May 19, 2003

• Vacation Planning

  
  

  Just about two months ago, I posted a blog about planning for the vacation we'll take this summer.  I had a checklist of items to do in advance.  This morning I realized that it's exactly three weeks until D-Day, so I thought I'd take a second look at that list and see how I'm doing.

  
  

  1. Music with surf sounds embedded - check  (now if I can just remember where I put that CD, I'm sure it was in my zipper pouch before I took out all the 'easy' music and replaced it with up-beat music for exercising.)
  2. Flippy little beach skirt - check
  3. Swimsuit purchased - check
  4. Diet to lose enough weight that swimsuit won't fit properly - check  (I started the diet, then I had a bad day and ate a pound of chocolate, so I started the diet again, then I had a bad day and ate a quart of ice cream, so I started the diet again...)
  5. Second swimsuit scoped for when behind reaches that magically smaller proportion - check.  (If I eat nothing more than a grapefruit per day for the next 21 days, I MAY have a smaller behind.)
  6. Kids indoctrinated to say "I much prefer that we have dinner at a grown-up restaurant than McDonalds" - (Success at last!  Tucker has begun to regularly ask for Chinese Buffet, and Michael has discovered how much he likes Chili's and TGIFridays!  Whooo HOOOOOO!)
  7. Husband indoctrinated to say "I think that if you really like those earrings, you should have 2 pairs" - (Husband more likely to say, "If you like them all that well, why don't you just make a pair?")
  8. Emergency beach reading sealed to insure I don't read it before I get there - when DOES George R R Martin's next installment come out? (George R R Martin's next book has been delayed again.  We've had so many rainy indoor days that I've read the letters off the cereal boxes.  All emergency non-read-yet books have been read twice.  Move this item to top of list.)
  9. Husband indoctrinated to say "You girls look like you could use an evening out, why don't I stay here with the four boys while ya'll go party?" -
  10. Sister indoctrinated to say "Hey, you guys look like you could use a night out, why don't I stay here with the four boys while ya'll go party?" -

  
  

  The party has expanded to the point now that I think we can get group discounts at about every place we go.  It's going to be so cooool!  My friend Maureen and her daughter Kate will be joining us.  We already had plans to meet Fugitive and her two kids in Pensacola, and I've got every hope that my brother who is in the process of being discharged from the Army will make it home in time to hit the beach too.  I'm so excited I can hardly stand it to think of two weeks with my favorite people in my favorite place.  To add icing to the cake, my sister in law - Amy (wave to the people Amy) has learned that she will be giving birth (it's a scheduled induction) a couple days before we arrive so there will be a new baby to cuddle and coo over.  Isn't that nice of her that she's working around our vacation plans?

  
  

  

  
  

   

  
  

  Crafting -

  
  

  Yesterday I wrote about my recent foray into a new craft.  TheJohn left a marvelous comment:

  
  

  What you have pictured above is good stuff. But I wonder why make stuff that you really don't need? Are these crafts consistent with your attempt to live a simpler, less materialistic lifestyle?  I also wonder why not stick with one craft, one medium to express yourself and not abandon this medium until you have truly explored its essence. Frugality is not so much living without as it is getting the most out of what we consume. If we jump from one craft to another are we really getting the most out of any of them?

  
  

  These are very good questions and go right to the heart of what it means to live a simple lifestyle.  As he points out, a simple life-style has very little to do with depriving ourselves of things we want, it's about the attitude of maximizing what we have. 

  
  

  I think I picked up crafting as a life-style and addiction from my grandparents.  I can't think of anything they ever wanted to do that they didn't figure out some way to do it themselves, up to and including the building of their house.  When I decided to raise goats, I realized that I could either hire someone who knew what they were doing to build me a barn for the animals, or I could figure out how to do it for myself.  So instead of paying out several thousand dollars to have the work done, I bought a circular saw, built myself some sawhorses and went to work.  (I also skipped right over the picking-up-lumber-at-Home-Depot part and build my barn out of roughs I got from the lumber yard for $2 a pick-up truck load.)  In the end, I had the barn I needed for the cost of a power tool, and approximately $150 in hardware and items than I absolutely couldn't make for myself.  I've since been able to get use of the tools I bought in building rabbit hutches, nesting boxes, bird houses, and other around the yard projects.

  
  

  When I quilt, sew, crochet, garden, and preserve food - all the product of that crafting labor is used by my family.  I quilt the way my grandmother did, using scraps of fabric from the things I sew for myself and my kids.  Many of my crafts are a means of getting 'extra' from the materials on hand either by stretching them to new uses or preserving them.  

  
  

  I also work on some crafts that are on the borderline of utility.  I started scrapbooking because I had box after box of photographs that no one ever looked at.  My scrapbooking hobby, contrary to most I hear about, is inexpensive.  I don't buy pre-cut, pre-formed, or pre-printed anything.  I do have some high quality stencils which I can use over and over to decorate my pages.  I buy inexpensive scrapbooks at Walmart and use acid free paper from Michael's that I can get for about $3 per 50 sheets.  It's tempting when I see the wide array of fancy scrapbooking items available to forget that my purpose is to preserve my photos.  I've seen gorgeous books with pop-up pages and incredible layouts, but to me those things distract from the photos so I stick to simpler designs.  I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with making elaborate books, I enjoy and appreciate the artistry of creative layout and design.  I've seen beautiful books that have no photos in them, but they are the result of a different creative purpose than I bring to bear.

  
  

  Some crafts I work on for purely esthetic reasons.  I've cross-stitched a hundred different patterns, mostly given as gifts, although some hang on my wall, for the joy of creating something beautiful.  I've made bathsalts and candles, but I quickly learned that I could purchase those items far cheaper than I could make them so I don't make them as a regular hobby.

  
  

  In addition to crafting as a way to maximize or preserve my possessions, it maximizes my time.  If I have a rainy day to spend indoors, I'd rather read a book or work on a craft than watch tv.  My grandmother's day always ended with at least an hour of quiet stitching.  Now Grandma was a bit legalistic about it.  She had scathing remarks for people who didn't apply themselves to industrious production of one type or another.  Her highest praise for anyone was that they were a "hard worker."  As a child I accepted her habit as just the way things should be.  As an adult I wonder if she really enjoyed the work, or if it was a means of escape from the condemning voice that drove her to spend her entire life trying to prove to herself that she wasn't lazy.

  
  

  My husband likes to sculpt with polymer clay.  His specialty is figurines, but lately he's become interested in making more abstract pieces and items that could be utilized as jewelry.  He's not interested in learning about the jewelry making process, he just wants to make the fancy beads.  I don't need jewelry.  At the rate we're going, I'm soon going to have to find a market for the things I'm making to keep from accumulating items in excess of what I could wear even if I had a coordinated set of jewelry for every outfit in my closet.  Luckily, I have a large extended family and Christmas will be here before they know it. 

  • 9:37 am
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