Reuse: old shoes; and surviving the big Portland snowstorm of 2008

Although the majority of the snow and ice has melted, it's hard to forget how it controlled our lives for the last few weeks of 2008. The snow made me do some crazy-ass stuff. I put bread-bags on my feet prior to putting on my shoes! I don't think I've done that since I was a kid growing up in the snowy Midwest! I don't really even remember why we did it. Was it to more easily slide on a boot that I'd pretty much outgrown? (If so, Cinderella's stepsisters should have tried this tactic if they really wanted to bag that prince). Was it to keep the feet warmer? Drier? In any case, it did keep my feet fairly warm and dry. But if you listened carefully, you could hear a little crinkle-crinkle-crunch with every step I took.

I also trekked to the nearest grocery store (a lovely little food cooperative) on foot, then strapped my reuseable bags onto a sled and dragged them home. Uphill. Both ways!! Barefoot. 10 miles!!! In a blizzard. (We don't get to use this ploy often, so I've got to make it good.) I felt like the Greenlanders in Hungry Planet who routinely bring home their food on dogsleds. Mush! Mush!

We also had such an abundance of time that we rolled each of my girls' hair in rags to make it curly (eat your heart out Nellie Olsen!). I used to do this when I was a kid. We did rags with my 4 year old, and socks with my 6 year old (who has thicker, longer hair). I always preferred socks myself, and it still works like a charm.

Since we were pretty much stranded on our snowy hill, we had to be more creative with reuse. When it was discovered that the insoles from my husband's old hiking boots were disintigrating, he asked if we had any extra insoles laying around. Like odor-eaters. (Are you kidding, me?) No chance. But I remembered that we had a bag of athletic shoes needing to go to the shoe recycling dropoff still hanging around. Out with the old insole. In with the new (er, newer old) insole. Voila. Good as new.