Lenten Home Renovation

My Lenten sacrifice was supposed to be spending. I figured if people around the country could have a no-buy month, I could do the same for Lent, right?

Well, except that I already had a vacation scheduled for March, and the fact that we're putting in a bathroom.

No-buy for me wouldn't be a huge problem if it wasn't for food. We eat out way more that we should. Up until vacation (like, a whole week) I managed to make meals only from what we had in the kitchen already. I also had dinner figured out for today (I was thawing the homemade soup I'd put in the freezer a few weeks ago) but got derailed by a lack of white flour. I have a "no-fail" bread recipe that is perfect, but only if you use regular flour. Soup without bread is like peanut butter without jelly. But did I just go buy some bread? No, we ordered pizza because both of us were starving and Gerd wanted to get started on the bathroom tiles.

He's in there now, mortaring away. Since he's a perfectionist it's taking a while, but I know it will come out great. I've got my own bathroom assignment. The pull on our master bath has stopped switching from bath to shower, so I decided to fix it. After an expensive trip to Home Depot (more stuff purchased for the new bathroom too), I had everything I needed to fix our bath. Gerd did have to use brute strength to pull off the first bath attachment, but I did manage to replace the bath nozzle myself.

Finally I got to take a good long shower after my trip. It was beautiful and warm, and way too short. I'm not sure my friend that I drug along with me had a perfect time, but I pretty much did. And I didn't have to be around as Gerd began learning how to lay tile. (When I returned he said to me, "I didn't realize how messy putting down tile would be"..Hah!)

So now that I know a no-spending lent has been less than ideal, I'm trying to figure out another way to enrich my life over the next few weeks. Next year I think I'll give up technology (cell phone, computer, TV, heck, maybe even the mixer) but that doesn't help me now. I need something that would be meaningful for two weeks. Any ideas?