FINDING NEW WAYS TO RENEW REDUCE REUSE AND RECYCLE

Ok so nothing is really new except my way of thinking. And it isn't that I am new to the whole recycling thing but I just have a different perspective on it for the moment.

I will be the first to admit that my ideas and plans are often so fleeting that they do not last more than a season. And usually a short one at that. But at heart I am a greenie and that has been the same for a long time. And I think God is happy with me this way because look what I recieved in a gift exchange yesterday.

I should say I WON it in the gift exchange because it was one of those nutty games where everyone goes crazy and "steals" each others gifts. It was actually a lot of fun! There is a lot of speculation that I might have stretched the rules in order to win this. I can honestly say that it was about 50% plotting and 50% serendipity that I ended up with the coveted travel coffee cup plastered with greenie comments about recyling and reusing, etc.

So, In the latest Sunset magazine I read about some people who were committed to buying nothing new for a year, other than medicines and a few bathroom necessities. They showed off their thrift store Christmas ornaments and homemade bread that they gave as gifts and that sort of thing. It just got me thinking how much money I spend that is such needless waste. And I am a pretty frugal person by upbringing. Seriously though, sometimes I find myself buying something that I simply don't need or maybe even shouldn't have.

So I thought, well, even if I don't commit to buying nothing new for a year, I can challenge myself to make all my gifts this year and just see how far I can take it. So I put $20 in my pocket and headed off to the thrift store to see what I could find. I promised myself not to spend a penny more than that. Well, I knew I was going to make beanies for my nephews so I wandered over to the yarn section of the store and I was SO pleased with myself when I found the most awesome thick yarn perfect for making a trendy beanie for my oldest nephew. As you can see from the look on my face I am pretty proud of the hat too. Well it took me long enough to figure out how to make the stupid thing. I tried following a couple patterns and ripped it out about 6 times before I decided I would just make it up as I go. Well, after doing it wrong a few times I had figured out how to do it right and this was the end product.



Well, as soon as I was done with that and both girls had modeled it I felt ready to do the next one and I whipped it out in about an hour or two in front of the tv. Pretty quick consindering how many evenings I spent stitching and ripping up til now. So here is the end result of the other one.

Well, I hope the nephews like them because if they don't I might just steal them back and wear them myself. HA!HA!