Caught the PINTEREST bug yet?

Well if you haven’t, here’s the ‘pinner’ who will get you hooked:  http://pinterest.com/marja46/

(WARNING:  Do not click unless you have lots of TIME to look!)

Seriously, this gal must surely be the  “Supreme Pinner” with over 43THOUSAND pins!  I’ve only even looked at a couple of her boards.

Makes my little pin board with 211 pins seem quite paltry!  But then I don’t pin ‘anything/everything’ that catches my eye.  Only really special things that I’ve not seen before or really HAVE to remember.

Pinterest is a great place to go for inspiration for just about ANY project.  Seems like a lot of people are abandoning their blogs to spend more time on Pinterest.

I hope that trend doesn’t take down too many blogs.  While I do love being able to see so many different things on Pinterest, the ‘original link’ often gets lost in all the pinning and therefore you may find a project you want to do, but can’t find the actual how to’s.  So for now, I’ll stick with blogging; and just do a little Pinterest ‘on the side’.

Just a click helps feed and care for abused and neglected pets . . .

Please take a few seconds to click on this link.  You can do it EVERY day!

http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=3

YOUR HONEST OPINION PLEASE

If the following scenario happened to you, how would you react?  Your honest opinion is appreciated.

Say you are driving by a retail shopping complex (strip mall type) and you see two signs that say:

“Moving Sale  50 – 70% off”

And you decide to go check out this sale.  You pull into the parking lot and start looking around at the different stores to see which one it is that is having the moving sale.  But there are NO SIGNS indicating a moving sale ON any of the stores.

Then, you see someone unlocking the door of one of the stores, and you ask them which store is having the moving sale.  They tell you which store it was, but that as far as they knew the sale ended two days ago.  You peek into the windows (because no one is there and the door is locked) and see that the place is pretty much stripped BARE.  How do you feel about that?  How would you react????

EDITED TO ADD: But there IS a small hand written sign in the window of said store directiong you to their new location, “two doors down”.

I would really, REALLY appreciate your honest input on this.  I’d love to see at least a dozen comments so that I can get a good feel for how most people might feel about such a situation.

aj

o0oOpsie!!!

Sorry about the NO PICTURES debacle yesterday!  I finally figured out that what I had to do was upgrade to a PAID account on Photobucket.  I still had TONS of room to upload more photos, but it was saying that I had exceeded my usage for the MONTH.  And the month is not even half over?!?!?  And I KNOW I posted waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more pictures in the months of November/December. 

Oh well.  It’s well worth the $25.00 a year, eh???

aj

One thing . . .

We’ve probably all said it, or at least thought it . . . . why bother trying to live or work ‘more eco-friendly’?  What difference will one little thing I do really make?  OR, I can’t afford those eco-friendly products.

Eco-friendly IS the new buzz word and marketers are riding that wave all the way to the bank.  It’s going to become BIG BUSINESS.  But, what can those of us who live a basic middle class life afford to do to make a difference?

1thingnw http://www.1thingnw.com/portland/  has some great ideas.  Little, small, simple steps that anyone can take; that combined with lots of other little steps from average people CAN make a huge difference.

Here in Oregon we are already big on recycling.  Michael and I do a lot of rescuing of building materials destined for the landfill to make our products with.  And living out in the country and having well water of limited amounts, we are always very frugal with out water usage. 

So, here are the ‘new things’ that I have started doing to conserve and preserve:

1)  I bought the re-usable shopping bags at Fred Meyer.  As soon as I unpack groceries in the house I take the bags right back out to my car so they are always there.  And I take them in with to to WHATEVER store I am shopping at. 

2) And speaking of shopping.  I prefer to run all my errands and get all my grocery shopping done on Mondays.  BUT, from where we live it’s a half an hour to anywhere!  So, now I do my grocery shopping after work on my way home.  I don’t enjoy it as much.  I’m tired.  Michael is cranky and hungry by the time I get home and I don’t feel like cooking dinner after I’ve put groceries away.  But it really does save me a lot of extra driving (and $$$ in the gas tank!) in the long run.

3) If I am cooking something in the oven I’ll try and make the most of it.  As long as the oven is hot, I’ll cook a quick batch of cookies (the break and bake kind of course!)  And I’ll cook larger portions to allow for leftovers which can be reheated in the microwave.

4)  I run the spin cycle on the washer a couple of extra times to get more moisture out of the clothes to cut down on drying time in the clothes dryer.   And fold clothes straight out of the dryer to cut down on wrinkles and ironing time.

5) We closed the heat vent and closed the door to the spare bedroom for the winter to conserve heating costs.

What ONE THING can you start doing today to make a difference?

Get a tissue . . .

I know I needed one watching this!

  http://www.youtube.com/v/ervaMPt4Ha0&autoplay=1

Who’s your daddy?????

I apologize in advance for bringing up this topic. . . . but it’s ALL you hear in the news right now! Who is baby DannieLynn’s daddy????? Men are coming out of the woodwork to claim to be Anna Nicole’s only heirs daddy. Makes one wonder if this is really the legacy she dreamed of leaving behind. . . ????

But is has also made me pause and give thought to what people will remember me for when I am gone.

I hope that I have encouraged and inspired a hurting soul or two along the way. Helped someone believe that their life is a beautiful God given gift, meant to be shared; when they were filled with self doubt & uncertainty.

I hope that I have ‘paid forward’ the many kindnesses that have been shown to me along the way. And that I have gracefully forgiven the hurtful things that I have endured with dignity.
I hope that in some small way, Michael and I have made the world a better place by restoring and repurposing what others considered trash; keeping things out of the landfill. Perhaps we have made room for one more flower to bloom and left one more tree to grow old and tall and too big around to hug.

I hope that the things we create help your ‘make a house a home’. That those homes are filled with warmth and charity. That when you sink into your favorite chair at the end of a hectic day, you sigh, “There’s no place like home”.

So, I guess it’s not really about the THINGS we make, but about the feelings they bring to those who take the home. That ‘feeling’ is what I hope to be remembered in. . . . .

 Sure, we are in business to ‘make a living’, but in the BIGGER PICTURE it’s really about making a difference.

VISIT OUR WEBSITE:  www.cscrafts.com/aj.html