...SUSTAINABILITY?

  I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but one of my favorite parts of this whole addicting, craziness of 'STUFF ACQUIRING' is the Research and Learning involved! (One of my 'intentions for 2019'' is to make these 'useless tidbits of information' a more prominent part of this blog - what do YOU think? Yeh or Neh?)

  Recently I have been finding EVO SUSTAINABLE GOODS dishes - at random times, in random locations - 

mere coincidence? (if there is such a thing!!)

It doesn't seem to have much of a demand in the resale market, which is too bad - for a couple of reasons.

 'The concept of sustainability is what sparked the creation of the EVO Sustainable Goods brand, the manufacturer of EVO Housewares. By combining wood and plastic into a single raw material, the benefits of both were united, and the WPC compound was formed, creating a substantially reduced impact on the environment.'

  They are BPA free, Microwave and Dishwasher safe, and they come in FUN colors - what more can you ask for??

When researching 'sustainable goods' I can't help but wonder what kind of world our 'littles' will inherit (and NO I'm not even going to touch-upon the political state!!)…

You may remember a post where I mentioned my Niece's 'Nacho Average Baby Shower'...  well, this Grand-Auntie has a new Love in her life!  Meet Miss V.

  While I was putting a collage frame together for a Christmas present, I asked my niece for "that picture of V 'Hugging the Tree' "...

...Little did I know what a 'literal' Tree-Hugger she is growing up to be!!  I've never had a child, but knowing how precious this 'little' is, I can't imagine how Anyone with their own children could not want to preserve or improve our world in any way they are capable!!

With that said, Time for a Shiny NEW Year full of possibilities ~ 2019!!  Does everyone have their 'resolutions' (or 'intentions' as I prefer to call the them!!) ready to start the New Year off with?  I would love to hear them - Please Comment with your Top 3!

I'll start (not in any particular order)...

~Deplete some of our 'Death Piles' (ie: 'inventory' waiting to be acted upon.)

~Flex the right side of my brain a little every day and get to CREATING!  Do 'Me' my way.

~Be more present in every Day and appreciate what life has given me.

Wishing you all the BEST in the New Year,

Be Safe, Be Well

and

enJOY!!

Go rub the belly of your favorite Laughing Buddha for 

Abundance, Prosperity and Contentment!!

(WARNING: This has also been associated with increased fertility!!)

...an easy SMILE!

This time of the year in the NE United States, when temps are generally hovering in the teens, 'saling' tends to dry-up!  An occasional Estate Sale or trip to a Thrift Store are about the only ways to get a Good.STUFF.Fix.!!

Yet,

I have noticed lately (as has J), that I rarely come home without an extra box or bag (or 2) of 'STUFF'!

Upon pondering this, I realized that I have gained quite the posse of suppliers to 'feed my habits'!!!

PACKING/SHIPPING SUPPLIES

~Our local Marshalls (namebrand discount homegood/clothing stores ) calls when they have a boxful ready to pick up

~Our hometown RX always has a bag of packing misc. ready for me when I pick up our monthly prescriptions.

~My Mom's hairdresser sends her homes with boxes full of 'peanuts' every 6wks (for us!!)

WE KNOW A LOT OF WINOS!!

When you love to craft & create with CORKS, like I do, this is a GOOD THING (It would be SERIOUS TROUBLE if I had to empty all these bottle by myself!!)

~Sweet next door neighbor waitresses evenings at a high-end Restaurant, and has convinced the bartender to save corks for her!!

~A dear friend works at a local winery doing tastings...

~Our Favorite Happy Hour Bar has a bag waiting for me weekly!

(*One night at Happy Hr., I was surveying the contents of the 'weekly bag'.  One of the 'Hierarchy' of the Company J works for was out with us - he looked at me, shook his head and laughed "Oh Susan, I wish something that simple could put a Smile like that on MY face!")

BIRDS of A FEATHER...

~The Best Man from our wedding has become an avid Hunter/Fisherman in his retirement.  He is more than happy to supply me with FEATHERS to feed yet another of my recent 'crafting inflictions'!

JUNK MAIL

~My 'trendy' friends are more than happy to keep me supplied with catalogs!!  This probably seems REALLY BIZARRE to most, but when you don't do much retail shopping, you tend to get NO CATALOGS!!  I LOVE thumbing through high-end clothing & home goods catalogs to catch up on the latest trends, and get Creative inspiration - like my recent soldering attempt!!

As WONDERFUL as all of this stuff is...

it was fun to get a 'Different Fix' this past Friday, and come home with the Subaru FILLED!!

To sum it all up...

I had my First. Real. DUMPSTER DIVE!!

BOSE Outlet STORE CLOSING!

I missed all of the BIG store display pieces over-flowing from the top and sides of the Dumpster, that first caught my eye when I pulled into the mall from the side entrance... but I had 'real' stuff to do that I didn't want to look/smell like I had been 'rummaging around a dumpster' for.

When I came back through 45min. later, it looked like the dumpster was empty, but upon closer inspection - NOT!

More tangles of wires, cables, remotes, speakers, headphones and other non-sense than you can imagine - but luckily there were TWO Large Plastic totes (with Covers!!) in the dumpster, just waiting for me to fill.  It means NOTHING to me, but it put a SMILE on J's face!  I can Honestly say this is the first time I have ever garbage picked that he has actually APPROVED!

(and Today, 1/29 is his birthday - so I'm glad I brought him home some Fun Stuff!!)

After I had loaded every.last.electronic.bit into the car, I went back for ALL of the unopened boxes of office supplies!(?)...case of scotch tape ...boxful of white board markers in red ...boxful of white board markers in black ...another in green  ...another in brown...  carton (6 boxes of 5,000) of staples ...roll of Bubble wrap ...white board erasers ...tape dispenser ...3hole punch ...boxful of Sharpies in black ...in red ...boxful of highlighters ...pens ...white out ... folders ...wood yardstick ...magnetic displays ... even a Disco Ball light NIB!!   OH MY!!

Yes, we have had TWO DAYS of fun sorting through all of the STUFF!

I can remember my Dad on occasion making comments about People regarding their smiles... "She wouldn't be nearly as Grumpy, if she smiled" ... "She wouldn't be half bad, if she would smile" or "I like her, she has a good smile"

Despite a lack of SALING, I have had an abundance of SMILES in my life lately!

...and HAPPY BIRTHDAY J!

 I love You!! ((BIG Smile!))

...to everything there is a season...

VERA (2010 #24)

Poor, neglected blog.

Not sure if it is the change in seasons, or the recent electrical short in the attic studio/storage (resulting in the relocating of MASSIVE QUANTITIES OF "STUFF") that has caused me great reflection of late...

...someday projects... ...future hopes... ...dreams... ...boxes... ...waiting... ...waiting...

for what?

...stuff... ...boxes... ...and boxes... ...Ebay/Etsy warehouse-O-stuff... ...stuff... ...stuff...

Too. Much. Stuff.

(Did 'I' just type those words????)

Time to put the 'stuff' to use or else clear it out.

A very wise women once told me "We have time in our lives for what we want to do."

I'm not exactly sure what 'that time' is for, but I do know that time is NOW! (During the "STUFF RELOCATION" I found I hadn't touched my sketchbooks since 1993 - why?? OH, the right side of my brain was screaming for release!!)

For a while, my 'stuffing' time, will be taking back seat to free up time (and space) for whatever the moment may bring... 'Tree-Hugging', 'Martha-Moments', 'Right-Brain-Release', 'Creative-Cooking-Chaos', 'Clearing-Clutter'... Now, don't hold me to this... I have no idea how long this will last, and I have no idea as to where this little blog will go from here. You KNOW I won't COMPLETELY give up my STUFF SEARCHING, and if anybody feels like hanging out for my journey~ You are more than welcome to tag along... just don't expect too much!

With that said...

Fall was in the air this past weekend and I started to play.

We stumbled upon our first Harvest Festival Saturday morning, and it put me in the 'Martha'-mode... When we came home and I pulled out the spray paint and hot glue gun - DH just stepped back and got a scared look on his face!!!

**NO LIVE BIRDS WERE HARMED IN ANY WAY WITH THE MAKING OF THIS POST!!**

...and when he saw me taking a photo of this, he got REALLY scared!! "You AREN'T going to put THAT on your blog, are you?!!"

(some people spray paint feather trees... I prefer to Black- spray paint old beat-up Christmas feather birds!)


My attempt at Heidi's paper bag wreath



Fall arrangement with fresh Artemesia from the garden (and YES 'Vintage C' that IS a piece of Weller - just to prove I DO own things other than HAEGER!!)


...and a little Plarn PUMPKIN! 10 Kinney's Drugstore bags, a twig from the yard, and two scraps of yarn - doesn't get much 'greener' or simpler than that!!

Is there a FULL MOON tonight?? There must be some logic behind me quoting 'that' book and announcing a 'stuff sabbatical' all in the same blog entry!!