sarah's sustainable life

it is difficult to get into the holiday spirit while it is so warm and sunny. i have found a few activities to do with my son this week that are helping, including making salt dough ornaments. these are great gifts for family members, and the long, slow baking time gives plenty of time for wintery mischief in the kitchen (like making vegan hot cocoa and “ice skating” in the flour that’s inevitably all over the floor).

salt dough ornaments:
1cup all purpose flour
1/4cup salt
1/3-1/2cup warm water
cookie cutters
straw
acrylic paints, paint brushes
yarn

set oven to 250. combine salt and flour. slowly knead in water, a few spoonfuls at a time until a not-too-sticky dough is formed. on a floured surface, roll out to about 1/4inch thick. cut out shapes with cookie cutters, then use the straw to poke a hole at the top of each. bake one hour in preheated oven, then allow to cool completely. decorate and paint. when dry, tie a thread of yarn through the top and you’ve got a keepsake to remember through the years! note: i could not find a way to keep josiah from mixing all the colors together, so unless you want all of your ornaments brown, you will need to paint a few yourself.

*just a little note – this is being posted EARLY for father’s day because it takes some time to order, so read on and find just what dad’s been wanting for years*

ah, indie crafting. i have certainly seen some very creative upcycling on etsy and such, but nothing ever like the company “hello rewind” and their laptop sleeves! here is the concept: you send your favorite old tee shirt with an order for your size laptop and in 4-8weeks you have a unique and sentimentally valuable laptop cover. but that’s not the best part! based out of new york city, hello rewind is a company with a mission to rescue people from the slavery of sex trafficking. when you order their goods, you are providing work and skills training for those trying to escape that slavery. win win situation? i think this is the definition!

it doesn’t have to be cold outside for one to appreciate a nice hot shower, but this weather certainly makes hot water seem more like a necessity than a luxury. for one peasant carpenter in the shaanxi province of china, necessity has become the father of invention. unable to afford a water heater, ma yanjun created a water heater by placing empty beer bottles in rows connected by hoses, which allow cold water to flow through them and be heated by the sun. ma created this innovative, inexpensive water heater so that his mother could have a hot shower, but has since helped more than 20 other families in qiqiao village to do the same. it seems one man’s thoughtful gift keeps on giving, and many more people will enjoy hot showers in the cold winter months that province tends to experience. not that my opinion is that important, but i think colored glass can be quite beautiful, and with the right variety of beer bottles available, this water heater could be very attractive (especially compared to a normal solar panel).

from Rishi Menon's flickr account - thanks for the beautiful photo!

in a society so cluttered with disposable everything, it’s easy for us to overlook the fact that art and design are everywhere. from your furniture and appliances to the boxes and bags that your food is packaged in, someone designed those items the way they are for a reason. a recent article by weburbanist really has me taking a second look at the “stuff” that sits around my house, and what i consider garbage. for hundreds of years people have been taking a lack of new materials and turning what they already have into useful and beautiful objects. from a beer bottle house built in nevada in 1907 to furniture made of bicycle tires and shopping carts, artists and architects find new use and beauty in the ordinary; more people could benefit from seeing objects this way. it puts me in mind of the purpose of andy warhol’s soup can paintings, taking a closer look at the everyday and maybe even ourselves…

perusing one of my favorite blogs (veganlunchbox), i came across a message from glueandglitter. if you know me, you know my crafting talent stops at knitting crooked scarves, but darn it, i LOVE crafts from people who know what they are doing! so is the case with the little lady who runs glueandglitter; she has some amazing, earth friendly products for sale at a fairly reasonable price. coffee cup cozies, cute aprons, reusable designer lunch bags w. matching napkins, all made from vintage and repurposed fabrics. i encourage you to check it out! it is a small operation, so there is a limited number of items, but she clearly states she will make to order if you just let her know what you are looking for. the things i could make if i could use a sewing machine properly…

ok, so i just recently gave you an awesome recipe for homemade play dough (anyone else try it yet?). i’m not trying to be redundant, but all kids and moms know there is a big difference between play dough and modeling clay. so for those times when you would like to have your child’s creation as a forever keepsake or a cheap christmas present for the grandparents, here is a link to the recipe for oatmeal modeling clay from disney’s family fun website. while you are there, check out some of the other awesome ideas they have for crafts, games, and fun pastimes.

upon researching activities to do with my son, i stumbled upon a business called “artworks studio“. this place offers regular, age appropriate, reasonably priced classes in hands-on art methods and art history from 18months and up. you can even schedule a birthday party, scout meeting, or home schooling class there! josiah and i started two weeks ago, and i was skeptical about how much he would actually participate. it turns out, my son is a painting and sculpting fool! we’re in the process of starting an art gallery in his room to showcase his talent – i think he may be the next jackson pollock!!:) check out artworks studios! i know there is more than one location in san antonio, and i think there may be some across the country.

josiah covered in paint after an artworks experience

“you are so sweet to pack your husband a lunch every day!” i get that comment quite often, but i don’t consider lunch packing a good deed to cross off my list. packing a lunch is an absolute necessity on our budget, and really an extension of my efforts to help my family be healthier and less wasteful. when i was growing up, packing a lunch was NOT COOL. i remember very few times that my mother packed me a lunch past kindergarten, and i’m sure it was a combination of convenience (my mother was a full-time nurse by the time i started school) and lack of demand (i certainly didn’t want to be the nerd with a lunch box while everyone else was eating hot pizza). i’ve not visited many elementary schools recently, but i understand the cultural attitude is changing rapidly, and what used to be considered uncool (packing a lunch or doing anything that was different from other kids) is now considered acceptable or even desirable. popular or not, there are several good reasons to “brown bag it” per se:

packing lunches saves money. hands down, if for no other reason, you must consider packing lunches to save money. one of the most basic lessons i taught in my curriculum at OSU was that anything you cook at home will always be cheaper than food you buy at a restaurant – always. even if you don’t like to cook and prefer to buy convenience foods at the grocery store, it will still be cheaper than buying prepared foods from a café or a restaurant. i encourage you to do the math on your favorite meal out sometime. no matter what it costs at the supermarket, you are not paying a cook, waiter, hostess, bartender, bus boy, marketing executive, manager, etc.

packing lunches can be a good way to get your family eating healthier. how many times have you had to grab a quick lunch and ended up eating fast food? how many times did you feel great after you ate that fast food? (if you are buying lunch at a sit down restaurant on a regular basis, money is not an issue for you, and this article probably does not apply) with a little prep work the night before, a quick lunch can be the healthiest meal of the day. for some great ideas on healthy lunches to pack, see one of my favorite blogs www.veganlunchbox.com. she has some amazing ideas to keep lunch exciting and packed with nutrition (and don’t forget to visit the magic loaf studio while you’re on that website; what a great way to use up random ingredients laying around your kitchen!) also, if you want to get very creative, you can take some inspiration from Japanese bento boxes and make healthy lunches beautiful. these women are amazing, what can i say…

panda bento box taken by luckysundae

packing lunches is a great way to reduce waste. what fast food meal does not come with paper waste? there are many programs in place now that encourage waste free lunches, and many websites to visit that can help. www.laptoplunches.com has some beautiful lunchboxes to choose from, or you can visit your local thrift store and find a cool vintage lunchbox (i love my 1960’s red plaid thermos i picked up from a thrift store in ohio a few years back!) you can make your own reusable cloth napkins in prints of your family’s liking, use old margarine tubs to pack loose snacks, and even make reusable sandwich wrap out of vinyl. aluminum and stainless steel canteens seem to be all the rage nowadays and can be purchased almost anywhere. i encourage you to pick up a set of utensils from the thrift store for each lunch packing member of your family, though, so that if a fork gets left behind somewhere, your home set is not incomplete forever (i’m a little on the ocd side and it would drive me crazy to have an odd number of utensils in the drawer).

try packing lunch (or dinner, depending on your work schedule) for a week or two. see if it doesn’t make a difference in your wallet, health, and carbon footprint. i look forward to hearing from someone takes the challenge!

i have been looking forward to this day for months! today is the gorey blood drive!! being the only person in my family that is old enough and willing to give blood, i will give a pint and get free admission to the mcnay museum & ed gorey exhibit. giving blood is sort of the ultimate recycling, i think… that and giving hair to locks of love.