The Legs Fall Off If You Move It

I know I haven’t blogged in forever.  Thank you for your constant and gentle nagging, Internet.  We’ve been SO BUSY, it has been INSANE. 

This was just last week:

1.  Received a 3,300 pound donation of gently used office supplies from Anadarko.  Three of us packed and moved it all from the ReUse Warehouse, which very kindly let us receive it there.   These supplies will be distributed to nonprofits and teachers in the Greater Houston area through our nonprofit, the Center for Recycled Art.

2.  Gave a presentation about creative reuse at NASA.  No shiz.  NASA, people!  It was an out of body experience, I must admit.

Actually, that wasn’t even all of last week.  That was just Monday and Tuesday.  I have good intentions about getting back to more regular blogging.  Keep your fingers crossed, Internet.  Meanwhile, you can sign up for our mailing list, or follow us on Facebook or Twitter using handy links on our sidebar.

Point:

“This is probably the coolest little store in this city. I had a great time just looking at all the various items, and I like the whole concept of “reclaimed materials”–these are materials that would otherwise have been discarded (not surprising in this society).

An interesting side note: I bought a bag of pens marked “Hey they all work”, but much to my surprise there was a pencil inside the bag. I returned this pencil to the very nice girl there, and was glad I stopped by.  The charcoal I bought is going to good use (as well as the cigar box) and I try to encourage others to stop in and support this downtown area oddity (the DAO), or for better syntax: an eclectic, dynamic, visual experience that ignites the creative force within us all.

I like the picture on the web-site, they make neat wallpapers/screen savers! ”

Counterpoint:

“This is a hoarder’s paradise. You have to dig deep to find something useful or cool here. There is simply no editing at all. If you can make use out of a big box of ‘Simply Orange’ juice green tops or a crateful of Corona bottle caps, this is a place for you. If you think of an art project that requires a whole lot of jar collecting or some severed doll heads,  you will make out big here. I found some brown ‘vintage’ medicine bottles that I thought I could use for my beauty products after I slapped on some cute labels.

I didn’t end up buying anything because there was no one at the cash register, even after I waited for a few minutes. Instead the manager was having a very indiscreet fight with her employee in the back ‘craft room’. Now, the owner was saying some awful, rude things and behaving in such an unprofessional manner that I decided to just leave without purchasing my bottles. I don’t want to buy anything from someone who would be so disrespectful toward her own employees, and by extension, her customers.”

Where has it gone?  I think The Artists’ Way ate it.   We are hosting a meeting of an Artists’ Way group for the next few months, and I am determined to get alllll the way through the book this time.    It’s supposed to help you unlock or unblock your creative potential, and I haven’t been feeling overly creative lately, so I need and want to do it.

One of the activities for this week was to add up where I’m spending most of my time – the top three or four things I do that consume the bulk of my time.  Mine were work, sleep, commute and getting ready for work, in that order.  And, I first figured out I had an extra eight hours a day unaccounted for, so WTH?  Except, lest we forget that I am a dumbass, I am a dumbass and did the math wrong.  Turns out I have an extra three hours a day to perform all the other life functions, like wash clothes and play with kittens and read the mail and every other damn thing (groceries, husband, etc).  So, I’m going to try to do micro bursts and flail around with glue and thread and shiny bits for 30 minutes a day.  We’re also supposed to do a three hour Artist Date each week, which … frankly, Internet, this whole thing is making me want to take a nap.  The Artist Date is supposed to be a fun outing that helps to get the creative juices flowing.  Um, three hours?  Really?  The most fun I can imagine in a three hour block is a nap.  Maybe I could take a nap outside and have creative dreams?  . . . I’ll keep you posted on this.

The store has been crazy busy, which is fabulous, but the shelves are in need of some serious reorganizing.  We have found some reasonably priced storage space nearby, so we’ll be able to move out a lot of materials that belong to the nonprofit and spread out some of the other stuff a little bit more.  We’ll keep a representative sample of what the nonprofit offers to teachers and other nonprofits in case they want something in a big hurry, but the going forward plan is to open up once or twice a month at the storage space and let the nonprofit goodies flow out into the community.  Pretty excited about that.

We were mentioned in a Houston Magazine article about the First Ward Arts District and its gathering whirl of artists and cool hipsters of all sorts.  That was thrilling, except my last name is wrong, which is funny, because about half of the customers don’t know my first name, and about 15% of the ones who do think it is Rhonda or Roberta or Regis or something else that starts with R.  So, I answer the phone and the caller will say, “Roberta?”  And, I say, “Yes!  How can I help you?”  Anyway, it was very cool to be included.

In other big news, Oprah did a bit on where to get rid of your stuff, and creative reuse centers like ours were listed as an option for people.  Three of the older creative reuse centers in California, North Carolina and Florida were listed by name, with the suggestion that readers google “creative reuse” in their area to find their closest spot.  Got that covered for Houston, for sure.

We updated the website to include a ReArt tab, which will showcase the works we have on consignment.  They sometimes get lost in the shuffle and jumble and generally overwhelming nature of a visit to the Texas Art Asylum.  I still have to upload the pictures, though, so don’t click over there just yet.  I’m doing good to get this blog post up, for Pete’s sake.  This is cutting into my three hours!!

And, in news of a very basic insane nature, I just thought I saw a bear on the patio.  I live inside the city limits, but I jumped up and ran (hobbled) to the window, because I was sure it! was! a! bear!  Right.  It was a giant trash bag blowing around.  Looked like a bear though …

“What’s up? Where you been since 12/3? Anything going on?” Having heard the above from about 2,485 people in the past two weeks, I figure it’s time for an update.

What has happened since 12/3 … Jeez. A lot. I can’t even remember. (And, the Internet says, that’s why you should blog more often. Point noted, Internet.) I’m behind on everything. Emails, phone calls, pickups, unpacking, sorting, pricing, everything. If you’re waiting on me to do something, I hope you took a number when you came in. Now serving … number 3.

We had some great classes. We got some great stuff. We sold a million things, but still have a million left, and hundreds more come through the door each day. We had our Best Day Ever a couple weeks ago, but I don’t know what caused it and so cannot simply repeat anything besides keep on keeping on and hoping that lightning will strike again. (Although, as we all know, hope is not known for being an effective strategy.) We were listed as #136 on the 365 Best Things to Do in Houston – Best Place to Get Crafty. Related to Best Day Ever? Possibly, but doubtful, as most were not first time visitors.

My family came to visit from SC, which precipitated a giant house cleaning, which precipitated stripping down the guest bed to the mattress, only to find that the down mattress cover had sprung a leak. I don’t even know how to describe the result. It was snowing inside? It was an “I Love Lucy” episode, for sure. And, my vacuum (looks wrong, but is spelled right) doesn’t work, except for the hose part, so I vacuumed (still looks wrong …) the air for longer than I care to disclose. Thought I had it whipped until I went to clean the lint trap in the dryer, where the loose down that had not made it out into the air was evidently expelled during drying, and fluffed and caught there for me to set aloft in all its fluffiness in the laundry room. On the next “I Love Lucy”, scenes from the laundry room. Hilarity ensues, except when your mother is going to be there in 45 minutes. Also, if you’re trying to de-feather the air with a cat, use your inky black cat instead of one of the lighter ones. The down shows up much better on the black one.

I missed/avoided writing the year end introspection and review that occurred on most blogs, and I have also missed/avoided the new year’s resolutions that occurred on most blogs.  Too late?  Naaahhhhh. 

Here’s what I learned last year.  (Typo made that first come out as here’s what I EARNED last year.  Hahahahahahaha!  Anywho…) 

Things I thought I could not live without – wine, new clothes, free time, lots of money.  Turns out, I didn’t really need, or really even want those things. Surprise, eh?  I was using those things (wine in particular), or the perceived lack of those things, to obscure all the things I didn’t like about my life.   Deep, eh? 

Check out the things that I, in fact, could not live without: Bliss Fabulous Foaming Face Wash and a maid. Shut up, and don’t judge. Not so deep after all, but at least I’m not a drunk.

Dying to know more about me? I also learned the following:
1. Some people work to live. I live to work. I am possessed by it.
2. I really like being my own boss. Makes #1 that much more enjoyable.
3. I like glitter and sparkly things. Sue me.
4. I really prefer order (see: OCD), but can live in a sea of disorder if I know an ordered result is coming.
5. I love learning new things, no matter what they are – like the meaning of quotidian, or how to do small business taxes, or the history of Lomonosov Russian porcelain.

Rambling on until next time. Hopefully sooner than later …

Why, yes. I am right on top of the clean clothes.

My giant orange kitty, Ozzie, has always snored when he’s sleeping hard. Lately, each snore has ended with a whistle-y wheeze. So, I called the vet to make an appointment.

The vet cordially requested that I not bring Ozzie in, but instead told me to come by and pick up a round of antibiotics for him. Ozzie is … not friendly, and the vet remembers the last time he was there for some kind of fever thing. They gave him one shot and wanted to keep him overnight so they could give him another one in the AM, but right before they closed, they called me and asked if I could please come pick him up because he was SCARING. THE. DOGS. My Ozzie Boy, scaring the dogs. Das right. Uh-huh.  He Da Man.

So, like any good pet owner, I picked up the medicine — pink liquid, to be administered orally via syringe.  I’m sure you see where this is going.

1.  Come home and decide a surprise attack will get the first dose in without problem.  Ha.  Load the syringe, wrap my left arm around Ozzie, holding his face up to mine.  He snuggles in.  I try to open his mouth with my left hand while I’m approaching from the right with the syringe.  He looks at me like “Is You Crazy?” and deftly slaps the syringe right out of my hand.  Surprise!

2.  Pick up syringe.  Straighten shoulders.  I’m going back in…  This time he’s ready.  When I wrap my left arm around him, he sinks his fangs into my thumb.  But, while his mouth is open a crack, held open by MY OWN FLESH, I shoot the medicine in.  He draws back with a look of surprise.  That’s right.  Who’s surprised now?  Well, turns out I am, because he shakes his head and slings a line of pink medicine all over my shirt, the counter and the wall.  Did any stay in his mouth?  I can’t really tell, but I convince myself that it’s enough for the first night.

3.  This morning — Sigh.  He refuses to be caught at all.  He’s under the bed.  He’s in the top of the closet.  He’s growling like a grizzly bear.   My arm and hand are bleeding.  There is pink stuff everywhere.  I have said many bad words.  I am giving up until tonight.  Bastid.

We’ve had a long series of coincidences occurring since we opened.  A customer will ask for something, and we will have just received that very thing the day before.  Or, a customer will ask for something fairly obscure and specific, and we won’t have it at the time, but it will come in some time later. 

For example, some vintage Aunt Martha’s embroidery patterns were requested by our friend Paula on her first visit a couple months ago.  We didn’t have any then, or for a long time after. 

One Saturday not so long ago, I was unpacking/sorting/pricing a box of cool stuff that had just come in, and lo and behold, there is a stack of Aunt Martha’s embroidery patterns — the good, vintage ones, not the reprints.  I am in the process of holding them up to show Jennifer and saying, “Hey, Paula wanted these,” when Paula walks in the door for her second visit ever and right smack into the handful of Aunt Martha’s patterns I’m holding up. 

Stuff like that.  Happens all the time.  Crazy.  Not to get all other worldly and spooky on you folks, but it’s weird.  And it happens often enough that … it’s a thing.  Something’s going on.  We’ve got the hookup, or the hot line or the Bat phone.  It’s cool.

A couple weeks ago, I was getting a little worried because our until-then steady stream of stuff had seemed to slow down.  We were … caught up!  Everything was … clean!  And straight!  And organized!  So, I think to myself, “Self, it’s finally time to put the word out to the business community and start collecting from business and industry.”  And, I sh*t you not — the door bammed open, and in walked a guy with a mountain of stuff, and it hasn’t slowed down for one second since then. 

We have been living in a series of “Before” pictures ever since.  Hopefully we’ll get to an “after” state again one day soon, but in the meantime, customers have been gamely stepping over and around and through whatever we’ve had strewn around the aisles.   The picture below is from the classroom, where we will be having a CLASS in THREE DAYS!  (I don’t know what it is about this blog stuff, but I feel like I’m writing like Nathan Lane talks, particularly Nathan Lane in The Birdcage.  “He’s chewing GUM … while I’m SINGING.”  Like that.  Maybe that’s how I talk, too?  Probably.) 

In other news, I was at the Bellaire Recycles event last Saturday and had fun (despite weather) showing folks how to make a Coke can Christmas tree garland.  Response to that was so good, in fact, we’ll be doing a demonstration of that this weekend at the store.   And, I would remind you that I am from The South, and all cans containing carbonated beverages are Coke cans to me, so don’t go all semantics on me, Internet.

I’m speaking at a meeting of Women in the Visual & Literary Arts tomorrow, so that should be fun for all of us.  This is my first speaking engagement since leaving my old company, and I am certainly more practiced at providing information on access control & security systems for offices and tenants, but I’m sure I’ll get into the swing of it.  Hopefully I won’t freeze up.  Hopefully.

We are proud sponsors of ArtCrawl2010 which is this weekend, and I am volunteering at WHAM (the arts market and shopping fest at Winter Street Galleries) Friday PM and Sunday AM, so that should be fun, too. 

And, we posted our second class/workshop calendar that will take us through the end of the year.  There’s a wide range of offerings — bottle cap bracelets, a book purse, paper beads, altered tins — on and on.  And, we’ve decided to offer a two-fer for each registration through the end of the year, so people can bring a friend with them to each class, which I think is a more fun way to take a class anyway.  I’ll be teaching at least one (if you can believe that), and maybe a couple as folks have requested some instruction in areas where I’m skilled enough to offer it.  Should be fun, and should not be missed!

AND, we’ve been contacted by a MAJOR architectural firm that is committed to recycling their discontinued finish samples, so we should have a good steady stream of high end samples coming our way very soon.  More deets on that when we’re up and running.

There’s so much going on!  It has seemed like a lot, and now that I read back over this post — it IS a lot!

It has been so interesting, the people we’ve met in these five short months of operation.  For example, there’s a crochet pattern celebrity here in our own back yard – the CrochetDudehimself, Drew Emborsky.  I have to admit, I was star struck when he came into the store for the first time.  Yes, star struck.  By the CrochetDude. 

He is a complete hoot, and I have loved his purse patterns for a long time without knowing he was creating  them  just a few miles away.   He generously blessed us with some of his FAB.U.LOUS yarn stash, and we have enjoyed all the yarn freaks  interested patrons who have come by in search of what is without a doubt the best yarn we will ever have.

And I’m so happy for his success!  He has a line of crochet tools just coming out in stores now, and his most recent book is receiving rave reviews.  And, he has a ton of additional content online for folks to use and enjoy free of charge.  He is a generous and talented man, and we are glad to know him. 

If you’d like to know him as well, there’s a book signing/make and take/crochet fest/plus fabulous prizes at Yarntopia in Katy this Sunday. Sounds like a great time, and who doesn’t want to WIN FREE STUFF from a yarn store?   If I weren’t involved in keeping the store open for you yarn freaks interested patrons, I’d be elbowing my way to the front of the line.

This is my first actual day off in six weeks, and killing busy again starting tomorrow, so I’m going to give you folks many pictures and few words.  Other things on the agenda for today:  1.  Much sleep (already achieved in two parts — first 9 hours, and then 3 hours, broken up by a drowsy viewing of “Yours, Mine and Ours” starring Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda; 2.  Drinking coffee and eating cold fried chicken for a brunch-y type thing on the patio on a cool fall … WTF IS THIS TEMPERATURE??  Is it 90 degrees out here?  Bleh.  Back inside.  3.  Sitting still next to whichever kitties are willing to be sat next to, for as long as they will allow.  Poor babies have been sorely lacking attention.  4.  Quick blog post, sentences not required.  5.  Piddling around, doing whatever the hell I want.

Here’s the skeleton the Texas Art Asylum entered in the Siege of the Skeletons at Houston’s Health Museuam.  He’s called “I’ve Got the Music in Me”.  Paper mache, with a top coat of old sheet music for the DJ, vent hood filter and clothes drying rack, scrap particle board circles and two old records for the turntable and stand.  Looks great! 

Trip to NC for ReuseConex was great.  Cool to meet so many folks in this new-to-me business.  There were lots of folks just starting out, one lady with a very sad story after 10 years, and a few with 20+ years of operation under their belts (NY, San Francisco and NC), so where’s everybody in the middle?  Does this indicate a fruit fly life cycle for startups, or are the 2-15 year old reuse centers just too busy or broke to make their way to the meeting?

Food in steerage on Continental flights no longer free, but $5 will get you this. 

And, on a plane this small, it’s all steerage.

Back in Houston, we cranked out a few ill-tempered Halloween decor items.  The Halloween Tree looks better in person, with creative reuse of a cruddy old xmas tree, some pretty hideous artificial flowers, and the requisite doll head.  Under $20, including paint.

This is pretty creepy.   Old photo, cool old shell and glass buttons, perle cotton, old candlesticks and really gross old candles.  Total cost, under $15, and most of that is for the buttons.

Also fresh in my mind from ReuseConex is the very slow Greening of Houston, and how far behind this city is in a lot of important ways.  For our part, we have stopped using paper towels and drinking bottled water at home.  Pretty much everybody agrees that plastic water bottles are the devil.  However, a plastic water bottle does prevent unfortunate scenes like this.

Pending business:

• Classes start this week!  First are ATC’s, then a day of the dead nicho, then a two week altered book class.  Click for more info.

• Sooo excited, but still so much to do in the multi-purpose classroom/stock room/receiving area.  I’m going to go hack away at that as soon as I get this posted.  And, there’s still so much to do because we received a TON of donations in the past couple weeks.  Literally.  It was a ton – 2,000 pounds.  I can barely fathom that.  Lots of Peanuts holiday crafts, tons of unfinished wood shapes, FAB.U.LOUS yarn, great old photographs, post cards, slides and photo albums, giant bags of artificial flowers, books, MDF in all sizes and more.  The City of Houston better recognize how I am personally forwarding its waste reduction and environmental goals.  I’ll wait right here by the phone <…tapping fingers…>. 

• Heading off to the first big meeting of the Reuse Alliance in Raleigh on Sunday.  There are people with decades of experience in the field coming from all over the country, so I’m hoping to learn a lot and meet some kindred spirits.  One of the speakers is the guy who wrote 1,000 Ideas for Creative Reuse, which I ended up carrying around with me to show lenders when I was chasing a small business loan.  They had just a touch of trouble understanding without visual aids, and even with visual aids …  Cleansing breath.  Never mind.  I’ve moved on.  It’s a great book – very inspiring. 

• Quilt Market!  I am unreasonably excited about being able to attend as a vendor for the first time and sent off credentials and registration at the last possible second, because that’s how I roll.  The magic words are “Trade show only.  Not open to the general public.”  Sorry, general public.  You’re out!  I registered for a few of the educational sessions as well as the giant free-for-all sample grab, so watch this space for all kinds of upcoming wisdom.  And, hopefully we’ll get to see some of the Quilt Market attendees who are looking for cool places to shop in Houston.

• Invited to speak at a meeting of the Women in Visual and Literary  Arts in November.  Several customers are members, so I’m looking forward to this as well, even though I’m a nervous public speaker, particularly in front of a pack of women.   

• Invited to have a booth at the Bellaire Recycles event in November.  I’m hoping to have my sh*t together well enough to do a simple make-and-take project with repurposed materials for folks as they stop by.  Or maybe just a demonstration?  I don’t know.  Need to figure it out soon, though. 

• Working on a quick survey to send out re: interest in future class topics and interest in using our almost clean classroom space and fancy tools for studio time during the day, or whenever we don’t have classes running in there.  I would have loved to be able to use somebody else’s more expensive than I could justify for occasional use tools and spread out on their tables, without a bunch of cats walking around on everything, and I’m betting I’m not the only one. 

Past business:

• Officially opened our bulk area, except everything won’t fit.  We’ve got serious space issues after only four months.  So much so that I have dreams about being crushed by encroaching piles of stuff.  In the meantime, we mostly have the bulk stuff poorly displayed in the shower (yes, the shower), with overflow everywhere else.  Free to teachers and nonprofits, and by-the-bag pricing for everybody else.

• Went to Winter Street’s Annual Artists Exhibition.  Totally amazing to see some of our cool stuff classed up and on display in several artists’ studios! 

• Installed a cool paper mache DJ skeleton at the Health Museum for their Siege of the Skeletons exhibit.  If you go by there, vote for us!   His name is “I’ve Got the Music in Me!”

Awk:

• There’s a longer story to tell here, but in brief, let’s just say that my family has a long history of saying exactly the wrong thing often enough that it’s a common trait referred to as The Turkey Chili.  Here’s a recent example –  An unbelievably fresh faced and dewy eyed young couple comes in one Saturday morning.  While the husband is looking around, fresh and dewy wife asks if we have embroidery floss.  Of course we have embroidery floss.  I ask what she’s working on, tell her stories of embroideries past, and rather excitedly tell her about something I’ve just seen on Mr. XStitch that had birds and offered the message that , “All the birds are singing that you’re gonna die.”  Well.  Dewy eyes become teary eyes, and she whispers, “I work in cancer treatment …”  Oh.  Well.  Awk.  Guess who left in a hurry and hasn’t been back?

We donated these two delights made from all repurposed materials to the silent auction at the Fall Festival at a local elementary school.

The wreath is made with vintage sheets music on a straw base.  All in, it’s less than $20 including the hot glue, and it looks fabulous.

This little purse was made with the gray base from a felted wool vintage blanket with the flowers and leaves from scraps of Lamb’s Pride wool, crocheted and then felted.  Total on this is also under $20, and it’s pretty stinking cute.