Making progress

Here we are, less than a week away from the big move. Most of our belongings are packed and stowed neatly in boxes in the corner of our former dining room. We still have the kitchen and bedrooms to pack, which somehow always end up being the most difficult part.
The new house is slowly being painted by Ben and friends. The entire downstairs, with the exception of the hallway, is painted. We found out after the most recent snowstorm, though, that the basement LEAKS. We are slightly dismayed by this prospect--nothing showed up on the inspection of the house. Most likely there is a high-up crack in the foundation that isn't affected by rain but is affected by snow. At the time of the inspection, there had been no snow, hence the dry basement. We're exploring our options. The main concern now is that in addition to perhaps having to fix the foundation we will also need to recarpet the whole downstairs. We're looking into "green" flooring options, including cork floors and and these

Here's some photos of the office:


Will post more pictures soon, once we take some new photos.
In the meantime, pondering a few ideas. I read an article on today's New York Times about No Impact Man. Essentially, a family in New York is experimenting with living virtually no-impact; they aren't using cars or trains or much in the way of electricity. They are only eating food that comes from no further than 250 miles from their home. I am inspired to find ways to cut back as we make this big move, even if only small changes at first. I'd like to cut down on our meat consumption, electricity and water consumption. I want to be better about using cloth diapers. We were so vigilant at first but have lapsed for the convenience and ease of disposables. Small changes, but maybe they will make a small difference.