Passion for Repurpose

Happiness is finding joy in the ordinary. One of my greatest joys is to create, and my favorite way to create is by using something that would have been thrown away and forgotten and giving it a new, useful life. This week I want to share with you a few of my recent creations:

Wine Cork Jewelry Hanger


It was created using E3000 glue, wine corks, hooks, and finishing nails. My necklace making hobby has left me with a storage problem. I had all the supplies to make this craft so I threw it together in under 15 minutes (minus glue drying time).  The best part is that I definitely need another one, which means more wine drinking is necessary! It's a big sacrifice but I suppose I'll have to do it for the sake of storing my jewelry 🤷🏻‍♀️😉. 

Wine Bottle Lights


Of course, I needed a use for all those empty bottles as well! I bought strings of lights on amazon that are made with a battery pack shaped like a cork. They add some nice ambiance to my yoga room :).

Clothespin Mermaid Dolls 🧜🏻‍♀️🧜🏻‍♀️🧜🏻‍♀️🧜🏻‍♀️🧜🏻‍♀️


This craft is a little different than the ones I typically share but it's so cute I had to. I created these dolls from clothespins (the repurpose), yarn, washi tape, sharpie fine point markers, and craft foam. I made these for a little girl I know and she loved them! I loved seeing her reaction and playing with her (We made conversation: “Hi. Where are you going today?”and then one of us would suddenly lose a tail “Oh no! I lost my tail!” So then the other would follow suit and we would trade tails. You guys missed a good time 😉). I'm going to make another set for my niece but I think I’ll let her help design them. 

This last repurpose is one of my all time favs: OG Troll planter 



I was OBSESSED with Trolls as a kid and my mother was awesome and kept all of them for me. Several years ago, my brother and I sorted through all of our toys that Mom had saved and I was beyond excited to still have my Troll dolls, most of which were in pretty good shape. This poor soul lost the most important part of herself, her hair of course, so when I saw someone do this on Pinterest, I decided she was the perfect Troll for the job. I allow children visiting my house to play with my dolls so she will inevitably have a friend who serves the same purpose 🙄😉. That’s ok though because without a plant in her head she would just be in a tote in the basement. Unless I embrace my inner Mimi, from the Drew Carey show. I’d be for all it but my desk at the office is cluttered enough 😩. Maybe I’ll just ditch the binders and bring in the Trolls! Who needs paperwork anyway?! Trolls are 563% more fun; no one can argue with that. I think I would like to have Troll hair because they have really cool colors that don’t require bleaching to achieve, but I could never dry it. I know this because I have stuffed Troll dolls, too, and I took them camping one time and 2 of them got soaking wet so my mom put them in the dryer....

Now their hair is the consistency of cotton candy.. Those two became my least favorite ones 😒 lol. I had 9 dolls, one named after each of my Grandma’s children. These two were my uncles Larry (L) and Peck (R). That green haired one was Kathy, after my mom, and she’s supposed to be wearing a white dress. That’s just like her to be misbehaving 😉. The  one in the red dress was Rosie, the creeper looking up through Larry’s legs was Debbie, and Larry is sitting on David. The other three are probably in that box somewhere. I didn’t think this narrative out before I took the pic. Now I have the season finale of Shameless to watch so I can’t spend anymore time regaling you all with my super cool childhood memories 😉.

There’s a full moon tonight so here’s a tip from Sansa on how to get a good night’s sleep: grow your ears long enough to cover your eyes..built in eye mask! 

Maybe she keeps them like that to make me think she is sleeping but I know that, like Siri or Alexa, she’s always listening.....listening for the bread box to open, listening for the sound of a cheese slice wrapper, and (oddly) listening for the toilet paper tube to become empty so that she can come snatch it and chew it up. (That’s assuming she didn’t just follow you into the bathroom to begin with. Not only is she always listnening, she’s just like Big Brother and always watching 🙄). 


😂😂😂

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Healthiness

We are three weeks into the new year. How are your results so far? Honestly, mine aren’t going the greatest. I’m still trying to kick my sugar habit and increase my yoga practice. Just like everyone else, I struggle to eat right and make time for exercise. Philip and I have been doing a couple of workouts a week in our home gym. Having a workout partner is one of the best ways to stay motivated and accountable. It’s also good to have someone to spot you when you’re lifting dumbbells while sitting on an exercise ball, which we were doing for a while. Once we decided that was slightly dangerous, we went on the hunt for another bench substitute. We ordered a bench from Amazon but due to all the snow, it got delayed somewhere across the country. In the meantime, we found the perfect replacement:

Yep, that is a chair shaped like a high heel. It provides a nice angle for chest flys. I’m thinking we should send the bench back and workout in style! 💪🏻🤷🏻‍♀️. I’ve had that chair for years. It used to be a seat for a vanity I had but now it mostly only gets used when my nieces and nephews are here. Who knew how much potential it holds?! 

I’ll tell you who is not a good workout partner and that’s a rambunctious dog that’s been home alone all day, who just wants someone to play with, and who does not want you to workout. Allowing her in the room results in wet willies and kisses to the eye while you’re trying to do some skull crushers 😳😝🤬

To keep her occupied one of us has to bounce her on the mini trampoline while the other competes their sets. She LOVES the trampoline 🙄. 

In order to make myself WANT to do yoga more often I decided I needed to make a dedicated space just for yoga; a place that I really like and want to spend time in. I did some rearranging in the basement, got a little brave with some paint, cut out a couple of vinyl graphics, and voila: 

I painted the person and the rest I made on my machine. I also created this picture, using the drawing feature for the background: 

It will be part of my ‘zen’ decor. 

I practiced my headstand this morning and I’m already sore across my shoulders 😩. That’s one of the poses that I resolved to master so I’m hoping my next post on this subject will include some pics. Today’s pics would’ve included several blurry action shots of me tumbling forward as I lost my balance every 5 seconds.

I saw a meme on Pinterest that said: "Yoga: what I do when I pretend to workout." I just wanna tell the person who wrote that, if you’re pretending to workout, you’re doing it wrong. That’s the biggest misconception about yoga, that it’s easy! Sure, yoga can be just light stretching but it can also make you sweat your ass off. It’s all about what you put in it, just like everything else in life. If you want to lose weight, gain flexibility, increase muscle tone, and maintain killer balance, try yoga! Want to target a specific area? There's a yoga sequence for that! Everyone can do it. There are modifications for every pose. Start today! Six months from now you’ll wish you had. Just sayin’ 🤷🏻‍♀️.

Tomorrow is a new day and starts a new week so it's time to reevaluate how I'm going to reach my goals. I believe that everyone needs physical activity in their lives to be healthy. Physical activity doesn't have to mean going to the gym 5 days a week for an hour long workout. If you're someone who has never worked out or just doesn't know how to get started, set small goals. Even just parking in the spot furthest away from the door at Walmart is a start. Take the steps instead of the elevator. If you have an office job where you sit all day, google some chair yoga routines. There are all kinds of ways to begin your journey to health and wellness. If you need help getting started, message me. I'm pretty good in that department 😏. If Sansa can do it, you can too! 😉

Clearing the Clutter

**I added a 5th category, as I’m sure you have deduced from the title**

Want a cleaner home? Own less stuff. Seriously, it’s that simple. I have been working on clearing out and organizing our home for over a year now. Most areas are sorted but I still have one that is a mess and hasn’t been touched in the basement. Honestly I’m a little sad that I’m almost finished. I’ve always thought of myself as someone who likes to get rid of things but a couple of years ago my friend, Michelle, said something (sarcastically) to me along the lines of, “If you guys ever move, you’re going to have a fun time with all of your stuff.” I was somewhat offended; like what does she mean, “all our stuff?” I didn’t think we just had a bunch of junk stashed away. Over the years our basement has become the catcher of things that I didn’t know what else to do with. My sister-in-law and friend, Lori, and I have a yard sale every year so I feel like I do a pretty good job of ridding the house of things we no longer need or want. However, I realized there were things I didn’t think to get rid or that we definitely didn’t need and just took up space. Thus began my Ebay selling hobby. I started listing things that I knew I wouldn’t even try to sale in the yard sale because people are cheap and I would never get out of it what it’s worth. Some will try to talk you down to a quarter on your jeans marked for one dollar that you paid $35 for and are still in great shape. I’m not sure why I even bother with the yard sale. It’s a huge task to mark all your stuff, drag it wherever you’re having the sale, beg people to borrow tables, haul those too, sort all the stuff and set it out, cover it and uncover it, hope it doesn’t rain, take the day off work, socialize with people, pack all your crap back up when it’s over, and haul it again—usually to the Salvation Army. All of that for not nearly enough money. Shirts I’ve sold on Ebay go for three times as much as I would get out of them at the yard sale!

Anyway, this is totally not going to be a motivational blog about reasons to sell on Ebay. The point  is that once I started  selling on Ebay and making money that made it worth my time, sorting my stuff and ridding the house of it became fun! I’ve always loved to organize, even as a kid. My mom used to love rainy days because I was especially fond of cleaning the shelves in the bathroom when I got bored and couldn’t play outside. I also used to dump everything out of the desk drawers in my room onto the floor and then arrange it all back in neatly. This is still how my process goes sometimes, ask Philip and the girls at the office 😂🤷🏻‍♀️. 

Sooooooo, if you’re looking for a way to get started with your own decluttering, I suggest you start with one room in your house, particularly the one that drives you the most crazy, make a list of what you would like to do, and get started. I started in the kitchen because that is where we spend the most time. I found a list on Pinterest called 100 Thing You Should Throw Away and tagged the things that were in the kitchen and made my way through the list. Of course, I don’t really advocate for actually throwing things away if they are still good and can be used by someone else. Those things you donate or sell. Only throw things away if they are broken and can’t be fixed. 

The next step after decluttering is to organize what’s left. We have a drawer of measuring utensils that was always a mess and we couldn’t find things when we needed them. Below is the solution I came up with. 

Now, you may be wondering why we have two sets of measuring spoons and my answer is, we actually have three. The third set is in the back of the drawer and doesn’t get used often. We both like to cook and I don’t like to put plastic in the dishwasher so the measuring spoons get washed by hand. They may or may not get washed right away so having two (or three) sets is handy for us. Also, having a set hanging on either side makes the drawer even, duh 🙄😉 (I know I’m a weirdo).

The next solution has made our addiction to travel coffee cups and reusable water bottles a more manageable storage situation. I actually put this wine rack in the yard sale a couple of years ago because it was just hanging out in the basement with lots of other bar ware that never got used, in the room where the bar never got built. I saw this storage “hack” on Pinterest and thought it was a great idea so I took the rack back and am very happy with the end result.

Another kitchen quick fix I used in the pantry is shown below. We ordered some knives and received a magnet strip to keep them on. However, that didn’t really work for our kitchen so I installed it in the pantry instead. I had extra magnetic bins that were just living on the side of the fridge, empty, so I brought them over to use for storing all the condiments that get thrown in the bottom of fast food bags. I rarely eat from Long John Silver’s because even the thought evokes a stomachache, however, I love their tartar sauce. So whenever I do decide to take the plunge and willingly make myself sick by eating it, I save the extra sauce to use with my homemade battered fish fillets. I also keep Arby’s sauce and Taco Bell’s taco sauce. The packets used to be all over the place so finding a storage solution was a must for my sanity. This works well and looks decent so I’m happy with it. 

The best part about having an organized home is not having to look for things. My system isn’t perfect yet(..it will be 😉), but Philip’s “husband eyes” are improving. What are “husband eyes,” you ask? The inability to find most things on his own. I love when he asks me where something is, I tell him, and he tells me it’s not there. I love it! It makes me laugh when I go and look and it is. This happens less often nowadays though . Now he likes to tell me I used my “wife eyes” if I look and can’t find something 😂. I suppose I shouldn’t label it in such a sexist way; there are definitely women who can’t find things either…right, Marsha? 😝 She just tells me she can’t find it so I’ll do it for her. Is it lazy or genius? You can decide. 

Stay tuned for more home decluttering and organization tips in the future. I’ll have some pretty cool bathroom tips in the next edition of Clearing the Clutter!

In keeping with tradition, Sansa is here to wish you good night!

NEW YEAR, NEW BLOG FORMAT

As one of my goals for the new year, I aspire to write one blog post per week (Unless I start back to school, get sick, deam any other excuse worthy, or just don’t feel like it 😝). I’ve come up with 4 categories that my blog subjects will fall under: 

1) Hobby Happenings

2) Passion for Repurpose  

 3) Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Healthiness

4) Oh My Garden. 

There may be a 5th or 6th category at some point but these are the only ones I am certain about. This will give you an idea of the content and you can decide if you want to follow or skip a particular subject. If you skip one though, you’ll be missing a good time. Guaranteed. 

Today’s topic will be Hobby Happenings! I got to go visit the art studio with my friend Chris this week. I learned all about the process for throwing clay, drying, green firing, glazing, and bisque firing. They have some really beautiful glazes there! Chris had a guest pass so I was able to use a pottery wheel and practice. And practice is exactly what I need tons more of because all I made was a mess and food for the failure bucket. The studio is being renovated and there was a man there painting, who came into clean his brush once every five minutes. I’m going to blame him being a distraction on my inability to center my clay, and also for the destruction of every piece I took over after Chris centered it for me. Yesterday, Philip and I were talking about getting out the wheel so we watched a video on YouTube where the guy was teaching how to practice pulling walls on a cylinder and his motto was to “pull it til you wreck it” so that you can learn, and not worry about making anything. I am advanced in the “pull it til you wreck it” department. I have that part DOWN. I need a lesson on “stop touching it or you will ruin it.” Guess I’ll just keep practicing. It was nice throwing at the art center, making a mess somewhere other than my kitchen, even though I still had to clean it up. Their clean up supplies are more readily accessible than mine. Even though I wore an apron, I still managed to cover my jeans in clay 🤷🏻‍♀️. When I’m at home I have an ugly orange towel that I use to cover my pants but I recently bought this super cool apron to wear also. 

Not only is it adorable, my purchase provided 17 bowls of food to shelter dogs, making it even cooler! If you love paw prints, check out www.theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com 

They have lots of cute items! 

Once Chris dropped me off at my car, where I met her to ride down together, I was driving home and heard the worst radio commercial I’ve heard in a while. It’s a Charmin jingle that goes, “My hiney, so Charmin shiny”……….seriously? Is having a shiny hiney an admirable quality these days? I have never been shopping for toilet paper and thought, “I wonder which brand can get my hiney shiny?” The thought has just never crossed my mind. Now I’m afraid I’m behind the times. I didn’t know I should be opting to buy a bathroom tissue that strives for luster. If Charmin actually achieves this feat, I believe they are selling themselves short!

Another radio commercial that I absolutely detest, and not because it speaks of insurmountable acts, is the Xtreme Yamaha, Suzuki, Polaris, Can-Am commercials. Every time I hear, “It’s time for your Xtreme bike break of the day…” I say, out loud, to just myself usually, “NO IT’S NOT!” and change the station. Every. Time. Those commercials have been on the air for over a decade. I can’t take listening to them. They make my ears want to bleed. Or rather, they make me want to stab myself in the ears, which will make them bleed. Same thing. 

From thinking about those two commercials I started wondering about commercials during my childhood, if they were any better or, at least, more creative back then. I thought of a few, like the Folger’s jingle, and the Doublemint one. Neither of which was mind-blowing but they didn’t talk about shining butts either, so there’s that. Smokey the Bear was popular back then, teaching us to prevent forest fires—pretty important stuff. Nowadays we just have to be continually reminded not to eat Tide laundry pods. I googled some older commercial jingles and I came across the Oscar Meyer and Armour hot dog ones. Both of these were a little before my time but I do know them because we sang them during a choir performance when I was in third grade. Your guess is as good as mine as to why. It was part of a mash-up that included parts about the Hatfields and McCoys (with a pretend feud) , “The Yellow Rose of Texas,” and Johnny Cash’s “Daddy Sang Bass,” among others. Thinking of that now, I realize that’s an odd assortment. At the time I was just excited to be on the McCoy’s side during the “feud” because my Nother Nan’s grandma’s last name was McCoy so it only seemed right 🤷🏻‍♀️😂. In sixth grade choir we sang a song about a whale that consisted of three words: “Oh,” “Whale,” and “Blub.” Philip loves when I sing that one to him 😉. I quit choir after sixth grade, which is unfortunate because I have a feeling I would  have even more strange anecdotes to share, had I not. Oh wait, I do have one more. I had the greatest music teacher, Mr. Ensinger, and he had a great song about where to put the trash. It went, “The trash goes in the trash can. The trash goes in the trash can. The trash goes in the trash can. The trash. goes. in the. trash. can.,” with the last line being more pointed than the others. I’m not sure that he actually had to finish the whole song, typically. We usually got the hint when  he started singing it. This song commonly accompanied Music Bingo, where winners got to choose Jolly Ranchers from a gallon ice cream bucket. He was a brilliant teacher, and super funny, obviously.

Speaking of teachers, last month I was unloading things in my trunk to donate to the FRN for the free community distribution and someone said hello to me and called me by name. That person was Mr. Smittle, a teacher who subbed when I was in elementary school and who taught a class at the community college that I took over ten years ago. I was truly honored that he remembered my name, when I know he has taught hundreds, maybe thousands of students in his lifetime. He is such a sweet man. He even helped me carry my boxes into the building, making two trips, and it was like 10 degrees outside. You never know when a small act like that will really warm someone’s heart so always do the kind thing, even if you think they won’t care ❤️. 

Anyway, this post got VERY off topic 😂. This is what you’re in for with a weekly post. Less content, more babbling. But hey, you get what you pay for 😉. 

I made a few new necklaces this week. I have a hard time listing them for sale because I love every one that I make! 😂 I bought a set of alphabet stamps to use on my clay pendants so I will now be able to personalize them with an initial. I’m excited to try them out. Although, I’m slightly concerned because the font is American Typewriter and I had a hard time deciphering whether one was a Z or a K (I’m aware that they look nothing alike), so hopefully they turn out recognizable. 

The lighting in my house is terrible so these pictures don’t do them justice. Should’ve used my light box! 😡

That’s all the Hobby Happenings I can give you right now so here’s a pic of Sansa, to wish you a good night. May you sleep as peacefully as this dog, but in a different position so that your arm doesn’t go to sleep.