Spring can't come fast enough

I know that spring is still 6 days away, and that this is Michigan and we probably will have a couple more snow storms before it's all said and done, but today there was lots of sunshine and 50 degree weather and if I closed my eyes, I could see spring.  It gave me just the tiniest bit of hope that it can't be long before we'll have green grass and flowers, and hands that don't hurt when you walk outside to the mailbox.  

I checked the upcoming 7 day weather forecast and not one of those days will be below freezing. Yippee.  It might only be 33 or 34 degrees, but that's not freezing, so it sounds pretty good.

I trimmed a couple of plants in the  front flower garden, in anticipation of spring, but as I was wheeling the wheelbarrow across the frozen grass, through the shaded areas that still have some snow accumulation, I realized the neighbors are probably laughing at my eagerness.  So, I came into the house and sewed. 

I got a few things done for my Etsy shop, and did a little cleaning of the scraps. I have a habit of saving very small scraps and tucking them into bin and every once in a while I'll pull them out and sew them all together to make my patchwork pouches.  It takes me twice as long as the other pouches, but there is something satisfying about cutting up fabric and sewing it back together again.  

Green has many shades

I have always recycled my cans, paper and plastic. Even back in the early days when my dad, ever the skeptic, said that the garbage men just added it to the regular garbage, that there was no recycling facility!


I admit that I have dug something out of the garbage that another family member has thrown away because they were too lazy to walk out to the garage and put it in the bin. I also let these family members know that I don't like digging through the garbage and in the future either get off your lazy butt and walk it out to the garage or get a whole lot better at hiding it in the can, because I'm on to you.

Last year I decided to get a little more serious about my use of plastic and started making my own laundry soap.

Laundry Soap

Hot water
1/2 cup Washing Soda
1/2 cup Borax
1/3 bar Soap (grated)


In a large pot, heat 3 pints of water. Add the grated bar soap and stir until melted. Then add the washing soda and borax. Stir until powder is dissolved, then remove from heat.
In a 2 gallon clean pail, pour 1 quart of hot water and add the heated soap mixture. Top pail with cold water and stir well.
Use 1/2 cup per load, stirring soap before each use (will gel).


It's been 5 months now, and for the most part, it's working quite well. It doesn't make suds and that was the hard part to get used to, because to me (and most people) suds means clean. I also found that it isn't quite cutting the dirt on my husbands work shirt collars. So I told him to start washing his neck better :) and then I found a recipe for a pre-treater/stain remover, so now we're good to go. I feel a little bit better that I am not putting any more of those big plastic soap containers in the land fills, plus the cost savings is a bonus, too.

Stain Remover/Pre-Treater

1 part rubbing alcohol
2 parts water

Combine the ingredients and spray on stains. Let the solution soak for a few minutes and then launder as usual.

I've also started making my own shower cleaner and window cleaner. I hate scrubbing the shower and absolutely loved it when they invented the stuff you spray after every shower. I never had to scrub again! I was in heaven! But I was also buying a bottle every other week and the cost and all that plastic, finally caught up with me.

And then last summer I got into composting. Because we have a septic tank and a garbage disposal, which some say is a no-no, I got to thinking, why am I not composting all the food scraps so I have some lovely compost for my garden?




I really tried to be diligent about it, every correct food scrap that should have gone into it, went into it, and I rolled it as I was instructed. After the whole summer I ended up with about a 5 gallon bucket of compost. My husband wasn't too impressed with that puny amount of compost. But I'm thinking I wasn't doing something right. I didn't have enough carbon. Or was it nitrogen? As you can see, I need to get serious about this and do some reading about it.

When good ideas go horribly wrong.....

One of my favorite food blogs is Bakerella.

I like to dream that I have one iota of her talent at baking and photography. She makes the most scrumptious and fantastic things, tells you how to make them, all the while making it sound so easy, with phenomenal pictures.

Well, one day I thought I would give it a try.

Apparently, some things are better left to the professionals.

I must be missing the baking chromosome or something because my reindeer pops certainly didn't turn out like hers. My family was very kind and said they were cute, but I think they were just being kind to me. And all the time they were eating them, I'm sure they were snickering behind my back!

I take great comfort in the fact that no young children, ran screaming from the room in terror.

Pass the plate

For Christmas, the girls at work gave me this fabulous plate.





If you haven't seen this before or don't know how this works, let me share this excerpt from the Kitchenaid website.





"Turn your passion for cooking into a passion for helping the fight against breast cancer. Join Pass the Plate, a new element of the Cook for the Cure® program that raises funds and inspires others to support the breast cancer movement.Purchase a specially marked plate, created by KitchenAid and Villeroy & Boch, and register it online. Make one of your favorite recipes, put it on the plate, pass it to a friend, and you’re on your way to making an impact.KitchenAid will donate $5 to Susan G. Komen for the Cure® every time a plate is passed and registered. Pass the Plate in honor of someone special—or just to help make a difference."



http://kitchenaidoffer.com/passtheplate/



On Christmas, I gave "my plate" to my sister who had a double mastectomy last spring. Since you have to register the plate, you can also track where the plate has been. I just checked and 'my plate' has been passed 8 times since Christmas! Woohoo! I already got another plate to pass around, I think I just might have to get a couple more. What great gifts they would make.



If you have time, check out the KitchenAid web site and maybe order one for yourself.

More Etsy

Still working on the upcoming sale in my shop.

This cold weather seems to have zapped my desire to sew. You'd think the cold weather would be a great excuse to sit at the sewing machine for hours, but apparently I don't think like most people. As for this cold weather, it's supposed to get to minus 10 tonight, without the windchill. I know it's Michigan and it's January, but even this is a little too much cold and snow for me.

Today was my early day at work and instead of coming straight home, I went to the local yarn store because I think I need to knit this scarf.

I don't like my scarf flapping around in the wind and thought this might be something I'd actually finish. We'll see.......

I finished up a few new pouches for the shop over the weekend and will be listing them tonight. I wish I could talk my husband into taking the pictures and doing the listings, all the stuff I find tedious, but he just won't jump at it, no matter how fun I make it sound.

Etsy goodies

I've been sewing like crazy the last couple of days, I need to get more thing into my Etsy shop. I have over 90 items for sale, but I think I need more.

I'm having a sale that starts on January 15th and I'd sure like it if there was a huge variety to choose from.

It's tough sometimes, choosing which fabric to make my things from. If I pick something that I really like and get all excited over it and then it sits in the shop for months, I begin to wonder what the heck is wrong with MY taste? But then someone comes along and buys it and I feel better! Taste is so subjective and it's difficult to predict what someone else likes, so it's just easier to make what I like and hope there are more than oddball me out there liking this stuff. It's also tough when someone says they want something in blues and browns and you send them a picture of all your blues and browns that you have on hand, to let them pick and emails fly back and forth and in the end they pick a pink and green combo! Go figure, but I guess that's what makes the world go round!

I also think I need to come up with something other than pouches, although they sell nicely, I would like to try my hand at something else. I tried a boxed pouch the other day and it turned out just huge! I mean it's big enough that you could put all your makeup, shampoo, etc., plus your hairdryer in it! Maybe even a small sized dog, too! Ok, so that's probably an exaggeration, but it's more over sized than I intended. The size adjustments are easy enough to fix, but this one is just going to go into the 'not quite right' box and I'll find someone to give it to, someday.

Etsy is loaded with talented artists and I often think I'd like to try my hand at some other crafts but I know I don't have the talent to produce items like this, and this and this. But it inspires me to work harder, that's for sure!

Kenny

I am a huge Kenny Rogers fan. Not the fake one that plays baseball, but the REAL one. Some would say I am a stalker, I prefer the term devoted fan. I have been to many of his concerts and I'm always checking out his website to see if there are any concerts within driving distance. So last night I was on his new website and discovered that he will be in Sault Ste. Marie in February. I only like to go to a concert if I can sit withing the first 8 rows. Any farther back and I don't consider it a good seat. Apparently, I am a seat snob. So I check the site for tickets, go through the word verification process that you have to do when checking on tickets and the price pops up. $398.00! I think, well maybe that's the price for all the tickets they have left or maybe that's for a whole section. But nooooo! It's for a single ticket.

Now, I like Kenny more than the average person. I have been known to drive 6-8 hours one way to see him, I've planned my Vegas vacation to coincide with his concert there, I've driven through a snow storm and I've even worn a goofy shirt to his concert, that just happened to be on my 50th birthday.

But my adoration has a price tag and $398.00 is way over that!

Just out of curiosity, I checked what the price of the tickets are going for in Biloxi in January. $45. Now that's more like it. I could probably get round trip airfare to Biloxi and the concert ticket, cheaper than the Sault Ste Marie concert ticket.

So, I guess Kenny won't be seeing me this year at any of his concerts......... sigh......

I guess I'll just stay home and sew for Etsy.