An outfit for my little girl!

Now before I go on, I would like to take this moment to show my eternal gratitude to my unpicker (also known in other parts of the world as a "seam ripper").

So to the tune of "How do I live" (sorry to Diane Warren, Leanne Rimes and Trish Yearwood for ruining this song):

How would I,
Get through this quest without you?
If I had to live without you,
What kind of year would this be?
Oh, I
I need you for the togs and clothes I've mauled,
You're my world, my heart, my soul,
If you ever leave,
Baby you would take away the fashion in my life,

And tell me now
How'd I create without you?
I want to know,
How would I re-use without you?
If you ever go,
How do I ever, ever survive?
How do I, how do I, oh how do I live?

(okay, sorry for that - back to semi-lucid world now) hehehe

My mum recently got a dress made for her and she ended up giving me the scraps from it. Unfortunately there wasn't much of the fabric left to make it into anything. So I dug into my "clothes-to-be-reconstructed" pile and found this blouse that my friend Emma gave me.

And this was what I came up with:

The top was made by cutting out the front and back part of the blouse and adding a couple of the colourful striped parts of the fabric on as the straps. At first I tried to measure out a top by asking my daughter to wear the material and I pin it..... bad mistake asking a 4 year old to keep still! So it ended up being way way too big. So I then had an idea of using one of my daughter's tops to make the shape.... and it ended up being too small. Lesson here, if using another top to cut out the shapes, make sure daughter has not outgrown that top). So I asked the sewing gurus at Nappycino what to do and Georgie suggested I unpick the side seams and put extra fabic on both sides. It just so happened there was *just* enough fabric to do that.

Next came the skirt. The only problems are:

1. I didn't have enough fabric to make the skirt. This was solved by me using one of the sleeves on the blouse to make up for a panel at the back of the skirt. I am really happy with how this turned out as the black matched the black stripe at the bottom of the colourful fabric. (BTW, the scarf my daughter is wearing was given to us by my mum who had plenty of scarves and when she saw this outfit just had to give her a matching scarf.)







2. The other problem is that I didn't want to use elastic for the waistband as the skirt really needed to be straight and not gathered. Unfortunately, noobie sewer me can't sew on zippers or make button holes yet (one day I'll figure it out). Then with a flash I realised that there are already button holes on the blouse (one left over) so I cut that into a "strap" of sorts and voila! I had my fastening!




Anyway this dress has got to be the hardest thing I've had to sew. Mostly 'cause the colourful fabric pretty much started fraying as soon as I cut it! I ended up doing rolled hems all over the fabric just so it wouldn't fray. I must've unpicked a million times to fix up my mistakes!

As you can all see, it still needs a lot of improvement. The front bits are not totally even (tbh, I didn't notice it until I posted the pic) and the sewing is also a bit crooked (again the fraying problem) but bugger if I'm going to unpick and fix it up!!! I think I've spent about 90% of the time unpicking and only 10% sewing!!

Oh well, I know that I'll get better at this sewing thing one day. :-)

Homemade Shampoo

Okay, with us starting to run low on our bulk stocks of non-food but still "much wanted" (I hesitate to use the word "need") items, I thought I'd start a few posts regarding making these items.

First up: Shampoo This is from one of the few shows I watch "Burke's Backyard". I will make this probably on Friday and will update this post on how it went and how it feels.

Ingredients

4 cups water
peel of 2 lemons
1 branch rosemary
1/3 cup pure soap flakes, or grated soap
1 tablespoon glycerine (from the supermarket)
1 teaspoon lavender essential oil (not a massage oil scented with lavender - if you can't find the real thing leave it out)

Method

1. Put the lemon peel, rosemary and water into a large saucepan. Put the lid on the saucepan and simmer for 5 minutes.

2. Remove the peel and rosemary, then add the soap flakes and stir until dissolved.

3. Add the glycerine and stir again. Turn off the heat. Add the lavender oil and let the mixture cool for about 5 minutes, then use a funnel to pour it into a plastic bottle. (Tip: don't use glass - it's dangerous in the bathroom).

4. As the mixture cools it will thicken; shake it up a few times to make sure it doesn't separate. After a few hours you should have a thick, pale yellow liquid.

Rinse

lavender flowers or mint leaves (added for the scent only - they can be omitted)
1 cup white vinegar
3 cups water

To make the rinse, simply combine the herbs, vinegar and water in another plastic bottle and give it a good shake.

Anyone else have any different homemade shampoo recipes?

Consumption and War in Congo

Well, having introduced labels into this blog, I've realised that I've rambled on and on about how we are going with this challenge on a personal level but haven't really gone into any real details about the information I have come across that brought this about. So I'm hoping over the next few weeks to slowly compile them.

With consumption being so central to our culture, we just focus so much on our wants and "needs" but don't think of the true cost to our greed.

Here is an article by Johann Hari, journalist working for The Independent (a British paper): " A journey into the most savage war in the world"

An excerpt from the article:

This war was launched by nations that sensed – rightly – that our desire for coltan and diamonds and gold far outweighed our concern for the lives of black people. They knew that we would keep on buying, long after the UN had told us time and again that people were dying to provide our mobiles and games consoles and a girl’s best friend. Today, we still buy, and the British government – along with the rest of the democratic world – obstructs any attempt to introduce legally enforceable regulations to stop corporations trading in Congolese blood. They ignore the UN’s warnings that “without the wealth generated by the illegal exploitation of natural resources arms cannot be bought, hence the conflict cannot be perpetuated” and insist that voluntary regulations – and asking corporations to be nice to Africans – is “the most effective route.” Conrad warned that “the conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much.” So we have chosen not to see.

It is only on my last day in Kinshasa, walking among the burned-out shells of buildings, that I realise what Congo reminds me of. In the movies from my 1980s childhood imagining what the world would be like after a nuclear winter, people were left to wander across a burned landscape, scavenging for the bare necessities of life. Water was contaminated. Food was sparse. Death was everywhere and inexplicable. Children suffered from brain damage en masse because of the malnutrition. Order was a memory, and the men with the biggest AK-47s ruled and raped. This is Congo, 2006.

In Bukavu, a 29-year-old human rights campaigner called Bertrand Bisimwa summarised his country’s situation for me with cruel concision. “Since the nineteenth century, when the world looks at Congo it sees a pile of riches with some black people inconveniently sitting on top of them. They eradicate the Congolese people so they can possess the mines and resources. They destroy us because we are an inconvenience.” As he speaks, I picture the raped women with bullets burying through their intestines and try to weigh them against the piles of blood-soaked electronic goods sitting beneath my Christmas tree with their little chunks of Congolese metal whirring inside. Bertrand smiles and says, “Tell me – who are the savages? Us, or you?”

Taking it to a personal level, my own contribution to the deaths of men, women and children and the rapes and mutilation of the vulnerable are:

- 4 x mobile phones (my own only, I'm not even counting my husband's)
- 5 x computers and laptops
- 2 x DVD players
- 1 x portable DVD player
- 1 x hand-held GBS and 1 x mounted GBS

So in light of the cost, are any of my above items really a "need"?

So what do we do for Birthdays??

Well, I've posted before about what we did for Christmas and essentially I have said that I ended up just buying presents from Op Shops and baked cakes and biscuits for hampers for other people.

What we do for birthdays is actually quite different though and has been something in place for two years now.

We don't buy pressies at all.

It all started when I read this article, "Presents - Breaking the Cycle" at Natural Parenting. For those who don't subscribe, the general gist of the article was that this mum found that the stress of buying presents slowly became more damaging to family unity rather than building it. Children would rip open presents only to discard it 5 mins later and it then became just another toy.

I could immediately relate to what she was saying from my own childhood. I remember just wanting so much and then only a few minutes later no longer tossing it aside in order to start the nagging for the next present.

I also realised that the special presents I do have (all two of them) were pressies that would have probably been given to me anyway - regardless if it was my birthday or not. And that I would still treasure them for what they represented.

Now at over 30 years old, I also can not remember who gave me what at each of my birthdays (save for the special items I've talked about before) - and I'm not just talking childhood here, I'm also talking about my adulthood. What I do remember though are the events, the times when someone went out of their way to think of me and the times when they touched my heart. And with the exemption of my husband presenting me with my engagement ring - NONE of those events are related to the presents I was given.

So yeah, now we don't do presents. Instead what we do is that we try to make that day as special as possible for the birthday person. On birthdays, we give the best thing we could possibly give. Our undivided attention and unecumbered love to the birthday person. My daughter is *still* talking about her 3rd birthday - when we went to Questacon and I organised a special tour with staff members just for us. For the whole day, my husband and I played with her and her special friends and put her wants above everyone. She is also still telling people what she did for her 4th birthday - when again, my husband (who had to take the day off from work) and I took her to see Hi-5 and I organised for the Hi-5 group to wave specifically to her her. (I couldn't quite swing a personal meet-up with them). I also did make her a pressie - it was a little book of her being 4 years old and I placed pictures of her as a baby and then as "kid" (her term). She still loves reading that book.

For my own birthdays, my husband has taken me out to a wonderful dinner and (better yet) engaged in conversation that he knew would interest me - rather than just talking of work and day to day stuff.

Anyway, its working for us and I hope that we will build up a storage of wonderful birthday memories for all of us.

Yet another late night ramble

So here I am reflecting on how we are going so far and something's occurred to me.

My consumption habits are perpetuating and strengthening my sense of isolation.

As this challenge continues, I find myself relying on others a lot more. I am finding myself in situations where I have to actively seek out others in order to fulfill my needs. Where before, I would have just gone out to the shops to buy whatever I wanted/needed, now I have to be a bit more creative. I have to learn not only to make do, but also to connect with people on a very practical level.

I am still finding it hard to do. I feel like I am imposing or intruding. That I'm a scab. ...And yet, when I do ask, people are more than willing to help. I am also overwhelmed by the amount of people offering to help us on a practical level simply 'cause I opened myself up to them and shared a particular difficulty.

Its funny 'cause my spirituality has always told me that everyone and everything is interconnected but it is only now that I am starting to glimpse how much I have not practised this and have acted as if others don't exist.

By consuming less, and by relying on others a lot more, I am starting to see that a HUGE part of my "isolation wall" is made up of my need to consume.

.... which is funny, 'cause I suspect that a part of me wanted to consume *because* I wanted to feel more connected. Okay, its late. Night night!

Renovated Nappy!!

Okay, firstly - is it renovated, refurbished, refitted?? What is the correct word to apply here?

Anyway, this All-in-One nappy is actually a 3rd hand nappy. I am the 3rd family to have this nappy and its worked really really well. That was until mid last year when the elastic went. Then the velcro enclosure went. Then 2 months ago, the PUL outer started wicking - so yep, the PUL had gone too.

Since learning to sew, I had actually been planning to make a nappy for the kids, but I couldn't decipher the pattern. (I really need "How-to-read-patterns" lessons.) So I thought this was a good opportunity to take apart a nappy to see how its constructed and try to salvage it at the same time.

So here is the nappy before:











So the reno consisted of:

• taking it apart,
  
• spraying the PUL component with waterproofing spray (can a left over from my hiking days);
  
• sewing on elastic (elastic taken from an old outfit);
  
• using fleece scraps (given to me by two other people) to applique a Malden Mills fleece fabric;
  
• attaching the MM fleece on to the PUL;
  
• putting the whole nappy back together; and finally,
  
• used touch tape scraps left over from a previous craft/homeschooling activity to make enclosures.

Oh and confession time..... the MM fleece was bought brand new (ooops). I went to a fabric/quilting store just to browse and be inspired by some designs and found that they sold 1 roll of MM fleece! (Hard to buy IRL stores, here) So I impulse bought 1 metre.

Oh well, I'm really happy with the end result. The applique was inspired by the book: "The Hungry Caterpillar". It fits my daughter and my son. And better yet, my son is now wearing it and no leaks yet!!

Joined Refashionistas!

Well, with me continuing on this journey, I've stumbled on a group of people called "Refashionistas". Cool name, huh! Anyway, I've signed up for the whole 6 months. Anyway, as per the rules of the group, I am now displaying the Pledge on this blog. (It'll be on the left side :P) Anyway, check them out: http://wardroberefashion.blogspot.com/

One Renovated Item and Two Reconstructed Accessories

Okay, have made three more items. One is more renovated. Several of my jeans have holes on the knee area (I must have knobbly knees. hehehe). Anyway, rather than cutting up this one, I thought I'd try adding a patch. Well, it looked pretty awful, so I decided rather than just having one patch and it looking pretty ordinary, I might as well make the patch a feature by using a black acrylic yarn to blanket stitch around it. Then once I did that, I thought I might as well add a few more "feature" patches.

So here're the jeans before:


Here are the jeans after:



Here's me wearing it. I found a scarf that I don't really use that when scrunched up forms a patch like appearance. I'm now thinking of turning that scarf into a proper belt.... just need ideas on how to do a buckle using recycled/renovated materials!



The other two items are just accessories.

I made a book bag/satchel using some left over material from Michael's jeans:

You can see that I've used the bum part of the jeans so that when you lift the flap, you have an extra pocket.

Oh the patches at the front of the bag are also small pockets - for mobile and sunnies. The idea is good, but my sewing skills are not. I think I need better technique in cutting out materials. Better scissors are probably a start.




Finally, I made a wheat bag using a friend of mine's discarded denim shorts (just cut off the legs and joined the tops that were cut together and it naturally formed a pentagon shape perfect for upper and lower backs):

Slave-Free Chocolates

"It is a poverty that a child must die so that you may live as you wish." ~ Mother Teresa

Okay, so slightly off topic, but I just thought I'd include my little ticker here on this blog. As an ongoing thing, I actually don't buy any chocolates made by child slaves. (LOL, it must sound like I'm such a party pooper!) Anyway, I thought I'd copy and paste some of my older research into this:

*****************

You would think it would be easy to compile a list of slave-free chocolate available in Australia. However, as with anything, this issue is not black and white. Below, I have listed chocolate brands according to my own perceptions of their business ethic...

Totally Slave-Free
The following chocolate brands were created solely for the purpose of providing ethically-produced chocolate.

Kaoka
Cocolo
Rupunzel
Endangered Species (also carries a strong environmental message and 10% of profits go to save endangered animal species)
Tava

Totally Slave-Free, but....
The following brands are slave-free. However, ethically-sourced cocoa is not a core value in their business. Rather, it is more a by-product of either gaining more profits (by appealing to ethical consumers); or because it is a condition of them gaining organic accreditation. As a result, I believe these chocolate brands should be kept on a "watching brief" as I believe that if accreditation standards change or if ethical consumption proves to be unprofitable, then these chocolates *may* end up buying cocoa harvested by child slaves.

Green and Blacks - organic chocolate that is also slave free. Having said that, this brand is owned by Cadbury's who are NOT slave-free.
Abundant Earth
Any other chocolate that has Australian Certified Organic accreditation. (There are heaps of accreditation systems but ACO requires that all ingredients in the product are produced in accordance with Internation Labour Laws (this includes no slavery in the production process).

*Not* Slave-Free but....
These brands are not slave-free, however they have policies or programmes in place that try to minimise the more negative practices of slavery (ie beatings, torture etc) in their chocolate. They have education programmes for their producers in a (small) effort to change the more abusive nature of slavery.

Cadbury Range - including Picnic, and Fry's Turkish (owned by Cadbury Schweppes)
Streets (owned by Unilever)

Definitely Use Slaves and They Don't Care
The following companies absolutely disgust me with their absolute commitment to profit at the cost of abuse and deaths of children.

Entire Nestle Range
Hershey (actually has a policy to *not* reveal its cocoa sources, despite a Supreme Court action to do so.... let's hope that this will be overturned as illegal by the end of 2006)
Mars Company (includes M&Ms)
Lindt
Arnotts


Search for Slave-Free Goods!

For some great tools to search for slave-free goods, check out:

http://www.gooshing.co.uk/food_drink/

http://www.fta.org.au/locator?PHPSES...5242b2122baff4

Other links:

http://www.radicalthought.org/

http://www.antislavery.org/breakingthesilence/main/09/ChildWorkorLabour.shtml

EDITED 10 MARCH 09: NOTE THAT THIS LIST IS OUT OF DATE. FOR AN UPDATED LIST, PLEASE SEE MY POST: http://consumption-rebellion.blogspot.com/2008/07/updating-my-list-of-slave-free.html

So what is this all about?

Since starting this challenge, my friends and family's reactions have ranged from disbelief ("what on earth would you want to do that for?") to concern ("Has something happened? Do you need money?") to resignation ("this is one of your strange phases isn't it?")

Its kinda funny, 'cause while this challenge has really started out of my own little rebellion against consumerism (and to basically put my money where my mouth is, so to speak), its also ending up as a journey in discovering who I am and what I'm capable of.

I have come to realise how much my consumption habits have supported my own definition of my identity. Its been quite humbling for me to realise how much I actually care about what people think of me.... and how much I consumed in an effort to make them think of me in "nicer" ways. (I've mentioned briefly before how this challenge has really affected my image/ego, so I won't go on about it again.) At the same time, its also been quite empowering to start losing my own dependence on "things". I've discovered that I can learn how to sew and how to start taking care of things properly instead of treating everything as if it was disposable. I've learnt that the children actually enjoys toys/activities that they can make more than any toy I can buy for them.

So perhaps the deeper lesson I am learning here is to let go and to trust. Let go of my own ideas of what *I* should be, and to let go of my need to "control" my environment through consumption. To trust that the inter and intra dependence of the universe will ensure that I will always get what I need and what I want.

oh dear... just noticed the time. Its late, I really need to go to bed 'cause I suspect this is one of those late-night ramblings...

Reconstructed Clothing

Some of you may have noticed that I have included a link to the Reconstructed Clothing Forum at Crafster.org.

Anyway, its been something I've beem making use of. Here are some examples of my reconstructed clothes.

Made from an old men's 100% wool jumper (Size XL):



The arms of the jumper was turned into legs. The body became the vest and scraps of the jumper was turned into a hat.

Made from an old jumper of mine:



Made from Michael's jeans:



Made from the rest of Michael's jeans:



Made from a size 12 Ladies top:



I used the arms an part of the waist to make the pants for my daughter. Then I got one of her old shirts with a stain in the front and appliqued it with scraps from the shirt so it hid the stain and voila a matching outfit!

More Synchronicity....

Synchronicity = a meaningful coincidence that has a low probability of being a random or chance event.

Okay, so I've talked about how I've received such a run of coincidences. Well today was another one of those days and this time round it was something I didn't actively ask or seek.

I was going through the washing a couple of weeks back and I noticed that many of my undies really needed replacing. Now the op shops near me and the online 2nd hand stores that I know, do not sell second-hand undies. Its also something I feel funny asking people for. So I had resigned myself to try and sew up a whole batch of undies. I went online to try and find a free pattern when in one of my favourite forums, someone had placed a free to good home ad for undies and they were in my size!! She had literally posted the thread only 2 mins before I went online!

So I have been waiting for the package to arrive. In the meantime, I went swimming at the local river with the kids a couple of days back and that's when I noticed that my swimsuit is now quite threadbare and really needed replacing. I stopped at a couple of op shops but they didn't have the style or size I wanted. I didn't want to make do with the styles available in my size because... well, if you are going to show your body in swimmers, they might as well be swimmers that flatter your body type, you know?? So I had put it in my list of clothing items to learn how to sew.

Anyway today, I received the package of undies from the lady who had put it up and not only did she include socks in the package but also swimmers in my size AND in EXACTLY the style I wanted!!!!

And here's another one that's also an amazing coincidence. In my efforts to learn how to sew I have been so lucky to have the help of so many people - I've already mentioned Bec and Emma who have leant me their sewing machines and have also taught me how to do some basic sewing. However, both of them are very busy people and I do not like to intrude too much. Anyway, only 2 days ago, I had sold something on Ebay. When the person contacted me, it turns out it was an old friend of mine that I had lost contact with. When we figured out who each other is (today), we have decided to meet up again. And this friend of mine happens to be a FANTASTIC sewer and she has also offered to teach me...

So now I wonder what deeper purpose is behind all this synchronicity. What deeper lesson is a-foot here?

Making do with what we have...

With us deciding to homeschool our children, it has been very tempting to go out and buy educational stuff. Especially as the educational philosophy we have decided to follow does emphasise materials a lot. However, with this challenge in mind, I've been trying to get my head around making do with what we have.

Here's what we made do so far:

* Collage, needed lots of different materials for texture. Originally this would have meant I would go out and buy a scrapbooking pack. Instead we have made do by using fabric scraps, Christmas cards (cut out the pictures in them), sand, leaves, grass, flowers. Its amazing the variety of texture we have in our own back yard!

* Sorting and matching games, needed materials of similar characteristics, size and shapes for sorting. Looking at the kids existing toys they already have HEAPS of toys that are same shape, size and/or characteristics. Pictures in brochures and junk mail could be cut out for sorting and matching.

* Sandpaper letters and sand tray- Montessori material where letters and words are written in cursive style with sandpaper (so a child could trace the letters by tracing the rough surface, then repeat that on a sand tray). I wrote the letters in black pen on some old cardboard that we have. Then used a glitter glue pen over the top and shook more glitter over the top. For the sand tray, I found a small plastic tray from an Op shop and I poured a thin layer of sand in it.

* Paper for drawing, collage etc. I asked Michael and my mum who work to bring home waste paper from their offices. So while its been used on one side, the kids are making use of the other side of the paper. For those Canberrans who may be reading this and know public-service type of work - don't worry, they are using unclassified waste. (hehehe).

* Playdough and paints - homemade. I've always bought these items and we have actually enjoyed making them then using them. Had to stop my son from trying to eat them though, as he thought we were cooking food!

Stuff we have bought from Op Shops to prepare our homeschooling environment:

* large "proper" Globe (ie had raised surfaces for where the mountains are etc)
* Little tray
* 2 x bookshelves

Total cost = $70 (the 2 bookshelves cost us $63 for both)

I wanted to make the bookshelves but had to concede that looking after 2 little kids AND working in the garage by myself with tools was not practical. If our garage was more kid friendly, maybe I could have done it, but our garage is really really messy.

Here is a pic of our family room now:



Note that I also made the curtain in front of the TV,using fabric I bought at an Op shop - I strung it across the TV using an old frayed rope (that I cut) I found in the garage. I've also brought out my daughter's old baby quilt as the reading area mat. The shelf with the book shelf used to be a wooden CD tower that we had in the garage. I just took out half the shelves so books could fit in.

Christmas Pressies, Exhaustion and the Universe...

Christmas Presents

One of my lovely internet friends (Bel) reminded me that I haven't posted the Christmas pressies I got for the kids. Ooops and thank you for the reminder! :D (they need smilies on blogger, I reckon).

Here it is:

They got (from us)..

My daughter:
- doll house and hospital house from St Vinnies in Tuggeranong
- knitted mouseketeer from Salvos in Weston
- wooden cradle for a doll from St Vinnies in Tuggeranong
- threading kit (bear with clothes) from garage sale in Yarralumla
- ball from Salvos in Weston

My son:
- Wooden car and wooden truck from St Vinnies in Tuggeranong
- knitted scarecrow from Salvos in Weston
- large wooden threading beads and coloured shoelaces from Revolve (the shop at the tip)
- wooden swing drum from garage sale in Yarralumla

Pretty great scores huh! I think all up we spent $100 for both children. Which is amazing because the wooden toys they got were a really really good quality.

My family, friends and neighbours were very kind and said they fully appreciated all my efforts in providing them a home-made hamper and gift. So all my nerves were really for nothing. :D

Exhaustion

Now here's something I never thought I'd include regarding this challenge. With me trying to make things last. I have been spending quite a bit of time repairing clothes, toys etc. I can't believe how roughly we treat all of our things! (I'm including myself here). I have realised that our consumption habits have made us quite careless with how we treat our things. Further, so much of what I wear or what the kids wear are really not very hard wearing.

I think I'm going to have to start re-thinking my view on clothes. Soft, thin fabrics are great but should probably not be my first material of choice. Perhaps reserve that for special occassions. I need to start thinking stronger weave cottons, denim, courderoy and fleece.

On the subject of repairing, I've also been making stuff!! A friend of mine, Bec, has been coming over and showing me how to use a sewing machine!! I have learnt a lot! I still have a long way to go. So far, I've made a curtain for the TV( (to cover it up - I found the materials for it in an op shop), and 2 pairs of shorts for the my son. I will try and post pics of them soon. (I promise I'll try and remember!)

Anyway, all this learning and extra time spent repairing and making stuff has left me exhausted. I know I'll get faster at doing stuff like this with practise, but I also realise that I need to learn how to care for stuff better too so I am not repairing something practically everyday.


The Universe

Now Bel also reminded me of something. How so much of what I need or want can actually be provided for. The coincidences for it are amazing and I think just goes to show how everything really is inter-related and all I need to do is ask.... and that doesn't mean sitting in a room by myself and wishing - it means actually me going out and properly relating to people.

Anyway, philosophy aside, here are some of the things that have happened to me:

- I needed a sewing machine so I could learn how to sew. So I just mention this to a few people and Emma contacts me and says she hasn't used her machine for ages and I can borrow hers indefinitely!

- After several months, Emma needs her machine back. But the funny thing is that only one week before, my friend Bec (the one teaching me how to sew) brought over another machine for me so she can show me some different techniques. She tried to show me using Emma's machine but I couldn't understand and she thought a different and slower machine would be easier to demonstrate with. It was her mum's and her mum didn't need it anymore as she had several other machines. So now that Emma has her machine back, I *still* have a machine I can use to learn with.

- We are exploring homeschooling and I wanted to get a particular homeschooling book. It seemed like a popular book and it wasn't very expensive. However, I really wanted to get it second hand so I don't break this challenge. I posted a wanted ad in several internet forums with no immediate replies. Then a couple of nights later, a friend of Bel's came over and had the exact same book, PLUS an extra homeschooling book and a homeschooling diary that he wanted to sell. Bel contacted me and I was able to get the book (plus extra) after all!

- I needed some extra fleece to embelish a wool soaker I was giving someone. I was only needing a few, so I ended up asking some other moderators at Nappycino and by chance, 2 of them had LOTS of fleece off cuts. On top of that when they sent it to me, there were some offcuts with embroidered animals, insects etc on them so the original planned embellishment became a lot better as I was able to sew on some embroidered animals too. PLUS there are enough so that my own children can have some nice embellishments too.

Its pretty amazing how asking has provided me with stuff. I can only hope that one day I would also be able to give and not just take. :D