24 Apr 2009
by Diannin Altered Art, Day-to-Day
Since Christmas ’08, I’ve been clawing my way through our house in an attempt to rid us of unnecessary stuff. It seems it propagates as fast as dust bunnies, which propagate as fast as living bunnies. I don’t consider this to be an overly large house. While it was listed as a 4-bedroom, two of those are barely large enough to fit a twin bed and possibly a dresser. The accumulation of stuff amazes me, though. After the wedding last year, the laundry room became so horrific and disorganized, I feared we’d never seen the floor again. Cleaning it up took a solid week of work, but I was relieved to finish and make room enough that we were able to add a small chest freezer in time for the 1/4 cow we bought at the beginning of the year.
We are gearing up this summer to do two major renovations: replacing the windows and tiling the basement floor. Once the basement floor, including my studio, is finished, I’ll be able to put cabinets in for long-awaited storage (hooray!); living out of plastic bins … just sucks. In January, I acquired an old beat up dresser:
and then two stacking library card files — way cool — of solid wood:
Each one needs a face lift, the dresser more so than the card file, but as far as extra storage space, they’re the bomb. I’ve been slowly gluing the drawers back together in the dresser, and also in a small wooden desk I found (picture not shown). With the winter weather, being out in Jon’s shop could be rather unpleasant even with a heater running, so my progress has been slow.
April 5th marked Jon’s and my first year anniversary. Way so cool. We celebrated in three parts :). He spoils me and in the last year I’ve learned to be cautious about saying, “oh, I like that.” There’s a good chance I’ll find whatever it was waiting for me by the time I get home. He bought me a lovely pair of sapphire earrings (which surprised me in a “why on Earth would you buy me jewelry?!” kinda way). I was expecting power tools or some sort of geekery … or something a bit more practical. By his logic, though, the earrings are perfectly practical. After all, earrings are pretty much the only jewelry I wear consistently.
Too, I felt I came to the party a bit under-dressed. Here’s what he got (art by request):
An accordion book made up of the following: flash cards (the chunky chipboard kind), paper, stamps, shrink plastic, polymer and paper clay; flashing tape and wire; wood, paper and metal embellishments; found poetry, and paint.
I aimed for somewhat minimalist on the front. Jon’s not big on clutter (uh huh).
And then I crammed the back with all sorts of sentiments. :) (He can hide it.)
The last is just a close up of the “found poem” I made using Yogi Tea’s tea tags. Little bits of inspiration that I need my reading glasses to see.
It was an incredibly fun project to put together and that it was for him made it all the more satisfying. I struggled with the idea that I was assembling what is essentially a dust vessel, but then, I also had NO idea flashing tape could be so much fun. I discovered, however, that it’s coated either with plastic or possibly some sort of oily lubricant. I had to scruff it up aggressively to get the paint to stick. It makes a pretty convincing “metal” embellishment, though.
Happy news for this month is that Southwest Virginia now has an official Polymer Clay Guild (based in Floyd, VA), started and run by a favorite polymer clay mentor of mine. It has yet to establish an official name, but I’m excited to be a part of it. I’m demonstrating at the June 2009 meeting. Pray I don’t trip all over my tongue. :)
Also, my parents (meaning, Barbie) have decided to ride the train across the country again to visit us next week. The growth of her cancer seems to have accelerated. When she called me in February asking me (seriously?) what she should do, conserve or live it up, my only response then was, “well, I think while you’re alive you should live.” She’s combating my father’s resistance to this trip with, “well, I don’t know that I’ll be around in September.”
You go, girlfriend!
Have a happy day (or in this case, possibly a week or a month)!
02 Jan 2009
by Diannin Day-to-Day, Green Living
Happy New Year, everybody, and I hope Santa was good to you! We’ve been goofing off since First Christmas, which landed on the weekend before Actual Christmas this year. Up to that point, our schedules were a little hectic and, in typical me-fashion, my schedule has fallen behind. If I haven’t yet, I promise I’ll catch up with you.
I spent the last month of 2008 seeking a niche, some place to “belong”, and quite frankly, I still haven’t a clue. Reading Kim’s post from Christmas Eve was truly heart-warming … and inspiring. This is it, I thought afterwards, this is how I feel about my planet. I know I’m WAY too lazy to become fanatical about environmentalism, but through deeper introspection, I realize there’s a need to work today — now — towards a future that inevitably won’t include me. It’s my One True Legacy™. The rest is just clutter someone else will have to sort through once I’m gone.
So again this year, I renew and deepen my commitment to both frugality and the impact I have on my environment. I challenge everyone to do the same. Choose thought over impulse; respect and conservation over indulgence; enlightenment, experience, and wisdom over instant gratification. Share your experience and wisdom. Freely.
My Short List of Expectations for 2009:
- Learn how to compost.
- Limit the amount of magazines (and other media) I purchase to those I know will still be useful to me 2 or 3 years from now.
- Spend more time at the library.
- Spend even more time outside.
- Continue learning how to keep a garden well and living.
- Support my local farmer’s market, farms, and hand-crafting community.
- Beautify my space with a focus on green alternatives and sustainability.
- Indulge in Oreos at least 4 times a year!
- Seek out and replace art & craft supplies with as many eco-friendly alternatives as possible.
- Find more thrift and second-hand stores to haunt (woot — shopping!).
- *sigh* Yeah, okay … spend less money.
I’m open to thoughts, ideas, and other suggestions.
It seems that Kate over at Living the Frugal Life and I read the same article recently, or she found a back door into my head. I’ve been thinking our next step here should be insulating the water pipes in the basement. Most of them are exposed and accessible via the laundry room, which resides in an unfinished state. I wasn’t sure whether or not insulating them would make much of a difference, but it takes a long time and a lot of water to get hot water upstairs to either the kitchen sink or dishwasher, and the shower. The basement, not being insulated, is consistently at least 7 – 10 degrees colder, and the laundry room even more so being northern-facing and a brick wall. I asked the engineer of the house and he seems to think it will help. It certainly can’t hurt, right?
On the subject of CFL bulbs, I was browsing online today because I bought an odd-sized pack of Sylvania CFLs from Lowe’s last month and had to take them back because they wouldn’t screw into the ceiling fans in my studio. I was concerned that the ballast configuration had changed and that none of the 75 – 100 watt equivalents would work (because the 13w/60w do still fit), but it appears I bought Super Mini Twists instead of Mini Twists (noteworthy only if you own ceiling fans, too). In my perusal, however, I stumbled across the Environmental Working Group’s Guide to Green Lighting which offers tips about Energy Star rating, who produces the bulbs with the lowest mercury content, disposal for broken bulbs (mercury is a health hazard), and where one should (or shouldn’t) use CFLs. On the same site, ewg.org also offers a 1-page printout, handy for those of you, like me, who suffer from CRS.
The color temperature of CFLs is determined by the amount of Kelvins. As far as I can tell, it breaks down this way (feel free to correct me): Daylight = 2700k and will give you a warm, yellow light; soft white = 3000k and seems the most incandescence-y to me; bright white = 5000k is stark and rather blue (like office lighting). Packaging isn’t always clear, but the kelvins should be printed on the ballast of the bulb. Just look for the number (in the thousands) followed by a trailing “k”.
Next time on Everwild: Art and the Sustainable: Elephant Poop Paper! Oh yeah.
Happy crafting!
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