Books Should Never Be Destroyed!

The Chattanooga Newspaper last weekend

 had this article about the UNITED STATES POST OFFICE SHREDDING BOOKS! 

I cannot believe it!

Someone, somewhere can use it!

Click to see the article in larger view

I just last week purchase some Discard Library Books at the Friends of the Library for only 10 cents each! Talk about a great price, could it pass them up!

AT least, the do not destroy them, they pass them on to someone, somewhere who can use them. 

I can donate them to the Senior Center or read them, craft with them, or donate to a Thrift Shop who will probably sell them for $1.00-$2.00. 

They still are good readable books and Good Stories and I can see where the Library may need more room for new incoming books but Never Destroy a book, please! 

Many of what I got had been on the New York Best Seller List at one time even. 

Take care of these books! 

\

Smiles, Cyndi

What Irks Me?

What Irks Me?

I got a " Mother Earth News" magazine at the grocery store last night and what irks me is the magazine has so many articles that reference me going to my computer to read more on an article.  I like to read on my front porch or in bed and I don't like to sit at my computer for hours to read.  I have pelvis problems and enough sitting at the computer to do my listing items on Mostly Etsy and a little newer items on  Bonanza, even eBay now and then. I have sold pretty well on eBay recently. I purchased this Polaroid Camera at a church charity sale recently, I listed it Sunday night and it was sold Monday Morning, a tidy profit too!

I read novels when I go to bed mainly at night but now and then I take a magazine.  I just hate it when I need an IPad to read on as I don't have one. My husband does and he likes it, he even reads books on it and I can borrow his but I am not that new in technology. I even just use my cell phone to talk to my family and friends. I really chat with  them when I don't get their message to leave me a message and I will all you back. We speak to each other and I hear their voice what is what I love when talking to my Mother and Daughter.

Back to the magazine:

The first two pages were nothing but http website addresses; and, this is a magazine about living on less and off the grid???? 

If you can't read the website address in the enlarged photograph, message me  or the details if you are interested in one of the articles. I am very happy to oblige you..

 I even got an invitation to get their issues for $10 for a year; Is it worth it to me? Do I need to purchase an IPad to read magazines today? This is one reason I like to read vintage thrift store magazines. The happenings are the same today and I never pay full price for much of anything. I buy thrift shop clothing almost always!  I like what I like and not what is popular today always which is in retail markets.

I went to a Thrift shop yesterday while by husband went to Subway for a sandwich and he said, "Do you want a sandwich or the Thrift shop"? Of course, you know my answer! I got 8 blouses/tops which I really don't need but at $1.00 each, why not? It was payday!  I also got some puzzles for my mixed media at 50 cents each and some more ( which I don't need) " FabUloUS books! at $1.00 each, some even 50 cents! Who can pass that up? Some Historical and Decorating Books, Crafting Books and patterns, some picture frames at $1.00 and I will use them for my photography and one for mixed media which has a flat frame. It was cute and finger print painted but I can moss  over it with bark and twigs. I can't wait to get started on it. Woodland mixed media is my frame of mind, ( play on words, hee hee)!  

I have done wonderful selling my mosses on Etsy and I get the most wonderful messages from my buyers about how they are enchanted by their order. I always try to give more than expected and send care sheets. I also make terrariums with it and I may go to the evening market tonight with them and my Sourdough Breads I make. On Saturday's there are markets everywhere but they start early and end by noon usually. It is hard to me to get p and around by then even thought I get up early. I would have to pack the car the night before and be ready to go when I wake up. Unpack in the dark to be ready for the first buyers.

I took some photos of making my bread last week to show how I could the 6 cups of flour needed. I don't know how many times I have started with it and forgot how many cups I have put into my bowl so I started using leftover Easter candy pieces to count. I move one from one side of the bowl to the other side with every cup of flower added. Just my little system but it helps me to remember where I am in adding cup by cup of flour into the bowl first before the other ingredients. I have so many loaves in my upstairs freezer it is full. We can never eat it all and I have given it to my neighbors before too.I use my treasured vintage Pyrex bowl we received from our church when we married 47 years ago! I better not break it! 

Maybe I will go tonight. I should do it. I also need to cut back my hydrangea AGAIN that is over taking our bridge walkway to our front porch. It is growing like crazy and I saw the first bloom this morning. Beautiful Purple blooms and I already cut it back once and planted in other places in our yard.  I brought this plant with me from Alabama when we moved and last year it really took off growing and again this year is way too much!  I already had several cuttings from last year planted in the yard in various places, anything to make some extra $$ than does not cost me a lot to get to sell.

You can buy anything at these markets, farmers bring their garden goodies and flowers, along with canned items and even a chicken, bunny or rooster sometimes! 

I hope you have a fabulous day, it has finally stopped raining here after about 5 days of it, bad thunderstorms last night, I went to bed to read what I could of my new magazine. 

Smiles, Cyndi

Spring is in the Air!

Spring is in the Air!

April, Spring, warmer weather, tree's blooming, green color is returning, all of these things make me want to get even busier in my yard and gardens.

I even went to the flower shop yesterday where they are stocking up on garden and yard plants! I even got some Victoria Rhubarb to grow for the first time ever! Actually it is my first time for many gardening ideas as I have never really had them before, maybe just a plant of two that grows very easily like my mint that spread everywhere in Alabama. I adore it when the dogs tennis ball had to be retrieved form it because it released the smell and I also used it in making mojoto's, fresh mint make them so pretty and tasty, I also had chocolate mint that smell wonderful. It should be coming back up soon, I hope! I did get our black cat Blak some more Catmint again yesterday. He loves it so much. Lily the tabby is not much into it yet and she would even rather chase her tail than play with toys.

I did take branches from my corkscrew willow that was replanted at many of my previous homes. My

 in- laws gave it to me when we bought our first home and we stayed there 17 years but when we outgrew it and moved, we took cut branches with us for new trees. My Mother -in- law even took cuttings when they moved from an apartment to a home so it did travel to many new sites.

I planted several cut branches in several places in our yard here in North Carolina and it seems to be doing very well! Of course, my moss gardens here are my biggest thing as it is free to gather in the woods where the deer have kicked it up and I have discovered a whole new world with my fairy gardens along with  the lichen and tree algae I find here, I have so many plans for all of them this summer to add to my small Lilliputian worlds and making terrariums. I have been collecting tiny miniatures to put in them.

Yesterday I went to the thrift store and got a large bag of wooden items. I figure I can learn to paint them to be terrariums accessories. I also got some small winter Christmas houses I plan to de-winterize and make them fairy and gnome houses with the moss and lichen added.

I also plan on making mobiles and wind chimes with all my junk metals I find along with my stash of bead s and jewelry accessories. I also collect kitchen items for mobiles and anything that would make noise in the wind.  

I have thought of using my junk crowns   or terrarium lamp

fixture holders ( I call them) for using in wind chimes, they can be a base for hanging items I have found. Also tree branches and stones, etc.  I am lucky ( or unlucky) I have so many flea markets available to be here and so many animal help thrift shops. Or unlucky because I spend to much money at them.

  My collections are getting overwhelming and I need to use and make instead of just collect.

I  also have a large collection of picture frames I need to de-stash! I  have been collecting them since Alabama and have several boxes of them. They were purchased for vintage prints I have and for making nature inspired mixed media like my sassafras leaves in my Etsy shop! I also take So many photographs here in the country, I want to share them as I am working on a way to get them printed and shipped.  It amazes me of the quirky road sign names here, I guess anyone can name their own road and some are very cute names and very unusual! Yes, I take photos of them also and wishing wells, tire swings, even clotheslines; things we did not see when we lived  in the city.

I have many vintage jars and it pains me we cannot recycle glass here, so I dread putting them in the trash.

I found alongside the road one day several white plastic bags dumped at a site I pass every day. I finally got tired of looking at the plastic bags someone had dumped and I took a big trash bag to collect them and put in our trash. I had no idea what was in them at the time but it turned out they were old "Wild Irish Rose Bottles "someone had dumped. Now, I want to decorate them and maybe learn to cut them for wind chimes, 

My husband purchased  at a craft show we attended a three cut off bottoms bottle wind chime but it had no hanger in it , it was just to clink in the wind. It did not work out very well, so he added a wood bead inside and a tin can lid to the hanger, now it looks and sounds wonderful!