This WONDERfilled Life...

If you couldn’t tell by my last post we’re a little CRUNCHY around here.  We cloth diaper, I use a “CUP” for that time of the month, and we do not use paper products (plates, napkins etc).  We try and recycle everything that our blue bins will allow and shy away from single serving packaging as much as possible.  Here’s the thing, we also realize that our small contribution of trying to REDUCE-REUSE-RECYCLE won’t change the world or even put a speed bump in the trajectory that the human species is currently on BUT being thoughtful about these things helps us to appreciate what we have, pine a little less for what we don’t and helps guide us to better living within our means and be a little less "consumeristic".  A few years ago we got rid of all the single / short term use plastics in our house.  We slowly recycled all our Glad containers as they wore out and cracked and eventually replaced them with a set of glass, Pyrex, food saverware.  These a...

I can have the best laid plans…but when “doodie” calls…I drop everything and take care of it.  I started a really awesome (I think it will be awesome) project two weeks ago for my horn.   I was in the designing phase and decided I needed some black mesh.   Cut to me tearing my sewing studio apart looking for one of THREE stores of black mesh that I know I own.   I couldn’t find a single one…so I decided then and there that I would organize my fabric after my year long crafting challenge (more on my trials of de-cluttering soon).   I got a ton cleaned up…but as I was organizing, I found a diaper cover half repaired and I realized I should probably finish that and just get it out of the area.   I finished fixing the cover and wouldn’t you know it we started having problems with every other diaper cover we own… If you didn’t know already, we’re a little crunchy…when I was pregnant with P I knew I wanted to cloth diaper.   I would stay up l...

Happy Earth Day! Yesterday the whole WONDERfilled family headed out and helped to clean up our local park.  P was super excited to be able to help "clean up the earth" and we were out for almost two hours (longer than I thought she'd be entertained). So in the spirit of Earth Day I tackled a project that focused on the three R's - Reduce, Reuse & Recycle. I didn't buy a single thing for this project, believe it or not I had everything on hand and/or re purposed things. In the summer of 1999 I had one of the best experiences of my life.  I was chosen as a fellow for the Pacific Music Festival, based in Sapporo Japan.  I could write for days about all the cool adventures I had while there, and that wouldn't even begin to touch the amazing musical experience it was. But one of the many "take aways" I got from living there for a whole summer was how amazing sleeping on a buckwheat hull pillow can be.  I distinctly remember arriving, tired fr...

Good snowy morning! We woke up this morning to a beautiful blanket of snow and couldn't be more excited. Last week I teased that I made some pretty luxurious birthday presents and I would show them off this week but I misplaced the file with the photos so I will have to hold off on that until I can locate those. It was a really busy week with some community organizing and I was worried that here in week 5 I would drop the ball on this challenge of mine but last night I mustered the energy to do a project that had been in my mind since Christmas. In 2011 my Mom bought me a Cricut Expression for my birthday. I've always considered my self a "crafter" and "sewer" but had never explored much the paper craft side of things. With the Expression in my crafting arsenal I was hooked. I used the machine for everything from cards to gift tags, decorations for a baby shower I hosted and my favorite thing, to cut stencils from freezer paper. The one draw back at t...

In the crafting/sewing world there are UnFinished Objects (UFO's).  I have lot's of those...in fact that is the reason I started this challenge.  With older age comes the want for simplicity. And with simplicity comes purging...and purging comes finally finishing the unfinished.  A recent online challenge I participated in referred to this process as "closing loops". We feel better about ourselves when we complete something. I have a few UFO's laying around...but I have more UnStarted Ideas (USI's).  These are usually concepts for things we need that I just haven'g gotten around to researching.  You know, we NEED a curtain in our bathroom to block the bright afternoon sun.  I could buy one...but what's the fun in that? I know I want to make one but I don't want to just make a regular curtain I want to make one with hidden tabs and a vent for the bathroom steam. These kinds of ideas end up taking quite a bit of time (and brain power)...somet...