Family Summer Visit Pt. 2

The weekend ended up being all about recycling. On Saturday we took a family field trip and walked to see my hairstylist Jen at Ohm Salon. Donny, Kim and my Mom all got haircuts, except my Mom’s cut was the most renegade. She chopped off 10 inches of her hair and donated it to Pantene beautiful lengths. I did the same thing in ’06 and donated to Locks of Love. I’ve had a bet going with my Mom since then that she wouldn’t be able to grow it out. She lasted pretty long, over a year and a half, but it was time to get rid of it and go back to the short ‘do.

Earlier today we went over to the Flea Market at Fairfax Highschool. I ended up buying a nice mid-century vintage bench. I also got a few handkerchiefs, which I’ve decided are my new favorite thing. In my family we are plagued with allergies and asthma, so I go through a lot of tissues. Somehow handkerchiefs don’t feel too girly or old world, especially if you get the ones that are just all white silk, no lace. I just talked some of my colleagues off the ledge about using handkerchiefs. Both of their initial response was “Ew!” But after some discussion we all admitted to having carried used tissues in our bags or reused old tissues, which basically means handkerchiefs are not that gross. After having used handkerchiefs solely for a few days, I think I prefer them over tissues anyway. They are quite soft and it was an easy swap that reduces my tissue use immensely. I am going to call my grandmother and see if she will send me the handkerchiefs my grandfather used. It will be a nice memory to use his old ones and it’s just another way of recycling.

Oh – and handkerchiefs shouldn’t really go in the dryer. If you buy vintage fabrics they can be delicate and best dried flat or outside on a clothes line. We have had some trouble finding the best place for our clothes line. We first tried putting up a make-shift line on our roof with wood planks stuck in concrete weighted buckets. We ended up using the small outdoor space between the side of our building and the neighbor’s fence. It has worked out quite well, though Donny was apprehensive off the bat. We have come up with a good system where we put wet clothes on the line and after a few hours in the sun we throw the clothes in the dryer for 10 minutes. It doesn’t use as much energy as if we put them in for the whole hour, plus they soften up for that last shot of direct heat.