Friday Favorite: Old Photos
Whenever I find an envelope that contains a few photos I scan them, put them in my photo organization software and throw away the actual photo. In the software I use I tag everything well and organize it into folders. That way I know exactly where everything is. It’s fun to come across a few oldies like these:
My indoor soccer team when I was in college.
I mentioned last week that I’ve been trying to minimize, minimize, minimize. You have to stay on top of these things so they don’t get away from you. At least nowadays most photos are taken digitally so they don’t clutter up your living space. It’s nice to digitize all these images, they’re much easier to find when categorized and tags. I find myself looking through them more often now that they’re on my computer!
Do you have a lot of old photos laying around?
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Friday Favorite: The Brown Chiots
It’s hard to believe that the Brown Chiots is 12 years old now. Or at least she will be in the next week or so, we’re not sure when exactly she was born, we got her at the local dog pound in early March and were told she was 7-8 weeks old at the time.
The day after we got her she got sick, really sick. Turned out she had Parvo. It was the weekend and the vet told us to try to make sure she got enough fluids through the weekend and to bring her in on Monday morning if she survived. She made it through the weekend and on Monday morning to the vet she went. They kept her for 2 days and gave her IV fluids and then she came home almost back to 100%. It’s amazing she survived.
She drove us absolutely CRAZY when she was pup, but that’s what puppies do. She ran away, dug holes in the garden, ate plants and did all sorts of destructive things. She was great as far as house training though, never once soiling indoors. She also was fantastic at not tearing things up, she never once ate a shoe or tore up anything she wasn’t supposed to.
Her only vice was tearing up all tissues that didn’t make it into the garbage can. Those she would frolic and play with throwing them around until they were in thousands of tiny shreds all over the floor.
Then at 2 years old she matured into the best dog ever and has been that way ever since. She’s the garden namesake, as she used to love to run around the garden. She still does, though at a much slower pace in her old age. She’s closing in on being the oldest pet we’ve had. There was a cat named Jeffrey that I got in high school who lived to 13 before getting cancer.
What’s the longest lived pet you’ve had?
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Friday Favorite: Fun with Pranks
Many years ago one specific prank gift was given at Christmas, it was fake poop. It has been showing up here and there ever since. For a while it was lost in the bottom of a junk drawer, but it was discovered once again and has been making the rounds at my parent’s house. The kids think it’s the greatest thing ever, especially our youngest niece Katie who happens to be four.
She is happy as a clam when she gets pranked so she can prank someone else. When we were back at Thanksgiving we put it in a can of Pringles for her to find when she reached for a snack. She laughed and laughed and immediately ran upstairs to put it on uncle Brian’s pillow. Before we left the prank poop was left on the bathroom counter with all four of their toothbrushes resting on it. My mom said Katie found it and thought it was great!
This isn’t the only prank gift that’s been in the family, every year there are different prank gifts, of course they usually revolve around bathroom humor. Fun pranks like these help us from getting too serious and reminds us to keep that kid part of us alive.
Do you have any family pranks?
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Friday Favorite: Brown Paper
When I was in 2nd grade, we took kraft paper and crumpled it up over and over again to make faux suede. With this suede we made vests. Ever since then I’ve loved kraft paper and have used it for wrapping gifts.
Whenever I get a package that uses brown kraft paper as the packing material I save it in my wrapping stash. Brown paper bags of all shapes & sizes are saved as well. I love that this paper can be used throughout the year, no need to keep holiday, birthday and other wrapping around.
I also have a box filled with scraps from ribbon, these add a bit of beauty to the humble brown paper. Sometimes I make tags, other times I buy them. I love the simplicity of this paper!
Do you wrap gifts simply or do you like to go all out with your wrapping?
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Friday Favorite: Repurposing
I love being to reuse, repurpose or compost items that come into my home. There’s nothing I hate more than producing waste, we try to avoid products with excess packaging and focus on buying products with compostable packaging or no packaging.
The whole grains I buy from the local mill for the animals around here comes in big brown paper bags. These are 100% paper, no plastic layer nested in between the paper like most feed bags. What I love about these is that they’re the exact width of my garden pathways.
They lay perfectly down in the walkways and act as a mulch, keeping weeds at bay and keeping my shoes a little less muddy. The worms also love them, as do the snakes. Right now I’m saving them up in the garage for using next spring. I love it when I can use something I have on hand in the garden.
Have you found ways to compost/reuse/repurpose items that make their way into your home?
