Gift Giving - Locally, Ethically & Green.

It seems our society loves trends.  For some people, the trend turns in to a lifelong commitment (like my commitment to leg warmers) and for some it passes as soon as the craze does.  The last few years there has been a "buy local" trend. This is/was in order to support local struggling farmers, lessen our environmental footprint, and to know where our food comes from and how it's produced.  While we have become quite focused on where our apples may have been grown, we still don't seem to mind that most everything else comes from overseas.


This past April, a garment factory in Bangladesh collapsed killing over 1000 people.  While most people and news outlets were outraged and disappointed, it didn't stop anyone's dollars from flowing into stores like "The Children's Place" (yes, they made clothes there too - not just Joe Fresh).
Another "trend" where consumers were outraged for 15 minutes, demanded change, and ooooh 75% off pajamas…….

I'm saying this not to be "heavy" but to remind you that your consumer voice counts!  Put your money in things you say you believe in.  It is easy to beat up big retailers, but they are filling the demand we are creating!  

Whether or not you care about your environmental footprint, slavery and inhuman conditions in factories overseas, or don't think about what you buy at all 

you can still appreciate something handmade.   

While many of you are busy busy busy shopping for Christmas, I'd like to encourage you to support local artisans (or even friends and family) - and incorporate some handmade items to your gifts this year.

A gift for the Kitchen

Community Centres and the like are very busy this time of year with craft sales, Mom to Mom sales, and bazaars.  Make a point of visiting a few!  I picked up so many nice things this weekend.  Knitted dish cloths for $1.00/each?!?   In addition to hats, scarves, hand mixed scented room sprays, (and so much more) I found a great little gift for the kitchen!  

I'm going to go ahead and pull the description from the website:

"The SewEco Kitchen Wet Bag is perfect for storing wet rags, dishcloths, unpaper towels, etc., between washes. Waterproof, zip closure, and hangs from your stove or where ever you need it... it could hang from your stroller, too, for cloth diapers or wipes, wet swimsuits... or whatever you can think of :)

Wet Bags measure approximately 11x15 inches, have a waterproof PUL liner and a high quality 100% cotton outer. The liner and exterior are sewn separately to prevent any leaks and for a thorough clean when it needs a wash."

This is a local woman in my community, who also makes snack bags (perfect gift for kids - especially if you put something inside!), bowl covers and more.  If you're interested in something beautiful and homemade for the kitchen - this is the site:  www.seweco.ca or https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/GoSewEco?ref=shop_sugg

Gifts for Coffee & Tea Lovers….

I recently bought my first Cuppow.  Cuppow is a company in the United States (I know - not local, but NOT overseas)  Here's an excerpt from their site:

Cuppow is an American company that grew out of a need to develop everyday products that would help us decrease our own eco-footprint; we have been committed to that ideal from the outset, and seek to achieve it along every part of our process.

I love drinking from Mason jars and this little invention made it so much easier (and less embarrassing).  

I enlisted the help of a knitter to make me some cozies for my Mason jar so I wouldn't burn my hands. Look at how wonderful this is!  I love this combo for so many reasons:

- I don't see a lot of other people with this cup, it's very unique

- the Cuppow lid is eco friendly, BPA free and made in an accountable factory where workers are compensated fairly

- It keeps my coffee and hot lemon water REALLY hot!

The lovely lady who made this cozy for me doesn't do commercial orders, so I traded the cozy for some wool (she kept all the leftovers) which means 2 of them only cost me $10.00

Enlist a local knitter to make you a few and give it as a gift with a Cuppow lid and a bag of Fair Trade coffee for a thoughtful and unique gift!

Support the Arts

I've mentioned supporting the Arts in your community in a previous blog post 

http://onlyfitinjustenough.blogspot.ca/2013/11/thinking-outside-box-gift-box.html

And I'd like to add to that by encouraging you to buy original art!  I have a few original pieces in my house and I LOVE them!  They always get compliments, start a conversation and even lead to others looking for original art for their home.  

I may be partial, as my Oma and husband are wonderfully talented artists - but I really feel that everyone can enjoy art.  Here are two Ontario painters who sell their work:

Melissa Fernandes

http://www.melissafernandesartist.com

'is that so' 24*36 acrylic 2013

Could you imagine having this beautiful piece hanging on your wall?  Melissa Fernandes is an incredibly talented woman in all areas of the Arts and visual arts is no exception.  She has had many successful exhibitions and has a beautiful portfolio   There are so many beautiful pieces of original art - stop buying mass produced crap and support a talented artist!

Amy-Lyn VanLondersele

http://bushel-and-a-peck.weebly.com/paintings.html

Full disclosure, this artist is my sister.  She has been locally commissioned many times to create individualized pieces for.  Her artwork is whimsical and vibrant and should inspire you to start adding original pieces to your home! 

Last but not least….. Get Creative!  You - YOU, the reader - Get Creative!

These toys have been well loved the last few years.  Around 3 years ago, when my son began to read he could not get enough of Mo Willems' books!  He loved them so much I made him toys of the characters for his birthday.  The Knuffle Bunny can be seen to the left, and The Pigeon (with his own Knuffle Bunny) can be seen to the right.  I didn't have patterns for these, and just pieced them together as I went along.  I had made a few monsters prior to making these but by NO MEANS could be regarded as a professional - not even close!  Take your time and be confident in your creativity, you CAN make something wonderful and unique as a gift!

Side Note:

Notice that the Knuffle Bunny book has a barcode on the front cover.  I purchased that book from 

http://www.betterworldbooks.com

They sell discarded library books and new books to support worldwide literacy.  

Here is a small excerpt from their site:

"Better World Books is among a unique and growing group of triple bottom line companies who understand that profitis not the only way to measure business success. People also matter. And so does the planet on which we all live.
For Better World Books, the triple bottom line comes in lots of forms. From helping to build a nursing library in Somaliland to offering customers carbon neutral shipping on every book they buy, doing good is not just a part of Better World Books’ business—it is the business."

Let me encourage all of you to spend your money differently - spend it to make it count!  

Your consumer voice is important. 

If you have any other ideas for shopping local, ethical or green 

send me an email, I'd love to hear from you!

The Homeless Man, The Homeless Chicken, and a Happy Heart.

I recently had a conversation with a 20-something about being "happy".  About how our culture tells us what we need to be happy.  A relationship that "makes us happy".  A job that "makes us happy".  A nice car and trendy clothes that "make us happy".  We seem to have this idea that the next thing will really do the trick and be our ticket to happiness.  

Happiness isn't something to be bought, found, or discovered on Oprah.  It isn't dependent on situations.  Relying on external situations to bring you happiness is a guarantee for misery.  

Enter the homeless man.

There is a local man who goes from home to home asking to do work in exchange for money.  His name is Dave.  My Dad runs the local homeless shelter, and knows this man.  He told me to be careful, that this particular person was an addict, very dangerous and would do just about anything for his next fix.  We never let him in the house.  Always kept the curtains closed when he was in the neighbourhood.  We gave him bags of groceries when he would knock on the door.  We would give him money if we had any.  We showed him love and kindness, despite being a little frightened of him.  

It was a Sunday afternoon.  The majority of my extended family had gathered at McMaster Children's Hospital to pray that my newborn son would see another day.  He was intubated.  Sedated.  Fighting for his life.  It was another setback in his short life of setbacks.  Two nights prior I was sitting with him in his isolation room in the NICU.  His oxygen levels were dropping despite being on a machine that forces oxygen into his lungs.  He was crying.  Writhing.  I tried cuddling him in every position I could manage with all the wires and machines attached to him.  His oxygen levels continued to drop.  His nurse called in the nurse practitioner, the nurse practitioner called in the doctor.  They decided to intubate.  I was asked to leave the room (which they almost never asked me).  I sat at the end of the hall, watching his room from what felt like someone else's body.  The nurse practitioner ran out.  He picked up the phone and I heard pieces of his conversation…. seizure… lungs filled with blood…. Nurses gathered at the glass doors of the isolation room.  One of them looked me in the eye with compassion I can not describe.  People in, people out.  People in, people out.  I truthfully can't tell you how much time passed.  It was no more than a second, and no less than eternity.  A nurse handed me her personal cell phone, asking me to call my husband.  I refused to call until I had news, one way or the other, to give him.  They stabilized my baby, made no promise of being in the clear,  and assigned him his own nurse which I thought nothing of until I was told that "was't good".   I was at the very base of my emotional and physical well, I had nothing left to draw.  I asked my parents, my in-laws and brothers and sisters to the hospital.  We tearfully gathered, prayed, and sang together - directly under his NICU room. It was one of the only times we left our little baby in his NICU room without his Mommy or Daddy there.  When it was over, I brought our other five children home while my husband stayed at the hospital with our son.  

We got home, everything seemed normal.  My then 7yr old couldn't find his laptop so I called my sister to see if she had taken mine home accidentally (we had the same computer).  I brushed it off, computers are left here and there and it wasn't a big deal to not find it right away.  I went to the kitchen to get everyone a snack, and noticed there was yogurt all over the floor and inside of the fridge.  My brother in law was the last one in my house, and I thought - man, what a slob.  Again, I brushed it off.  Snacks were served and I went upstairs to change into jogging pants (a must).  Suddenly, it all made sense.  My jewelry box was emptied out all over my bed.  My closet was tossed.  We had been robbed. 

He stole two laptops.  He stole jewelry that can not be replaced.  He raided piggy banks and took every penny.  He took a frozen ham, frozen spaghetti, and yogurt.  Wait, what?  He stole food?  It must have been Dave.  The man I fed, sat on my porch with and listened to his hardships, the man I showed nothing but love and generosity to.  It was his classic move.  Ask a family for work, get to know their house and schedule and rob them when they're away.

After a hard day, an indescribably hard day, my children had cops come to the house and document the break in.  They were tearful in realizing their money was gone, and afraid that he might come back for more.  

Before bed, I gathered all the children.  We held hands.  We prayed for Dave, that he would find help for his addictions and we each forgave him.  

We were hurt.  We were scared.  We felt violated.  

I felt like I wasn't in my own life.  Like I was watching someone in an HBO special:  A mother of six who is fighting to keep her family whole during the illness and near death of their new baby is robbed by a homeless man they have been helping.

Enter happiness.

No, I wasn't beaming with joy.  I didn't end the day with a dance party.  I was sorrowful, and frightened - but my heart had not lost its way.  I still had more things to be grateful for than to be sad about.

We climbed out of the sorrow.  I climbed out of the sorrow.  Because happiness is in us, not around us, and could not be stolen.  It could not be pulled away by each downward turn the baby took.  We found ways to be kind to each other.  To be kind to strangers.  To be kind to the homeless.  

Happiness does not mean you can't experience sadness, heartbreak, anger.  It allows you to experience those things without fear.  It's knowing that whichever way life turns, for the better or worse, that you will find your way through.

Enter the homeless chicken.

Five or six weeks ago, a woman was standing on our porch asking if we had lost a chicken.  We hadn't, but the chicken had been on her driveway for a few days and needed a home.  I went with her, brought the chicken home and made attempts to find her owner.  No owner was found.
We had a homeless chicken.  

The chicken is a risk.  She may have an illness she could spread to the other chickens and needed to be in seclusion for the first 30 days.  She will cause fights between the chickens as they work out their pecking order.  She will be more work - another chicken to clean after, to feed, to water.  

I talk to the children about continuing to help those who need it.  Even though we've been hurt by Dave, we won't allow him to change us in to people who are afraid to love and live generously.  

We tongue-in-cheek named the homeless chicken Dave.

We've used the homeless chicken as a way to remind the children, and ourselves, that helping others isn't always easy or smooth.   That the "risk" in helping others is nothing compared to the risk of living a life with an unhappy heart.   The key to a happy heart is not what can be attained, but what can be given.

“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.” 
― Dalai Lama XIV

I'm not sharing this story to tout the abilities my family has to make it through hard times.  I actually haven't shared much of what happened while we were in the hospital with anyone - face to face or online.  I'm sharing so that I'm not preaching.  I'm sharing so I can say to you, this is what I feel has made the difference in my life.
I'm sharing to encourage you to find true happiness.  Happiness that can make it through hard times.  We will ALL live through harrowing experiences.  Illness.  Danger.  Financial strain.  Death.   

I encourage (beg) you to find your true happiness before these things happen in your life, so you can find your way back out of them in one piece.