To review: Totally bogarting this series idea from Centsible Living with Money Mom on the youtubes. She's awesome! Watch her.
42 A dollar a pound, all year round. This was part of hint #32 and I want to expand on it again because it really works. It's a food purchasing GOAL but not a hard line. So, what can you get this week at the local grocery stores for 1$/lb or less? USUALLY potatoes, onions and bananas are available year round so those can be staples. All are flexible. E.g. my favorite soup is potatoes and an onion. About 4 medium to large potatoes and 1 medium to large onion. Dice them up, add 4-5 cups of water. Boil until tender. Eat. It's super good when sick or tired or sick and tired (so basically every day for me since I find my fellow humans exhausting). Change it up with spices, a diced boiled egg, drop a raw beaten egg in there and bring to the boil while stirring to make potato egg drop soup. A bit of lemon juice, lime juice or vinegar in your bowl just before you eat it will make this incredibly delicious. Mexican spices, Italian, whatever you have, poultry seasoning you can never seem to use up, a knob of ginger diced up ...ANYTHING is good in here. Maybe not sugar but who knows.
The left overs turn into mashed potatoes eventually.
What else is 1$/lb or less this week?
24oz loaf of bread for 99cents...that's under 1$/lb
Pasta is right at 1$/lb and as a dried product, cooked up it is even a better savings.
Remember that principle with dried beans too if you have a way to cook them! 1lb of dry beans will make 2-4 lbs of cooked. Canned beans are often 1$/lb but not nearly as good a deal as the dried. If you don't have good cooking facilities, canned are the better deal.
Frozen veggies, 99cents/lb
2 jumbo cantaloupes for 5$...WEIGH them. You're bound to find a couple that are 2.5lbs or more making them 1$/lb or less. I'm almost ready to start carrying a little hanging scale and old onion bag so I can weigh at the Grocery Outlet and etc where fruit and veg is all by the piece or bag.
You may notice I left out all sugary drinks. Those are never a deal even at under 1$/lb because they are not nutritious. But if you must drink them (and sometimes I must), then pay less.
You probably won't find coffee and spices this low so techniques on those later in the list (probably)
43 No Plastic Days. Just TRY to spend money without acquiring plastic! You may not spend at all or you may spend less. Be mindful of packaging and of the plastic coated receipt paper! Once in a while I shop online but that is just acquiring the plastic later. Also, usually can't check mail on a "no plastic day" because of those damn little windows in the envelopes. Those CAN just be open without plastic like they used to be or your address could be on the envelope...like the old days. If only. I spend time when watching a movie or youtubes tearing those damn things out so I can burn or recycle the envelope Aggravating.
44 Write a letter. Sure, the stamp costs you something, but it takes up time you might be spending or online shopping, and you get ZERO targeted ads based on handwritten letters. Your emails, facebooks, texts and cell phone calls are scanned and you get targeted ads. If you manage to turn off the snooping on your own email/phone, etc, likely the person on the receiving end did not. And you get targeted ads. Try even talking by someone's smart phone. I like to say things like "Nutterbutter ice cream sandwich" or "artisan" and watch the ads roll in next time I'm on the internet. Creepy man. Targeted ads are more effective, that's why they do them. So get targeted for things you don't use, at least. And at best, avoid being targeted. People also love getting letters.
45 Review your insurance(s). I try to do this once a year or so and see if there are savings, if a rate deal has been dropped (e.g. I need to take another cheap defensive driving course in order to get money off my car insurance). Call the insurance agency, not just email and online. Get someone on the phone. It shocks them. They might drop it a few dollars. Maybe get some easy online quotes and see if you can get something cheaper.
46 Can you consolidate some of your items/tasks/bills and save $$? You never know. A few years back I reorganized, culled and consolidated 2 storage units into 1 slightly larger than the previous "big" unit (heh heh) which save 50$/month. I'm going to try another cull to see if I can minimize it again and maybe get down a size again...though I like the location. But you say...why have a storage unit? Get rid of that sh*t! Well, yes, ideally (see #47) I would do that. But alas, living in 135sq feet and wanting my furniture for the house being built as we type, I have it in storage. I am a genetic hoarder so have to downsize in phases. That's what works for me,
47 Get rid of crap in storage units. This saves you the storage costs. If you are lucky, you can sell some of your crap and/or share it out to people who will appreciate and use it. In #46 I get defensive about why I am keeping my crap in storage. And another thing...about a 5'x5' portion, 11' tall, of the storage is "live" storage where I keep things like off season clothes, extra food storage containers, a gift bin so I can buy gifts when they are on sale. The stuff outside that goes through periodic culls. I'm working on it. #genetichoarder!
48 Drink Tap Water. Guess what is in those bottles and gallons of water you buy...TAP WATER. Maybe it's spring water and maybe it comes from somewhere with "springs" in the name. Much of the time it's tap water. It's EXPENSIVE. Drink tap water. I bring tap water from work to my house because I haven't bothered to get the well tested (house! HA! I flatter the shed sometimes). It's not hard. You fill about 1 gallon a day and bring it home for drinking and cooking. Live on the streets? Well, then you have bigger issues. Chlorine in your water? Air it out a bit or get a filter pitcher AT A THRIFT STORE. I also generally found the filters, still packaged, at thrift stores. Also, lots of people drink chlorine water. Maybe work with your town if you don't want it in there.
So, how much is it to drink bottled water which is total BS on so many levels....at least refill the goddamn bottle.
1 qt of bottled water is about $1.50, maybe a buck. I get a gallon of distilled (for the solar batteries) for a dollar or so. We'll be nice and say 1$/day for buying bottled water. Cost of municipal tap water per gallon? $0.002 on average. That's 2 onehundredths of a cent per gallon for well water? I spent 19,000 or so on the well and solar to run it (but the solar does more). I use about 500gallons a week in the summer when watering the garden. Less in the winter or rainy season. So, let's call it 250gallons a week...250/7 = 35/day. I've used the well for 5 years and 6 months or so... 19000/5.5years = $3555 per year/365 9.45/day cost for 35 gallons. 9.45/35 = $0.27per gallon!!! Already cheaper than buying water!! Woot woot! It gets cheaper every time I use it. I don't waste it to drive down the cost. I 'm very frugal with my water usage. Aquafers are precious resources and one does not save money by wasting water.
49 Change clothes when you get home. I hate doing this but I try. Right now it's so HOT that I change into thin pants and tissue thin shirts before working around the property after work. Easier to wash those. I keep "work pants" hanging on a hook all year round. Those get washed less and are sacrificial pants. They are meant to be worn out and stained and grubbed up. Changing out of "office worthy" pants and shirts saves those. It means I've been wearing the same jeans to work for years and my office shirts last for years too. Boring, but cheap!
50 The clothes/fabric use chain. When clothes DO wear out and are not shareable, tradeable, donateable, then what? For me, they get torn into rags. Seams on jeans and the waste band are usually strong even after the fabric rots. I use them to tie up stuff in the garden. Since I wear 100% cotton most of the time, or 100% wool/linen/natural if at all possible, these things decompose into the soil eventually rather than being there as plastic bits forever (functionally forever...who knows when that sh*t goes away?). The main body of the clothes get used as wash clothes or reusable rags until they are so bad they become a 1 use rag to be trashed. These are good for engine oil checking. Or for wiping up greasy spills and then being used to start fires (in the woodstove...not just random locations). Elastic off bras and undies has various uses as well...tie up tomatoes etc. But, has to be gathered up as it won't decompose in a reasonable amount of time. I keep a bag on a shelf near the other cleaning products for clothes that need to be rags now. I fish in there for what I need when I run out of wash clothes, or am crafting, or need to start a fire and paper isn't cutting it to get the kindling going.
51 Do something while you stare at the TV/Computer/Whatever. Watching a movie or show or random youtubes? Do something. Lately I've been folding boxes for mustard samples. You probably don't need to do that, but maybe you have mending or you like to knit. I like to darn socks while I watch a movie or listen to a book. Don't have any that need darning right now but I do need mustard sample boxes. In fact, I'm blogging this during a work webinar. Maybe I shouldn't but the webinar has repetitive bits so when something is being repeated, I type. Then tune back in when it's new info.
52 Sell something you like to make/do. This is new to me, but I'm testing it out. I like to make mustard so I started selling it. I'm tracking the money to see if the cost/benefit works out in my favor. It takes time and space, 2 things I don't have lots of to spare. But, I like doing it. And so far the mustard is selling at a local farmers market. I'm just above break-even right now and had to do a price adjustment so we'll see. Some people cook meals for those without time or space, others do sewing alterations, manual labor, or whatever. It doesn't hurt and might be worth a try.
53 Keep Long Term Goals In Mind. These would be financial related mostly. Like I want to retire some day. Every day I spend half what I earn, I earn a day of NOT WORKING because I have that amount of money saved (hopefully with interest) to pay for that day of retirement. This is above and beyond my retirement fund and Social Security. Another goal is having a house, garden and land the way I want. I hasn't been super cheap getting toward that and compromises have and continue to be made, but if I keep going the way I'm going, I will get there debt free. When I was trying to buy land I had a cost per square foot so before I spent $$ on something, I figured out how many square feet of land I could buy instead. It wasn't totally accurate but it helped keep the spending down.
54 Gratitude moments. I take a moment now and then when I get discouraged with the thrift and just want a giant expensive meal out or a 7$ iced coffee on a no spend day. I use that moment to think through things in my personal life that I am grateful for. Many of them end up having to do with being debt free and having my spending mostly under control. Like I'm always grateful for being debt free. A bad day at work is less bad when you know you COULD stomp out in a huff and not come back and still not lose your home. So far that has meant I did not have to stomp out because I had a better perspective on things. It keeps me on track.
55 Everything is a choice. You are not a victim of your debt, your costs, your job, people/charities begging you for money, any loans you've given. Everything you've done, including inhaling, was a choice. So, move on. Make a new choice. Choose to pay the debt off. Choose to forgive the loans you handed out unwisely or to openly ask for the money back or to sue the bastards. Do it. Choose to learn boundaries and enforce them with money.
56 Free Fruit! Nice segue. Or not. Fruit is getting ripe right now. Time to put the apple picker in the car and the eyes peeled for random fruit trees along the road, in people's yards, in parks. Always ask if the tree looks like someone owns it or in a town park. And be mindful of pesticide and herbicides that might be on them. People spit pits out windows for generations so lots of apples and pears along highways, old RR beds, trails. Many are delicious. Some are crap. Taste them if you feel comfortable. If it looks like the area has been sprayed (lots of dead veg and/or few bugs) then I pass it up. But often I pick them. You get pesticides on grocery fruit too. Wash it. Make your own choices (see #55). A friend has a cherry tree and calls people to pick each year. I go and I share out the fruit and eat some. Spent yesterday evening picking serviceberries (which are late this year) and eating them. Some went into vinegar which will preserve them and flavor the vinegar. I'll get more for several evenings in a row here. Other berries are getting ripe. Pick them. When someone offers you their home grown fruit say yes, and thank you and enjoy and share something back sometime.
57 Free meat! I help a friend butcher chickens and ducks and will help her butcher whatever comes up next. I learn something and always get a bit of free meat with the new skills. Sometimes I invest in meat with her, like when she bought ducks so grow and butcher. I paid in for some of the ducks and helped with the meat production. That wasn't free, but was cheap. Some people grab roadkill. I haven't yet, but I'm all for it and someday hope to run across a fresh kill when I have my knife and something to put it in.
58 Free veg! It's zucchini time here. When someone asks if I want some, I say yes and take it. Fry it, eat it raw, dry it, bake it, put it in soup. It's good food. Eat it. If you have a freezer, shred it and freeze it. Drying is my favorite because it becomes differently delicious in soups later. Also just eating it as dried chips is good. Don't forget mushrooms and other wild food you can gather beyond the berries noted above. I know mushrooms aren't really veg but I didn't want to do another entry on this. Enough already.
59 Grow some flavor. A pot of herbs or an herb garden, some onions, garlic, peppers, or other flavory things in the garden or a pot will help with all that free zucchini. And with flavoring that potato soup or other cheap food soups. Herbs and spices are expensive, buy some seeds or learn to start them from cutting. I hear you can root bits of basil from plant cuttings. Maybe. I have thyme, chives, tarragon, oregano, fennel, horseradish, radishes, 2 types of sage...no 3 types of sage, garlic, walking onions, sorrel (wild and garden), and probably more that I'm not thinking of. Those all really help when I am grabbing a handful of greens to fry up or make salad. Grab the herbs or garlic tops or an onion leaf (are the green things on onions leaves? Blades?) Anyway, it's cheap and healthy. I have so much thyme I can dry it for the winter and have tasty soup all year.
Showing posts with label craft. Show all posts
Showing posts with label craft. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 28, 2020
Friday, May 29, 2020
Suck It Pinterest...My Egg Storage is WAY Cuter Than All the Ideas on Pinterest
AND I made it for free.
The only "new" bits are the screws and they will get reused on the next project. I had run out of decent used screws with normal head (too many hex heads, square heads, various sizes...couldn't keep up with bits). So, I bought a cheapo box of philips head wood screws about 1 1/2 inches long. Made the door with them.
I had been storing my eggs in an old egg carton or two. Red rubber band on the one that is "ready to go" and a blue rubber band on the carton that is "building up". It didn't work well because I don't have anywhere to set egg cartons. So they were in a grocery basket hanging off my loft ladder. But that basket ALSO had to hold groceries like fruit and veg, often heavy. Annoying. And the cartons wear out.
I saw one of these on a youtube and wanted to make it:
But, that was hard and I can't be bothered. So, I thought about what I had on hand that I could use.
When I found a batch of eggs while doing another project with friends, I had an old mini muffin tin sitting around outside. It had been part of a bee feeder I'd cobbled up, and was then part of the apparatus keeping chickens out from under the shed. I turned it up and put the eggs in it for temporary storage...it worked great and looked cute.
So, I took the muffin tin in (tested the eggs...all were plenty fresh enough to eat so I boiled them up and brought them to work for lunches that week) and sure enough, it fit pretty well between 2 studs in the shed (heh heh...studs). I found an old plant stake, a 1x2, and cut it to length. While doing all this, I found another mini muffin tin, same width.
In total I have 21 muffin-egg holder holes. One tin is 9 muffins and one is 12. They are old and I got them at thrift at least 4 years ago. I usually won't spend over a dollar for a baking item so that is probably the original price to me.
The plant stake, I have no idea. I got a big bundle years ago and use and reuse them until they get too weak to pound in the ground, then they are scrap lumber for propping things closed or propping up chicken wire fencing that is starting to bulge. Maybe it cost a dollar originally.
Box of 250 screws was about 8$. I used 8. You can do that math if you want.
The impact driver was free from Fred's stash of tools.
The bits...I got a box of 10 for 12$ (nice magnetic ones) or so and have been using this one for about a month! Must be better metal than the ones I used to buy because I'd strip those out quite a bit faster.
I guess it is a 3$ egg holder but I think we need to amortize that over the previous lives of the items involved and the future lives of some of them like the screws and the bit which will no doubt be reused.
It is pretty cute though. Here's the big reveal.
Sher said I should get out more...she is mean to me.
The only "new" bits are the screws and they will get reused on the next project. I had run out of decent used screws with normal head (too many hex heads, square heads, various sizes...couldn't keep up with bits). So, I bought a cheapo box of philips head wood screws about 1 1/2 inches long. Made the door with them.
I had been storing my eggs in an old egg carton or two. Red rubber band on the one that is "ready to go" and a blue rubber band on the carton that is "building up". It didn't work well because I don't have anywhere to set egg cartons. So they were in a grocery basket hanging off my loft ladder. But that basket ALSO had to hold groceries like fruit and veg, often heavy. Annoying. And the cartons wear out.
I saw one of these on a youtube and wanted to make it:
But, that was hard and I can't be bothered. So, I thought about what I had on hand that I could use.
When I found a batch of eggs while doing another project with friends, I had an old mini muffin tin sitting around outside. It had been part of a bee feeder I'd cobbled up, and was then part of the apparatus keeping chickens out from under the shed. I turned it up and put the eggs in it for temporary storage...it worked great and looked cute.
So, I took the muffin tin in (tested the eggs...all were plenty fresh enough to eat so I boiled them up and brought them to work for lunches that week) and sure enough, it fit pretty well between 2 studs in the shed (heh heh...studs). I found an old plant stake, a 1x2, and cut it to length. While doing all this, I found another mini muffin tin, same width.
In total I have 21 muffin-egg holder holes. One tin is 9 muffins and one is 12. They are old and I got them at thrift at least 4 years ago. I usually won't spend over a dollar for a baking item so that is probably the original price to me.
The plant stake, I have no idea. I got a big bundle years ago and use and reuse them until they get too weak to pound in the ground, then they are scrap lumber for propping things closed or propping up chicken wire fencing that is starting to bulge. Maybe it cost a dollar originally.
Box of 250 screws was about 8$. I used 8. You can do that math if you want.
The impact driver was free from Fred's stash of tools.
The bits...I got a box of 10 for 12$ (nice magnetic ones) or so and have been using this one for about a month! Must be better metal than the ones I used to buy because I'd strip those out quite a bit faster.
I guess it is a 3$ egg holder but I think we need to amortize that over the previous lives of the items involved and the future lives of some of them like the screws and the bit which will no doubt be reused.
It is pretty cute though. Here's the big reveal.
Sher said I should get out more...she is mean to me.
Friday, June 30, 2017
New skill! Cedar Baskets
My baskets are wonky, but sturdy.
One piece of cedar bark folded, laced with cedar.
There was a workshop going on where I work and I was allowed to jump in and learn. Very fun.
And a great skill for the self-reliance quest.
There was a workshop going on where I work and I was allowed to jump in and learn. Very fun.
And a great skill for the self-reliance quest.
Friday, May 12, 2017
White Trash Craftery™ Part Deux: Hummingbird Feeder
"Deux" is Paris talk for "2"
So, I was spending a day INSIDE (inside the wee shome) because I was sick of humanity. More so than usual even.
I decided to watch movies, listen to the radio, talk on the phone with carefully selected others, and do crafts.
Crafts. Tiny shed home. I used what I had.
Supplies:
A left over jar with a sturdy screw on lid
Turns out I LOATHE caviar. It tastes like salty fish slime. But it was on sale and I wanted to try something new...and it was in a cool tiny jar that would be handy for something.
A used bottle with a sturdy screw on lid. It looks like I used a wine bottle but it was actually filled with stevia sweetened sparkling apple juice. Also, on sale. It cost less than the jar of nasty salty fish slime. I will be keeping an eye out at the recycling center for cool bottles and jars.
A coat hanger (wire).
Duct tape (optional)
A bit of glue or silicon sealant (probably optional)
Tools needed:
Leatherman
Scissors (optional, you could just use the knife on the leatherman or your teeth).
Step 1: Wash the jar and the bottle very well, but don't bother picking the label off the bottle unless you want to.
Step 2: Use the screw top of the bottle to make a circle more or less in the center of the jar lid.
Use the olde tyme bottle can opener thingy on the leatherman to cut a cross from the center of that circle to not quite the edge of the circle. You want the bottle top to hold the jar lid onto the bottle.
Use the needle nose pliers thingy on the leatherman to tear off these little tabs you just made, still trying to stay inside the circle you drew. The pliers can be used to fold back, toward the inside of the jar, and pinch the sharp bits from tearing the metal.
Step 3: use the tiny screw driver or punch thingy on the leatherman to make little holes about 1/8inch in diameter around the lid. I made 4 holes. A couple were a tad big but that can be corrected later with the duct tape. Punch the holes from the outside toward the inside so you aren't creating little hummingbird beak stabbers.
Step 4: use the rasp thingy on the leatherman to mash down and smooth out any sharp bits on the jar lid. When you can run your finger over it and not get cut, it's probably good enough.
Step 5: Use whatever portion of the leatherman works to make a biggish hole in the top of the bottle lid. Smooth off any sharp bits as above.
Now it gets complicated:
Step 6: Push the jar lid over the top of the bottle threads. You want the top of the jar lid "up" when the bottle is upside down. Once you get it part way on the threads, start screwing on the bottle lid to push the jar lid along firmly.
Step 7: you can put a little ring of glue or silicone around the seam between the jar lid and the bottle lid if you want.
Step 8: Screw on the bottom of the jar and admire your work.
Step 9: Use various parts of the leatherman to twist a wire coat hangar around the bottle so you can hang your contraption up, jar at the bottom, rear end of the bottle facing the sky. (Duh)
Step 10: Optional decorative crafty bit! Find some random British flag duct tape you forgot you had (how do I lose things in that tiny space?), use scissors, the knife thingy on the leatherman, or your teeth, to get rid bits out of the tape and apply these to the jar lid, keeping the holes open. I strategically placed some of the tape to smallify the holes that were a bit large.
And Voila:
Mix up some hummingbird food and you are in business!
Unscrew the jar from its lid, use a funnel to fill the bottle. If you take the bottle lid on and off you will loosen up the jar-lid-bottle-lid joint that is crucial to the White Trash Craftery™ Hummingbird Feeder longevity.
There was a rufous hummingbird at the feeder within an hour or so of hanging it up. Perhaps sooner since I was elsewhere on the estate for a bit.
So, I was spending a day INSIDE (inside the wee shome) because I was sick of humanity. More so than usual even.
I decided to watch movies, listen to the radio, talk on the phone with carefully selected others, and do crafts.
Crafts. Tiny shed home. I used what I had.
Supplies:
A left over jar with a sturdy screw on lid
Turns out I LOATHE caviar. It tastes like salty fish slime. But it was on sale and I wanted to try something new...and it was in a cool tiny jar that would be handy for something.
A used bottle with a sturdy screw on lid. It looks like I used a wine bottle but it was actually filled with stevia sweetened sparkling apple juice. Also, on sale. It cost less than the jar of nasty salty fish slime. I will be keeping an eye out at the recycling center for cool bottles and jars.
A coat hanger (wire).
Duct tape (optional)
A bit of glue or silicon sealant (probably optional)
Tools needed:
Leatherman
Scissors (optional, you could just use the knife on the leatherman or your teeth).
Step 1: Wash the jar and the bottle very well, but don't bother picking the label off the bottle unless you want to.
Step 2: Use the screw top of the bottle to make a circle more or less in the center of the jar lid.
Use the olde tyme bottle can opener thingy on the leatherman to cut a cross from the center of that circle to not quite the edge of the circle. You want the bottle top to hold the jar lid onto the bottle.
Use the needle nose pliers thingy on the leatherman to tear off these little tabs you just made, still trying to stay inside the circle you drew. The pliers can be used to fold back, toward the inside of the jar, and pinch the sharp bits from tearing the metal.
Step 3: use the tiny screw driver or punch thingy on the leatherman to make little holes about 1/8inch in diameter around the lid. I made 4 holes. A couple were a tad big but that can be corrected later with the duct tape. Punch the holes from the outside toward the inside so you aren't creating little hummingbird beak stabbers.
Step 4: use the rasp thingy on the leatherman to mash down and smooth out any sharp bits on the jar lid. When you can run your finger over it and not get cut, it's probably good enough.
Step 5: Use whatever portion of the leatherman works to make a biggish hole in the top of the bottle lid. Smooth off any sharp bits as above.
Now it gets complicated:
Step 6: Push the jar lid over the top of the bottle threads. You want the top of the jar lid "up" when the bottle is upside down. Once you get it part way on the threads, start screwing on the bottle lid to push the jar lid along firmly.
Step 7: you can put a little ring of glue or silicone around the seam between the jar lid and the bottle lid if you want.
Step 8: Screw on the bottom of the jar and admire your work.
Step 9: Use various parts of the leatherman to twist a wire coat hangar around the bottle so you can hang your contraption up, jar at the bottom, rear end of the bottle facing the sky. (Duh)
Step 10: Optional decorative crafty bit! Find some random British flag duct tape you forgot you had (how do I lose things in that tiny space?), use scissors, the knife thingy on the leatherman, or your teeth, to get rid bits out of the tape and apply these to the jar lid, keeping the holes open. I strategically placed some of the tape to smallify the holes that were a bit large.
And Voila:
Mix up some hummingbird food and you are in business!
Unscrew the jar from its lid, use a funnel to fill the bottle. If you take the bottle lid on and off you will loosen up the jar-lid-bottle-lid joint that is crucial to the White Trash Craftery™ Hummingbird Feeder longevity.
There was a rufous hummingbird at the feeder within an hour or so of hanging it up. Perhaps sooner since I was elsewhere on the estate for a bit.
Friday, May 5, 2017
Take that MotherFlicker!...White Trash Craftery™
No, a FLICKER. The bird. The bird that is destroying me wee shed.
It, or they, has/ve been pecking holes in the cabin for a while. I covered the first batch of holes with the bits of metal I had on hand...muffin tins from the thrift store. That looks sort of cute actually:
THEN the stupid motherflicker (I'm assuming it's a parent trying to bring home the bacon/beetles to wee ones), moved to another side of the cabin and spread out the damage.
I was out of muffin tins. Didn't want to move to loaf pans. Or baking sheets.
I thought perhaps SHARP would be a benefit.
I had a couple of #10 cans from the recycling center that I'd had plans for. Plans that were never executed. So I though perhaps I could use the tin snips to cut strips from those and hang them (White Trash Craftery Rule #1: use what you have). As I am cutting up the first can, I figured out that hanging 10 strips from the eaves would be complicated and I would never get around to it (White Trash Craftery Rule #2: plan for your inherent laziness). The remaining can got flattened out. The seams on the sides cut off. Then I cut it as though making a garland out of a sheet of paper. I couldn't find a diagram of this on the internet so I made one for you special. Just like the actual product, the cut lines (shown in green) are unevenly spaced and crooked. I'm not bothering with neat work for a stupid motherflicker.
Once you make the cuts, you just pull the ends apart...voila, instant sharp jaggedy metal garland for free!
It was definitely sharp. I wouldn't stand on it to bang my face into a wall, but I'm not a flicker.
To put it up, I started a nail through each end, stood on a slippery metal cooler on the weakening boards of my shabby stoop, and tried not to let anything hit my eyes (the safety glasses were clear down in the car...like a quarter mile away (White Trash Craftery Rule #3: Safety is secondary)).
Here it is:
It's blocking the view of the worst holes but you can see a smaller one above the Flicker-B-Gone™ garland and how it has been stripping a few of the battens on my board-n-batten siding. As it happened, the #10 can had a coppery inside and a silvery outside so this turned out to be more interesting looking than I'd planned.
Of course when the wind blew I was awoken in the night by a mysterious metal rattling sound.
I think that means the Flicker-B-Gone can also be labeled as Wind Chimes.
I'm thinking that putting a few of these along the top of the fence between me and the rest stop might deter ne'er-do-well types. That makes it both a "Flicker-B-Gone™ " and a "F...er-B-Gone™ ." With a side of Wind Chimes.
It, or they, has/ve been pecking holes in the cabin for a while. I covered the first batch of holes with the bits of metal I had on hand...muffin tins from the thrift store. That looks sort of cute actually:
THEN the stupid motherflicker (I'm assuming it's a parent trying to bring home the bacon/beetles to wee ones), moved to another side of the cabin and spread out the damage.
I was out of muffin tins. Didn't want to move to loaf pans. Or baking sheets.
I thought perhaps SHARP would be a benefit.
I had a couple of #10 cans from the recycling center that I'd had plans for. Plans that were never executed. So I though perhaps I could use the tin snips to cut strips from those and hang them (White Trash Craftery Rule #1: use what you have). As I am cutting up the first can, I figured out that hanging 10 strips from the eaves would be complicated and I would never get around to it (White Trash Craftery Rule #2: plan for your inherent laziness). The remaining can got flattened out. The seams on the sides cut off. Then I cut it as though making a garland out of a sheet of paper. I couldn't find a diagram of this on the internet so I made one for you special. Just like the actual product, the cut lines (shown in green) are unevenly spaced and crooked. I'm not bothering with neat work for a stupid motherflicker.
Once you make the cuts, you just pull the ends apart...voila, instant sharp jaggedy metal garland for free!
It was definitely sharp. I wouldn't stand on it to bang my face into a wall, but I'm not a flicker.
To put it up, I started a nail through each end, stood on a slippery metal cooler on the weakening boards of my shabby stoop, and tried not to let anything hit my eyes (the safety glasses were clear down in the car...like a quarter mile away (White Trash Craftery Rule #3: Safety is secondary)).
Here it is:
It's blocking the view of the worst holes but you can see a smaller one above the Flicker-B-Gone™ garland and how it has been stripping a few of the battens on my board-n-batten siding. As it happened, the #10 can had a coppery inside and a silvery outside so this turned out to be more interesting looking than I'd planned.
Of course when the wind blew I was awoken in the night by a mysterious metal rattling sound.
I think that means the Flicker-B-Gone can also be labeled as Wind Chimes.
I'm thinking that putting a few of these along the top of the fence between me and the rest stop might deter ne'er-do-well types. That makes it both a "Flicker-B-Gone™ " and a "F...er-B-Gone™ ." With a side of Wind Chimes.
Thursday, November 12, 2015
Learning to Make Baskets!
This took me about 7 hours.
I still need to put some buckskin around the top and then voila! Finished basket. The social norm in my community is to give away your first item (first harvest, first craft work, first whatever) (not first born though). I have someone in mind already but am taking orders from family for xmas 2020!!
I still need to put some buckskin around the top and then voila! Finished basket. The social norm in my community is to give away your first item (first harvest, first craft work, first whatever) (not first born though). I have someone in mind already but am taking orders from family for xmas 2020!!
Friday, April 10, 2009
Awesome Thrifting
I dont' know if people are getting kicked out of their homes or what, but the thrifting has been so good, I'm having to take a break.
Finding a Japanese/English keyboard for El Kid was pretty cool. He was impressed and hasn't hooked it up but seems to like staring at it.
Books I've found: some I can't tell because they will be gifts...but maybe those people won't read anyway. Someone from the 1970s croaked or something and awesome books were at a couple of thrift stores. I got "Everything you always wanted to know about sex...but were afraid to ask". Frankly after reading parts of this book, I'm more frightened than I've ever been. According to the good "doctor" (the author claims to be a psychiatrist and is getting his info from patients...perhaps not the BEST source for info about "normal" people's sexuality) all prostitutes are lesbians, there is no such thing as male prostitute, ...I don't think there is one other thing I can post without turning this blog into something horrifying and making both readers cringe.
I also found a 1970s textbook for some class that would probably be called "health and human development" now. It talked about finances, making a nice home (a woman's job apparently), sexuality (don't do anything, you'll probably get an infection, die and give birth simultaneously), and making money (a man's job...unless a woman wants to work before she gets married, that's probably OK but she might get mannish).
The decorating book from 1978 is fabulous! (these books were a dime each or so) It is one long fashion DON'T for your home. I think my favorite is how they "opened up the space" by getting rid of that pesky wall between the master bedroom and the master bathroom. They did not however, get rid of the master TOILET!!! It is behind a sort of halfwall. The master tub was sunk down and made flush with the (carpetted) floor. Another pit was sunk near it and filled with plants. The toilet, tub, and in-potty-garden are all visible through the GIANT WINDOW. In the background you can see lights from the neighbors. But, I suspect the neighbors moved. As did the wife the first time the husband used that toilet (not a vent to be seen) and then expected a little boom-chicka-wrow-wrow. Don't you love waking up to the sound of your beloved taking a loud pee? Or perhaps they both died when they were trying to take a late night tinkle without turning on the lights (what with the lack of WALLS to confine the light) and fell into the sunken tiled tub and/or planter breaking their heads open and bleeding out (though conveniently into the drain and I hear the roses looked FABULOUS when they were finally found by the neighbors who couldn't help but look now and then.) I'm pretty sure this book must be featured on the webpage commemorating ugly rooms from the 1970s. I'd send you there but the bastards have taken it down and are now selling it as a book. That's not nice. The ugly should be free for us all to enjoy. I'll see if I can get my scanner up and running and share some from my own 10cent book.
Then there is the 1970s knitting patterns. The patterns are disturbing enough (3-D puppets poking out of children's sweater dresses so short that the crotch of her tights is well below the hem...the wearer does not look pleased) but the photos are amazing. Every single person looks self-conscious and uncomfortable if not outright pissed. Fantastic. Frankly, they look like photos my friend Jonny (Hi Jonny!) would take and put in an art show. I'm hoping someday we can re-create them and take a picture with the book open in the background to the page we're recreating.
I bought a "Cheapskate" book but it turns out I'm well beyond the piddling suggestions they make (eat at home more, cook for yourself...DUH). So that dime was wasted.
Someone recently suggested to me that since I read so much, I get some new high tech gadget where you can download books and read them off a computer screen. It apparently has an integral cell phone type link and you can buy books no matter where you are. I highly suspect that the books I enjoy will not be available on that device. The device itself costs something like 400$!! I can get 4,000 books for that amount of money. Not to mention the library.
That's probably enough for now.
Finding a Japanese/English keyboard for El Kid was pretty cool. He was impressed and hasn't hooked it up but seems to like staring at it.
Books I've found: some I can't tell because they will be gifts...but maybe those people won't read anyway. Someone from the 1970s croaked or something and awesome books were at a couple of thrift stores. I got "Everything you always wanted to know about sex...but were afraid to ask". Frankly after reading parts of this book, I'm more frightened than I've ever been. According to the good "doctor" (the author claims to be a psychiatrist and is getting his info from patients...perhaps not the BEST source for info about "normal" people's sexuality) all prostitutes are lesbians, there is no such thing as male prostitute, ...I don't think there is one other thing I can post without turning this blog into something horrifying and making both readers cringe.
I also found a 1970s textbook for some class that would probably be called "health and human development" now. It talked about finances, making a nice home (a woman's job apparently), sexuality (don't do anything, you'll probably get an infection, die and give birth simultaneously), and making money (a man's job...unless a woman wants to work before she gets married, that's probably OK but she might get mannish).
The decorating book from 1978 is fabulous! (these books were a dime each or so) It is one long fashion DON'T for your home. I think my favorite is how they "opened up the space" by getting rid of that pesky wall between the master bedroom and the master bathroom. They did not however, get rid of the master TOILET!!! It is behind a sort of halfwall. The master tub was sunk down and made flush with the (carpetted) floor. Another pit was sunk near it and filled with plants. The toilet, tub, and in-potty-garden are all visible through the GIANT WINDOW. In the background you can see lights from the neighbors. But, I suspect the neighbors moved. As did the wife the first time the husband used that toilet (not a vent to be seen) and then expected a little boom-chicka-wrow-wrow. Don't you love waking up to the sound of your beloved taking a loud pee? Or perhaps they both died when they were trying to take a late night tinkle without turning on the lights (what with the lack of WALLS to confine the light) and fell into the sunken tiled tub and/or planter breaking their heads open and bleeding out (though conveniently into the drain and I hear the roses looked FABULOUS when they were finally found by the neighbors who couldn't help but look now and then.) I'm pretty sure this book must be featured on the webpage commemorating ugly rooms from the 1970s. I'd send you there but the bastards have taken it down and are now selling it as a book. That's not nice. The ugly should be free for us all to enjoy. I'll see if I can get my scanner up and running and share some from my own 10cent book.
Then there is the 1970s knitting patterns. The patterns are disturbing enough (3-D puppets poking out of children's sweater dresses so short that the crotch of her tights is well below the hem...the wearer does not look pleased) but the photos are amazing. Every single person looks self-conscious and uncomfortable if not outright pissed. Fantastic. Frankly, they look like photos my friend Jonny (Hi Jonny!) would take and put in an art show. I'm hoping someday we can re-create them and take a picture with the book open in the background to the page we're recreating.
I bought a "Cheapskate" book but it turns out I'm well beyond the piddling suggestions they make (eat at home more, cook for yourself...DUH). So that dime was wasted.
Someone recently suggested to me that since I read so much, I get some new high tech gadget where you can download books and read them off a computer screen. It apparently has an integral cell phone type link and you can buy books no matter where you are. I highly suspect that the books I enjoy will not be available on that device. The device itself costs something like 400$!! I can get 4,000 books for that amount of money. Not to mention the library.
That's probably enough for now.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Two Moose and Hideous Scarfery
As soon as I wrote the blog, something interesting happened…we saw 2 moose on the way to work. A mother and …what is the term for a baby moose? A mooselet? A mosling? A mooppy? Anyway, a juvenile moose. They were eating bark or something off a tree near the road. The mother was blocking the view of the younger one, but we know that either there was a younger one or the mother had an underdeveloped twin hanging off her left side with fully functional, though shorter, legs. Basically we could see a moose with 8 legs, the center 4 legs shorter. So we’re really just assuming there was another, smaller, moose on the side we couldn’t see. Given all the hazmat in the area, an undeveloped twin hanging off her side is not an impossibility.
Either way, it was cool.
All the SNOW SNOW SNOW we’ve had has given way to ICE ICE ICE.
The roads are clear of snow (more or less…streets in Spokane are a 3 dimensional maze of ice berms), but the freezing fog makes for an interesting morning drive. Once we slid most of the way through an intersection narrowly missing another car. This morning the driver (NOT ME) was trying to slow down to turn into the parking lot at my office. He hit the brakes but there was pretty much no effect on the speed of his vehicle. It did make that disheartening sound of snowtires on ice. (Hey! There’s an Icecapade for you…Snow Tires On Ice…I’d see that one..they’d all be wearing carharrts and doing synchronized snow-shovel work as they dug cars out of fluffy white drifts and dodged speeding Dodges shooting across the ice as wild-eyed drivers helplessly spun the steering wheels.) Anyway, he did manage to make the turn after a single bit of gravel helped the car slow down a bit and gave it a pivot point to make the turn.
I have my yaktrax now so I feel safer. Though one must put them on for them to be effective.
I got the “pro” model with the extra strap over the toe. The non-pro model is good, but tends to fly off my larger boots when I’m in deep snow or slush. They are hard to find in snow and slush especially when one is flailing about and falling down.
In other news…I’m making the world’s ugliest and heaviest scarf on my loom! I wish I had a photo but I don’t know that it would capture the full horror. I’m using “tangerine” colored RedHeart yarn (I hear that brand is the pinnacle of crap yarn). It was at the thrift store in Pullman WA when I was down there the other day. I’d already bought some variegated green yarn to try for a camo effect. When I saw the orange I was way too excited. I don’t have enough at this time, but I’m thinking that with some planning, I could make a hat that was orange on one side and camo on the other. That way it would be good for duck hunting AND deer hunting. Just spin it around so the appropriate side is forward. Of course, this leaves the back of your head unprotected in deer season, but what the hell. You have to die some time.
If it works (and if I ever get around to it), I can make a coordinating scarf…camo on one end, orange on the other. Wrap as needed.
The yarn IS made of petroleum (it’s orlon) which makes me feel bad, and yet, most of it has been acquired at thrift stores (I had given up on thrift when I bought the camo stuff at a regular store). Then again…it’s washable. It specifically says to feel free to wash it in the machine on the regular setting and throw it in the dryer. But no bleach.
So why is the current blaze orange (“tangerine” is the color name but not the actual color) scarf the heaviest in the world (the color explains why it is the ugliest)? I’m not sure. According to the loom, that weight of yarn should be knit as a double strand (fortunately there were TWO skeins at the thrift store). I’m doing that. But the scarf is so heavy and …well… firm, that it barely bends. In my mind, this makes it funnier and even more hideous. I may have to hang sinkers on the fringe to get the scarf to lie down a bit on the unfortunate wearer. It will be the perfect accessory for your “I can’t put my arms down” snow suit.
While I have figured out how to make flat knit on the round hat loom (thank god I didn’t go for the full “tube” style scarf…it would weigh more than one human could support), I have not yet figured out how to END flat knit on the round loom. For a hat, you knit a tube, then when you have enough tube, you run a new piece of yarn through each loop, take them off the loom, and pull tight. This makes that end of the tube come to a rounded point and forms the top of the hat. I could make the final end of the scarf come to a point and hang a big pompom off it if I can’t figure out another way, but I know there is a way to finish it without making it come to a point. The loom people tell me that you can do flatwork on the loom, but they want me to PAY for instructions on how to do it. I don’t want to do that. There must be a loser loom knitters discussion group on the web where someone will just tell me how to do it. I have plenty of yarn left at the moment and room on the loom to knit a shorter smaller item to practice finishing techniques so I’m not too worried. If all else fails…duct tape.
I’ll try to get a photo of the hideousness soon, if only to show the color.
Here it is:
(Note the background…it’s my bedsheets. These are sheets Marcie got me when I started college in 1984!!! They are a cotton poly blend that is apparently the most durable fabric in the world. I’ve used them as sheets, made a wall out of the flat sheet, used the fitted sheet to turn a shelving unit into a vaguely private cupboard, nailed them to walls at various times to cover holes or stains, and now they are back to being sheets again. I suspect that someone will inherit them when I die. They may be the only thing to survive the nuclear war. It will give the roaches a start on their interior decorating.)
Either way, it was cool.
All the SNOW SNOW SNOW we’ve had has given way to ICE ICE ICE.
The roads are clear of snow (more or less…streets in Spokane are a 3 dimensional maze of ice berms), but the freezing fog makes for an interesting morning drive. Once we slid most of the way through an intersection narrowly missing another car. This morning the driver (NOT ME) was trying to slow down to turn into the parking lot at my office. He hit the brakes but there was pretty much no effect on the speed of his vehicle. It did make that disheartening sound of snowtires on ice. (Hey! There’s an Icecapade for you…Snow Tires On Ice…I’d see that one..they’d all be wearing carharrts and doing synchronized snow-shovel work as they dug cars out of fluffy white drifts and dodged speeding Dodges shooting across the ice as wild-eyed drivers helplessly spun the steering wheels.) Anyway, he did manage to make the turn after a single bit of gravel helped the car slow down a bit and gave it a pivot point to make the turn.
I have my yaktrax now so I feel safer. Though one must put them on for them to be effective.
I got the “pro” model with the extra strap over the toe. The non-pro model is good, but tends to fly off my larger boots when I’m in deep snow or slush. They are hard to find in snow and slush especially when one is flailing about and falling down.
In other news…I’m making the world’s ugliest and heaviest scarf on my loom! I wish I had a photo but I don’t know that it would capture the full horror. I’m using “tangerine” colored RedHeart yarn (I hear that brand is the pinnacle of crap yarn). It was at the thrift store in Pullman WA when I was down there the other day. I’d already bought some variegated green yarn to try for a camo effect. When I saw the orange I was way too excited. I don’t have enough at this time, but I’m thinking that with some planning, I could make a hat that was orange on one side and camo on the other. That way it would be good for duck hunting AND deer hunting. Just spin it around so the appropriate side is forward. Of course, this leaves the back of your head unprotected in deer season, but what the hell. You have to die some time.
If it works (and if I ever get around to it), I can make a coordinating scarf…camo on one end, orange on the other. Wrap as needed.
The yarn IS made of petroleum (it’s orlon) which makes me feel bad, and yet, most of it has been acquired at thrift stores (I had given up on thrift when I bought the camo stuff at a regular store). Then again…it’s washable. It specifically says to feel free to wash it in the machine on the regular setting and throw it in the dryer. But no bleach.
So why is the current blaze orange (“tangerine” is the color name but not the actual color) scarf the heaviest in the world (the color explains why it is the ugliest)? I’m not sure. According to the loom, that weight of yarn should be knit as a double strand (fortunately there were TWO skeins at the thrift store). I’m doing that. But the scarf is so heavy and …well… firm, that it barely bends. In my mind, this makes it funnier and even more hideous. I may have to hang sinkers on the fringe to get the scarf to lie down a bit on the unfortunate wearer. It will be the perfect accessory for your “I can’t put my arms down” snow suit.
While I have figured out how to make flat knit on the round hat loom (thank god I didn’t go for the full “tube” style scarf…it would weigh more than one human could support), I have not yet figured out how to END flat knit on the round loom. For a hat, you knit a tube, then when you have enough tube, you run a new piece of yarn through each loop, take them off the loom, and pull tight. This makes that end of the tube come to a rounded point and forms the top of the hat. I could make the final end of the scarf come to a point and hang a big pompom off it if I can’t figure out another way, but I know there is a way to finish it without making it come to a point. The loom people tell me that you can do flatwork on the loom, but they want me to PAY for instructions on how to do it. I don’t want to do that. There must be a loser loom knitters discussion group on the web where someone will just tell me how to do it. I have plenty of yarn left at the moment and room on the loom to knit a shorter smaller item to practice finishing techniques so I’m not too worried. If all else fails…duct tape.
I’ll try to get a photo of the hideousness soon, if only to show the color.
Here it is:
(Note the background…it’s my bedsheets. These are sheets Marcie got me when I started college in 1984!!! They are a cotton poly blend that is apparently the most durable fabric in the world. I’ve used them as sheets, made a wall out of the flat sheet, used the fitted sheet to turn a shelving unit into a vaguely private cupboard, nailed them to walls at various times to cover holes or stains, and now they are back to being sheets again. I suspect that someone will inherit them when I die. They may be the only thing to survive the nuclear war. It will give the roaches a start on their interior decorating.)
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