Spools of Happiness (And also Crafts)

The internet has been wonky. This is upsetting. Since AFB got off early on Monday we went down to the cable place to see what was up with that. I stayed outside to poke around the streets downtown to see what I could find. Behind a locked gate (psht, locks) at the cable company there was a PILE of those spools that wire comes on. I stare longingly and move on, as it's business hours and they have our address.

But wait! What's that?! A man unlocking the gate? I bound over, startling the poor guy, and ask about gettin' me some hot spool action. He says I may not can have any 'cause someone just asked about getting some and he wasn't sure how many they needed. I wilt. Then AFB jogs over with a "Hello sir, I'm the one who asked about the spools." YAY!! So I got spools. Three. One rather small one as we need a table for the tiny area between the couch and a walkway. We're currently using a box. This is unacceptable. In fact most of our tables are boxes. There's even a fish tank on a box.

So yesterday was spent cleaning the kitchen, spray painting Everything, and then crafting some Things. Fear my hot gluing skills.

Not pictured are the plastic filing thingies and green organizer from the previous post. Don't worry though, they got painted too.
Unfortunately those spools soak up paint like no body's business. I can see it now "Don't use Bounty or other big name paper towels! One wire spool will soak up all your family's messes and lasts a lifetime!" (Insert clip of a lady wiping up juice with a wire spool)

So this means you gotta wait to see the finished products of the Four Things pictured here. To tide you over, you can see the mad organizing I did with the plastic things and some milk crates!

 

Because this is what "organized" looks like to me. Belts are hanging on the far side.

Yes that would be a Jackalope, marmot, and possum. Made the Jackalope, the marmot is Charles Chester Buckingshire III, Esquire (Buckingshire for short), and the possum is Aplin (he came from the WORLD'S LARGEST CONVENIENCE STORE, right here in Texas).

Tiny cup is a yogurt cup I cleaned and painted purple. I needed something to put spare change in.

Weekend's Findings!

Holy crap what a lovely weekend!
After lunch on Sunday AFB and I did our normal "go through neighborhoods to get home" deal to see what we could find. Oh and find things we did. There was a whole pile of goodies outside of a home that was recently put on the market! Yay! Alas we were in his car which means we had very little room to get any back to the house, so off to swap cars!

Going down a street that's mostly shut down businesses... my scavenger sense started tingling. "Hey," I say to AFB. "We need to go behind those buildings." Like the Understanding Guy he is he hooked a right down an alley and circled behind. "Drive slower. Okay turn around. STOP." I hop out of the car, leaving my shoes behind (a normal thing for me) and hop-skip-jump over a ditch to grab the milk crate I had spotted... RIGHT ONTO A MILLION GIANT THORNS. Undaunted I take the steps needed taking to reach the crate, then the steps to get back to the car, triumphantly toss the crate in the back seat, verbally pat myself on the back, strike a heroic pose... Then fall into the car yelling curses and cradling my poor paws. Perhaps it says something about my daily behavior 'cause all I get is an eyebrow raise out of AFB. Until I hold up my foot, which looks like Steve Madden decided the next "new thing" is wearing porcupines for roller skates and I were the type of person to give two shits what Steve Madden says is "in."

Something about suffering for my art. Whatever. That shit hurt.

So since it's been windy and awful I haven't gotten to do much with the Things we found. I couldn't even lay them out for a picture; 'tis grand sadness. Here are a few of the things I could snap pictures of.

A DESK for my porch/workshop. I had mentioned wanting one and BAM. Got it. Also found that nifty metal basket to put Things in until I get to them. The large, bottom drawer is going to be turned into a wind-proof cat bed for AWOL so she has somewhere to hide/sleep/hang out.

I have been hunting some of these for an embarrassingly long time. I guess now was the time I was supposed to find them!

This organizer is actually a dreadful shade of 70's pea green but my flash did what it could to make it look cute. While I appreciate the effort, it needs work.

Things Not Pictured Yet

A plastic six bottle Coca Cola crate (found by AFB, who is in love with Coke stuff)
A wooden, roll top bread box
A smaller one of the green organizers (I just stuck that in the top drawer of my desk to put small things I find in)
Lots of random metal bits for sculptures
A cherry red, 70's Samsonite suitcase
Two sheets for spray painting on
One sheet that had cute flowers on it (fabric good for something)
Sweatshirts to make the cat bed out of
Random clothes that'll be good for fabric
A plastic tub
Two plastic shelf thingies like you put in a cabinet to add more space (which is what I did)
A giant flower pot

I'm sure I'm forgetting things but yeah, there ya have it. Good weekend. Except the thorns. Those thorns can kiss my ass.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

So I get up this morning and the water is shut off.
The hell is a girl to do?
I had a kitchen FULL TO BURSTING with dishes (one of these days I may learn to cook without getting EVERYTHING dirty) and Treasures to clean.
Yes the ones from days ago.
I’VE BEEN DOING OTHER STUFF OKAY? Geez.
So after dealing with that I finally went to the store and got dishes done and brought some of the smaller things to clean inside (cold and windy weather, hiss).
It’s finally warmed up some so I’ll go out and finish that here shortly.
Even without scavenging I managed to find nine playing cards in the parking lot so I’ve at least got that going for me.

What Should I Do With Them?

Idle Hands

Sadly, there was no scavenging yesterday.
I spotted a blood drive on the way to the store and donated some life juice.
Afterwards they told me no long walks/runs/jogs or anything.
Apparently I give off the “bah, I’ll be fine” vibe ‘cause the nurse eyed me and told me I’d probably pass out if I tried. Last thing I need is to pass out face first onto a cactus so I figured I should stay home.
Instead I painted a shelf!!

Apologies for the lack of Before picture, but just imagine it was an icky wood color. Oh, yeah, and the shelf was found in the pile of stuff with the t-shirt I made my pack from, the strainer my PURPLE BASIL (WHAT?!) is growing in, and the blue jeans I made into puppy toys.

Oh, I didn't mention that?
BAM.

Two of my dear and beloved friends recently started their own dog rescue back in Tennessee (Black Bear Animal Rescue)! How exciting is that?! They got their first Little Critters a while back so I figured they could use some toys.
If you wanna check them out, here's their facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/blackbearanimalrescue?ref=ts&fref=ts

Grow Activities, With Grow Tendencies

The garden begins!! Since I started this a bit after these activities occurred some of it's a little iffy on the timeline. Oh well, time's all wibbly wobbly anyway.

I had this to work with.

That's AWOL. She has decided she lives here. Even the animals are Found Objects. 

And that sad hunk of land has been perked up a tiny bit (it's a work in progress, gimmie a break!) to look like this!

I've actually added to this a decent bit but I don't have pictures of it yet, so that update'll come later.
Alright Tiny Garden, are you ready for your close up?

These are actually in a container I dug down into the ground so it'd be (kinda) flush. Hoping they grow fast and fill up that cage!! AFB came home for lunch while I was digging. With the large spoon found on Day 2 (or was it 3?). He just kinda stared for a minute. After we went and got lunch he went to Wal Mart to pick up speakers and I guess a kick-ass three piece gardening set (trowel, weeder and rake thingy) just fell into the cart. As I said. Very Understanding Guy I Live With.

Up close of the Engine Gasket Plant Holder! Used the gasket, two swirly pieces (I'm told they're part of an old chair's arms), a fork and a piece of chain!

PURPLE BASIL. WHAT?! Planted in kitchen strainer we found over the weekend. The small basket (thanks Sam!) has two wild onion bulbs I found growing happily within. Rocks so it doesn't blow over. It gets Piss You Off Windy here. Succulent in a nut and a desert plant in a weird blue thing These have both died, thanks to AWOL, so this looks different now.

Desert plant in a hub thingy! It's got holes in the bottom for drainage, so huzzah. This has also died. I had it out of dirt for a few days between uprooting and planting. My bad.

Cinder block I found and AFB hauled home from a nearby field.
"Should we take the car?"
"Psht, no, it's super close. We don't even leave the apartment's property."
It was about a quarter of a mile. I should work on recognizing distances.

I only found one bracket for this piece so it's kind of a Frankenshelf. I love it for that. It's doing this unfortunate forward tilt thing though, so I'll have to fix that as I find Things. Oh, noticing the little cactus in the cool pot? SPOILERS. It's from Day 4.

The aforementioned metal thingy with fork legs! Found glass and marbles to make it fancy.

There's more now but I forget to take pictures every time I'm outside. Blast.

Day 3's Pickings!

OH MY GOOOOOOSH. FIND ALL OF THE THINGS.
Just when you resign yourself to the fact that you'll be heading home after an hour and a half with a pouch full of bones and NOTHING else?... You find Things. So many Things. All of the Things. Isn't that just like life?
I found a few dirt (service?) roads that look like they haven't see anything but people on horses in years. Naturally this means Ripe Pickings.

I figure to showcase this whole Law of Attraction/Power of Intentions/Holy Crap You've Got Amazing Luck thing I should post what I'd hoped to find that day. 

What Was I Hoping For?
Things for my Tiny Garden
Milk Crates for a dresser

What To Do?!

Milk crate will become a dresser as soon as I find a few more. This is my second one as I found one over the weekend. NEED MORE.
Metal plate will be made into a Tiny Bird Bath, along with the GIANT DRILL BIT. Seriously guys, look at that thing. It's huge.
Wooden screen thingy will be a plant shelf. Hanging or against the fence? Decisions decisions.
Brown holey pot will be a fishy hidey hole (so many bettas).
Metal hub thingy is gonna be a planter.
Spring from an old mattress will be made into a hanging flower pot holder. Perhaps with that little piece of chain over there? Eh, eh? Think they're feeling frisky?
Cute metal cup!! It’s got flowers on it that you can’t see in this picture! Since the plate is gonna be a Tiny Bird Bath the cup shall be a Tiny Bird Feeder.
Floral shirt that wasn’t as dirty as I expected. Gonna bleach that shit and wear it!
I’m thinking three of the forks are going to be used as legs for a metal piece I found over the weekend to make a standing planter.
Glass flower thingy has a hole in the bottom so I may stick it in the ground and plant a small desert flower through the hole put it in a fish tank for a cave/tunnel.

Low Key Weekend

After Day 2 spent shoving Things into every spot my hoodie could hold something in (I'm talking bottles tied up inside the sleeves, people) I decided I needed A Pack. I didn't go hunting in the fields this weekend as AFB and I were busy both days. Coming back from a trip into town we did take The Road Less Traveled and found a few goodies about. Got a (clean!) t-shirt in a box on the side of the road on Sunday so that night I made a pack!

Woo! Lovin' the obnoxious blue color! Used the sleeves to make those two little side pouches, and cut the bottom hem in two so I'd have two straps should I need to tie something for some reason. Not sure when those'll come in handy but not need to waste.

This is how we do it, baby!
And yes, that pouch is a cat. Or is that cat a pouch? YOU DECIDE!!

Hot Gluing Action

I HATE BROWN.
I don’t think it should be a color.
So what’s a girl to do when her plant is in an ugly brown pot?
WHIP OUT THAT HOT GLUE GUN.

All the glass/pottery was found. The rope is left over from making rat toys.
Mattress spring and Awesome Padlock are from Day 3's pickings! Shit, I haven't posted those yet have I? Lemme get on that.

Day 2's Pickings!

Went to a different field today! Walked for about an hour with few finds (‘cept that kick ass bird cage) and decided to head home.
As I never go home the same way I circled around  for a leisurely trot home and came upon pile after pile of bottles. There were so many I only grabbed the coolest ones and will probably go back when I figure out what the HELL I wanna do with all these bottles. Ideas anyone?

Kick-Ass Bird Cage inspired me to plant a Tiny Garden along one side of my porch’s fence. Oh, yeah, did I mention my porch workshop is completely fenced in. We're talking four feet high wooden privacy fence. S’weird. I kinda love it.

What To Do?!
Kick-Ass Bird Cage is going to go in the ground around a bunch of colorful flowers in the Tiny Garden.
Empty tin (the one with holes in it) is gonna be a planter for a succulent.
Fork is being used in the construction of The Flower Pot Hanger.

Need Ideas For:
Bottles, LOTS OF BOTTLES

Day 1's Pickings

I had few plans for these goodies so I set to cleaning them up!

I have a faucet outside and an old, electric toothbrush so we made quick work of this! Well not really, some of that crap was really caked on.

What To Do?!

I knew I wanted to use the engine gasket thingy (the long metal whatsit with holes) to make a hanging shelf to put flower pots in. The piece of wood and three pop tabs were going to be a tiny shelf for AFB (Air Force Boy: The Very Understanding Guy I Live With was too long) as he mentioned needing one.
Oh, and in case you were wondering, yes that is a small ceramic cat! SO EXCITED.

Also, for your enjoyment:
“I JUST STUCK MY FACE IN A CACTUS AND IT’S HARD TO GET THE THORNS OUT BY YOURSELF WHY AREN’T YOU HOME?!?!”

—	Texts you should expect if you live with me.

So It Begins!

I have a problem.

I like stuff.

While this isn’t a problem to most people it is for me. I move a lot. I mean A LOT. In fact, I just did it last week! I was already tired of taking load after load of stuff to what ever new abode I’d be in so this time I didn’t. I weeded out everything to the point where everything I owned would fit in my little Plymouth Neon (his name is Thumper).
Well, except my books, which are being stored with my parents (thanks mom and dad!). Books don’t count.

So! Now that the majority of what I have here in Texas is either clothes, art, or craft supplies it came time to Get More Stuff!! YAY!!
....
...
..
.
Or was it?…

It aaaaaall started on Wednesday. I went to a field boarding the apartment complex I live at to look at plants and bugs and the like. Tromping through the field I come upon a bottle! Spiffy! I scoop it up! Wow! Treasure! Then I notice a piece of rusty old chain! Ohhh, I can do something with that! With me it comes! By the time I’d finished exploring I’d found many bottle piles, ancient trash piles and lone pieces just awaiting me. All held treasures. I had a nice little pile of Things That Were Coming Home With Me. So I think to myself…

Why Do I Buy Things When There’s All Of This Beautiful Trash?

The only answer I could come up with was “Because you’re silly.” So my mindset! It changes! I’ve always been a fan of The Law of Attraction and The Power of Intentions and all that but I rarely practiced. Time to practice!

(There are exceptions here such as groceries and whatnot)
Don’t Spend More Than $10 On Something Used
Don’t Spend More Than $5 on Something New
If You Can’t Find It You Probably Don’t Need It
If You Can Repurpose It Don’t Throw It Away
I’m gonna give it six months. We’ll see how this goes. I’m gonna use this to keep track of Treasures I Find, Things I Make, and Adventures I Have. Huzzah.