If you have a cell phone but no landline, you may have found yourself in the situation where you can’t locate your phone and there is no one around to call it for you. Enter Where Is My Cell Phone. Hopefully you didn’t leave it on silent… via

This is such a fabulous design for a vase! What a great way to reuse your water bottles (I know, I know, we are all trying our best to not buy water bottles, but we are still a little ways off) AND it is felt which, as far as I am concerned is a perfect material. I may have to try a DIY version of this for some people on my Christmas list. There are other product concepts on the site that are worth checking out. via link

I have been looking for a felted bowl pattern for a while now. As I was clicking around the other day I saw that someone on design*sponge posted about the felted bowls they knitted using a pattern from the book One Skein. So I promptly put the book on my library list and this past weekend grabbed a few different types of wool yarn and went to town making bowls. They are actually very easy to make and you can be creative with the pattern once you get the basic principal down. Honestly they are just as easy and even quicker than scarves which makes them my new favorite thing to knit.

There is an excellent story in the Washington Post about consumerism and being green. I have already admitted that I am a consumer and this story hits a little close to home for me. Will I change my ways. Not overnight. But I think I will hang on to my outdated towels for a bit longer.

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I have been trying to figure out how to get solar up and running on the property. Sure I can buy a solar panel and plug in during daylight hours. To be honest I am not thrilled with the way a big fat solar panel pluncked on top of a building looks. It is better when it is integrated instead of retrofitted… actually it doesn’t have to be that way. These leave shaped solar panels provide power via sun and wind. They are inspired by ivy. At the moment they are only a concept, but you can check them out at MoMA. via link

Over the past few weekends I have been sifting through photos as far back as my great grandparents and as recent as 2006. I am starting with the older pictures, scanning and putting them into archival sleeves so that they do not deteriorate. Once they are scanned, I mess around with them for a bit in Lightroom until they look decent and then post them for the rest of the family. Phew. It has been really interesting seeing what my grandparents looked like when they were young, seeing what my great grandparents looked like. I am a little sad because a few of the really important people who would be able to fill me in on the story behind the photos have passed away. Their passing is what started me wanting to scan and share these photos. I also created a family blog with the intention of giving people a place to tell their stories. The neatest thing that has come out of this project is that my grandfather has started a blog of his own! (Hey Grandpa!) I love to read his stories. This photo above is of me and my favorite younger (not to be confused with my favorite youngest) sister. We were apparently guitar heros from way back.

This weekend was pretty low key. M&I took the car for a drive and did a little shopping, did a little cleaning and organizing. Saturday evening we stayed in and watched Idiocracy. Although this was a 2006 release, you may not have heard of it because it was not widely released. Why? Well because some people might find it offensive. Personally, I found it hilarious and just a bit scary.

I drink a lot of seltzer. So much so that we usually buy it by the case. That equals a lot of plastic bottles, and even with them going into the recycle bin, wouldn’t it be better not to use them in the first place? But how can I have my seltzer and not the empties? Enter Soda Club. It was actually my step dad that turned me on to this site. He is always on the cutting edge of cool kitchen gadgets, the latest is a low tech yogurt maker. I am envious. I got my Edition 1 machine last week and have had a grand time making seltzer. You can control the fizzyness so now I can have a less bubbly drink. I love it and I love not feeling guilty about all the plastic. I even made some Mountain Dew like soda for M with the flavor tester packs they sent. Personally I prefer my seltzer with some concentrated cranberry juice.

Why someone would need to be told that a child is not decor, is beyond me. Apparently I am not alone. The comments are priceless here, here and here