tip for protests

I’m not an expert of protesting by any means, but here’s a thought.  If you’re standing on the side of the road holding a sign stating your reason for protest?  Write large and don’t wildly wave the sign around.  It does your cause no good if I can’t actually read what you’ve written.

Thatisall.

and now she has curtains. sorta.

Another step towards finishing Kat’s room.  Curtain rods!

I had a bit of a hard time finding exactly what I wanted.  It didn’t seem like I was asking for much… white, wooden, double rods, with the main rod having some girth, and finials that were pretty and yet simple (but not too simple!), and still substantial in size (I wanted them to stand out a good bit against the darker paint).  As it turns out, I’m lucky to find double rods at all locally, forget about white wooden ones fit for a little girl’s room.

So I stumbled upon the JCPenney website and found these on sale.  I had some issues with JCP customer service (rude responses, not answering my questions, etc)… but the rods finally arrived, in one piece and they’re perfect.  Yay!  (Still undecided as to whether I’ll shop JCP again.)

The curtains are Pottery Barn Kids chambray curtains that used to hang in Jag’s room a few years ago.  We’ve changed the colors of his room since then and they no longer matched, so I’d packed them away hoping to reuse them.  While they aren’t exactly what I wanted for Kat’s room, they’re close enough that I’m not going to bother spending money on something new.

As you can see, some of the panels are a lot shorter than others.  I bought 4 panels in all originally, but only ended up using 2 in Jag’s room.  I bought the extra long panels because they were on clearance, so I had to shorten them for his room.  So the other 2 panels are still extra long.  I can’t let out the hem on the shorter ones because even with a wide hem, there’s still not enough fabric to reach the floor, so I think I’ve decided to cut the long panels down to match the short ones, then sew a wide white eyelet ruffle to the bottom of all 4 panels so that they reach the floor.  (I recently saw some wide eyelet ruffle sold by the yard at Joann’s - it will match Kat’s crib skirt perfectly!)

I realized after taking this picture, that after I get the curtains hemmed and trimmed, all I’ll have left is to paint the dresser and hang wall art!  Not that those are especially small jobs, but they’re not huge either so I feel like I’m almost done!  Yay!

flyin’

So here’s my latest thing.  We’ll see if I can keep up with it.

I’m doing FlyLady.

Haven’t we all tried this at one point in time?  Has anyone actually ever stuck with it?

Here’s the deal.  I have no patience.  So following her exact plan is tough for me.  Some days I might only want to spend 15 minutes decluttering, other days I just need to keep going until I almost literally drop just so it’s done already.

A few weeks ago, Jason had to go out of town on business, and I knew shortly after that that family would be coming to town for Kat’s birthday, and then shortly after that my Father-in-Law would be visiting for a weekend.  I knew that if I didn’t bust my rear and do a full-on marathon cleaning before all the chaos started, that I’d never get it all done and I’d be hiding piles of stuff in my master closet when we had guests.  Again.  ;-P

So that’s what I did.  I actually did a pretty good job, no half-assed cleaning here.  I reorganized linen closets, cleaned out drawers and cabinets, donated and recycled a TON of stuff… and somehow I’ve managed to maintain it really well.  I’ve actually surprised myself!  Ha!

I decided that since I’ve not let the house go to pot, that maybe I’d put myself on a deep cleaning plan - hence the decision to follow FlyLady again.  I’m actually not following anything on her plan except the “FlightPlan” where you deep clean a “zone” for an assigned couple of days.  I find this pretty easy to follow, and then I do everything else (laundry, dishes, picking up toys, vacuuming, etc etc etc) on my own schedule.

So far so good!  Last week was easy because it was the dining room, foyer and front porch.  This week is a little harder for me because it’s in the kitchen.  And I don’t know what is wrong with me, but I h-a-t-e cleaning the kitchen.  I hate dishes, I hate wiping down counters 38290 times a day, I hate scrubbing food off the table, I hate cleaning out the fridge… anyway, I’ll get through it and then I’ll be able to move on to fun rooms again, like bedrooms and the family room. 

sew motivated

I don’t know what’s come over me, but in the last day I’ve had a strong urge to take on some sewing projects.  I’m not some sort of sewing maven.  I have a decent machine and thanks to my mother-in-law, I know enough of the basics to get me through most simple projects (drawstring pants, skirts, costumes, curtains, etc).  Problem is, I don’t usually enjoy sewing very much.  I like that I CAN sew, but I have a bad habit of putting off sewing projects because of the dread I feel at the thought of actually cutting the fabric, pinning and stitching.  And then my lack of a good space for sewing - it’s a pain to have to pack everything up and put it away when naptime is over so that little fingers don’t touch sharp needles or tear patterns.  It’d be so nice to have an extra room to set up and then close the door when I’m not working!

Oh, and I have a real problem with patterns.  It’s the same problem I have with books.  I love to buy them, but rarely get to them.  I have loads of books that I thought seemed interesting, bought and then set aside for later that are now covered in dust, still never even cracked open.  And I have dozens of patterns that I thought “Oh!  How cute!  And easy!  I’m going to make that!”  I buy the patterns, and a lot of times even buy the fabrics and notions too, and then it sits.  Collecting dust until I finally give up and put it into a box with the rest of the abandoned patterns.  Jumpers, dresses, purses and totes, roman shades, hats and scarves, baby bedding, child-sized robes and hooded towels… all neglected sewing projects.

Anyway, back to my current sewing urge.  I think I’m in the mood, first, for a tote for me.  Something simple and fun, like a solid with a bright pattern inside.  And I’m thinking of making Kat’s curtains for her room rather than buying them (saw some cute ribbon tie-top curtains in Pottery Barn Kids and thought “I could so do that for a fraction of the price.”)  And some summer jumpers and dresses for Kat, too (after I fell in love with some dresses in Chasing Fireflies that Jason would most likely divorce me for buying.)

If we weren’t all sick today, I’d be in the car on the way to the fabric store as I type this.  I really want to follow through with these this time!  I’m kinda hoping that because I’m typing this “out loud” that I’ll feel obligated to stick to my ideas rather than putting them off.