Top greens

In this post a while ago I mentioned my top three "green" bloggers. They are (in no particular order):

Karen Cannard at The Rubbish Diet

Beth Terry at My Plastic-free Life

and Mrs Green (Rachelle Strauss) and her family at My Zero Waste

Each of these women started out in a small way to change their impact on the environment and have gradually become experts through diligence and hard work. They all know that it can be a battle to do things right but they keep on trying and that's what makes them outstanding in my book. All of their websites contain a wealth of information and advice for anyone interested in recycling and caring for the environment.

Getting crafty

A little while ago I was lucky enough to visit Fat Tuesday in Kloof where I treated myself to (amongst other things) a cool set of postmark stamps. I hurriedly used them on some gift wrap to justify their purchase. Future plans for the stamps include more gift wrap and some birthday cards.

A postscript (if you will): the UNISA logo is not one of the stamps. It's just me recycling a very old envelope.

Strongbox

This safe is made from used cardboard boxes by an Italy-based sculptor.

Chris Gilmour's cardboard sculptures (with no internal armatures or wooden skeletons) vary from life-size to desktop-size, cars to typewriters. Thanks to a tweet from @Etsy for the link

New from old

I'm unreasonably proud of my little celery plants because I grew them from the cut off bit from some bought celery stalks. I love to reduce waste and having them grow instead of throwing them away is so rewarding

Childhood memories and hopes and dreams

One of my favorite pass times when I was a tot was to look at all the buttons my mother kept in her button tin. It was a brown shoe polish tin - very utilitarian and totally delightful because you couldn't see what was stored inside. I distinctly remember thinking that I'd have to have a tin full of buttons  when I was a grown-up.

My mom still has her button tin and it still holds its fascination for me, but I have been fortunate to have inherited my mother-in-law's collection of buttons. I'm currently sorting through them to select which ones to pass on to Cupcake Couture's Button Hunt. I wonder whether they will be of any use to her?

There are a few buttons that I will not be able to part with though. These delicate pink ones on the left are being saved incase I'm lucky enough to have a baby. My husband said that if I'm saving pink buttons we will most likely end up having boys! 

Today's view:

It's VERY bright and sunny at the moment so the sea is mostly just reflecting the sun. Perhaps if I were to take this pic later today the sea would show as bluer than blue but it's good to feel the sun in the sky - it makes me feel energized and reminds me of the fact that some of the best things in life are indeed free (uh, oh, my apologies for the cliché).

Should have, could have, and skilled procrastination

This is my guitar that I should be practising right now. Meanwhile I am hooked on my daily fix of blog reading and posting.

Today's post is inspired by Hayley over at everything inbetween who started her year with a clean-up. I'm planning to do some serious de-cluttering in January. My favourite de-cluttering site is The Clutter Clearing Consultancy which is run by Clare Baker. I love her approach because she understands that some people have a fundamental problem overcoming clutter because, like me, they are procrastinators.

These are a pair of "before and after" pics from Clare's website.

And if those don't inspire you then take a look at 365 Less Things and the section titled "Week 1 of 2011 Mini Mission". It's an excellent and manageable way to start to tackle the accumulation of "stuff" that we tend to generate. I really have to agree with those people that say that a cluttered life creates environmental stress that we take out into the world with us. But to counter that I ask myself: If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, what is an empty desk a sign of?

The Art of Getting Things Done

Getting things done is definitely an art - it involves intuition, creativity, timing and tenacity.

Have you heard of the "round tuit". It's a circular piece of paper/card/wood with text on it explaining that it is a "round tuit" and now that this one is yours, you can finally do all those tasks that you said you would do when you got a "round tuit".... a.k.a. "around to it". Unbelievably corny, I know. 

So this post is about getting things done because even though I have a round tuit, I always get frustrated when I don't get everything done. I have read the book by David Allen called "Getting Things Done" and it is an excellent motivational tool, well written and simple to follow and implement his ideas. Without intending to give away the whole book, one of the most simple and effective ideas put forward is that you should write everything down so that it doesn't stay in your mind and cause you stress - then all you need do is consult your written notes to find out what the things are that need to be done each day.

Well, I certainly write things down but this is mostly because if I haven't written them down it is very likely that I will forget them. I have a whiteboard in our study, a small whiteboard on the fridge, plus the pinboard pictured below. The pinboard is also a bit of a mood board because it also has images and newspaper articles that inspire me or that give info about things that I want to do, whether they are for now or for the long term. Then every now and then I have to "edit" the pinboard to see which dreams I still want to fulfill, which ones have passed their deadline and which ones no longer hold my interest.

This is the current, super-large version.

Both of the boards that are shown here were made from recycled materials so I'm quite proud of myself for doing that and not having to spend a cent at the shops. The newer, larger one was made from corrugated cardboard from a box that my husband had kept when he bought speakers. He helped me by cutting the layers of cardboard to the same size in his workshop (I have to admit to being a girl who doesn't know a radial arm saw from a jig saw so I can't tell you how he did it). Then we covered the cardboard using some left over fabric from when the lounge furniture was reupholstered.

This was the older, smaller version.

The smaller one was made with layers of quite thin corrugated cardboard and covered with the leg section of old pairs of black pantyhose. I initially though that the pantyhose would develop ladders in them when I used the pins to hold notices in place but they withstood the small piercings.

I use these boards to post notes about things that I have to get done, and depending on how good the resolution on my pics are, you might be able to pick out the Christmas note from my niece in the UK.