Use it all!

My friend Christine, a.k.a. is amazing! She can learn how make or do anything in no time flat then teach you how to do it better not long after. As of late, she has embarked upon a great project of turning crappy old junkmail into beautiful real mail you can't wait to receive. Old fashion magazines? Last years calendars? BAM! They are now stunning envelopes beckoning you to write to old friends, maybe even new ones if you've had your coffee and are feeling frisky! Pesky advertisements cluttering your mailbox, hiding your precious REAL mail? NO MORE! KAPOW! Fantastic collaged postcards with more depth and beauty than any corporate exec could ever have imbued upon the images! I feel so inspired! I have one frog calender transformed into envelopes for my holiday card sales- I was so happy to NOT BUY new envelopes and just make the special size I needed from "junk" around the house!

Man, I want me to write to me!

Temptation!

The place:Bartells! The siren: Halloween Aisle! Goofy scary well-designed ghouls, plastic skinned, some battery operated, calling calling calling to me as I march in for some medicine refills and juice! But I resisted- despite the crepe paper archway and the beckoning mechanical hands; and it was hard! just one more dancing pirate skeleton who removes his skull to disco songs couldn't hurt too much could it? I pictured it the landfill 70 years from now urging the trash to "Get down tonight!" and when that actually made me laugh I thought about the fact that it was most likely made by some child working day and night under horrible diress for 70 some odd cents a day and then I could walk away-no lingering pull, no unsatisfied yen.

Less Junk Please

Sure I have my own coffee mug at work,-slowly I've added a set of silverware, a bowl I can wash, the reusable shopping bags are right by the door- but while that makes a small dent in the trash production we impose upon the planet, I wanted to do something bigger. Not to mention resisting corporatism- $700 billion plus bail out so that AIG execs can get manicures on the beach? Are you kidding? Thank you Larkin for your Compact Project! We are going one whole year with minimal purchasing, maximal reuse/recycle/DYI. Hygiene products, food stuffs, medical supplies and locally produced one-of-a kinds are the only exceptions.

So far so good-it's been one week. I roasted a giant pile of red peppers from the fruit stand on the corner and froze them up for later. I needed a new strainer for my pasta and found the perfect one at Cloud Nine, the thrift store up the street. It even has holes in the shape of stars!

I am hoping that this project will amp up my creativity- my first batch of holiday cards are started and I am dreaming up good gifts to make. Maybe everyone will get homemade tamales this year? Robert and I are investigating what sort of winter veggies we can grow.

Oh and I made it to payday without being overdrawn. This is going to be awesome!