How to be thrifty this holiday season

So, I’m using the politically correct terminology here and calling it the “holiday season”. I want this information to be applicable to anyone, anywhere because being thrifty can be applied to any aspect of your life! I’m going to be frank with you readers, I celebrate Christmas. To be even more frank with you, I am not religious. My enjoyment of the holiday season has little to do with any theological belief. I enjoy the spirit of December; the decorating, the baking, and the celebrating so take what you will from this post and add it to your already expert knowledge of thrifting!

Shop Your Local Craft Sales

 

This past weekend I went to a huge craft sale in my area. Thanks to Etsy, a lot of what used to remind of us our grandmothers is right back in (think: knitting & crocheting).  There were chunky, knitted infinity scarves that you would pay $70 for online for $25. There were mountains of beautiful homemade afghans, rugs, mittens and socks. Knitted dishcloths were 3 for $1! I wanted it all and I didn’t have to factor shipping into the overall cost! My haul included two beautiful, handmade pottery dishes (perfect size for rings and jewelry on the bedside table) for $1/each. A sizeable beeswax candle in a mason jar for $5 (a total steal if you are familiar with beeswax candle pricing! Plus, beeswax candles cleanse the air while burning instead of emitting toxins like regular candles! Thrifty and eco-chic!).  An adorable stained glass Christmas tree for $2. My “splurge” items that went over the $5 mark were an amazing glass dish in the shape of a heart for $20 and two decorative oversized pinecones on spikes for $4/each. 

Shop the “End of Season” Deals

 

I know, I know, the last thing you want to do after the holiday season is over is re-invest more money into the holiday season. You’ve spent enough money on gifts and outfits for holiday parties and all you want to do now is curl up in front of the TV with Friends re-runs and eggnog.  If you can get yourself off the couch and in to a store you’ll find you can get some major deals! You’ll save an arm and a leg on holiday decorations whether its lights, wrapping paper, décor items or ornaments the big box stores want that merch gone and they’re marking it down to move.

 

Make Your Own Decorations

 

Pinterest has a plethora of holiday season inspired DIYs. What’s even better is that a lot of the DIYs are made of crafty items that can be purchased at the dollar store! Not only will they look better than the junk sold at the big box stores but they’ll cost you a fraction of the price.

 

Take Inspiration from Nature

If you have a front porch (sorry - apartment living doesn’t exactly lend to this kind of decorating) make up a cute decorative planter. The nice thing is that you can have some green on your porch without worrying about it dying in the cold winter weather! Combine greenery (last year I stole the bottom branches off my Christmas tree), dogwood (those trendy red sticks you see everywhere at this time of year) and either buy or make some pinecones or stars on sticks to add a little character to the display. I usually finish mine off with a big red bow from the dollar store. Last year I purchased some cute faux snowflakes and blue ribbon to tie around the pot. If you can’t get out of the city to scavange some greenery and sticks you’ll probably have to buy it at the farmers market. 

This year I took the dogs out back at my boyfriend’s parents place to get the greenery and sticks I needed. I ended up finding some really cool dried flowers I’m going to add! Of course, the dogs decided it was a great day for a November swim. Brrr!  

So the moral of the story is...

Pee isn't supposed to be bloody; but apparently it isn't supposed to be bright yellow either.
All these years I've made such a joke of it: "Oh, I live off coffee!  Oh, I'm the most dehydrated girl in the world!  I haven't had a glass of water in weeks!"
Well, the joke's on me because over time, the consistent dehydration I thought was "no big deal" actually created a rawness in my bladder that caused minor bleeding and a whole lot of discomfort.
If you read my last post, you'll know I was making bathroom trips ridiculously often; I had to pee all the time and we couldn't figure out why.  I had a minor meltdown pre-cystoscopy, imagining horrific scenarios like cancer or infertility.  How embarrassing but relieving to find out I was the cause of my own easily-treatable ailment.
So the moral of the story is: drink your eight cups of water per day.  Don't skip 'em.  Because it's not the cystoscopy that hurts (it's uncomfortable, sure, but not truly painful) but the peeing after is a BITCH.
Don't get me wrong; the hospital staff was exceptionally nice and the male nurse who chatted with me was hilarious-- but I wouldn't want to make this a regular thing.  Much better to drink litre upon litre of H2O and have to pee plenty at the moment; my doctor assured me that soon I'll have "trained" my bladder back into a regular schedule.  But only if I drink.  I guess it's a "use it or lose it" kind of thing.

You can read the start of my medical journey here.

Bookin' it

JEM

Bookshelf Organization

I’ve always been a book hoarder. I loved the library as a kid (and still do) I would get out stacks of books and read them cover-to-cover. The only thing I didn’t like about the library was giving the books back. I’ve always had an obsessive want/need to have my own library. My mom tends to lend/give away books after she’s read them. I, on the other hand, re-read books to an obsessive degree. To me they just keep getting better the more times I read them!

My future library!

 I currently have two “bookcases”; one very large one that has been in my childhood bedroom since, well, childhood and one that I bought more recently for school. The big one is organized and categorized by genre. I have a children’s lit shelf, a shelf dedicated to my “horsey” books (a combination of fiction, non-fiction and children’s lit) plus three other shelves divided into classic and contemporary fiction. It’s a good system and I know where every single book is. The second, smaller bookshelf is one I bought for my house at University and houses all of the books I’ve read during my two English degrees. These books are well-read, many of them used, written in, scribbled on and they all have colourful page markers, post-its and bookmarks within their pages. I like my books messy because I can flip to a page and remember what we were learning about and what essays I was writing at the time. Yes, in case you didn’t already know, I am a nerd.

I recently moved in with my boyfriend. When I say “recently” I mean last January. Yet, for some reason, I’m still not fully moved in. Moving is exhausting, you always lose things and I have slight OCD when it comes to having my things in order. So, needless to say, it’s been nice to simply stick a box of items I want in my backseat every time I visit my parents (Note: my parents have been amazingly accommodating to my huge amounts of stuff). I am what some people would call a nester. I love cozy spaces! The one thing I haven’t moved yet is my books. Honestly, it’s like being separated from my children. I think about them often. I try not to worry about them being without me. I fret about not reading them. So, I’ve decided I need to move them. It’s going to be a pain, it’s going to be messy. But it needs to happen. Thank goodness for Pinterest!

If you search "bookshelf organization" you get a plethora of wonderful pictures, ideas and lists. I’m going to post the best of the best here for you to enjoy. This post is meant to inspire me to get organizing and hopefully I can share the results with you soon!

Note for booklovers: the bookshelves I'm about to post are "styled" aka they have a bunch of non-bookish junk on them to make them look pretty. And you can't deny it - they do look pretty. My advice would be to have one big bookshelf that holds a ton of books (it's just practical) and then have a couple smaller ones in more visible areas of your home with pretty accents on them. Showcase your most beautiful books and organize the rest of them by genre, alphabetically or chromatically if you're feeling super motivated!  I also like separating my "to read" books on a seperate shelf so that I don't lose track of them.

1.) The Bold Background Colour BookShelf
Better Homes and Gardens says "Keep it simple! To style a bookcase to perfection, resist the urge to pack in accessories on every shelf. Keep a clean look by choosing a one-color or tone-on-tone scheme for vases and figurines, and make sure to mix up shapes. Every so often, step back to assess the overall balance of your arrangement. Place items off-center or try larger or smaller ones until you like what you see."
 

Better Homes & Gardens

2.) The Knick-Knack-y, Cottage-y Bookhelf
I love this bookshelf for its rustic, cottage-y vibes. It's also one of the only real wood bookshelves I saw. What's up with that? Antlers are very "in" right now so this person got it right with the little deer accessory. The little blue owl is super cute too! I actually have a big green one from Home Sense. I love the big and little Eiffel towers because they bring the shelves together in an otherwise random assortment of knick-knacks. I see what they're trying to do with the horizontal and vertical books but I can't say I love the actual book organization. It might be because they don't have the most attractive books in the world. Plus I would not mix movies and books but hey, I'm a snob.

Wildflower Blog

3.) The  Post-Secondary Office Style Bookshelf
Don't these bookshelves remind you of your prof's office? Here are Apartment Therapy's tips:

• Put smaller books up top and bigger books at the bottom and keep relative sized together
• Try to cull all ragged books (esp. paperbacks)
• Leave a little bit of breathing room on each shelf - @10%
• Put your most attractive books at eye level
• Keep your books straight up and down or horizontal
• Never stack anything on top of book rows

Apartment Therapy

Apartment Therapy

 4.) The Obnoxiously Colourful Bookshelf
This isn't my style but I think it would appeal to a lot of people! This bookshelf utilizes horizontal and vertical placement more successfully than #2. Real Simple's advice:"borrow a trick from interior designers: inside a bookcase, use paint that's a couple shades darker than the room colour" or "style a bookcase with unexpected items, like an eye-catching anqitue or a porcelain statue".

Real Simple

5.) The Themed Object Bookshelf
This bookshelf works like clockwork! Try using a themed object to tie the shelf together. I particularly enjoy the combination of old and new. You could tailor the type of object to your personal style; for example, I would use a variety of horse shoes!
 

Real Simple

6.) The Organized Bookshelf
Sadly, this pin had no origin so I can't give anyone credit for it! If you've seen this picture on a blog somewhere in cyberspace please let me know.... I want to congratulate them! The level of organization is phenomenal. I LOVE the way they have their magazines in baskets because magazines always seem to look ratty and junky!The books are really well organized too and there isn't a single "accent" piece to be seen! Bravo!

7.) The Chromatic Bookshelf
Possibly the most difficult style of organization to pull off, Jacqueline Clair's chromatic bookshelf is pure colour perfection. She makes the mix of books and objects on a simple Ikea-style bookshelf look effortless!

8.) The Modern Bookshelf
Sabreen & Terrence Madden live in a modern loft in Chicago. Their books live on a massive, custom-made industrial sheving unit from North Carolina and are decorated with cool prints, a big M and horse bookends (I want some!). Unlike most shelves on this list I actually believe these books get read! They have objects on the shelves while still managing to have an impressive number of books. All directly accross from where they eat... nice view!

UPDATE: We instragrammed some of our work-in-progress bookshelves... an attempt at chromatic organization and object placement. Instagram us your bookshelf @writersthriftersanddrifters

The Proof is in the Pee.

On Wednesday morning, a man I don't know is going to shove a tiny camera up my vag.

No, I'm not entering the world of amateur pornography or meeting up with a blind date for a kinky hookup.  I'm going for a cystoscopy.

It's not something I thought I would have to worry about for at least another 10 years.  At 24, I am reasonably healthy and the idea my body might already be turning against me is almost too much to process.

I can't sweep it under the rug any longer: the tests repeatedly show abnormalities and--pardon my coarseness-- but the proof is in the pee.  It took me a long time to realize that the following schedule was not normal: not normal for me, not normal for anyone.  Pee break after breakfast.  15-minute walk to campus.  Pee break.  Start class.  Twenty minutes in, pee break.  Half-time break, pee break.  Finish class: pee break.  Walk home, pee again.  My bladder's been working harder than a poodle at the park trying to claim every tree, stump, and bush as his own.

from nikkisblog.files.wordpress.com

It started a year ago, when my doctor called to say there was blood in my urine sample.  I had waited anxiously for the results to come in, working myself up into a full-on freak-out. What if it was cancer?  Infertility? I stood in the driveway, tears streaming down my face, confronted for the first time with the possibility that I might not be able to conceive.  I had never known how much it meant to me until it was potentially taken away.  I waited and waited in ignorance, imagining scenarios, each one worse than the next, but the call never came.  It had taken so long for the results to come in that I had already packed my bags and moved to another province by the time the doctor and I finally spoke.

Map by: Julia Bolchakova on theydrawandtravel.com

"I'm out of town for awhile," I said.  "Do I need to come in?"  She said it was nothing that couldn't wait.

So I relaxed, assuming it was no big deal.  

Fast forward over a year, and now suddenly, it's important enough that I have to see a specialist and he literally has to send a camera up my urethra into my bladder to scope it out.  

I'm petrified to even step foot in the hospital, let alone know what the results will be.  I'll be devastated if I find out that having gone sooner could have ameliorated the situation.  I'm afraid of the pain; Wikipedia says it's "excruciating".  

But I've made up my mind to be cool about it, as best I can.  It'll be like being an extra on Grey's Anatomy, maybe.  I'm grateful for my mom and boyfriend who'll be going with me.  

And it'll be nice to get back to a normal pee schedule.

Anyway, gotta book it.  (Time to go breathe into a paper bag)

From babyboomeradvisorclub.com

--Jem

Lest We Forget--with help from our literary friends

“In Flanders Fields the poppies grow / between the crosses row on row / that mark our place…”

I remember hearing this poem, year after year on November 11^th, usually during a school assembly of some kind: but it never meant much to me. Naturally, English-major-me appreciated how lovely the words flowed line after line, but grade-school-me was totally oblivious to the tragedy and the history, having been lucky enough to live in a world where war was always somebody else’s problem.

But so many years later, the meaning is finally starting to resonate with me. Not because I have since lived through some terrible tragedy, but because of the increased exposure to the history of war that I owe to my education. And in true WTD fashion, the most effective way to yield an appreciation for those who fought, lived and died for their nation, is to read about it. I thought I would share a couple of the best World War One novels that I have read, which have pushed me a little further on the path of “getting it”.

 I feel as though I need to clarify: I indicated above World War One novels. Nowadays, Remembrance Day honours those who fought in both World Wars, and rightfully so. But there is something different about the First World War that I don’t think everybody realizes. This was not the technologically advanced, united-against-one-totalitarian-regime deal of 1939. The men in World War One fought in the trenches—literally—and the threat of death from war lived alongside the equal yet less immediate threat of dying from poor hygiene, sharing disease and the overall disgusting conditions of spending months in giant dirt pits. But better the mud holes than “no man’s land”: a no-holds-barred plain where only the quickest shot and fastest reflexes survived.

This brings me to my first recommendation: Generals Die in Bed by Charles Yale Harrison. Controversy surrounds the novel about whether or not Harrison is depicting his own experiences from the war, but I honestly don’t think the matter of fiction or non-fiction makes a difference when compared to the undeniable fact that while the book’s events may not have happened to Harrison himself, they happened to someone. Maybe my ancestor; maybe yours. But somebody underwent the horrors Harrison describes in his short but dense novel. Arguably the most captivating part of the work is the time dedicated to describing the conditions of trench warfare; Harrison includes meticulous details like the narrator’s inability to sleep on account of feeling fleas crawling up and down his skin, over and under his military garb. Not the most pleasant picture, but one that brings the reader into the trenches, feeling those creepy-crawlers in a realization of what “war” means that was never so apparent.  While I read this book over 2 years ago, I still recall vividly the most affective scene in the novel, where the narrator describes a young soldier, barely a man, trying to gather the strength to retrieve his bayonet from the stomach of an enemy. The youth is unable to do so with ease, and Harrison goes on for about a page about the various maneuvers attempted, all while the enemy soldier’s insides spill from him as he watches his opponent struggle, life slowly leaving him. The terrifying, but oh so real moments like these make Harrison’s novel a great tribute to WWI, one that opens the curtain to reveal the truth behind national propaganda.

I also sing the praises of Joseph Boyden’s first novel, Three Day Road, which tells the story of two Native American friends who enlist in the Canadian forces, and the traumas they undergo as they attempt to stay alive. While Boyden’s novel lacks the atmospheric detail of Generals, it delves into the soldier’s interior, and the psychological affect war can have on those closest to it. The main character, Xavier, watches as his longtime friend Elijah slowly loses his humanity in the thick of battle, becoming a savage killing machine who Xavier barely recognizes by the end of the book. Xavier himself undergoes an irreversible trauma—losing a limb—and the parts of the novel written through X’s perspective provide insight into the pain and struggle that continues for soldiers, even after the war has ended.

It is important to note that both of these novels are Canadian, about the experience of Canadians in World War One. Canada has never been credited with military strength, and we certainly never received the hero’s welcome that America did upon their entrance into WWII. But that doesn’t mean we never deserved it, and WWI was our military’s shining time, especially during battles like Vimy Ridge, where Canadian troops did “save the day”. On this November 11^th, remember that that World War One is called the Great War for a reason, and it is not to be overlooked.

Did you pause for a moment of silence today?

Bookin’ it,

JEM     

How author Jeanette Walls inspired me with words

I heard Jeanette Walls speak at a literary event recently and it changed my perspective on life. I’m not trying to be grand but it really did. Not only because she spoke so honestly and earnestly about her past without a trace of bitterness but also because she spoke about the future and about what we can do with our lives. She firmly believes that everyone has a story worth telling. She advised us to use the bad things, our demons, and to turn them into something good. She inspired me to put my past into writing and take ownership over what I’ve gone through. I’ve honestly never met anyone like her; she is unbelievably genuine. During the event she told the audience that we could change our lives if we “stopped treating people like potential enemies and started treating everyone a potential friend”. Normally I’d cringe that sort of overly optimistic thinking and call it naïve. But she meant it. 

"Horses are a mirror of who you are.

I came to horses late ~ I was 42  ~ and they’ve taught me to trust myself and to take charge."

- Jeannette Walls

Since the event I’ve been reading her latest book and googling her somewhat obsessively. I’m insanely jealous of Alex Witchel who was able to spend an afternoon interviewing Jeanette Walls at her home and who met Rose Mary, her infamous mother. But, then again, she works for the New York Times and I write for a blog that we don’t even pay for so I suppose fair is fair. Jeanette Walls has the exact life I want. She lives on a 205 acre horse farm in West Virginia with her husband in their, as Witchel puts it, “tastefully restored farmhouse [with] salvaged pine floors, soapstone counters [and] wood-burning fireplaces”. But, of course, Jeanette Walls didn’t always have a life I envy. 

Anyone who has read The Glass Castle knows that Jeanette Walls grew up in the Southern states with her loving, alcoholic father Rex and her unstable, “adventure addict”, artist mother Rose Mary, moving, or doing the ”skedaddle”, on a more than regular basis.  Jeanette’s closeness with her siblings is evident in her book; Jeanette, Brian, Lori and Maureen took care of each other more than their parents took care of them. Jeanette was asked about her siblings in the Q & A portion of the event and she responded that “Brian and Lori are doing very well and Maureen is in a safe, clean place and that’s all I can say.” She admitted that she’s been trying to convince Maureen to move in with her, her husband, her horses and her mom in Virginia. She has a wonderfully witty sense of humour and when she described trying to convince her mother to move in with her she said first asked her to let her take care of her. She said "of course Mom said no, and that she lived in the most exciting city in the world [New York] so why would she ever leave?" (Readers of The Glass Castle know that Rex and Rose Mary were homeless and squatters in NYC).  A few months later Jeanette called her mother and said "Mom, I could really use some help with the horses". Her mother was on the next flight. 

The Glass Castle begins with Jeanette being hospitalized as a three year old after her dress caught on fire when she was cooking herself hot dogs. Yes, at three years old she was already cooking for herself. This episode sets the precedent for a childhood where Jeanette and her siblings are given the tools by their parents but are responsible themselves. Jeanette writes about how she loved the hospital for its clean sheets and warm meals but her father couldn’t stand seeing her cooped up in an institution and so the first “skedaddle” of the novel occurs when he scoops her up and carries her out of there.  This essentially sets the stage for the novel; her father forces her to leave a warm, safe place and her mother, upon her arrival home, commends her for getting right back in the saddle and making herself some more hot dogs.

Interestingly, in the comments section of the New York Times article there are many negative comments and people questioning the truth behind the memoir. (Thanks for that, James Frey.) Funnily enough, Jeanette jokingly admitted to obsessively reading Amazon reviews of her books online.  To be honest I had my own questions about the validity of the book when I first read it, too. I never thought she was lying, per se, but I just didn’t understand how it could possibly be true. The book is so raw and so real but at the same time so comical and light hearted. I didn’t know a story could possibly be both and be true. I found myself laughing out loud at the pure ridiculousness of three kids and an infant baby zooming down the highway in the back of an open UHaul with a horrified stranger trying desperately to get their parent’s attention. I giggled when Jeanette went flying out of their car and gets dumped on the side of the highway and no one notices her missing for miles. These aren't things I would normally laugh at but Jeanette's writing style tells the reader its okay to laugh.
  
It wasn’t until I read Witchel’s article that I understood how true the story really is. It was Witchel’s discussion with Rose Mary that cements The Glass Castle in truth and validates that this family really existed and still exists to this day. Jeanette brought Witchel to Rose Mary’s cottage on her Virginia property. Upon their arrival Rose Mary made excuses for her messy cottage and admits “I’m in the process of getting straightened out” she said. “I’m a natural-born collector, a lot of artists are. Picasso died in a 23-room castle. He went regularly to the dump, a man after my own soul.” Those words, that sentence, could have been a line straight out of The Glass Castle. The way Rose Mary at once shows her intelligence and her egocentricity, her awareness of her living space but her refusal to take ownership for it or feel any embarrassment reveals how perfectly Jeanette captures her mother’s voice in The Glass Castle. 

After the event, I stood in line waiting to get my book signed for two hours. And I was near the front of the line. I felt like a twelve and a half year old waiting in line for Justin Bieber. Who waits for two hours? Well, I did. After the talk, I had to meet her. However, Jeanette wanted to meet, talk and take photos with everyone so it took quite a while. When she signed my well-read copy of The Glass Castle and my brand new copy of Half Broke Horses she said to me with a smile “I’m going to write “push and pray” in here, it was grandma’s favourite saying”.  She was just as sweet and funny as she was on stage and I have to say; she really did treat me,  and everyone in that line, like a potential friend.    

PS: The Glass Castle and Half Broke Horses  and The Silver Star are all on sale at Chapters right now!

PPS: I highly recommened checking out the NY Times article in full: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/magazine/how-jeannette-walls-spins-good-stories-out-of-bad-memories.html?_r=0 

Gotta book it!

xox

-Jem 

Google doodles and comic books

Thank goodness for Google.
If it weren't for them, I wouldn't have seen today's Doodle, stopped everything that I was doing (cough applying for real jobs, of which there are very few cough) in order to write this post.
Marvelous Google is celebrating Hermann Rorschach's birthday by displaying an interactive Doodle that allows users to share what they see in their very own ink-blot test!  How cool is that?  Cooler still, Google and Wikipedia wanted me to know right away that yes, Rorschach does look remarkably like Brad Pitt!

From TotallyLooksLike.com

Anyway, I'm fiddling with the ink blot test and I'm seeing whales, and kissing women, and stingrays and then a face-- which immediately called to mind one of my most favouritest books of all time: Alan Moore's Watchmen.  If you haven't read this masterpiece of wordcraft and artistry, STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND READ IT THIS INSTANT.  I mean it.  Drop your pens, turn off your thingamabobs, put your toddlers in their kennels (or whatever cushy cages children live in??) and RUN to your local used bookstore, your closest library, the nearest Chapter's, or at very least the closest Wifi signal that can get you to BookDepository.

Watchmen was the first graphic novel I ever read.  For those who have never trespassed into the genre before, Watchmen is a great place to start.  Part comic book, part novel and part scrapbook, Watchmen is less about the pictures and more about the words.  You aren’t able to settle into the pictures-in-boxes format before the writers throw in a few full pages worth of text; an “excerpt” from an essay, or a police records file.  So for a literature major who was expecting a worn out superhero-shtick, I was pleasantly surprised. 

From Fanpop.com

But it’s an even better book for comic book junkies to get a taste of classic literature.  Watchmen includes passages from Shelley and Blake’s poetry, and quotations by Nietzsche, Jung and Einstein.  It also is one of Time Magazine’s 100 best novels: evidence, I think, that graphic novels are becoming a more appreciated and recognized form of literature than they have been in the past.

From DCComics.com

            What’s really impressive about Watchmen is that it is incredibly introspective.  It actually analyzes the superhero formula, and pulls itself far away from the expected.  As if Superman ever sat down to think about why he wears blue tights.  You’ll still see classic art and costumes, but what I preferred was the frank exposing of the underground superhero, the retired superhero, and, the non-super hero: everyday people who become vigilantes, à la Batman.  And for those of you who need a dose of cliché, there’s even a hilarious Star Wars-esque moment of “I am your father”, followed by the hilariously drawn out “Nooooooooooo!”

Writer Alan Moore, photo from Wired.com

            It’s a well rounded philosophical action-drama that never once gets dull and makes you use your brain in new ways.  But be warned: start with the book, not with the film.

Gotta book it!

xox

-Jem