Crafty Secret Santa Present

For the last two years the English Speakers of Karlsruhe or ESoK have done a Secret Santa party. It's nice to get together with as many of us as can make it once a year and share a bit of Christmas cheer. This year I was given the name of a fellow crafter and sewer so I decided to use a fabric remnant that I was given in Paris to make a fancy pin cushion jar for her. It ended up being a pin cushion on steroids though because I couldn't get a Mason jar in Germany and so I had to use a different kind. And because I made the poof too big. Because who doesn't like an oversized poof, right?? Whatever.

This it the final result:

It's really quite easy and all you need is the following:

• fabric remnant that is at least an inch bigger in diameter  than the lid you are covering
• a Mason jar, or in my case whatever jar is available
• cotton balls or cotton wool
• scissors
• a hot glue gun with at least one stick of glue
• a pen

First you lay out the fabric wrong side up and center the top on it with wrong side up and trace a circle around it like this:

Then you cut out the circle. Once the circle is cut out, you start gluing the edge of the fabric to the edge of the top leaving a hole of about 1 inch, like this:

Then you push the cotton balls into the hole until you have a sufficient amount in their to make a functional pin cushion. It should look like this:

Then you glue it the rest of the way shut. If you, like me, do not have access to a Mason Jar, then you glue this pin cushion directly to the top of another jar.

If you are one of the lucky ones and do have a Mason jar, then you should follow this tutorial, as I did, from this point onward. http://www.momtastic.com/diy/168161-diy-mason-jar-sewing-kit/

Since I was making a Secret Santa gift, I filled the jar with sewing notions and decorated it with a ribbon. Ta da! Homemade, thoughtful, Secret Santa gift that took about 30 minutes to make and all with things I had on hand. :)

Musing about Happiness

I've lived in Karlsruhe, Germany now for 9 years. That's only two years shy of being a third of my life! So granted I've had a lot of time to adjust. I've learned the language. I've integrated. I feel more at home here sometimes than I do when I go 'home' to America.

But during the last year I've been confronted with people who actively hate living here. They hate the language, they hate what they perceive as the rudeness of the people, they hate the weather, they hate the opening times of the shops. Actually they hate everything that isn't exactly the same as wherever they came from. As if it is an afront to themselves that how dare Germany be different. They don't enjoy the differences and the quirks but rather resent them.

And yes, I've done my fair share of whining about crotchety old ladies giving me parenting advice, or the stores being closed when I really need to buy something. But crotchety old ladies are the same everywhere. We are just more likely to write off their eccentricity when it's our own culture. Whereas in a different culture they come to represent the population. And the store times are posted. It's my fault if I don't take note and plan ahead.

It baffles me how a 'place' can make people so dissatisfied with their lives and so unhappy. It's just buildings, culture, and weather. However, I've come to the conclusion that they are not unhappy with the 'place' but the circumstances of their lives. And unfortunately the circumstances of one's life are things that don't change with geography. The circumstances of one's life are things that come from within in my opinion. If you are happy with your life and yourself, you can be happy almost anywhere.

Maybe the question is what makes people happy. Internal things or external things. For me the question of happiness is answered internally and not externally. Is this because I am an introvert and not an extrovert? I am happy with myself so I am happy? Do extroverts have more trouble being happy if they are unhappy with their surroundings? I try to understand but I have trouble thinking that the grass will be greener when these people move elsewhere. I hope they will but I don't think so.