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Keepers

25 Sep
Keepers

Keepers

This time last week my car was loaded with items for our church rummage sale.  Since I am not a garage sale fan, this was a blessing and an opportunity to dispose of household items, raise money for charity and get better acquainted with my fellow church members.

Mickey and the ducks stayed home.  My personal (and spouse’s) rule excluded clothing, books and everything in the garage.  Donations included some Christmas decor, floral containers, odd dishes, a small box of wooden musical instruments, collections of decorative tins and toothpick holders, decorative accessories, etc.

It was a beautiful day.  Great crowd.  Fairly good sales considering it was a one day event.  What I know now is that it that an extra day is required to handle the unsold items.  Donations came from 20 different households and the remaining items probably went 5 different directions.  Great life lesson.

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Cut two pieces: a recycling solution

6 Aug

The opportunity to use remnant fabric from my Helping Hands, Touching Hearts projects to make kits for Days for Girls International set things in motion.  Alas, one thing leads to another.  Indeed, I reclaimed significant fabric for my latest project.  However, the pads for the DfGI kits are made from flannel and the four corners are removed for ease of use.  The math is (45) kits X (8) pads X (2) sides X (4) corners = 2880 remnants that filled a couple of shopping bags.

Remnant trimmed

Remnant trimmed

Please feel free to make other suggestions.  I reclaimed about a third of the small triangular pieces by cutting 1/4 inch strip from the hypotenuse for us in a latch hook project.  This was new territory for me.  I had never latch hooked.

Kitchen stool, short on comfort

Kitchen stool, short on comfort

I assure you this stool is not comfortable for sewing machine work.  My idea was to make a small rug or seat cushion.  Appearance does not matter when you are sitting on it 😉

2880 times I trimmed the hypotenuse of the flannel triangles of 16 different colors and patterns of remnants.

The stash

The stash

Testing….

Testing

Testing

The finished product…

Much better

Much better

Zoom…

Zoom

Zoom

Backside…

Random

Random

One example of what happens when your conscience keeps you from hastily throwing scraps away.  My grandmothers and great grandmothers would be proud.

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Domestic Archeology 2

28 Jun

Discovered in the corner of a large walk-in closet:  A collection of toothpick holders!  It was the “3 pigs” that caught my eye, which brought back memories of “trolls”, “mini-dragons” and doll house furniture.

Personally, I have collected thimbles, magnets, tack pins and silver charms.  I have been in many souvenir shops over the years. I don’t remember seeing toothpick holders sold as souvenirs.  Salt and pepper shakers…definitely.  This collection charmed me with remembrances from the Smokey Mountains, Virginia Beach, Black River Falls Wisconsin and a Marriott.  I wonder, how long it has been since Marriott sold souvenir toothpick holders?

What is your favorite collection?

100_2675 100_2676 100_2677 100_2678 100_2680

100_2681

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Staged and smiling

27 May
Classic Mom appreciation

Classic Mom appreciation

My long time friend and author of Pimla’s Pondering posted in January her very successful home staging venture.

https://pimlaspondering.wordpress.com/category/real-estate/

I too have been a fan of HGTV shows demonstrating staging homes for sale.  Among other things, Pam credited the darling stuffed frog as winning over the buyer.  Fast forward to May, a thousand miles away in another state…I find myself with the opportunity to test my skills at home staging for my sister and brother-in-law.

My “clean slate” was accessory free.  The major furniture pieces remained in place.  However, there was much to “shop” or choose from to add back.  My take away from Pam’s post was the value of bring a smile to a potential buyer.  My goal was to do that in each room.

From photos to wine bar

From photos to wine bar

Prepared to toast

Prepared to toast

Shining star

Shining star

Shall we chat?

Shall we chat?

Friends

Friends

Zen

Zen

Angel in our midst

Angel in our midst

Let's read

Let’s read

Awww!

Awww!

How to explain pink tile and green towels

How to explain pink tile and green towels

Sweet!

Sweet!

Lighten up dark blue chairs

Lighten up dark blue chairs

Docs from the builder

Docs from the builder

Shall we say there is no place like home?

Shall we say there is no place like home?

 

 

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Alternative workout

23 Mar

My exercises of choice include 5K walking, yoga classes and swimming laps.  I wrote a post about the Automattic’s Worldwide 5K Event September 23rd last year.  I’m looking forward to doing another one this year.

Opportunities to stretch oneself come along….like relocating firewood to help open space in a barn for more hay storage.  The subject firewood was very neatly stacked at the point where it was cut.

From here

From here

This stack was originally small, long, straight trees used for poles to hang tobacco plants to dry.  (The hay barn was originally a tobacco barn.)  Long out of use, the poles were cut into firewood.  The problem is this is about a quarter-mile from where it would ultimately be used.  Now, this is where my alternative workout comes in.

Load 1

Load 1

Load 2

Load 2

Load 4

Load 4

My estimation is there were 45 wheel barrel loads times two with about 66# per load.  First to load the end of the truck at the hay barn and the second to unload at the former dairy barn.  This is one row deep on the truck with the goal to stay within an ergonomic zone for reach (which did not apply to the start and finish stacks).  So, where am I going with this?

Stowed at point of use for Dad

Stowed at point of use for Dad, 85 years young

Stowed front

Stowed front

Stowed back

Stowed back

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dad is ready for next winter with wood at point of use, stowed under a 4′ x 8′ workbench.  Yes, there was an overflow.  Fun estimates:  density of this wood=30#/cu.ft and 100 cu. ft of storage makes for 3000#s or 1.5 tons!  That concludes the story of my alternative workout.

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“Framed”

20 Feb
Real Pins Framed

Real Pins Framed

Back access

Back access

Much appreciation to JoEllen, professional small business owner of Custom Picture Framing of Brownsburg, Indiana.  I have finished projects!

Custom double mat framing is found in most rooms around my house.  More likely than not it features a watercolor painting by Mary Ann Boysen.  Recently, I found myself short of the tools, supplies and skills to complete four mini-projects.

One:  I purchased a ready-made frame and canvas to showcase my personal “Pininterest” collection.  The pins spark a lifetime of stories from school, work, vacations and hobbies.  My little problem was securing the canvas in the frame (mismatched depths), finishing the back so I can add “pins” and mount the hanging hardware.

Two:  A beautiful frame made by my grandfather probably 40 years ago has a 6 X 8″ opening.  After all these years, I decided on a photo for it but needed a custom cut mat.

Custom Wormy Chestnut molding circa 1985

Custom Wormy Chestnut molding circa 1985

Three and Four are part of a collection of five professional photographs given to me by a coworker (who passed away this year).  The signed and numbered black and white photos have note for the location of the waterfalls.  The problem…two of the five frames were worse for being moved a round.  One had broken glass.  Now, they are restored to their glory and better than new.

Thank you to small business owners everywhere, who offer custom creative solutions.

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Small space: Office annex

20 Dec

This desk is still my go to spot for surfing and email.

Almost new desk

One of my favorite things, is being able to have my Macbook Pro and iPad charging on the keyboard tray while only my old laptop takes desktop space.

The new requirement at home was a space for career/professional matters.  The solution is…

Office Annex

Office Annex

The carts(cabinets) circa early 1990s stow binders out of site and have open shelves for books, boxes and tray.  The lamp was spared from donation thanks to a small clamp.  Black and white photos were a gift from a co-worker.  The pair of narrow black shelves were unused from a set of four and the perfect proportions for this wall space.  My next task is to make this a higher density storage solution by scanning additional reference material.

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The joy of fortune cookies

1 Oct

The joy is not only the sweet, crunchy taste but also the message inside.  I recently found my stash of 34 fortunes.  What was I thinking?  It has been a while.  I started saving them for the vocabulary words.  A dear friend of mine adopted two daughters from China.  They were studying the language.  I prepared to test them with my fortune cookie vocabulary.

Not only does the fortune reveal messages but also the lucky lottery numbers with a vocabulary word.  Now that is a value proposition for a small slip of paper.

My favorite message is “You are one of the people who will go places in life.”  Of the 34 messages there was one duplicate.  “Your heart is pure, your mind is clear and soul devout.”

The most frequent “lucky number” was 35 with 16, 19 and 29 in second place.

I have come to understand that Chinese fortune cookies are more Japanese than Chinese.  The name changed as a consequence of World War II.  Also, this link makes fortunes available with a click.  www.fortunecookiemessage.co

http://foodbeast.com/2013/06/21/today-i-learned-fortune-cookies-originated-in-japan-not-china

The vocabulary words on my fortune collection are:  they, welcome, swim, bank, April, telephone, friends, January, refuel, opportunity, question, spring water, snowflake, supervisor, hurry, son, pen, eggplant, front door, sun, good bye, milk, cassette tape and money.

This list of random words reminds me of the creative writing exercise using the names of paint chips for inspiration.

Combining the Chinese vocabulary in the Japanese poetry style of Haiku…..

Opportunity

Knock @ front door, “Hurry son.”

They telephone bank.

 

Welcome friends to work

Question for supervisor

Money for milk, pen?

 

January sun

Snowflake melting, Good bye

Swim in April

 

Record cassette tape

Refuel, eat eggplant dinner

Drink of spring water.

Understanding these words in Chinese would be better 🙂  Good thing that organizing one’s desk doesn’t have this many diversions, but one thing leads to another.

 

 

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Even potting benches need cleaning

8 Sep
Potting bench 1

Potting bench 1

Potting Bench 2
Potting Bench 2

Potting benches get dirty and cluttered!

We found this mottled brown laminate countertop in the sale bin.  It has been perfect for this space, my purpose and an outstanding value for $5.  It is installed at the right ergonomic height just below my elbow, which creates a space to tuck away several trash containers storing potting soil and pots.  Dividing perennials is the number one project.

This is also our central bird and squirrel feeding preparation area.  Our fly-in diner serves suet cakes, corn on the cob, thistle, hummingbird nectar, various mixes for wild birds and when the price is right….peanuts.

Cleaned and ready for another season.

 

 

 

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Helping Hands, Touching Hearts Act 4 Scene 2

18 May

This week I got a request for help from Sidney and company who flew to South Africa May 1st for their three-month stay.

Dear E,

Hope you are having a grand spring day.

We have just returned from Zimbabwe where we helped a girl (18 yrs old) get back into school – about 8th grade.  Because they have to pay for each semester and because they are so poor, her Father could not send her this semester.  She is very bright and has dreams of studying law.  When we talked to the Head Master to pay, we met in a Small, crude but clean room in which a few shelves had been installed.  He told us with great pride that it is their library but they have no books.  He asked if we might be able to find a few people to send books…ANY books.  They teach and read English.  So, question is, would you have any books that you could give and send to this school?  The cost to send is a little high, but if only one box could be sent that would be a God send to them. I will certainly understand if this can’t be done.  We have also sent an email to ask our Church to send a box.  When we return, We can get other friends to help.  These people so struggle to get an education and are so desperate, they will welcome any kind of books.

I have an address..

Alick Sonke Kumalo Head School Master
P. O. Box CT 525
Chinotimba Stand 7240
Victoria, Zimbabwe

Thank you so much for your encouragement and help in the past.  I truly appreciate you my dear friend.
Would you pass this on to anyone you think might send a few books please?

In joy,  Sidney

Of course last fall I had sorted through my personal library and donated a couple of boxes to our local library book sale.  However, I did find my complete works of Shakespeare (very fine print), a paperback dictionary, a few fiction books in paperback from a high school reading assignment, a book on card tricks plus new playing cards which all landed in my send to the Head Master pile.  To round out the shipment and fill a USPS flat rate box, I went to Half Price Books clearance self last night to buy a selection of hard back non-fiction books.

Book shipment

Book shipment

Helping Hands Touching Hearts website:

http://www.clotheavillagenow.com/clotheavillagenow/Welcome.html

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