Less is more

I bought a six pack of rollers for my painting project. My better half suggested that I use the plastic bag to store the roller in between coats. It worked. I only used half of the rollers for a long hallway, ceilings, the dining room and the living room. Not too shabby.

The paint on the roller stayed wet for a week. This is a great idea if you are painting a large size room by section like I am. I also stored those squares you slide across so you don't have to tape the molding. I only bought one package of refills and only used 1. I don't recommend this for brushes because I found that paint will clump up the bristles. I just cleaned my brushes in between uses.

Reutilizing Sheet Metal

Okay, I can't take credit for this one. My dad made this for me to make painting floor molding easier and faster to paint. It saves time and $$ on paint tape. Even though he's pretty handy around the house, I was skeptical but you know what it worked. He cut a rectangle shape piece from sheet metal he had lef tover in his garage. I think it's over a foot long.

He used white electrical tape to tape the end I would be holding to prevent cutting my hands. I tilted the sheet metal at a sharp angle then painted the molding on top. I had to hold it pretty tight against the bottom of the molding and I didn't get any paint on my carpet. Then you can flip over and paint the top of the molding and no white paint got on the wall either.

Genius. Thanks dad!

It's been too long...

Boy oh boy, has this summer been as busy for you as it has been for me? When the season gets warmer, there is so much to do. I've been so preoccupied with planting our first veggie garden which is finally producing lots of cherry tomatoes, zucchini, cantalopes, green peppers, roma tomatoes, and pumpkins for fall. Are you growing veggies or fruits this year?

Then when that project was finished it was time for our annual family vacation at the shore. Above is a picture that I took of the dunes. Aaaaa, nothing like rolling waves to refresh the soul.

And when we came home, I dove right into a project that I've been wanting to tackle for three years since we moved here. Painting the downstairs. Almost done but it's slow going when you have kids.

Now I can concentrate on what I love best. Writing, research, and photography. It's been too long since I've posted new ideas for repurposing and recycling. I can't wait to share more ideas that I have recently discovered with you.

Reusing Plastic Bedding Covers

I often felt guilty when I bought new sheets and comforters because of the packaging. Before I had kids I would keep them until they would pile up never knowing what to use them for, then my intolerance for clutter outweighed my guilt, I would end up throwing them away because they couldn't be recycled.


When I became a mom, my kids received toys with lots of pieces. Sometimes, I secretly suspect that some people purposefully gave my kids gadgets with lots of annoying noises and toys with lots of little parts to drive us crazy.


There wasn't much I could do about the noisy toys but I could tackle the clutter before we were buried in it. When I bought sheets for my son's toddler bed, I realized these sturdy plastic packages finally had a use. This package contains books and cartridges for an electronic reader. The bigger bags come in handy to contain games like Connect4, Chess/Checkers, etc. after the boxes disentigrate from heavy use. And when you're kids outgrow them, they can easily be displayed on a table for your next yard sale or go into the drop off box for Good Will, etc.

Paperback Swap

A few posts ago, I mentioned ways to to donate books and tips to recycle them. I came across another website that allows you to swap paperback books.

It's free to be a member. You post books you are willing to giveaway. If someone requests it, you print out a couple of sheets of paper, wrap the book, and pay the postage which they say runs between $2-$2.50. The book is theirs to keep. Vice versa, if you find a book you want, you submit your request.

It's certainly cheaper than Amazon or bookstores, which in my area are dwindling. Borders just closed their doors in my town. I still get books from library book sales but this is a nice option if you don't have access to book sales.

For more information, you can go to http://www.paperbackswap.com/index.php

P.S. I included a photo of My Antonia because I just finished this book the other day. Very good read by the way.

Happy Reading!!!

Recycling Floppy Disks

Today, I cleaned out our home office to get ready for an upcoming garage sale that I am participating in my parent's neighborhood in a couple of weeks. The whole neighborhood holds an annual garage sale and it's well attended. I live in farm country so it's not worth having one at home.

Anyway, I found a pile of floppy disks from back in the day. Okay, ha, ha. I can honestly say that it's been a while since I cleaned the home office. I came across a company that recycles these disks. Although they say that they erase the info on them, I would take this advice with a grain of salt. I took the liberty of erasing the info on these disks and some were blank anyway.

So if it's been a while since you cleaned out your home office and are looking to recycle these babies, here's the info.

http://www.floppydisk.com/recycle.htm

Just a note, if you have 500 disks or more, they are willing to pay for them. This is good news for companies who want to unload a ton of them.

Household items can make a difference

St. Joseph's Indian School helps Lakota (Sioux) children escape poverty through education. They have a list of things they need on their website and they update it regularly. So whenever you are getting rid of stuff, you can check the website to see if there is a need for it. Most of the time, it's everyday things you use at home.

Of course, they accept monetary donations and I personally have made a modest donation last year.

There are many things you might have lying around the house not being used like shampoo, pillows, scrapbooking supplies, kitchen utensils, etc. I have duplicates of scrapbook paper that I got in a book which I won't use so I think the kids could benefit from making projects with it. I just have to find a mailer that can hold 12x12 paper.

Here is the link to the list of supplies that St. Joseph's needs in case you are interested... http://http://www.stjo.org/site/PageServer?pagename=help_non_monetary_needs