Fiddledeedee

When I was a struggling artist, I lived in a tiny house in Burbank, California.  The kitchen was miniscule. Storage was nearly nonexistent, so I used my tiny oven to store pots and pans.

I had no regular washing machine or dryer.  But rather, I did have one of those apartment sized machines that you roll over to the sink so you can attach a hose and then have room to wash 3 pair of underwear. Four, if they were bikinis.  But then I had to climb over it to get to the next room.  I’m sure it was similar to what Ma Ingalls had to endure.  Except without the creek.  And the rocks to beat the Pa’s overalls with.  And well, no Pa.

There wasn’t a dishwasher, so I became well versed in hand washing all of my dishes.  I remember that I went through a good deal of dish soap because a squirt was always TOO MUCH SOAP. And since I was dirt poor, that always irked me.  Since a bottle of dish soap could have paid for a box of Pop Tarts.  Just saying’.

Saints be praised, today I have all manner of modern appliances.  Even a dishwasher.  (Which btw, is still trying to cripple me.) But I’m still in possession of my thrifty nature established so long ago.  That’s why I love this tip that my step-mother gave me for saving on dish soap.  I’ve been using it for years.

Even though I have a dishwasher, I have to wash my Calphalon pans and my Vita-Mix by hand.  I buy an empty plastic spray bottle at the store.  The one I show below is my favorite so far.  I found it at Wal*Mart in the nursery department for about $1.25.  Then I take my dishwashing liquid of choice, and squirt a smidge into the empty spray bottle.  I never measure.  A smidge is about 5 seconds worth of squeezing.  Depending on the size of your spray bottle.  And how slow you count.  Then I fill the remainder of the spray bottle with tap water.  Give it a little shake.  This way, when I’m washing dishes by hand, I just spray the soap into the dirty pan.  Using far less dish soap.

And for the Vita-Mix, I shoot a few squirts from the sprayer into the blender part, fill it with more water, and turn on high for self cleaning.  Hardly ever forgetting to put the top back on.

Now a bottle of dish soap lasts me a sweet forevermore.

Word of warning. Because of my cheap thrifty nature, I’ve been known to utilize empty plastic spray bottles of whathaveyou.  Without changing labels or alerting myself to exactly what I was now using it for.

It only took one episode of spraying my hair with a mixture of 1/2 bleach & 1/2 water, thinking it was just plain water, to cure me of that mistake.  Forever.

I’ve also been known to spray Biofreeze (similar to Ben Gay, but in spray form) onto my hair, thinking it was my hairspray.  It’s a wonder I’m not bald.

For more Works for Me Wednesday tips, head over to Rocks in My Dryer.  Shannon (who originally created WFMW, and was in fact the very first blog I ever read) is pinch hitting while Kristen is away on a life changing trip with Compassion International.

Hand me a #2 pencil sharpened to a fine point, and I get giddy.  Back before I discovered the joys of Quicken, computers, and spreadsheets, I did all of my accounting by hand.  Neatly handwritten in a ledger, with a finely sharpened #2 pencil.

Suitable for framing.

My children have inherited my obsession for a sharpened pencil point.  And I supported that until daughter #1 stabbed daughter #2 in the head with a bright pink princess pencil.  And btw, my how-to book on parenting will be out some time next year.

We’ve gone through a plethora of pencil sharpeners.  Everything from the cheap manual palm sharpener that comes with your Maybelline eye pencil, to the allegedly superior electric sharpener.  I believe I’ve spent a small fortune on electric sharpeners that have either fallen apart or just stopped even pretending like it was going to sharpen my pencils. Always one week after the manufacturer’s warranty expired.

I finally decided that the only competent pencil sharpener was the old fashioned crank kind of my parochial school daze.  But I didn’t want to start drilling holes into the furniture to accommodate it.

Solution.  I found a old fashioned crank pencil sharpener by X-acto that has a suction cup type bottom so it can be moved at will.  I found it at Wal*Mart for around 5 bucks.

It is beautiful to behold.  For more sharp Works for Me Wednesday tips, head over to Kristen’s at We Are That Family.

It’s the Backwards Edition of Works for Me Wednesdays.  We get to ask a burning question this week!  Mine is about blogging conferences:

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The internet has been all abuzz with discussions of upcoming blogging conferences.   What was once a rare and unlikely event has become commonplace.

There are conventions and conferences to suit every type of blogger’s needs.

I’ve been blogging for well over 3 years now.  And frankly, that shocks me because I’m notorious at stopping and starting creative projects.  I have no less than 4 scrapbooks at various stages of disarray in the bottom of my closet.  And the laundry room that I set out to make more festive has been half-finished for 10 years now.

TEN YEARS.

But blogging seems to have stuck.  And I always feel that I have room for improvement.  Improvement in the creative process, and not just in my excessive use of commas.  And the business end of blogging, which I fell into by chance, FASCINATES ME.

Enter the blogging conferences.

But which one to choose?  Some of the upcoming 2010 conferences that I know of are:

• BlissDom – Nashville, TN   February 4-6
  
• Mom 2.0 Summit – Houston, TX   February 18-20
• BlogHer – New York City   August 5-7
• She Speaks – Concord, NC   July 30-August 1
• Blogalicious – Miami, FL   October 8-10

I’m certain that there are more that I’ve missed.

The only conference that I’ve ever attended was She Speaks two years ago.  I was overwhelmed by the women that I met, and all that I learned that weekend.

I would love to attend a conference devoted to bloggers this year.  Because I have a burning desire to get away from this insane asylum so that I can have ADULT CONVERSATION learn more about my craft.  Really.

If you have attended any of these conferences, which one would you recommend and why?

Also, are you currently planning on attending one this year?

If you follow me on Twitter, you know that I spent the day at the Magic Kingdom since I now have the know how to TWITTER WHILE MOBILE.  But not as in driving.  Or even walking.  In fact, I have to be completely still in order to text and/or Twitter.  And if you’re at Disney World and standing in a line or two.  YOU’RE GOING TO BE VERY STILL FOR A GOOD WHILE.

And that would be my excuse for being so scarce.  Carrying on with that theme, I wanted to show you how I display our Christmas cards.  That is, if we even receive any this year.  Since I have not sent out a card and requisite Christmas letter SINCE I BEGAN THIS BLOG.  Because I am pitiful.

I likely will not get a card and letter out this year either, and will instead say “just go to the blog” with a wave of my pitiful hand.  So fortunately I’ve saved Christmas cards from years past and I will simply display the old cards on my walls, and pretend that we still have friends that send Christmas cards.

For years I taped cards to the walls.  And that just speaks all manner of classy.  So I came up with a better way to show of our nonexistent pretend friend’s cards.  I talked about this last year at about this time, but I found more photographic evidence to show you.

So here goes.

This is the styrofoam board I use. You can find sheets of this stuff at any home improvement store. It’s very thin and light weight. You can also cut it to any size you wish. Mine are long and thin, because they were purchased to use as insulation for the interior of our garage door.

Next, take a roll of wrapping paper, and pretend like you’re wrapping an over-sized piece of gum. Using a stapler. My trusty assistan Emme demonstates.

Behold. A giant wrapped, stick of gum. You know, it occurred to me that you can also use fabric.

Embellish it as you wish. I use a simple fabric bow. (Fashioned courtesy of my Bow Dazzler!)  Also, I use a length of fabric stapled to the back to hang it. Since I don’t want to make holes in the wall, I use removable Command Adhesive Mini Hooks. I keep a stash of these for emergency decorating projects. What constitutes an emergency decorating project? For example, hypothetically speaking of course, you’re having company, and you want to disguise an unsightly stain on the wall.  Hypothetically.  And btw, yogurt is a stain that WILL NOT COME OFF OF A WALL.  Or ceiling, for that matter.

You can make as few or as many of these as you need. Depending on how many friends you have. Or in my case, how many cards I’ve saved from Christmas Past.

For more Works for Me Wednesday tips and ideas, head on over to We Are THAT Family!

Happy decorating, my friends.

Many years ago, before stretch marks, I had a painting business in Los Angeles.  I found old discarded furniture and spruced it up with a little decorative painting and then sold it in hoopty ploopty Melrose Street type stores for a tidy sum.

And by tidy, I mean I would holler at perspective customers I CANNOT BELIEVE THE PROFIT I’M MAKING ON THIS $2 TABLE.

In my head.

In reality, a lot of love and care went into my work.  I thanked God every single day for a job that I absolutely adored.

At Christmas time, I would add small gift items to my offerings for sale.  Among my favorites were handpainted Christmas ornaments.  I found clear glass ornaments at craft stores (usually found on sale AFTER Christmas and I would save them).  Then, using different colored water based paint, I would pour a little into the ornament and swirl the paint around to create random designs.  When the interior of the ball was coated, I placed them upside-down in an egg carton to drain and dry.  When I was certain they were dry (usually a few days) I placed them in a pretty gift box lined with tissue paper.

These made beautiful little gifts.  And no two were ever alike.

I decorate “my” tree with these ornaments.  As opposed to the “kid’s” tree which is adorned with all manner of Disney Princesses and Hot Wheels Cars.

If you’re looking for some really terrific handmade gift ideas, head over to We Are That Family and check out Works for Me Wednesday.