In my attempt to de-clutter and organize I have been getting rid of lots and lots of books. Many of them are books that I like but certainly don’t need.

Under that category was my prized copy of Rosey Grier’s Needlepoint for Men. I remember the day I found Rosey in a thrift store for $2. I couldn’t believe my eyes. A football player who needlepointed in 1973? And he wrote a book about it? How could this be? And how did I not already know about this amazing book?

“One of the mystical cornerstones of Extreme Craft is the existence of the book,” is what the guy from Extreme Craft said about Rosey Grier’s Needlepoint for Men. And he had a really hard time finding a copy, so the fact that I had one was even more exciting.

And even better than that, mine was autographed. Mr. Extreme Craft couldn’t claim that. It said:
John, Don’t retire but take it easy you could even needlepoint you won’t be called a sissie Doc Do. Rosy Grier

Whatver “Doc Do” means.

You can see more pictures from this incredible book in one of Extreme Craft’s Flickr sets.

But sadly the book no longer belongs to me. I don’t needlepoint and will never use the patterns, and as much as I love having the book on my shelf I would rather it be in the hands of a needlepointer. So yesterday I reluctantly put it up for sale on Etsy for what I thought was a fairly ridiculous price. I wanted to be sure that whoever bought it really wanted it and would love it.

I figured at the price I set it at it would be ages before it sold, if it sold at all. But nope. I woke up this morning to find out that someone in Australia has snapped it up.

I hope you like your new home, Rosey. I will miss you.

UPDATE: The person who bought the book (who is in Melbourne, Australia, by the way) received it and loves it. So that makes me very happy. :)

My photo of a car accident that happened right below my balcony is on the front page of Gapers Block today. Yippee!

I developed this little recipe out of necessity. It was winter. I had dry skin. And I couldn’t afford to buy any of the pricey ginger salt scrub that I had grown so fond of.

So I decided to make my own with ingredients I already had on hand. And since I don’t know anything about making bath and body products I decided to keep it simple: oil + salt. I used to add a little lavender essential oil, but I don’t bother with it any more because I think the baby oil has a nice scent of its own. I also used to use coarse sea salt, but I actually like the cheap table salt better. It’s not as harsh and seems to do a better job of scrubbing my skin.

Ingredients:
4 pound box of table salt ($1.09 at my local grocery store)
12 oz. bottle of baby oil ($1 at the dollar store)

Pour about 2/3 to 3/4 of the box of salt into a big bowl.
Pour the entire bottle of baby oil on top of salt.
Mix with your hands.

It should look a little like snow when you’re finished. If it’s too soupy you can add more salt.

This recipe will make a lot of salt scrub — enough to last you the whole winter. It’s especially nice on feet.

I like to rub it into my skin before getting into the shower, but you can do it however you like. Just be careful because it will make the tub slippery.

I also found that it’s great for getting your hands clean after working with oil-based paints and inks.

I’m telling you, it’s amazing stuff!