A new kind of Christmas tree

When we were in Montreal last month, we biked up a mountain (less impressive than it sounds - not a very steep grade), and at the top was, in addition to a breathtaking view of the city, a series of interesting gardens. One idea that caught our eye was a simple teepee-like structure that was built from sticks and vines.



We've got a lot of that type of material in our yard, as we are adjacent to a woods. So on Thanksgiving day, Tom, Molly and Tommy built our own structure from sticks and some invasive vines we found in the woods. We used tufts of goldenrod as 'ornaments.' We also attached lights for illumination at night.

A new type of furniture polish

I knew that title would grab you. I mean, who doesn't want to read about furniture polish? Anyway, I do have a new idea that will allow you to reuse a product, keep you healthy, and save you money. What's not to like?

The bottle shown above is from a Bobbi Brown product that I use. I recently ran out of the product and was wondering what I could do with it. The bottle is actually quite nice - very heavy, solidly constructed - and I thought it was a shame to put it in the recycling bin. At about the same time, I was reading Home Safe Home by Debra Lynn Dadd, and she had many recipes for homemade cleaning products. One, for furniture polish, consisted of 2 parts olive oil and 1 part lemon juice. So I mixed it up and put it in the bottle. It worked quite well, and you don't need much to clean a few rooms. Regular furniture polish contains a surprising number of toxins, so I consider this a win-win-win.

Think about it next time you're throwing a nice container in your garbage or recycling bin - set it aside and see if you can find another use for it.

Item of the Week

Right now our group is looking at No Waste. A few years ago this area was called 'Recycling,' but we have learned that recycling is really the last resort after reducing and reusing items. Much of our recycled material has been heading overseas at a huge energy cost, and now it appears that the value of our recycled material is sliding downward, causing much it if to remain unprocessed (and here). So recycling is not the final solution. Darn.

So we have to begin thinking about the first 2 items in our recycling mantra: reduce and reuse. A couple of weeks ago I challenged our Tuesday group to pull items from our recycling bins and every week we'll brainstorm different uses for these items. So today we start with the humble Early Gray 100-oz tin can. I buy these with some regularity because we have Earl Gray tea drinkers attending our weekly meetings. Normally these go into our recycling bin, but this particular tin was plucked out yesterday for our group meeting.

One thing I will say for our group -- we have imagination. So here are some things we recommend: fill it with sewing notions; keep seed envelopes inside it; good for loose herbs; use for gifts (especially chocolates); give it to your local kindergarten teacher (they are always collecting this stuff); store small amounts of beans, grains, etc; take it to Teavana and they will fill it with their own tea; and finally, put it up on freecycle. I can testify that people will pick up ANYTHING from your house if it is free. Trust me.

So there you have creativity at work. I'll keep an Item of the Week page up on the site for all of you who one day will reach into your garbage or recycling bins and wonder, 'Now, what could I do with this?'. We're here to help. Remember, small is big.

Handkerchiefs

This past Christmas Tom asked for handkerchiefs and received 3 from our daughters that were hand embroidered. I think he got the idea originally when we lived in Japan and all the men carried handkerchiefs to blow their noses or wipe their faces in the summer heat. It's also a great way to reduce paper consumption. So he carries one on his person (back pocket) regularly now. He uses it to wipe his hands in the men's room, wipe things like his glasses or camera, and of course when he sneezes, coughs or needs to blow his nose (but that would eliminate the other uses if used first, I think).

This is a little idea, but you might find it useful. And out daughters, I'm sure, wouldn't mind embroidering them for you!