AMANDA'S BASKETS: Thirty Six Days...Wow...

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Thirty Six Days...Wow...

I know, it's not very original, but I am still awed by the fact that we will be moving in about a month!!!

PICTURE OF THE DAY:

Well, you can guess why this is here...I packed these today. Tomorrow they will be off to the storage unit! Guest room is almost finished. That may not sound like much, but I basically disguised my storage room as a guest room...so it is something!!! And it will be packed and out of here by the end of the week.

Next up, my office/studio. And the good thing about that is that I have mostly decided what to keep, what to get rid of, what to take and what to pack. And the books and magazines are all taken care of. So, I don't think it will take much time. What will take time is the closet next to my office/studio with all our files. Have yet to decide how to handle them.

What you can get into a tiny bag.

Anyone remember those old stencil tools on the left...I mean the old stencils for a mimeograph machine? They are really sturdy and come in handy for a variety of things.

All of the above fit into this little bag with room for more...

Backdrop is hung, but no lighting person. So, they called and asked if I would handle the lights...you know, dimming, bringing them up, changing the lighting to reflect the scene, highlighting... I can never say no, so off to rehearsal I went last night. It went long. That's why I didn't blog yesterday. And tonight is final dress rehearsal, so it will be long again. Thus, my afternoon instead of evening blog. I will try to remember to take pictures of the backdrop tonight.

I began packing another box of craft things. This one will hold most of my tools. I began with a good mat for gluing and then added a super cutting mat - it is twice as thick as most of the cutting mats - some rubbing stencils and then all sorts of tools. The little bag is on the left side.

And there is still lots of room in this box also. I may not need all six boxes.

Well, that's all for today. It is cloudy, gray, rainy, windy and yet, I can still see some beautiful fall leaves on the trees. What a gift.

Thanks for stopping by.

CRAFTING IDEAS

I am always looking for a small piece of paper to write down something which will later be disposed of. I decided to use some of the scrap paper of which I have a ton. I mostly use the paper for glueing projects. I decided to cut the paper into a small size. (Six pieces from a piece of copy paper.). But just having them sitting on my desk would get messy without a container. So, using a cardboard box, I cut it down to size and using a hot glue gun I glued the ends together. Using a picture from a magazine cut into pieces and stick craft glue, I glued the pieces to the box inside and out. I also used some decorative tape for the outside edges. And to finish the top corners which were not covered, I used straight pins with colorful tops. Looks nice and works well.

MAGAZINE IDEAS

(New) One article in the Farmer's Almanac 2024 is a list of trends. One I knew about is the trend to downsize in just about every area. Another trend that I was surprised about was called ''The Human Library' which offers people on loan to talk about specific subjects. Finally, more folks are adding pets to their family and as a result, stores are adding more pet food, toys and medication to their offerings. There's also a nice garden article which suggests mixing vegetables and flowers together for success.

RECIPE IDEAS

Have you every made Cherry Dump Cake. It calls for 2 cans of Cherry Pie Filling (21 ounces), a white cake mix, 1/4 -1/2 cup butter, melted & 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans. In a 9 by 13 pan, spread both cans of cherry pie filling. Add the melted butter to the cake mix and break apart the resulting mixture and crumble it evenly over the pie filling. Sprinkle the pecans evenly over the mixture. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35 - 45 minutes until the topping is golden brown. Serve with vanilla ice cream. Fast, easy and very delicious.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

What if you want to establish better habits, then decide what habit you want to work on. Again, try an easier one first for that good feeling of success. Let's consider more exercise. Start small. Don't try to run a marathon right away. Set the amount of time, the type of exercise and when to do it to begin making sure that it is within your reach. If it works for you each week add a bit more. Walking is one of the best ways to get good overall movement but there are many exercise videos on YouTube of varying lengths and difficulty to check out. Change your exercise routines to eliminate getting bored. For hardcore exercise with weights, give yourself a day in-between to recover. Even on days you would rather not exercise, do it and see if you feel better. It takes an average of 66 days to establish a habit. Just think 66 days to establish a good habit for a lifetime. Sounds like a good thing to me...how about you?