Well, not only has Christmas come and gone, but the New Year has arrived and is off to a quick start. Sorry I have been a little behind on my posts, but have I have been busy with little things in life that sometimes get in the way of the fun things that I like to do.
I took down the tree on New Years day and I put all the decorations into clear plastic storage boxes in the basement. Hopefully they will be easy to find and keep the dust and spiders out.*eek* We had the family over for our Alaskan King Crab Feast that we do every New Years. This has become a family tradition and usually the only time we ever eat crab. Sorry to say I have gained another 10lbs this year from Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. *Yikes!!!* I did try to redo the crab feast menu this year and included an organic salad instead of the usual baked potatoes with sour cream and butter. We also had shrimp (for my grandson the picky eater) and homemade jalapeno jelly from Patty Pantry on cream cheese with crackers for an appetizer. I have been buying from this couple for many years now. Check them out at http://www.pattyspantry.com for dessert we had Pizzelles (I made over 5 large batches which is 780 of these delicious cookies this year for Christmas gifts) and Poticia with golden raisins and pecans that I bought and had frozen from Mauro Farms in Pueblo this summer. You can check them out at https://maurofarms.com/shop/potica.asp
After a weeks rest I finally gathered all the boxes that things had been mailed to us in. I tend to use my guest room / office/craft room as a catchall for everything that I don’t know what to do with.*laughs* It drives my husband crazy and maybe that why I continue to do it.*laughs* We cut down the bigger boxes and put them in the recycled bin. I saved a few of the smaller boxes to use next year and will store them in the basement in a storage container. I also saved all the tissue and decorative gift bags to reuse. Yes . . . I do reuse them and sometimes more than once! The tissue that is wrinkled beyond repair I fold and reuse again as stuffing for shipping gifts to family and friends or at the bottom of a gift bag. It only takes a little bit of extra time to do all this and it not only saves the environment, but it saves money too.
I received a large box from Gaiam that was filled with the earth friendly peanuts that I have stored in a bag to reuse again. I also have some of the plastic air pillows and bubble wrap that I received from other companies that I will save for next year. Last year I had so much of this that, I took it to the neighborhood-shipping place and gave it to them to reuse. They welcomed the free shipping materials.
Another thing that I have started doing was cutting my Christmas and Birthday cards apart, recycling the greeting half and saving the pretty pictures for my grand children to make cards or collages with. I had a stack of cards that I have been saving over the past several years in a large drawer in our bedroom and I was forced to face them when we redecorated our bedroom this last summer. I have since moved them to (you guessed it) . . . our guest room. I used to be big into Stampin Up and have extra card stock paper and they can cut and glue to their little hearts content. I also have several different greeting stamps that they can use. What they don’t use by the end of this year I will take to a day care center for them to use.
My next big challenge will be cleaning out my cluttered unfinished basement. It is a disaster (no kidding) after living here for about 24 and we (I will admit that most of the stuff is mine) have many boxes of things that I need to go through to trash, donate or sell. It will be a scary endeavor for me because I don’t like spiders (I have seen them lurking in the shadows) and so I will have to be armed with a vacuum in hand before I move or touch anything. My goal is to get everything cleaned out by April 1st. Hmmm … isn’t that April Fools Day??? I may save a few of the really nice things for the cancer fundraiser that my credit union does in the summer. I took a car trunk full and back seat full of knickknacks, Christmas decorations, decorative shelving, etc. to them last year. I also have a small box full of cat figurines and knickknacks that people have given me over the years that I will take to our local animal shelter’s thrift store. I felt really good when I donated the things to the credit union. It felt like a big weight being lifted of my shoulders. Clutter does not only clutter up your house, it can clutter up your mind. It is always they’re staring at you, even though you try to ignore it. So if I get rid of everything I should feel great!!!
On a totally different subject, I just got great news this month. My son will be getting married in September this year. I will be giving his bride to be a bridal shower in August and will do my best to make it Eco friendly. They already have everything they need since they are in their early 30’s, so we will do a “Date Night Theme” for them. Which should make it easy for friends and family to buy for them. Things like gift cards to restaurants, theatre tickets, sports (they are big Avalanche fans), art museum, zoo, botanical gardens, movie tickets, spa and hotel. I am looking forward to decorating and planning for the shower. It will be interesting to see what is out there for doing eco-friendly parties.
“Although I may not be the greenest crayon in the box, at least I am trying!”
Coloring Me Green – Vickie Jo Higgins
