New challenge, and no-driving update

Well, today is no driving for a week +2, and I still haven't gotten behind a wheel - and I was sorely tempted yesterday. First, I had to go get blood drawn in the morning (they're still trying to figure out why I had pancreatitis). Now, I've had blood drawn lots of times before. I know I'm at least in the hundreds of times. So I've got my routine pretty much down - except when I get on my bike after, and look over, and there's nice blue-black blood spurting out of my arm onto my upper arm (just like it does into the little vials that the phlebotomist collects it in) and then dripping on the ground. So I made an emergency stop and put pressure on it for a few minutes. Its stopped and I only moderately looked like a stabbing victim, so I went home and cleaned up.

Then for lunch I had to run to the store, and it wasn't nearly as interesting of a trip. And then later I went to get my CSA - at this point I had gone over 3 miles for the day, but it was still easier getting up the Walmart hill than it was the first time - no blowouts! By the time I had got home from that, I had done over 7 miles for the day, and was feeling a little jelly-legged (yeah, out of shape) but still, proud of myself. My average speed for the first trip of the day was about 12 MPH, which got down to about 8 for my last trip, but I'm still doing better.

And super exciting, dad found a trailer at a garage sale for 35 bucks! No more worries about hauling dog food/cat food/litter... that is, if I can figure out how to mount it on my bike...

Dad also found a scanner in good condition for 5 bucks. It'll probably only work with XP, but we've got that on the tower anyway, so hey, its all good. Of course, HP never put out drivers for Vista or Windows 7, because they want you to buy a new scanner. Down with planned obsolescence!

Which brings me to my new challenge - which I'm not going to start until after GenCon (for obvious reasons, lol). My new challenge is this: for one MONTH, buy nothing new. This means no books, kitchen tools (oh, these two are going to be HARD), clothes, shoes, whatever, unless they are used. Exceptions can and will be made for school supplies, birthday presents, supplies for creating, and food/consumables(yeah, no used food), but only after used/secondhand options have been exhausted.

Some of this is going to be easy. Honestly, in the last year and a half I have bought exactly one dress and two pairs of jeans new. The hardest part is going to be the kitchen tools. There's so much I still want to really have my kitchen running well; a french fry cutter, an Excalibur dehydrator, a Kitchenaid blender, a Yogourmet yogurt maker (ok, maybe I'll get this one before going on strike), pasta roller attachments for my mixer, glass food containers, a spaetzle press, a stainless steel roasting pan... and ohhh, the books...

Still, I think I can do it. The other day I found the perfect plates for making the cupcake holders for the wedding (thanks Martha, I'm going to glue candlesticks and/or vases turned upside-down to the bottom, ta-da! cupcake plates!) at St. Vinnies, along with two of the candlesticks. Total cost: 3 bucks. Compare that with wedding/cupcake plates new - the cheapest is around 35, up to over 200. And almost all of these are plastic, use 'em once type. Yeesh. I also picked up a large Pyrex saucepan in perfect condition - for 5 bucks. Not too shabby.

So, I think I can make it, and I'll keep reporting here on the results. Wish me luck!