CRAFTING ON A WHIM: New Zine Rack

So I wake up this morning to a little packet of plastic wrapped papers left on the couch by Rob as he left in a hurry for work. He's been working at a university and got this packet of flyers on campus. The cover was this cute red and white hibiscus pattern with black squares... I was desperate to find a way of using that paper!

I found myself a few hours later reading through a zine we picked up at the London Zine Symposium last month. We've had a stack of zines from this year and the last just sitting around with no real home... very sad really.

Cue brain wave. 

We've got an extra glass box from IKEA, the free thing you get to carry your glasses home from the store. We already have employed one in holding a lot of lose paperwork as the dividers can be folded down. I thought that this just might be transformable into a new zine holder.....

An hour later, paper scraps littering the flat, my fingers glued together, viola- new organisational solution (and you must know that I LOVE those)!

      

2010 and already a month gone by!

Leave it to me to find a quality way of sending out 2009 with a bang- or rather a crunch! Rob and I were in California, 8 hours behind Big Ben, and I was shopping at a particular strip-mall in my hometown. Just before heading into the shop I noticed that it was about quarter to 4 in the afternoon and that our friends in London would be ringing in the new year in just minutes.

I headed into the store, didn't find what I wanted, walked back out and carefully put the car into reverse. I was backing out like nobody's granny (overly cautious not having driven in the last 15 months) under the watchful eye of my husband as well when all of a sudden I find myself engaged with a gentleman's passenger door. Happy New Year I tell you. Thankfully insurance covered it all and nobody seemed too bothered, aside from yours truly who was and still am quite convinced he was at fault for driving too quickly. Eight hours later we celebrated our own new years in the safety of my mom's home, cozy with lots of food to munch.

If you've followed my blog you'll know that last year was a struggle. I'm content to see it leave it's dusty footprints on the way out and looking forward to getting dug into 2010. Having only returned from our trip the first week of February it seems like we'll have an 11 month year rather than the traditional 12. Fine by me.

I'm in the process of resolving some things. I'm not into resolutions because I don't have the resolve to stick to a year's worth of rules and don'ts just because 'they' say you should make them. Yet I am aware of the great opportunity to make things different in returning to London after a good deal of time away. If only I hadn't been fighting a terrible cold for 3 weeks once we returned I might have made a better start of this. But nevertheless I'm going to start a rough sort of list of things I'm intending on for 2010 and beyond.

1. Having fun. I love fun. I've never been particularly un-fun. But I think my fun was spoiled last year and this year I refuse to give up my fun and I'm going to look at ways of creating fun every day. At least every week anyways. As a matter of fact, I've already applied for a fun job- playing games with adults (www.thefunfed.com)!

2. Creating. Not only will I create fun but I will make many more things- baked goods, meals, needlepoint, clothing, furniture, photos, things for the house, and a whole lot more. I've got off to a decent start having turned Rob's old leopard print laptop case into a cushion, framed a pic we brought back from Venice Beach, begun a needlepoint project with dear ol' Frankenstein and the phrase 'What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger', and I've cooked homemade soup nearly every night for a few weeks. I've altered some clothing that's been on the back burner for a while and I've got a jewelery project waiting for my attention on behalf of a friend.

3. Relationships. I majored in marine biology partly due to the fact that I'd rather hang out with fish who can't complain and get all complicated on you. Clearly God has other plans for me and wants people and all their complexities and dirt and wonderful goodness to rub off on me. And I think I'm feeling more prepared to get dirty, with the help of both numbers 1 and 2. I am determined to make this work come riches or poverty!

4. Spend less time online. EnergySuckingLifeDrainingTimeConsumingMachineOfEvil. I love the internet but I spend half my time on it doing jack squat. I check my email wayyyyy too much, act as if Facebook is the 'real world', and just lose out on a lot of 1, 2, and 3 as a result of being online too much. I need restrictions. See my previous blog post on the matter.

5. Find Shalom. As stated a couple posts back I'm really aching for some serious shalom to park itself in the centre of my life. I want to learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I want to live freely and lightly. All this is found with the Divine Him and within my enhanced relationships. I'm endeavoring to do the Prayer of Examen every night for Lent in an attempt to evaluate my day's successes and failures so that time doesn't swish by so quickly and so that I can find that place of rest each day.

6. Get a haircut and get a real job. Why yes I did just use a George Thorogood song there... my apologies if that offends your musical sensibilities. I have, in fact, owned the cassette single of that song in my lifetime. Yikes. Anyways, yes I need a job to maintain my haircut, my household, my social life, to care for the people I love (the known and the stranger), to help my church grow, and to get out of friggin debt. If you're hiring, I'm really lovely, quite employable, and fairly desperate.

7. Read more. There's an awesome bookshop here called Daunt's. There's one up by Hampstead Heath that I love because of it's location especially. Their books are all arranged by world region, as it use to be a travel bookstore but now it hosts other literature as well. I said when I first moved to the area that I'd like to some day read one book from each section at Daunt's. I got about half way through Notes from the Underground by Russian author Dostoyevsky but it was a bit too bleak for me so I need to get back on that bandwagon. And armed with my library card I don't see why not. Presently I'm reading Eyeless in Gaza by Aldous Huxley. I can't say I'm making my way through it too speedily but I'm going to stick with it.

I'm sure that I could add several more to that list but seven seems like a really good number and a great start for the year (off the top of my head I could easily add 'drink more wine' to that list!). I welcome suggestions on crafty projects, recipes, good books, activities to do with friends, people with money to give/pay me, and just general hellos and relational type greetings of the interweb and non-interweb sort :0) Have a great year!!

Tea Towl image: dollarstorecrafts.com

Autumnal Update

Yikes! Has it been THAT long since I've blogged? Good grief, next thing I know it'll be 2012.

The leaves are changing all over London and I really should get out more to lap up the colours enveloping the city. I went into central today to drop off CVs, looking for that dreaded second job, given that The Bridge will remain my first job, however flexible it may be. I haven't had a 'real' job in so long I fear that I've lost my ability to work in a public setting, especially within retail- and I know the reason I left to begin with was because I couldn't handle the people (little did I know at that point I'd end up in ministry, mind you). I figure I'll take what I can get up til we go to California for Christmas-January and then pick up when we get back, hopefully with a 'better' job. I'm keeping my eyeball on the Global Oceans Legacy project starting up in London which has been recruiting a Project Director and currently an Outreach Manager- two roles that ten years ago I'd have snapped up in a millisecond but now am vastly underqualified for. I'm hoping that there will be a role opening up in the office that will require less.

I'm pretty vacant on the crafting front presently- still needing to put the finishing touches on my Social D apron (and actually put the thing to use)- but have been tossing around the idea of selling Christmas stockings again this year- that being determined by whether or not I land full-time work. I've got a skirt that needs expansion (size uber-tiny) so that's on the to-do list.

I truly have nothing interesting nor inspiring to say on this post but just wanted blogger to know I still live.

Oh, two interesting things in the last two days. The first happened tonight when I dropped a pair of scizzors on my foot. Yeah. That hurt. The second, far more amusing incident was when Rob dunked his mobile phone into his cup of tea by accident last night. I coulda sworn he thought he was dunking a biscuit. Thankfully he'd already ordered a new phone which is due tomorrow. I haven't laughed that hard in a while. Good stuff.

Peace out til inspiration hits!

Pilfering the universe of anything joyous

There isn't really a point to that title, I just quite liked the idea of using the word 'pilfering' and pilfering the universe sounded like a grand idea and joy is always a welcome state :0)

I suppose this post could be more aptly titled, though it would be a bit dull, 'Clearing the air, pizza and calzonery, busted shoes, and crafty projects GO!'

I find myself sitting in our lounge breathing in fresher air than I breathed yesterday. Thanks to the green allergy goblins that are abounding through London's airwaves and the hubster's battling with sleeplessness and hayfever, we have procured two new ionic air purifiers and it really has made breathing in the London air that permeates our flat so much more enjoyable. I loathe to imagine my blacklung as a result of only a few years in the big smoke. At any rate, we've now cleared the air and managed to secure a good night's rest for us both once again.

On a more interesting note, we have also been enjoying the experimentation that is pizza making (and also the art of folded pizza making- calzones!). It's a great filling and versatile meal, and who the heck doesn't like pizza?! Not to mention that it can be done on a shoestring. We managed to perfect our dough (recipe below) on a spinach and ricotta calzone that was absolutely goldeny deliciousness!!! See for yourself!

After binging on calzones for several weekends straight, we decided to unfold the idea and have a pizza with what was on hand the other night. Rummaging around I saw that we had a few large onions, tomato sauce, mushrooms, yellow cheddar cheese and spinach along with some spices and other necessities. I thought I'd see what google would come up with for spinach and mushroom pizzas and I stumbled upon a recipe that also incorporated carmelised onions. Rather than using a tomato sauce it used a garlic cream sauce which made for a nice break from tradition. Here's the link to that specific recipe which also goes into carmelising onions (good thing we had some vinegar on hand as well). We tweaked it a bit according to what we had in our cupboards (substituting garlic powder, frozen spinach for fresh and cheese types for example) and it still turned out amazingly.

I'm so not looking forward to stir-fry tonight after seeing these! They're great not only because of their adaptability and budget-friendliness but also because you can work it well for vegetarians and vegans alike. That's a plus for us since we have so many friends of both persuasions! Here's that gorgeous dough recipe. It's measured for one pizza base or for one calzone (so if you make 2 calzones double it!)

Pizza dough recipe:
175 g flour
1 tsp salt (we found that doubling that for 2 calzones was too much)
1 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp sugar (since we use activated yeast which requires sugar we don't add any additional)
1 tbsp olive oil (we use veg oil since we po'folk)
2-3 tbsp cornmeal/polenta to roll out

Okay so here's the dealio: Mix all that stuff together and add just as much water as is needed (just a bit at a time, likely only a few tbsp) and knead for 3 minutes. Leave covered for 1 hour or until doubled. Deflate it and then roll it out, using cornmeal to keep it from sticking in a terrible mess. Bake your goods with the oven whacked way up til it looks done. I'm a professional with these recipes, I tell ya. It's somewhere around the 20 minute mark.

In other news, we've managed to get our wedding photos all printed up now, so on with the next project of getting the photobook all put together. I'm sort of half looking forward to it and half dreading it but mostly just want the damn thing done with. I'm also working on another sewing project which I shall not tell much of here since one of the creations will be a gift for a friend.

Finally I'd like to salute my pink shoes. I purchased an incredible and bright pink pair of Diesel slipons a few years back at The Rack. The fabric is a sort of oriental pattern, very delicate and every time I wear them I get compliments, either by words or by looks of seething jealousy. I love it. But alas, I've been holding the wretched things together with staples as of late (introducing the shoes to the punk ethos) and their time has come to move on. I truly wish I could recycle them (or heck, just replace them with the same exact pair!) but I'm drawing a total blank about how that could be done. If you see any lovely shoes that might earn my love and replace these dear ones please do let me know. For now, RIP darling little shoes and the staples that adorn you.

Hitler, vegetable plots, macho embroidery and a new look at hope.

Monday found me surrounded by tanks, war memorabilia, lots of rain, and not a few school children: My first visit to the Imperial War Museum with the hubster. I can't say as I was overly impressed by much of the obvious, while Rob enjoyed reading about the machines that blew people and homes to smithereens. I did enjoy bits of the history I saw however.

We headed to the lower level after viewing all the bombs and planes, the submarine experience, and buses turned war transport. After visiting the shelter reinactment, which was a bit dull, but at least one of the old timers that sat with us sang along with the old tunes being piped through the speakers, performed by actors... something about a barrel... one can safely assume a barrel of something malted? Anyways, we walked through the section that presented what was going on during the war on British soil in people's every day lives away from most of the immediate action. The first few things that held my attention were posters appealing to mainly housewives to recycle nearly everything imaginable- from newspapers to rubber to food to metal. People during that time no doubt did their absolute best to turn everything salvagable into something that would sustain their communities and their loved ones fighting for a cause they believed in. Nothing went to waste. Posters implored people to turn their gardens into vegetable plots so that ships could be used to support the war rather than wasting time, supplies and energy to import food items. Public parks, playing fields and greens were turned into farmland that was cultivated by local people. Other posters cautioned folks against spending unnecessarily, advising that it would actually help Hitler.

There were posters teaching children left behind how to mend clothing, repair leaky taps, and other easy things that we are just too lazy most days to bother with today. We just buy something new or call someone to fix it for us.

Scraps of food that weren't left to rot in a bin. They were turned into food for the pigs that people kept in their back yards for food. People- regular people, not farmers- kept chickens and pigs in their back yards for food.

Being a bit of a craft fanatic I was really taken in by the amount of embroidery and cross stitch that I saw. Most was either patriotic or had a message of social action to it. Art and craft meets activism. And that's something I'm really intrigued by at present- craftivism. It's nothing new! Another element of the embroidery/craft thing that hit me was a display of Christmas cards created by World War I frontliners, items sent back home to loved ones. Cards that were actually embroidered with lovely designs... by men- soldiers! How incredible the way gender notions of craft get turned on their heads when convenience is fleeting and desperate times are with us. I wonder if some day during the present 'economic downturn' if Rob will sew a hankie for me with my initials or something.

Why does it take something like war or catastrophy to make us strip back to the basic necessities? Why do we feel that in times of 'prosperity' we can rape the system and the world around us? Why can't we live under the same premise of providing local produce grown with our own hands to sustain our families and communities? Why can't we patch up a hole in our socks instead of buying a new pair? Sure, we may have the money to afford new items or to splurge on something imported from the third world, but what we all know or should know (we've all got access to the info if we'd care to look and acknowledge it's out there) that there are desperate times everywhere. That country that provided you with that banana is more than likely offering its own citizens with half rotting bananas for their own tables- if they're that lucky. That cocoa in your valentine's chocolate could well have been harvested by a child that should be going to school.

I found my visit to the museum to be mostly boring, a bit sad, but I am inspired by what I saw. People who got the message that things must change. And so they did. Too bad things went back to the same ol', or even worse. I hope and pray that some day I can have a vegetable garden to feed my own family with. And that I can make some kind of a difference in our convenience-laden society that's inconvenient to most of the developing world.

The Wanderer.

I went to knitting/craft group tonight with the intentions of picking up my needles again after taking a break over Christmas and getting frustrated with it last week. I did pick up the needles, managed to recall casting on, knitted a few stitches and promptly got bored with it. I think I spent more time actually organising the yarn than I did knitting. I'm still struggling with the difference between knitting and purling and I keep sticking my needles through the yarn rather than underneath it.

I found myself on the way home feeling a bit down, envying Anna for her cross-stitching which was becoming a pretty poppy with leaves. I had about four stitches poorly done sitting on the needles. Or did I undo even that? My thoughts carried me away into a familiar introspective examination on my life and my habits.

When I was a child I wanted to be a writer. I wrote a book under the pen name Charlotte. I can't remember what it was about but I'm sure it was pretty fantastic. I think I wrote a few books in the day. Then I went to school and was in a small class with a bunch of boys and I wanted to be a cop just like them. That didn't last long. Then I found myself in high school wanting to own a vintage clothing store. Somewhere mid-year I decided that I'd go back to writing, only not creative writing and be a journalist. That went out the window when I cursed out my editor and walked out on the school paper because she postponed my body piercing piece (groundbreaking stuff in '93). All this time I was heavily involved, if only personally, in campaigns issues, mostly those surrounding animal rights and my own rights which I felt had been infringed upon by the popular and glorified in our school. I've jumped in and out of justice matters from there, which eventually led to my passion for marine biology and the environment (that aided by my former disliking of people and preference for fish).

I thrived at marine biology. I truly for the first time in life, felt like I stood head and shoulders above the rest. I was recognised for my natural giftings and spongy retention of learning the topics. I enjoyed fighting for the rights of fish, marine mammals, and plankton everywhere (especially if it was tropical and I could live in a hut!). I planned on pushing through to a PhD so that I could have my own research and conservation team. I told my advisor this and he laughed at me and said that it was a waste of time (he had himself attained to a post-hole-digger status but I believe he thought it too high for women to seek after the same). Six years into studying the subject, working my ass off, having a job pretty much guaranteed to be created for me, I burned out. I loved the creative side of biology, loved seeing the evidence and glory of the Creator behind it all, but the science didn't do it for me. And the political, beaurocratic BS of it really turned me off (that same advisor soon saw that I was quite capable of a PhD and when I started volunteering in his lab and field work he changed his tune, making me want to vomit on him).

Then I went into ministry. That's definitely had it's ups and downs. The one thing I know with absolute certainty in this life is that whatever I do is for the love of God and that love's expression here on earth. Most days I find myself finally loving people- most days- and wanting God's best for them. So that brings out the activist in me again. And much like the PhD seeker in me who wanted to have my own team, I like organising people and heading things up. I do like doing things, but as you can see from my track record, I get bored quickly and like to shuffle around a bit.

Thus my dilemma tonight. Do I have epic ADD? I would judge my inability to do one particular thing for longer than a few years without becoming unusually twitchy and unable to remain still and focused as something not normal. The reason I judge it so is because the world around me, our culture, defines me by what I do. When people ask, 'what do you do?' they aren't asking for a description of what you find youself doing 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week. They are effectively asking 'who are you?' And because I can't give a definite term to what I do, I can't really seem to give a definite answer to who I am. At the core of me I know that I am creative, individual, experimental, rambling, organisational and most importantly, when all that fails and my mind goes loopy, I am a follower of Christ and I seek to live like He did loving God and others.

I was talking this all over with Rob tonight for the umpteenth time. He helped, as he usually does. He told me something very insightful. Some sports players have contracts to play pro football AND pro baseball. My mind, shaped by culture around me thinks, that's not possible! you've got to do ONE sport and ONE sport only! Apparently that's what some coaches advise the players of also. However, I thought about it and they're the ones drafting these guys to play their respective sport, so they must be good enough for both- better than most. I find that settling. *thanks babe*

So here I am. Jack of all trades, master of a few (or possessing the ability to master a few but the indifference to commit my life to it), bored with some, recreating others. Is indifference bad in this regard? Or is just that I'm designed with a functionality that prefers to invent, create, abandon, destroy, build, hand over, etc.? It always reminds me of the tattoo I carved into my ankle in high school (don't try this at home kiddos): The Wanderer (in Chinese... or so I thought... I probably ended up carving something more like The Chipmunk or just a symbol that ended up looking like a squashed spider). I still find my old way of wandering suits me. As long as I'm wandering in the right direction and making the world a better place, I'll take it.

stitching back my sanity

I'll save you the lame-o details but today I was not in the best of places. The best place to have been, in my mind, would have been under the duvet ignoring the existence of the world as I know it and everyone in it. Life sucked. However, I survived the day without crawling back under the sheets (my dear husband waking me up and coaxing me out with the offer of fresh coffee) but my only aim was to finish the day so that I could in fact get back to sleep. I managed to get to the re-start of our craft group Needlewerk tonight and that proved to be just what the psychiatrist ordered.

I managed to sew my Blindside patch on my coat as I've been meaning to do for several weeks now. I picked up my knitting, got frustrated by it and put it back down. However I was in a much happier place afterwards thanks to good company, a nice drink, and the reward of creativity. Thank God for pursuits such as these (and friends who no doubt were talking to God on my behalf as well). *sigh*

A New Year, a good book, and a bit of reflection

Okay, well it’s been quite some time since I last blogged, but I thought it might cause me to be inspired to do more creative writing. Seeing as I’ve got brain lock right now, perhaps it’s actually a much needed exercise. Or it could be that I just don’t do all that well at nearly midnight unless caffeinated.

I found myself very confused this evening after watching Walk the Line when I realised that our neighbours The Electric Ballroom was playing music. With the new year celebrations, Christmas, and just falling out of a very newly implemented schedule, I can’t believe that it’s Friday night. It seems almost like an endless cycle of Friday nights lately- like are we stuck in Groundhog Day or something?! It came as a bit of a shock when mentally I was prepared to finish the film, go lie in bed with my new book Valley of the Dolls, and drift off to sleep around 11:30pm-12:00 so that I could wake up and get some work done in the morning. But alas, Ballroomage taken into consideration I’ve had to whip my brain into the realisation that sleep will be fleeting for another 3-4 hours when the party-goers depart or are kicked out.

This new year and the ending of 08 has been interesting to say the least. I’ve been really struggling with what it is I’m meant to be doing. I mean, working as a minister in London, starting up projects and pressing on in relationships with the goal of demonstrating Christ’s love has changed my mindset a lot. Like somewhat in a bad way. Boundaries have become very blurred, work has sort of taken over my mind. I realise and firmly believe that being a follower of Christ is a lifestyle, not something you work at for 40 hours per week, and therefore being a ’self-employed’ minister, setting my own schedule, coming up with plans on my own, etc is something that becomes difficult to separate from day-to-day living. Like knitting for example. I have wanted to start a craft group for some time, but my automatic response to setting something up is to do it not only to create but to build relationships with like-minded people who just happen to quite probably need Jesus in their lives. Therefore craft group leads to bible study leads to church leads to salvation and a merit for the missionary girl. But why. Why can’t I just knit.

This has come with the simultaneous realisation that time off is important. Yes, that’s right we come back to what God said in the 10 commandments and throughout the Bible about taking a Sabbath. Always growing up to believe it was some sort of vacation from reality to be at church, this thinking doesn’t really help a minister’s lifestyle. Yes, ministers themselves need days off. Of course we all nod our heads in agreement, but when you’re working out your own schedule, dealing with money people have given you to support yourself and your ministry work, you want to squeeze the most out of every last minute. Not helpful. God commanded the Israelites to take one whole entire day off without even thinking about work. Now, most ministers have what we call ‘ministry mondays’ which ironically means time away from ministry. God knows what would happen to the world if we all actually took Mondays off, but alas my Rob and I decided to do so for my mental and physical well being (and that of everyone around us, fearing that I would eventually go postal on them). Mondays follow Sundays if you haven’t noticed, and that means small things like taking an offering to the bank for deposit.

That first Monday was hell at first. I waged conscious warfare with the thoughts of work and ministry and ‘just this one little thing’ until a request to go to the bank and deposit like £5 sent me over the edge. I couldn’t find the paying in book. My heart raced. My head began to welcome in like quick sand all the thoughts of what else needed doing. It was like being sucked into a hole until I said NO I will not go to the bank, it will have to wait til tomorrow. And then birds sang quietly in the background again.

See, when you’re working for yourself or setting your own work schedule, how easy is it to just do one little thing? And in the Old Testament times, most people either were self employed or worked for a family run business. The whole sabbath issue is a justice and humanitarian issue. God was concerned because he knew we’re workaholics (when we’re not lazy as hell) and we just won’t take the time off if we let one little bit of work in.

Now that being said Jesus did say to the religious ultra serious Pharisees that if a guy owned a mule and saw it stuck in the mud on the sabbath he’d be an idiot not to rescue it. So yeah, keep it in perspective, but also have some healthy boundaries. Do yourself some good. So yeah, Mondays are days off now. And knitting is for me. Thank God if I do- and I really hope to- make some friends (I need them) and eventually be a good example of God to them. But for now… I’ll just purl, drink coffee, and eat cake.