What do you do with those large, plastic zipper bags?

When you bring home new linens or that new bedspread that you just can't live without, what do you do with those plastic zipper bags? Do you save them and reuse them or throw them out with the sale labels?

For the past several years I've been saving them. AND they have been gathering dust, until recently! Shoot, I almost forgot I had them.

My church started a new ministry this year and we have storage needs involved. As I was shuffling and re-shuffling items from shopping bag to shopping bag in my large, but apparently not large enough, closet, it suddenly occurred to me that I had an untapped reserve of storage goodies tucked away on a shelf. Just when I was planning to head out to the store and invest in some lidded, plastic storage containers recycling hits me in the head - literally. (In the process of reaching up to my secret stash I knocked a box off the top shelf. Good thing it was just my wedding gown!)

Hidden treasure is wonderful! Some of these bags shape into large cubes; perfect for stacking. Several others come with carrying straps; fantastic for those bags that need to be toted about regularly. There are even some smaller ones to allow splitting of tiny items. Hehehe...I'm in clutter busting heaven!


Other things these delightful bags would be good for:

• Camping - pack the supplies you need to keep dry in these bags and dare water to wet them!

• Toy storage - great for those seasonal toys or that over abundance of stuffed animals

• Seasonal clothing - the handled bags would work well here. Pack up those sweaters and store them away without worrying about dampness or moths.

• Gym bag - why pay $50 for a gym bag when you can recycle one for free?

• Yarn tote - these are clear so you can always find the needles and scissors you need!

• Overnight travel bags - why get out that massive suitcase for an overnight trip?

Okay, your turn! Get out that imagination and dust it off...

Thought for the day

We had Chinese last night, which is highly unusual for us these days, given the economy. But, we do splurge occasionally and boy was it worth it!

This was in one of the fortune cookies -

Knowledge and not doing are equal to not knowing at all.

Amen! Don't you just love fortune cookies????

What's up in homeschool

I thought we'd share some things we've been working on in homeschool this year.For those of you that don't know, this is our first year at it and my son is in the 7th grade. In addition to the regular math, science and social studies program it became a priority to place bible study, art and home economics in the mix.

Bible study is the first class everyday because he needs to learn to place God first in all things. This was a fantastic idea and truly sets the tone for each day. We mix some Veggie Tales in with his regular lessons - yes, he's 12 and still loves Veggie Tales. There are two added bonuses here; I love Veggie Tales and I can quiz him on the actual reading versus the sweetened kids version.

Art is one of his favorite subjects. He has one of the most imaginative minds of anyone I know and I'd like to keep it that way. Conventional school tends to beat this out of a child in order to better mold them into the cookie cutter design, then teachers can't figure out why you have no creativity in high school when writing papers....duh! He is also a Boy Scout so we integrated some of the scout badge requirements into things he'd learn this year and killed two birds with

one stone - poor birds!

This is the cheap pottery wheel we threw a bowl on. Not bad for his first try!

Home Economics is a given in my book. These are things he needs to learn anyway - how to sew on a button, cook a tasty meal, run a household on a budget, etc... and I want him to be completely prepared to take on the world when he leaves the nest. He likes to question everything I do in the kitchen and I am bad for taking on everything myself. Including this into his learning schedule has allowed me to take myself out of the picture and let the teacher take over. I've also found that if he helps plan the meal he explores more options. Something happened from ages 4 to 5 that took him from eating almost purely vegetables to eating mostly meat and potatoes. When he selects the meal he chooses items he would snarl at otherwise!

Here's a crystal growing project for science. They grew everywhere but where we wanted! -

Some geodes we cracked open (some cracked better than others) -