Posted in Blessings of Habit, Herbs, Homemaking, Inspiring, Photos, Wisdom

Lace Scrunchies

blue lace
Blue Lace

This blue lace will become the gathered-up fluff ball we use for bath time scrubbers. Some people call them loufas, but that is not what they are. Loufas are tan in color, actually the inside network of a gourd. Since it looks spongy, some people call them sponges. Also incorrect. Sponges are the network of an underwater animal.

Anyway, bath scrunchies are easy to make. Simply measure out a length of tulle or lace 10″ by 60″ or so, fold in half, lengthwise, to 5″ by 60″, sew the long edges together, turn seams to the inside. Then insert a heavy string or small rope and gather it all by tying the string or rope into as small a circle as possible. This will make a very large, soft, and puffy ball of gathered fabric, gentle on wet skin.

To make it smaller and tougher, for calluses and such, gather the entire doubled length and then tie off, from the outside, like a pom-pom.

I plan to make several of the scrunchies for inclusion in the package for the customer, should she decide she needs one to complete a gift. They will not cost much, maybe only a dollar, which would be a about a 350% return on my costs, since the fabric was only a dollar per yard, and actually, is left over from a curtain project. But the customer will be pleased to receive this small thing for nearly free.

We all enjoy finding something we can feel good about purchasing, don’t we. We all should be looking around for things we can include in our daily dealings with all people. It’s the magazine issue you’ve read and passed on, the jar of jam from a huge harvest, or even the offer to babysit, that makes the day for those we meet.

When we keep an eye open for what we have that we can spare, what someone else needs that we can bear to part with, then we practice generosity. We cannot all live with the terminally ill and give them sips of water. We can, though, give in other small, self-sacrificing ways, to anyone we see.

Reach out. The whole world is waiting for a “lace scrunchie.”

Posted in Good ol' days, Herbs, Homemaking, Photos

Oooh-La-Lavender!

The Fun Part

lavender, lace, etc.
Lavender, Lace, Etc.

How I love preparing for a big project! I think being prepared is one of my favorite pastimes. Of course, it doesn’t hurt a bit that I found most of this grand collection of fabrics for free or at most, $1 per yard at garages sales. Wow.

Not only that, but most of it was neatly folded, just as you see here, and to top that off, clean and tightly-packed in zipper-type bags, smelling of newness and all things nice. Ha! So much fun to find all this lavender-ness standing in line, jumping up and down, crying, “Pick ME! Pick ME!”

Add to that the obvious, my huge collection of actual lavender blossoms, themselves, which you may view here, and you can see I am right on ready.

I am pretty good at staying ready. I am not always so sure for what. How about you?

This time, though, I am sure. I must make as many lavender things as I can, to attempt some sales at a festival in a couple of weeks. So, you might as well ready yourself for lots of purple posts. Ha.

Probably won’t sell much, but these things always make great gifts, and for any birthday, etc., that happens along, I will be . . .

. . . READY!

Posted in Blessings of Habit, Good ol' days, Inspiring, Photos, Wisdom

It’s a Worm Table!

The couple that built the house we live in is no longer living, but they had amazing foresight. Everywhere we look, we can see signs of commitment to excellence.

For instance, the electrical breaker box has every switch labeled. Puzzling for months over the one switch labeled “Worm House”, we searched until we figured out the worm house was actually the chicken house/woodshed.

We knew the worm tables were down there, but we hardly guessed what they were.  The industrious ones who built two houses on this property and maintained an enormous garden, were human after all.  They fished. They loved having their own source for worms. Or they sold worms. What work went into their lives for a bit of pleasure or a few extra dollars!

worm table
Worm Table

The worm tables, consisting of framed, 1/2″ mesh wire, were for sifting out worms, I guess. I know the soil under these tables is uncommonly rich and free of the usual rocks from around here. It makes very good garden dirt and a great side-dressing for those plants that seem to need extra nutrition.

I can imagine a grandchild’s wonder as he watches a shovelful of soil reveal its inhabitants. I can imagine the child’s taking all this culture for granted, walking in such luxury of self-sufficiency, hardly guessing all the work others have put into this place.

A little like I tend to do, myself.

I say, “Oh, good, a chicken house,” and forget all the work in those rough-hewn boards. I stroll around a pond and never think that someone had to bulldoze it. I retrieve canned goodies from the basement without realizing all the engineering it takes to perch a house over a hole in the ground.

But I want to remember, to think, to realize. I want to be thankful for someone’s foresight, for those who went before and built for those who would come after.

Posted in Believe it or not!, Inspiring, Photos, Rain, Wisdom

GOING DOWN!

down with temps
DOWN With Temperatures!

I cannot believe we finally have cool weather! I cannot believe it. But I am thankful. Oh, YES!

A week ago, it was a full fifty degrees warmer, here. Now I am running an exhaust fan and drawing all this cool air into my stuffy house and listening to birds and squirrels chirping and chattering.

It is a gift.

scrunched down
Hugging the Sidewalk

Our ma cat appreciates it NOT. No one explained to the cats they would need their warm coats today. The pre-heated sidewalk gives relief, though, as Puddy hugs to it, waiting for the sun to rise over the treetops.

Not me! I’m dressed for 100 degrees, sitting in a 60-degree breeze, shivering and GLAD!

This cool weather did not bring rain with it, though. We are still more than 12 inches below normal for this year. Usually, we receive much rain in August, around 5 to 10 inches. I guess it all went to Mississippi and the Carolinas. Since it is the second year running that we have not received normal rainfall, trees are dropping like flies. We’ve lost about 3 per acre on our property.

tree population going down
One Twin Dies

Our neighbor has lost half of a gorgeous set of twin oaks in his pasture. It is sad, but we must look at what remains and be glad some trees have stronger roots and can survive. Maybe we’ll help harvest the firewood from our neighbor’s tragedy, turning it into something useful, so it is not a total loss.

Life is like that. We help each other turn our tragedies around, don’t we? We help make sure our losses are not total losses. We reach out to each other, perhaps grim-faced, but determined: We will not be completely defeated.

And we’re not.

Posted in Believe it or not!, Blessings of Habit, Coffee-ism, Homemaking, Inspiring, Photos

Weekly Photo Challenge – Path

AT LAST: A PATH!

Well, it’s not the prettiest sight in the world, but it represents GREAT progress: a path to my sewing machine. Now it calls my name every time I hang up a shirt or walk to the coffee pot.

a view of the path
A View of the Path

I will be crafting several hand-made eye masks for sleeping, with lavender between the layers of fabric. Cannot wait to begin. 

You know, that uberhuge closet had been the dumping ground for anything we were unsure about where to store it. Now that certainty has guided the clean-up, we still have the unsure things, but they are elsewhere.

It reminds me of the Cat in the Hat, which constantly flung pink stuff somewhere ELSE, but never actually got rid of it until the very end of the book.

I don’t want to wait that long.

But I surely enjoy strolling down that closet path.

Posted in Blessings of Habit, Coffee-ism, Homemaking, Inspiring, Photos, Wisdom

LOST AND FOUND: One Large Closet.

Yesterday, I finally launched a work I meant to do last year.

And the year before.

Today I actually dragged half the contents of the master closet out into the bedroom and kitchen.

Kitchen? Yes; it’s a walk-through closet connecting the kitchen and bedroom. My side of the bed is exactly ten steps from the corner of the stove where the coffee pot sits each morning. Heh, heh.

just ten steps
Just Ten Steps from Zzz-land!

 But I digress . . .

There used to be no terrific place to put all my sewing project business. However, there was this enormously gigantic closet in the master bedroom. And we are the type that has a normal amount of clothing. So . . .

One new electrical outlet later, and voila! I had a lovely galley sewing room, with space for zillions of yards of fabric to hang on coat hangers around me. Excellent!

Except it was also still our closet and sometimes I put outgrown or off-season kids’ clothing in there. And schoolwork that needed filing. And large skeins of yarn for crochet projects. And gifts I’m hiding until someone’s gift-day comes along. And stuff-Mart bags stuffed with stuff I needed to deal with. And back-logs of un-ironed items. And a multitude of craft supplies.

It was becoming unnavigable.

So yesterday, I hit it.

However, I also needed to wash a couple of intricate loads of laundry, hard-boil a dozen eggs without ruining them, and fix myself breakfast and lunch on time, since I had a tutoring appointment in the afternoon. So I did all of it at once, listening to the washer while watching the eggs come to a boil, and taking bites of my breakfast and sips of my juice, between trips in and out of that closet, loaded down with boxes, etc., and at the same time, sorting contents according to what was throw-away, storage, or put-away. Also re-charged my cellphone, did chicken chores, and made a new pot of coffee.

We call it multi-tasking, and we are good at it because we do so much of it. So many aspects of keeping a peaceful home depend upon it.

Our home is not too peaceful, right now, though, but rather torn out and scattered, waiting for me to finish it. Oh, the worst is over; just have to fit a few things back in, the right way, then enjoy it again.

And when it comes to the soul, aren’t most of us also in that shape?