To use today’s vernacular for hand-me-downs or worthless-pieces-of-crap, I am a lover of ‘repurposing’. It’s the new buzz word in the Home & Garden sector. Repurpose. For example; say you broke your favorite coffee mug or ceramic plate or vase or grandfather’s whiskey jug or, okay you get the picture. Instead of throwing the broken pieces out, you pick up the pieces, carefully of course, put them in a box and wait for a nice outdoor kind of day and you can make a concrete stepping stone, placing the broken pieces in the wet concrete. And just think, you’ll have two more memories to add to your tale of your favorite plate you bought in Nova Scotia on your honeymoon; 1) The day you broke that mug and how you felt standing over the broken pieces of your treasured item. That’s one more tale to add to your favorite stories repertoire. 2) You can share your experience of making the stepping stone for your garden with sunflowers and dahlias and a freakish looking gnome. You can have all that from being clumsy. Plus, you’ll have a stepping stone that is home to your memories.
I have been ‘repurposing’ all my life. I just didn’t call it that. I am the self-proclaimed ‘Queen of Spray Paint’. I will spray paint anything. Tired of that 1990 blonde oak picture frame? Spray it. Just a couple of rules to remember; not inside, make sure it’s not real windy and put some old newspaper under the item. Then spray away. I have footstools, patio chairs, frames, bookcases , you name it, that have been multiple colors over the years. I tye-dye dingy white t-shirts. I have even done it for other people. Just because a still in good condition t-shirt – or skivvy shirt as my dad used to call them, has a little wine stain on the front. Tye-dye it. It’s not that hard. I mean hippies did it in the ’60s, what does that tell you?
So with my lifetime of repurposing, imagine my surprise when a very good friend of mine and his cousin ( they know who they are) were embarrassed in a restaurant, in San Francisco, on the wharf, when I pulled out my eyeglass case. I, at the time, was using a white sock. Seriously. First off, it was not big and bulky. Secondly, it was white – easy to find in a backpack or purse where the insides are black, same color as the regulation style eyeglass case the optometrist gives with your new prescription. It was an only-sock, it’s other half disappeared, The washer ate it, I guess. My dining companions actually tried to act as if they weren’t with me – I was at the same table. Needless to say I am not the only person who has ended up with one sock out of a pair. What do you do with one sock? Use them in different ways. And this day the wayward sock was an eyeglass case. Just to be sure my idea was not as whacky as the two at my table made it out to be, I asked the guests at the neighboring table what they thought of my idea. They gave me a thumbs up. That’s how I remember it. But the only-sock doesn’t have to be just an eyeglass case. I have used the not so good ones for dust rags – and I feel okay just throwing out the not so good sock after it’s been used because it served another purpose. It was repurposed. I even made a friend a fancy only-sock eyeglass case with a decorative ribbon. But it’s okay to go just-plain-Jane. I have a few examples of plain Jane repurposed socks. But as the trend catches on you will see more and more fancy only-socks making their appearances everywhere; the Red Carpet, at airports and theaters near you.