Do you need more creativity?

Somehow I got on Quilting Daily's e-mail list. I think I wanted to look at a pattern, had to join to see it. So that was the subject line on one of their e-mails. I don't think I need any more creativity. I already have so much I can't keep up with it.

The desire to take your head off while in the throes of a nasty migraine is far too common a feeling to count as creative. The stage of being able to fall asleep if only I weren't at work is a relief - can't I sleep? I have more in the van that I pulled out of the trailer this morning. It's hot, I don't feel good, I don't wanna go outside to get anything. Seriously, can't I nap? I'd feel ever so much better. OK, maybe chocolate would help?

My son can be intriguingly creative, too. He and Steve put a piece of particleboard in the van way back when Steve was driving the thing. The thought was that the back seat would lay down, there would be room for us to put a mattress in, take off for a weekend. The seat didn't lay down as thought, so it never did work that way. Somewhere between the last 2 yrs and everything I've been hauling back there over the last 6 weeks, it finally developed a jagged hole - right in the middle. Steve said it had gone in at a slant, it should come out that way. Wasn't working, no matter which way we tipped it. Ben realized that the seat was installed AFTER the particleboard..... uh-oh! So I asked if we could cut it, and his response was to pull the chainsaw out from behind the front seat and proceed to do just that, as D and I stood and laughed. Hey, it worked!

The pieces are up at D's, since that's where we'll be using such stuff. I had her laughing when I said it's forbidden to go up there empty handed. "What about when you're living here?" No, that's a different question. Oh, goody, I can stuff more stuff in. Ben told Steve last night that the trailer's down to about 30% full, and it never was more than 80% cuz I'd been keeping a messy stack right in front of the door to put off the local vandals. Then I topped that by telling him that I have a goal of emptying it enuf to move bfore next rent's due.

There was a thunderstorm last night, and even though there were a couple of guys shining flashlights into our yard again, for once nobody got into the trailer or shed. There have been law enforcement people in Kevlar vests showing up where those guys live, license plates for agencies we don't recognize.... we don't know, we don't want to know, just leave us alone and out of that! I did go out and let them know I was aware of their flashlights while getting the laundry, at 11:30pm, knowing that between lightning, thunder & migraine, Tuesday was already not looking good. It was a good thing I got the laundry, because we got a gully washer that lasted about 4hrs, left nice big puddles.

We're using so much that's 'found' or re-purposed it gets funny. Fencing, lumber, insulation, stock tank that's already up at D's, other things we've had....Saturday, we decided that the feeders we were using for the chicks were really too small, needed to be replaced. But the bigger, suspended, galvanized ones at the feed stores are $25 each. So what else can we do? As we were brainstorming, I realized that I had a bunch of empty coffee cans saved for an idea of mine that the guys didn't fall in with. Du-uh!

Monday morning, D, Ben, and I made new feeders. Triangular holes punched in the bottoms of the cans with a bottle opener, some $store pie pans, a scrap of wood, a screw, - et Voila! D said we got 3 for the price of one from the feed store. Huh? Oh, she was counting the original cost of the coffee. She has a point, although Ben and I weren't counting that as 'cost'.

I'd already gotten tired of storing them and punched holes with a big church key to use some as planters. I have 2 tiny avocado trees in one, and some ginger. I'd been practising benign neglect on those, just watering and ignoring, in hopes I'd be pleasantly surprised. Now that I know what ginger looks like, I can pull the thing in that pot that's a weed. What I'm going to do with these delicate warm climate plants over the winter, I don't know yet. I'll figure that out as we go. I still have more of the coffee cans.

I keep taking stuff out of the trailer; I'm even throwing things away. There is, of course the inevitable "Oh, is that where I put that?" There must have been some good reason I kept empty boxes that are in sad shape now. And the HRB stuff - well, I'd have to start all over again if I went back to HRB, so why should I keep coursework? The extra kitchen stuff, I think I'll just leave in there until after we get it moved. We bought it to use when we could have animals, garden, etc; that's why it's been stored.