I rolled down the car window to kiss my husband goodbye before going to town to do errands. Isn’t that special? I still kiss him goodbye before I leave for an hour. However, I might not anymore, if it means rolling down the car window. When I hit the button, that window said, “THUNK…. whhrrrrrr.” That’s how I translated it, anyway. The window rolled down — but it would not roll back up!

We opened the car door and stared at it, bumfuzzled. Car manufacturers these days don’t make it obvious how to take a door apart. Not that it would done any good to take it apart. It obviously needed a thingamabob to fix it.

Just when my husband and I were both good and ready to start screaming and shouting at the door (because that always makes a mechanical part straighten up and fly right), we looked at each other and sighed, “It could be worse.”

And, it could have been! We had to look at this from a different perspective.

This could have happened when we were out of town on a trip. We would have had to stop and ask directions to a dealership (because Lord knows the Google map on our iPhones would have never led us where we wanted to go). It didn’t. It happened smack dab in the middle of our own driveway.

The window could have broken on a blustery, rainy day. Worse, it could have been a snowy, icy day. It didn’t. It was a balmy 62°.

Catastrophe could have struck on a Sunday, with no way in Thunder of getting it repaired … and we don’t have space in our garage to put a car (is that what that big old room is for?) It didn’t. It was Saturday and the dealership was open.

The dealership could have had to order an exotic part that would take three weeks to arrive. They didn’t. In fact, they had the thingamabob to fix the window AND the doohickey to fix the automatic door lock (which has been broken for months).

After a breezy drive to the dealership, and a hefty bill, my car window worked again. My door lock also works, which means I can use that automatic key again to make the horn honk when I am lost in a parking lot. I missed tooting my horn.

Was the incident annoying? Why, yes it was. We had to change our plans for the day. Instead of running around independently to do our respective errands, we had to go together. Imagine that. It took a broken window to “make” us spend time with each other.

Was the incident expensive? Did you not read that it was repaired at a dealership? Do you even have to ask that question?

We could have allowed this tiny incident to ruin our day. We didn’t. Instead, we chose to look for “only the good.” It takes practice to see the good, sometimes. Occasionally, you just have to get things in perspective. I promise that if you can find good in a difficult situation, you’ll find yourself chewing a lot less of those Tums tablets!

How about you? Do you look for the good? Tell me about it. Meanwhile, I hope your day is filled with only the good.

© Shelly for This Eclectic Life, 2012. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: ONLY THE GOOD, philosophy

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The afghan that is spread on my kitchen island in the morning sunlight is a special one. First of all, it’s for me, and I never rarely make anything for me. Second, it’s made from scraps of yarn. They call using scraps to make something new “upcycling” these days, but my grandmother would have called it “using the brain God gave you.” It’s crazy to waste resources. Third, and most important for me, those scraps of yarn were leftovers from the Share A Square program. Every tiny (colored) thread in it is filled with love.

For the third year, volunteers from around the world have been sending me crocheted squares to make afghans for kids with cancer. They leave a long thread to use for stitching the squares together, but I often have excess yarn. When I snip off the extra yarn, I throw it into a bucket. After all, that yarn might have traveled from Michigan or Japan or England! I can’t throw it away … even if it’s just a few inches long!

The result was a HUGE pile of yarn!

This is only about half of it! I remembered that saying that my Grandmother had: “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.” Answering a challenge from The Non-Consumer Advocate, I wanted to use it up — so over the Christmas holidays I started tying those tiny strings together to make a very funky “novelty” yarn. I knitted a fun “shabby chic” scarf that I love to wear.

Unfortunately my arms aren’t long enough to take a full length picture of me in it, but you get the drift. The scarf didn’t make a dent in the amount of yarn, so I made a few crocheted bags.

That bucket of yarn reminded me of the porridge bowls in the old folk tales. You know the porridge bowls I mean: the ones that are always full, no matter how much you eat. Every time I moved the yarn around to find another color, the bucket seemed more full than it was before! Frustrated that I couldn’t use this stuff up, I decided to make an afghan using different sizes of squares crocheted with the Never-Ending-Blanket Square pattern from Deb’s Crafts. “Never-Ending” is appropriate. At this point, I’d like to call the afghan “halfway done,” but I keep changing my mind and making it bigger. If I keep going, I can blanket the steps of the Helsinki Cathedral when I’m done.

My husband asked why I didn’t chart the afghan before crocheting. “Seems like if you charted it you would know where you were going,” he said. Silly man! I don’t want to know where I am going. Half the fun of a journey is being able to take any road you want! I’m just seeing where the path leads. It might wind up being a queen-sized bed cover, or just an afghan big enough for two people to snuggle beneath. I have no clue.

Some of you might be wondering about that Share A Square project. Where is it on the journey? I haven’t talked much about it lately on this blog, because I’ve been busy working on it. We have about 100 of the 150 afghans made for this year. A deadline was extended for receiving squares and by mid-February, I expect to have the kits ready for the final 50 afghans of the year. Then I have to find more local volunteers to help assemble the blankets. That part (finding local volunteers) has been the most challenging task of this project. I have a double handful of dedicated volunteers who are stitching away … but creating 150 blankets in a year wears them out quickly. I have to find some “new blood.”

Already my Facebook friends are talking about “next year.” At this point, I do not think that Share A Square will happen again… at least not on the scale of 150 afghans. I’m old enough (and, believe it or not, smart enough) to know when to let go. Maybe I’ll ask the volunteers who stitch how many blankets they are personally willing to make next year and only make that many. If 10 people say, “I’ll make one,” then we will make 10 afghans. If 30 people say, “I’ll make TWO,” then we will make 60. I’m still on the journey — just waiting to see where the path leads.

Meanwhile, I will keep working on this year’s project (looking forward to a delivery in Illinois in August). I’ll keep using up these scraps of love, and looking for other ways to upcycle.

How about you? Do you upcycle? Do you “use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without?”

© Shelly for This Eclectic Life, 2012. | Permalink | 23 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Artsy Fartsy Stuff, Share A Square 2011-2012, upcycle, upcycling

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Don’t worry, I’m not going to make you listen to Sarah McLachlan sing “In The Arms of an Angel” while you read (although you can if you feel so moved). I don’t want you to cry … I want you to think about the animals that are abandoned in shelters. Don’t feel guilty and think I’m telling you to save them all. Instead, remember that story about the boy and the starfish.

What? You haven’t heard that story? Sure you have, it’s all over the internet, but it case you have been on Mars for the last six years or so, here it is in a nutshell:

A boy and his grandfather walked along the beach, where they saw thousands of starfish that had been washed to the shore by the tide. The boy started picking up starfish, one by one, and flinging them back in the water.
His grandfather said, “Son, why are you wasting your time? There are so many that you can’t make a difference!”
The boy tossed another starfish into the water and said, “I made a difference to that one.”

Our animal shelter in Denton is at capacity right now. I imagine that shelters all over the country are full. As I understand it, the problem is worse these days because of the economy. Folks can’t afford to feed themselves, let alone a pet. So, more pets are being abandoned or taken to the animal shelters with the hopes that they will be adopted. Unless the animal winds up in a “no-kill” shelter, the chances aren’t good.

The kitten above (don’t you love those big ears?) was at our animal shelter a few months ago and probably got adopted. The kittens and the puppies are the lucky ones (if you can call beginning your life abandoned to a shelter to be “lucky”). Cute, itty-bitty animals tug at the heartstrings — therefore they get adopted more quickly. Older animals are not always so adorable or adoptable, although they still have a lot of love to give. If a caring person doesn’t recognize that and take them home … time runs out. Don’t make me tell you what happens next.

Not long ago, a stray dog and I crossed paths. I took one look at her and called her “Frida,” because she had eyebrows like Frida Kahlo. Bless her heart, she was starving. That dog was just a bag of bones, but I could see that she was gentle and friendly. Now, I could not keep her for several reasons (even though my heart screamed to do so):

1. I don’t have a fenced back yard.
2. I can’t afford $10,000 to fence it … and we have coyotes!
3. I have five indoor cats (all adopted from the streets) who howled, “No way!” when I suggested the dog move inside.
4. My poor husband’s eyes howled the same thing. He is kind-hearted, but not that crazy about dogs.

I knew that if I called animal control it was a death sentence for the dog. Our local shelter works hard to get animals adopted (they even have a Facebook page where they show pictures), but Frida was too far from being adoptable. It would take months of care to get her back to the weight she needed to be. It would take resources that our shelter couldn’t afford to spend on just one dog.

Fortunately for me, and Frida, a neighbor was involved with Lost Paws, a no-kill group that helps strays find a home. Frida was taken to a house where she could romp with other dogs, regain her strength, and be safe. Last month I was informed that she had been adopted by a family with a young boy at home. Exactly what that big gal needed! Frida was lucky.

Other animals who are abandoned don’t fare so well.

Make a
difference
to that one.

How can you make a difference?

• Unless you are ready to make a lifetime commitment to the animal — don’t get it! A pet is a big responsibility. It deserves to be wanted and loved for life (which could be 12-18 years!). Before you get a pet, make darned sure you can and will care for it.
• If you want a pet (or two … or three), consider adopting from a shelter. See if they have a Facebook page and view the animals there before you walk into the shelter. If you are like me you might walk away with a dozen critters (or cry your eyes out trying to choose). You could do what our son Ian and his wife did (I am so proud of them): they went to the local shelter intending to adopt a kitten … and came away with both a kitten and an older cat (who was a bit aloof and probably not very desirable). Now “Up-up,Down-down,” the kitten, and “Murphy” have a loving home for life.

  I won’t lie, you will have to spend money to get it. It might seem like a lot. At the Denton Animal Shelter, a dog/puppy costs $120 and a cat/kitten costs $110 … BUT, you will know it is healthy. It will have gotten all its vaccinations, be treated for all manner of vermin, be spayed/neutered, and have a microchip implanted (so the animal can be identified and returned to you if it ever gets lost).

• If you already have pets be a responsible pet owner. Make sure that your pets are spayed or neutered. Yes, you macho men out there … that means that you must take Fido to the vet to have him “cut,” even though you are squeamish about the idea. Even though you keep your dog in a yard, he only has to get out one time to create an unwanted litter of puppies with a female dog owned by some other irresponsible pet owner. That is how animal shelters get filled!
• If you can’t afford an animal, or your life isn’t suited for one right now, consider donating to your local Humane Society, Animal Shelter, or no-kill shelter. I like the idea of contributing locally instead of sending money to a faraway charity — which then spends your entire donation mailing you pictures of the animal you sponsored and requests for more money!
• If money is tight, do what some friends of mine did: at their joint birthday party, they asked that, in lieu of gifts, friends bring cans of dog or cat food to donate to their local animal shelter. You will know who your true friends are when they show up with a case of animal food and a bottle of wine!

Hundreds of animals are coming to an animal shelter near you daily. Now it’s true that you can’t save them all. But, you can make a difference for one. Whatever you do … don’t do nothing.

Now go listen to Sarah Mclachlan and weep a little bit while you ponder what you can do.

© Shelly for This Eclectic Life, 2011. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Critters, Give From The Heart, ONLY THE GOOD

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When my neighbor walks her annoying, yappy little dog through the neighborhood each day, she wears work gloves and carries an enormous garbage bag. It’s not that her dog will make that big of a mess when he does his “business.” While she walks, she carries that bag because she picks up the trash that drivers have carelessly tossed on the roadside.

“You must
be
the change
you want to
see in
the world.” Mahatma Gandhi

You might be thinking, “That won’t change anything. Someone else is just going to throw out their litter and the road will be all trashy again.” Sadly, you are probably right about the drivers … but it’s not pointless. For a brief moment each day, our neighborhood is pristine (and I’d hate to think what it might look like if she didn’t pick up the trash for us). Each day, my neighbor makes a difference … and gets some extra exercise, too.

I once lived next door to a retired man who loved his riding lawnmower. Each week during the spring when he mowed his own lawn, he drove across the neighboring yards to mow them, too. He wasn’t making a “statement” about our yards — he was just being helpful. We appreciated it, too. It’s hard to juggle raising two kids, working full time, going to school, keeping house, and mowing the lawn. Fred made a difference.

It’s true that Fred was doing something he enjoyed anyway. In fact, if he didn’t have a lawn to mow, he would simply drive around the streets on that lawn mower giving little kids a ride. By mowing our lawns for us, Fred allowed the younger folks on the block to have more time to spend with their children. I wonder where Fred is these days? I wish he still lived next to me!

I have the great good fortune to deal with people (mostly women) who also make a difference every day. These women have combined their passion for crochet with their love of children to work for the Share A Square program. As they sit in front of their television sets (or wait in doctor’s offices), they crochet colorful six-inch squares to make blankets for little kid’s with cancer. I’m being bombarded by mail right now, as they send thousands of squares to me. Those kind-hearted women are doing something they like to do anyway, using up scrap yarn, and when they are done 150 little kids will be wrapped with the warmth of their love.

Today is “Make A Difference Day.” Perhaps you have heard about it? On one day a year, according to USA Weekend Magazine, millions of Americans go out in the wide world to do something (anything) to make the world a better place. Getting people to work for the greater good on one day each year is a powerful idea, however I can’t help but imagine:

What would this world be like if we all chose to “make a difference” one day a month … or once a week? Imagine what this world would be like if we all considered our actions every day and made the deliberate choice to “make a difference.”

Now, open your eyes wide and look around you. Put on your thinking cap and consider what tiny thing you could do (maybe something that you already like to do) each day to make the world a better place. What can you do to make a difference?

Imagine the change you want to see in the world and BE the change.

© Shelly for This Eclectic Life, 2011. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Give From The Heart, ONLY THE GOOD

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I haven’t talked much this year about the afghans we make for kids with cancer, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. It means that the volunteers are keeping me busy! The project is rolling along quite nicely. Packages of brightly colored squares have been arriving daily from all over the world. Don’t tell me that the postal service is having financial problems … Share A Square volunteers are paying their share of the budget!

I’ve been quiet on-line lately, because I have been stitching those lovely squares together into the afghans we will deliver next summer.

Most of my yakking about the project is done on our Facebook page, but I know that the group on Ravelry is very active, too. You don’t have to be a part of either on-line group if you want to help us make afghans for the kids.

We have a deadline coming up on October 26th, when I hope to be able to sort out another 50 afghans (the first 50 kits were put together in the first week of September … but they still have to be assembled). To make fifty afghans, I need 4,000 crocheted squares (6 inches in size) from at least 80 different people! Yes, you can help! But, first, please visit the FAQ so that you know what we need and where to send them.

I’d love to see participation from crafters in all fifty states. So far, we’ve gotten squares from Finland, England, Ireland, Denmark, France, and Argentina … but not all fifty states! Wonder why that is? Does no one in Alabama crochet? What about Connecticut … Delaware … Indiana … Iowa … Nebraska … Washington … Virginia … Utah … Wyoming? And, Hawaii (maybe they are too busy enjoying the weather)? Or Rhode Island (OK, I know it’s a pretty small state)? Maybe they just haven’t found the project yet — so y’all tell ‘em about it, please.

This year, we will deliver afghans to Camp Quality in Illinois. Although it will be a long drive to deliver them, it will be worth it. We will also pick another Camp Quality in a different state when we get closer to the deadlines. You can read articles about the delivery last year in the archives, and I promise it will warm your heart. My wonderful volunteers this year are going to help me blanket 150 children with love before we are done! We will see more smiles like this one:

I’m going to get back to my stitching. I’ve made 12 afghans this month, and am shooting for 16. I don’t know if I will make the goal, but if you are in my neck of the woods, you can come on over and stitch with me. I’ll put on another pot of coffee just for you! Stop and pick up some donuts on the way, won’t you?

© Shelly for This Eclectic Life, 2011. | Permalink | 12 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: kids with cancer, Share A Square 2011-2012

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I cannot look at a toad now without thinking of the movie O, Brother, Where Art Thou? and the line that Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson) whispered to Pete (John Turturro): “We thought you was a toad!” If you haven’t seen the movie, I know you think I’m crazy to think that’s a funny line. However, if you haven’t seen the movie and you think I’m crazy, that’s a case of “the pot calling the kettle black.” You’re crazy if you don’t see that movie! The music is fantastic and you will laugh …

I digress. I wanted to show you a toad:

You WAS a toad!

If you are one of those folks who scream “Ick!” when you see a toad, stop for a moment and consider them. I want you to practice thinking “only the good” about them (we can all use practice with looking at the brighter side of things). Sure, they have a face that only a mother could love, but toads are a beneficial part of our ecosystem. They do not give you warts (haven’t you learned by now that you can’t believe anything those old wives tell you?).

It is estimated that a single toad eats 10,000 insects in a summer. Personally, I think it’s much more than that. When my boys were small, we sat on the driveway one balmy summer night tossing June bugs to a toad who was drawn to our porch light. I know that fella ate more than twenty of them, and he would have kept going if we had kept throwing; he would have eaten until he popped his guts all over the cement …

We didn’t keep throwing. After that first incident, I didn’t want to carry the guilt of that, too!

Now, it’s true that Frog and Toad Are Friends, but it turns out they are related. In fact, a toad is a frog (which might be why my Papaw called them “toad frogs”). Both amphibians are in the “order” Anura, but they are in different “families.” I think that this little guy might be in the family Bufonidae, but I’ve been known to be wrong before. It happened once.

We don’t have any toads in our yard here in Denton, and I’m not sure why. I don’t use any kind of insecticides and we are overrun with lizards (skinks, anoles, chameleons, and newts) — but no toads. I wonder if they are just easy prey for the pair of chaparrals that hunt in our yard?

I miss seeing them, so I was delighted to find a “knot” of toads in Saint Jo, Texas on the patio of a marvelous restaurant we visited (I’ll tell you more about that restaurant and a winery later this week). The owner said that he had been watering near these rocks and estimated that they have around 100 toads living there. Those rocks are a little apartment complex for the toads! I had never seen that many in one place at one time (they wouldn’t “pose,” so I can’t show you all of them). Have you ever seen a knot of toads?

I suppose I could import some toads to my yard, but I’m afraid that the next thing I would tell you is that they (like Mrs. Hogwallop)

You would understand that reference, too, if you would watch O Brother, Where Art Thou?.

© Shelly for This Eclectic Life, 2011. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Critters, humor, ONLY THE GOOD, photographs

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Patience is not one of my virtues, I’m afraid. I never can wait to get started on a new project. That’s why I am already assembling afghans for Share A Square while I wait for the remainder of the crocheted squares to arrive. I’m putting together “half-afghans” (5 in the last week) until I get the other squares.

I’m multi-tasking, of course, watching The Name of the Rose on my iPad while I stitch. That’s Sean Connery’s bald pate on the screen.

By August 26th, I’m hoping that I will have collected 4,000 colorful crocheted squares for Share A Square, so that I can put together the first 50 afghan kits. We are working on it. The catch is that I need at least 80 different people participating! Preferably, many more people; last year we had more than 500 volunteers from all over the world.

These squares are assembled into blankets for children with cancer and their siblings who will attend a Camp Quality Summer Camp. If you browse through the Share A Square 2010 category (the afghans were actually delivered in 2011), you will see the posts about our delivery. Tissue Alert! It will likely bring tears of joy to your eyes. Hopefully, it will make the “crafty” folk among you want to help.

Some folks get very fancy with their squares (and often share patterns on the Facebook Group page or at the Ravelry Group page). Keep in mind that the squares don’t have to be elaborate! I just need to have pretty squares before the first deadline, so that I can put together 50 afghan kits to get my assemblers started on their task.

If you can send any crocheted squares to me by August 26th, 2011, it would be a huge help. Please visit the FAQ for all the information, but in a nutshell we need:

• Six inch squares crocheted from acrylic yarn.
• When you make your last stitch, weave the yarn to a corner and leave an 18″ tail of thread for stitching the afghans together.
• A business card sized “tag” with your name and location (so the kids know who their new friends are).

If this is the first time you have seen anything about the project, I know that you are thinking, “I don’t have time to crochet squares and get them to you by August 26th!” Take a deep breath … and don’t panic. In all, we are making 150 afghans! I will put together another 50 kits at the end of October. If your heart is moved to stitch for Share A Square the second deadline is October 26th. You will help us put a lot of smiles on little faces of kids with cancer.

Meanwhile, I’ll go back to stitching and finish my movie. I’m just about to find out “whodunnit!” No spoilers in the comments!”

© Shelly for This Eclectic Life, 2011. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Share A Square 2010, Share A Square 2011-2012

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