100 Happy Days: Day 5

I larp. Sad but true. And this weekend was a big event. And i had to do a ritual that involved me sewing. It was unplanned and involved a morning of writing terrible poetry and then this... But it all went well. So happy. And relief as performing in front of folks is always a tad nerve wracking.

100 Happy Days: Day 4

I travel a lot. And sometimes you just end up eating crap because you need to. And then you end up eating even more rubbish. But it makes you laugh. I won myself a full new breakfast with my wrap meal...

100 Happy Days: Day 3

So its the end of the week and almost the end of a long journey (Steve is driving), looking forward to stretching my legs and seeing if I can take pictures of anything in the dark. Or see anything other than a road. A barn owl or badger would go down a treat right about now. Provided we're not running over them...

Soon. Wine. Soon.

100 Happy Days: Day 2

A bit of  a swizz today as my photo was taken by my talented friend Jen as a preview of some work she's done for me on a dress for a larp. I'll admit I forgot to post it last night  Whoops.
Edit @ 06:27 - for some reason picture isn't uploading. I'll keep trying!

 

Edit @ 7:53 - I am now at work and it all seems to be working fine on this computer. How odd. Maybe just the mobile app. As for the time stamp, the photo was taken yesterday and sent to me by Jen. I just screen capped it today. A semi-cheat, I guess. 

100 Happy days: Day 1

So the last few weeks have been super hectic, I bit off more than I could chew with catering a massive banquet, and then I got a promtion and have had to settle into my new role, and on top of that I went on holiday and got engaged. So it's been all change and all go.

But I wanted to get back into things, and I figured that to get me in line with posting more often I would undertake the 100 Days of Happy thing that has been buzzing around the internet for a couple of weeks.

So I was going to start yesterday and then work blew up in my face, and I forgot. But that leads us to today and the late nature of my post, which is after a hellishly long double shift but this is what I came home to...

This is Koopa waking up to give me a quick miaow, a kiss and cuddle before going back to sleep on my feet. He never fails to make me smile. Even when he's koopa-bombing me.

Anyway, expect more (except over the weekend where I am almost certainly going to get distracted!!)

And if folks (if there are actually any reading this) are interested - http://100happydays.com/

Cork Stamping

So, new years wine was drunk... over slightly longer than just new years eve. Which really just goes to show what madness my life has become. No bottle of wine would have lasted that long before. Oh well.

So I had used the wire wrapping for Christmas decorations, so what else could I use? I can't help but feel I am a long way from having the confidence to work with glass so what did that leave?

Yup. A cork. Now there are lots of things you can do with corks, but most of them require multiple corks. So I decided to go with something simple and to make a stamp out of it. There are many tutorials on this. It's quite simple. You draw what you want onto the cork and then cut around it with a craft knife. You cut it very carefully. I managed to not cut myself. Hurrah. I wanted something I could stamp upcoming projects with, you'll see... So I went with the following.

Now, those who are smarter than me will have already spotted my mistake. Oh well. Yeah, I will hold my hands up to this one. I could blame it on the stinking cold that I have, that has left my brain feeling as though it is filled with cotton wool, but I think that's only one of a range of factors. I was so scared of my craft knife and all he fiddly bits, I forgot to do the important bit.

For those who haven't spotted it immediately. My lovely B-14 will not work. It doesn't work as B-14 anyway. But I like it. It's kind of abstract. Here it is...

Yes, it's backwards, but I feel that says so much about my craft ability that I can't help but smile :D

Sustainability, society and you: A FutureLearn Course

I first found out about FutureLearn at some point last year, and I signed up for quite a few course. I maybe got too keen too quickly as over the Christmas break I had a few busy days catching up with some of my old course.

But this week is the start of a new learning experience, and in line with this blog it's all about sustainability, and one of our first articles is a thinking exercise on sustainable choices which posed three questions.

Which is better for the environment - incineration of waste, or disposal via landfill? 

I think we are all aware that non-biodegradable waste sitting in a landfill is not a good thing in any sense but I know that a lot of folks also don't like waste incinerators, irrespective of the power generated being used back into the lcoal network. I think incinerators are quite scary things, and certainly not something that you would want in your back yard, but they have to go somewhere. I guess if you can't reuse or recycle it, better that it gets burnt that sits inertly for the next thousands of years...

Which do you think is more sustainable? Drying your hands with hot air dryers or using paper towels?

Just how many times are paper towels recycled? Most paper towels are in public toilets aren't they? Most of them probably just get shoved in the bin, so not very often I am guessing. Yes, air dryers use electricity, but how much power is used in recycling the paper or even, heaven forbid, actually chopping down trees for their manufacture. Hmmm... I might not actually be thinking about this one, I feel that I might have already made my mind up in my head.

Having a nosy on google brought me this as well: Guardian Article on Paper Towels & Hand-dryers

If you have the option of using a dishwasher, do you think it is more sustainable than washing up by hand? 

I did have a dishwasher. It's broken. We haven't fixed it. What some people don't seem to realise is that you can't push terribly dirty dishes in, they need a rinse down before they go in. I think this question might be a matter of numbers. If you only have a couple of glasses, then wash them up by hand. If you have a full load it might be more economic to use the dishwasher. Water wise anyway. You then have to factor in the electricity. Does the dishwasher use hot water or does it heat it itself? You know I don't know. How weird is that, you just accept that these appliances do their thing and don't look too deeply.

Another bit of google-fu tells me that a dishwasher uses about 3 gallons or 13-14 litres of water per cycle but that an average kitchen sink has a capacity of about 20 litres. Who knew!