From Broken to Brilliant – Mozaics by TLC

Repurposing used materials is a popular trend in art. Old, beat-up signs, weathered barn wood, magazine clippings, and repurposed jewelry are among the plethora of items to be found in the art of contemporary galleries and on trendy home walls. You can see it in gardens with soup cans becoming flower pots and wooden palettes becoming compost bins and in dumpster bound clothing and scarves turned into new, fashionable accessories. Up-cycling in art is a lovely thing. It is fun, it is an... Continue reading

Urban Waste – A Veritable Gold Mine!

I recently happened upon this jewel and became so excited with the ideas it sparked, I couldn't wait to share it. It's a segment entitled "How to Compost in an Apartment" from a show called Chai with Lakshmi. What an inspiration! I'm stunned I've never thought of or run into the concept of container composting! I've let my "live garbage" container stay on the counter long enough that I should have gotten the idea with what I eventually tossed in the bin, but alas, I did not. As a big... Continue reading

It’s Not Just Friday. It’s Pole Bean Day.

I try to gang all my meetings and errands together. I pick a date to get them all done. I assume I will not be able to do regular work on that particular day. This was supposed to be that day. But my first meeting ran over, bumping my second meeting out of the running—it was a lunch with a new user's group, so no one would even miss me. Cool. My afternoon meeting was canceled due to illness, and so I found myself at home with nothing planned or pressing. Part of me really wanted to blow... Continue reading

Grill Starter Kit: A Jar of Used Cooking Oil

We don't fry much anymore, but my daughter had a birthday recently and she wanted burgers and real, home fries. Hey, it's her day. She gets what she wants. And they were yummy. But afterward, there came my usual fried food cleanup quandary. I don't like to pour the used cooking oil down the drain. It could clog things up. I hate to fill the garbage up with this stuff knowing the bag could tear and then what a mess. Throwing it out in the yard seems wrong as well. What to do? Save it for... Continue reading