Change of plans

First night of Hanukkah happened to take precedence over my need to analyze my funk. 

Failure to plan for Hanukkah took precedence over sticking with the 30 for 30.  Sweatshirt, jeans and a baseball cap ... woo hoo!

And, times like this take precedence over everything. 

 

The Destroyer is trying her hand at remixing as well.  Swimmy diaper as a hat.  I think it could catch on.

 

Getting ready to turn it all back around

There was nothing particularly inspiring about my outfit today.  Black slacks, red sweater, black boots.  No accessories ... so no pictures either.  Switched into jeans and a sweatshirt and just played with my girls.  Much more inspiring for me :)  Well, minus having to deny the Destroyer her TV time as punishment for misbehaving at school today.  Teacher meeting on Thursday.  Yeah, I have *that* child right now.  Sigh.

Just returned from last-minute Hanukkah shopping at Kohl's (still refrained from purchasing anything for myself even though the shoes were just CALLING me) ... but after much more than I had anticipated spending, the bulk of the family is covered.  Seeing as how tomorrow night is the first night, I'm just thankful my girls are too young to realize their Mom flaked.

Bryan and his family celebrate Christmas.  So, I've got time to redeem myself.  Well, at least wrap the damn gifts.

Tomorrow, I'm planning on posting a sequence of photos from the past 10 years and a little blog about what I think is part of the reason for my funk. A way of closing a chapter.  Turning a page.  Getting "me" back.  Maybe getting it out of my head and in writing will help me to better tackle the problem.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week.  It's well past my bed-time.  Nighty-night.

Day 18 and 22 ... sigh

So, I went into the Holiday weekend with great plans, great expectations, great attitude.  And then got hit with a shit-fan from hell.  After receiving the "you don't take care of yourself ... it's obvious in how you've been dressing that you're not happy with how you look," I just kind of got funked.  And, I still am.  But, I AM trying to keep to the "exercise" as it were.

My outfit for Thanksgiving day didn't turn out as well as I had hoped.  I don't know if it is because we took pictures after one too many Van Gogh and Baileys, but my scarf seemed to take over the entire outfit.

 

Brown dress - NY&Co, Orange halter - No Stress, Shoes - Aldo, Scarf - found in my box of random fabric bits!

Speaking of the scarf.  I went looking in my random fabric bits as a result of a comment (and some fantastic outfits) from Jodi at Day2DayWear.  Jodi, if you happen to be reading today ... look at what I found!!

The rest of the holiday weekend was spent in sweats and other comfy clothes.  I was just not in the mood and didn't even want to look at my closet or make any attempt at caring.  Oh well, on to today (Monday) and while I had to cheat a bit and swap in a different pair of shoes, it was just too cold for anything else.

Sweater - NY&Co, Dress (as a skirt) - Motherhood maternity, Black boots - I have no clue and no energy to go back downstairs and find out :)

So, congratulations to all of you fellow (I am still including myself in the group despite my back-slides) remixers for all the amazing outfits and ideas.  And to those of you who, like me, have either back-slid, cheated, or determined that now is just NOT the time for this (in my case it's a bit of all three - but I put away almost every other article of clothing I have and ... again ... I just do NOT have the energy to go unpack it yet.  So, I'll be remixing by necessity lol)... I hope to see you next time and will continue to enjoy following your blogs.

17 of 30

I fell asleep putting the Destroyer to bed.  Which I'll take as a sign that I needed the sleep:)  So here is my outfit from yesterday.  I felt good in it and I guess I look okay in it.  What I've noticed though, is that regardless of which pieces I am mixing, I'm generally using the same "look."  And, I don't know if it's laziness, fear, comfort (hiding the fat lol) or what.  If anyone could, please let me know if it is even the right look for me (as best you can tell from photos that is).

 Jacket, sweater and pants - NY&Co, Boots - skechers, 

Scarf - hand-made by me, necklace - WV local artist festival of some sort.

 Bryan has a tendency to take rapid-fire photos when we do this.  The flash is going off constantly (which unfortunately gives me a migraine 50% of the time) and this is my ... is *THIS* a better pose?  FAIL ;)

 This is my "I just heard a crash in the other room ... hope there's no blood" pose.

Nope, no blood!  No tears,  either.  Woo hoo!

I really just included this shot for the necklace.  I really love the pink hues in it.

16

So what does one do when she failed to incorporate tall black boots into her 30 for 30 to accompany her skirts and/or dresses?  Throws on a pair of pants ... that's what she does.  I actually did this a lot while I was pregnant.  I don't know that it works for my body, but it definitely works for my comfort :) 



Bryan just took these pictures at 10:00 when he got home from work and our girls were finally crashed out.  Holidays bring family and friends from all over, and schedules be damned!  Needless to say, I'm a bit tired.  And, the red scarf that I wore as both a belt and a scarf at various times of the day was left in my car and I just didn't have the energy to completely re-create.

 Sweater - G.A.S, Dress - Motherhood Maternity, Tank/Cami - NY&Co, Pants - Dockers, Boots - Skechers, Necklace (metallic gray & garnet - nice jewelry box find) - gifted.

  

 

Bryan apparently enjoys zooming in on a particular area of my body.  Guess that's a good thing?

Day Fif ... Oh who am I kidding?

So, it should be pretty obvious that I've gone a bit off track.  My trip to Vegas did not include a camera.  It included my Flip - which made an appearance on Day 1, but no camera.  And, while I fully intended to channel my inner quick-change artist upon my return ... it just wasn't meant to be. 

Along with a portion of my bank account, Vegas also took a piece of my heart ... in the form of my favourite boots.  I thought I could make them work with pants and they lasted one glorious compliment filled day.  Seriously compliments from men.  Straight men.  Sigh.  Until I took them off and realized that an entire section of material had disappeared.  I had visions of pieces of my boots trailing behind me as I walked and tearfully dumped them in the hotel trashcan.  *note - I didn't really cry.  I thought about it.  But I didn't.

Luckily, my trip also involved a community service type task.  I, along with about 200+ other conference attendees went to the St. Jude's (not affiliated with the hospital) Ranch for Children to clean up and landscape their community area.  While there, I took a little trip into their gift shop ... and found a beautiful pair of Aldo tan peek-a-boo heels for $6 ... $6!!!!  And they matched the only outfit I had for the final event that night.  It was  *taps head* ... what's that word ... serendipitous?  Nah - I think there's another word I'm looking for.  I'm just too fried.

So, while I stuck to the plan during my trip, when I got home, it all fell apart.  Too busy, too much damage control (apparently my girls are NOT ready for me to be gone), and too much just ... blah.  So, I'm picking back up where I left off.  I just may end up repeating some outfits - some were pretty darn cute.

I did, however, have to do some switcheroos.  As I noted in my first posted outfit (I think), I base my outfits on what shoes I want to wear.  Since I had to toss the boots (and another pair of shoes - another day's post) I also had to switch out a skirt.  So while it looks as if my journey has been derailed ... I'm trying to get back on track.

Today's outfit was a hit.  I got several compliments at work, was even asked if I lost weight (*note - I haven't, I actually had gained several pounds).  I went to the store to get a laundry basket and the manager had the cashier over-ride the price to give me 1/2 off.  Yes, I will be shopping there frequently.

 The Raptor insisted on being held.  Which I love, of course :)

 Jacket - NY&Co, Green sweater - Michael Stars, Jeans (substitute) - Gitano hand-me downs from friend, Brown boots (substitute) - Skechers gift from sister, scarf made by me.

The jacket was bunched a little because I had just put down the Raptor and hadn't re-adjusted. The picture isn't as indicative of today's successful return to the 30 for 30 ... but it's all good ;)

I have a lot of fellow re-mixers blogs to catch up on ... I'll be making the rounds this week.  I'm sure I've missed some amazing outfits.

Day 3

My brown boots were still at the repair shop, so I forced myself to wear the lace-ups and just deal with the fact that I'm that much more pear shaped without heels.  On a sad note, when I picked up  my boots this evening (and put them on for the second pic so I could see for myself the difference between the flats and the heels) I realized they are very, very damaged.  Sigh.  They'll be fine with pants ... but so much for wearing them with skirts.  I'm going to have to break the rules, most likely, and make one purchase to replace my much-loved boots. 

Today was another hectic day as I leave for Vegas tomorrow.  I'm a bit sick to my stomach since I've never been away from the Destroyer for more than a night and haven't been away from the Raptor at all.  And now I'll be gone for 4 entire days and 3 nights.  I'm freaking out.  But what's done is done.  Truth be told - I need this.  And the thought of having 8 hours of interruption-free reading time (even if it's on a plane) is smoothing out the rough edges of my anxiety.

So, today's outfit.  I had to reassemble again since I am required to take just about everything off as soon as I walk in the door.  I don't know what Alanna's issue is with my wearing a scarf, jacket ... even jewelry ... but she wants it OFF as soon as I walk in the door ... shoes too.

First, in flats.  Boots - Geox, Brown pinstripe pants - NY & Co, Yellow Sweater - NY & Co, Scarf - handmade by me (and quite necessary to cover cleavage), Jacket - Chicos.

I am trying to wear more jewelry.  (Hence the "see the necklace" stupid pose).  Today, I grabbed a pair of earrings that had never been worn and a necklace I think I've worn once.  I don't remember were I bought it ... but I have this tiny voice in my head saying it has matching earrings and a belly chain (HA!) ... so I'm guessing it was a long-ass-time ago.  PS - I never wore the belly chain.

And, this is the same outfit with the Diba boots.  See, I immediately see a difference in how my legs look.  Even when obscured by the wee ones.  One who has immediately taken possession of my Coach wallet (purchased for about $10 on a crazy outlet sale) and the other reaching for the other amazing buy ... the Coach purse that was marked down to $70 and then was 75% off.  *sigh* I just realized I really miss shopping :)

Day 2

Today was a long, irritating day.  One of those days you just want over ... even when it started out pretty good.  I woke up in a good mood.  The Raptor was playing peacefully in her crib and the Destroyer was still fast asleep.  I enjoyed a peaceful shower and then it was if time just starting moving in fast-forward.  Tried one outfit that I wasn't quite adventurous enough for and resorted to something that would work with my trusty black boots again (I'll figure out how to use those lace ups at some point ... sigh).  Feed the kids, get to Nursery school, drop car off at mechanics, get to work ... work work work ... leave and do part-time work work work ... get home, play with kiddies (half-undressed since the Destroyer demanded "coat" off, necklace off, shoes off) ... and then finally bedtime and I re-assemble my "Day 2" and take the pics.  Good times :)

Boots - Skechers, Slacks - NY & Co, Sweater - Principles, Red cami/bra top - NY & Co,  Black & Grey necklace - gift, Crystal necklace - gift from friend in College (20 *gasp* years ago), scarf - handmade by me

So, I had said the slacks needed hemming.  Not so much.  Since my thighs have spread since their original purchase, they are a bit shorter ... so out came the seam ripper to let out the hem that hadn't already given way.  

As far as accessories go ... upon the arrival of small, inquisitive children; I hid most of my jewelry.  Since I'm crazy disorganized, I now can't find most of it.  I hid it so well, I can't find it.  But I'm finding jewelry boxes here and there, so this re-visitation is going to be fun.  

And, I completely forgot that I knit.  And that I have already knitted a good number of scarves (that my mother keeps taking.  Seriously, I show her a new one and she says - oh I need that).  So, I went shopping in her closet and got some of my scarves back.  Woo hoo :)

Day 1 of 30

I actually base what I'm wearing on what shoes I want to wear on a particular day.  Since my brown boots need re-heeling and the weather isn't exactly open-toe friendly today, day 1 was going to be pants.  And since I needed a little height for my first day (that's a little bit of a lie - I always need height ... I included the flat brown lace-ups to force myself out of my comfort zone) black boots it is ... and to avoid being completely lame, I didn't go to my trusty v-neck sweaters.  It's not exactly adventurous but it's better than throwing on a maternity top :)

Black boots - Skechers (gift from sister), Jeans - Merona (hand-me-down from a friend), Black halter - No Stress (pre-children purchase), Sweater - G.A.S. (hand-me-down from friend), Necklace - gift, Betty Boop Tin Purse - 5 Below, Double-chin, muffin-top and saddle bags courtesy of the Destroyer and the Raptor.

As the halter is back-less, the sweater wasn't coming off at the office.  But I knew it was cute and it made me feel sexy again - go figure.  The bright green socks I'm wearing (that you obviously can't see) served to keep a smile on my face throughout the day.

Bryan wouldn't stop taking pictures ... 

Guess that means he thought it was cute :)

Boots are being repaired tomorrow (woo hoo) ... but maybe I can pull off something a bit more interesting regardless.

Hope all my fellow re-mixers are having a great time!!  I actually felt more attractive than I have in long-ass-time.  Who knew?

My 30 for 30 Picks to Remix

I picked a pretty poor time (in my opinion) to do this, as I live in MD, will be in Vegas next week, and have my very fashionable sister, son and her partner (his family too) coming for T-Day ... but really, I'm sure I would have issues regardless of when I took up this challenge.

So, lessons already learned:

• I have a ton of crap.  Seriously.  After sifting through the basement for my past life, and packing everything other than these 30 items back up, I now have 3 large packing boxes, 8 space bags and 6 trash bags full of clothes.  And a bin of shoes.  I don't have the energy to figure out what has to go ... I'll make that next month's challenge.
• I obviously subscribe to the philosophy of "if it looks good, buy it in every color they have."  I have the same sweater in 10 colors, same button down shirt in about 15-20 different colors (and multiples at that!), same cami/top in about 15 different colors ... and each of these 3 particular items (and their spawn) are from the same store - NY&Co - apparently I've been a little addicted to them ... they feature frequently in my remix too.
• I am going to have to do some serious shopping when I get back to my pre-pregnancy weight/size.  During my "fittest" time of life, I wore jeans, yoga pants, smart-ass t-shirts and cute little sweaters.  Everything was fitted, everything looked good ... and everything is probably now not appropriate for a 38-year-old mother of two.  Sigh.  Goodbye T-Shirt Hell ... it was a hell of a ride.  
• Clinton and Stacy would have hated me ... and it would have been mutual.

There's a whole lot more I've realized.  I'll just address my issues throughout the next 30 days :)

So, here are the pics of the Picks ... such as they are.  I used to be a pretty good photographer.  Before I had to rush photo ops in between chasing after the Destroyer and the Raptor. 


(I actually had to take a few minutes just after writing that sentence to remind the Destroyer that is not nice to knock her sister down.)


(and right after I wrote *that* sentence ... I had to stop even thinking about blogging this post.  don't know why I tried to do this prior to bedtime.)




5 pairs of shoes:

I have to get the brown boots re-heeled.  I've had them for close to 8 years.  I love them.

2 dresses:

The black one is a maternity dress.  I don't care.  I packed everything else maternity away though.

3 skirts:

The grey pinstripe on the left (*EDIT - Ooops - my OTHER left*) has to be re-hemmed.  At least I know how to do that now.  Bryan only sees this ability as a way for me to never throw anything away.  He's probably right.

4 pants:

The black slacks need to be re-hemmed.  See note above.

4 sweaters:

Yes, they're all the same style.  They're the only ones that fit well :(

4 cardigan/jacket/zipper-ups:

6 shirts/camis:

And 2 button-downs:

I'm not going to say I'm thrilled with my picks.  I worked with what I had ... and I guess that is part of the challenge.  

Good luck to all the remixers out there ... I look forward to seeing your journey while I navigate through mine.

**Edit - after reviewing my post and pics ... I noticed the tin betty boop "purse" my daughter claimed from my boop stash and left on the bed.  I think I may just have to use that this month ... 

30 for 30

So, in the past week or so, I've decided that I need to challenge myself.  In everything.  I've joined Nanowrimo.  I've forced myself to continue making new things out of old.  And, I've signed myself up for Kendi's 30 for 30 Fall Remix Challenge.

 

I'm taking this opportunity to force myself to hand over the maternity clothes (my youngest is 9 months people) and start enjoying getting dressed again.  Since I'm not back at my pre-pregnancy size, I'm going to have to rely on the items:

1. I had when I was heavier and just couldn't give up
2. that maybe a little too small, but I'll have to work it out
3. that may be a little too large, but (again) I'll have to work it out

What do *I* hope to gain from this?

A kick in the ass out of my post-pregnancy fashion funk.  Another kick in the ass to get rid of those items that just.never.belonged.  Some inspiration on how to express myself in my clothes.  And, maybe (hopefully), some new friends along the way.

Good luck to all who are participating - there's a LOT of us.

I'll have my list up tomorrow!

Not *Quite* Off-Track

I know I promised myself that I would be consistent in blogging about the projects I had going on.  I also know that I'm not organized enough to do that.  And, I also know that I can be a little lazy ... and a procrastinator ... and a whole lot of other adjectives I'm not particularly proud of.  But, I'm working on it.

I have, however, completed a few other projects using my (hoarded) abundance of crap.

1)  I had purchased a bunch of fabric squares when I was getting ready for Zoe to join us.  However, when we simply relocated Alanna's old nursery theme into her room, I lost the need (and the desire) to create the "orange" theme I had planned.  However, Alanna's new bedding matches the color scheme perfectly.  So I created another bench seat cover for Alanna's room.  It matches and pulls everything together much better than the original:

2) I wanted to put a "canopy" of sorts above Alanna's bed.  Taking a tip from this amazing blogger New Dress a Day, I went out and purchased some RIT dye.  I have four large panels of lace curtains left over from my Grandparents.  I HATE lace curtains.  So, one lace panel + RIT dye + embroidery hoop + ribbon that had bound the fabric quarters I used to make the bench seat cover = bright sunshine yellow canopy.  Currently Alanna wants me to make everything "sun yellow."  It is a lot less orange-y in real life.  I'm going to add another ribbon (from one of the other fabric packs) to lower it a little.

 

3)  Since Alanna wanted a Sun, I took some of the left-over fabric (from the same quarters pack) and covered the plastic lid of a shipping tube.  I used another remnant to cover another one of those corkboards.  I had some used reeds from a diffuser, so I soaked them in the same dye I had left-over from the lace and glued them around the lid.  Cut up pieces of cardboard stacked and glued together lift the sun from the background.

4)  And, lastly, with the rest of the scraps of fabric, I cut out some leaves to add some decoration to my porch for Hallowe'en.  I'm fairly happy with the end result.  Especially since I have never, EVER, decorated for Hallowe'en.  All in all, that fabric has gone a pretty long way.  And, I still have one more bundle :)

This last one is just because I'm so proud of what Bryan did for our girls.  Personalized pumpkins = Awesome!

Red Flagged

Did you know that it is relatively common for people to forget to order when they are in the drive-thru line?

You didn't?  Yeah, I didn't know either.  Wanna know how I know now?

While out running around doing my part-time job, I had a hankerin' for a Peppermint Milkshake from Chick-fil-A.  Upon realizing that if I didn't get it TODAY, I would have to wait until Monday (shock ... horror), I quickly pulled into my local.  While sitting in my car, bopping along to the radio, happily looking forward to the crack that is the Peppermint Milkshake ... I was blissfully unaware that I was sitting at the order window with my window up.  Until I pulled forward and realized ... SHIT ... I forgot to order.  And, now there is nothing I can do but wait in this line until I get to the order pick up and humbly apologize for my idiocy (and see if I can *still* order).

I got to the order window, and as sheepishly as possible said "I'm sorry.  I'm an idiot and forgot to order.  Will it mess you up if I order now?"

"Oh, it's okay.  We had you flagged.  What would you like?  This happens a lot more often that you realize."

So I ordered, and then he gave me this:

1 Red Flag $0.00

Much nicer than "idiot up  next."

Seriously, I need to get it together.

From Pampers Box to Chalkboard ...

I'm not very organized.  I try to be, but I fail most of the time.  In a lifelong effort to change that, I make lists ... and accumulate tons of stuff.

I sometimes perform mystery shops.  Some of these shops are at office supply stores ... so I end up with stuff like this:

This is cork-board that I found in a green color that I liked.  I also thought it would work tacked up on the side of my refrigerator to keep a grocery list, coupons, and bills.  I bought this almost a year ago.  It hasn't been hung up anywhere.

Because I have two in diapers, I have a ton of this:

Also because I have two little ones; and, because I also do mystery shops in hardware stores, I end up with little things such as this:

I have been in other homes in which the parents had used this to paint a section of their basement, or playroom for their child's use.  Since I fear using this on the wall in *my* home will result in artwork where it doesn't belong, I hadn't figured out what to do with this.  Until now.

I cut the pampers box as close to the size of the cork-board as possible.  Painted it in two coats of blackboard paint.  Glued some extra ribbon I have lying around (short-lived belt and keychain phase) in between the two pieces (that I glued back to back) ... and now I have a hanging chalkboard to keep my grocery list on.  With the added functionality of a corkboard once the little ones aren't in danger from pushpins.

Great Fabric ... Poor Fashion

About 10 years and approximately 40 extra pounds ago, I figured I would "disguise" my weight with pants like these:



I believe it was Kirstie Alley who said that elastic waist bands were how big girls got bigger. Yup yup.

After losing the weight, I promised myself I would never, ever, wear these outfits again. Problem was - I loved, loved, loved the fabric and could NOT bring myself to throw them out. Even one pair of pants whose fabric had started to fray. So those became the first experiment. I wish I had a before copy of the actual pants, but I'm pretty sure a friend of mine has a picture of me in them. So, once I get my hands on it, I'll post it so there is a record of the true before to go with these afters:

Purse Front (side 1):




Purse Back (side 2)



I only used 1/2 of each of 2 panels from the pants. I still have two other decorative panels and the remnants of the two I used to figure out what to do with.

I'm not completely finished. I will have to remove a couple stitches and fix some imperfections and haven't attached the strap. Lucky elastic waist-band - YOU shall have the glory of being repurposed as the strap. Congrats!

While I think I did okay my first time out trying to construct a purse, there were some valuable lessons learned. First and foremost - lining should probably be attached before stitching up the purse. Just sayin'.

Clip Strip Barrette Holder

Having girls means having a lot of hair accessories - barrettes mainly currently. Being ME means that the barrettes are frequently lost, left in purse or diaper bag, or thrown in the handiest "clutter catcher" I have handy. And, I have a lot.

I also seem to have clip strips. I must have accumulated a few of these when doing some odd jobs. But I apparently knew I would have a use for them a some point ... and righty-o I was.

This is a clip-strip:



This is a typical version of my previous "storage" solutions:




And voila - my new barrette organizer. Repurposed from clip strips. Go figure - I'm kinda proud of me right now.



And, I was able to use the second one to determine which barrettes were missing their mate(s) ... a trip to Mom's was in order.



**Disclaimer - simply having clip strip of single barrettes does not guarantee appearance of mate(s). Trip to Mom's ... complete bust other than a request for her own since go figure ... she's kinda proud of me too.