Paperless?

This is absolutely worth the 39 seconds to watch it.  I laughed out loud (and am actually still laughing).  This is definitely a must see.  Foreign commercials are so creative!

http://www.youtube.com/embed/V_gOZDWQj3Q?rel=0

Our Words

As we head into Lent (Christian time of fasting and reflection) as well as the Baha'i Fast, it is also a time to reflect on our spiritual responsibilities. Whether we practice any faith or not, we should not harm others.

I was just reminded of the following Sufi saying about our words passing through three gates. In our glib world, full of so many words, there is much to ponder here.

Noisy Visitors

I love the birds that come to my feeder.  Sophie and I delight in watching them.  (She almost has the concept down that there is glass between her and the feathered friends...although not always.)

But yesterday and today the yard, trees, and feeder are full of red-winged blackbirds.  They are beautiful, yes.  But with so very many of them, pretty noisy!!  To give you some idea...and multiply that by 20:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3QicOAiBXk  

However, it's so ever much better than traffic noises, sirens, & car horns. We'll deal with it.

Pluviophile

I am in seventh heaven - not only is it raining, but I found a new word that means lover of rain!!!!

How have I, as a Washingtonian, enthralled with rain and embracing "webbed feet" my entire life, not known about this word? It was only serendipitous that I found it, too.

Ah, these simple pleasures.

Teaching with Rattan Reed

On October 23, 2012,  I posted about the shortage in our normal weaving materials in Rattan Shortage
Since then, it hasn't improved much, to which I can attest from just returning from teaching in Ohio and now preparing kits to teach in Port Orchard, Washington.  I'm aghast at how much wastage I find in a pound of reed.  We truly have been spoiled in the past with well-prepared, readily available,  inexpensive materials.

Char Ciammaichella's March newsletter details some of these issues well.  (Char's website is www.charsweavings.com.)

As you all know there is a shortage of some reed and the prices have more than doubled this last year.  As a teacher there are many more issues that weavers may not be aware of.  Of course if you have bought reed or taken a class you are very aware! Below are some issues that have to be taken into account as a teacher and on the receiving end, as students.  Please, just have patience as we all deal with these issues!!  (We have to take what we can get at this point.)

·        It started with not being able to get smaller sizes of reed. Such as ¼”, and 3/16”, both flat and flat oval. 

·        When you do get ¼” flat or flat oval, many times it’s closer to 3/16” than it is to the ¼” it should be.  When teaching a basket with many ¼” spokes, this makes a difference in base spokes.  As a teacher, you may have to add spokes to the pattern.  This is fine unless it is a twill and the numbers added has to work with the twill!!

·        The ½” looks like 3/8” and the 3/8” looks like ½”!!  Again, patience as we figure this all out!

·        Sometimes there is variation in sizes throughout 1 hank of reed.

·        Some reed it so brittle it breaks when just trying to coil it up for kits.  

·        Some reed is so thick you can’t weave with it.  If in a class, ask for new pieces!  I try to weed out these pieces but I do miss some!  If it is your first few rows, pick out the most flexible to start with.

·        The top layer of the larger flat oval reed used for rims tends to split.  I have been throwing away a lot of ½” and 5/8” flat oval.

I’m sure there is more than what I am mentioning here but I don’t know a teacher out there who will not try to make your weaving experience a fun, pleasant experience.

 Let’s hope many of these quality issues are worked out soon and we can all get back to weaving as we like.  Again, just have patience as teachers deal with these issues for you during classes.

Slower & Simpler - Possessions

Do you possess your possessions, or do they possess you?  This may seem like a silly question, but every time we clean the house, or try to find something in the closet, or search high and low for that lost object, the question becomes more pertinent.

Sorry, I don't have all the answers.  I'm just raising the question.  Mike Burns actually asked it not long ago at http://theothersideofcomplexity.com/possessions-or-possession/?utm_source=The+Other+Side+of+Complexity+-+Blog+Updates&utm_campaign=f831c0d395-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_74c4063970-f831c0d395-96885493
with an article titled Possessions or Possession?  He also wrote about being possessed!

I'm just raising the question, as we try to simplify our lives, to think about our relationship to our things.  It's neither bad nor good - just a question.  If I start feeling resentment in a relationship, then I need to make a change of some sort.

Just saying.

Happiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold, happiness dwells in the soul.

Democritus

It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly.

Bertrand Russell

Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.

Epictetus

Anything you cannot relinquish when it has outlived its usefulness possesses you, and in this materialistic age a great many of us are possessed by our possessions.

Peace Pilgrim

Permission to be Unsexy

This post from Be More With Less is absolutely perfect, in my mind.  It is how I try to live my life, but I love the cryptic reminders.  How delightfully stated - permission to be unsexy indeed!!!    What DO you want?  What AREN'T you doing because you think people will disapprove?  Live your life - it's time to be you!

Permission to be Unsexy at Least 100 Times a Day

Written by Courtney Carver      http://bemorewithless.com/unsexy/ 

There is tremendous freedom in caring a little bit less about what people think of you.

This morning I ran 20 minutes on an elliptical trainer. A few weeks ago, running for 60 seconds felt like a near impossibility. Then 90 seconds felt hard, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 8 minutes and now 20 minutes. They were all challenging until they weren’t.

I know it’s only 20 minutes and it’s only on an elliptical, and maybe that’s not as a sexy as a 5K or an ultramarathon. But to me, today, it feels super sexy.

I was going to wait to write about my running progress until I ran a 5K, and then I remembered this wonderful quote, “Big sexy dreams are only accomplished one tiny, very unsexy step at a time.”

A few of my many unsexy steps

• Gasping for air during a 3 minute run.
• Including the theme song from Rocky on my running list today.
• Accidentally throwing my planner down the trash chute and then retrieving it from the dumpster.
• Eating spinach for breakfast every morning.
• Emailing an ultra-marathoner to celebrate my 8 minute run.
• Bringing my own salad dressing out to dinner.
• Jumping off the treadmill without my phone, with the earbuds still attached.
• Laughing out loud in the dressing room when I had to buy a smaller pair of pants.
• Pitching bad ideas that I thought were brilliant.
• Developing good ideas and losing interest.
• Falling asleep at 8pm.
• Writing about my unsexy moments.

What aren’t you doing because you don’t think people will approve?

Do you want to go back to school, but wonder if people think you are wasting time and money?

Do you want to learn a new language, but think you will sound silly practicing?

Do you want to start a blog, but think no one will care what you have to say? (help for that coming next week!)

Do you want to eat healthier, but know your friends and family will think you are boring?

Do you want to try something new and different but are afraid people will think you can’t stick with anything.

Do you want to give away all of your stuff to discover what you what you really want, but are worried that your friends will think you are crazy?

Do you want to try a ballet class even though people might think you are too old to start?

Do you want to create a capsule wardrobe, but are afraid people will notice and think you are weird?

Do you want to live in a new country, quit your job, start a microbusiness, become a vegan, go to a new church, write a book, or run a marathon even though you can’t run around the block today?

What do you want?

It’s yours if you want it, no matter what anyone thinks, if you are willing to be unsexy at least 100 times a day.

Being unsexy means that you …

• can laugh at yourself
• will try things that people tell you are impossible
• will try things that you think are impossible
• ask for help and know that admitting weakness is a sign of strength
• will care less about what people think
• understand that you are fully responsible for the highs and lows
• can stop trying to prove your worth

If we are driven by what other people think about us, we are frozen in a shell we create to give other people a better view. We can never be who we really are, who we want to be, or even do what we want to do. Instead we keep saying the right things, wearing the right shoes, and owning the right stuff.

It is possible to care about how other people feel without yielding to what they think. We need to stop selling a version of ourselves for more approval and start being who we are.

Give yourself permission to be unsexy, uncool, silly, confused, weird, daring and always curious.

It’s time to be you. What’s sexier than that?