green" house. This is changing, but it has been an excruciatingly slow process.

We are building a Natural Spaces dome that we've named Desierto Cúpula. My update on the house has not changed in nearly a year, since there is very little more to report even though we (and our local architect) have been working diligently on the project. Our plan is to get permits before the end of this year so that the house can be completed in early 2008.

In an ideal world, using solar power, wind power, or any alternative (yet better for the environment) energy source would be easy to do. In Southern Arizona, where we live, it is not. This is very unfortunate since we have over 300 sunny days every year. The costs are significantly more and the incentives just aren't here yet. Government officials, such as U. S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, are working on this, but they have a long way to go to get to the standard that we need to be at as a country. Please support your local politicians that are supporting alternative energy!

Contests such as the "Solar Decathlon" will help, too. But, note that the houses built for this competition are in the $500,000-$1million range (which is an unrealistic housing amount for the vast majority of home owners in the United States of America).

There are also many great programs, such as the Citizenrē REnU program. Unfortunately, my family and our project do not qualify for this program, but please check it out to see if you and your house do!

Labels: Arizona, environmentalism, green living, housing, solar energy

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Have a Vision: Vision Boards and Vision Boxes

Vision Boards and Vision Boxes are becoming very popular! They are similar to Wish Lists, yet significantly deeper. Vision Boards can encompass not only our material desires, but also our deepest and innermost wishes and dreams such as "more peace" or "a magical existence". With The Law of Attraction and "The Secret" so popular, we're learning that our thoughts and dreams really can come true! We just have to really want them.

My daughters and I have vision boards. We made ours out of cut peg board. We glued cork on different areas of the boards (different for each of us), strung wire on the back, and stained little wooden boxes that we later glued on the boards. We use the cork area for the material things and/or short term events we want (ours are evolving with us). The other area we've mod-podged things that make us feel good -- pictures of things, words, etc. that reflect who we are and who we want to be (I've put lots of calm, zen images on my board; my oldest daughter has lots of magical images; my youngest daughter has gemstones and ballet photos). Basically, we put things on our boards that we want to manifest into our lives. My youngest daughter cleverly hooked a cup onto her board that she fills with little homemade clay items.

Some people choose to make Vision Binders or Boxes where they put photos and magazine words/pictures/items into. We prefer our Boards that hang on the wall, so we can look at them throughout the day. The boards definitely lack the portability of a binder though. I've seen a variety of Vision Boards made out of cardboard, foam board, and other materials. The great thing about these is that there is no set way of making them. It is entirely up to you! Christine Kane wrote a really great "How to Make a Vision Board" blog entry for those interested. Some people even make computer wallpaper Vision Boards for their screen's background. This is a very neat concept!

We enjoy our Vision Boards so much that we held a "Vision Board Day" with our Girl Scout Troop (I'm a Girl Scout Leader for both of my daughters' troops). I've been amazed at the wonderful and creative ideas the girls have had! This also gave us a chance to share our collection of catalogs and magazines. Some of the girls put only words all over their boards, others chose only pictures. One thing is for certain: our boards have to evolve since we keep getting everything we hope and dream for! It is amazing how these things keep appearing in our lives.

With the Holiday Season just around the corner, I'm excited to see the items that are popping up on my daughters' Vision Boards. I know what they'll love to receive and I don't have to ask them.

Don't forget to periodically take photos of your Vision Boards. It is fun to look back over time and see how your dreams have come true!

Labels: art, empowerment, environmentalism, games, green living, housing, magazines, magic, movies, pets, photographs, saguaro, travel, unschooling, vegan, vision boards, zen

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Making Your House the Home You've Always Wanted

As we spent time piecing together what our perfect living environment was, we realized that we needed to think more organically. Our needs have changed over and over again through the years as we went from a young married couple, to a family with a baby, a family with a young child and a newborn, and now a family with a young child and a middle aged child. As our children grow and as our own personal interests wax and wane, our environment needs to grow and reflect that. We have needed to build flexibility into our spaces, so that every time our needs change we don't need to spend a lot of money to remodel. We aren't the only Unschooling family to live in this way. For us, part of the change has been to design a whole new house around the way we live. Clearly, this isn't the answer for most people (and we aren't there yet as the designed house isn't built yet).

What can you do if you want to move, but you cannot?

Make your house fit your family's personality! Don't be afraid to rearrange the rooms in your house to fit your family's lifestyle better. Who says that you need to have a table in the dining area? Maybe that space works better as a Lego room. Take an honest look at what you and your family actually do with their time. Devote the largest and most convenient rooms of your house to those activities. Do you work from home? Maybe your living room should be your office. Are you training for an ultramarathon? Put your exercise equipment front and center. There is no rule saying that people need to sleep in the designated bedrooms, either. Do what works best for your individual needs. Try room dividers. Add shelving everywhere that you can make it fit. You are the ones that live in your house, not anyone else.

Here are a few books that helped my family make our house work more efficiently for us. I have a more extensive list in my aStore under the "Do Living Right" category.