RSS Reader Must Reads

Since I've neglected this blog for a couple of weeks, here are a few highlights from my RSS reader that I would have shared. Hope you enjoy them.

Crochet Eyeball Doorknob cover by bella_domanie on Craftster. She generously shares the pattern too, so you can make your own (via Cthulhu Crochet and Cousins):



Ann Wood's cardboard castle diorama caught my eye - it's cardboard box modelling for adults (via CRAFT Magazine):



I love the idea behind Fallen Fruit, a website that maps the location of fruit trees in public spaces so that people can pick and eat it. I'm all for a bit of foraging (this blog should probably be called the crafty and somewhat hippy cactus lover) ; it's a real shame that perfectly good food goes to waste. Fallen Fruit is a global site, but there's not much mapped yet - add your local trees and help kick-start it. I found out about it from 365 Days Of Trash.

I can envision these shadow decorations at an upmarket Halloween party. Create your own by following the tutorial over on Folding Trees:



The anatomist in me loves this wine carafe from Etienne Meneau (via sub-studio design blog):



I'm working on several projects of my own right now, so I'll post some WIP pics soon. I also made a major purchase yesterday which I must share...

Milk ethics

As a vegetarian I have long been concerned with the ethics of drinking milk, but, as anyone who knows me will attest, I would probably die without it, given the amount I consume. I've tried various substitutes in the past, but they either taste too sweet (Rice Dream) or of mashed up beans (hardly surprising).

Photo by Ian Britton at FreeFoto.com

So, we've switched to organic milk. Organic dairy cows supposedly have a better time of it and the milk certainly tastes better than standard milk. I know this because hubby loves to conduct taste tests on me and this time I chose organic. Same happened with eggs too. Both the milk and eggs cost 50% more, but I think it's worth it and since I stopped going out (no beer) and hubby stopped smoking, we can afford it. Who said having babies was expensive?

While I'm on the milk subject, Sainsbury's in the UK has started doing milk bags (thanks for the tip-off Jude, via Google Reader's great share function). Great idea, hope it catches on this time - it's been tried before, but failed. And it's a good reason to use an old fashioned milk jug, which I've always wanted to do, but couldn't justify transferring the milk from perfectly usable containers.

Things I want to do...

There are so many things I want to do, all rattling around in my head, that I thought it prudent to note them down. Here goes, in no particular order:

1. Catalogue all my books in Library Thing. Totally anal I know, but I love it. Have persuaded myself that there is a point to this wanton time-user - if our books ever get lost, burnt or otherwise destroyed we can work out a sensible insurance claim. Of course, that will require household contents insurance.
2. Get household contents insurance (see #1).
3. Post more often to my blog. See, I'm doing this one already!
4. Finish making the rest of the fleece nappies. They have already been cut out by hubby, so it's not that much work.
5. Make a nappy bag that both of us will use (no flowers, then). Needs to have cunning strap arrangement so that it works with the baby wrap.
   
6. Make a boring wrap for hubby to use. Again, no flowers.
7. Get on with The Tapeworm. Progress thus far has been slow.
8. Declutter. No small task, but I'm getting great tips from Unclutterer. My hubby pointed out that nearly all the clutter is mine and I have to agree. We started today with a new rule - nothing new can come in without something going out. So, we took a vase to the Salvation Army shop before we set off on our Saturday Adventure.
9. Become more ethical. Very large task, but we've already started. We use washable nappies and we've just signed up to an organic veg box scheme. Yep, there is one here in Finland, but it doesn't run in the winter, when nothing grows. We also just bought some biodegradable nappies to use during the journey to and from my Dad's place in Spain at the end of the month. Sadly we're flying, but next time we'll go by train. I've been thinking ethical for a while, but Leo Hickman's Life Stripped Bare: My Year Trying to Live Ethically has just spurred me into action.

That's all I can think of right now, more to follow and hopefully progress reports too...