Why Didn't Anyone Tell Me?!

How come nobody told me my favorite magazine was packing it in? In particular, why didn't the publishers let their subscribers know?

http://www.readymade.com/blog/readymade/2011/06/16/farewell_readymakers

Gimme a hand (me down)!

We are in full-on hand-me-down mode here in "Madridia".

After Irene hit the area, we lost power for nearly 4 days, and I knew I'd have to do some serious cleaning around here before the kiddos could come back in--mainly in the bathrooms and kitchen. Everything in the fridge was thrown away, and because we use well water, we were not able to flush our toilets.

All that "Belated Spring Cleaning" motivation quickly spilled into the girls' bedrooms, and specifically, the closets. I took the opportunity to sift through A's outgrown clothes and package them up into different bins for V.

Take a look--each bin is for a different size, so that as she grows out of a size, I can simply dump the older (gently worn) clothes into the white basket, and take clothes out from the next bin. Finally--I have a system! And what's nicer is that V is set up for Fall--I know what she has already and what she needs (which is just about nothing). She has all sorts of warm, wooly footie pj's and a bin full of different shoes, long sleeved shorts, jackets, fleece pants and even a few sets of scarves and hats.

Then I looked through V's clothes, and all the items that were out of season or were too small got packaged up for the second hand store and Goodwill, along with her baby swing, Bumbo and a few other pieces of baby gear.

So yesterday A and I stopped in to the second hand store and dropped off a few bins for them to look through. The little one was so fascinated by all the tricycles, strollers and play yards they had outside for purchase. Inside, it was wall-to-wall clothes and toys. They had us sign in and leave out bins and then A and I ran a few more errands. After an hour, we returned and the store had selected a number of items to purchase and cut us a check on the spot. We took our bins, and the items they didn't purchase back with us, and will drop them at Goodwill another day.

Now, I'd love to be able to say that we made money on this whole Irene business, but sadly, no. Because of the electrical surges we've experienced throughout this whole ordeal, our range hood is now on the fritz--the exhaust fan won't shut off. But at least we won't have to pay to have it fixed completely out of pocket, right?

Why didn't I think of that sooner?

The other night, we grilled kabobs, and I had the brilliant idea to use some leftover tabbouli to dress the grilled veggies as they came off the grill.

This was a stroke of genius -- SO good!

Making Happiness Happen

I read an article that a friend posted to Facebook that really got me thinking and inspired me. (You can find it here.)

My take away from the article included a few simple ideas:

1. We are in charge of our happiness and we can choose to be happier people. 

2. Building a life out of quality relationships and life experiences can make your life richer than working crazy hours at your job.

3. Accumulating more "stuff" in our lives truly doesn't make us more happy. There will always be more "stuff" to buy, so maybe it makes more sense to simply appreciate what you've already got and refurbish when possible.

So, what the heck does all this have to do with crafting?!? In a word, simplification. I have a need to make things in my life more streamlined and and more simple.

To support this idea, I decided to try my hand at refashioning this weekend. I figured it would be a refurbish on something I already own, so I'm not buying anything new or throwing anything away--It's cost neutral, yet if all goes well, I'll have something else to wear in my closet. It's also something I could do inside since it's so dang hot out, and a cool, breezy dress will be just what the doctor ordered once I do need to head out to run errands on the weekend.

This time last year, while I was happily pregnant, I purchased a few items of clothing that were incredibly comfortable. In this batch of clothing that -- thankfully -- is now too roomy in the belly, I had two sundresses that I'd love to be able to put to use this summer. My idea was to blend something like this dress:

with this:

I wanted to better define a waistline and make the dress appropriate for my non-maternity self. So here's what I did:

I turned the outfit inside out and measured the length of elastic that was already sewn into the dress below the bustline. I then cut a few pieces of 1/4" elastic at the same length and pinned it into the dress about 1 1/4" below the original elastic.

Then, pulling the elastic taut as I sewed, I ran a zigzag stitch along the length of the elastic.

I did this twice more on the front and the back, each row about 1 1/4" below the previous row.

Now, I've got to get working on the other dress! I'll show you the end results in the next post.

Bathroom Update, Part 2

We are well on the way to having a functional guest bathroom again! And to be honest, I think it's a reasonable facsimile to what I had envisioned!

Just a little touching up here and there, but we can do that another weekend. I think the color on the cabinet is MUCH better than that lighter color.

This third photo shows the truest color compared to what I painted. It's a really cheery bathroom now, and looks like a fun place to take a tub for the girls! A helped me pick out a new shower curtain, and we also picked up some towels and new bathmats on sale this weekend. The mirror that we picked up this weekend will probably go in either tonight or tomorrow.

Many thanks to my dear husband for helping me with all the taping and for watching the girls while I painted!

Bathroom Update, Part 1

Am I insane for planning to go to the hardware store, the paint store AND Ikea this holiday weekend?

I want to be sure to have the bathroom done by the time our out-of-town guest arrives at the end of next week.

Through the Looking Glass, Part 2

So I think I've got a plan. 

We've gotta keep it inexpensive for now, so we'll paint the walls and the cabinet. This weekend, I'll pick up a plain mirror at Ikea, and if they have an interesting simple shelf to put below it, I might do that.

While I'd love to be able to switch out the light fixture and the countertop (and the cabinet for that matter), it's just not in the cards for now.

And I managed to pick a wall color that didn't make my husband nauseous. Check it out:

...ahhhhhh.