Handmade

I am becoming a bit obsessed with handmade items. The thought of buying something from someone who uses their own creative ingenuity to make, greatly appeals to me. Oh sure, there's a lot of Crap with a capital C out there. (i.e. - Crochet tissue box covers. Who, who in the world? Why? Where did they? Items like this generally render me speechless when trying to figure out their need and their place in our already junked-up galaxy.) But creative ingenuity is all around us, people! I know people who make their living from selling their photographs, art, food, etc. I'm sure you can see how, for a creative, joy-filled and animated gal who makes her living from sitting behind a creativity-draining, lifeless, plastic box everyday, this idea is extremely appealing.

I long, I mean long, to live this way. There is nothing I want to be doing more than working in my garden right now; or making some salsa to sell on Saturdays at the market; or making more of an effort to become a better (amateur) photographer; or finding old scraps of, well, scraps, and turning them into a fun kitschy piece of...something.

I was in the produce section of the grocery store last week watching an employee unload crates of fresh corn into a bin. I watched him for a few minutes; studied the crates a bit, then I asked him, "what do you do with those crates after you unload the corn?" He said, "nothing. You want them?" Well, yeah! There's no telling what I could do with them! A rustic, wood and wire crate that has a big ole', faded, red corn stamp on it? Heck yes I want that thing! So I took a few home. I still haven't figured out what to do with them. But I will.

But that's the thing. Here I am, stuck behind this thing all day. Stuck. With no real time to do the things I know I was creatively created to create. One day. I hope.