You have tried for years to get your husband and children to wear the wool sweaters that grandma keeps buying them. With each failure you place another sweater in a box hoping that the moths won’t eat them, or maybe hoping that they will. This year try a different approach. Get out the box of sweaters and cut them into twelve inch squares. Use the squares to make a warm winter blanket. After you have sewn the squares together add the batting and sew on a nice cotton back. No one will miss the yearly sweater fight but someone might thank you for the warm blanket.
The Old Ladder
In the back of the attic behind some boxes you find the old wooden ladder that your husband used to use around the house. Instead of leaving it to take up space in the attic move it outside and try one of these suggestions.
Take it apart and use only the stepping side. Lean it up against the side of your house or a tree in the garden. Take small window boxes and put plants in them. Place one box on each step and enjoy the beauty.
Or, in the corner of your deck set it up like it goes. Find a wind chime and hang it from the center. Plant a climbing, flowering vine in a few different size terracotta pots and set them around the base of the ladder. Enjoy as you watch the vine take over.
Bring the ladder inside. Again take it apart but this time use the opposite side. You are going to hang it from the ceiling and hang pots, plants, lights or anything else you can think of from it. Cut it to fit the ceiling you are hanging it from. Paint it to match the room. Hang your favorite decorative pieces from it.
The Kids Old Wagon
The kids are all grown and you have been hanging on to this wagon in hopes of pulling your grandkids in it. Face the facts. You live in Maryland and the grandkids live in Texas. By the time you get to see them they will be pushing you in a wheelchair. So you might as well put that wagon to use. Take it out of the shed and place it near the driveway or even the front door. Plant some easy to care for flowers; pansies, seedum, marigolds, or any other easy to grow container plant. Take a piece of slate and paint a pretty welcome message on it and place the slate in the middle of the wagon. Let the neighbors enjoy.