Handweaver's Guild Of America

Hi Friends,
The Handweaver's Guild of America (HGA) is having their Convergence in Albuquerque this summer. That's my backyard! I'm not a member (yet) but am planning to join and take a few classes. The classes are all related to fiber arts. There are classes on loom weaving, spinning, and dying yarn, some knitting and even a couple of basket classes. There are even some computer classes related to the fiber arts as well as classes on photographing your creations.
I was wondering if any of you are members of HGA and if any of you are planning on attending?
Perhaps we can have a class together or meet for lunch.
Blessings,
Nancy

Happy May Day

Good Morning Friends and Happy May Day to You!

Today I'd like to introduce you to Fancy Flours.
Fancy Flours has the supplies available for you to make the most delicious looking cookies and cupcakes you've ever seen. How I would love to receive a May day basket full of flowers and some of these super sweet looking cookies. I just think they are so beautiful.
Not only do they have supplies to make them, they also give you recipes and the how tos, to do it as well. So readers, you are going to have to use your imagination and just pretend that I have left a sweet basket full of these cookies on your doorstep this morning.
Wishing you a very happy May Day today. I hope you'll have time to stop over at Fancy Flours and see all their yumminess that they have going on.
Blessings,
Nancy

The 90/10 rule

Dear Friends,
I was writing a paper just this morning titled "Keep Ahead of the Game." It is my personal motto and it is basically the same as the Boy Scout motto of Be Prepared. The synopsis of the article is basically, the more we plan ahead and prepare ahead then the smoother things will go and the better everyone's attitudes will be. There are things in life that we cannot control that just happen. These things can affect our life negatively but.....if we have been prepared, and if we have the right attitude a negative situation can be halted in its tracks and not allowed to fester and snowball. Then wouldn't you know that I ran across this beautiful video on Jen's blog. I thought it reflected so eloquently on what has been on my mind today. The video is just over four minutes. I hope you enjoy it.
Blessings,
Nancy

A Couple of Interesting Oddities

Just a couple of funny things I noticed today. 
There were just a whole flock of birds sitting on our garden shed.  The interesting thing is that they were all beautiful robins.  I told the kids they were having a discussion as to where they were soon going to build their nests in the yard.  Wish I had a picture because it really was a site.  I could have understood if it were pigeons all gathered together, but these were pretty robins.

Second, I thought my shopping cart sure containted a lot of "white" items.

No veges or fruit, no meat, just a few needed things and they were all white!  You sure have to watch the labels close these days.  I wanted AP flour but they have bread flour right next to it.  Same with the sour cream.  I want fat free and it is right next to the low fat and regular sour cream.  Dang, this adds minutes to my shopping time having to watch the labels so closely.

I've been noticing that my refrigerator and pantry are looking more and more white all the time lately.  How about yours?

Have a wonderful evening,

Nancy

Is Reed Poisonous? - A Reader Question

Dear Friends,
Yesterday I received an e-mail from a reader and it is a question that I have been asked from time to time and I thought that perhaps others of you might have wondered the same thing so here it is:

Hey, Nancy!

I've got another question for you. I was told by someone in my guild that basket reed has toxins in it, and it should not be used for baskets that will at some time be in contact with food. At least half of the baskets I've been weaving over the last 2 months are kitchen baskets, i.e., 2 pie baskets, bread warmers, cookie keepers, silverware baskets, salt & pepper holders, coffee filter baskets, etc. Is this true? Is basket reed poisonous?

The short answer is yes there are pesticides sprayed on the reed during the processing of it as well as for transport across ocean. Now I'm not a chemist and I have not chemically tested the reed, but I would imagine that a fair amount of those pesticides are worn off and washed off as you soak the reed before using. This is one reason why you should not let your pet drink your soaking water. (For some reason it seems that dogs really like drinking reed water and they should not be allowed to do this) Have you ever soaked your reed and felt something, not gummy, but a substance on the reed as you take it out of the water? Some of that is from the oils in the machine as they cut the reed but some of that feeling or substance is from what has been sprayed on the reed. I think you probably wipe most of it off with your towel.

That said, lets look at what we put in our baskets that we use in the kitchen. For the remainder of this answer I'm going to refer to the results from Adam and Jamie and the interesting "Mythbusters" TV show.
Mythbusters did an episode where they talked about the 5 second rule...Drops on the floor and you pick it up and eat it within 5 seconds you are ok, no germs. Their results of the experiment were if something dry like an M&M dropped on the floor (providing the floor itself wasn't wet) so a dry M&M on dry floor then you can pick it up, eat it, and be basically germ free. Wet substances are another story. You drop a slice of bologna on the floor it picks up tons of germs instantly. Don't eat it! Of course things are in your basket much longer than 5 seconds but I feel the same dry against dry rule applies.

Speaking for myself and what I put in my baskets, food related, are dry and I put these things in a dry basket so dry on dry. I would never put something wet in my basket. Most of these items that I put in my basket have some sort of a covering such as tea bags are in a basket at my house and my Jello boxes are in another basket. My bananas, oranges and apples are in a basket. The apples I'll wash before we eat them. (I've read where you should wash your bananas and oranges too but I don't do that) Speaking for myself when I put bread and cookies in a basket I put a paper towel or napkin in the basket first to line it. (Guess I was more concerned of the oil from the cookies staining and spotting my basket) I too have coffee filters in a basket with my coffee but again that is dry on dry. Same goes with silverware. As far as your pie basket is concerned, a small edge of the pie might touch the basket, but IMHO it is such as small amount I personally would not be concerned. Plus whatever on the pie that became contaminated from the basket is probably stuck on the basket anyway as you removed the pie.

Did you know that many, many household items that are shipped over here from overseas have been sprayed with pesticides? Yes it is true. I never ever want to discount anyone's concerns regarding this topic and my answers come from books I've read so I'm only giving you my best answer. If you are still concerned, use a liner of some sort for all baskets that come in contact with food products. With your coffee filter basket, just don't use the very bottom filter and use that bottom filter as a liner. Basically I'm going to tell you to use your best judgement with all this.

A similar question I've been asked in the past is about using dyed reed and the dyed reed coming into contact with food. Same applies with dry on dry as mentioned above. My personal feelings with this, as I use Rit dye, are as follows. Rit dye is for fabric. We use cloth napkins and such that have been dyed, so I have never been concerned about my dyed reed possibly touching food products either.

Perhaps some of you readers have heard other things regarding this topic. Please leave a comment and let me and others know.

Super question and I appreciate you asking.
Baskets of Blessings Everyone,
Nancy

Menu Planning - Part 5 - a Year's Wort of Meals Video

Here I am wanting to do a month's worth of meals at one time, take a look at this short video of a mom doing and entire year of meal planning. Amazing. As for my family, we thrown in a leftover night once a week to clean out the refrigerator.
Please enjoy this. I did!
Baskets of blessings,
Nancy

Do You Use Tumblr.com?

Hi Friends,
I was introduced to Tumblr about a year ago and thought this is just NOT for me.  I have my blog and I bookmark my pages.  I really just kind of forgot about it until about a month ago when it surfaced again with a number of both crafty women and on the problogging circut.  Tumblr promotes itself as being a great place to use for "Social Bookmarking things from the web".  I looked at it again and decided to give it a whirl.  It's not like blogging as you can't leave comments on other posts unless you change some HTML code.  I had a hard time figuring out how to tag my items so I could retrieve them later but I think I have that solved.  Anyway, I call it my "Happy Place of Inspiration."  Over this past month as I've run across posts that make me smile or inspire me in some way I've placed them in my Tumblr with links back to the original page to find the tutorial or recipe etc.  Anyway, it has been kind of cool.  I'm not looking for Tumblr followers here, but you can look at my page just to see what it is like if you want.  Here is my Tumblr page:  http://basketmastercreates.tumblr.com/ 
For those of you who use it, I know there must be a way to archive posts month by month because I've seen it done.  Perhaps you could direct me as to how to do this.
What my Tumblr pages remind me of is a wonderful magazine to sit down and flip through.  I love reading a good magazine with lovely photos and I feel like I have my very own personalized magazine here.
Baskets of Happiness Everyone.
Nancy

Fastest way to Peel a Potato - Seriously

Never in my life have I seen such a fast way to peel a potato.

This video is just over a minute long and you will be amazed. It's going to save me a TON of time.

Blessings,

Nancy

Handbook for Life

This is something that has been going around the internet. I'm sorry I don't know who the original author was. I think it is so well written and it's how I try to live my life.

Enjoy!

Nancy



Health:
Drink plenty of water.
Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured.
Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.
Make time to practice meditation, yoga, and prayer.
Play more games.
Read more books than you did in last year.
Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
Sleep for 7 hours.
Take a 10-30 minutes walk every day. And while you walk, smile.



Personality:
Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
Don't have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
Don't over do. Keep your limits.
Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.
Dream more while you are awake.
Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.
Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
Smile and laugh more.
You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.



Society:
Call your family often.
Each day give something good to others.
Forgive everyone for everything.
Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
Try to make at least three people smile each day.
What other people think of you is none of your business.
Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.



Life:
Do the right thing!
Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
GOD heals everything.
However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
The best is yet to come.
When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it.
Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.

Blogger Blogspot Question - Bloggers Can You Help Me

Most of the time, not always, but most of the time when I view my blog I see a little wrench and screwdriver everywhere I've placed a gadget (like in the little photo above). How do I get that little wrench to go away? Kind of funny how it comes and goes. Do you see it when you look at my blog?

Thank you in advance!

Nancy

Needle Sized Art - You will be Amazed

I first saw this on Kathi's blog. I admire all forms of art and this is absolutely incredible. The video is only 2 minutes. I hope you take the time to view it. You won't be disappointed.

Blessings,

Nancy