A friend from college surprised me yesterday with a care package, sent from her home in California. She keeps up with me via Facebook, mostly, following my adventures in upcycling, and sent some odds and ends she figured I could put to good use – empty prescription bottles, quilt pieces, yarn. I love what she sent, (thank you, Lea!) but the way she addressed the box was the best part.

By coincidence, a friend here in Louisville messaged me this week, asking if I wanted about 30 empty mini Altoid tins (yes, please!). And since I began leading some of the Saturday workshops for children at Yew Dell Botanical Gardens, I’ve been saving empty milk jugs, jelly jars, and toilet paper rolls (the staples for almost any kid craft). I now have enough stuff to justify rearranging things in a closet or cabinets and establish my own little creative reuse center in our home.

I love that people think of me when they have things that could easily be given a second or third life. Yes, give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses of stuff yearning to be upcycled, the wretched refuse of your teeming closets. Please, send these otherwise homeless supplies to me!