Attitude

I recently spent an afternoon in a social situation with some acquaintances that I'm in contact with on a rather infrequent basis.  One of the women in the group is an absolute strobe light when it comes to attitude.  She enters the room with a beaming smile, tells about all the wonderful things going on in her life, and draws out people and their stories.  She physically applauds other people as they relate incidents from their lives. 

One would think that this woman has a charmed life.  Not exactly.  For work she's a nurse in a hospital unit for children.  She deals with children and dying on a daily basis.  In her personal life she is the mother of a mentally challenged daughter who is now a teen with the mind of a toddler.  Yet she celebrates every small ability that her daughter has and every small accomplishment that her daughter makes, sharing with other the wonders of her special child.

The day we were together was a rainy, cloudy fall day.  "Isn't the sky lovely when it's overcast like this," she said.  There is no false bravado in this woman.  Just an ability to look around and see and celebrate what's good in life and what's good in others.  I'm grateful for people like this who I can call to mind when I'm doing the drama queen bit over some small inconvenience in my life.  Thanks, Cathy.

Meetup

Last night I attended our local book discussion group at the library where we discussed "A Reliable Wife."  I liked the book and the group, which led me to invite the group to my house at the end of this month for an evening of Yahtzee.  I've been meaning to get together more often with people that I enjoy being with but one thing always seems to lead to another and such things keep getting pushed to the side.  The invitation is out there and I'm excited to have an evening with friends, old and new.

As the book group was preparing to leave one of the women, who was new to the group, came up to me to tell me about groups that meet and share common interests.  The groups function under the title Meetup.  According to her understanding, these groups began 10 years ago after 9/11 as a way to help people connect in their communities.  She said she's been going to a Scrabble Meetup group that gets together once a week, during the day, to play Scrabble.  The members of this group decided that they didn't want to drive after dark so set up their meeting time to accommodate this group decision.

I searched the Meetup site in my area and found walking, biking, dining, yoga, meditation, vegan, moms, and singles groups, just to name a few.  These are offline clubs, as opposed to the hundreds of online friends a person might have as they sit home alone.  

Numerous studies show that people with friends have better health, both physical and mental, and live longer.  As people who work in a caring profession it's also important to care for ourselves.  One way is by nurturing friendships.  Meetup makes it easy.

Our Paper Quilt

Artfully Arranging

At long last our lovely quilt is finished.  We did it using 10x10 inch designs that were colored in by the residents using crayons or markers.  Markers gave a darker more vibrant color while the crayons resulted in lovely, soft shades of color.  Next, the residents arranged the squares on a piece of black poster board.  Finally, the squares were attached and the board was hung as a wall hanging.

What I especially liked about this project was the many levels of involvement.  Residents were able to choose designs that were of varying skill levels and also choose either crayons or markers to work with.  I like when participants can have choices about the project.  I also like group projects and projects that can be prominently displayed for residents and visitors to enjoy.

Our Lovely Quilt

One oversight in this project - we did not make copies of the designs before they were colored in for a repeat performance of this activity in the future.  Live and learn!

Thirty Days

In July I posted about a TED presentation given by Matt Cutts who challenged people to try doing something for 30 days, stating that anyone can do anything for just 30 days.  Right on, Matt!  I said that I was going to take up that challenge and report back on the results.  Well, Matt was correct about one thing.  It is possible to do something for thirty days, whether it's an exercise, eating or cleaning course of action.  But something else happened during those thirty days.

I found out that I accomplish more during the day if I have a check list to follow.  I found that I had a less stressful day if I attack the check list first thing in the morning, rather than telling myself that I could get to my tasks later in the day.  I found out that I can quite easily become an obsessive person.  But the biggest surprise of all came when I realized that there were some things that I passionately enjoyed doing and some things that I eventually decided I could live without.  The surprise part was realizing the things that I enjoyed as opposed to things that I thought I should be doing.

What I enjoy, or how I spent 30 days this summer.  I found that I thoroughly enjoy reading, cooking, and cleaning.  I am now in the midst of purging my house of unused objects and general clutter.  I found that such a home is EASY to maintain and a delight to live in.  Plus it absolutely freaks out my husband who had heard me state in regard to cleaning, "After four years it doesn't get any worse".

As far as cooking I'm finally using all those cookbooks that I've collected over the years, which led to the creation of my recipe blog.  My current experiment is with raw foods and the incredible world of raw foods beyond salads.  Exploring flavors has become a delight for me and a terror filled experiment for my husband who thinks that Twinkies are a major food group.

And finally, summer reading.  I've read more books these past few months than I generally read in a year.  A great resource for a reading list is the book "Tolstoy and the Purple Chair," by Nina Sankovitch, which led to her "read all day" blog.  Check out the blog for 365 book reviews on books written by 365 different authors. 

Well, have you tried anything for 30 days?  Any discoveries about yourself?  I'm still using my daily check list and accomplishing more of the things that I love to do which gives me more time to explore other options for my life.  Who knows where this may lead.  I'm looking forward to finding out.

Silk Scarves Revisited

Orange Pink and Yellow Scarf

I recently visited a facility and conducted an activity period where we dyed silk scarves with bleeding tissue, a project that I've shared in the past.  The challenge to working in the space provided was the lack of space.  I love a challenge.

First of all, it was obvious that we'd not be able to set up the Styrofoam board that we usually use as a base for the scarves.  Long story short - I experimented at home and came up with a quick and easy method to dye the scarves using a minimum amount of space.  The trick is to place the scarf on a piece of plastic that's slightly longer and and about two and a half times wider than the scarf.  The scarves, of course, had been soaking beforehand in a 50/50 solution of vinegar and water for about 30 minutes.  This removes the sizing and makes the scarf ready to absorb color.

Once the scarf was in place on the plastic I covered half of the scarf with selected colors of bleeding tissue, the Spectra brand, which is absolutely the best.  The tissue was already cut into squares that were about 3x3 and I used 4 to 5 layers of tissue to provide a rich color.  Next, I folded the other half of the scarf on top of the first half of tissue covered scarf, patted it down, and spritz it with water using a spray bottle.  Finally, I folded the scarf into the plastic, which was actually a piece of drop cloth cut to size, and rolled it up into a sausage shape.  At this point it was a matter of squeezing the plastic enclosed scarf for about a minute to make sure that the color was being absorbed.

Voila!  Once unrolled and dried with a hand held hair dryer the scarf was lovely and ready for the final steps, which include allowing the scarf to rest for 24 hours, and then giving it a final 30 minute vinegar water soak (1/4 cup vinegar to a quart of water) to set the color.  A final clear water rinse and pressing and the scarf is ready to wear. 

Note:  Scarves we use are the 8x54 silk scarves available online from Dharma Trading.  At present they are selling for $2.39 each or $2.24 if you purchase 12 or more.  What a deal!  Spectra bleeding tissue is available online from Dick Blick.  Drop clothes are available in any paint department. 

Final Note:  Make sure you use colors that will bleed well together.  Blue and yellow will create green while red and yellow will create some lovely shades of orange.  Enjoy!