Resale Before Retail

Six years ago, I renewed my commitment to more conscious consumption.  I have gotten into the habit of shopping for entertainment. And because I was working overnights, found that I could occupy many hours buying crap I really didn't need, and sadly, didn't like once it arrived. When I decided to quit that job, I knew I have to curb my luxury spending. It was a nauseating experience. Buying the basics did not fill the same desires as shopping for "stuff." Not like I needed more "stuff". It was the shopping process.

Now six years later, I have more supplies for all the projects I could never have imagined back then. After a couple more shifts in my work situations I have scoped out how to get the best deals - way more value for the money I spend, in any category I desire.

 I picked up two bottles of Wen Cleansing Conditioner at Sal Army Store for $1.50 each. Having seen the commercials, I knew this was suppose to be the good stuff. Now, I gave up shampooing my hair more than ten years ago, so the concept of washing with a conditioner was easy. To top that, I read the directions. The portion to use is divided in half - first to wash, then the rest as a leave-in conditioner. Once home, I diluted two ounces of product to six ounces of water for my leave-in. I added a tablespoon to 12 ounces of water for my spray in.

I love the results of this product. My hair is soft and curly. Wen retails for over $32.

The Corning Saucemaker and the warmer were collected from the neighborhood thrift store. Collected a separate visits, I bought the one quart saucemaker for fifty cent and the warmer for $1. I couldn't leave it behind. It works great as a microwave rice cooker and most recently, I found I can cook red lentil curry in it on that warmer, which way beyond warms, apparently. It is Salton Jumbo Hot Spot - Sold as casserole set with dish for $47.  The Corning is listed as vintage and listed $13 to $40. Worth it to wander around and look locally.

I have enough yarn deals to post repeatedly, but this was a find from East Bay Center for Creative Reuse. I bought yarn. I love to buy yarn. I have plenty of yarn. Buying yarn is pleasure.  I longed for this yarn, but resisted paying retail. I found it on vacation in California for one-fourth the price of retail. I worked it up into this head/neck wrap and donated it to Flood the Streets with Art V in my community. It is a wool/acrylic blend, soft and beautiful. I hope the person that has it, loves it as much as enjoyed both finding and buying the yarn and knitting the project.

(Flood the Streets with Art is a project by Scott Wong to specifically battle the monster known as Black Friday.)


Before I shop at retails stores or online, I check my local resale shops for the items I want or need. I have bought a few duds, but I am so far ahead in savings that I let go of what didn't work. Personally, I do not recommend the reduced price in favor of cleaning it up. I bought a shelving unit around the corner, spent four plus hours washing and scrubbing. It still was not clean enough. Later I went to the store and bought a new unit for $4 more. I found a use for my less than stellar purchase and it works great.

Remember to let go of what no longer serves you, even the really cool stuff. That's how thrift stores have great deals to pass on.

#Happy Everyday!

I traveled across the country, to my favorite place and my heart - San Francisco! I made the pilgrimage over Golden Gate Bridge. Cross that off. Having fully renewed my fear of heights, I have no need to repeat the journey. Now when I feel unwell, I describe the symptoms as the sensation of walking across the bridge. Notice, I am hovering near the street/traffic edge; felt safer.

Before I completed my time at my last work situation, I applied for two jobs. One that pays well and another under the category,  "Would you be here if you were not getting paid?" Yes! As of this date, neither have called. I applied for two more jobs. One that will meet my basic needs. The other my desired schedule and maybe more money. Maybe. One contact to which I was not able to respond - system down.

To be clear, I love being at home. I leave to earn the funds so I can return home. Working offers the advantage of ease in meeting my financial obligations. I like ease. If I want effort, I can workout. So, as I step up my search for my next right and perfect work situation, I am thankful for each morning I wake when I choose, and every night I have relaxedly enjoyed before crawling into my comfy bed to rest. I celebrate each waking, Happy Everyday!

My days are filled with grandchildren, art and knitting. I am learning more about my attention and patience. I explore my creativity, stretching beyond my comfort zone. In my success of creating for others, I learned that it is unpleasant. I thought that time and talent was sufficient to complete the project. I found myself greatly distressed during the process - will they want this, like this, even care how much time and effort this required? Rather than sharing my joy, I offered my angst. My preference is to create and share, but not to order.

Presently, I am knitting a sweater for my son - XXL Tall. It was so exciting before I cast on. Now each row seems a chore. I put it aside when my enthusiasm wanes, pick up the mittens. This is a labor of love, much like birthing. (I took a break during my 52 hour labor.) I still have a month to complete the project, even at my slow pace and I am positive he will love it. 

As the year winds close, I am thoughtful of the choices I have made to have arrived at this moment. I thought I would manage to hang out at that last job until March 2018. One day, as I was driving for work, I realized there was no way I wanted to keep doing what I was doing. I was a mass of conflict. I had used my savings to pay off an old loan so I could open a new one. Not a fan of debt, I mapped a plan to save for my departure. The pay was low, but the benefits good. Leaving was more than the paycheck. Staying was draining my attention and energy, on and off the job. My co-workers were apathetic, though probably due to working multiple jobs along with family obligations. None seemed committed to being happy. Well, what the huh?

We  have relegated happiness to birthdays, holidays, and anniversaries. We congratulate births and partings (retirement). Yet, in between, we neglect happiness. When we find happiness we either grasp the moment to save and store in memory to pull out savor and lament, or dismiss and return to the grind before. Happiness to available moment to moment. A gentle awareness of each breath in the present moment allow us to exclaim, Happy Everyday!

This year - 2016

This year, I learned to ferment, more. I've been making sauerkraut for years. The sweet amber here is jun tea. Amazing! Made with honey, green tea, a scoby and time. Perfected by personal preference and imagination. For months it was a weekly routine. Then not.

 I got in my mind that I wanted to make hard cider. I read the directions, sort of. I set off with a plan (apparently not the directions) and created seriously hard, dry, hooch. That was something - rough. The knitting in the photo is supposed to be The Traveler's Shawl. Also didn't follow the directions. It's in a bag, waiting.

 This is my water kefir carrying on. I think that is hooch in the liquor bottle, but I used water kefir over my fresh pineapple to both preserve and create a sparkly fruit. Taste amazing! I am all about the taste (though I will eat stuff that taste like yuck cause it is good for me).

Later this year I learned to make tepache. Pineapple rind, sugar, water, and time. You've got it - amazing. I'm enjoying a bottle from 10.31.16  as I type.

 I started doodling at the beginning of the year, and until late summer kept up the practice of a daily doodle. I used index cards to reduce the anxiety of filling a page or abandoning the process. Some days I created several cards. It was fun to explore a new side of my creativity. That ended too. It seems so hard, all over again. I work at corners, then not.

I created art with my granddaughter every day. This piece is created with crayons and a heat gun. Let me say, "Heat guns are fun." We made beads from plastic bags, melted strips of plastic to make book marks, and kept busy on the search for ways to heat things up.

 I knit short socks for me. I love the heel construction and the yarn worked up nicely for color. The fit is questionable. I admire the sock knitters and hope one day to be counted among them.

I took the girls hiking and climbing often. They enjoy the outdoors and my community has committed to accessible green space. This park allows for easy travel up and down the boulders, but we also visited the climbing park where more effort and care is required.

 More art. My home is storage to paper, paints, scissors, glue, tape, bit and pieces and puzzles. We don't have company, inside. We are living in art world. Recently, we purchase a one inch hole punch. Creating never ends. We make art every day.

 I knit, every day.
The yarn in the blue shawl was a find at the local thrift store. I bought home an unfinished project and the matching yarn. I frogged (unraveled) the work and wound it into cakes. It remains one of my most beautiful creations from a find. It was gifted to a special friend.

Late spring, I decided I would knit shawls. Another opportunity to step up. While I select a pattern for its design, I tend to abandon the directions. This commitment was to follow though from cast on to bind off. Some projects became less interesting as I knit along. Cowls are quick and easy, especially in bulky yarns.

This one is a weekend project.






Kim chi and eggs for breakfast. Protein and probiotics. And coffee.
My goal was to have three month old kim chi. We were eating it as fast as I made it. Today, December 30, 2016, I have kim chi from September. My expectation were high. Shifting...

This year I started working out. Went at it hard for twelve weeks, five days a week. Then not. I'm like that.
I cleared out things I no longer use. Made space. Filled it up.
I gardened. We spent a lot of money to grow REALLY expensive produce. We need yet another new plan.
I saved a lot of money. I bought a roof. Boom! That shifted my financial situation. I go out and look at my money - working. I have a new roof.
I changed positions at my job. I had just decided that I would stay when the whole situation shifted. I've decided to focus on how this works for me and to live in that thought. It works for me.
I made my yearly pilgrimage to San Francisco. I journeyed to Oakland to visit my friend. I drank coffee at Jump N Java. I marched in solidarity with The Water Protectors.
I experience floating at the new float spa. I'm saving my opinion until I've returned for my next float.
I found a new massage spa, that I like. It is very affordable.
I gave of my time, talent, and treasures. And in line with the promise, I am prosperous.
My life is good.

Live by intention.

Good Morning, Beautiful

Spring rains perk up the garden. With the rise in temps, the tulips are fading - especially the dark purples. The irises are early bloomers in my garden and the peony has set buds. I stay up way too late these days knitting and arting. They both occupy my dreams.

The clematis are in full bloom and every year I wish I had a color other than white. This year I bought a boysenberry plant and a golden raspberry. I'd rather have food. It supports our habit of eating.

This is the piece that keep my attention last night. The hardest part is walking away without wondering. I love it as it is, yet wouldn't some gold, sparkle, layers, lettering, etc, make it pop? Do I want pop?

I hold my ideas in check. I would buy stationary with this design. It becomes part of the Take Flight Series.

I finished the Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief with modifications. It was an easy knit with yarn I found for a song at the local thrift store. I am committed to knitting a shawl a month. This is my second for April.


We are learning different painting techniques. This is finger painting and a prompt from Creativity Reignited art class. When I remember art is about feeling, I am free from the criticism of comparison.

I follow both knitting and art posts. It is important to appreciate and learn, rather than attempt to emulate.



I opened this post early in the day and now another hour has passed. My days are occupied with a three year old. Running and dressing, dancing and celebrating. Ta-da! occurs more often than one can imagine.

Life is good.
All the time.

All the time;
Lie is good.

Putting Winter to Bed

The cold was short and unpredictable.  Still is. Eighty degrees on day and 36 the next night. All the calendar celebrations around the world will not control the weather. What are you going to do?

Knit, create art, and ferment.

Collage pages for art journals.

The girls work on craft projects.

First set of pages finished.

Splatter painting. Stage one of something.

No Purls Allowed Shawl - Ravelry

No Purls Allowed - Ravelry

Ribbed Cowl - occupying time

That's good for a couple thousand words.

I'm still pulling my 40 hours on the weekend gig, and have begun to rethink the decision. Re-think. I just remembered I have a plan to hang in here until school is out. That means June. Whew! Some days...

The work is fine. It's my constant need to adjust my attitude that is the problem. That's always the problem. I spend 34 of the 40 hours each weekend working on letting go and finding a way to not give a f---. So, God grant me the serenity and all.

No pictures of the ferments, but I have been constant in my management of my ginger bug. Friday Ferments include a couple quarts of sauerkraut and a second ferment of juice or tea with ginger bug. My next adventure is water kefir. Several people in town have water kefir grains, but seem to have abandoned them in the back of their fridge. My home is still too cool to care for the grains so I reckon when I am ready I will find some, locally.

Let's talk about money for a minute. I am still all about saving; however, I have recently (in the last year) incurred two large debts. I am thankful I had the resources to cover the need, but in surrendering my funds, I reconsidered how I have done without (though only in the most luxurious ways). I decided that if I have the money to support others, I have the money to enjoy my life as I choose. Today that means yarn. Nice yarn. Wool, soy silk, and their blends. While I have quite the storage bins/chest/trunk full, one can never have too much - yarn.

Here's to saving where you can and splurging when you want.

M 

Give Out!

That's a knit and crochet donation from the fall. Knitting is my new passion. I learned to knit in May this year and pick my needles up daily to create beauty and ease my mind.

I've been working this 40 hour weekend gig and keeping my grand-daughters Monday - Thursday. It is busy. Busier than I ever wanted to be. I take frequent down moments, but as much as I want to claim I let go, the truth is I hold on tight.

Over the past two months I have been so intense, uptight, and bent out of shape that my back gave out. I thought I was working on it. By the time the pain started I was steeped in the pissoffedness of the situation(s). Finally, Friday, I could not get out of bed.

A visit to the chiropractor granted we the weekend off and bed rest with ice. I can't remember the last time I had so much time to myself for myself. Thank you G!d.

I'm going back next weekend. I was working on a new attitude. It is even more important now. This is all about me. The following weekend I will be on vacation. We have great movement plans - lots of walking in the city. Urban cardio...

As I lay on my pilates table, I realized my pelvis has tightened into a forward tilt, effectively spilling my energy out. My focus will be to bring my mind, body, and spirit back into balance. To set the bowl upright again. I have over shared. I am give out. These days at home are time for me to reassess my choices of how and when I give.

Here are some of the pretties I knit since May -