The Little Pencil Box

A few weeks back, I borrowed my colleague's pencils without asking and it caused a bit of a friction in the workplace (I should have asked) - so I decided to bring my own set of pencils to work. I don't really know why the idea never occured to me before - I rarely use my pencils at home. As I walked home that day, the rubbish bin for plastic to be recycled presented me with a nice little gift - this perfectly unharmed white plastic box. It was sitting on top of the container, as if someone thought it was too good to be thrown in and someone might like to take it. Well, I did! I washed it in the dishwasher and I have my own little pencil box now. The pencils fit into the box perfectly and the box itself fits into the shelf under my desk wonderfully. It is nice how things sometimes work out :) 

Paper Joy

I dug through the waste paper bin that we have at our staff room last week and I couldn't believe my eyes. My wasteful male colleagues have thrown away a great lot of colourful paper. just used pieces, surely, but very nice colours and considering the fact that many times children only use little bits in their art and craft lessons, I thought this could be useful, either to supply them with some paper when they forget to bring their own or to add to the colour range they can use (not to mention there is a whole lot of fun I can have with it, too!!)

And a little bonus - not only I found a lot of lovely paper, but also a paper bag to take it home in and in the bad, there was a forgotten bag of English breakfast tea - my favourite tea! Reusing materials does pay off!! :)

Returning Home

Every time I come home from visiting my man in England, I get very mixed feelings. Sometimes I feel like I am living in two different worlds - one is the sunny Czech world full of work and some friends, the other one is the rainy English one, full of friends and fun and exciting stuff and spending way too much money and gardening and doing whatever I please. It is hard to leave the cosy house with a man who brings breakfast to bed and go fend for myself again. So I try to concentrate on the nice little details. Being at home. Coming to a clean room. Unpacking and putting things into order and where they belong. Seeing that the orchid flower has open. Making more sock yarn. Having coffee and a waffle at Starbucks. And other little things like that.

I Decorated

I probably didn't mention that I moved about a week ago. It wasn't a big move, only to a different room in the apartment, so it was all done comfortably in slippers and with a cup of tea. The room is smaller, but brighter. It gets more sunshine and will definitely benefit the plants and my winter mood. Yesterday, I felt the need to decorate, so I scavenged some business-themed newspaper from our "recycling" box of paper and cut out hearts of different sizes. Then I put them on a string and hung on the wall. It didn't cost me anything and it looks pretty.

And because Christmas will be here in a month and a bit, I also decorated. While the old room was facing west (and offering nice sunny evenings in summer), this one faces south-east, thanks to which I get to enjoy pink morning skies daily.

Have you already done some winter-themed decorating? Do not hesitate and let me know in a comment. Blog links are welcome!

Wednesday Night Sock Yarn

Making a yarn out of old used clothing is something I always wanted to try, especially after I saw wonderful rugs made by EsteraP and found the easy how-to tutorial on MollieMakes. As you can see, it worked out perfectly, so ignore the silly comment below the tutorial (the person must have done some mistake). I didn't have to "waste" any clothing, after all, the whole point of making this type of yarn is to use clothes that would get thrown out otherwise. I used two socks with holes on their heels that I really wouldn't even bother to throw into the charity bin.

The yarn that came out is not wonderfully regular or beautiful, but it is mine! I got more than five meters of thick yarn from each sock. From now on, we are not throwing any socks away! And when we move, I will dye all the yarn  and make a bathroom rug from it. It's a dream! And so romantic - having a shared rug made of our worn socks!!! Romantically creepy? A bit too much? Should I have said it will be my socks only? Oh well... Being a bit of a geek has never hurt anyone...

The good news is that you do not have to undergo the whole "looking for the bad sock" process and can simply buy the yarn if you want to. Etsy shops such as TheRecyclery, OfUsualtees, Chennapenna,  meangreenmachine, EclecticNotions, TShirtYarnBoutique, GreenTeeYarns, pinkamigo and downtherabbitholeSH sell lovely t-shirt yarns.

Plastic

Freedivers are lovely people. They are jolly, they are friendly and VERY committed. They will sign every petition to stop shark finning, write to nearby restaurants that sell shark-fin soup, sign and share everything to help sea turtles and openly go against keeping dolphins in captivity... but when it comes to deflating a plastic bottle and throwing it into a correct rubbish bin… my oh my. Plastic massacre all over the place.

This is just the Sunday morning plastic rubbish that I collected in and around the house where we stayed last weekend. Some I even pulled out of the bin.

I am one of those people who idealistically believe that we can live happily in this world and keep all our comforts while still protecting the environment, simply by changing the little things we do and keeping certain good habbits – like automatically throwing all plastic waste in one big bag and then taking it to a plastic rubbish bin.

The place where we stayed does not have access to drinking water, so everybody buys bottled water for the trip. This produces vast amount of plastic waste, very easily recycled, if only the owners of the place did it. So the best we can do is to collect it all up and take it home with us, throwing it out on our way home.

Hereby, I officially declare myself the recycling supervisor for the following freediving trips, as long as I shall freedive. I already have a volunteer to help me and we are thinking about having team t-shirts (any suggestions where to get some are welcome!!). I must remember to get larger rubbish bags next time though.

I am feeling much better now, knowing that this all will be recycled and used to make new stuff rather than sitting undecomposingly on a pile somewhere. The picture was taken in my own garden. Next time you throw something recyclable out, imagine it piling up in your own garden and how sad that would look. I find it helps :)

Colourful de-cluttering

These old and a bit low-quality yarns that I got from a friend some years ago and did nothing with are on their way to another friend of mine right now - a Czech blogger, mum, crafter and eco-gardener who will try some guerilla crochet with her friends during a one-day course that she organizes. I am happy to have a bit of space in my yarn box again and also that these get to be crocheted around a tree rather than rest in peace in a rubbish bin. Also, the leftovers of my green blanket half-eaten by my rats  and a tiny little freeform crochet piece will keep them company : )

Smashed and Ground - Using Eggshells and Keeping Land Snails

I have prepared a special treat for my snailies this time - inspired by Girl on Bike and her post about using egg shells in the garden and also inspired by this book, I found my own way of dealing with used eggshells. The snails need a source of calcium for their shell to grow and be strong. I used to buy cuttlefish bones, but with the rate at which they consume these yummies, it did cost a bit of money now and then. So I started giving them ground eggshells that have been baked in the oven or microwaved for a while (to get rid of possible parasites) and mixing it into their food.


When the winter days are gloomy and dark and the atmosphere is bored and sleepy and unhappy, I tend to spend a few happy moments taking care of my pet snails (I have talked about them before). It is really satisfactory to see them burrying their little faces into the mix of apple-flavoured baby food mixed with ground eggshells.

Snails are nice to look at, interesting to get to know and as I also saw before, are quite inspiring and educational in the classroom for kids and adults of all ages. They are not furry, so are quite ideal for people with allergies. They are also really easy to keep and can survive for quite a long period of time without food or water, in their shells - perfect for people who are out of home a lot.


Only one in five snails managed to refuse this delicious mix
and went to have a slice of cucumber instead.

However, due to their invasive nature, giant African land snails are not allowed in certain countries (such as the US), but there are still many other smaller snail species available.

Some interesting links for you:

Giant African Land Snails (Achatina spp.) as Pets
Giant African Land Snail caresheet
Snail Rescue UK - introduction to giant African land snails

I'm doing it again...

I am saving plants from the discount section at IKEA. Again. I am thinking I can make their miserable little lives better and make them thrive at my home. I always have hard times leaving a plant on a discount shelf. I know most people wouldn’t buy them, even though - just like in this case – the plant might have just stopped flowering and suddenly it is not worth the money it was before. It’s healthy, it’s not damaged, it’s even still attractive – but people wouldn’t take it when there are dozens of other ones, still having flowers. Well, I DO take it and save more than 50% and will have a plant just as pretty as everyone else, if I don’t kill it like the Crassula succulents that I got from the same place some time ago.

For those who cannot understand this compassion towards plants - imagine it’s not a plant, imagine it’s a puppy. A little puppy sitting on a shelf, looking at you with its big cuddly eyes, silently screaming: “Take me home! Love me!” and you know it’s there, sad, alone and unwanted and you know that it could grow and be wonderful, but nobody would give it the chance, just because it looks a bit shabby. And you know you already have ten dogs at home, but you simply can't leave this one there... You will always find some spare corner for it.  It’s the same with me and plants. So – now you see my problem????!

Homecoming present from the neighbourhood

The first time I came to spend the night at the new apartment did not start greatly, but eventually I managed to take my computer and a backpack filled with pillow and blanket ready to spent the first night at my new home. The weather was incredibly hot and I couldn’t wait to be indoors. I walked from the bus stop, around the lawns and under a walnut tree and around the recycling rubbish bins... and there it was standing. Someone put it on the pavement next to the glass bin.

A white porcellain jug with blue flowers on it, nice, shiny and completely undamaged. I decided to drop my things at home and come straight back to pick it up. And so I did. It is mine now and although it does not necessarily match the interior of my room, maybe one day it will find its place at my parents' place or somewhere else, but any place is better than a rubbish bin.

Giving succulents a second chance

We did a bit of a Christmas shopping for my Mum in IKEA today and almost right next to cash desk with the discounted items, there were many plants for really bargain prices with a sign „try to give them a chance for 5 CZK“. Most of them were Cyclamen, but I found two Crassula succulent plants for only 15 Crowns (something less than 1$), which I felt so sorry for that I decided to buy them. I have been growing succulents since I was fifteen, so I think I might succeed. Both of them look like they were either not watered for a very very long time or froze, maybe both. I am letting them soak up a bit of water right now and the soil will be replaced in the next few days. I think they will be getting along well with the little Christmas lemons when they start growing :-)