My Eco-Friendly House and Car

I'm going to take a bit of a breather from the computer for the next two days. At least, that's the plan. Sometimes, even when I say that, I am drawn back by the need to just quickly check my e-mail, or read a few blogs, design just one thing, and pretty soon I've sat at my keyboard for most of a day.

So I'll leave you with just a few photos that I uploaded yesterday, and was going to upload a bunch more but got distracted by something .... hm, I think it was reading blogs first, then I designed a new piece of digital scrapbook paper (which you can see here), then Mike suggested a movie which I seldom pass up (we watched "21" as a Netflix instant play movie), then . . . I don't know, probably another movie and then I had new books from the library to delve into, well, you get the idea. I'm highly distractable (is that a word?) lately, and sometimes that just means I need a change of pace.

Thus, the breather from the computer. I'll spend time with a friend in Napa, outside taking photos of this sunny day in the midst of rainy ones, and in my craft room doing creative things with my hands that don't involve a keyboard.

Meanwhile, here are just a few photos from our recent driving tour of northern California (Redding, Eureka, Crescent City, etc.). I'll post more later. Maybe. Enjoy!
Here's my new eco-friendly house, LOL! Mike and I discovered this trio of "tree-houses" in Redding while we were visiting the Sundial Bridge and the nearby arboretum and gardens. Totally made of twisted vines and branches, they almost look like they grew there on their own.

Come on in!
Further north there were places to watch the wild elk.
Of course, they don't want you to get too close as they are highly unpredictable. I, of course, being a rebel, had to walk out past the sign warning me to stay back. (Mike takes pictures of such acts to have in case he ever needs "evidence.")
There was a huge puddle at one place that we drove through to get to the parking area. I saw a car barrel through there very fast with the water spraying up six feet high and thought, wow, that looks like fun! So my car, Pretty Penny (yes, my car has a name, all my cars have had names, don't yours?), and I decided to try it, too.
Who says a hybrid car can't also be daring? :-D

And a couple more photos to remind you to relax and take time to do the things you love:

The northern California coast.

A fly fisherman on the Sacrament River, Redding, CA.

Have a great weekend!

I Received a Blog Award!

I'm sooooo slow getting to this (sorry, Tracy)! I received the "I Love Your Blog" award (you can see it on the left-hand side of my blog) from my blogger friend, Tracy, of Scrappin' A Latte'.

Thank you, Tracy!

Tracy is also a digital scrapbooker and we connected online because I am a scrapbooker-for-hire, and she creates awesome digital scrapbook elements. I have bought a number of items from her to use in my digital scrapbook layouts, and we read each others' blogs, too.

ANYWAY! Long way 'round of saying now that I have received the award, I get to pass it along to three of MY fave blogs, and here they are:

JUDY (aka BrizzySis) - this is my BFF who blogs about her life (which includes her two woofies) and any random thoughts float through her same-age-as-mine, interestingly-creative-type brain.

Organized, Naturally - my L.A.-area niece, Seana, who is a Gen-X neat phreak and who has created a business and blog geared toward helping those of us who are organizationally-challenged, and all in an eco-friendly way.

On the Road Again - my fave pet- and house-sitters, and my friends, Richard and Mary, who chronicle (ok, Mary writes most of it but Richard is in the photos) their travels throughout the northern hemisphere as they take excellent care of vacationer's homes and pets.

I hope you'll take a moment to check out each of their blogs, I know you'll enjoy them!

And Judy, Seana, and Mary, now you get to pass this award on to YOUR fave three blogs!

My Own Eco-Friendly Produce Bags

A few weeks back I found these pale blue sheer curtains at a flea market. I got two panels for $5.00. I washed them in hot water and bleach, then hung them to dry. I had plans to repurpose them as reusable eco-friendly produce bags.

This tiny white "treat" bag from a wedding was my inspiration, not so much for the bag itself since that was just a simple rectangle, but I LOVE the drawstrings. Not just your ordinary drawstrings, these are the type that draw shut from both sides, and are super-easy to re-open.

Here is one of my finished bags. In cutting up the sheers I found I would be able to get 8 to 10 bags out of each panel, so I'll end up with a total of at least 16 bags. Four are completely finished. The next dozen will sew up quickly since now I've got all the shortcuts figured out.

The drawstrings are a teensy bit more trouble than the regular ones (that draw shut only on one side) because two separate strings must be threaded completely through the casing but are worth it for their ease of use and, I think, they're just cuter! I used lengths of yarn that I have in my stash so the 16 to 20 bags I'll end up with only cost me $5.00 and a little of my time.

Here is one of the bags with three Gala apples inside, giving an idea of the size of the bags, which are very close to the standard plastic ones available in any grocery store.

I'm pretty happy with them!