Talking of gifts one of my gifts is a digital photo frame that hubby bought me for Xmas. I think it was one of those moments when he just panicked and bought something that was electronic so that he felt like a man while he was buying a present for a woman. I was tempted to get him to take it back but being a present I didn’t really feel comfortable with that so I kept it. Now looking at it eight months later I have to wonder what do people see in digital photo frames? I’ve used mine once and the rest of the time it just stands there collecting dust. My mother-in-law was given one about two years ago and I think the only time she has used it was when I first set it up for her. I saw one in a shop a few months ago that came with a selection of frames so you can swap the frame surrounds when you get tired of the colour! I wonder how many digital photo frames have been sold around the world that are now just sitting there unused – or am I just missing the point of them?
Capturing gift memories
I’ve been thinking the last few months about the concept of gifts. Our home is full of gifts that we have received over our lifetime. As time passes one uses up gifts, breaks gifts, gets rid of gifts, eats gifts, drinks gifts, puts away gifts etc. Over the years some gifts you forget who they came from or why they were given. Other gifts have been given at very special times in our lives or from very special people and we would be upset if they were to be damaged. My best friend died two years ago and our house is scattered with gifts from her that are a lovely reminder of the relationship we had. Other gifts you wouldn’t mind if they got damaged, or you might sell them, but you still appreciate the thought that was originally behind them.
So my idea has been to start taking photos of all the gifts we have in our home to help record the memories behind them. It also helps to give value to the items that we have in our home and is a great reminder of the fact that we already have lots of ‘things’ – we really don’t need a lot more in our home. We don’t need to go out and purchase more stuff. It also means that the gifts that are no longer relevant to our life e.g. don’t match the décor anymore, can be sold while still retaining the memory of the giver.
Rag Day
Today is rag day in our house. It’s the day that the rag bucket gets emptied and all the rags are washed and put out in the sun to dry. It can look a little weird – last time we had rag day we had visitors and had to explain why we had strange looking bits of ripped/torn clothing hanging on the clothes horse. It makes the cleaning a lot cheaper than using store bought cloths or paper towels and is a good way to reuse clothes that are too old to be worn by anyone else. It also means you have lots of clean cloths for places like the kitchen and bathroom which is more hygienic than having the same Kleenex cloth day after day.
Cat Fights and Lazy Sundays
We woke up yesterday to our female cat distressed with a bleeding ear which we found out later was a cat bite. We realized it was too bad for home treatment as she had basically scratched her ear free of fur so it was off to the vet. $83 later we returned home with a contented drugged cat (until the drugs wore off that is). As a consequence our budget was sort of blown so we gave up food shopping for the weekend to stretch it for a few more days and planned an at home weekend to save money. We’ve ended up doing lots of things we haven’t done in a long time – banana cake with cream cheese frosting* for breakfast (!!), a marathon Sunday movie session of our favourite DVDs, bubble bath with candles, bottle of wine (thanks to visitors a few weeks ago). Best of all we’ve spent nothing at all this weekend ………other than on our beautiful, almost one-eared cat.
*Edmond’s Cook Book Cream Cheese Icing
¼ cup Cream Cheese
2Tbsp soft butter
1C icing sugar
Grated lemon rind
Beat cream cheese and butter until creamy, mix in icing sugar and lemon rind.
Non-consumer train – be a voice (2)
Last weekend we were god parents at our nephew’s christening. I resisted the temptation to go out shopping for a new outfit and instead visited Save Mart and bought two lovely second hand skirts for $20. Both can also be worn to work so it was money well spent. Hubby wasn’t quite as ‘noble’ opting for new trousers as the ones in his wardrobe didn’t fit – but we may be able to make the money back by selling his suit trousers as I’m guessing that he won’t be returning to that weight again! There are lots of things at Save Mart that you wouldn’t dream of buying but there are often gems so it is worth a look before trying brand new.
Pita Bread Crisps
Homemade pita bread crisps are my new thing the last few weeks. I had to go to the office today to work (Saturday) so just grabbed a container of pita bread crisps that I had made from the cupboard and some dip from the fridge for my lunch. Haven’t quite got around to making my own pita bread yet – just my own crisps. Split the pita bread so you get two circles and then cut them into small pieces. Dab/spray with olive oil. Can also put things on them like herbs etc. Cook at 180oC for about 8 minutes. Cool then store in a container in the cupboard. The National Heart Foundation has them on a romantic picnic menu they planned for Valentine’s Day but they put garlic on theirs, not sure how much luck you would have on Valentine’s Day! – http://www.nhf.org.nz/files/Heart%20Week%20Picnic%20Menu%20for%202.pdf
Yo-yo recycling 2
With regards to our city’s new system of alternate weeks recycling different items I noticed in our weekly newspaper last week a letter to the editor which was sweet and short – “From now on – to hell with recycling!” If you apply ‘choice architecture’ you can see why people would give up recycling, when something is no longer a simple option many people will revert to the simplest option which is chucking it in the bin.
Choice architecture
In the August NZ Healthy Food Guide there is a discussion about ‘choice architecture’ (Thaler & Sunstain, Nudge) and how the strategy can be used to improve areas such as health, wealth and happiness. The idea is that by making the best option the simplest option or the default option we tend to choose it more readily. We definitely have found ‘choice architecture’ works when it comes to avoiding takeaways as much as we can over the last eight months. By having our meals planned ahead with the ingredients already bought and meat taken out to defrost the night before it makes the simplest option cooking which we therefore choose even when we are tired or busy. When meals aren’t planned or ingredients are missing then the simplest option becomes takeaways.
White Vinegar Convert
Today was one of those WOW days. Hubby came and told me had cleaned the toilets!! Still recovering from the shock I asked him what he cleaned them with – “that vinegar stuff”! They of course weren’t cleaned to a woman’s standard but it didn’t really matter as it was such a break through moment that I really couldn’t complain. In addition I got the bath cleaned and the window sills in the bedroom – all with that “vinegar stuff”. I think he sorts of likes the fact that he can just wander around with the one spray bottle. Last week we were shopping in a unfamiliar supermarket so we were going up each aisle and it was such a shock when we hit the cleaning products aisle. I suddenly realised that in our normal supermarket it is an aisle we haven’t got near in months!
Yo-yo Recycling
Today was the first morning of our city’s new recycling programme. We can once again only recycle 1 & 2 plastics and now we have to alternate our recycling – one week paper/cardboard, the next plastic, cans, glass. The problem of course with this system is that at 6:30am in the morning wandering around the house bleary eyed trying to get to work is not the greatest time to be working out which week is which. I must have got it right though as it was gone when I got home. I have a feeling that some people will find it just too hard and end up stuffing all their recycling in the rubbish. It will be interesting over the next few weeks to see how much recycling gets put out in our street – maybe I’m the least organised person in the street and just don’t know it!