Kicking off the holidays.

Thanksgiving has come and gone and the start of the Christmas season has begun. With a nice warm 60° day we headed out for some holiday fun. We kicked off the start of the holiday season by going to watch Santa arrive by tugboat this year. It was awesome. I have to say that it's the very first time I've seen Santa arrive this way. Usually he's on top of a building or turning on the city lights but this year we opted for something close to home and different.

Following the crowd and wait to see Santa we headed to the village for dinner. They are doing a wonderful job decorating the village for Christmas. I'll have to try to get some pictures when it's all done.

After dinner it was time to head back down to downtown and the docks for a lighted boat parade. The boat parade was so much fun. The drawbridge goes up and people start cheering and whistling, boat horns blare and colored lights float on by.

Tea Staining Paper

I'm currently working on paper for a book and figured I'd share how I tea stain my paper. When I first started staining paper I read up on different ways and materials to use, for example you can use coffee. Now I've never used anything other than tea, as I don't really see an need to. I tend to do what works for me, so it may be a bit different than others that you may have seen.

Why tea? you might ask. Well, tea is fairly inexpensive and creates the colors that I am looking for. You can use all different kinds of tea to get different kinds of results, we'll go into that at another time. For this books paper I'm using your standard black tea, the bag shape or size doesn't matter. Tea alone can't do the job though, you'll need a cup of water as hot as you can stand to touch. I find that paper seems to want to absorb the water and color faster if the water is hot. Here are my supplies:



To get the tea stain on the paper wet the tea bag by dipping it in the hot water. You might need to let the teabag sit for a few seconds to a minute by the side of the cup after you dip it. You want the tea bag and the tea inside to become saturated and absorb/hold the water that you just gave it. When you first dip the tea bag it may seem like it's not getting wet, this is why I dip it then let it sit. Once it has set you can dip it again and make sure that it is wet, give it a little squeeze you don't want it dripping wet. As you work with tea staining you'll get a feel for just how much water you like in your tea bag. If you like your paper to just have a even color across it then simply rub/wipe the tea bag across the paper until the entire paper is colored. You can see in this picture that I have done have the side of this page that way.



Now I prefer not to have a nice even color to my pages. I like each page to have it's own uniqueness to it, so that no two pages are the same. To do this I start out as described above with the nice solid color but then I go in and dab my tea bag on the paper and squeeze some of the water out. Remember to dip your tea bag into the water when it start to seem like it's getting dry or not leaving a light trail of water on the paper. I dip one tea bag and let it rest by the side of the mug to get a darker color, similar to how you would let the tea bag sit in the water to get a darker stronger tea. If the tea bag happens to break or rip and tea comes out don't panic, it's fine. It actually adds some nice designs to the paper. The places where the tea is on the paper will be darker when it dries. The tea simply brushes off once the paper has completely dried.

Here you can see some the tea staining that I was working on to get the uneven colors



Once you have stained one side of your paper don't forget about the other side. I do one side and let it set for a bit and then do the other side. It's a fun process and I love to see the results. I would recommend wearing gloves if you do not want your hands dyed or smelling like tea. Hopefully you'll have as much fun as I do tea staining paper. It's a great way to get an old look and feel to paper.

Handmade Holidays

The holidays are such a wonderful, magickal time of the year. They are very special to me and hold some of the best memories for me. I love to make the holidays extra special by adding that element of there being something unique and handmade. Plus with out there being much money this time of year handmade makes much more sense. Handmade items are typically equal to, though almost all the time are better than, the manufactured items. I have never been disappointed in the purchase of a handmade item. I usually end up making gifts myself along with cooking for everyone but I love it. If I don't end up making something I like to buy that unique handmade item.

Personally I think that buying something handmade for someone takes more thought than just buying something manufactured. To help inspire you to have a homemade holiday I put together a collection at ArtFire:

Having a Handmade...

Curated By: CraftyDayDreams

ArtFire.com

Handmade Soap

What I learned from Hurricane Irene

So what did I get out of all this?

1. When they tell you to prepare for X amount of days double it. It's more realistic.

2. You loose weight when you don't have much food - even when you eat out.

3. It gets really really dark at night with no power. Like the you can't see your hand an inch in front of your face kind of dark.

4. These kinds of things effect your pets more than you would ever imagine. The dog didn't eat for the first two days, didn't want to go outside, he peed right by the house instead of going all the way out to the back yard, he was always under foot and wouldn't sleep alone. He had to be in bed with us at night. The cats were just as bad.

5. You know and understand on a normal day that friends and family are important but when something like this happens it reinforces it an inexplicable amount. They are the greatest people on this earth and you realize even more how much you love them.

I'm almost going to miss some of this...the quiet, the non-rush of things and the slow pace of life. You learn to appreciate the simple things more. I missed having running water and flush toilets more than any other thing. And the dork that I am missed my on-line friends, people that I've played games with and chatted with, some I've talked with for more than two years.

It amazed me how much we are bound to routine, 5 days with no power and I still found myself stepping into a room flipping on the light switch and expecting something to happen.


Looking Ahead
There is another hurricane on the way. It's still to far out to predict where it's going just yet, but we will be better prepared next time.
Here is a list of necessities of what we would have ready for next time based on what we went though this time.

Preparation List:
1. $200-500 in cash...no power means that stores on back up power or doing things manually will not be able to take debit/credit cards.

2. Making sure to fill way more buckets with water and make sure you know where to get water if you run out. Don't be afraid to fill up every pot and pan, bucket and pail, you will need both toilet flushing water and drinking water if you have a well.

3. Entertainment - Have entertainment that doesn't require power..games, playing cards, books.

4. Small generator - so needed to save the food in the fridge and freezer, to run a lamp or charge rechargeable. If not expect to throw everything in the fridge and freezers out.

5. Gas - Fill all your gas cans for generators, tractors, and cars. No power means that the gas pumps won't be running and there might be another gas shortage.

6. Batteries - Lots of them..buy stock in them as I say, and do it well in advance of the storm...4 days before the storm hit and we were struggling to find them.

7. Flashlights/Lanterns - 4-5 of them if not more. You will need one for basically every person in the house. If you can't find flashlights or lanterns (we used the battery operated lanterns), book lights make good alternatives.

8. Eco friendly bulbs - This is so you can run more than one light on the small generator.

9. A need to find some way to make coffee with no power. :S

10. Canned food - bread - peanut butter - jelly - grillables (hotdogs/hamburgers that you can throw in a cooler after you loose power or to use if you have a generator)

11. Propane for grill

12. Tape for windows and cardboard. The way I look at it is I'd rather loose a window than put holes in the window frames from ply wood. Tape an X on each section of window then place cardboard over the inside of the window and tape that up. The cardboard will help minimize broken glass in the house.

13. Bathroom spray + Eco friendly toilet bowl cleaner (we use seventh generation). Not flushing the toilets all the time makes the bathroom stink - spray after using the bathroom and squirt a little cleaner in the toilet after flushing to keep the toilet smelling fresh. (Remember to close the lid to keep animals out.)

14. Paper/plastic Products - Cups, plates, knives, forks and spoons - remember there's no real way to wash dishes, water is priceless so you don't want to waste it.

15. Foil for grilling on.

16. Food for animals - Don't forget about them, make sure you have enough food stock piled for them as well, and remember to figure them into the water usage too.

17. Glow bracelets/sticks - Packages of these are cheap, buy them at the dollar store or in the dollar section of Target or Wal-mart. They are great for the kids at night who use nightlights so they are not afraid of the dark...Just remember you will need one - two of these per child per night.

We will definitely be more prepared next time around.

Friday Day 6 - Written 9/2

9:30 am It's amazing how tired you are and how much you sleep when you have no power. I'm thinking it's the sever lack of coffee!


10:00 am Still need to go out and get coffee. The approaching end to all of this has eased some of the tension and stress around here. My hubby thinks I'm completely demented because I said that I'm going to kind of miss this whole experience. I mean I've been without power before but never this long.

10:45 am McDonalds coffee is gone already :(

1:15 pm WE HAVE POWER!!!!! All they had to do was take the final branch out of the lines and flip the switch...like they couldn't have done that sooner, but hey who am I to complain I have power!!!