dkMommy Spot is sponsoring a giveaway of Numi Organic Tea. You have until midnight EST on Sunday, May 18, 2008, to enter. I just entered and can’t wait to see who wins that gorgeous bamboo presentation box of 30 organic tea bags. Pop on over and let her tell you more. Then when you check out the Numi Organic Tea site, be sure to check out the flowering tea. It’s absolutely incredible.
I read a post recently by Emily at Remodeling This Life about Tips for Making Thrift Shopping Thrifty. In that article she gives some hints for thrift shopping and says that it’s a running joke that she is the thrift shopping queen. While reading that it brought to mind my garage sale baby. No, I didn’t buy the baby at a garage sale, but nearly everything for that baby was purchased at a garage sale, especially her darling little outfits. Think about it. How many infants actually wear out their clothes? Sometimes they don’t even have time to spit up all over them before outgrowing those cute little outfits.
My cousin had a baby girl just a few months after mine was born. My aunt was the instant doting grandmother and spent time and money pursuing baby girl clothes. Frequently she would comment on my daughter’s outfit, usually followed by the query, “Where did you get that cute outfit?” My answer was nearly always, “At a garage sale.” She finally would just give me a look and say, “Garage sale?” and I would nod my head yes. As this precious child grew older, the garage sale buys continued.
When she was about three one of my friends who’s daughter was about a year older began gifting us with the clothes her daughter outgrew. Those were special clothes for my daughter because Tonya was her special friend. Memories like these make me proud to say my daughter was a garage sale baby.
The official review and first chapter of this book will be Thursday, May 15, but I’m excited about this book and couldn’t wait to tell you how great I think it is. It’s the book I wish I had as a teen. It’s the book I wish I had when I was a mother of teens. Now it’s the book I will be giving my granddaughter for her birthday this month when she becomes a teen. One of the exciting things about this book is the fact that it was written by teens. Be sure to tune in Thursday for the real deal of a review and to read the first chapter.
In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills: all the nations shall stream to it.
Many peoples shall come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
Isaiah 2:2-4
NRSV
Last Saturday I told you about Women’s Clothing Month at Sew, Mama, Sew! Monday they started with the vintage smock sew along and the remainder of this week has been focused on patterns. They helped us take the mystery out of patterns and given us tips for working with patterns. Today I’m going to share some links to patterns. Look around and see what you would like to make for women’s clothing month.
Sewing Patterns World for Stretch & Sew and Simplicity
Craft & Fabric Links – free sewing book
sewingpatterns.com – humongous variety of patterns
Green Pepper – patterns for outdoor clothing
Fashion Patterns by Coni – full figured patterns
So, what are you sewing? Are you making something for yourself during Women’s Sewing Month? Do you have any pattern sites to share?
In my post about meeting my financial goals for 2008, I told you I was going to think RED to reduce the expense and hassle of Christmas this year. I’ve already started conditioning my family to think red by starting with birthdays. What red am I talking about? Chinese red. Beautiful, ornate Chinese red. It is the tradition of the red envelope. These small, ornately decorated envelopes are for giving gifts of money on special occasions, especially the Chinese new year. They are also used for birthdays, weddings and other special days. The Chinese red envelope system is much more recipient friendly than a gift card. If I give someone a gift card to an establishment I love, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they will appreciate it. Also, if one has a $20 card and buys something for $18.98 that leaves $1.02 on the card. What do I do with $1.02? Do I have to buy something I wouldn’t normally buy just so I can use up that little bit on the card? What if I only have 81 cents on the card? What can I buy in a shoe store for 81 cents? I can’t even buy anything in a dollar store for that! Do I just take the card home and throw it in the drawer with a bunch of other gift cards I can’t use?
The red envelope takes care of all that and more. I don’t know anyone who can’t figure out something to do with cold, hard cash. It can be used in that little cottage business that has all those delightful things as well as in the large chain stores. It can be saved for something larger or even used to pay down a little debt. The thing is, the recipient gets to choose what to do with the gift and they won’t have to exchange something that someone had a brain fart immediately prior to buying it. No more pink for the little girl who loves purple and hates pink. No long scratchy sleeves for the little boy who wants little cars instead of sweaters.
By Christmas I will have the art of the red envelope perfected and hopefully my family will be looking forward to something small but mighty under the Christmas tree. They sure are easier to mail than a bunch of boxes. Hey, I might even get everyone’s gift to them before Christmas.
While writing about the contest at Scribbit in which I entered my z-coil post, an embryo of another article was conceived. I began looking back at how shoes tell the story of my life.
Like most other people, I was born barefoot. I know that at some point shortly after that those cute little feet were forced into a pair of shoes. No, I don’t remember the restriction of having those little bits of leather on my feet or not being able to freely wiggle my toes. Instead I had a bronzed beauty of that little shoe. The laces weren’t even tied before they were bronzed. Just hanging down unceremoniously. I would have thought if someone was going through all that trouble, they might have made them look a little neater. Maybe they were supposed to look like I’d just managed to kick them off. Exactly why did anyone want to pay to have a pair of old shoes memorialized? It’s for sure no one else was going to put a foot into that stiff little thing. I suppose it could have been used for a vase, but we had just barely emerged from the cave age when my foot was that little. There were no artificial flowers back then and water wouldn’t have done so well in there. It could have been used as a pencil holder. Did they have pencils back then? I think they must have. They didn’t have ballpoints. It would be years before anyone clicked their Bic.
I remember those little black patent Mary Janes I wore when I was about three. They were so beautiful and shiny when my mother put them on me. I don’t know why she expected them to stay that way when my feet just had to run and jump when I was outside. She used to sigh when she’d say, “You can dress her up, but you can’t take her out.”
The next phase of my life involved the magnificent horse at the Hornung and Hahn Shoe Store and Buster Brown shoes. (Tige was in there, too.) That horse was a huge, beautiful beast. I did my darndest to be patient while I stood to have my feet measured and then sat to have them crammed into countless pairs of shoes until the salesman found the pair that both fit just right and pleased my mother. Then the magical reward came when the salesman would lift me up and set me on the horse. This was no little horse like you see on kiddie rides today. This one was even better than the ones on the merry-go-round. I would hold the leather reins and pretend like I was a princess riding to my castle. I was up so high and I saw the world so differently than when I was that little girl standing down on the floor.
Then came the barefoot years. I didn’t leave those years behind until I was forced to after foot surgery. This part of my life was interspersed with shoes, but the freedom of kicking off those shoes was wonderful. I was barefoot in the grass, the mud, the sand, the pebbles, the white rock in the driveway and even the snow. We lived in a rural setting during the barefoot in the snow years. The mailbox was on the other side of the street and I saw no reason to put on shoes just to run out and get the mail (especially if Mother wasn’t around to catch me).
Then came the years of rock and roll, American Bandstand, saddle shoes and penny loafers. Those were important shoe years. After all, you just didn’t jitterbug barefoot. You either wore shoes or if you went to a sock hop, you danced in your socks. Being barefoot didn’t let you slide and get the dance moves right unless you were at home practicing on the carpet. Besides, the chaperons would have choked on the punch if you had naked feet.
Ahhh The Capezio years followed. I was never one to want to blend in with the crowd during my teen years. Now it appears that the teen bunch want to all look alike. I gloried in being different. I discovered Capezio shoes. My shoes never looked like those of anyone else during those years. Somewhere along the line, it appears that Capezio stopped making shoes for street wear. When I looked them up all I could find were the dance shoes for which they are famous. Although, I did wear Capezio ballet, pointe and tap shoes at one point in my life.
As I began to grow into a young woman it was black flats followed by black heels with a brief interlude of black t-straps. The black flats walked me through my beatnik phase into Friday night movie dates. Senior year of high school the black flats were de rigour. We didn’t wear sneakers and jeans to school back in the dark ages. We couldn’t even believe they began to allow us to wear slacks shortly before graduation.
Then came the sandals and Keds which carried me through most of my days as a wife and young mother. I put a lot of miles on those. And the heels were there for church and dress up occasions. Boots in the winter. We all loved Nancy Sinatra’s These Boots Were Made For Walking. We didn’t expect her to have Frank’s vocal cords. We just loved the part about “They’re gonna walk all over you!.” I’m sure I wore something besides boots in the cold Midwestern winters, but I don’t remember what. I try not to think about the winters of my life, past or present.
And then the nursing shoes walked into my life. Actually it was closer to running as I worked ER, critical care and many other specialties. They kept me running until I up and ran away to sea. Still nursing, but in white flats with my day uniform and white heels with my evening uniform. Eventually the company changed dress uniforms to navy blue. Once again I was back in black heels and sometimes black flats if I was on call. Still some running to do at times.
While working at sea, I began setting up ships with my mentor and friend Pat who introduced me to New York City and Birkenstock. Oh, my. I’ve found the most comfortable shoes. I want to live in my Jesus sandals forever.
Then came Italy and my “happy feet shoes.” I don’t remember why I wasn’t wearing my Birks that day. I had been in Italy about a week when some friends who had been there longer decided they had to have McDonald’s. Mickie D sounded good to me, so my daughter, Sue, my cow loving friend and I decided to go McDonald shopping. This was not an easy thing to do. We were in Monfalcone and needed to get to Trieste. So we walked about 30 minutes to the train station, took the train for about 45 minutes and then walked another half hour to the cutest little fast food joint ever. I don’t remember what I had on my feet, but I do remember how my feet felt. There was no way I was going to make it back to my ship without being maimed for life. We found a shoe store nearby and I bought my first pair of sneakers/walking shoes. Those Pumas made my feet happy for years. They had to literally fall apart before I would buy another pair of athletic shoes.
Now that I’ve retired from ships, I’m living the laid back (well sort of laid back) Florida lifestyle. I’m back in the Birks and loving it. Still had the athletic shoes for work until I found a new love. New Balance sounded too good to be true, so I tried them on and ended up buying a pair of black and a pair of white. Out with the athletic shoes. I’ve found new happy feet shoes.
But I’ve been thinking about those z-coils. I’ve already purchased some speed laces. The shoes of my life say I’m fickle, but look more closely and you’ll see a lot of loyalty there, too. I still love my Birks.
The Carnival of Financial Goals is up over at Debt Free Revolution. I’ve entered my post 2008 Financial Goals Nearly Met. Check out the carnival for some good posts, and feel free to make nice comments about my post as well as the others. Thanks to all my readers. I appreciate you taking time out to stop by and visit.
We try to hide our skeletons in the closet, but every now and again we bump up against them and the bones rattle. I’m not going to ask you if you have a skeleton in your closet. We all do. Sometimes there’s just a bone or two and sometimes there’s an entire closet full of bones. carp(e) libris reviews is hosting a skeleton giveaway. Not real bones, but a book about skeletons in the closet. This book is The Baker’s Boy by Barry Kitterman. Find out how to win this book giveaway by following the link. You’ll have to hurry. You only have until midnight tonight, May 6, 2008. Race you there.
I’ve been looking over a very tempting read. It’s a special issue of Electronic House featuring the best homes of the year. This is not a magazine I normally read. In fact, this is the first time ever that I’ve seen it. I only managed to read it about halfway before my mind went on sensory overload. I didn’t even make it to the home of the year before closing the pages. This is definitely not a magazine for the frugal minded, especially if you drool over electronics. Before I actually started focusing on the homes, I was fascinated by some of the advertisements. One that caught my eye was for the SIM 2 home theatre projector. It is made in Italy and so sleek, streamlined and modern, as are many Italian products. Then there was the MX 3000. This little beauty looks like something from the Starship Enterprise. The instruction manual for it must be something else.
There is a big section concentrated on home theatres. What a variety! Sports bar, jungle themed, mod squad, lush and ornate, opera house, fun and funky. Any style you could possibly want (and can pay for) can be yours. I thought I’d been in some fancy theatres around the world, but none compared to the ones on display in Electronic House. One even had a motorized bookcase. It was a hidden door. Pull out a book to open and put it back to close. Just like in the movies or a really good mystery novel. I’ve always wanted one of those. The home theatres didn’t make my heart go pitty pat, but that hidden door certainly did! Oh, to have my own little secret room with a magic door.
Every room in the house was jazzed up. Electronics in the kitchen didn’t exactly do much for me. I’m challenged enough sometimes when I’m trying to cook. I certainly don’t need the distraction of a TV. But the baths and bedroom suites got me. Can you imagine watching a chick flick while ensconced in a bubble bath with candles and fresh flowers setting the mood? We could do that in one of those bathrooms with a mini home theatre.
Then there were the bedrooms. Excuse me, the master bedroom suites. These were composed of three or four rooms – bedroom, sitting room and bathroom (sometimes both a his and a hers). There was a three room suite where I could set up housekeeping. Heck, it’s big enough that I could get lost in it! That’s the one that had the mini home theatre in the bath. The bedroom had a plasma TV recessed above the fireplace and covered by a piece of artwork when not in use. I guess the fireplace is just for show as I think the heat would damage the TV. Maybe not. I’m sure the technology for handling that problem can be purchased. Then there is the sitting room. The TV in here is hidden behind the mirror above the marble top buffet. The buffet displayed a sink and wine rack. My imagination says that there is also a hidden fridge behind one of the buffet doors. All you would have to do is drop a hot plate in one of the drawers and you have a complete apartment. Did you notice every room had a TV? Are these people unable to entertain themselves with a good book?
There was another bedroom suite that grabbed my attention with it’s minimalist approach. That really set it apart in this magazine which glorifies abundance. This suite had only one bathroom with a glass shower/steam room and a raised tub in front of huge windows with a glorious view. I don’t know if the bedroom was huge or if it just looked huge because it wasn’t crammed full of stuff. The room had wrap around windows and a door to a balcony. Another drop dead gorgeous view. The windows had roll down solar shades to block the glare while still retaining the view. Now if you can see out the windows, can’t other people see in? Maybe privacy wasn’t as much an issue as glare on the TV screen. Of course, it’s a plasma TV, but it drops down out of the ceiling when you want to watch it. The last room in the suite was the office/sitting room. Very nice, even if it did have 2 TVs and no bookcases. I don’t even want to think about how large the closets in these suites are. I’m sure they could be counted as another room or two.
I don’t think I’m going to look at the rest of the magazine, although it did make me appreciate what I have, which is peace and quiet and a nice, well lit corner. I’m going to grab a good book and go there now.
