Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Lunch - a gateway crafting drug

I bought the coolest lunchbox for Caitlin in August. You've seen it's contents, and recently I figured out how to display text for the contents when you mouse over the picture (Go on, try it!). It's the bento box system from Laptop Lunches that I found in a link from Valerie to Vegan Lunch Box, who had fabulous pictures of what her son was eating for lunch. In August, knowing that school was coming up, I looked up the lunchbox again and decided to buy it. Considering that we recycle and compost, why should I add to the waste stream by sending Caitlin with disposable lunch items? Sixty seven pounds of trash per child per year is nothing to sneeze at!

The lunch box led to napkin making.

The napkin making led to curtain sewing. Which turned into a dead end, thankfully. Whew! Who knows where I might have stopped on my crusade to sew straight lines?! (In case you were wondering, I was already baking so the cookies, cakes and breads are not part of the latest crafting craze at Chez Hatchet.)

Sometime before school started, I had read about love notes for kids, tucked away in their lunchboxes. I thought this was the sweetest thing, so I started doing it on Caitlin's first day of school. Later that day she told me all about finding the note and really liked it. She still likes getting them and notices if I miss a day. She can usually tell you what it said at the end of the day, too. So each day, I've written her something sweet, which is very helpful considering that we often part so unhappily.

I was banging around on Vegan Lunch Box again today (Way too much reliance on nuts for me to make use of many of her ideas - Caitlin's allergic!) and noticed a link to free lunch notes, so I went and had a look. Yes, they're almost too sweet, but darn it! I like them! So I'm going to be adding a few in to her lunch. Do you have any idea how hard it is to come up with original lunchbox content 5 days a week?! Pretty tough! Besides, she'll probably like the drawings and will be able to read them easier than my handwriting - even my block printing can be tough to read when you're 5!

So there you have it.

Recycling > composting > unprocessed lunches > zippy lunchboxes > napkins > sappy love notes.

It's all a plot, I tell you! A plot to domesticate me! I won't have it!

So tell me: What's your dirty little crafting secret?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I sometimes feed my family.

I have been known to whip out an Umiak, or fix an irrigation pump. And I did just find an amazing recipe for homemade croissants.

Hey- can you tome down the word verification at the bottom- like maybe to only 5 letters? Right now I have rlimjahz, and I suspect they are getting longer.

Kate

Woman with a Hatchet said...

The word verification is completely random. Sorry about that! I can turn it off until the spambots find me, if you like.

Valerie said...

So far the bots haven't found me, though I don't list my blogs with blogger or wordpress. So that may help. But if you are trying for more of an audience then it's better to list them.

This entry looks familiar!

Anonymous said...

Not really a secret crafting thing, but bridal veil material is perfect for making little tiny chain link fences for the model train layout. Guys get really interesting looks going to bridal shops and asking for veil material.

- Danook

Woman with a Hatchet said...

Dan! I can just imagine you asking for veil material, too. Hah!

Ordinary fabric shops as well as places like Hobby Lobby or Michael's will also carry veil fabric. Possibly less funny looks there.

Possibly.

Squeakes, familiar how? Ooh...an audience?

Tessa said...

Actually, my mom used to send me with notes like that every day. She used to write them in marker on a napkin in my lunch box.

She also used to do things like dye my milk funky colors for holidays, etc. During the hexmas season I'd get alternating red and green milk, for instance. Since I wasn't allowed to have chocolate milk it made life a little more palatable.

Woman with a Hatchet said...

Tessa, that's cool! The notes AND the colored milk. If you still remember it now, there must be hope that Caitlin will remember it years from now.

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