Archive for January, 2013

Nostalgia

Memory book from Gramma
1975 Zenith Chromacolor II TV

My 1975 Zenith Chromacolor II TV

There are several things I really enjoy doing because of the nostalgic quality of the activity.  They include making cookies using the stand mixer I grew up using to make cookies, making soup in my great-grandmother’s soup pot, sewing on the sewing machine that once belonged to a friend of my grandmother’s and watching movies on the TV I grew up with, a 1975 Zenith that looks like, as my best friend through secondary school described it, “the TV from outer space.”  Mind you, it’s not because of the fact that any of these items–the stand mixer, the soup pot, the sewing machine or the TV–are of exceptionally high quality.  (Although I do think the fact that they are all still around and operating speaks to the fact that they were well-made.)  I enjoy using them purely because their familiarity gives me comfort.

This past weekend, Ben and I spent Saturday night organizing the basement.  Because that what we do.  Our idea of a good time on a Saturday night is assembling shelves, categorizing tools and getting rid of junk that’s been in the basement since the previous owners.  Mind you, we’ve already been through several rounds of divesting the basement of stuff from the previous owners.  I swear this stuff is like sauerkraut in your fridge–it just keeps multiplying.  All kidding aside, though, I really like to organize things and get rid of excess stuff that I don’t need.  It makes me feel lighter, and I get tremendous satisfaction out of being able to find things easily.  In short, I don’t generally hang onto stuff I don’t need.

Except when I do.

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Sewing Sunday

curtains-cropped

Although Fall is my favorite season, I do love Winter because it makes me feel okay about taking some much-needed time to relax at home and do projects for myself.  The cold weather somehow gives me permission to stay inside, sip tea, read and make stuff.  I don’t feel the pull of yardwork or gardening or frisbee or summer festivals, and I find myself looking inward and reflecting on how I want to start out my new year.  I’ve almost always counted on this time to accomplish a few projects that have been on the back-burner, such as launching this very website last January.  I know that the Spring thaw will pull me back into the realm of outdoor activities, so for now it’s nice to have some quiet time in the house.

This weekend, my plan was to make curtains for my back bedroom/Ben’s office.  Okay, really my plan was to make a curtain for that room since I didn’t have enough material for two.  (But that’s okay, I’ll get more.  Please, twist my arm…do I have to go to Fabric Row again?)  I had a spare curtain rod in the basement, so I set to work on Saturday sewing the curtain. I finished it up and went to hang it only to discover that I had somehow misplaced the mounting brackets that accompanied the curtain rod.  This wasn’t totally shocking in that the last time the curtain rod was actually mounted was two houses ago in 2005, and I feel like this is pretty much the story of my life.  I finally get fired up to start a project, get most of the way done, and then discover that I’m missing some critical component that will prevent me from finishing the project that day.  In my life, it’s inevitable…and it’s infuriating.

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Holiday DIY Round-Up

Christmas Kraken Holiday Cards

Now that Christmas is past, and we’ve given all our gifts, I can finally share with you all of the stuff I made this Christmas.  For the past two years, in an attempt to not contribute to all of the consumerism of Christmas and, yes, save a little money, I’ve been trying to make as many gifts as possible.  It definitely adds a few more projects to my plate that one could argue I really don’t have time for during the already-busy holiday season, but I really enjoy giving handmade gifts, and especially for those people on my list for whom it’s difficult to shop, it seems more personal than just picking up an arbitrary gift card.

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