Brown paper packages tied up with string

I have to admit, The Sound of Music and packages had a huge influence on me. I don't know that it was the first movie I saw but it is the first one I remember vividly. Our whole family went to a movie theatre in downtown Holyoke that is no longer there. As a poor immigrant family, this was a special outing. As the daughter of German immigrants this film's story was elevated to something almost religious. I have seen the movie tons of times and can sing all the songs, because of course we had the LP and it was on heavy rotation. Anyway, I just said all that to tie the title to my post and pic. One of the most magical things I remember about my childhood is sending and receiving packages to/from Germany. We received a box from my Tante Helga (mother's sister) every Christmas. The packages were so exotic and exciting. Everything was different from what I knew. The writing on the package and even the numbers of our address (German 1's look more like 7's and 7's need a line through them to clarify). Then of course the wrapping paper, labels, beautiful ribbon and presents I had never seen in a store or TV commercial. I could go on, but want to talk about our packages to Germany. My mother is a Jedi master of packing and spatial relations. She can meticulously get the most amazing amount of things into one box. And to pack every inch with goodness she would buy crazy things and put them in plastic bags (pre styrofoam peanut waste). I would always help because this was a drawn out process. Presents were bought and wrapped and then the padding which consisted of things like bags of Lipton tea, and instant oatmeal packets. I couldn't figure out why we would send those things but I think it's refugee thinking and really, it will get used. That whole process alone was awesome but then the outside was next. My mother would cut up brown grocery store bags and wrap the outside of the box and then tie it with string in this butchery way that blew my mind. Where she learned to loop and pull and tighten and create this grided box for shipping is beyond me. I could not do it today if I tried but I bet she could, even though modern times no longer require this method. Brown paper packages tied up with string - these are a few of my favorite things.

Making favors: owl cookies

So my lovely SIL (sisterinlaw) who gifted me the wedding announcement cards from the last post, is having a baby. She is a very thoughtful and crafty person. She knit me an awesome scarf and bag and regularly saves things that she knows I would like. She's right on with that. So when I offered to make favors for her baby shower I wanted to do a super good thoughtful job. She deserves it! First I tested an America's Test Kitchen butter cookie recipe because I had been meaning to learn anyway. The cookies were great and I then had to make a couple more batches for the favors after the test batch. That was mornings of dough making and nights of cookie cutting, rolling and baking and then a final night for royal icing piping and flooding. That sh*t is a lot of work. No regrets! I was in for it, but my neck was killing me. So yellow and green owls because those are the colors and critters she wanted. I then handmade little labels because she always compliments me on my penmanship. Yarn was used to tie the packets up because she's a knitter. And 3 cookies cuz 3 is a magic number (school house rock) and of course they will soon be a family of 3. Yup, I think that's everything. I imbued it with as much meaning as I could. She was very appreciative.

Making: yeah, that's what I am writing about today

Our wedding was low-key and non-traditional. For those who know us, that's no surprise. We received a gift from S-I-L of printed cards and envelopes announcing our wedding after the fact. Seemed like a well-intentioned attempt to school me in etiquette. I didn't care a bit, but dutifully mailed out the announcements to my husband's large extended family. I wanted to make sure I did what I was supposed to do. But even after doing that I still had a ton left. I felt bad just recycling them and tucked them in the back of the closet. I just found a use for some of them. I put a FOE sticker over the print and stamped them with a rubber stamp my husband made me for a Christmas present in Baltimore. Then I customized them with the names of people who bought art at our first opening. That's some sweet repurposing right? Made me feel good to put them to use.

Things 50 & 51: books

J's contribution, again. The War of the Worlds and The Sky Above Hell. Sounds foreboding. So, the pile and free thing doesn't hold as much interest to me as it used to. It really was just a way to keep blogging and a thing to blog around. I am on the verge of blogging for real, like out in the open, for our store. I feel like my energy and creativity will go to that, as it should. But, I have heard and read that the more creative you are, the more creative you are. And that sometimes, when you are doing the right things for you, you manage to get so much more done. So who knows, maybe once I start the store blog, on top of everything else we are doing as brand new entrepreneurs I will come up with an awesome use for my personal blog. Or maybe I will just be tired. I'll letcha know. I have been thinking about it a little and here are a few ideas: post pics of everything I make and talk about it, post about what I am reading, or maybe how our life has changed. Ah, maybe just anything but whatever is interesting me at the time, which is a lot. It's a very fertile time for me. Ok, gotta go, work to do.

Thing 49: micro-fiction

An old friend sent me this book for my birthday -thank you CB. AM/PM - that's the name. It looks cute, even sideways, right? cats crawling out of a babyben style alarm clock. cute! And this slim, white paperwork has that sweet inked illustratory design on front and back. THEN when you open it, each left side page is labeled with a time like this 7:00 AM and all the right-hand pages have a time and PM. The times are not in order. Each page is a very short vignette of a few sentences up to maybe a half page. Doesn't it sound like it would be awesome? My friend is smooth. I am impressed with his choice, or maybe he just got lucky. Either way, when I held it and opened it, I was charmed. I was ready ready ready to fall in love with this book and micro-fiction. Ok, so that was my frame of mind. I mean really I think it would have been almost impossible to disappoint me. I mighta given it all kinds of leeway. But I sadly report, I didn't really like it. Probably some flaw of mine. I just took it from the pile and gave it to a writerly literary friend. Maybe I am a little thick or lazy. Maybe I was supposed to work harder for the rewards, like in college lit classes, which did require me to work harder and honestly, I was regularly rewarded for it. Or maybe it just ain't my thing. I will see what my friend thinks. I'm honestly curious. Maybe she will love it and I'll want to re-read it. That would be cool too. Sometimes yer just not in the frame of mind for certain things or for some reason you're annoyed and it spoils it. I have definitely not liked a movie and then saw it again and liked it. We'll see. And this friend has her PhD in Lit so I'm sure she will have something interesting to report.