The Eco Dad

I just noticed it's been approximately 2 months since my last entry. That's pretty piss poor consistency. It's not like I haven't been busy either. I'm sure I had lots to blog about, and out of all that I'm going to provide a vapid post about how I saved money on boxing day - one of the prime consumer 'holidays' next to Black Friday. God help us all. Lately I've been in a creative mood. I've made a refined, personalized coaster using a piece of firewood, a wood burning kit and stain/lacquer (picture not attached). I've tried my hand at making healthy treats, such as vegan, gluten-free mint chocolate bark (picture on my  Instagram account ). I've also made vegetarian (used whey protein powder), gluten-free protein brownies (also on my Instagram account). Maybe I'll post recipes and try to dig up some photos of the coaster, but until then you get the post about fixing jeans. I am sooooo sorry. So, on Boxing Day, instead of going out...

While I continue to bitch about my left knee, I'm not sitting still. I'm steadily building my garage gym out of scrap wood. While the wife was away in the nation's capital, my sons and I built a bench for my bench press as well as a weight rack of sorts. They ain't pretty, they just look that way. How'd we build the bench? Well, here's a look at the cut list: 2 @ 2"x 6"x 48" (top part where you lay down) 1 @ 4"x 6"x 48" (base where you'll attach the legs; here I used 4 @ 2"x4"x 48" because I'm using scrap wood) 4 @ 2"x 6"x 18.5" (legs) 2 @ 2"x 6"x 20.5" (top and bottom of the base to stabilize) 2 @ 2"x 6"x 12" (joins the legs and holds the top planks you lay upon) This is what your bench will look like, minus the 4 year old.  I drilled the 20.5" stabilizers to the base to start, giving me an 'I' like shape. Next, I attached the 18.5...

My first DIY Garage gym piece was a pull-up bar made of 3 pieces of 1.5" pipe, 2 elbows and 2 floor flanges. Not very technical, not very fancy, but in terms of doing pull-ups it's quite efficient. The unfortunate part is that I'm a bit limited by the exercises I can do with a single purpose pull-up bar. Solution? Build another piece for my garage gym. Now, I don't have a lot of money or a tonne of know-how when it comes to construction. I need simple and efficient - just like my pull-up bar. I also want something a little more versatile. Recently I bought a used Olympic barbell and 265 lbs worth of weight, so hopefully my new DIY piece will allow me to incorporate that second hand purchase. Given my affinity for squats (despite a bum left knee) the decision is easy: build a dual purpose squat and bench press rack! What you'll need: 9 - 2x4's (8') 40 - #8 2.5" wood screws 2 - 5 gallon pails 2 - bags of quick setting cement Doesn't l...

Happy Canada Day! It's Canada 150 up here and though the weather sucked for a good portion of the day, it didn't dampen our spirits.  The kids got dressed up. Mom wore a reconfigured Canada shirt and I wore my altered lobster shirt (I'll blog about that tomorrow). It was all very red and white today though. Check this dynamic duo out! My wife purchased these 'outfits' for the kids, so technically I still haven't purchased anything new. It should be noted it would be totally worth it though. I loved looking at my kids and loved how they greeted everyone they came across with "Happy Canada Day!" They didn't wear capes to the park this morning, but they still wore red and white and carried Canada flags. I hope they truly appreciate the country they live in and all it has to offer. They may not appreciate it now, and I don't expect them to at 4 and 2 years of age, but one day, I hope they do. I hope they look after it, care for it and make...

In an earlier post I discussed my internal debate between a home gym and a low-cost gym. I ultimately chose the low-cost gym for a variety of reasons, but as I sit here on weekends, with the low cost gym closed, I wish I had something more than running at my disposal. Now, I'm not going to invest in a home gym. I don't have the money or the space. With a little ingenuity though, I can create something that doesn't take up any floor space and still lends itself to working out. I'm not much of a handyman, but off the top of my head I can redneck something together. I don't normally workout in sandals.  What did I slap together? A pull up station! All this pull up apparatus took was 3 pieces of 1" pipe, 2 threaded elbows and 2 floor flanges. I'm actually a bit impressed at how easy this was to do. I'm already trying to draft a fold away dip station in this head of mine. If companies can create fold away tables and beds, surely I can create somewhe...

The first long weekend, in Ontario anyways, with decent weather is (hopefully) the Victoria Day weekend. It's sort of an unofficial kick-off to summer, even though summer is actually another month away. It's also a huge weekend for gardening. I'm not sure if it's because the temperatures are all but certain to stay above that bloody frost point or because the only shopping people can do on the holiday Monday is at a nursery/garden centre. Either way, I don't care. I went to our local nursery this long weekend and picked up some flowers and a couple scotch bonnet pepper plants. At first I wondered if it broke the mission of not buying new, but plants are perishable items, kinda like food. I've never really heard of someone buying pre-owned annuals. They die. Every year. Circle of life. Perennials, I suppose, you could buy second hand, but I've never heard of someone digging up someone else's garden to transplant it in their own garden. You'd risk root...

Over the past two days, little by little, I have endeavoured to make my best friend a trophy. Why? Because she deserves it. She has served her country for twenty years and I am fortunate to have been her partner (officially and unofficially, on and off) for almost the last four of them. I could go on and on about how awesome she is, but that's not the purpose of this blog. The trophy I made - that's why I'm writing today. So yeah, she's served her country for twenty years as an officer and there will be no pin, no plaque, no handshake, nothing. In fact she had to plan her own celebratory lunch. While I'm up for that, I wanted her to have something other than a full belly. My immediate thought was a gag gift - a used softball trophy from Value Village, likely a 1997 Pee Wee 'AA' Championship. It wasn't that I was looking for a softball trophy, I just figure that's the sorta trophy that gets thrown out. Having it used also keeps in step with my year ...

One of the things I purchased late last year, before going all second-hand only, was a Fitbit tracker ... because I lost my first Fitbit tracker ... when it fell off during a run. Who saw that coming?!? Well, I've somehow managed to mash up my second one, but before I throw in the towel on it and start searching for a $100 replacement, I've given a solid go in fixing it. Check this rubberband, super glue and quarter DIY fixer upper! The flap of the strap stayed attached to the top for, I don't now, half a day before my oldest tore it again while we wrestled. I guess I need a different strategy for fixing this bloody thing, not that I'm winning any of the Fitbit challenges anyways. This is the perfect excuse for not hitting my 10k steps. "Oh, I couldn't get my steps in today, my Fitbit is being superglued with a rubberband and dirty coin. It's not that I suck, I assure you." My Fitbit is aesthetically f'ed, but it's functional. It still...

While I've pledged to refrain from buying new things for a year, my wife has not, and that's okay. She spends enough time with a start-up company and mothering our kids that she doesn't have the same amount of time I do to research and find second hand clothes, especially when she needs an emergency pair of shoes. I did make the absolute most out of the situation though. I took some time and sat down with my three year old this morning and made him a garage for his cars ... from mom's shoe box. Waste not, want not? Constructing/decorating the garage didn't take much time. I think I got 15 minutes of quality time with the boy on this one, but it was 15 minutes of him and I working together. He got to place some stickers and then park his cars in the garage. Lately we've been playing a lot of cars, so I thought this particular craft would be fun ... and it was. We'll likely be playing with it this afternoon when he gets up from his nap. Time to use th...