Simple Joy Sunday

It was a pretty boring week around here, but let's see if there aren't a few highlights...

I've stuck to the 30 Day Shred despite wanting to call in sick one day and despite not seeing the drastic results that I keep (unrealistically) expecting.  Scott keeps reminding me that it's the 30 Day Shred, not the 12 (or whatever) day shred and to chill out about the results; valid point, I guess.  I made a commitment to myself to get healthy and to get in shape and sticking this out for this month and planning what I'm going to follow it up with next month is a HUGE part of that commitment.  It makes me proud to think that when I set my mind to something like that, I do make it happen.  Now, if only I can carry that strength and commitment over to other areas of my life...

Scott and I went to see Captain America this week.  Really fun movie, I highly recommend it.  Scott is a big old, self proclaimed geek so of course he knows all about all of the comic book characters in the movies of late.  I don't.  But that's okay because Captain America was a great stand alone movie for someone that doesn't know all of the mythology behind the character.  Also, we snuck in snacks to avoid paying $20 for popcorn and soda.  =)

Once again, I want to send out a big thanks to all of my friends on the internet that keep giving me a thumbs up when I ask for it!!  I've been earning $1 here and there every time I reach a thumbs up goal through Crowdtap.  In addition to that, I'm donating a portion of that dollar and Crowdtap is donating 5% of every dollar to Susan G. Komen to fight breast cancer.  I may not be walking this year, but I'm still doing what I can, when I can.  Plus, those extra dollars that I'm earning for myself through Crowdtap are going towards helping me pay for a couple of things I can really use for work but don't have the spare cash to purchase. So... Thank you!!

I started working on a new recipe for herbal body powder this week.  I think I like the base, now I'm starting to play around with ideas for what herbal powders to add to it.  This is so fun for me!

My blog was stuck at 178 followers for the longest time and all of a sudden, I'm up to 182!  I know it's not a drastic jump, but four new followers within days of each other was a fun little surge.  Hi, new followers!  Thanks for following!!


In closing, I'd like to share with you a super fun video that Planned Parenthood released in celebration of :
"The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has ruled that birth control is basic preventive health care and should be made available to millions of women in the United States without a co-pay. This ruling is a giant leap forward for women's health."


Hope you enjoy the video!  Also, I'd love to hear what made you happy this week, so share in the comments below.  Have a great Sunday!

Spoon Garden Markers Tutorial

I've been seeing garden markers made out of spoons everywhere lately.  I don't really worry so much about marking my herbs right now because I'm the only one working with them and can identify them.  Once we get the garden bed going, though, it's entirely possible that Scott might be more involved so I might need some markers out there.  Being the crafty, DIYer that I am, I figured that I could try making them myself.

The project started with a trip to the thrift store to pick up a bunch of spoons.  I think they were maybe $.10 each, so this project doesn't really require that much of an investment.

The big tools you'll need include a hammer and a stamping set.  You can get the stamps from a craft store, but I highly recommend someplace like Harbor Freight for a project like this where they will only cost around $10-20 (depending on the size).

You'll need a flat surface to hammer out the spoons.  You can probably use concrete blocks or something similar.  I have a vise (which was in the garage when we bought the house - score!), so I used the steel block on it.  The smaller spoons were easier to hammer out than the bigger ones.  I couldn't find ours to try it, but I'm wondering if a  small sledgehammer might work better than the hammer.  Don't be afraid to get some strength behind your swing (they are stainless steel, after all) and make sure you're holding the hammer properly (don't hurt or embarrass yourself with a bad grip!).

Next step, is stamping.  I used my Fine Point Sharpie and evenly spaced out dots where my letters would go so I knew that the word would fit.  Make sure you do this on the front of the spoon so that the pattern on the handle shows.  When you look at the stamp, the letters are going to appear backwards to you so that they are facing the right way when put to the metal.  Line up your first stamp on your first dot and strike it with your hammer. A good, solid strike or two should do the trick.  Multiple strikes of lesser force don't really work as well because it's more likely that the stamp will move.

My vise is wedged into a corner of the very crowded workbench in the garage and I didn't have much room to work, so I had a hard time getting the leverage I needed to get my stamping done right.  Made me sad, but for now, it's the best I can do.

If you want, you can darken up the lettering, too, to make it easier to read.  Color in the letters with a Sharpie, being sure to get into the grooves of the letters.  Immediately wipe it down with a towel to get the ink off the surface of the spoon and only leave it in the letters.

Eventually, I hope we can get the garage cleaned out enough that the work bench is easier to work on (go figure) so I can try making some more of these for my garden... and maybe to sell in the shop.  They're a lot of fun to make, pretty easy, and not that expensive of a project.  Let me know if you try it!  I'd love to see pictures.  What kind of garden markers (if any) do you use?

60 Miles is Shorter Than it Seems

By John Welsh

The reaction that people have when I tell them I will be walking 60 miles for breast cancer will never get old to me. This year is my fifth year walking in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day For the Cure and just today the owner of our company asked me about it.

"So, when's your next walkathon?" he always calls it a walkathon, and that's ok with me because the company has donated generously for every walk that I have done.

"It's in November this year. I'm doing San Diego this time."

"Oh, San Diego should be nice. Remind me how far this walk is."

I pause getting ready for the reaction, because even though he has heard it before, I know that the reaction will be good. I say, "It's 60 miles."

"60 miles! Jeez that's quite a long way!"

A lot of times when I tell people this little factoid they will respond similarly. Sometimes they will ask why on earth I would want to walk that distance. The answer to that question is quite simple, I will get to that later. Sometimes they tell me that they would rather just donate than walk that distance. Whatever the response is, it's usually pretty entertaining.

Maybe it's just me, but when I became a 3-Day walker I started to view distance a little bit differently. I didn't notice it right off the bat, but it has definitely changed my view. Here's just a couple of ways that happened:

• I live in Texas. I think for most people, living in Texas means that you drive everywhere. It doesn't matter if where you are going is half a mile away (sometimes even less) or it's 30 miles away, you're hopping in the truck or SUV (this IS Texas) and driving there. It's hot, so you can't blame us too much. When I started training I would try to map out something along the walking paths near the house, nothing too exciting. My friends would ask how far I walked on a training walk and when I told them eight miles, they would comment, "I didn't know you could even walk that far in Flower Mound!" (the town that I lived in). It got me thinking, if I could walk this far for training walks, why can't I walk this far for other things. I started planning walks to meet the family when we were going somewhere. Soccer games, to get a drink at the convenience store. As long as it was somewhere that it didn't matter that I was a little sweaty or I didn't have to be there in short order I would start walking there and it's pretty cool to do that, especially when you think like this: I'm walking to the convenience store in the fight against breast cancer. It kind of makes a lot of the things you do seem a lot more meaningful.
• Kind of along the lines as the last item, when I would drive somewhere I would always keep an eye on the tachometer in the car so that I could see how far a place was to determine if it was walkable. I also keep an eye out for the all important sidewalks to make a better walking experience.
• The last way I'm going to talk about how my view of distance has changed took a little longer than the first year to come across, but it's probably the most important. That first year, while I was raising money for the cause I think my primary focus was making it through the 60 miles on the walk. Walking 60 miles was the key. When I think about it now, I don't do the 3-Day for the Cure to walk 60 miles. Don't get me wrong, I'll still walk that distance because I think getting out there and helping to raise awareness about the cause is just as important as the money. What I'm saying is that if I ended up with an injury that took me out of walking after 10 miles I would be ok with that. It took me a really long time to get to that point, there's a certain pride of being able to walk that many miles and tell people that you did it. Once you get there though, it makes walking 60 miles a lot more enjoyable without worrying about whether you will make it or not.

So what's my scatterbrained point in writing about all this? I guess there's a couple. First off, when you get involved in the 3-Day for the Cure you're going to change in more ways than you think. Just look at me, I changed in just the simple way that I looked at mileage.

The second is for those of you that are on the fence about doing the 3-Day because you're concerned about the physical aspect of it. I'm not going to lie, 60 miles is a lot. My first year walking I was the only member of my team that made it all 60 miles and I think that was from pure stubbornness on my part. But you have to remember the point of all this. You're not doing the walk to walk 60 miles, you're doing it to save lives and to find a cure for breast cancer. If distance is your main reason for not doing the walk, I hope that you'll take the time to adjust how you view that distance and re-consider doing the 3-Day for the Cure.

You're absolutely right, John!  My team did a training walk weekend of 23 miles on Saturday and 21 on Sunday (something like that).  When I got to work on Monday, people would usually ask me what I walked over the weekend.  When I told them those numbers, they were usually in shock and thought I was crazy for doing it in the summer heat in Florida.  As proud as I am about the mileage I accomplished being involved in the walk, it felt like it wasn't such a big deal when you consider the bigger picture.  And now, knowing what I was able to do is a source of strength.  

Thank you so much for sharing this, John!!  Please check out John's blog at 60 Miles - 316,800 Feet Closer to a Cure and support his fifth 3 Day walk (that means he has walked 300 event miles & countless training miles while raising $35,555!!!) by visiting his fundraising page at the 3 Day.  You can also follow him on twitter @60miles.

Next week, Gari Anne of Bead Lovers Korner and her blog of the same name will share with us a little bit about her experiences building her own website.  

(Nearly) Wordless Wednesday: Thrift Store Finds

I dropped off a couple of older TV's at Salvation Army today and while I was there, I did a little looking around.  I usually find some glass jars or bottles to keep on hand for my personal herbal concoctions at thrift stores, but today I found all kinds of good stuff!

I was looking for a basket or something for Jack the Cat's toys and found this lovely toy chest for him.

I was also looking for something to store my weights and various workout paraphernalia.  A few things don't fit, but this will do for now.

I almost didn't get this luminary, but I thought it was pretty and might be able to use it in listings for my shop.  In hindsight, I probably shouldn't of gotten it: when I got home & inspected it, there were various chips and cracks that I didn't see at the store.

I saw this and it reminded me of a similar carving and design on an incense holder that I have and love.  I'm not sure if this is supposed to be a hot plate or what exactly I'm going to use it for yet.  It might also be a prop for listings.

I was looking for a lazy susan or some kind of tray for keeping my herbal concoctions together, out of the way, and easily movable.  This should work.

And last, I found a few various bottles, jars, and spoons.  I don't have a plan for the jars yet, they're just good to have around.  I'm thinking that the bottle will be for storing herbal vinegar.  Those spoons?  I'm going to play with making garden markers out of them.

All in all, some decent booty for $20!

Don't forget to stop back tomorrow for a special 3 Day guest post from John of 60 Miles: 316,800 Feet Closer to a Cure .