...ring in the new year with something old.

For some reason, I talk about trash a lot.  From gold fish to crazy gloves, there has been a lot of interesting trash to blog about.  So, I've created a label for "trash."  That's where all the trash talk is.

This blog also qualifies for a "trash" label.  However, I am up-cycling here (creating something new with something that might have been thrown away/recycled).  I tried a new crochet medium: plarn!  It is what it sounds like.  It is plastic yarn...made from plastic grocery bags.  Yep.  I cut plastic grocery bags into strips and crocheted it.  I might be a little crazy, but it was fun.  The Target bags I used made a nice red and white pattern as I crocheted.  I think my festive bells came out well...and just in time to ring in the new year!

While crocheting this bell's top, I ran into a "reuse" that made me chuckle. The bag was not cut with attention to what was printed on it. I had to take a picture!

Happy New Year!

...hope.

Seasons greetings from Lucy!

...rest.

My little boy is napping.  I have gotten a few things done.  However, now it is time to rest!  Lucy has joined me on my cuddly pile of blankets, while I crochet in bed.  I hope to finish my latest project soon.  It's a bit different.  I have had fun trying something new.  It is low picture quality, but this is your sneak peak!

...take a break!

My husband is out running errands with our son.  I'm all alone at home.  It's a mommy-cation!  I'm sipping hot cocoa and playing on the computer before I slip off and vacuum the stairs. 

What?!  That doesn't sound like taking a break...

...well, there are just some things I can't do when the little guy is around...and the dirty stairs are really bugging me.  Sometimes taking a break is also about getting rid of the things that drive you crazy when you aren't on a break!

...deck the door!

Here's the wreath that I made up this year for our front door.  It was a lot of fun making it.  The bells and flowers are crochet.  I used strait pins to fasten the flowers down (no sewing!).  I think they came out looking like poinsettias--and will last a lot longer than the real thing!

Happy Holidays, everyone!

...make a monster!

I made this friendly monster wreath for my front door to say "Happy Halloween" to everyone. 

 'Have fun tonight!

...do some crafty problem solving.

Before I had my son, I had grand ideas of how I would create the cutest nursery for him. I would craft all these neat things. Then, he was born. The craft projects were set aside. After a few months, I meant to dive back in. However, we moved across the country. Our summer was spent in temporary situations. Our household goods (and craft projects) were stored away. Now that we are settling in, I have found the projects and the time to complete a few. However, I've needed to be flexible and allow the project to evolve. So, I first wanted to make a sweet little hot air balloon mobile. I found the paper lanterns and crocheted little baskets. This was all before my son arrived.

You can see how I strung the mini pony beads for colorful sandbags.

I even finished one. It took a while to figure out how to get it to work the way I wanted. One down, and...life happened!

So, when we moved into our new house, I brought these out again. I thought they would help me solve a problem I had. I had curtains that were too long for the window. We are just renting, so I wasn't sure if I wanted to cut and sew them to size. I scrounged around to find my clothes pins to solve the problem. I pinned the balloons up instead of stringing them into a mobile.

They made a fake valance for my curtains by pinning it just right.

It was a little tricky, but the clothes work...once I did some trimming on the paper lantern plastic.

I am happy with the way it turned out. My son's window is cheerful. The balloons have found a creative use.

'Problem solved!

...find new things to hunt.

Don't let this picture fool you. Sure, Lucy didn't want to get up from her nap when my baby woke from his. However, she went right to work as soon as I let her outside. Before a few minutes went by, she had hunted down (and nearly killed) a huge prey mantis. I witnessed it's demise at Lucy's paws. I'm not sure what happened to it. When I returned to the window later, it was gone. Either Lucy ate it or buried it. I'm not worried about this kill. It was small compared to her last: a possum. Yep. Lucy has continued to find new things to hunt here in Virginia.

...fill.

It's fall here in Virginia. Yep. We have completed our cross-country move. It took us all summer to get here due to our mid-west stay while my hubby trained for his current position. I am so glad to get here and start settling in. It's going to take some time. Our son has gone thru a rough patch of cutting 6 teeth at a time! He's working on the last one of those now. I hope he (and we) catch a break (sleep) soon.

I've only caught moments here and there of setting things up around the house. We still have moving boxes for most of our decor. Ha-ha. However, I found a moment to toss some acorns in an old vase and tie a ribbon ($1 find at the local craft store) around the neck for a quick fall decoration. The acorns are from our back yard. We sure have a lot of them. Gathering enough for the vase was easy! They fall on our house like rain when the wind blows...well, it's more like hail. If you come to visit, you might want to bring your hard hat until the acorn season is over!

...stay in on Fashion's Night Out.

So, I didn't go out tonight for Fashion's Night Out.  However, James did encourage me to buy these orange platform beauties earlier today.  I like it when he pushes me to let go of some hard earned cash to be girly.  Or maybe it was just that I was almost as tall as he is wearing them...and a lot easier to kiss?!  Ha!

...do like Devo, and "Whip it good!"

Wow!  It took so long to whip up the sugar and egg white topping for my banana pudding with only a whisk.  My arm was so tired!  Temporary living in a furnished apartment means that I make due without my own stuff.  I have new appreciation for how they did it before wonderful, electric mixers.  'Must have been love...or a good way to work off some steam (and I don't mean water vapor)!

So, do like Devo, and "Whip it good!"

...lament a loss.

It's a sad, sad story. I killed my purse by sitting on it.

Why are you laughing?!

Okay. It does sound funny. Now, think about it. How exactly does sitting on a purse kill it? Well, I accidentally jammed it under the car seat and drove around with the zipper basically viced beneath me. When I got it out, that thing would not move! It is permanently crimped shut. I had to use scissors on the zipper material to get my phone out.

Yep. I'm afraid the purse is dead...and that makes me sad. I had to explain it to my husband. A purse is something like a companion you take with you almost everywhere. It holds the things you need--even keeps them more organized. It's a personal assistant that never needs to be paid. Plus, the purse you carry says something about you. It can be functional, trendy, or both. Believe me, it takes a long time to find just the right one!

*sigh*

I believe I will lament this loss for a while...at least until it stops raining so I can get to the mall!

...have an OCD moment.

Something is SO wrong with one of these pictures.  Do you know what it is?

Yep!  It's that the bottle rings are not sorted by color in the top picture.  (What was I thinking?!)  I get a little OCD about some things.  They just bug me...so much that I blog about it!  LOL

...keep the kids warm.

I've finished a couple more hats for charity.  Our Relief Society is working on a project to help out the local children's bureau.  So, these hats will go to some local kids in need.  I hope they like them.  Maybe I'll pick out a less girly yarn for the next few.  'Gotta keep the boys warm too this winter!

...own the gloves!

We now live in the picturesque, American heartland.  Here's what I saw on this morning's walk.

Oh, my heart!  This is the rest of that view.  Look at all that trash!  It's lining the streets of my heartland and ruining the view.

What about the local wildlife? The ducks and geese live right here in all the roadside trash.

Well, we are only here on a temporary assignment for my husband's job.  I don't really feel that attached to the community.  I'm not even sure I would know who to complain to anyway.

Those were my first thoughts.  Like the childhood game of "duck, duck, goose," I was about to pass the problem off on someone else.  Then, I made a decision to take ownership of the issue instead.  After all, it is my community.  Even if we are here for a short time, I can make a difference.  I planned to collect the cans and bottles along my walk route to recycle.  So, I went off to buy me some gloves and get to work!

Remember these?

Since our household goods are in storage, I bought the cheapest pair of gardening gloves I could find.  Oh, my!  Aren't they...something?!  I've been trying to think of the best words to describe them.  Can I get a little help from my readers?  What words come to mind?

Well, I decided to go for it.  If I was going to wear something as...(what came to your mind)...as these gloves, then I needed to own this too!  Yep.  That's where the inspiration for my teaser magazine cover came from.  I shot a photo of myself striking a pose in these gloves.  Then, I Photoshopped the text in.  The text references my work project.  Do you see it now?  The words "trash," "bottle," and "can" are all there.  Did you catch these hints before now?

I'll post the picture again so you can take another look.

Now I won't make you wait until page 115 (from my magazine picture) to see "What I did one afternoon."  Actually, it was one afternoon and one morning.  I walked in one direction each time clearing a stretch of road 2 miles in each direction.  It took about an hour each time.  My 5 month old son was along for the ride.  In fact, his stroller turned out to be really handy.  I hung the bags from the handle.  I'm sure I was a sight to see for all the passing cars...especially if they caught a glimpse of the gloves!

Here's a front shot of the stroller with our friendly farmer in the background.  I see some tiny toes sticking out the front!

This is the view from behind the stroller with this morning's haul.  For fun, I counted the cans and bottles I collected.  I filled each bag with 25 before starting a new bag.  How many do you think I got?  Remember, this was from this morning alone.  I'll share yesterday afternoon's haul after a few more pictures.

There is a lot more trash out there.  I only picked up the bottles and cans that were easily recycled in the bin at the end of each walk.  I didn't touch the broken glass (top, right).  Can you imagine what the storm drain (bottom, left) water looks like?  Oh!  If there was a prize for the most disgusting, then it would have gone to the bottle ashtray (middle, right).  Wow!  I couldn't pick it up on this trip because I couldn't just recycle that puppy!  Yuck, yuck, and yuck!

So, here's the afternoon haul.  It was just a little bit less.  Any guesses as to how many?  I won't make you wait for the total.  I collected 4 full bags (25 each) and a partial bag.  Yep.  That's over 100.  110 and 1/2 cans and bottles in fact!  The "1/2" was half a can torn in a way that wasn't dangerous to collect or recycle.  I also collected two energy shot bottles that were too small to count in my regular tally. 

I think I "owned" the problem for today.  There is still a lot of trash out there, and I'm afraid there will be more added to that.  So, perhaps I will wear the crazy gloves another day.  For now, I feel a little bit better about the community I live in.  I've learned a good lesson.  It feels good to have taken this heartland to heart.

Okay.  'Enough with that.  I promise to be back to the regular "fluff" posts soon.  :)

...follow me.

I've added another item to my blog. It's the "follow me" gadget that you'll find just below my blog archive on the right. Why? Well, I wanted to make it easier for you to see when I've made another blog post. I often give a hint a day or two ahead of a post. It is meant to be fun (and not to annoy the impatient). Now, it is even easier to know when I've revealed what my next post is all about. So, go ahead. Follow me!

How else are you going to be the first to find out about these    (fill in the adjective of your choice)    gloves?!

...tease.

You know how they put teasers on the front of magazines to make you want to read it?

I'm such a tease...especially in those gloves!

...catch up on crochet.

I added a new page to this blog. Did you see the new tab at the top? It's for crochet, and it's about time! I've blogged several times about this little hobby. I think it fits the blog theme because I often only get a moment (short season) to get a few stitches in these days. Ha-ha! I say that; however, the truth is more the opposite. Some projects span several seasons!!

Speaking of seasons, I've been up to a few projects this summer. I need to catch up on the posting. So, here they are:

The local library turned out to be a haven from the heat...and also a place to get in some stitching while my baby boy napped.

Here is the finished Kindle cozy...or should I say "Kindle Kozy?!"

Here is a little hat for charity.  I like the fun colors.

Lastly, this is my current WIP (work in progress).  I'm not telling what it is.  You will just have to wait.  But check out the awesome canvas pencil case I found to keep my needles in!  Cute, huh?!

That is all for now.  Go ahead and click the "crochet" tab at the top for more yarn stuff.  I hope to be able to post more soon.

 

...shoot shadow flowers.

Can you tell what it is?  It's not a picture of flowers.  It is an edited picture of the flowers' shadows. 

See how the shadow is cast on the sidewalk?!  Want to see how this became the finished picture?  Here is the process:

This is the shot I started with.

Then, I framed the shadows.

Here are the cropped shadows.

Here it is taken to black and white.

After adding some clouds, they no longer look like shadows on the ground.  I like how you can still see the grain of the sidewalk.  It gives it another layer of texture.  I think it came out well.  What do you think?