"A Bag Problem Blossoms" - from NYTimes

Yet another unpublished post from my Drafts folder. 5 years after this NYT article and plastic bags are still a problem. We've been bringing our own to shop for a number of years, and I always keep a light-weight, foldable Chico Bag on me so I won't have to take a bag when I buy something somewhere.

Folded up, with a clip to hook onto your belt or purse strap.

Opened up, it can carry up to 35 pounds, I think. Mine says "Seney National Wildlife Refuge"...or used to before it was in the wash a few too many times.

If you're frugal or can sew, you can make your own with some free patterns from the Sewing Forum at About.com.

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Editorial from the NY Times - December 3, 2007

Now that the leaves have finally fallen, a new decoration becomes more visible on the nation’s many deciduous trees: those plastic bags that float high into tree limbs and flutter noisily with each autumn breeze. Despite this unappealing vision, a ban of all plastic bags would be hard to champion, although the earth would be a greener and healthier place without them. What this unsightly airborne litter does offer is an opportunity for industry and consumers to think a lot harder about how much such convenience is costing the planet.

Plastic bags are as much or more trouble than they are useful. Up to 100 billion are used each year in this country, and they make bringing groceries home (or even protecting a newspaper from rain) so easy. But they also choke wildlife, create litter and overload dumps for generations to come. It also takes 12 million barrels of oil to make a year’s supply.

The plastic bag, like the plastic water bottle, has plagued environmentalists for years but has only recently worried consumers. It may be that the fear of global warming is now so, well, global that people are trying to do their bit by subtracting from the earth’s garbage load.

Whatever the cause, lawmakers across the country are proposing bans on plastic bags or ordering up studies. The most dramatic action has come in San Francisco, where a voluntary recycling program for plastic bags turned out to be a dud (less than 5 percent were recycled). So the city banned plastic bags in large grocery stores last month and in large pharmacies by April. It may take some time to figure out whether this effort really works. At best, the industry could find a way to make better bags that only last for a while.

Already the market is responding to this public worry. Some stores are giving discounts or rewards for shoppers who bring their own bags. Others charge for each bag a customer uses. Many stores provide recycling bins for their plastic bags, although in most cases they are about as easy to spot as the discount cereals.

The Natural Resources Defense Council recommends neither paper nor plastic. Plastic pollutes and floats toward the nearest naked branch, but 10 billion paper bags each year use about 14 million trees. The council suggests that if you can’t bring your own bag, the best choice is one you will, for sure, either reuse or recycle.

Looking forward

Today is Boxing Day in Canada and also the day of my last post for the year 2011. This year, I won't bemoan the speed at which the year passed by (because I think I'd already done it enough during the year, and in most of my emails to friends).

Instead, I'll leap right to the part where I publicly humiliate myself again by telling you what I intend to accomplish for 2012.

I'd already mentioned one of my plans on my other blog (which is not as scary as Coraline's Other Mother) - to take the entries in the book "The Skeptic's Dictionary" and write a speculative-fiction (the genre formerly known as science fiction in my world) short story inspired by each entry.

Another plan I have for the year is to do a bird drawing each day. A colleague of hubby's gave our boys an old page-a-day calendar a couple of years ago thinking that the boys would like to check out those birds. We have about 6 bird identification guides (and many more encyclopedic bird books that weigh enough to kill small animals) that Son1 studies religiously, so the loose pages of an old calendar doesn't do much for him. Therefore, I'm going to use those pages to sketch a bird a day from, like artists go to the Louvre to copy the works of old masters to hone their own skills by. The art in this calendar is by David Sibley, and he's considered a master in the bird art world. I'm really bad about knowing what to draw and being inspired enough to do it, so this should work out well for me...provided I actually keep up with it.

As for knitting, sewing and crocheting, I'll go easier on myself this year: if I finish 4 projects total, depending on the size of the project, I'll call it a good year.

Hubby has grand plans for 2012 too, not the least of which is eating Vegemite every single day. It's good to dream big.

How about you? Any major goal(s) you want to accomplish for the next year?

Have a safe and fun New Year's...and see you on the flip side!

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Looking back

At the beginning of the year, which feels like yesterday but is actually about 352 days ago, I had publicly declared that I'd complete 6 sewing projects and 6 knitting projects this year. Was I too ambitious? I may never know because true to form, I stopped keeping track half way through the year and don't remember what I completed. Why is it that I can never keep good records? For some reason, people think I'm organized. I don't know why because I certainly never try to give that impression of me.

Of the things I do remember, here's a run-down of the sewing projects. I started off with the fleece jacket with the Darth Vader pattern fabric. Turns out it's a tad too small for either of my boys and they've not worn it even once. So, I'll be giving that away. I sewed 2 gift bags for my sister to use with her soaps, started sewing a laundry bag that I never finished, and hemmed several pairs of pants for hubby and my FIL.

For knitting, I made a pair of socks for me, a pair of baby socks for hubby's cousin's baby, am almost finished with another pair of socks for me, and am almost done with the third panel of a rug that I'm knitting with yarn I won from Robin's Rurification blog. Here are 2 of the panels, done (each panel measures about 1' x 3.5').

So, not exactly 12 projects total completed for the year (unless I completed other things that I can't remember...which is very possible), and I know I could do better, but why beat myself up for not doing it all?

Besides, what's more important is that I baked a lot too. Lots of loaves of bread

and cookies and kuchens

 and stollen

and more!

Also important was that I home-schooled the rugrats. Here is Son2 in his science group (I've blurred the faces of the other people in the photo for privacy reasons). I'm very grateful to my friend THS (to the left) who lead this co-op. I merely had to clean up our house before and after. :)

The chemistry lab I have to run by myself (materials courtesy of Meg who kept everything so well organized!). Son2 is doing it with Son1 so I won't have to repeat it again in a couple of years. I already have to redo the biology and physics labs with Son2 when the time comes. Sooo looking forward to that. ;P

In between the above listed things, I did some writing too, mostly thanks to the whip-cracking efforts of my critique group gang leader, Russell James (who has a terrific novel out that you can win on Goodreads.com).

Did you have resolutions this year? Did you keep up with them?

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Announcements

Announcement #1

My sister did it! She has started her own biz making super adorable soaps! Check out her creations at Soap Sudsations. Here are a couple of her soaps that I'm in love with:

(Just in time for Halloween too!)

Announcement #2

At another blog that I frequent, the author said that she was turning off comment capability due to too much spam. I've actually been pretty lucky and have not had spam (though occasionally I'll crave Spam), but her decision got me to thinking that I should turn off my comments too.  One, I'm a compulsive answerer and turning off comments will save me from having to answer every comment; and, two, people are busy enough and can barely find time to read this blog, let alone comment, so I'll save them from feeling guilty for not commenting because I am that kind of a generous, thoughtful person...heh.

Of course, you can still contact me via Facebook or Twitter (if you know me at those places) or at birders4-blogger (at) yahoo (dot) com - taking out spaces and putting in the appropriate at and dot symbols. Or not. Totally understand if you don't wanna talk to me!

On to other topics...I realized that I hadn't written an update on my progress for my New Year's resolutions. Honestly, it's not that I've been slacking off. In the past couple of months, I've knitted a face cloth (easy, I know, but it still took time), and a pair of socks with the beautiful yarn that dear Tanya O. bought for me (little Sage chose the color):



Currently, I'm starting to work on knitting a rug with the wool that Robin gave away at Rurification.  I'm sort of winging it, but hope that it'll mostly turn out all right.  :}  As well, I'm taking some online classes from Craftsy - sock knitting (to learn a different technique), jewelry making (to hone my skills), and basic crochet (to have a refresher course that's available 24/7...I'm hoping to take another class with Robin, but I can't have her 24/7.  ;>  )

I have fallen behind on my sewing projects, I'll admit. But my plan is to sew some bags for my sister's soaps. I love easy projects with satisfying results.

Also pretty easy, but takes forever, is canning tomatoes. We did our first batch of 13.5 quarts:

Then, too, I've starting making fresh pasta! Next up, I'll post a little tutorial on how I did it.

How about you? Have you kept up with your New Year's resolutions?

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Projects

Remember my resolution to complete a knitting and sewing project each every couple of months?  Well, I didn't quite accomplish my second knitting project for April because, guess what? I learned (or re-learned, more accurately, since I first learned in grade three) how to crochet!  I took a class from the very creative Robin at one of my favorite local stores, Yarns Unlimited.

So, I'm half way through a pair of socks for ds#2 but I've also started on a crochet project that is waaaaay over my head.  This is how much I've done so far:


And this is what I'm trying to make (from the Amazing Crochet Lace book by Doris Chan).

Why, yes, I was dropped on my head a couple of times as a baby; why did you ask?

Close-up of the funky yarn:


I'm not nearly as ambitious on the sewing front.  I made a gift bag for one of my kids' dear friends.  Sam's birthday is coming up and we're giving him some Star Wars themed gifts in this Star Wars themed bag that I made.  Bet you can't guess what Sam likes.


Speaking of sewing, the one piece of equipment...well, two, really...that I am very glad I bought are the rotary mat and rotary cutter.  These have made cutting fabric so much easier.  The photo below shows what I used to trim the sleeves on my FIL's shirt.  He wore the elbow out and asked if I could turn it into a short-sleeve shirt.  Piece of cake with my rotary mat and cutter!



"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Resolutions

Umm, no, not that kind.

And not that kind either...although if you would like one like that, go to Galileoscope.  :)

No, you know the kind I mean.  The kind that everyone makes around this time of year and look back a couple of years hence and go, "what the heck was I thinking, making rash promises to myself and anonymous strangers in cyberspace?!"  You can probably surmise that happened to me.

Foolishly (because, really, what other reason is there?), this year, I made another open declaration of my new year's promises to my (slightly drunk, perhaps) dewy-eyed self over at the Soap Queen blog, and also at Eric Maisel's Focus Journal e-list.

Yeah, I will never learn. I didn't realize I was forever the optimist.  I always thought I saw the glass as half-empty and really needed a good scrubbing to get the water spots off.

One of the things I had promised myself this year is that I would complete 6 knitting and 6 sewing projects, allowing myself a couple of months for each of the knitting or sewing projects.

Ok, I cheated a little bit and started on some projects in December, but LATE December so it was almost like January.  I worked on them a little bit every day, like I had promised myself (and the entire world), and I am very happy to report that I finished a couple of projects already...both today!

One is a hat for one of my guys - they'll have to fight over who gets this one.  Blue is a highly popular color among dh and the boys...go figure.

I also made a fleece jacket for ds#1 with the fabric that I bought from EG (of Gassner Custom Soaps).  Check out the ultra-cool Darth Vader fabric!

To top off my unusually productive day, I made my alma mater's famous cheese scones.  Wherever you are, Mark Seymour, know that you have my undying gratitude for introducing me to these delectable goodies.

I'm sure somewhere out there, someone is going to say, I'd like the recipe for that!  Fine, make me do extra work.

UBC Cheese Scones
"Our most popular scone, it has been served daily at UBC as long as the old-timers here can remember.  For best results, be sure the cheese is really nippy"

3 C AP flour (750 mL)
1/2 C sugar (125 mL)
5 t baking powder (25 mL)
1/2 t salt (2 mL)
3/4 C butter (175 mL)
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 C milk (250 mL)
1 C grated aged cheddar cheese (250 mL)

1. Preheat oven to 450F (230C).
2. In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients.
3. Cut in butter to resemble coarse oatmeal.
4. Add milk and cheese to slightly beaten egg and stir unto dry ingredients.
5. Place dough on a floured surface  and knead lightly (about 12 times).  Pat dough into desired thickness and cut with a 2" (5 cm) cookie cutter.
6. Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

This recipe supposedly makes 14 scones.  However, I alter it a bit and make about 40 smaller scones.  Firstly, I do steps 2 and 3 in the food processor.  I also don't knead the dough, opting instead for a drop scone, using a tablespoon.  We prefer the rustic free-form shape of drop scones.  If you make tablespoonful drop scones, you should only bake the scones about 10 minutes.

Dh brought these to a morning coffee chat session at his department one time and they were gobbled up in a hurry.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

I discovered a couple of weeks ago that I had forgotten my writing class (Sci-Fi at Gotham Writer's Workshop) lasts for 10 weeks instead of 6. It begins on Wednesday, so I guess I will be hiding out for longer than I thought.

Hope you are all keeping warm and safe - well, those of you in colder climes anyway.  See you in the spring!

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams