I have been gone for awhile, and actually forgot I even *HAD* a blog until E mentioned it in passing one day. Life has changed quite a bit. I now work at a a small grocery, 2 out of 4 kids have graduated high school, 1 of those is now married, and 1 is on year 3 of a 6 year contract with the US Army. Of the younger two, one is a junior in high school, and one will be in high school next year. So S1 came home from Iraq safe and whole. D1 married S1's best friend. While he was overseas, no bitterness there. (and if you can't feel the snark.....6 months later he is still upset.) DH took a new job, which we had high hopes for, but didn't pan out as well as we thought. We were hand to mouth, payday to payevening, how to get milk for a while there. Just surviving. No art, for either of us. No hobbies or fun unless it benefited the household budget or someone else bought it as a gift. No dreams, no way to get out of the mess we got ourselves into. And now, we are back to new job, new hope, it can't be worse than the last. And in all that I was looking for one thing online. ONE. And I could find snippets here and there, but not enough to work with. Actual frugal living. Just google that and tell me how most of those results happen on food stamps.
I already knew how to make my grocery dollars work. Hi! I was a single parent food stamp mom for longer than I care to think about. Once a month cooking is a joke in that place. I was happy to get lunch leftovers, and DH was happy to take them. Scrap sewing? Does NOT begin with precuts. All I could think was "Are you people serious? Oh, hell, no. I hope that is the worst you live through." Really. Not in a bitchy way, but somethings just suck. It's not to be bitchy, or judgy. It's just reality. If someone is googling "scrap yarn gifts" they should be able to make it with scrappy pieces of yarn. Not minis or whatever.
In the midst of all this we had some family problems. Some in-laws were constantly, CONSTANTLY, "triggering" (I kind of really hate that word) a spouse. To the extent that a holiday at home alone was better than being with the spouse and kids if involved the in-laws. Police were involved. It got ugly, and expensive. And the holidays were still coming up. Can we say stress?
In light of all that, I have decided to take things in a new direction. The beginning of this blog was part of the OPAM challenge hosted by Kris Meares of Tag Along Teddies and Sweet Peg of Happy in Quilting. It is a great thing if it fits your life, and I finished so many projects thanks to their encouragement. But seasons come and go, and things change. And now here we are.
I hope to sign up for next years OPAM. If fact, I just re-saved their sites to my toolbar. (It's kind of fascinating how much you lose from one 'puter to another) But for now, my goal is to be change I want to see in the world. ( I am not attributing that because I have have seen way to many different people....let's just go with it's true, shall we?) Less waste. Less stress. More beauty. More giving. More hobbityness and less scroogyness. Less wanting and needing and more helping and wrapping. (just because it's basics doesn't make it less worthy of giftyness.)
I am planning on reviewing actual scrappy patterns and books for both yarn and fabric. I am planning on sharing the things I have done to save my home money and time. Some of them are and will be fails. Some of them won't be. I won't do the math for you. (hell, I don't do the math for me, LOL) But maybe there is something that you can pull that does help. Most important, I want every mom or wife to know she's not the only one. Most of us, and I would bet money that it is really all of us, have been there. Maybe for a week, maybe for years. But we all learned something, and that something isn't sponsored by Amazon (ps....I hate Amazon. They are my last resort.), or followed by a "may have been compensated by". I think if you need to compensate me, you are already realizing your failure. ( ahem....amazon). If I like what I see, I may facilitate a give-a-way. Or sponsor it out of my own pocket. I have a background in marketing, so I am familiar with the game. (cue Reel Big Fish--Sell out with me to tonight, sell out with me......)
Here's my first book recommendation, no footnotes required. Get your hands on a copy of "The Science of Shopping". No, I don't remember the guy's name. Nor do I care. What I do care about is how he walks you through marketing and sales angles in a way that leave you afraid to read an ingredient list in the store again. And yes, I am. If I am interested in a product, I buy it, try it, keep or toss it. End of story. I let my dollar vote. And it carries a big stick.
My first project recommendation for yarn is find the cheapest granny shawl pattern you can find. They are almost all the same. And search for a free log cabin block for quilting. Really, its x*x x*a, x*b,x*c all the way around. X is your starting square. 2*2, 2*4, 2*6, and on and on. And on. Mostly, just remember to research the public domain. Because both of those should be in it. I paid $6.00 (NOT REALLY...IT WAS IN STORE CREDIT!!!!!) for my granny shawl pattern because a) it was one page to put in a binder, and b) I liked the colors they used in the example photo by the header. It was the one by Ewe Ewe (here's a link just in case. I don't think they know I exist. And really, all you need is the first 2 rows. But I am a basic crocheter.)
My first garden recommendation? Start a compost pile. No walls, fences, or worms or whatever. Just take the nasty veggies bits to a corner you don't go to often and dump them. Do the same thing next week. It is free. the worms will come on their own. Next year, dirt. And maybe some food and plants. I am not ashamed it admit I have harvested food from the compost pile. Celery, carrots, tatoes, whatever. It grows, I cook it.
My first household recommendation? Buy some vinager. Both kinds. Just have it on hand. Hair rinse? Got it. Counter spray? got it. Laundry softener? got it. Mildew? got it. I don't remember the last time I bough household cleaner.
Hopefully, next week I will remember I have this blog. And maybe some photos. And I know there is always more snark...(blame my dad....he *thought* it measured critical thinking skills. The jury is still out on that.)
