what to do with all that rubbish?

We didn't manage a zero waste hard waste throw out. We had a big ol' old box that the chickens were kept in when they were little 'uns, in which we filled with random crap laying about the place. It's amazing how much crap you can find when someone is going to take it away for free in the wee hours of the morn. I made a point of taking the small folk around the block to check out the neigbours' hard waste, looking for bits and pieces to add to their 'spaceship', which we ended up making out of an old easel frame. All the homes around us had stuff out for collection except for Frank and Margaret across the road who are too old to acquire and/or keep crap. They had nothing on their front verge. I aspire to that. Frank did come over and grab an old chair of ours that he thought his son could use to practice his french polishing on. And we got a new see-saw from the girls down the road who are obviously too old/big/cool for it any longer. We also saw an old bunk bed we never used go to a local family of six kids! Lovely.

Perhaps we could have also contributed some materials for this?

Just have to decide on the right buttons, and I'm finished my bag for this years Blogfest. Swaperama is this Saturday and I am muchly looking forward to it. I am advised to fill my home made bag with goodies from my stash that I don't use and would like to pass on to someone who may. Lovely, but difficult for a person like me who keeps stuff 'just in case' I can find a use for it one day, like prettying up a spaceship, for example.

3 for 3

I've been invited to join a fitness challenge mob at work. Pay to join, set a goal and, if I achieve it, win a pot of cash. I'm thinking of losing cms from my 2-bubs belly. Not that inspiring. Swim 1km within 15 minutes. Wrong season for getting wet. Run 10 kms without stopping or walking. More like it. I made a 'run' playlist on my mp3 player about 3 months ago and I have played it 3 times. Yep- I've run 3 times in the past 3 months. Then this morning at sunrise, I faced up to the frumpy truth - instead of rolling out the mat for some bending, heading out back to the studio for some wacko balancing on a swiss ball, or pressing play on the aforementioned 'run' playlist and getting to it, I made myself a cup of tea with loads of honey and sat down to finish a felted owl I've been working on for a while.

So in the interests of delaying the onset of the frump craft freak I am bound to become as I age, I will take this fitness challenge and win it! Thought I may need new trainers for the challenge, but then this:

"So the next time you're stuck in traffic behind a container truck, breathing CO2, try to calculate how many pairs of training shoes are stuffed inside the metal box in front of you. Then ask yourself the following question: 'If somebody, somewhere, in the transport chain saves a few dollars on the shipping costs of a container box from China to Europe, to Australia, or indeed anywhere else in the world, will the consumer now pay $99.95 for a pair of trainers instead of $100?'"
from here

sharing that which is useful and beautiful

Haven't been posting lately cause this blog hasn't been an essential element in our lives lately. There has been essential purchasing of the daily kind - tahini, toothbrush heads and then this magazine. There has been essential planting of autumn vegie seeds. There has been essential open fires and essential baking to go with it. There has been some essential and amazing conversation trails as J asks why? to stuff going on in his world. And the impending hard waste collection in our community next week is inspiring an essential cleanout. Lots going to Freecycle. Lots going to be recycled. Lots going to the op-shop. Lots going to Hand Me Downs. Lots going to some other space on the block - from the studio to the shed, from the storeroom to the bungalow, from the carport to my sister's house. That kind of thing. My aim is to have no hard waste out the front on collection day. I remember hearing someone, someplace say to never have anything in your home that you don't actually use or don't think to be beautiful. This has been my mantra for some time now and I am happily applying it now to our home-cleanse. The only space that seems to have been untouched as yet is that top drawer of papers and bills and pencils and spare buttons and pirate eye patches and yoga timetables and..... I am finding it increasingly uncomfortable to have and to keep things that aren't being used regularly. That vacuum sealed bag of beautiful baby clothes we were storing, just in case we make more babies? Gave it all to a friend working with teenage mums who often comments that their babies don't have enough winter woolly layers on in the cool weather. Brrrrrrr. I've mentioned before that I've got a 'thing' about warm kidneys, especially the kidneys of babes. Makes me feel good to know that our things are being used and used well. I watched the small folk share a cup of chai (round block) and a bikkie (red square block) in the playroom on Friday morning. They then shared the 'choppers' (wooden swords carved by their great-grandfather for their father) to 'chop' wood for their fire (pile of old red clothes). When they emerged for a snack, J said he felt happy sharing a cup of chai with his sister. Warms the cockles, don't it? He loves sharing as much as me. A has just learnt how to say "mine" and what that means. So soon she will learn yours, ours and theirs. And then she'll be sharing her felted mushrooms, her 'beautifuls' (necklaces) and her textas with all those she meets. I love that their blocks are cups of chai and that old red velvet dress of mine is now a fire. I love how my small folk demonstrate to me how use what you have in your space to do what you want to do.

This post is also warming the cockles of my heart at the moment. My mama's day was also beautifully simple. A sleep in. A hand made card. A donation as a gift. A ride across to my parents place and a family lunch to follow. Simply lovely. I made a little healing pack of joy these for all the mama's I know using this as a guide. I LOVE how people are sharing their crafty prowess online for all of us to play with. As part of the cleansing process I went though my fabric stash, folding and storing it all neatly so I can see what I have. I'm hoping that as a result I may, too, have some crafty prowess to share. I'll be posting it here if and when when it happens.