Day 6 of the Plastic Cup Challenge...
In an effort to be more environmentally conscious AKA cheap, I have decided to enroll myself into a Plastic Cup Challenge. This challenge consists of writing your name on a disposable plastic up and telling everyone you know that you'll gouge out their eyes if they throw your cup away. Easy peasy.
So far, I'm up to day six with my little blue Solo cup. I wrote my name on it in big letters with a fat Sharpie marker and I have used only this blue cup to drink out of since starting the challenge. Not counting drinking wine out of a wine glass because I just can't bring myself to sip a nice Cabernet out of a plastic cup. I have not run my cup through the dishwasher (yet) as I just rinse it out quickly after I drink something. I return my blue cup to the same spot each day and I've yet to lose it. A miracle in itself if you ask me.
I'm quite curious to find out how long I can keep up this challenge. My goal? One year. I am professing publicly that I will try my hardest to use my plastic cup for one year...hold me to it now. Oh yeah...and I just ordered 150 of the 12oz. compostable cups from here:
http://www.worldcentric.org/store/placups.htm
Do you think I can make it a full year with "little blue"?
Scavenger Hunt Contest...
We'll see how good you are:
I am looking for a word that is ten or eleven letters long. (singular or plural) If you follow the links, you just might discover some major clues as to what this word is. There are six clue words throughout this scavenger hunt...add these clues together to make the word I'm looking for. Email your answer to detzelpretzel(at)gmail.com. Do not post your answer on this blog. If you get the word correct...you'll win a prize.
Let's start shall we?
Click Here to find Spider-Man in the Detzel Family Circus.
Note: This contest has been fixed...no no...repaired I should say. It was acting strange earlier, try again if you couldn't figure it out.
...who's investing in you?
Last week someone asked me who I had in my life that was investing in me. They further asked who was challenging me to be a better human. Further than that this person asked me who I could count on for a discerning answer in the face of a rift in my life.
I recalled a conversation I had with my wife recently where she talked about an area of growth for me. She said that she noticed the most personal growth happen for me when I was meeting with a particular group of guys on Saturday mornings a while back. I met with these guys, most of whom are twice my age, for a little over a year every week. I could always count on them to challenge me in my character and integrity. I added to the conversation of this group, but not nearly as much as I was able to take away from it. The only reason I had for leaving this men's group was that my wife and I had a baby and things got a bit on the busy side for a while. I made the decision to take a break from the group for a while and sleep in...6am on a Saturday never sounded very good on Friday night. 6am Saturday morning didn't lend too many excuses either though...there's nothing going on at 6am on a Saturday...NOTHING!!
Admittedly I felt a personal challenge rise up in me and I made the decision that I would return to the group this week. I've been spending the last year or so reading the bible (way too little) and other books (too little as well) expecting those to be enough to challenge me personally. These books, yes even the bible, have come up short in this area. I need people. I need people who can read me and let me know when they think I'm full of crap. I've been telling people for a while now, friends stab you in the front.
Staying awake until 2am probably wasn't the best idea.
People were glad to see me again. I was glad to see them. It was great.
30-Day Spending Challenge...
...So Allison quit her job a couple weeks ago. She didn't like this job at all and she worked too much. She applied for a part-time job with Great Oaks school district working with special needs students and she got the job...sweet. This is something new and exciting and we're all going to get to spend a lot more time together now.
The other side of this new venture is that we'll be making even less money...I know, I know...I've been whining about the money thing lately but hey, we've got to whine about something now and then right? (Philippians 2:14 says, "Do everything without complaining") <---oh crap!!
Ok then...no complaining allowed. Let's get creative then. Let's make this fun.
Allison and I are on day three of a 30-day spending challenge. We've decided to compete with each other and with ourselves to see who can spend the least over a 30-day period. Not only are we seeing who can spend the least...the most we can spend is $20 for the entire month!
Now don't be crazy, this doesn't include the things we need to survive: Food, Gas, Paying the Bills, etc.., but it does include all those extra items that we just don't need.
This will definitely be a major challenge for me! I like being able to grab a snack at the store or pick up something on sale at Sam's Club (goodbye my love) when I feel like it. It's also nice to snag a Monster (I'm addicted to energy drinks) when I need a little pick me up. <----Translation: I want my heart to feel like there are baby Tasmanian Devils in it. The point is, I enjoy buying stupid wasteful crap. This will be difficult for me.
Be careful hanging out with me for the next month as I will probably ask you to buy me something.
