Purrls

If you wait long enough.....

2012-02-01T16:40:00.000-08:00

This summer when my sewing machine was not being cooperative, I was kicking myself for not rescuing one of my grandma's machines before they got sold at the estate sale. In browsing online to look at vintage machines I became enamored of a lovely style of Singer from the 60s; classic styling, all metal construction and AQUA.

I saw one of these beauties at the sewing machine repair shop, but it was broken and the repair estimate was fairly high. I still loved that pretty robin's egg blue though.

Monday a coworker mentioned that there was a person on our employee exchange giving away an old sewing machine, and maybe I'd be interested. I thought maybe it would be a fun thing to fiddle with and see if I could get running.

The man told me his wife had sewn all their (grown) children's clothes on the machine, and it had been sitting idle since her passing a few years ago. He said no one was interested in sewing machines--he just wanted it to have a good home.

I, who was mourning the loss of Grandma's machines and that missed connection at the repair shop...I wanted to give it a home. Maggie and I stopped over after work this afternoon. He took me upstairs to show me the machine, and I squealed.

It was aqua.

I took it home amid profuse thanks (me, for the free sewing machine, him, for giving his wife's machine a good home) and couldn't wait to try it out. It was threaded and everything, just ready to go....and it sews like crazy.

And it's aqua :-)

Hard Times--Grateful

2011-12-07T16:16:00.000-08:00

Every once in a while, I catch myself recalling something that I always took for granted, and it still surprises me. For example, this year I altered my winter coat and it fits so nicely and looks so fresh I'm really happy with it. I was thinking how glad I was that I didn't have to buy a new one when I recalled that I used to think I was being thrifty to buy a new coat only every other year.

Another example is workout clothes. Whenever I would begin a new workout plan the first thing I'd do would be to buy new workout clothes. Cute little matched outfits (that I'd end up not wearing when I abandoned the exercise plan). When I first started Pilates classes, the classes themselves were a big expense, and so I had to choose--did I want classes or fancy clothes? I went for the classes--and wore my paint-stained around-the-house yoga pants and t shirts. Sometimes I felt a little self conscious--the other ladies all had nice matched outfits. And my pants were stretched out and falling down. And my tshirts kept shifting uncomfortably. I spent half the class readjusting my clothes.

Finally, after being in the class for 4 months, I came across a bonanza of clearanced workout clothes at JC Penney. At the end of the summer, those capris and short sleeved shirts (perfect for my indoor class) were down 80% off. Penney's is one of the few stores that allows their coupons to be used on clearance items. The pants were $10.80, and the top was $5.60. My two $10-off a $10 purchase coupons were suitable for the pants, but I needed to spend a little more in order to....save a little more. So I browsed all the clearance racks in the store. I found a bra just my size and brand, marked down to $6 (they are usually about $22). Thrilled, I spent about $4 and left the store with a new, comfy, and non-paint-stained exercise outfit, and a brand new bra (I had two, but a third one never hurts).

Without sounding stupid, I'm grateful for my new workout outfit in a way I was never grateful for the other ones in the past. I made myself wait to "indulge", I didn't just buy them because they were pretty, I had no credit card bill to follow me, and I took enough classes in my ratty clothes to be really grateful for the nice ones now.

In the same way, I am grateful every day that I get dressed in my nice work clothes and have nice, professional, comfy clothes. I no longer have nothing but jeans and tee shirts. I have nice slacks and blouses, nice sweaters and good shoes, a nice little cardi, and nice bras to go under and make it all pull together. And it cost me virtually nothing, but I am grateful because I had to work to get it. Not just going-to-work work but trolling thrift shops, altering, repairing, etc.

I realized I put a higher value on my work than my money. A few days after I've put $300 on the credit card for a new wardrobe I've forgotten about it. But every time I put on that pair of pants I remember the hours of work it took to rummage them out of the clothing giveaway, figure out their fit problems, take them apart, and figure out how to make them fit, and then put them all back together. I remember all the trips to the thrift shop where I came up with nothing when I put on the things from my "score" trips.

It's gotten to the point where I feel a little strange paying full price for anything. The options seem so limitless--what do I pick? The clearance rack or the thrift store narrows it down so much---and sometimes I find things there that I still think are too much money. It's really hard to pay more than $8 or $10 on something now that most of my things are around $5 or $6. I used to consider Target so cheap "back in the day" but now it seems like any other high priced department store. Furthermore, the quality at Target isn't always there. It's tough to pay $25 for a pair of pants that are poorly made when you're used to high quality clothing for less than $10.

I used to take for granted that at the beginning of each season I'd go shopping. It was just what you did. A new bathing suit each year (if not a two piece for the pool and a one piece for laps). A new coat each year (last year's isn't in style, and who wants to dry clean? Besides, a new coat makes the bitterness of winter easier to swallow). A new dress for every event (can't look the same in all the pictures). New workout clothes, new shoes every fall, new tee shirts every summer.

Now I take it as a point of pride that I'm NOT buying new each season. I fixed up last year's coat and I'm hoping to be wearing it several winters more (the cut is fabulous and so is the color). I am wearing a new swimsuit---that I got off the clearance rack for $14. My lap swimming suit I got for free at the clothing exchange. I have one nice dress ($15 on the clearance rack) and if I need a fancier one I'm waiting until the event shows up before I buy! I did buy one new pair of shoes this fall......at the thrift shop. The rubber is wearing on the heel, so I'm planning to get them resoled. They were only $4 to begin with, so the $10 to resole them still puts them below Target prices.....

and they're Kenneth Cole.

Hard Times--Holiday Decorations

2011-12-05T08:00:00.000-08:00

I never much got into holiday decor. I'm not a seasonal-decor gal, and holiday stuff always seemed sort of....tacky I guess. The first year I owned a house I was all excited to hang outdoor lights and put up an enormous Christmas tree. The tree dominated our living room for 6 weeks before I couldn't stand it anymore, and the holiday lights all fell down after the first ice storm. After that, I didn't bother with much beyond the tree.

I certainly didn't mess around much with outdoor lights. I had those nets that go over the bushes, and after only two years of service they died on me. I discovered it was because birds pecked at the red lights, thinking they were berries, and it shorted out the whole thing.

Now that my kid is four, she's old enough to go..."heyyyyy why do our neighbors have pretty lights and we don't??"

Gulp. Bad Mom moment. 5 years ago I would have solved the problem by pulling out my credit card and buying some stuff at Target. Then again, 5 years ago I didn't have a kid and didn't need to. Logic aside, I didn't have a whole lot of money to put towards this, but I suddenly shared her enthusiasm. I wanted pretty lights too. I bought a few strands at the Salvation Army, plus a light-up (twinkling!) J-O-Y sign that hangs in the window. Cost: $18

My mom used to have some lighted deer that she put in her yard. She had offered me one last year, so I asked for one this year. She had sold them at the garage sale in the summer. She gave me a Frosty the Snowman, however. I put him up, then I dug around to see if I had any spare lights. They were all burned out. I used my final strand to try to make a sparkleball. I ended up with 160 cracked plastic cups, a burned out string of bulbs, and two huge blisters on my hand.

I turned to Craigslist, that great online garage sale of stuff, haven for those who need stuff and don't have money to buy it with. I kept finding people who wanted to sell their Christmas decorations for the same amount (or more) than it cost to buy new. I found a few people selling lighted deer for only a few dollars, but they were all so far away it wasn't worth the drive.

Finally, I hit upon a listing for a lighted deer, 6 strings of lights, and a set of stakes to put in the ground to hold the lights. I called her right away, dispatched my husband to acquire them, and spent the next day lighting up our house and yard. Cost: $25

Now I was missing a wreath for the door. I don't like ordinary wreaths with berries and pine cones and stuff. I like unconventional wreaths. I really wanted one of those made of glass balls; but they were $25 at the Target. Not wanting to double my budget I dug around at my grandpa's house and found a box of vintage glass ornaments that were all missing their tops. You know that little wire thingie that sticks in them? So they were pretty much useless for ornaments, but perfect for a wreath. I asked my dad to cut out wreath shape for me. It took a couple of tries (the balls didn't stay on with hot glue, they started falling right off!) but I now have a beautiful (and huge) glass ball wreath on my door. Cost: $0

On my way to Grandpa's I noticed a house with a box from a lighted deer out for the trash. I figured it was probably just the empty box from their (obviously new) deer display. On the way home, I passed it again, and noticed the deer on the box didn't match the new deer. I passed by, thinking no way would someone be tossing a 48" animated deer. Finally I turned around just to check. It was exactly what was in the box. A 48" lighted, animated "grapevine" deer, all folded up from being put out last year. I proudly brought him home.

I figured that he either didn't light up or his motor was broken. I figured at the very least I'd have a large, still, unlit deer, which was still cool. Well, his motor was fine, but his lights were in fact burned out. Upon closer inspection I realized they were just ordinary strings of lights attached with little plastic clips. As luck would have it, my cousin, hearing about my lack of "pretty lights" gave me a box of lights she didn't need anymore because she got a prelit tree.

After putting the kid to bed, I sat down with my box of lights and a pair of longnose pliers. Clip by clip I followed the path of the old lights, removing them one at a time and putting in the new strand. It took me a couple of hours, but I now have a huge lighted and animated deer that cost me literally nothing. Cost: $0.

So now, our house just about rivals the Griswold house. And all it took was about $40, some ingenuity, a careful trashpicking eye, and a bunch of handiwork.

I think that's actually better than using the credit card.

Hard Times--The Thrift Store

2011-11-28T08:37:00.001-08:00

With the economy such as it is, I've been meditating on what "hard times" means to me, to others, how it's changed me, and what I've learned. This will be another series of posts.

I feel I must preface this by saying that this is a comparison only. We are blessed in countless ways, and are not truly facing eviction, starvation, etc. I don't want this to come off as privileged whining. I'm comparing my current situation with my past situation. And to me, it's hard.

The Thrift Store
The thrift store was always someplace I donated to. I always felt good knowing that the things I was done with could be used by someone else, and, in the meantime, make some money for a worthy charity. In high school, the hip kids shopped at thrift stores for funky vintage clothes and prom dresses. I never thought I'd actually one day be purchasing the majority of my regular clothes at the thrift store. When I had my daughter, I gained weight and my body changed a lot. In addition, I cut back my hours at work, and no longer had the extra money available to buy a whole new wardrobe. I got by on jeans and nice tees for a while, and sometimes I bought a new outfit from my savings account. But did you ever notice that when you're schlubbing around in jeans all the time you feel sort of....schlubby? I didn't feel proud and good at work. I wanted to look professional again.

It was my daughter who showed me the way. I had always figured thrift store clothes were there for a reason; unattractive, out of style, damaged, etc. But when we went in to drop things off, she made a beeline for the children's rack and begged to try on clothes. We spent less than $20 and left with a bag of clothes (plus she liked one outfit so much she wanted to wear it home). I try to see lessons when they slap me in the face, so I told her we could buy a treat at the candy store because we had money left over. Once I got those clothes home and washed them and mixed them in with her other things, I couldn't quite remember which ones came from the thrift store and which were bought new.

Soon Maggie was begging to go to the thrift store to look around. And since she's so grown up, she told me "Mama you look at the grown up clothes and I'll look at the kids clothes". Light bulb! I paged through the racks and found a few things, and took them to try on. I wasn't expecting much. But I found two nice ribbed sweaters and a comfy skirt for only a few bucks apiece. I also found a nice pair of shoes that looked a LOT like a pair I used to have but had outgrown. (My feet grew a whole size too).

When I'd buy new clothes, I would always put them all out on the bed and revel in the thrill of shopping and saving and making new outfits. These weren't like that. I folded them up and put them in the drawer with my other things. Except for the one I put on. And I felt nice and pretty and professional. I also wasn't worried that they would shrink in the wash since they had already been washed. And best of all, I didn't have to worry about the credit card bill that would be showing up, because there wasn't one.

A few weeks later, I saw a sign outside my daughter's preschool about a clothing swap. I briefly thought about donating and then moved on. Later that week, I saw an article about the swap in the local paper. The article mentioned that it was for everyone; even people who just wanted to use the money for clothes for something else. It suddenly hit me that I could GO to the sale, not just donate. This event is a wonderful thing--it is totally free. You show up, they hand you a bag, and if you fill that one, they give you another. You take all you need. I went with the idea of picking up some clothes for Maggie. I found a few, but the kids' clothes were very picked over. I decided to peruse the adult tables.

About an hour later I was struggling out the door with two huge bags. My haul included jeans and two skirts for Maggie, a never-worn Speedo swimsuit, 5 pairs of work slacks, 2 blouses, a sweater, and I'm certain some other things I've forgotten. I went home and looked at it all. I felt so grateful for these women holding this event. None of the clothes quite fit as is, but because they were free I was not afraid to try to alter them.

I learned that when you have a pair of pants with darts and a large overlapping tab at the waistband, you can remove the waistband, open the darts, and reapply the waistband such that it doesn't overlap, giving you an extra 1-3 inches in the waist. I have learned that with a pair of pants that have an unyielding strip of ribbon inside the waist, the ribbon can be removed. I have learned that when the pants just plain don't fit, they can be taken apart and made into a skirt. I have learned that when the blouse has darts that are not cut, the darts can be picked out, giving you an extra 1-3 inches in the waist. I have learned that when a sweater has a collar and cuffs and a false "shirt tail" at the hem, any of these elements can be removed if you want.

I have learned that, once washed, "new" clothes look exactly the same as "thrift store" clothes.

Sprouts ya'll. I have SPROUTS

2011-09-01T05:31:00.000-07:00

For real! I do!

And on the way home last night I passed a "free" pile which I of course cannot resist. I found a big box of light bulbs (I'm sure at least SOME of them are still good--they're still in their boxes) and a little pair of hand weights (the size I use for Pilates class!). I love free piles. My family kinda laughs at me. But I view it as just an extension of recycling. My "free pile" finds include:

*a wooden end table with a large drawer. (I painted it with paint I already had, and added knobs I already had.)

*a "big wheel" trike for Maggie (it's missing a handle, but she doesn't care, and I believe she prefers it over her actual bike that I paid retail price for).

*a nice little wooden chair in a mid century style. (I replaced the seat fabric with fabric I already had; the padding was still in good shape).

*a beaten up putter (my dad cut it down and polished it for Maggie, using a grip he already had)

*a hand painted twin bed frame, with a wildflower scene. (the only thing it needed was finials for the posts, which my dad turned for me on his lathe. We actually used it for months before we had the finials though; they were just cosmetic. It was my guest room bed and now it's Maggie's bed.)

And this doesn't even begin to include the free things I've gotten from friends, family, coworkers, etc!

But you know what?

i have sprouts. :-)

On Being a Late Ant. And amazing Blessings

2011-08-28T17:00:00.000-07:00

1. Upon writing my previous post, I awoke early the next morning and went straight outside. I cleared all the sticks out of my compost pile. I built a compost enclosure. I shredded up newspaper and layered it in the bottom of my enclosure. I shoveled the compost onto the paper, breaking up the big chunks and swampy spots as I went.

2. Next, I built a 4'x2' raised garden bed. It's really raised--it sits on sawhorses to make it easier to tend and to keep the bunnies out.

3. I was unable to purchase seeds at the hardware store, so I looked at the ones I had purchased for my didn't-actually-happen spring garden. I wasn't sure what they were, as Maggie had picked them out, not me. Well damn if they weren't turnips, carrots, and radishes--all suited for fall gardening. The only thing I was worried about was the carrots--as the raised bed is only 6 inches deep. Well damn again---she had selected "half long" carrots.

4. I put three bags of Miracle Gro potting mix in my box. Actually, Mr. Knitty did this part. Suckers were heavy.

5. Following my niece's birthday party, I had just enough daylight left to rope off the sections of the garden with twine and plant my seeds. I have one section each of turnips and radishes, and two of carrots.

6. I actually remembered to water it.

7. In addition, Maggie and I cleared out about 50% of our scary-weed population and planted mums (yes, actual flowers!) in the garden thingy in the back.

8. This morning, my friend Heather arrived at my house with TWO huge boxes of fingering weight yarn--brand new--right when I had been trying to figure out the money to purchase yarn for a fair isle sweater. Another knitter friend of ours had been cleaning out her stash, and sent those just for me. And some other goodies; including some merino silk (!) blend, and some groovy purple roving. I'm gonna give spinning another shot.

9. My niece, who is one, gave me a big gap tooth smile for my little table I built her. All the other guests were saying "who built the cute little table??" Little birthday girl cried when I held her, but the smile makes up for it. I'm so glad she liked it!

Grasshopper

2011-08-26T12:15:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you're familiar with the story of the Ant and Grasshopper, where the ant works all summer and the grasshopper plays and thinks the ant is a chump. At the end of the season, the ant has plenty of food and the grasshopper is in a panic.

I HATE THAT STORY

Because I am always the Grasshopper. I am forever leaving things, blocking them out of my mind, thinking other people are chumps for paying attention to them and working hard, etc.

This time of year makes me sad, because other people are bringing in a lovely harvest of vegetables and enjoying their beautiful yards. I have weeds and rogue trees as tall or taller than me, sunken vegetable gardens full of clay, and weeds and crap everywhere.

I was owning it and taking control of it, looking up directions for raised planter beds and Zone 3 late-harvest plants that I can start now....and then I got another whack. So many of these things call for compost.

I have been composting for 2 years. I don't mean I've been out there turning and balancing and checking it, I mean I've been dumping shit in a pile for 2 years. Seemed easier. There are whole melons, logs, potatoes, etc in there. It's full of slime and mold and bugs. I figured underneath it would be that magical composted "black gold" but nope. Underneath is.......last year's melons, potatoes, logs, and a shitload of slimy heaven-knows-what.

Turns out when I read 6 articles on composting and decided they were all too damn much work and that I'd create my own new method....I was wrong. You actually DO need to do that turning and balancing and greens and browns and stuff in order to get compost.

This happens yearly with weeds in the yard too. I don't really go in the areas of the yard that grow a lot of weeds---if I don't see them, they're not there. And if I haven't planted anything, nothing is growing. Right? Wrong. I spent several hours yesterday hacking down trees and huge weeds and crazy shit I didn't even recognize.

It occurred to me that this may be why when I try to plant things, they don't grow, because the weeds have sucked out all the nutrients.

I've also assumed that weeds are just like plants that you plant---if you ignore them, they go away. This is apparently untrue.

I also find that gardening directions are unhelpfully vague. "Water frequently". Well, to me, watering frequently is once a week. I still am bitter over the rosemary tree I had that directed me to "water INfrequently" and died before the first scheduled every-two-weeks watering. Watering every day is more like "water constantly" or "water ceaselessly" or "water every time you brush your teeth" (I guess that would be twice a day).

The compost directions, too, said that I should dig up under the bottom of the pile occassionally. I've only been doing this for two years and I DID IN FACT dig up under the pile once. Isn't that "occassionally"?

And for a third example, the wildflower packets I bought said for "optimum" performance to till, lighten, compost the soil, and water three times a week. I figured I'd be cool with "mediocre" performance so I just threw the seeds down, soaked the hell out of them, and came back in a few weeks. Nothing grew. That is not what I call even "mediocre" performance! That's crappy performance!

So yeah, I'm bitter. Other people follow the directions and put in effort and get nice things. I laugh at those people and slack off and I do not get those nice things. And I do not learn.

KnittyMagic in the Bedroom

2011-08-26T08:35:00.001-07:00

NO. Not what you think!

This is another post about reworking your living space with creativity instead of money.

I had been lusting (HAH) after an upholstered headboard. I slept in a hotel bed with one and thought it was so nice to have a plushy thing at the top of the bed instead of wood and an empty space between the mattress and the headboard.

Purchased, they can be extremely pricey. Like, $500. I don't know what they're charging for---the plywood? Thanks to the show Mad Men, there are a number of DIY'ers out there who are creating their own---and they're STILL spending over $100. I'm not sure why. I only spent about $30 making mine. Granted I had some materials left over from other projects, but even buying everything new it would have been WELL under $100.

I didn't know exactly what I wanted, so I waited until the idea snuck up on me. One night as I was watching X files, I was sorting through my yarn stash. The notion of a granny-square headboard struck me. I didn't want it to look TOO kitschy, so I sorted all of the pink and red yarn out of my stash and decided to keep it within one color family. This was a good choice, as it gave it a scrappy look without looking....crappy.

I paid about $18 for the boards, and a few bucks for the joining pegs. (I wanted to use real wood instead of plywood). I padded it with medium density foam left over from a window cushion project. Any spaces I had left over I filled with scraps of quilt batting and fiberfill. I then wrapped the whole thing in quilt batting and then muslin. I had both of these. I stapled the stuff down good and then created a slipcover with my granny squares on the front and a piece of upholstery fabric from IKEA on the back. My dad hung it on the wall using French cleats ($8)

*****

I had so much fun making granny squares that I decided to make a big-ass pillow for my guest room. Color scheme in there is turquoise, so I dug out all turquoise and purple scrap yarns and made a giant pillow. I used blue upholstery fabric for the back (left over from another project). That only cost me $13 for the pillow inside.

There were a few things I was lacking in the guest room though. It's also a craft room for me and Maggie. I used to have a vintage lamp table in there, but I moved it to the living room, leaving a deficit of both lamp and table. I was on the way to Grandpa's to scavenge one when I found a pile of "free" furniture on the street. Including....a nice mid-century style end table with a giant drawer and pencil legs. I snapped it up. After a coat of paint (same stuff from the kitchen) and some vintage glass knobs (Grandpa's house) I had a completely FREE nightstand.

I took two lamps from Grandpa's house. They were nicely styled "ginger jar" shapes. Only problem was they were an ugly yellowish color. With the purchase of one can of spray paint (I had the other), I turned one into a lavender lamp for Maggie's room, and one into a blue lamp for my guest room. Only cost was the shades ($16 for both, Ikea).

And finally, I needed a couple of chairs in there. Inexpensive and comfy but preferably still awesome. Grandpa's house yielded only a couple of not-so-stylin federal style chairs with cane sides. The title of that post will be "A tale of two chairs".

That's called a teaser ;-)

KnittyMagic in the Kitchen

2011-08-26T08:23:00.000-07:00

No, this isn't about cooking.
This is about giving my kitchen a whole new look for very little money.

My kitchen cabinets are a style and color that's charitably called "Builder Oak". They're cheap, they're neutral, and they're not something that's likely to offend anyone. They're also boring as shit and look too old-lady for my taste. (My kitchen was not created by a builder, but rather a cheap old lady).

In a perfect world, I'd have the scratch to buy new cabinets; and I'd get lovely maple ones with glass doors on the top. Alas, this is not a perfect world (I love it anyway!) and so I had to roll up my sleeves and get creative.

When we bought our house, so much was made of the "good oak" cabinets that I was a little afraid to paint them. Wasn't that sacrilege? Painting "good oak"? Once I realized they were "shitty oak" not "good oak" I timidly asked my husband (who HATES home improvement projects) "Honey, what would you think about me painting the kitchen cabinets?"

(anyone who knows me IRL is laughing at A) the idea of me being timid and B) the idea of Mr. Knitty refusing me anything I wanted).

He said "You know what would be cool? Painting them turquoise." After a brief check to make sure we hadn't accidentally swapped brains, I said "Well, that's good because I wanted to paint them turquoise, but was afraid it would look too crazy." I've been drawn to all those lovely turquoise retro kitchens in my DIY magazines.

Painting your kitchen cabinets is a lot of work. It's not hard work, but it's tedious work, because you have to wait a LONG time between coats. It's also a challenge because you're still *using* your cabinets while this process occurs, and so you end up not being able to find things (was that in the box in the living room or is it somewhere here on the floor?) and also having to pussyfoot around the cabinets while they're still curing. When doing the doors, it's best to have them off the hinges and laying flat. Which is excellent provided you don't have a cat who wants to immediately walk on them.

I was shocked at how little the cost was for this project. It's almost all labor. I purchased one gallon of primer ($24), one gallon of paint specially formulated for cabinets ($30), a few new brushes ($8) and an extra package of sand paper ($3). In the end I also ended up wanting drawer pulls for the drawers (I previously only had knobs on the doors) so that was another $30-some.

All in all, I spent just a shade over $100 on the project, and the difference in my kitchen is stunning!

KnittyMagic in the Dining Room; and a product recommendation

2011-06-27T05:15:00.000-07:00

My dining room was a Big Deal to me when I bought my house. I wanted so badly to have beautiful formal dinners. I was going to wow everyone with my fabulous china, antiquated serving pieces, and amazingly huge Queen Anne table.

It's funny to write that now. About 6 years after purchasing the dining room set and getting my dining room "perfect" I had had approximately 4 dinners in there. I found I didn't actually enjoy hauling out (and washing) all those layers upon layers of dishes for formal settings. I began looking for excuses to hold parties outdoors or buffet style.

I tried to figure out why I didn't much enjoy the dining room. After all, I had just what I wanted. What was wrong? I tried a new tablecloth, some new dishes, new curtains...I even spent two weekends recovering the dining room chairs. And once I did that, I realized what the problem was. It wasn't that I didn't like holding dinner parties (although the superfluous china really was kind of silly). It wasn't that the dining room was unwelcoming or awful.

The table was too big. I never realized it. It looked great with the chairs assembled around it. But in order to sit down, you had to carefully pull out the chair (without hitting the wall) and then thread your body in. The chairs were heavy and poofy and the legs were curved out in the way. Could it be that the perfect dining room wasn't so perfect?

Time for KnittyMagic.

1. The curtains I had in there were sheer purple voile ones from Ikea. I had made them into a sort of Roman shade style. The layers of fabric ended up blocking out all the light. I had a beautiful picture window and it was completely blocked off. I decided a simple scarf valance would look nice. I found, however, that Ikea no longer carried the scarf valance in purple. I really liked the fabric of those curtains. Then I realized, what is a scarf valance but two panels sewn together? I ripped out the seams that made them Roman shades, trimmed the rod pockets, and stitched two of them together end to end. I purchased a set of curtain tiebacks from Ikea ($3.99) to hang them. Cost: $4 for tiebacks.

2. Accent wall. This is my new favorite way to decorate. I'm drawn to deep, exciting colors, but often those are just too much for a whole room. I have an open floor plan which means it's hard to tell where one room ends and the next begins. I have dark furniture in the dining room, so I picked a dark mustard color. I painted the wall with the window (it only took a couple of hours) to set off that great purple scarf valance. Cost: $15 for paint. I bought the good stuff that is paint and primer in one. It's worth the extra cost. Cheap paint is no bargain.

3. Rearrange. It's that simple. I took everything out of my china cabinet, set some things aside to sell, and rearranged the rest. Cost: free, although if I can sell a few things I may end up making money on the deal!

4. Table. I needed a new table. At first I thought I'd build one. Then I thought I'd buy one. Then I couldn't decide. I took down the old table and dragged my kitchen table in there. I thought it would look pretty silly, because it was awfully small compared to the old one. Oddly enough, we discovered we rather liked it in there. It opened up the room a lot, leaving plenty of room to walk around the table. It is so nice to walk around the table to open the china cabinet, and not have to thread your body around the chairs. However, that kitchen table, while a good size for the three of us, was in no way big enough for guests. I needed something that could expand a little.

I had planned to buy something, but when I balanced the checkbook I decided there was currently not enough for a new dining room table, at least until I sold the old table. I couldn't really find anything that was the right size that I liked anyway. I decided to scavenge from my grandpa's house. Kitchen tables now are typically 36" wide, whereas the size I was looking for was 32" wide. I took a tape measure over to Grandpa's and voila! 20 minutes later I was hauling that sucker down the attic stairs. It didn't sell at the estate sale---so it was meant to be with me.

There was only one problem. It looked old. The finish was worn in spots and the legs were scratched like crazy. I did a little googling and discovered a product called Howard's Restor-a-Finish. It says that in one easy step you wipe it on, let it dry, and it renews the luster and beauty of the original finish, blends away scratches, and permanently removes water rings. Yeah right I said, but I'm always down for an easy one step makeover.

This stuff is magic in a can!!! I was squealing as I wiped my rag over the surface of the 50 year old table and scratches, rings, and scuffs disappeared. After about an hour's drying time, my table looked great. The finish is shiny and hard. It doesn't look like it just came off the showroom floor, but it looks like its best self. Scuffs and scratches are, to some extent, the charm and character of vintage furniture. This keeps the overall vintage look while minimizing those scratches and blemishes. In one easy step. Highly, highly recommended.

Total costs:
Curtains: $3.99 for tiebacks
Paint: $15
Table: $8.00 for Howard's Restor-a-Finish

That's less than $30. And everyone at last weekend's party marveled at how much the dining room seemed opened up and more welcoming!

KnittyMagic How-Tos: Outside

2011-06-23T09:23:00.000-07:00

My porch was sure looking shabby. When I bought my house and my things, I misunderstood how "outdoor furniture" worked. I figured you stuck it outside and used it when you felt like it. I never even considered bringing it in over the winter or covering it up in the rain, or taking down the umbrella. Why? It was *OUTDOOR* furniture.

Within a few weeks, the umbrella snapped, the cushions on the chairs molded, and it wasn't even winter yet. After a couple of Midwestern winters, the name of the game became "throw out everything that didn't survive the winter".

Outdoor furniture, for something you leave to the elements, is rather damned expensive. This quickly became cost prohibitive, so I gave up on the "outside" thing. I couldn't just throw some food on the grill and sit down at the table like Martha Stewart; I had to set up the table, clean it, find a chair that wasn't wet, or dry one off, round up the umbrella---eff that. We just hung out in our handily temperature-controlled house.

Then I had a kid. Kids, they like to play outside. Which translates to "time I don't have to amuse the kid". Unfortunately, my porch was not terribly pleasant. The grill was showing its age from living uncovered all winter. The chairs were a disaster. We had one sturdy chair (but the resin was disintegrating so it left green marks on anyone sitting in it), 2 adorable motel chairs (with giant rust patches), and 1 folding chair (that had seen better days), and 1 table with no umbrella.

When I fell through the folding chair (that was an adventure) I decided to build a bench instead of chairs. Even the cheap plastic chairs cost around $15-20, multiply that and it's a fair investment (for something that typically lasts only one summer). Using the scraps left over from the cedar dining table I made for my mom, I built a nice little bench for two people. Cost: one box of screws (didn't have the right length). If not using wood I already had, the cost would be about $25.

The green resin chair was still sturdy, it was just---getting green everywhere. So I decided to try this new spray paint by Rust Oleum that's formulated for plastics. It's pretty hard to use effectively, and you'd probably need two cans to properly cover a chair, but we managed to make it so the chair doesn't get green everywhere--so that's surely a bonus, right? Note to self; do not choose red paint for a green chair. Cost: $5

I was not yet done with my adventures in spray paint. I figured those motel chairs HAD to be salvageable. My mother tells me that the old ones at actual, y'know, *motels* sometimes had layers upon layers of paint. I purchased a couple of wire brushes to brush off some of the rust, used coarse sandpaper to rough up the surface, and painted 2 chairs and 1 little table with candy pink paint! If you get up close to them, you'll see I wouldn't have made a very good graffiti artist, but from the street, they look great ;-) Cost: $20 for spray paint and wire brushes.

Ah, that grill wasn't looking so good. But heck, paint had worked miracles on those motel chairs, hadn't it? I rummaged around in the garage and found a can of Rust Oleum classic black flat paint. It was leftover from painting the mailbox, which we don't exactly take in every winter, and it still looks great after 6 years. The actual grill itself wasn't looking bad, because the paint for that is heat-resistant (read: higher quality) than the paint on the cabinet that holds it. Well, now they match, because I painted the cabinet (I didn't even need to rough that up, just wipe it off) with my flat black Rust Oleum, and while it won't fool anyone into thinking we have a brand new grill, it looks a hell of a lot better than it did. Cost: $0, because I had the paint, $4 if I had to buy it.

When there's a little paint left in the can KnittyMagic dictates we find something else to paint, since we're already in painting mode. That outdoor dining table had long outlived its umbrella and chairs. The glass wasn't cracked, the legs were faded but not rusted, and it was just the right size. So I painted the metal frame. Cost: $0 because I had the paint.

The one expensive part of the porch redo was, alas, a new umbrella. Why are those things so damn expensive? They give away regular umbrellas for free! I found a mid-quality green umbrella at Target for $70, and that was actually a really good price. Don't worry, I'm taking this one down each time I use it! Cost $75 with tax.

Then for a bit of "window dressing", so to speak, I found a vinyl tablecloth (vintage orange!) and cut a hole in the middle for the umbrella hole. That was free for me (scavenged from Grandpa's) but they are easily found for $5 or less. The ones with the hole already in them are sometimes twice as much or more, but cutting a hole isn't exactly tough, and vinyl doesn't fray. Cost $0-5 depending on your scavenging opportunities.

The final piece will be a weighted base for the umbrella to sit in. These are not terribly pricey, but I happen to have some materials lying around that will make a decent, functional base.

1. Wash an empty plastic detergent bottle. Cut off the top half.
2. Mix up a batch of cement from one of those "stepping stone" kits. (I don't need a stepping stone. I do need an umbrella base).
3. Pour the cement into the bottle. *BEFORE IT DRIES* do step 4:
4. Find a piece of PVC pipe that will accommodate the umbrella's pole, and will stick up at least an inch from the top of the cement. Cover the end with duct tape to keep it from filling the tube, then submerge the tube in the center of the cement in the bottle.
5. Allow to set. Place under table. This is weatherproof and inexpensive!

Cost: $0 if you have the stuff, about $10 for a stepping stone kit and a piece of PVC if you don't.

Total cost of porch fix-up for me: $108
Total cost of porch fix-up if I had to buy everything: $144 Still not bad!!!

And just for giggles; I looked at some of the prices for new things, had I decided to purchase rather than create.
New Martha Stewart table + 4 chairs: ~$250 on sale
New "motel chair" set (1 table & 2 chairs) ~$89 on sale
New "cheap" umbrella table + 4 chairs ~$130 on sale
New lower-end gas grill ~$200

Nope, I didn't do too bad at all!

KnittyMagic Series Part 1

2011-06-06T12:50:00.000-07:00

When I bought my house, I had too much money and not enough sense. Despite cautions to shop slowly, I wanted to make a HOME so badly that I went out and bought what I thought would look good, with little heed to its true place in my life.

I always loved the look of a round oak kitchen table ($500). I always wanted a Big Girl Dining Room ($3000). And Big Girl Matching Furniture ($1500).

So I got all that, and filled my house with it, and thought that was it. In Fight Club, remember how once you have that sofa thing figured out, you're set? I thought so too.

Well, the cream colored camel back sofas with the rolled arms were not only Not My Style but they were rather uncomfortable. They also didn't REALLY fit the living room.

That round oak table? Where Mom said we'd be cursing that pedestal? Yeah, we hated the pedestal.

And that dining room set. Oh, the dining room set. For a few years straight I could just look at my dining room set and feel happy. Granted, I never really enjoyed holding dinner parties in there. My friends weren't really suited to dinner parties, and my family expected a certain type of dinner parties (just like mom's) and I was never really comfy sitting in there. It was perfectly beautiful and yet....not me.

*****

6 years later I now have more sense than money. Money was blown on things like siding and windows, a lot was wasted on senseless bullshit, and more than a little was spent on that whole having-a-baby-thing. Now instead of going "I want it and I have a big savings account so I'll get whatever I choose!" I am more going "I want THIS and I have...oh....well....$36."

So, I have had to rely on a heavy dose of KnittyMagic. No longer do I have the luxury of simply replacing all the things that I change my mind about with a trip to the furniture store. No, now I have to really figure and plan, and make sure that, this time, I'm spending my money where it counts.

Knittykat is a Shane Walsh Apologist Part 3

2011-02-25T09:34:00.000-08:00

3. Shane beat the shit out of Ed Peletier.

Yep, this one's true too. Ed Peletier is (was) a violent jackass who beat his wife and hurt his daughter. He was in the middle of chastising the women who were doing laundry for the entire encampment---while he sat on his ass. When he felt his wife talked back to him, he smacked her in the face. Shane grabs him, takes him down, and beats the shit out of him.

Extremely vivid visuals included, I was cheering when this happened. If you're gonna beat the shit out of someone, make it a wife-beater. I can't stand anything more than the "but it's their marriage" business. Way to avoid responsibility. Shane, you may have gone a little far here, but frankly you get a big high five from me.

4. Shane took aim at Rick in the woods.

This one was a tough one. But I'm going to break it down to plain stone cold fear. Fear for your life and the lives of those you care about. I am sure Shane is feeling really conflicted emotions at this point. Rick has recently returned and now Lori blames him for Rick's abandonment. In trying to protect her, to make a difficult choice in an impossible situation, he's being all but blamed for orchestrating Rick's death so he could take his place in his family.

Shane feels he's always lived in Rick's shadow, and his time protecting the Atlanta survivors has been a rare time of being in charge, of calling the shots. Now that Rick has returned, Shane feels that he is taking over, dismissing the fact that Shane kept these people alive and protected them in a time of crisis, and now Rick wants to lead the group into Atlanta in an attempt to reach the CDC. Shane feels this is a shot in the dark, and that the group is safer staying where they are, with its known dangers. He feels as though Rick is drawing Lori and Carl into extreme danger. He is terrified himself.

And I think that's why he takes aim. I don't have to tell you that he doesn't go through with it, that he puts down the gun with a horrified look on his face. When he realizes that Dale has witnessed this, that's why he makes a lame excuse---because he knows there IS no excuse for what he almost did. He knows it's not something he'd do, but he was caught up in an emotionally charged moment. In the face of cold, panicking fear, people do things they would not ordinarily do.

5. Shane drunkenly confronted Lori in the rec room at the CDC.

This is probably the biggie--the thing that turned most people off of him. I found the scene jarring when I first saw it. Lori is in the rec room looking at books, and Shane barges in, very drunk, and insists that he tell his side of the story. He tries to physically hold her in place, and she scratches his face to get away. He certainly does look menacing, and his actions are too forward and too demanding. In her place, I would have reacted just as Lori did.

But I fall short of calling this abusive or an attempted rape, as some people have. Again I have to call it extreme drunkenness and chaotic, raw emotions bubbling to the surface. He feels he's been unfairly vilified when all he was trying to do was protect Lori and Carl. He's scared for his life. He misses the comfort offered to him by his closeness with Lori and his friendship with Rick. He's very drunk, overtired, confused, and he picks a very bad time to try to have an adult conversation. He wants Lori to know that he cares for her and that's why he stepped in, not because he was trying to lay claim to Rick's life. He knows that the rest of the group is distrustful of him after he beat Ed Peletier, and he wants Lori to know that he is not a monster.

After Lori runs out of the room, Shane's face falls. He feels terrible for what he's done, he KNOWS he's fucked up. In trying to explain things and make them better, he's only made them worse. He feels like he's fighting a losing battle and he doesn't know where to turn. He feels he has everyone's best interests at heart and everyone is falling into line behind Rick's leadership instead of his.

Part 4 contains analysis.

Knittykat is a Shane Walsh Apologist Part 2

2011-02-25T08:37:00.000-08:00

Okay. I've decided to take people's complaints and arguments one at a time, to put SOME semblance of coherence to this mess.

1. Shane left his best friend Rick for dead.

Okay, okay, this is true in the strictest literal sense. The last show of the season shows a flashback in which Shane attempts to carry Rick (who is unconscious) out of the hospital as zombies gather around the room. I am going to go ahead and say that even if Shane realized that Rick was still alive, he either a) figured he would be dead soon without life support or b) realized he could not carry Rick and escape with both of their lives intact.

In a life or death situation, the brain switches into full survival mode. People have argued that Shane left Rick for dead because he coveted Rick's wife, Lori. While he may well have been attracted to Lori, that sort of conniving is unrealistic in a true life or death situation. If anything, he may have realized that if he did not escape, Rick's family would not survive without his help, and decided to trade the life of his best friend for his best friend's loved ones.

Were Rick conscious, I don't doubt he would have agreed. What heroic man would not give up his (tenuous) grasp on life so that his family may survive?

And so while Shane may have known Rick was not completely dead, he must have realized that rescuing him was an impossible feat, and made the difficult choice to leave him behind.

2. Shane ends up forging a relationship with Lori, Rick's wife, in his absence.

Again, yes, literally true. Shane told Lori that Rick was dead, because by that point he was convinced that he would not have survived the zombie attack even if he survived his gunshot wound when the life support systems went down. I am going to go out on a limb and say that this, too, was a move to protect Lori's feelings and her memory of her husband. Who wants to believe their husband was devoured by zombies? Wouldn't it be easier and more comforting to believe that he died in the line of duty (he was a police officer after all)?

As the de facto leader of the small group of survivors, Shane is especially protective of Lori and Carl, who is Rick and Lori's son. He moves quickly into a father role with Carl, trying to fill the void left by Rick's absence. And yes, he does end up having a sexual relationship with Lori.

While I admit I was surprised by this at first, I had to remind myself that I have never experienced an apocalyptic zombie attack. If my home, my husband, my friends, my TOWN, and everything I knew and relied upon were suddenly gone, you can bet that I would be seeking any source of comfort available to me. Shane is not a random guy to Lori--he's been Rick's best friend since grade school. A person that close is like part of the family, and I cannot judge Lori or Shane for seeking comfort in each other. When the entire infrastructure of your life has been shattered, all bets are off.

Stay tuned for part three.

The Walking Dead: Knittykat is a Shane Walsh Apologist Part 1

2011-02-25T08:18:00.000-08:00

I looked back at my last few posts and realized that I am all over the freaking MAP when it comes to topics, but I have gotten a lot of comments from people I've never met before that must have found me through Google. And so, hey, in the interest of Random, here ya go.

Mr. Knittykat brought home a copy of Season 1 of AMC's zombie apocalypse drama "The Walking Dead". I wasn't expecting to like it, as I'm not a huge zombie fan, but I figured it's good knitting time so I sat down to watch it. Three hours and 4 episodes later we are debating do we go to bed or keep watching until we've watched the entire season. Great characters, great effects, cinematic quality, and an awesome story. Love.

One of my favorite parts was Jon Bernthal's character Shane Walsh. He's rugged, he's heroic, he's fiercely protective, and he's also buff and just basically delicious in my book.

So the next day I looked around online to read some other folks' reactions to the show (and to find some pictures of Jon Bernthal without a shirt on). And I was really surprised to find that most women found him to be a creep whereas he definitely made me feel all squirmy inside. Women were calling for Shane's death and were instead incredibly turned on by Daryl Dixon.

I was rather astounded. Daryl made my skin crawl. In my opinion he was nothing but a scrawny racist redneck. I wouldn't want to be stuck in a dark alley with him around. He looks like he avoided the zombie apocalypse by hiding out in his meth lab.....okay I'll stop now.

Anyhoo, I found a lot of contempt for Shane's actions in the show (the comics are a different story line, so there is significant variance) and I found myself ranting to my husband about how clearly these people were not Getting It. And I thought "heck, I want to get this out, so I'm gonna put it on my blog."

We'll see if I get any interesting comments from this.

Ye Olde Laundry Cycle

2011-01-08T10:10:00.000-08:00

Completely and totally boring post today. As anyone who runs a household knows, finally gaining control of a persistent problem can be unreasonably thrilling, even when the topic itself is pretty dull.

I never used to have much problem with laundry. When I lived at home, Mom did it. Then when I got married, we each did our own. I had enough clothes and could wear them enough times between washings that I rarely had to wash.

Well, now I'm Mom, and I work part time and Mr. Knitty works full time, so guess what I get to do. Everyone's laundry, including the household laundry. Joy. I don't particularly care for doing laundry. It seems like way too many steps for a mostly automated process. I mean, it's not like I have to boil water over a fire or beat my towels on rocks. I'm fine through filling the machine and then running it. But then I tend to forget stuff. Because the laundry cycle is long enough that you can go do something else, but not SO long that you can just go off and get involved in something. Even if I do remember to put it in the dryer, I forget to take it out of there, because the dryer cycle is also too long/not long enough. Then everything's wrinkled....blah blah blah.

I also really hated doing laundry because someone "ran out" of something; clean underwear, shirts, etc.

Ironically enough my solution came with a friend's suggestion of line-drying my laundry in order to save on energy. Fresh airy scent and environmental good aren't really enough to convince me, but lower bills are! However, I only had enough line space and clothespins to hang one big load at a time. My usual laundry day involved 4 loads, and not enough time in between to dry. Meaning I could line dry one load, and the rest had to go in the dryer. Not only did this mean that I had my old dryer problem still in force, but the savings for line drying only 25% of the laundry are pretty minimal.

I had an idea. I work three days a week. Two days off and two days on the weekend. Usually on my days "off" when I'm taking care of the kid, I'm looking for things to do! So I let one problem solve the other. I decided to do one load of laundry on each of my days off.

Whatever is in the laundry basket goes in in the morning. This is typically one very full load. I wash everything in cold and I wash everything with the same detergent so I don't really separate laundry, I just pitch it all in. I have my coffee and watch a movie with Maggie. This is my usual ease-into-the-morning routine; I'm paying attention to her but nothing too intense. It also serves as a good timer---once the movie is over the wash cycle is done and I can hang up my stuff.

I put Mr. Knitty's underwear, jeans, tshirts, and our towels into the dryer. I hang everything else. Towels just don't dry nicely on the line, and Mr. Knitty's things take too long to dry on the line. I'd rather leave room for the things that dry nice and quick. I hang sheets too because our dryer wads them up into a bundle that leaves the inside damp even when the outside is dry.

In the winter, I have a line hung in my laundry room, plus a round hoop with pins on it to hang small items like my and Maggie's socks and undies. I let Mr. Knitty's dress shirts tumble for one minute in the dryer while I'm hanging the other things, then I hang them up. The steam releases the wrinkles and they look like they've been ironed!

Now the things can dry at their leisure. The things in the dryer are not things that need to be immediately folded---no one cares if their towels are wrinkled! So if I don't remember them for a couple of days, no harm done. The things on the line aren't going anywhere either. I take them down when I have the time. This effectively cuts my laundry time in half, because I'm not "on the hook" for a folding appointment.

On the weekend, I usually do two loads, making a total of 4 loads a week. It's the same amount as before, but now it is spread out. 1 hour every few days is much better than doing laundry ALL day. Because there is only one or two loads at a time, the basket is easier to carry, the folding doesn't take as long, and putting everything away takes less than 10 minutes. Plus it's not the horrible dreaded job it used to be, which is often the problem with unpleasant household tasks. We put them off until they become even WORSE.

So now I have my laundry cycle in place, and no one is running out of clothes, and I don't have to spend my entire Sunday washing. I also am saving a lot of energy, which is good for my wallet and the environment. I'm also rarely rewashing loads that got left in the washer and got stinky (I think this has happened twice in the last 6 months).

I find this system more convenient than putting it off, and how often does something MORE convenient save money?

Stash. Bust.

2010-12-27T10:41:00.001-08:00

I don't have a LOT of stash. Most knitters have more than I do. But I feel like I have too much for ME. See, since my mind changes quickly and I am easily distracted, I am always deciding I MUST MUST MUST make a project, I run out and buy the yarn, then lose interest. Then I have the yarn languishing in my stash, and it may or may not be "just right" for the next MUST MAKE project.

So I'm always looking for patterns to use up yarn. And I'm always looking at yarn thinking "almost perfect, but not quite". So then when I do find a pattern I MUST make, I feel like I should use something I have......which ends up not being right......which means I'm not happy with the project in the end.

My ideal is to find a pattern, select just the right yarn and color, then make. Rarely happens.

So I am on a mission to take all the nice yarns I have and actually use them. It's not crap yarn I lost interest in, it's nice stuff that I'm "saving" for just the right thing. Some of it is in very small quantities, others I have a bunch of. So.

I started with 4 skeins of cranberry Encore that I had purchased for a sweater for Maggie. Maggie looked at it and said "I don't like it I want BRIGHT red." I only had one skein of bright red. So Maggie got a bright red sock monkey and I used the cranberry red to make a little sweater for myself. The pattern is called Hey Teach! and is available free on Knitty. I highly recommend the pattern. While it is not the most original thing around, it is obvious the designer is very experienced and put some real thought into the pattern. Nice little details like decreases between stockinette and rib to prevent rolling, an easy-to-memorize lace pattern, and an added-on-later button band make you feel like you really know what you're doing! My sweater fits perfectly.

Next I finished Maggie's red sock monkey. He has a personality all his own. I am not up on my primate anatomy so I accidentally put his ears on top of his head instead of on the sides. So he appears to be wearing Mickey Mouse ears. To that I say....so? He has big, expressionless eyes and crocheted arms (and a knitted body). I luv him. So does Maggie. His name is Bea. Pronounced "BEE-uh".

I still had some red yarn left and so I made a little top-down cardigan for Maggie's new doll Melanie. She's an American Girl that we got on our first annual trip to the "magic dolly store". Melanie also has a little pixie-beanie that is terribly cute.

I still had yarn to use, so I looked on Ravelry for "stash busting" patterns. I found one that appealed to me---a dead fish hat. This is also a pattern available for free on Knitty. It's a clever pattern, using short rows to shape the fish mouth and directions to pick up stitches to add fins right on (most of the time I would do that anyway, but the pattern would have you knit them separately and sew them on). I told Mr. Knitty that I wanted to make a Dead Fish Hat but didn't have anyone to make it for. He suggested that I was overlooking the obvious and he had a deep desire for a Dead Fish Hat. Mr. Fishie used up a LOT of little tiny balls of yarn, plus most of a skein of brownish Encore.

I had a single ball of a neat red/pink/brown colorway of Patons Classic feltable yarn, and so I paired that with some cream colored vintage wool and made a little cloche for Maggie. Now I need to felt it.

I was having a great time using my stash! But there was still more to go.

For Xmas I received a precious little netbook named Ruby. Ruby likes to go with me, but she needed something to protect her from the elements. Rather than spend $30 on a case, I designed a custom sweater for Ruby out of handspun yarn. The handspun yarn is it's own story--I had the fiber in my stash for several years before I admitted to myself that spinning was simply not for me. I contracted a friend who likes to spin to spin it into yarn for me. I had this lovely yarn, but then no project to make it into!

Many design elements went into Ruby's sweater. I haven't written up the pattern yet, but she has a short-row flap, a join-as-you-go back panel, a slightly smaller gauge to pull in her top, and a manila envelope style button closure. I'm proud of the design because it's cute and functional. It's also a great use for barely 100 yards of super bulky yarn, making it a great project for a fun handspun or a great funky yarn that you don't want to wear next to your skin.

Whatever shall I make next?

I Have a Secret

2010-09-08T09:31:00.001-07:00

It's a stupid secret.

I wish I could bike commute.

There, I said it. Toldja it was stupid.

As I total up the amount of money we spend on gas every month, I cringe. Even if only in nice weather, I wish wish wish I could hop on my bike, hitch up Maggie in a trailer or cargo box, and ride the 6 measly miles to mom's house (and work, which is right there too).

I wish I could say "yeah, I bike to work".

I wish I could not sit there in the morning traffic jam thinking of all the gas I'm wasting.

And I wish that 2 years ago, I hadn't tried to bike to work and failed. I was all jazzed to hitch up Maggie and Hannibal and even Ning the penguin. I stashed my purse in the back of the cargo trailer and felt immensely cool. Until, less than a mile and a half from home, I nearly collapsed off the bike. Humiliating. I had to call my mother to come get me. The neighbors were coming out to make sure I was okay. Someone offered me breakfast. And a garage to stash the bike & trailer in until that afternoon. I rode the bike back home while Mom drove the baby. And I collapsed on the floor, barely able to breathe.

If I could bike to work, I would not only save the gas & wear and tear on Maxxine, but I would probably eliminate my YMCA membership, which is costing me a lot and I'm using it very little.

On that subject, I'm not sure what to think about the Y. As far as exercise options go, I like it. But I get really bored. I loved running until my kneecaps nearly flew off one day and I almost fell down. I liked the elliptical machine until my heart rate went over 110 and I nearly passed out. I liked the treadmills until I got boooooooooored. I liked swimming but the times for swimming are very limited, and I dislike sharing a lane with 4 other people.

I liked the idea of dropping Maggie off in the kids center and having some "apart time" where she could play and I could work out. Until one day, my kid who is Not Afraid of Anything decided she is stone cold terrified of the kids center, and doesn't even like to go near the door now. As it currently stands:

*I can do classes only on Tuesday nights or weekends, and the ones I want aren't offered then
*I can work out on Tuesday nights, but I usually have other stuff I want to do
*Maggie and I can do kid classes but they almost all occur when I'm at work
*Going swimming is fun but the times are very limited
*We pay $70/month for a family membership
*I go on average about twice a month

I have severe problems with any kind of exercise in which I'm not doing something productive. Riding my bike to work, the park, the library = productive. Riding around in circles or on a stationary bike = not productive. Running after Maggie on the playground = productive. Running around in circles or on the elliptical machine = not productive. I feel ridiculous dancing around in an aerobics class, running on a treadmill, or lifting weights just for the hell of it.

The only thing holding me back is it is super nice to be able to go swimming or play bball as a family on winter evenings.

Maybe it's time to see if I can train myself into riding that 6 miles, and cut off that gym membership.

Kindle vs. Real Book?

2010-07-19T12:46:00.001-07:00

I almost bought a Kindle. Frankly I love gadgetry and I'm impressed by the expanding uses of e-readers; 3G for web browsing, the ability to store 1500 books at once, the ability to instantly acquire a book, and even the ability to borrow some from LIBRARIES!!

So all of this is awesome but I have to say that I found one of the key reasons people tout Kindles and their ilk is *savings*. Savings? Really? The Kindle I was looking at was used, and so it was less expensive. Currently they are going for about $189, down much from their original $399 price tag.

However I had to laugh at how people are talking about the price of Kindle editions of books vs. the price of new, hardcover paper books. Really folks? Yes, a new Kindle ed. is about $10 and a new hardcover about $25. But who seriously buys all brand new hardcovers?? And if you DO buy all brand new hardcovers, you are probably not really concerned with saving money, are you?

I check out most of my books from the library. I do not have a big thing for saving books I have read unless I truly expect to read them again. I buy books that I expect to want again, like cookbooks or a treasured few novels, or books I think will take me way too long to read from the used bookstore. Rarely is anything more than $5 there, and I offset the costs further by bringing in my old books for trade.

So in my case, the Kindle would end up costing me MORE. And probably a LOT MORE with the ease of "oh I want that book ::boop:: hey I have it now!" impulse purchases.

So yeah, go ahead, tell me about how the Kindle is the wave of the future. It is awesome on many levels. But don't go on about how much you save! It's a savings in the same way that the Magic Bullet blender thingy can "reduce your grocery bills" by allowing you to make quesadillas at home instead of going out to a bar.

You can't fool me with your pseudo-economic BS!

Bargain!

2010-06-06T05:33:00.000-07:00

So we needed new sheets. I have a serious problem buying sheets--they pill, they wear thin, the elastic lets go, etc. I never want to buy expensive ones because I'm afraid that they will do the same thing and I will have just wasted MORE money.

I decided to learn about buying sheets. Apparently Egyptian cotton is queen. And some cheaper sheets that claim high thread counts are actually 2 ply threads, split (and thus weakened) and are not even as good as the "actual" thread count they are. See, thread counts are easy to remember and thus easy to sell. So they use lower quality cotton and up the thread count. Because most people just look at the thread count and not the actual contents.

Armed with this information, I decided to do my usual thing---throw money at it. I figured I'd go to Macy's and buy awesome (expensive) sheets and they would be wonderful. I happened to be spending the day with my buddy LJ yesterday and she suggested Filene's Basement, for those department store names at half the price.

What fun! I had budgeted about $75-100 for new sheets. I found 500 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets that felt delicious soft and were a lovely turquoise color for only $50. The little tag said "compare at $190" which I don't know that I believe, however these were probably at least $100 in their department store incarnation. And then on the clearance rack I found delightfully buttery soft chocolate brown sheets by Nautica.....marked down to $26. $26 will hardly even buy you a cheap set of queen sheets, and we're talking REALLY cheap. I'm sure I spent more on Maggie's twin sheets and they are pretty basic quality.

The $26 sheets had a few marks on them--like the sewing machine dripped a little oil on the seams. Tiny marks. At first I put them back, but after a trip to the bathroom I was still thinking about how soft and delicious they were.....and so I decided for $26 I would try to get the spots out, and even if I couldn't, they weren't anything gross and heck, sheets get spots on them anyway, so for delicious buttery softness and an awesome chocolate color...I would take the risk.

They're in the wash right now and just handling them to put them in the wash was lovely. I decided that for a discount of like, $100 I was willing to deal with a couple of little spots :-)

I wasn't sure if I violated the rule of "if something's on sale, that doesn't mean you should buy two" but really, I hear you're supposed to have THREE sets of sheets for each bed. We have that for Maggie's bed, but not ours. We actually have one set with pills, and one set with holes along the elastic, and that's it. Shameful! So I figured, since I budgeted about $100 for one set of sheets (figuring I'd save up for a second set) $82 for TWO sets of sheets was fair.

This may be the longest post ever about sheets!

I DID IT!!!

2010-04-19T13:19:00.001-07:00

Friday, after writing the post about financial issues, I went home and started writing down on a piece of paper the bills *as I see them*. This ended up being the important key here. Before I was trying to force my brain to accept things as Mr. Knitty saw them or as financial planners or budget tools saw them.

I came up with three categories:
Regular bills: these are bills I get on paper or electronically that happen every month or every other month. These are things I expect; mortgage, utilities, phone.

Regular Variable bills: These are things that happen every month but vary some; groceries, gas for the car, new clothes, home improvement.

Irregular Bills aka "Nasty Surprises": These are things that I'm not expecting, even if I should be. Medical bills. Car insurance (twice a year is too infrequent for me to remember to do it). home repairs. Car repairs.

Then I started writing how much each typically costs in each category. Regular bills were easy. Regular Variable were tougher, but not too hard. Irregular bills I decided to treat as one "lump", and to set aside an amount of money that seemed to be a "high average" of how much they seemed to be.

I also set aside $100 to be automatically deducted and put in my savings account.

Now the execution has always been a sticking point for me. Sure it looks great on PAPER but when the bills come and the money's gone, it's not always easy to figure out why. So I have three accounts now. Each month, a "lump" of money goes into the "Irregular" account, to be set aside against emergencies. "Regular" expenses come straight out of the main account. "Regular Variable" and "Irregular" expenses go on the credit card. We will be keeping close watch on that credit card to make sure it doesn't go over the allotted amount. Then the money can be transferred to cover each category of expenses.

Wow, I'm seeing how this sound SUPER complicated when I describe it, although visually it made perfect sense. Maybe that's why I find other people's systems overly complicated.

Anyhoo, I'm really proud of myself. I figured "I'm a college grad, i SHOULD be able to figure this out!" And I did!

Personal Finance

2010-04-16T09:41:00.000-07:00

Okay folks, I admit it, I need help.

I have no idea how to manage my money.

I have two modes of operation; Buy Everything I Want Because We Shouldn't Have To Feel Poor and We Are Destitute I am Not Spending a Single Goddamn Penny.

Unfortunately, as with many parts of my life, I am plagued by my extremist nature. As my great grandmother drove---flat out or stopped dead, I try to manage my money.

It used to be easier. When we first got married, we put both paychecks in the checkbook and paid our bills from that. We had a big savings account from our wedding gifts and so anything else we wanted we used our credit cards and then paid them off with the savings account.

Well, after 7 years of doing that, plus buying a new house, renovating said house, etc, that savings account, while not dry, is no longer the bottomless well it once appeared to be. And now, even though we make more, the money just seems to be sliding out the door when I'm not looking.

I've tried all the things I'm supposed to do. I tried being utterly frugal and paying only cash and not buying a damn thing we didn't desperately need. Then I felt stressed and anxious all the time. I was so worried about 12 cents here or there that I couldn't relate to the big picture. We'd skip inexpensive, pleasurable things because it "cost too much". So I tried relaxing and just purchasing what I saw fit--and the result of that of course was unchecked spending.

I tried figuring out my fixed expenses for the year, dividing it by 12, and setting aside that amount per month. Unfortunately, that's like another bill! If I could afford to set aside $600/month I wouldn't be derailed by a $600 bill and need to plan for it by setting money aside!

All the personal finance advice out there centers around saving 15 cents by brewing your own coffee at home or the best way to invest. I need something in the middle. I need to know how to pay bills on time. How to not forget that things like insurance and stuff are coming. How to remember how much I spent in a day. How to set aside money and save when your account is already overdrawn. How to deal with necessities that come up after all the money has been spoken for. How to deal with the fact that I put aside $40 and then have a $500 bill come up.

I'm sure I must have learned this shit somewhere---why can't I figure it out no matter how many books I read and no matter how many things I try?

Moving Furniture

2010-03-22T19:23:00.000-07:00

Dave Barry once wrote a bit about how women have a NEED to move furniture. And that once they decide they are doing it, they can move enormous pieces of furniture they would ordinarily require 3 large moving men to move.

He's right :-)

I was on a mission tonight. I still can't get my living room "right" and so I keep moving things around, adding things, deleting things, etc. Tonight I moved BIG pieces of furniture, however one of them I now can't move anywhere so I guess Mr. Knitty gets to help after all.

My living room is presenting a challenge to me because it has very little wall space. One wall is taken up by a huge window, one wall is broken by the door, and the open doorways to the upstairs and downstairs. One wall is broken by the doorway to the dining room. Which leaves me one solid wall/corner combination.

Usually I move stuff around and then go "I hate it put it all back". Tonight I think I actually like my arrangement for once! I decided to put some thought into what is really functional and what is just taking up space.

Whenever I decide to redecorate, I decide to do it RIGHT NOW and thus I'm limited to the furniture and budget I can acquire within the next 12 hours. I decided tonight to move things around ($0) and see what I like.

I definitely want a new area rug--this one has seen a lot of action and I want something a little brighter. This one won't be leaving, however--it will become my new entryway area rug. Since I've decided I don't need an ENORMOUS rug after all, my options are very open--I can splurge on that cool hot pink one at Ikea (I might) or there's actually one at the dreaded Fart Mart that was really pretty for less than half.

There might be a few new lamps in my future, but all in all I think I've done a good job here tonight. Now I just need to find a home for all the stuff I just displaced :-)

and now...

2010-01-25T13:31:00.000-08:00

I just read that last post and I realized that I don't feel so guilty for buying the couch because of bills or savings.

I realized now I feel guilty because that money was pretty close to half what it would cost to take Maggie to Disney World.

I bought a new couch, tell me to stop feeling guilty.

2010-01-25T13:03:00.001-08:00

I've been trying really hard to budget. Really hard. And I've discovered some of my problems. But overall it's been very stressful for me. I have come to realize that maybe, although my husband's income sounds fantastic, it is simply NOT enough to support our lifestyle the way it is.

It seems like it should be. Our mortgage is the proper 30% of our income (actually a bit less). We have no car payments. My husband's insurance premium is exorbitant, but my mom still pays for mine, so that should even out. We have a cell phone for a home phone that costs less than $10 a month, and we each have a personal cell phone that costs about $20 per month. We only have ultra-basic cable--$10. Our internet isn't pricy; $25. We have "good" health insurance (whatever that is) and while we do pay some copays and deductibles and prescriptions, overall it's not THAT much.

Gas prices are still high, but I fill my car up every two weeks and Mr. fills his up every week, sometimes a little less. Our grocery bills went down DRASTICALLY when Miss Baby was potty trained (thank you, Goddess!) and we've moved to a quasi-vegetarian diet that has cut our remaining grocery bill nearly in half. We use generic shampoo, bath gel, toilet paper, and paper towels. I buy almost all generic medicines, vitamins, foods, etc. I buy wine on RARE occassion. I buy makeup once a year, and spend a grand total of $30 on it (yep, high maintenance me).

Almost all Maggie's clothes come from gifts. Almost all her toys are gifts. We Netflix the vast, vast majority of her movies (and ours too). We have a YMCA membership but that's only $70 for all THREE of us. We don't get the newspaper (I read it at work) and we buy books strictly at the used bookstore (and then usually with a credit).

And yet the money doesn't seem to stretch. There's always some big stupid bill that comes at a time when I'm like "Okay, we have $40 extra dollars, as long as we eat in and don't buy stuff, we're okay".

I'm sick of these BIG expenses being shit like horrendously expensive car insurance or medical bills or un-fun things like that. I keep having to dip into my savings account when I'd rather not. When I'd rather be saving that money to take Maggie to Disney World or to put a big down payment on our next car. (Maxxine is worrying me, I thought she had a few more years but something is telling me to ready myself for a modest car payment).

So I decided to buy a new couch. A red leather couch that matches my red leather chair. I had the money in my savings account--I didn't have to put it on credit or anything. And yet I feel insanely guilty. I feel guilty in part because I just told Mr. Knitty that morning that we could not afford to go to Dallas for three days to get John Carpenter's autograph. I feel guilty in part because my mother says "You've had more new couches than I've had in my entire life!". I feel guilty because my family usually keeps ugly, outdated, worn furniture until the day it breaks through and you sit on the floor, and even then they act surprised and sad because it didn't last another 10 years. I feel guilty because I feel that furniture is supposed to be enjoyed, if I think "ugh this camelback couch with ugly rolled arms" every morning, it's not worth it, especially if I have the money.

I just needed some fun because I'm sick of acting like we're poor in some vain attempt to live frugally. It's not like we can't buy groceries. I'm sick of passing up a $8 brick of delicious cheese because I feel like I should save the money for generic toilet paper. I'm sick of calculating the cents on tomatoes and making myself feel like I can't afford an avocado when at least 15% of our income is being "saved" for something. Saving should not make you feel like you can't afford to feed your family.

So I bought a couch. Tell me to stop feeling guilty.

Stupid Ethical Dilemma

2010-01-06T13:00:00.000-08:00

Feel free to weigh in with your opinion. This is largely theoretical.

Say a neighbor has a large number of cats/children/dogs and lets them all roam the neighborhood freely.

Say one of those cats frequently comes by my house for food. While I'm fairly sure they are feeding their animals, I am guessing they put down a big bowl and this guy just doesn't get there in time. He will eat anything I give him. He will sit and eat even as my daughter and her little friends pet him, talk loudly around him--general toddler stuff. He is super gentle and friendly and will jump in your lap if you just sit down.

This cat very very badly wants to get inside. So much that he has managed to more than once. I feel sorry for the little guy.

I know it's a bad idea to let random animals in your house, so we'll set aside the issues of the cat potentially carrying disease and/or other nastiness to my current cat and child.

However, I'm curious as to my ethical responsibility in this situation. I don't believe allowing animals to roam the neighborhood at will is responsible pet ownership. Having one or two cats that go in and out is not my choice but I believe that's different than allowing a whole litter of animals (and subsequent litters) roam in packs. These cats are open to free breeding, disease carrying, etc.

This cat would probably have a better life with me; steady food supply, vet care, etc. Although I don't think they actively abuse their animals, I am judging from the environment and the sheer number of charges that the people are not capable of providing top-notch care for all of these creatures. Especially as it's DAMN cold in the Chicago area right now, and although I have not SEEN him in a while, I have seen his little cat prints in the snow.

But if I *know* the cat belongs to this neighbor, am I behaving in an unethical manner to essentially abduct him (even though the "abduction" would only involve opening a door)? Is it my place to judge the care of an animal?

This is just one of the stupid questions that rolls around in my brain.

Fresh

2010-01-04T08:01:00.000-08:00

This is probably my favorite (cold) time of year. Meaning I'd sure like it to be warm, that's really my favorite, but if I had to pick a cold time of the year, this is it.

I'm always a little surprised by folks who can consider the New Year "just another day". Even before we celebrated it, it's always been magical to me! One minute it is the old year; stale, full of baggage, covered in mistakes, and in an instant the slate is wiped clean and everyone is granted a fresh start!

The New Year always gets me energized to make decisions. To throw away things I've been "hanging on to". To try new recipes or ideas. To move furniture. To bring color and spirit into my life. To make good on new habits.

This year I moved furniture, among other things. I got new curtains from Ikea, new light fixtures, moved my entertainment center behind the couch to make a "wall", and put low bookcases where the entertainment center was. I put a big paper "ball" lamp in the corner and with my new royal blue curtains it looks so awesome. I am still deciding whether or not I should paint the wall bright green!

I believe a new rug is next up, and maybe a new couch. I need to decide where my pictures should go. I was going to hang them all in the "empty" space around the TV (which is mounted on the wall now) but now I'm kind of digging the "emptiness".

Right now I'm settling into the new arrangement and fine tuning it. I got a whole new look for only $230. Hooray Ikea!

a peaceful Solstice to all

2009-12-21T11:27:00.000-08:00

Today marks the Winter Solstice, which is the shortest day of the year (ergo, the longest night). From here on out, the days will be getting longer as we welcome the light back to the Earth.

There are as many ways to celebrate the Solstice as there are Pagans, so I have put together a little set of ways to celebrate, some personal and some with my family, that feel meaningful and productive to me.

* Helping Someone Else. I found a stack of knitted squares in my grandpa's attic, and crocheted them together to be blankies for the homeless kitty shelter. Maggie helped me take them to the donation bin and drop them in.

* Going Green. Pagans love their Mother Earth and work to protect and honor Her. My theme for this year's holidays was "reduce, reuse, recycle". I am giving mostly handmade gifts. I participated in two "white elephant" exchanges (which means that I traded "useless" things with someone else rather than purchase new "useless" things). I wrapped all my gifts in wrapping paper rescued from Grandpa's, and even used a couple of vintage maps of Chicago as wrapping paper. I made little gifties for my office mates and my knitting friends using wooden cutouts, pin backs, and vintage findings that I already had in my collection.

* Feast. Feasting on veggies, due to the fact that I have overdone it on starchy processed goodies the past few days (not to mention a tussle with my friend Jim Beam).

* Welcoming Back the Sun. Tonight I light a candle and meditate on the turning of the Wheel and the return of our blessed sun. It's such an act of faith to me, because this is the time of year when it seems that the sun will never return, yet we know it will.

Blessings, all!

More Free

2009-12-06T13:50:00.000-08:00

This year, I managed to wrap ALL of our holiday gifts for free. Here's how! My grandpa used to donate to a lot of charities and received a lot of flatfold wrapping paper assortments as "thanks" for his donation. Sure, they're a lot of unusual designs, but I don't mind. I took them and hung on to them.

In the interest of eco consciousness, I only boxed gifts when it was absolutely necessary. Boxes create waste, and you need more tissue paper and more paper on the outside, plus more tape! Because I was wrapping mostly small packages, all those smallish pieces of paper were just right.

I did have to wrap a few large boxes. Instead of tissue paper, which would have just been filler, I used newspaper. Okay, the newspaper wasn't entirely free, but heck, I had already used it for its intended purpose!

Some gifts needed a pretty piece of tissue paper. At Maggie's birthday this summer, a couple of friends went way overboard with beautiful tissue paper. I flattened out these pieces and saved them, so I used them for the gifts.

And for those few really large boxes that the wrapping paper didn't fit, I used.....vintage maps! I had snagged a couple of maps from Grandpa's for curiosity's sake. They made for perfect wrapping paper, and they definitely have a neat look that's different from the norm.

I feel all ecoconcious!

******

Everyone needs those few little office gifties and things. Our office pretty much exchanges small pretties; we have no official policy. For the guys I bring in treats, and for the ladies I made cute little wooden pins. I had a bag of wooden star cutouts, some paint, a bag of pin backs, and a handful of vintage buttons and other things. I made about 20 cute little pins; covering my knit group and my office ladies, and while they are tiny little gifts, they are useable and cute and didn't cost me anything (and won't be anything they have to figure out how to get rid of!).

******

My new kitten needed a collar, but she literally has a 5 inch neck. The VERY smallest collar I could find was 6 inches, and $8.99 to boot! For that fun custom tag engraving machine, they wanted $8 for the least expensive tag. HELLO? I had a little buckle that I had saved from something, and so I crocheted a cute little collar from washable sock yarn. It's stretchy enough so she can escape if she's caught but not so she can just take it off. And the pet store had DIY pet tags--a little plastic charm with a piece of paper in it that you could fill out and then place a waterproof sticker over. $3.50. When Miao outgrows her little collar, I can cut the current one off the buckle and create a new one--it only took me 15 minutes to make! And I saved myself around $14.

But I used a couple of those dollars to buy food for the shelter donation :-)

Free

2009-12-04T19:11:00.000-08:00

I wanted to make Princess Snowball's Kitty Bed from the Stitch & Bitch book. Before I purchased yarn, I remembered a friend of mine had a huge box of yarn that she wasn't using because she overbought. I asked her for some and she gave it to me. I'm going to buy her tea at knit group next week in thanks, but this was essentially free (and helped a friend destash!). Plus I have an adorable kitty bed now! Money Saved: $23.

While at knit group, I browsed through a magazine with a LOVELY purple sweater in it. I decided I wanted to make the sweater, but really only wanted that ONE pattern from the magazine. It didn't seem worth buying the issue for. Lo and behold my inbox had an invitation today to get a free trial issue of the magazine! So I'll get that issue for free and then cancel the subscription, which is perfectly within the bounds of the agreement. Money Saved: $7.

I wanted a new Christmas tree. The one we have is way too big. I mentioned it to a friend and she said they had a tree that they weren't going to use this year because they had a new tree also. I asked if I could borrow her tree for this year. She decided that I could just keep it, so I have a brand new tree. Bonus, the tree is prelit, which is awesome because almost every string of lights I own died this year. So I didn't even have to buy new lights. I bought my friend lunch however :-) Money Saved: $30.

I'm doing a lot better at this frugality thing! I always focused before on Getting The Best Price, but what I really need to consider is Whether I Need To Spend Money At All. Sharing and bartering are such wonderful things. Especially when we all have too much stuff and not enough money.

Animal Shelters, or, Why I Bought a Kitten

2009-12-04T08:55:00.000-08:00

Maggie just got a new kitten! And I have received several comments/questions about why I bought said kitten from a pet store instead of a shelter. I want to say that, no, I didn't just buy a kitten on a whim from a pet store, and I don't really have any prejudice about the cats themselves in shelters.

I have a problem with the shelters themselves. And I'm going to tell you why.

To me, the whole goal of a shelter should be to rehome as many animals as possible into decent homes where they can be loved. Unfortunately, the goal of the shelters I seem to run into seems to be "keep animals from being adopted, ever". A mix of overly stringent rules, criticism, and inconvenience is making it so that GOOD people who want to give animals GOOD homes are being lured away from shelters or from having animals at all.

First of all, many, if not most, shelters refuse to adopt animals to families with children under five. While I understand that children can be rough with animals, that cuts out a very large segment of the population, and denies animals otherwise loving homes (with a week or so of potential rough handling in the interim). I don't know about you, but I would rather have a week of growing pains than live the rest of my life in a cage. On top of that, the age of 5 is totally arbitrary; children under the age of 5 can be taught to be gentle and some kids over the age of 5 can be overly rough as well, especially if they have no experience with animals.

Next, shelters have an overwhelming amount of rules based on their personal ideals for animal care. Since they are private, not for profit organizations that are not "selling" animals but rather "adopting them out", they are able to create whatever rules they like and refuse adoption on any basis they choose.
For example, declawing is a very controversial issue among cat owners. Some liken the procedure to a human having their fingers removed at the first knuckle, or just plain abject torture, valuing furniture over an animal's well-being. Some shelters use this perspective to completely forbid declawing. If you say you plan to declaw your cat, or would even consider it, they won't let you adopt, or will force you to adopt an already-declawed animal. First of all, cats and humans have totally separate physiology. Second, spaying or neutering a cat causes the same, if not more pain to the animal, and poses a higher risk to their life than declawing. Third, again, wouldn't it be better, in the long run, for a cat to have a good home (following a week of discomfort), than to live out its life, intact, in the shelter?

On top of that, a few phone calls to a local shelter revealed the price of adopting a single kitten to be $250! Economically speaking, even a person who would be willing to pay a BIT more to adopt a shelter animal is likely not going to cough up $250 for an animal that can be purchased for much much less from a friend or a pet store. Of course I think "backyard breeding" is bad. I think responsible people should spay and neuter their animals. But frankly, the shelter kitten may very well be a "backyard bred" kitten to begin with also. The shelters are setting themselves up for failure--they are making the purchase of "backyard" kittens and pet store kittens MORE ATTRACTIVE than shelter kittens.

Many shelters will only adopt kittens in pairs, which, if a person only has the money to care for one cat, again sets up a situation where a pet store or backyard breeder is a more attractive options. While the shelters usually waive the adoption fee for the second of the pair, you are looking at double the food bill, double the vet bills, and double the litter requirements!

Before the shelters will even allow you to look at their animals, you have to fill out an extremely invasive "survey". If they don't like your answers, they will tell you what they think the answers should be and make you change them, or else you cannot adopt. If your answers are really unacceptable, they won't let you adopt anyway. Now, you might think a "really unacceptable" answer might be "I plan to set the kitten on fire twice weekly" or "I need a bait animal for my fighting dogs". But an answer such as "I work full time out of the house" or "I may move in the near future" or "my last cat got away from me and was hit by a car" can be sufficient to set of the alarms of the agencies.

The shelters dictate the way you should discipline your cats, what room you should keep them in, whether you should let them outside or not, how many you should have, and many even require you to put down the NAME and PHONE NUMBER of a suitable relative or friend who will take care of the cat in the event you go on vacation or cannot take care of it any longer. Others forbid this and require you to sign that you will return the cat to the shelter in that situation, because the new person might not fit their standards. They require a copy of your lease agreement permitting pets and the number permitted. If you plan on moving soon they may not adopt to you because your new place might not allow pets.

One pair of friends tried to adopt a puppy from a shelter and were denied as they worked full time jobs. Who doesn't?
Another friend was denied adoption of a kitten because his girlfriend, who did not live with him, was allergic.
Another pair of friends were denied a rescue adoption because they were TOO OLD. Age discrimination anyone? They were told unless they changed their will to reflect a guardian for the dog in the event he outlived them, forget it. These people were in their sixties.
Another friend, unwilling to drag his sick grandparents out in the winter (he lived with them) was denied adoption because the shelter required a meeting with ALL household members and pets.

Shelters, this is ridiculous. Of course you want to make sure that prospective adopters are not going to abuse, neglect, or abandon their pets. But maybe it's time to give people a bit of the benefit of the doubt. If they are caring enough to choose a shelter over those oh-so-tempting free kittens, maybe they don't need to pass the third degree. Maybe they have proved their caring enough. Besides, a truly determined abuser/neglector/abandoner will be able to foil your survey, give the "right" answers and then do whatever they want anyway. You're setting up your rules to eliminate GOOD people, not BAD people.

It makes me want to scream when I see the shelters repeatedly complain that they are overcrowded and unable to operate, and yet they set up these extensive constraints and turn away GOOD WILLING people with their rules. No wonder you have a surplus. Make it easier, and less stressful, and more convenient to adopt, and you will have more adoptions. Maybe you will have a few returned animals, but that will be a small percentage. It will be worth it to give that larger percentage loving homes.

People are not perfect. I don't let my cat outside, but some of my friends do. I don't think they're bad or irresponsible for doing that. I wouldn't think their animals should be taken away. Some people are willing to give a cat a home but not at the expense of their furniture and their skin. Isn't that okay? Isn't an imperfect home better than a 2x2 foot cage in a shelter? It's okay if people will feed their cat Meow Mix instead of Iams. They're still getting fed. It's okay if they have to close the animal up once in a while. The rest of the time, the animal has space to move around, something he doesn't have in the shelter.

And shelters, when you get overfull, please have an "adoptathon" with lowered fees rather than turning animals away. If you are burdened by the cost of maintaining a large number of animals, letting them go for less than your standard fee will pay for itself in removing the cost of the animal's care. When you beg us "please adopt a furry friend", you need to do your part in making sure that it's reasonable, attractive, and comfortable for someone to do that. Don't push people to adopt, but don't spend the whole time warning them of Terrible Things That Could Happen. It makes people shy away. It makes people like me turn to pet stores, where $75, my name and address, and a promise to care for the little ball of fuzz got me a kitten.

How to stop overspending & start living

2009-11-13T10:52:00.000-08:00

Aw, doesn't that sound like a self-help book title? Maybe I'll write one. One that isn't littered with BS about the stock market and funny little calculations about interest and stuff. I'm sure that stuff has a place in the whole scheme just as calories and fat calories and proper vitamins have a place in weight loss. But really I think, in both of these situations, those fiddly little bits addle the average person so much that the whole business seems Way Too Hard. That feeling keeps us in our old habits and never allows us to break free.

1. Stop buying in order to solve problems. I'm not just talking about retail therapy. I'm talking about the immediate urge to go out and BUY something to solve a problem. Buy a new lawnmower rather than fix the old one. Buy a new piece of furniture because your coat closet is stuffed full rather than cull the contents of the closet. Buy the whole series of Star Wars toys for your kid because they really enjoy playing with the single one they have. Buy more clothes because you hate doing laundry, rather than just doing the laundry more often. Buy books because you feel like you don't have enough time to read.

2. Stop buying in order to "save" money. Our society is so discount-oriented that when we see something on sale, we feel like we need to buy it because if we need it later and it's NOT on sale, we won't be able to afford it. Ergo, we're "saving" $10 by buying it today. Another problem is comparing the previous price with the current price. Yes, a kate spade handbag for only $15 is a great deal over the original $150. But if you don't need it, you're wasting $15 rather than saving $135.

3. Don't base purchasing decisions on justification--base them on how much money you have. Over the weekend I contemplated buying a new camera. My old one is slow, meaning I miss cute moments when I hit the button and it "thinks" before it takes the picture. I'd also like one that's smaller, to fit in my pocket, and also easier to use for my daughter, who loves to take pictures. I found one on sale for $109. It was originally $129. I could also upgrade to a package for $150 that would include an extra battery, case, and memory card. This was a great deal and perfectly justifiable--most of us parent-type folks like to take pictures of kids at the holidays, the price was right, our old camera was more than 5 years old and failing, and getting a new one would enable me to give the old one to my husband (who doesn't mind if it's slow). I only had about $40 in my checking account, however. I considered pulling money from savings or using my credit card. And then I stopped. Just because it wasn't a stupid purchase in general didn't mean I could afford it. I'm asking for a new camera for the holidays instead.

4. Wait. That's all. It's so hard to do! Especially when the "shiny" urge takes over. If you don't need it right now, put the money back in your wallet and don't buy it. Don't buy a whole bunch of books you "intend" to read. Don't buy a new dress because you might have holiday parties to attend. Don't buy things as soon as they take your fancy. Wait until you really need them, then decide.

5. Pay Cash. I didn't like this one at first. Cash ran out much more quickly than credit cards. So I'd always pay cash until it was gone, use my debit card until the account was empty, then use my credit card. After all, I needed those things, and the money wasn't there, so that's what it was for. But the cash thing is more subtle than that. It's not just that you pay cash instead of using your credit card, and keep your buying habits exactly the same. It's that using cash FORCES you to recognize EXACTLY how much money you have, and doesn't permit you to indulge in squishy numbers when figuring up what you're actually spending. If the cash is gone and you "need" something, suddenly you are forced to decide whether or not you really NEED it. Sometimes, yeah. Medicine for the baby, sure. New Stephen King book? Not so much!

When I began Paying In Cash, I used to run out of money really fast. And then I'd scrimp until the next payday, then buy all the things I was holding off on. It was rough. But it was a transition. Slowly, I realized that even when I HAD money in my purse, I was trying to figure out ways to get around buying things. Did I have something already that could suit that purpose? Did a family member or friend have one I could borrow? Could I just do without it?

The Value of Patience

2009-10-02T07:59:00.000-07:00

I hate waiting. I can't really say I "have" patience, more that circumstances force me to.

A couple of months ago, I had the idea for a big project. I'm not going to reveal too many details as it is a surprise, and it's possible family members will read this! I went to the craft store to buy the supplies for this project, and spent about $200.

Now, really, for what I was getting, and the fact that it covered 6 Xmas pressies, wasn't really TOO bad. I figured it was worth it to pay "a little extra" to insure I got the supplies I wanted.

Well, life intervened, and as I hadn't yet started the project when the [lack of] money storm hit, I ended up returning all of those supplies for the $200. I figured at some point I'd rebuy them, maybe as each thing went on sale.

Since my aunt works at the craft shop, she gave me a fabulous coupon that gets me 30% off of my ENTIRE purchase, not just the usual one regular price item deal. The best part was that this offer was good on sale priced items too, which most of their coupons are not.

All told I ended up rebuying the very same things for the most part, and spent about $80. Less than half of my original expenditure, all for waiting just a couple of months.

I'll call that money in the bank!

An Example of "Life Energy"

2009-09-30T13:00:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend, I realized I needed my car washed, I needed the inside vacuumed and cleaned, and I needed my lawn mowed.

A car wash is $5. Having the inside cleaned is $15. I pay my neighbor across the street $20 to mow my lawn. This is a total of $40.

I decided to mow my own lawn and clean and vacuum my own car. It took me approximately 1 hour.

If I had chosen to pay someone else to do those things, I would have had to work approximately 4 hours to earn the money to pay them.

This was my sudden "real life" realization of the appropriate expenditure of life energy, as outlined by Joe Dominguez and Vickie Robin in their book Your Money or Your Life. In one situation, I'm spending 4 hours of my life at my desk in order to "save" myself 1 hour of my life in the yard/driveway. By doing the work myself, I spent only 1 hour of my life energy.

********
I used to spend about $100 a month on my cell phone plan, and probably a total of 10 hours a month using the phone for texting, pictures, etc. In other words, a total of 20 hours of life energy OR more than an entire week's worth of work for me (I work 15 hours a week).

Now with my Tracfone, I spend $20 a month, approximately, and perhaps 2 hours a month using it. Therefore, approximately 4 hours of life energy.

********

I've found so many times that I make money and spending decisions based on comparison rather than on the actual amount of money I have. $100 a month isn't really a lot of money considering what some people spend on cell phones....ergo, it's probably appropriate for me to spend that much on a cell phone. Um, NO!!!!!

If I find a total steal of a Kate Spade bag for $30, when it usually costs $350, sure it's a great bargain compared to retail price. But that doesn't mean I have $30 to spend on a purse, great deal or not!!!!

*****

In order to rein in spending, we (the general we) need to examine how much money we actually personally have, not how much we think we have or expect to have or wish we had or feel we should have, how much we ACTUALLY HAVE. And then we need to make our purchasing decisions on real, actual needs and wants---is this worth the hours of my life I'm spending to purchase it? If my boss said "Come in next week and we'll give you this handbag at the end of the week rather than your paycheck" would I take him/her up on it? Not whether our friends have it, or whether it's on sale, or whether we're feeling low or feeling happy. Not based on how long ago we last bought one of these. So what if we haven't had a new coat for 4 years, if our current one is still in good shape, why not wear it and save ourselves the money?

Why indeed. Why is this concept so hard for me and millions of other people? It seems so easy yet it's so hard to internalize.

Oddly Enough....

2009-09-25T11:18:00.000-07:00

When you aren't raiding your savings account on a monthly basis to pay off "just one more bill", the money in there adds up rather fast. Who would think?

How Money is Annoying

2009-09-21T07:58:00.000-07:00

What bothers me about going from overspending to spending just what we have, is "saving" money doesn't feel like "saving" money.

For example, I was planning to buy a mattress. It was about $250. I got Grandpa's spare bedroom mattress instead. This should, in my eyes, mean I have an extra $250 lying around. But it doesn't! It's just $250 that I didn't have that I didn't spend, so instead of being -$250 I am still at $0.

That's not fair!

Turning the Titanic Around

2009-09-09T08:28:00.000-07:00

My friend Jackie says that it only takes one month to get behind on your bills, and 6 months or more to recover from it. She's right.

For 8 years I had been merrily going along using my budgeted money for reliable expenses, and then using my credit card for anything else that I could make a good excuse for "needing" and also for any surprises like car repairs. (Poor cars, they always get the bad rap on budget problems! Sorry Maxxine!). I would then use my savings account to pay off the credit card.

It took 8 whole years, but I finally drained my savings account and was left with a $750 insurance bill, a $3,000 invoice on my new driveway, PLUS all my regular bills.....and not enough money. I guess I honestly thought it wouldn't happen--the savings account frankly seemed bottomless, and damn it we NEEDED all those things!

During that 8 years, I've periodically tried to work within my actual budget rather than my fantasy budget, but every time I've given up, because it seems like the dollars just don't stretch far enough. It took 8 long years and many failed attempts to admit that I need to change the way I SPEND.

The first step was, unfortunately, defining "needs". Although it could be argued no one "needs" a cell phone, I am out and about with a small child a lot of the time, and I feel it's important for my safety and sanity to have one. I did not, however, NEED a $90/month Blackberry. And it took some serious thinking-outside-the-box to realize that just paying the dreaded "early termination fee" only amounted to 1.5 extra months worth of service, while paying out the rest of the contract was going to be 6 times that amount.

Another "need" was a new mattress for our guest room. Again, maybe I don't truly NEED a spare bed that only gets slept in once in a while, but I like having it for unexpected guests, or for if one of us is sick. I have a bed frame in there, which was free (took it from my parents house), but was facing at least $200 to purchase a mattress. Having a set-up bed frame without a mattress means I have a "hole" in the room--the linens and the stuff that sits on the bed is scattered throughout the room, and my toddler is having a field day hopping between the rails of the empty frame. Many times I was tempted to just buy the mattress on my credit card, as it was annoying me a lot!

*****
THEN I REALIZED THAT IS WHERE THE PROBLEM STARTS
******

I have a seemingly benign purchase, I don't want to wait, I don't have the money, so I use the credit card and figure the money will appear by the time the bill comes.

*****
IT DOESN'T
******

The only thing that happens is the seemingly benign purchase is now off my mind, forgotten, and before long, another comes along, and makes its way onto the card, and pretty soon I have a $800 bill that I can't pay.

So I got to thinking creatively. I could save up the money for the mattress, but I have other things I want more. I made a list of the things I wanted to purchase. I realized I didn't really want to take any money away from other things to buy the mattress. And simultaneously recalled that there was a twin mattress at grandpa's house not in use. So I asked Mom if I could take it, and she said yes. So the problem was solved, and I didn't have to pay a cent (but I'm going to bring Gramps one of his favorite chicken sandwiches in thanks).

It was here I realized I am really on my way to having this long-standing budget problem truly solved. I ended the Blackberry service, saving myself $70 a month (my new cell phone costs $20/month at the rate I use it, but I am able to cut back also if I need to). I realized I didn't want to pay "real money" for a mattress, a new winter coat, or a score of other things. So I figured out a way to make what I have work.

As simple as it sounds, when I look in my wallet and there isn't money there, the answer isn't "find a different method of payment". The answer is "don't buy."

I don't need to spend....

2009-08-31T11:34:00.001-07:00

I don't need to spend $100 or more on a new coat. The one from last year still fits, and now that I've had it cleaned, it looks new again. I'm going to dig through the vintage button box and add some buttons to give it a little pizazz.
Money saved: $97.65 ($100- dry cleaning bill)

I don't need to spend $200 or more on a new Blythe doll. I love Can Can Cat's lovely blue hair, but an etsy seller has great wigs in exactly the same color. My Junie has almost exactly the same makeup as CCC. And I put the black wig on my Jacinta and whoa she looks fabulous!!
Money saved: $180 ($200- blue wig + shipping)

I don't need to spend $100 or more on new shoes this fall. I bought two pairs last fall, and I have a pair from the previous fall that are still in great shape. I have a pair for dressy work and I have a fancy pair for dressy-dress. I have a pair of snow boots, a pair of running shoes for the gym, and a pair of combat boots for crappy weather.
Money saved: $100

I don't need to spend $300 and more on a new Kate Spade handbag. I fixed my own!
Money saved: $300

I don't need to spend $90 a month on my cell phone. I don't need to be that connected! And I certainly don't *need* to be surfing the net all day. I got a Tracfone for only $25 and need to pay, at minimum, $20 every three months.
Money saved over the next 8 months: $475

I don't need a ton of new clothes. Wise, careful buying and the ability to make minor alterations to clothes I have that are too big is giving me a fabulous wardrobe!

Black pants, turquoise ruffle blouse, pink bra: $60 at JCPenney
Dark denim skinny crop pants, sky blue tshirt, purple tshirt: $40 at Target
Black skirt with flared hem, purple shiny blouse: $50 at Kohl's
Gray pants, purple 3/4 sleeve blouse, blue bra: $52.00 at JCPenney
Undies: $26 at Kohl's

So for a total of about $230, I have a great new wardrobe and I feel fab!

I don't need to spend money on manicures. I can learn to do my own nails.
Money saved: $15 every two weeks

I don't need to spend money on pedicures either. I can do my own and E's foot massages are better than theirs.
Money saved: $30 a month

We can still go out for breakfast on Saturday--we just go to McDonald's instead of the local family restaurant. We don't have to tip, we don't have to wait, and Maggie can bounce around a little rather than being stuck in the booth.
Money saved: $16 a week

I don't need to spend money on buying books. What I can't get at the library I can get for just a few bucks from the used bookstore. Plus, I usually have credit there from trading in old books.
Money saved: variable

I don't need to spend a lot on holiday presents this year. I can make them from my fabulous stash!
Money saved: $200 at least

I don't need to spend a lot on entertaining friends. Potluck is fun, and everyone has something to eat that they will like. I don't have to spend half the evening in the kitchen, either.
Money saved: $40 per bash

Your Money or Your Life

2009-08-28T11:10:00.000-07:00

Our society tells us that money is for spending. That we are "worth it". That having the things we want is worth whatever it takes. That "making do" is NOT good at all, you'll never be happy.

While in some cases this can be true, our society does not encourage us to think about how much money we are spending on disposable things.

I always figured that once you paid the bills, the rest of the money was for "fun:--life's little rewards for putting up with the daily grind.

What I had never stopped to think about was that you can REDUCE the daily grind by spending less money on "fun", and even on some things you thought were "necessary".

For example, although I never claimed to NEED a Blackberry, I had one, and paid the whopping monthly fee for it, and figured "hey, I like keeping in touch with my friends". That's still true. I do still love doing that. However, what I never stopped to think about was that, in spending almost $100 a month on it, I was trading "getting together with friends" for "chatting sporadically with friends". It was nice to be able to text on that nice QWERTY keyboard and have all those fun games and things. But I could go out with my friends at least 2-3 times a month for that same money--and I haven't had money to go out with friends in a long time!

I used to think that buying a new handbag was always "worth it" in terms of it making my life easier. A little less frustration in the morning = worth the $$. But I realized that I was trading certain kinds of frustration for others. Some days I want to carry just my wallet and phone, and on those days the big bag seems cumbersom. And other days I have just the wallet and phone and a handful of other stuff and wish I had my big bag. No bag is going to be both small and large and perfect all at the same time. So I decided I'd have several, and just live with that, and know that I would be switching them from time to time. By making this realization, I have saved myself a lot of $$ that I would have spent in purses by now. And it's only been a few months :-)

I was going to buy a new coat too. The one I have was a hand-me-down from a friend and I've had it for 4 years already. I used to get a new coat every year, or every other year, and so compared to that, it seemed perfectly reasonable to invest in a new one this year. But there really isn't anything WRONG with the one I have! It's in good shape, it fits, the lining is fine, the buttons are all still there....so I took it to the cleaners and spent just $2.50 getting it cleaned. When it comes home, I'm going to sew on some fancy new buttons and call it money in the bank.

I am working on making holiday presents from my stash--even with all the stashbusting I've done over the past few years I STILL have enough to make pressies--and I'm hoping to actually reduce the amount of stuff I have. I already have a number of pressies done already!

Baby, a good scarf can hide a multitude of sins

2009-08-24T13:11:00.000-07:00

Meet kate. How lame, right? I named my kate spade handbag kate. ::eyeroll::

But I love her. She was a 22nd birthday present from my husband. She's accompanied me through some difficult times in my life, and though it seems grossly materialistic, knowing I have her on my shoulder with her lovely little black tag just gives me a little boost.

I love her perfect little size, her pretty standy-uppy shoulder strap, and of course, her little black tag.

A few years ago, I noticed to my chagrin that kate's handle tab was pulling away from the hardware. I didn't know how to fix it, and I didn't think the leather repair shop would be able to do it, as she's not leather. I put her in my closet with an apology, and kept on with a succession of new purses that I didn't love as much (of course they weren't as expensive either!).

A couple of weeks ago, I decided it was better to have a repaired kate than no kate at all, or a kate who sits in a plastic box in the closet. I took my toughest thread and a sharp needle. I stitched it in as best I could; having to go over the side of the bag towards the inside because the ravelled tab wouldn't hold if I put it just back where it was supposed to go.

And then I dug out a scarf, a pretty colorful pink & red & leopard scarf, in a square size that I could never wear, and wove it through kate's handle hardware. I kind of dig that floaty little burst of color. And since it's rather the fashion to have a scarf tied around your handbag, no one suspects that little amateur repair job, as it is completely covered up.

kate, my friend, I've missed you and I'm so glad you're back!

Total repair cost....FREE!

I am learning to be a grownup.

2009-08-24T08:30:00.000-07:00

Seems like the sort of thing that would happen before 31, eh?

I've recently realized that I base most of my decisions on either 1) someone else's decision or 2) completely reactionary impulses.

For example, if I have a decision to make, and I'm not comfortable with it, I will ply it off on someone else in the guise of 'needing advice" and then do whatever they say. Then, I tell myself, if the solution doesn't work, or turns out to be a bad solution, then it's not really *my* fault, it was the other person's decision!

As to the second possibility, I'll decide that I want to embrace, say....green/environmental/hippie ethos. Suddenly, EVERY single decision must be made through the lens of that viewpoint. I can't wear my sleek work pants because hippies like free flowing things. I can't read Stephen King because hippies would not read Stephen King. I need to shop at Whole Foods and pretend to be *very concerned* with the origins of every single grape.

Then one day, I'll realize that certain aspects of the Hippie Ethos just aren't cool with me anymore. I LIKE my sleek work pants (and wearing all free flowing things makes you gain weight! trust me!) Stephen King is FUN to read damn it, and when it comes down to it, I get exhausted trying to make ordinary buying decisions based on some complex theory I don't really understand.

And so my whole life I've ended up bouncing around from place to place on the spectrum, and usually spending a LOT of money to support these philosophies. Thus I've always felt unsettled, like there isn't really a "me" it's just the "philosophy of the month" in human form.

I also tend to abdicate responsibility to keep people's expectations low. Doesn't that sound awful? But it's true! Long ago I realized that, since I'm a pretty capable person, I can achieve a moderate standard with hardly any effort at all. In high school I never quite understood why anyone would actually WANT to take Honors English when you could just take regular English and excel without lifting a finger. Sure I could track my expenses and balance my checkbook but if I just put on my "lalala" act then no one will EXPECT me to, and other people will jump in and take care of it for me.

I don't want to raise my daughter this way!

The Doctor's Office
Unfortunately I find that I do it with her as well; rather than finding a way for her to learn to cope with difficult situations, I simply avoid them and it's easier on both of us. I go to a chiropractor, and at this point in the treatment I'm going 3 times a week. It was getting really hard (and stressful) trying to figure out who would take care of Maggie. My mom had surgery on her feet and while she was still taking care of her while I was at work, I hated asking for an extra 3 hours a week. Mr. Knitty doesn't always get home at a reliable time, and besides, I don't really want to drive in rush hour traffic all the way back across town--I'd like to have dinner with my family!

Doc kept telling me to just bring her, and the secretaries would watch her. I felt like I was burdening them or leaving Maggie open to thousands of unnamed dangers by doing that. Then I realized, should I burden THEM for 20 minutes (when they volunteered for the burdening) or should I burden MYSELF for 2 months of worrying when I could make appointments because I needed to find care? And so I began bringing her. I make the appointments early so that she is in a good mood, and I ask them to close the outer door so she can't run off, and they DO in fact follow her and watch her closely. She runs back a couple of times to see me and make sure I'm still there, and then she runs off.

I feel so incredibly grown up by this. I'm securing my own treatment and care for her without begging a favor from a family member. I'm learning that it's okay to let someone else watch her for a few minutes. And it's okay to speak up and ask about things like leaving the outer door closed so she can't run into the parking lot. AND it's okay to take people at their word; Doc said bring her, I'm paying him the big bucks to twist me like a pretzel, and so darn it I'm taking him up on it. This way I can make my appointments when they're convenient for ME, not Mom or E or Sammy across the street.

The Blackberry
About a year and a half ago, I was a mess. I had tried many ways of keeping my shit together; calendars, date books, a Palm Pilot. Nothing seemed to work. I would write down all my appointments and everything neatly in a calendar and then lose it, or forget it at home. I would forget the Palm Pilot and not charge it and then have to sync it again and lose all the information I had recently entered.

So I figured I'd try getting a Blackberry. Sure, I'd still have to charge it, but because I'd be using it for things OTHER than appointments, like playing games and calling friends, I knew I'd be more likely to actually check it!

And for a while, it worked. My friends had also recently gotten them and so we were texting each other constantly. I'd enter appointments into it and then have it give me an alarm and also put it on my daily agenda. It was good! The only really BAD thing about it was that it cost $90 a month to keep active. Oh, and also, I'd check it 8 bazillion times a day just to see if any of my friends had a new trivial thing to share. People joked about it being my "appendage" and I thought it was cute. It was my lifeline, the way I connected to the world.

One day I realized though, I didn't want to be connected to the world via a little pink box. I wanted to have REAL friends and go out for REAL dinners and play games, like soccer and basketball, that had some REAL benefit to me rather than some lame Tetris clone. I didn't want to feel compelled to check my messages 300 times a day; I wanted to be playing with Maggie and enjoying JUST that moment, rather than figuring out what I was going to do 10 minutes from then.

Plus, I had just kind of counted that $90/month as "money I don't really want to spend but I need it so oh well I'll just forget it". And then I realized, maybe I don't NEED it. Sure it's fun. Sure I feel sorta classy with my little friend dangling from my wrist. But I don't know if I need that badly enough to spend $90 a month. And it was nice being INSTANTLY reachable for a while, but frankly, sometimes I resent it. I resent being constantly on call for everyone's daily drama.

I bought myself a refurbished Tracfone. I was even able to find a pink one. It will call and text. No montly service fee. I can use it as much or as little as I want. And I can end it whenever I want too. I'm not held over a barrel by a stupid contract. I can't wait until it comes and I can cancel this contract. I'll pay the fee! I don't care. It's LESS than 2 more months of service.

Priceless

2009-08-12T07:44:00.000-07:00

New "skinny" (!) crop pants, indigo, Target: $24.99
New blouse with buttons (!), turquoise, JCP: $19.99
New bra on clearance, Bali, JCP: $10

Finally fitting back into my old size after 3 years.....Priceless!

Those hours on the treadmill and burning off laps in the pool have paid off! I dropped 2 top sizes and 1 pants size. The pants I was wearing had a size 14 tag, but they were really size 16, I haven't been able to wear a "normal" 14 since pre-baby. And I haven't had a top that wasn't either an XXL or a plus size top in the same. This new top is a REGULAR ladies large and the pants are a REGULAR ladies 14. And both suit my new goal of being able to wear actual clothes and not stretchy "forgiving" clothes.

I also bought a pair of nice work pants (I don't think I even had those BEFORE the kid!!). They look fab and I feel like a million bucks.

Total for blouse, pants, crop pants, and bra was just $75 (including the pair of flip flops for Maggie :-) And I had the cash. And after I shopped I went and walked for an hour on the treadmill (nearly 3 miles). GO ME!!!!!

EyeballPalooza Auction!

2009-07-24T08:00:00.000-07:00

These two lovely handmade items were donated by my mother and my daughter in order to help raise funds for Jackierocket's eye surgery. Jackie is my dear friend, she performed the naming ceremony for my daughter and the renewal of our vows, and is a wonderful lady all around.

She has cataracts and needs surgery to prevent her going blind. She has had one surgery already and it has gone well, but she still needs our help for Eyeball #2.

First up is a beautiful handknit baby blanket. A "carriage" size, it is the perfect size to use on your sweetie when they are in the "baby bucket" or stroller. It has no fringe to get tangled up in the mechanics and is fully machine washable and dryable. It is made from hypoallergenic acrylic yarn with a yummy soft hand and a beautiful spring green shade.

Bidding will begin at $35. Please submit bids via comment on this post. Highest bidder wins.

Next up is a 4x6 photo frame embellished with fabulous big rhinestones. This frame is special because it was made by my almost-2-year-old daughter! She loves to sort through the "sparkies" and select just the right ones for her project. Maggie wanted to donate this frame for her Auntie Jackie.

Bidding will begin at $10. Please submit bids via comment on this post. Highest bidder wins.

For both items, minimum bid includes shipping within the continental US. Please email leopard mama 169 @ gmail dot com for a shipping quote outside of the U.S.

Pros/Cons of the Stupid Condo Fantasy

2009-07-22T08:15:00.000-07:00

Pros:
* no more yard work
* no mortgage
* half the taxes
* no more garbage stickers
* heat included
* fresh perspective
* chance to pare down to essentials
* more money for fun things
* easier to keep clean
* easier to supervise Maggie
* Maggie will still have same schools, same friends

Cons:
* less space
* E will no longer have private Guyland
* will have to make serious decisions about posessions
* no garage
* will have to park outside
* no yard for Maggie to play in
* less space for parties
* unit potentially less updated than my house
* difficult sellers market
* may be priced out of housing market later
* will not be able to make certain choices about decor & exterior stuff
* will have to deal with more immediate neighbor issues

Shit, they seem pretty even don't they? I was hoping for a strong bias one way or the other.

I simply cannot get this idea out of my head. I wish I could! It would be much easier! But every time I pay that mortgage, see that huge gas bill in the winter, work my ass off in the yard to see it go to hell only days later, have to argue with Maggie again about throwing stuff down the stairs to watch it break, go into my craft room and want to scream.....it just seems so....nice.

Part of the problem is I feel like this is SUCH an odd concept that I'm not just odd for having it, but like I'm missing some huge potential regret. How could I possibly want to give up a yard and a house? I really wish I were one of those people who saves their asses off for a house and are willing to give up all their luxuries to "keep the house". I'm just...not. Somehow I couldn't give a rip about the house and I just would rather have the extra time for....life. Less time cleaning, more time taking Maggie to the park. Less money for bills, more for going to museums and out for dinner. Sometimes I feel like the house is sucking the very life out of me. My annual salary is less than the annual taxes. I work an entire year and couldn't pay the taxes on my own. NOT EVEN JUST THE TAXES.

I never really looked at it that way but I am stunned. I am paying all that for...virtually nothing. Sure, nicely paved streets and city maintenance and all, but I could enjoy those same perks at half the price and give up some things but gain some very important things!

Well, this post was supposed to clear things up and it just made them worse. Harumph.

Drastic Action Needed

2009-07-19T11:43:00.000-07:00

I have the house I always wanted. Three bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, an eat in kitchen, a dining room, a yard...everything.

I should be happy with this. I should love it and want to spend all my time keeping it lovely. But I don't. In fact, I feel like it is a giant burden on my shoulders; something that takes far far far more work to keep at a minimum standard than I ever spend enjoying it.

I have a beautiful dining room set that I always wanted. A buffet, a HUGE table with fancy chairs, and a china cabinet with glas doors on the top. These things are all dusty because I never use them. I wanted to host big dinners with all my family. Truth be told I think that's the most labor intensive and boring way to entertain. I only do it when I have to. My family tries to push it on me all the time because that's the way they like it, but I prefer to have several locations of party stuff like food and things and everyone mill around rather than all sit as one large unit. This is not even taking into account the enormous amount of time it takes to clean off, set, serve, and then clean up said table.

I have a huge living room. After my last, old living room which was very small, I thought I'd love this huge, airy living room. I don't. It's impossible to make cozy and comfortable. There is either way too much furniture or not enough. The floor is always covered with birdseeds from my parakeets and even though I love the laminate floors, I don't like stepping on birdseed all the time.

We have two complete media setups. See, my priority is "ease of use" and E's priority is "mega quality". While this is great for parties, it also means an enormous amount of dedicated space for both setups, not to mention money. And with two setups to choose from, each designed specifically for its primary user, we can't watch movies together because he doesn't think my setup is properly optimized and his couch makes me fall asleep.

I finally have a decent sized kitchen. I have a pantry of which my mother is insanely jealous. I have counterspace. Of course, what I've done is fill said counter space, because it's easy to grab stuff off the counter, and the pantry is mostly empty because it's inconvenient to get into with the table in the way.

I have 2.5 bathrooms. I initially thought this was awesome. E's friends wouldn't poop in my bathroom and we wouldn't have to "alert" each other if we were going to be awhile in case the other person had to pee. We can both bathe at the same time--it's nice. But it's also three toilets to clean, a shower and a bathtub, and all that mess.

And then there's the yard. It's a nice size for a yard, but the large trees and odd sun/shade pattern means it would be a prohibitively intensive job to try to get the lush green barefoot lawn I'd like. Our yard is full of sticks and dirt patches and weeds. Maggie far prefers to go to the park rather than play in the yard.

We have an attached garage, too, which is great except that it is too narrow to park the car in it and also get out of said car. I use it for storing things I don't know what else to do with. Mice live in there in the winter. It smells, too.

On top of all this, we have finally figured out the problem with our budget. The expenses equal more than the income. It's the classic problem, isn't it? So now we are stuck looking at what to get rid of. And unfortunately, we can't reduce the mortgage or the taxes or the car insurance or the utilities. What we're stuck with is choosing among the enjoyable things in life; the things we decided were worth the money because we get a lot of enjoyment out of them. Things like Netflix, Blythe dolls, fancy silk ties, Blu Ray players, the YMCA membership, the Blackberry, the internet service, going out to eat.

So what do I do? I don't know. I suggested cancelling the internet service but E isn't willing to give that up. He suggested cancelling the Blackberry but I am not really willing to give that up. I wish there was a way to reduce the things that AREN'T fun, like medical expenses, car insurance, and electricity.

Typical Week Blog

2009-07-17T09:05:00.001-07:00

(I'm going to try to blog a typical week in order to figure out where the money is leaking).

Monday. I usually work on Monday. E does not usually work late and so we have dinner at home. Since I shop on the weekend, we usually have a "nice" meal on Monday because I save my freezer stuff for the end of the week. So, dinner, around $15 for the three of us. Sometimes a treat in the evening like Dairy Queen $10.

Tuesday. I'm off on Tuesday. So Maggie and I either go somewhere (to the city, usually $15 gas or trans and $20 lunch) or we stay around and do errands, and have Gong Ho for lunch ($6). Errands typically include the post office ($15 on average but not every tuesday) and the craft store (okay a few bucks get dropped here, around $20, including the thing I need) and Target ($100 weekly for necessities, and probably an extra $10 per trip on something fun). Tuesday is my night off and I used to get a pedicure ($40) but now I usually go to the gym and then have a nice dinner at the local restaurant ($20 on average).

*okay I'm seeing where the money is going do I have to keep writing? yeah? fine*

Wendesday. I work Wednesday. Usually I make a frugal dinner ($10 for the three of us) and then we might go out and get slurpees ($5 for the three of us)

Thursday. I don't work Thursdays. Maggie and I usually take a ride to the thrift shop to drop stuff off (but we usually don't go in) and then get lunch at Burger King or Gong Ho ($10 or less for lunch). Sometimes we hit the used bookstore (but I haven't paid for a book there in months, I use credit from trading in old ones).

Friday. E's night off. Maggie and I do something every Friday. Lately we've been hanging with my folks, which is free. Sometimes we go out to see my friend Carrie, which is technically free except for gas and we usually want to bring something along, so ($5 for either a treat for the dogs or for the people!). Or we go out for dinner with a friend ($20-25 for the two of us).

Saturday. In the morning we clean up the house, and then we go to the store for our groceries and Target needs. Like diapers ($10/week) and Maggie's milk ($6/week) and groceries (typically $80 a week) and cleaning needs (there is always something, say about $20 a week total). Since we're out and about we usually buy lunch at Subway or at the grocery store ($20 total for the three of us). We usually cook a meal together.

Sunday. We usually have a nice breakfast and lunch....yeah, Sunday pretty much goes the same as Saturday. I'd say we could cut out those meals out, but if we don't go out we have to buy stuff for lunch and then that ends up being a certain amount as well.

Things I want to know while looking this over:
* why is it I spend around $100 at Target on the weekend and yet still need stuff from there during the week?

Gah. I have to meditate on this I guess.

Money Money Money

2009-07-17T08:51:00.000-07:00

Well, the good news is Mr. Knitty got a nice raise. Now during the shitty part of the month, instead of having to decide between bills and groceries, I can do both, but barely. Sigh. I was in a full on panic yesterday because I owe the driveway contractors a $2K down payment. I figured I'd take some from the new, larger paycheck, some from my regular savings (where I had been stashing money for this project) and some from my deep savings.

Well after taking grocery money out the checking account was around $30 so that didn't happen.

And the savings account was missing about $700, which I remember I used for our St. Louis trip, which I also planned to take out of that account, I just spent the money twice.

And so I was panicking as I drove to the bank which holds my deep savings account, praying that there was enough money in there. There was. I am happy.

Except.

This leaves me with about $600 between both savings accounts.
And I have a $800 car insurance bill, a $200 medical bill, and a $400 credit card bill.

Where does the money go? I realize that this past month I DID in fact purchase a doll wig, a doll body, and a pair of doll glasses. That totaled slightly over $50. But I honestly do not recall spending any other frivolous dollars!

If I may be shallow for a moment I'm really glad that Mr. Knitty is weaning off his meds soon because his doctor likes to see him EVERY month, and the $95 charge every month is killing us. My doc at least only needs to see me every 3 most of the time. And it's not like this was a severe case or anything with him, so I really believe she's just doing it for the extra money.

But for the next two weeks I am planning some ultra frugal meals because...well...$200 has to last us until the next payday. And I fully realize that many folks eat on far less, but I'm just gonna play the kid card and say that they probably don't have a kid who wants MEAT. I confess I just sort of roll my eyes at these folks who can subsist on tabbouleh with some organic zucchini from the farmer's market. I am feeling low on protein because we are not having meat every night.

But I have a plan in place for the food. I'm going to buy a ton of chicken legs, which are always cheap, and cook them all up at once, shred the meat, and store it in meal-sized containers in the freezer. With that I can make chicken and rice, chicken tacos, and chicken enchiladas. I'll also get some Italian sausage; they make it at the store so it's a bit less expensive, and I can make 1 package of sausage last two meals. And then the rest is pasta.

I'm gonna sound spoiled here, but as soon as we have a few extra bucks we are so going to the Brazilian steakhouse and pigging out on meat!

But yeah, I am not quite sure what I'm going to do.

Maybe I should blog a typical week and see where it's going?

Whoosh!

2009-06-29T12:09:00.000-07:00

I read somewhere that "hidden" clutter (in closets, basements, attics) wears you out just as much as visible clutter. It's so true! This weekend I was feeling frustrated by my craft room. Nothing new.

I began by describing to my husband the contents of each and every box in the closet. As I went on, I realized that a good percentage of them were "I've got to keep that for sentimental/obligatory reasons". I have done a LOT of culling, dear readers, and I feel most of these things I am simply not ready to part with. And some are truly sentimental; high school notes from friends, Mr. Knitty's bow tie from prom, etc.

He suggested I put some of them in the crawlspace. So I went down there to see if I could cull out a few boxes (I have lots of room, but I like to stay on top of my storage issues). We had made a trip that morning to the thrift store, to drop off a large bag of curtains, baby clothes, and candle holders and knicknacks. As I shoved box ofter box out of the crawlspace, yelling instructions at Mr. Knitty and Maggie as I went: ("donate!" "out on the street!" "garbage!" "bring this to daddy!", I had no concept of the large pile accumulating outside of my crawlspace door!!! When I emerged, my mouth fell open.

We filled up (yes, filled up) the trunk of my car and made another trip to the thrift shop. It felt so good!!!

Purging these things has a number of different good feelings for me. I went through a phase (well, a number of phases) of buying things to ease a particular frustration in my life. I bought dishes when I was anxious to buy my own place and get married. I bought holiday decorations when I was frustrated by wanting to have a baby but not being ready. I bought kitchen decorations...well...simply because they had chickens on them, not anticipating a future loss of interest in all things chickeny.

These things have irked me for a long time! On one hand, I can remember what I paid for most of them, and it's so painful to realize that I spent hundreds of dollars on these things that have little-to-no meaning for me now. Not only did I spend that much, I drove myself into credit card debt in order to do it, and had to take a loan from Mom to pay it off (worst thing ever). I don't think I'd feel as bad if I had bought "fun" useless things; electronics, clothes, shoes, jewelry. I strictly forbid myself from buying "fun" things because I was busy "trying to change my life" through buying "serious" (read; ridiculous) things!!!

And I know that I need to Let This Go. And the key for me in accomplishing that is getting rid of the things that stir these feelings for me. I like to go down in my crawlspace and find things that are for specific times of the year (yule tree, for example) or things that I don't really use but still make me smile (my grandma's punch bowl). I have enough space to store things that are not immediately useful, but I don't like saving things that are completely useless!!

So, the thrift shop was the beneficiary of around 8 large containers of holiday decorations (I really did believe I would need "harvest" decorations!) and a set of kitchen curtains that are so "whoa hella ugly" that I can't believe I ever hung them up, a handmade nativity scene (I decided it was time to pass it on to someone who is a practicing Xtian) and numerous other delights.

It felt so good, dear readers. I feel like I got a load off of me. And with that load off, I was able to return to my craft room with new eyes and take a couple of the "sentimental" boxes downstairs, and make room on the shelves for currently active projects and supplies.

This means I am also on my way to revamping the room in my ultimate goal; a nice pleasant room to do arts and crafts with my favorite girl; Maggie.

1. Have installed a ceiling fan with an overhead light, which will enable me to rehome the three lamps in there currently.
2. Remove a lot of the nicknacks off the walls and shelves, cull, and rehang in a less "fits & starts" manner.
3. Decide on a table for my sewing machine. Do I want to get rid of the current unwieldly but very storagey model? Or do I want to keep it?
4. Get rid of the bookcase that is acting as an "intermediate solution" for not having a proper end table in there.
5. Get a proper end table.
6. Bid a sad farewell to my big blue heating & vibrating chair. I love it. It was a third hand monstrosity from Mr. Knitty's cousins, but it is just SO big and it doesn't "go" anywhere in the house. This means it's time for it to go.
7. Procure new seating that is smaller, moveable, and appropriate for both kids & big folks.
8. Procure a small storage piece for Maggie's art supplies to be accessible.

Steggies for EyeballPalooza

2009-06-29T07:52:00.000-07:00

My good friend Jackie is in urgent need of cataract surgery to prevent her from losing her eyesight.

Me and some other friends are pulling together to help her raise funds for this surgery. As I have used my Steggies successfully in the past for fundraising, I am resurrecting them for this cause!

Steggies are cute and make a great gift for a little kid or for anyone. It is my own original pattern. You can find a link to the pattern with a photograph on the right hand side of my blog.

I am making steggies for those who wish to contribute; a $10 donation to my friend's paypal will get you a darling little steggie in your choice of color. Shipping is $2 in the US and $5 anywhere else.

Please contact me via comment on this post, or at leopard mama 169 AT gmail DOT com (you know the drill) for questions or to "order" your steggie!

The Fabric Conundrum

2009-06-10T12:39:00.000-07:00

I know that my "stash" is nowhere near the size of some people's stashes (ahem). But something is bothering me. I have a good sized box of small pieces. Too small, IMHO, for quilt pieces, even (I like to do patchwork with big pieces so it's less effort :-) Most of them are scraps and bits of things I made, in other words, fabric I love for one reason or another. I feel like they are not really useful to me anymore. I run across patterns I'd like to make and think "gee I have a lot of fabric" but what I have is never big enough.

So I figured I would make some small projects from it. The thing is, these small projects are never terribly useful, for me or for other folks, and so I end up making things that are cute but sort of useless.

I was going to make a scrappy log cabin quilt, but frankly they're all pretty strong patterns and so it looked really bad. Plus I only made 10 squares before i got sick of doing it (see?)

I don't do applique projects or anything that uses tiny bits. I'm one of those folks who counts the pattern pieces in the dress pattern and if it's over 5 I put it back down.

The problem is that I feel like I should use up what I have before I buy new things. Or at least get it down to the sort of quantity where I have specific plans for at least half of the stuff.

I would like to do the same thing I did with my beads; clear out all the "wtf do I do with these?" items, and the next time I have a cool project in mind I can simply buy the materials I'd like to use? Rather than feel weighted down by this supply of not-quite-right supplies?

I think I just answered my own question!

When a bargain is not a bargain

2009-05-29T08:15:00.000-07:00

I promised to post a bargain-hunting-theory post and so here it is.

I think it's in our nature to love a bargain. We feel like we're getting a deal! The problem is, changing attitudes about saving, debt, spending, ownership, etc. have turned bargains into something of a burden.

Back in the "good old days" when you needed a new dress (meaning the old one wore out, not just that you felt like a new one) you went to the store to look for one. You were limited to the stores in your immediate area, because there was no good old internet so you could instantly price-compare across the globe. If a dress you liked happened to be on sale, so much the better. That was a bargain. Unless they were REALLY on sale, you couldn't afford to buy two, just because they were cheaper. You still bought one, but you just spent a little less. Or maybe you spent a little more and got a nicer dress. At any rate, you paid for your dress with money you already had and left with one new dress.

Now a million factors make this nice, sane scenario really uncommon, almost humorous.

No matter what point I'm at, if I have a bunch of money in my account or I'm scraping change off the floor of the car, I can almost always afford a new dress at, say, Target. Probably the most expensive dress I've seen there was $50. And there are plenty for $25 & under. Although there are certainly people who cannot afford that, the percentage of those who can is much much higher. And so the price of a dress is not prohibitive. It's not a deterrent. It doesn't give you much incentive to wear one dress over and over when you could buy a new one for each event.

Another factor is that stores turn over their merchandise so quickly that you really have to buy things right away if you want them. This creates a sense of urgency: "I like this dress, I don't get paid until next week but it might be gone by then." It makes it more likely that you'll find some way to acquire the dress, regardless of whether or not you really and truly need it.

And now you don't even need the actual money in hand, of course. Most people, regardless of income status, have a credit card or two. And while being "in debt" used to be a cause for shame and anxiety, now it's just business as usual. People brag and joke about their credit card balances. They rail against the card companies for "ripping them off" and raising interest rates, etc. The fact that people made all those purchases themselves gets lost in the shuffle, because carrying around debt is considered normal; something everyone does, so the credit card companies should make it easier on everyone, right?

Of course there's an attitude shift that has changed our view of clothes. Clothes used to be something you wore, to keep you from running around naked. You wanted to look nice, of course, but clothes were not surrounded by the aura of entitlement, personal worth, and your projected image. Now that clothes ARE symbolic of that, that having a stuffed closet means you are doing all right, having the best brands means you are really cool, and darn it you DESERVE to feel good nobody thinks twice about buying lots of clothes.

So, easy availability, easy money, and a sense of entitlement. Suddenly the closet is full and the credit card is burning.

But I haven't even gotten to the internet! The internet is full of ways to make us spend without thinking. First off, it's easy. I'm bored at work and can hop on the net and look for some stuff, without ever hopping in my car and actually physically driving to the store. Second, the buying is easy. You can't really use cash, so you can just type in a few numbers and the stuff arrives in the mail. Even easier is that you can save a credit card to a site so all you need to do is click a button, not even type in the number! And all these sites like Overstock and Zappos and Ebay are full of "deals". Who hasn't seen an expensive handbag originally $269 with the price crossed out and a big red price next to it *now only $29.99!!!* Who can resist? Kate Spade for the price of Jaclyn Smith!!

And so then we lose sight of whether we actually WANTED the bag in the first place, but it's cheap, and we might not find a good deal like that again, so really we SHOULD buy it just in case we want it someday! I almost did this myself last night, holding a $6 Kate Spade handbag in the thrift shop. Did I need it? No. Fortunately sanity prevailed and I put it back down, but, dear readers, I was very close.

Sometimes our bargains become something to brag about in and of themselves. You like this tablecloth? I got it for only $10 at a clearance sale. Check out this chair. It was FREE. I garbage picked this, my friend sold me this, got this at a garage sale for only 75 cents!

The unfortunate part about all this is we feel like we're saving money. Most of us are trying to save, after all, in this economy. And so finding a dress for CHEAP makes us feel like we are "saving" the $30 markdown, rather than "spending" the $20 price tag. If we didn't buy the dress at all, we would actually "save" $20. But no store wants us to believe this!

An interesting comparison. I used to shop at a regular grocery store full of "DEALS" and "BUY ONE GET ONE FREE!!!!" and "WEEKLY SPECIAL!". I always, always walked out with more stuff than I needed. All those red signs! They caught my eye! They made me feel like I should buy another one because next week they won't be on sale! I usually spent over $100 in a trip. When I started shopping at Whole Foods, it was a different ball game. The stuff is a little more expensive, and very few items, if any, are ever on sale. So if lemons aren't on my list, they never even enter my radar, because there isn't a huge sign proclaiming "TEN FOR ONE DOLLAR!" over the display, coercing me to buy pounds and pounds of lemons I don't need. I typically spent LESS at the Whole Foods, because I was only buying what I needed. I could make the decision to buy lemons or not, free of the siren song of the sale.

And so this has made me more likely to actually save more money by NOT buying things on sale. After all, if you wouldn't buy it for full price, you shouldn't buy it at all. I tend to patronize stores that don't have bouncy happy cheapy SALES everywhere because I fall victim to those signs every time. If something I want IS on sale, so much the better, but I have to want that item at full price first. And frequently I've turned to using something I have, borrowing from someone else, or some other method of actually saving, which means less stuff in my house, more money in my wallet, and more sanity in my head!

The amazing budget redecorate project

2009-05-27T08:03:00.001-07:00

When I first bought this house, I wanted it to be....like the 50's housewife guides said homes should be. I paid an ungodly amount of money for a "proper" dining room set and formal drapes and matching furniture and shit.

And then I looked at it one day and realized it wasn't what I wanted anymore. For a while I thrilled to that "lovely home" thing but now I'm just tired of it. It feels so unlike me, so wasteful. The house doesn't reflect the fun, carefree lifestyle I now try to lead. The dining room's formality makes me feel like I shouldn't be in there, like it's some sacred shrine to china or something.

So I decided I need to do something about all this. However, I wanted to do it without violating my new "cash only" status.

First step was to list some furniture and the formal drapes on my employee exchange. Next step (much harder) was to wait until people actually wanted to BUY my stuff before I went out and bought new.

But that difficult second step has given me an unexpected blessing. I now have time to think and consider all the different possibilities for what I REALLY WANT in my space. And it's given me enough time to think on whether or not I actually want to use some things I already own or if they are all going to hit the street.

What has amazed me is how little the things I actually LIKE cost, as opposed to the "proper" things! I spent over $800 covering that bay window. And now I can't even stand those drapes. They're too heavy, for one thing. And for another, they are such a stuffy color. And third, they have to be either open or closed, relatively permanently. I can't just close them without taking down the rods and rearranging because they require intermediate brackets to keep those heavy rods from sagging.

I decided I'd rather have sheers that let the light in, but that can be closed in the evening for a bit of privacy. I still loved the shimmery sheers I had in my dining room. So yesterday I washed them and hung them up on temporary rods just to see how they would look. It changes the entire outlook of the room! In an amazing way! I don't, however, have enough of them to cover the whole window, SO I'm going to buy a pair of brightly colored sheers from Ikea and put one on each side. That way I'll still have the look of "layered" drapes and sheers, but the light can shine through. I toyed with the idea of putting all new sheers, but the ones I like are ORANGE and I don't know if I can handle quite that much orange. I can always change my mind and get more if i want the wall-of-orange effect.

So for the curtain wire (to replace those heavy rods) it's only $15, and the pair of sheers is only $8.99. So I can cover the window for $24. I think that's a steal!

I'm going to leave the rod in the dining room because it is a much smaller window and it doesn't need an intermediate bracket. I'm getting rid of the fussy patriot valance and just putting up pretty purple sheers on curtain rings.

Dining room total will be only two sets of sheers $8.99 each so under $20 for the dining room "makeover".

I believe the bedroom curtains are getting the boot as well. They are pretty yellow but the walls are a very light green and they don't add any pizazz, they just sort of blend. The rods are fine but the finials are discolored. I have two possibilities in mind; one to buy inexpensive rods to replace them and two to try painting the discolored finials with pearlescent paint. Maybe I'll try the second option first and if I don't like the effect, nothing lost. The curtains I picked out for the bedroom are GREEN. Bright green, but in a filmy fabric so they aren't too GREEN :-)

The expensive part of my project is going to be the kitchen table, and even that is not too bad. You see, I always wanted a round pedestal table. My mother told me that the pedestal would drive me nuts and she was right.

DID YOU HEAR THAT MOM YOU WERE RIGHT NOW I DON'T LIKE THE PEDESTAL.

Rather than dwell, I'm buying a set from a coworker who moved and can't fit it in her new apartment. It's rectangular and has no pedestal :-) I think it will give my kitchen a little boost as the kitchen is suffering from old-lady-itis. It got better when I put the brushed nickel knobs on the cabinets, but that oak table with the fan back chairs is just not doing it any favors. Time for a little kick in the shins. Now if someone would just buy MY table LOL. Really, it's lovely! And you probably will love the pedestal (heh heh).

So the breakdown is:

Curtain wire: $14.99
1 pair orange curtains: $8.99
2 pair purple curtains: $17.98
2 pair green curtains: $19.98
kitchen table: $250

Total: $311.94

offset by whatever I can get by selling my stuff.

After the curtains are done, the next step will be lighting and decorative objects. I need to analyze whether my displays are cluttery or not, and what to do if they are. And what sort of lighting I need to complete the functionality I want!

Still Going

2009-05-20T12:57:00.000-07:00

Yeah, it's only a few days, but I'm proud.

I've started to keep a journal of inexpensive activities, restaurants, and meals to cook. I've also started writing down the things I want to buy so I can have a visual acknowledgment of those desires without actually going and making the purchase.

I have my curtains up on the employee exchange and my fingers crossed that someone out there wants them. PLEASE people. I went to Ikea last night and figured out what I want to buy, and was happy to find that I can do this with very little money.

It felt kind of nice to go shopping and not come home with anything too.

I'm eager to see my house 'spruced up" but I'm actually kind of enjoying waiting to make the purchases until I sell off some of the stuff I already have. We've decided also to sell our kitchen table and chairs and buy a different set, and I'm eager to shop for that too. Someone has one up for sale on the employee exchange, but I'm being good and waiting to sell and have the cash in hand before I buy anything new!

This pattern I'm hoping will mean I'll make each purchase carefully, too. Not just go and wave around my credit card and watch the numbers go WHEEEE.

First cash-only weekend!

2009-05-18T08:19:00.001-07:00

I believe it was a success! I withdrew $300 and bought groceries, necessities at Target, a new propane tank for the grill, stuff for the party, and still have money left over.

The hard part will be of course, when the credit card comes and it will not be any bigger but it still will be big, which is so demoralizing when you've been working so hard towards cash.

I did, however, take my credit cards OUT of my wallet. I bought Mr. Knitty and I each a gas card so neither of us actually need a credit card with us at all.

I did my grocery shopping at the cheaper grocery store--I will get back to Whole Foods eventually once I get this under control. I bought a week's worth of groceries and stuff for the party for only $60, which is less than one week's worth of groceries alone at WF.

I am hoping by the end of the summer I will be on an even cash-only basis, where my paychecks that go "into savings" are actually STAYING in there, and I am no longer overdrawing my account, and my credit cards are all at $0. This is my goal!

I also went through the house for "hidden money". I have a collection of $2 bills; almost $20 worth! And I have a box of foreign money that I went through this morning, saved one of each type, and I'm taking the rest to the currency exchange to get spendable money. I have a few things up for sale.

*****
I'm still plowing away at the decluttering. It seems endless, but I am making some progress.

*****
I am also planning some redecorating projects around the house. But CASH ONLY so don't worry. That means I get to think them over and not do them on impulse so I am less likely to make stupid mistakes.

I'm having a wonderful time looking through the IKEA catalogue and coming up with ideas. I looked around my house and realized I had succeded in making my house look "traditional' but I no longer actually want that. So I'm going to modernize...bit by well-thought-out bit.

Ideas

2009-05-15T12:19:00.000-07:00

1. No more paying exorbitant prices for mediocre meals. Eating out will have to come from the following sources: Dominoes pizza ($6 for a Dominator that feeds all three of us), Chinese takeout ($15 for the three of us) and picnics--it's nice out now darn it! Let's eat outside! Even an inexpensive meal at the local restaurant tips out at over $40. That's ridiculous.

2. Movies out are to be a rare treat. Instead, Neflix & popcorn for the three of us. Why do we have an entertainment system anyway, huh?

3. I'm just gonna have to polish my own nails. $20 for a mani and $40 for a pedi is just adding up too fast. No, I don't go every week. But it's still money I could be stashing. Time to learn how to manage my own cuticles.

4. Evening entertainment options will include family badminton games, playing in our small pool, and taking walks to the park. May also include going to the library, fishing in the local pond, and watching local kids play baseball near our house.

5. I'm going to keep with the "inexpensive meals" plan, but instead of doing it in order to afford Whole Foods prices, for a while I'm going to apply the same menu plan and shopping strategy to the regular old grocery store. I'll be making my own spaghetti sauce with canned tomatoes rather than paying for jarred. I'll be buying the same small amounts of meat and spreading them sparingly over several meals. I'll be exploring the peasant cuisines of Italy, Mexico, Greece, and India.

6. I'm not joining the gym, at least for now. Maggie and I will enjoy our Bollywood Dance DVD and go for walks, and run around in the back yard.

7. New books and movies will come from the book exchange where we already have a credit. Once that credit runs out, we'll have to trade in some of our current stuff for new stuff.

My goal in doing this is to be able to put $200 a month into savings. Actual savings, not "until the credit card bill comes" savings.
And my other goal is...

Both credit cards have a balance of....$0.

Coming clean--I suck a $$$ management

2009-05-15T11:58:00.001-07:00

I opened up my credit card bill this morning and nearly cried. No, the balance isn't THAT high. It's the fact that, against what I've always believed and practiced, I've been carrying a balance for a few months, and the new charges have already outstripped all that I've tucked away to help chip away at that balance.

I've tried to think from a dozen different angles--maybe we're spending on the wrong things or money is secretly leaking out of our wallets or we're spending unconsciously on small money drains.

But I have to admit the truth. We're spending too much and it's because we have an unrealistic view of what we have.

Mr. Knitty used to give me a set amount of money for groceries and household expenses, while he paid the bills. Contrary to its Draconian feel, I endorsed this plan because it was very easy for me to see the amount of money I had left in my envelope for the pay period.

The problem with this strategy was that the money ran out quickly. And when it did, I would use my credit card for necessities like food and formula. Not too bad. But then I felt guilty at overspending my budget, and so I'd go out and buy something else just to rebel. Quite bad. And then there were all the purchases that "didn't count". Like home improvement things--I couldn't be expected to KNOW that I'd need a new fan in the bedroom, and it's not like that money would be there in a few days anyway, so we might as well put it on the card. And while we're at it, go out for dinner to make up for the annoyance of having to install a new fan. Roughly, I was spending as much or more each month on the credit card as I was in my budget.

After a while, I decided to take over the finances. Mr. Knitty was working longer hours and I said it would be one less thing for him to worry about. I did really good at first. And then an old demon came up to haunt me.

See, I used to use my credit card for stuff, and then once the balance started to creep up on me, I'd vow not to use it and start paying for things only with cash or check. Which was great, except that then when the bill came, all the cash needed for paying that bill was already gone. Which began the familiar cycle of credit cards familiar to most of us. Suddenly, you "needed" to use the card to buy necessities because there wasn't any cash left to pay for them.

I hadn't much liked the cash system because the money always ran out before the things I wanted to buy ran out. And instead of figuring I might be spending too much money, I fell into the trap of believing that this was just one of those annoying evils of cash--that it was inconvenient, you never had the right amount, and who wants to be carrying around that much cash anyway? I decided to use a debit card instead, which seemed to carry the positives of cash but also seemed so much more convenient--I could access all my money at any time.

Except that I'd access all of my money and then some--I've overdrawn my account more than once now. It's usually when we get down to that last $50 or so, and I figure that $15 purchase will be okay, and then the next morning that purchase clears, as do three others that I had forgotten about that took a few days to clear.

I really hate how credit cards and debit cards have that "nasty surprise" aspect to them. You THINK you know what you spent on them. You remember that you had the car fixed, and you bought that wedding gift. But you don't remember all those little $30 purchases that add up so fast. Which is how a bill that I estimate will be about $500 ends up well over $1000.

Part of the problem is that I have the belief that certain "un fun" purchases should not be able to cut into my "fun" money. That $1200 car repair bill means I need to get my nails done MORE, to relax. Besides, $15 won't do much toward that car bill anyway, so I should just enjoy the manicure.

But there's another problem that I don't know how to deal with. I keep trying to set aside some money for the unexpected. I had about $300 at one point, which was great. That month I had a $1200 car repair, $400 worth of medical bills, and more. I never seem to be able to get ahead because "unexpected" is always far bigger than what I have set aside. I can handle an emergency run for diapers or a tank of gas. But $1200 is most of our monthly income. How can I be expected to pay for that? Easy. Put it on the credit card, comfort myself that I'll at least get bonus points, and by the time the bill comes, I'll have figured out what to do.

Never happens.

I keep thinking that maybe there is something BIG that we missed. Like our house was way too expensive or maybe we should have only one car. But the BIG thing I've been overlooking this whole time is we simply spend too much. The reason I didn't like the cash system was because it gave me an honest portrayal of how much I had. And I didn't like that honest portrayal. After grocery shopping, I didn'thave $40 to go out to eat. Instead of taking that as a clue that we didn't have the money to go out to eat, we declared it a "credit card" expense, rather than a "real" expense.

I need to get on top of this. Next post will be my ideas of how.

Stash

2009-05-11T11:16:00.000-07:00

I really feel like I am seeing some results in my stashbusting efforts. I haven't missed anything yet either, which is very encouraging.

There are a few things that I found that require a little hard love. One rather humorous discovery was at least 8 lbs. of sand from Florida. Yes, instead of filling a little bottle with it, I filled a BAG. And it's still there in my closet! I'm planning to put it in Maggie's sandbox. It will be a little while before I can afford to take her to FL, so this way she can get a little preview of that lovely Florida beach sand. I think the shells will go in there too :-)

I came across an interesting way to think about using stash. Usually I decide I want to make *this object* or *this pattern* and then try to find if I have yarn to suit that. This time what I did was pull out the YARN I wanted to use, and googled it to find a pattern for it. I think I ended up with a better project than I would if I was trying to find a substitute yarn for the project. I ended up with a very nice little silk purse in VERY little time. The pattern is called Unbiased and it's on Knitty; I recommend!

Out Damn Stuff

2009-05-06T08:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Maggie helped me pare down my fabric stash even more. It now fits in ONE BOX. One box, folks. And it's not an enormous TV size box either, it's an ordinary 15x8x12 rubbermaid box. Actually, it was in an under the bed box but that got repurposed into an impromptu sandbox yesterday, so it went in the smaller box. And it fit!

We are considering unloading EVERYTHING in craft room and putting it into containers anew, as I am certain there are more things to get rid of, and many things that can share boxes, reducing the amount of boxes we need.

I am having vague thoughts of bringing my sewing machine downstairs. There is plenty of space now with the loveseat gone. I could actually turn parts of the dining room into a "craft room" and then it would no longer be a colossal waste. I could work on projects with Maggie and while she watches TV. I mean, half of my buffet is empty, and I could make it..er...more empty by consolidating stuff. I always convince myself that being able to close off the craft room is this huge plus, but maybe it really isn't. HA maybe I could even install a fold down ironing board on the back of the garage door--wouldn't that be a stitch?

Maybe I'm having more than "vague" thoughts.

I have decided to limit myself to only three major crafts: yarnwork (knitting and crochet), beads, and some basic sewing. And Maggie has one craft--gluing things to other things, so we have that stuff too. But that means we get to release a lot of things to new homes. With a more manageable stash, maybe we can keep our ideas fresh and not be bogged down by a huge backlog of projects we've lost interest in!

*****

I am reconsidering some of the handmade Xmas gifts and birthday gifts. While there are still some folks who I would want to make things for, and who love to receive it, all in all I think that some of my things are becoming excess in the recipient's lives, and in mine. I fully admit that some things are made to cross someone off the list, rather than for the sheer joy of making something for that person.

I also realized that, while I was patting myself on the back for "saving" all this money by making gifts, I put an ENORMOUS amount of time into making gifts for both Xmas and birthdays. I begin my Xmas crafting in January--sometimes before. I maintain a "gift" drawer all year. I'm wondering if, with other folks decluttering as well, if this might not be the year to start doing a "gift card Xmas". If I set aside a few bucks each month, instead of hours and hours and hours of time, I could buy each family member a gift card to a business they like to patronize.

I have to admit that while it is fun to open presents, gift cards are ALWAYS welcome. That dinner out when I'd rather not cook is almost always even more awesome than another tchotchke when I have so so many already. As we all get older and our tastes change, it's getting harder to buy for each other. I think this might be the time to make a switch. I will still do some handmade gifts, but rather than stress myself out all year over Xmas, I'm going to save my sanity!

What IS the Condo Fantasy?

2009-05-04T12:34:00.000-07:00

Since I really don't want to actually move, I decided to try and see what the ideals are for me about this pervasive Condo Fantasy (CF). What was it that made the concept appeal to me so much? What was I hoping to gain from this idea?

1. Financial. There are condos in my neighborhood that I could pay off in full with the proceeds from my (theoretical) house sale. My taxes would be lower, as would my utility bills. Incidentals would also be less, as I would not have to maintain the exterior, and home improvement projects would be at a minimum. Insurance would be less as well.

1A. This would mean that Mr. Knitty could work fewer hours, we wouldn't have to stretch to pay the bills, we could afford niceties like wireless internet and cable easily. It would also mean more time together.

2. Stuff. I find the notion of an excuse to get rid of a large amount of stuff to be very appealing. Things that while I might keep in a large space, I could let go of if I *had* to. Some things would be streamlining things; not having both a kitchen table AND a dining room, combining our home entertainment stuff, etc.

3. Time. I don't have a high standard of clean, and yet I am never able to keep on top of even bare minimum housework in my large house. Three bathrooms to keep clean, a spare bedroom that ends up a dumping ground, keeping an eye on rodent invaders, moisture issues, status updates on major home systems, etc. I would love to be able to complete my home cleaning in a smaller amount of time.

4. Life. I feel as if I had less housework, money, and stuff to worry about, I would have more time to live. More time to go to the park. More time to take weekend trips. More time to spend time with other moms & friends.

4B. This supposes that I HAVE other mom friends, and this is something I'd really like--to expand my network of mom friends and just general friends. I have a small circle of close friends with busy lives and geographical issues, and I don't get to see them as often as I'd like to, and rarely on the spur of the moment for an afternoon of tea and chat.

And so there it is. Part of me enjoys the fact that I have a "fully stocked" kitchen, with gadgets galore. I mean, I have a blender, a food processor, and immersion blender, a mixer, and a hand mixer. Come on! Sure, they all have different uses, but frankly I rarely use them, except for the hand mixer, which I do in fact use a lot. Part of me would really not mind having an "excuse" to pare down.

Part of me loves my beautiful grown up dining room set....but part of me feels that it's a colossal waste of money and space to be used only 4 times a year.

Part of me loves having a "guest room" but part of me wishes the whole room would fall off the house one day, because then I would no longer have a "dumping ground" to deal with all the time. I don't really need a "guest room" or a "craft room" or an "office". I rarely have overnight guests, I knit in my lap, and my laptop follows me around the house. If I may, I need to save my wall hangings, the quilt on the bed, my sewing machine, my yarn, and my knitting needles but that's really all, okay?

Layers

2009-04-27T08:49:00.001-07:00

What's with all the one word post titles? It's like my writing has become decluttered as well!

I've been trying to figure out a way to describe how my "stuff" situation always was that I found so unsatisfactory, and how it's moving towards my ideal now. And I think they key is "layers".

I used to have a lot of layers. In deep storage I would have the things that I didn't really want but didn't feel I could get rid of. In the middle layer was things that I might want but I wasn't sure. Stuff like pants "one size too small" were in this category. In the top-middle layer was the things that I thought I was using but actually wasnt'. And then finally, the top layer; things I actually used.

I hated the layers. I hated how I'd buy a new storage piece and the things that would fill it were things from the bottom "layers". There was no room for my "top layer". Usually my "top layer" ended up on top of or next to the storage pieces. This meant I always had a mess.

I envied people who had only one layer. People who could set their tea down on the end table and not have to clear a space first. People who had the clothes they actually wore in the dresser instead of in the laundry basket. People who could actually get INTO their craft rooms :-)

I had to concentrate so much on storage I was never really sure what I had. I also never really got to enjoy the things I had because I had "stock" covering or obscuring them. I didn't feel I was able to have something "nice" because I could only afford to have "a lot" if I bought cheap things.

*******
The Condo Fantasy

When I lived in a small place, I used to fantasize about moving to a bigger place. A REALLY big place! So I wouldn't have to make choices about what I had; I could keep everything I had already "just in case" and then buy what I REALLY liked. I bought a house approximately three times the size of the first one. I love my house. But I remember that feeling of dismay as I unpacked my belongings and those enormous cabinets and big rooms started to fill up SO fast.

I didn't quite get it--now I had room to put all my kitchen stuff in the kitchen instead of half of it in the basement, so what was the problem? Why were the cabinets packed? Seriously, didn't other people have like 10 sets of glasses and dishes? Where did NORMAL people put their things? If moving to a larger place didn't help, exactly how big of a place did you have to get in order to store all your stuff??

And then one day, the Condo Fantasy emerged. Not that I really want to give up my house or move to a condo in reality. But the concept of moving to a smaller place, and having an "excuse" to prioritize my belongings and only keep what I really loved was appealing. It was comforting to have an excuse to the voices in my head and the dissenting voices from outside forces. I could say simply "I just don't have room, I'm moving to a smaller place."

This seemed like the ultimate sense of freedom! I would no longer have to struggle over whether to keep those snowman dishes or those old plant pots or those broken-down lawn chairs.

And so I realized that now I was okay with a fake "excuse". I could *pretend* I was moving to a smaller place, and use that criteria as the lens through which to view all those questionable things. Would I keep these snowman dishes if I only had room for one set of dishes? Nope? Out they go!

Free

2009-04-17T08:33:00.000-07:00

I am free of all that limits me
I am free of other people's expectations
I am free of other people's judgment
I am free to make my own decisions based on my own circumstances
I am free to get rid of things I am not using
I am free to make my own choices
I am free to make choices that others do not agree with

I am free

Cleanse

2009-04-15T07:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the odds were in my favor as Mr. Knitty was home to help wrangle Maggzilla and he was able to remove all his *stuff* from my "craft room".

This means I was able to get in there (and, since he's unpacked his stuff, I had a number of new boxes) and purge. The craft room has always been a sort of dumping ground for "things I don't know what to do with but can't get rid of". Guess what I filled the boxes with. I just started at one corner of the room and tried to go with my immediate reaction to each thing. When I started to hear the voice in my head say "I have to save this because....." I put it in the box. Each time I filled a box I sealed it, stacked it by the door, and got a new one.

This morning I put all the boxes in my car and my trunk is full. Very full. So full when I open the hatchback everything will probably come piling out on me.

I tried to avoid the trap of "going through boxes". I will do that, but first I wanted to clear the space by getting rid of the things that aren't in boxes. I was able to move Maggie's toy chest and an end table downstairs. I was able to move my sewing table to a nicer location. I was able to put a bookcase where the desk used to be.

I am now ready to move on to "going through boxes". One drawer, one box, one thing at a time. With garbage, recycle, and give away boxes right next to me to make it easy to carry out my decisions.

It feels SO good. So freeing. I am going into the craft room for the first time in my life and SMILING rather than sighing.

I have this kind of guideline for getting rid of stuff. I get rid of:

*Things that I am saving only because someone gave them to me
*Things that I am saving only because I spent money on them.
*Things that I am saving only because I *could* do something with them, even though I haven't in at least a year
*Things that I look at and think "I have to save this". Usually this covers the previous three categories: I have to save this because so & so bought it for me.

Ahhhhhh.

Cash instead of Clutter

2009-04-08T09:38:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I just could NOT stand it anymore. I was going to wait until my dining room table was cleared of critters (they are bunking upstairs while the basement is being worked on) but I just couldn't take it anymore and decided to go through my china collection.

I have a long, mixed history with my china collection. You see, I was engaged for several years before I actually got married and had a house, and during that time I found myself desperately trying to "buy" my way through time faster, like, if I had a full house full of stuff the house would magically appear to contain it, you know?

Yeah, it didn't work. I just ended up with a bedroom closet stuffed full with housewares and huge credit card bills. Mom gave me a loan for the credit cards...and that was the WORST feeling ever--having to owe Mom. Truly. I think I learned the lesson better than I would have by paying finance charges, because the feeling was so squicky.

Once they were paid off, and I was married with house, I couldn't wait to unpack all of these things and use them! Unfortunately, we had to do a lot of work on the house, and the house was very small to begin with, and so I had a storage problem right off the bat. It's tough to store 8 sets of dishes plus serving pieces when you don't even have an actual dining room.

Even worse, I had a sinking feeling as I unpacked many of them---I didn't really like them anymore. I had been in such a buying frenzy that I had bought many things that weren't my style or my taste. Because I had not yet embraced the idea that if I didn't love it, I could get rid of it, I felt I was consigned to the keeping of this object forever. This object that I went into debt for, stored, hauled around.....

When I moved into a larger house with a real live dining room, I again couldn't wait to unpack my things. Now I could have EVERYTHING in the dining room, displayed and beautiful and ready to use. I took a day off from work to fill my new dining room furniture--I was that excited. After about an hour, I nearly cried. Already everything was full! I had wanted to have everything stored so that it could be removed without unpacking the entire piece of furniture, and not only did I not have room for that I could barely CRAM everything in.

Sometimes I looked at those things and sighed--I didn't like them that much. I had either bought them or registered for them for my wedding. But I never thought that I could actually get rid of them. On Mother's Day, the year I was pregnant, I was going to host the family at my house for brunch. I had a pretty new tablecloth and I started to set out my best set of dishes.....and I sat down and cried.

I didn't love those dishes--I didn't even like them. They looked stupid and tacky in my dining room. I really really wished I could have a set of nice, plain, cream colored dishes to set off my dark wood furniture. My husband sort of laughed and told me that of course I could have new dishes, and bought them for me that evening. I proudly used them the next day. About a year later I managed to sell the ones I didn't like, too.

And so I had gotten rid of the Southwestern dishes I didn't like. I also gave a set of holiday dishes to my cousin (she does Xmas brunch, not me). I never cared much for "theme" dishes anyway. Now I was down to things that I did like, but maybe didn't use or didn't like that much. And those things took up so much room in my furniture that I couldn't display the things I DID like, like my cream dishes, or my grandma's rose dishes, or my collection of colored vases.

I decided to take everything out of the china cabinet and display the things I wanted, store the things I needed, and then sell the rest. And so this morning, I was able to post a number of things on my employee exchange and I have already netted $30. Not too bad!

Happy Vernal Equinox!

2009-03-20T12:56:00.001-07:00

I don't believe it's a coincidence that things seem to be pulling together and reimagining themselves for me and for many people I know. I'm sure it's the action of the light and dark falling into balance influencing us :-)

After having a rather unpleasant basement flood, our insurance is paying out a healthy amount which will allow us to have the floor tiled (giving up on carpet) and the rec room painted. Fortunately the amount is that which we can pay someone else to do it too, and not have to do it ourselves and by the grace of friends.

Since the house was thrown into tumult anyway, I decided to reconfigure some of my rooms and continue on my quest to declutter. I have decided to turn my decluttering efforts into opportunities to bring joy to others and perhaps direct some good karma my way.

I decided I wanted my handknit sweaters to live in my main dresser, rather than the spare-room dresser, so that I can see them and remember to wear them! I went through my dresser and managed to reorganize stuff to dedicate an entire drawer to sweaters and one to things like shawls and capelets.

In doing this I discovered 2 sweaters that I made, and are lovely, but just don't suit me anymore. And so I brought them to my knitting group and found two delightful young ladies to pass them on to. They were both thrilled and I am happy to see the sweaters enjoying the light of day and flattering a pair of lovely ladies.

While my living room was thrown into disarray due to the immediate removal of all of the things in our rec room to the nearest above-grade room (i.e. the living room), I decided it was high time to rearrange furniture. I have a very large bay window and a couch-loveseat set. Because of the room's floor plan, the only way to arrange those two pieces is to put the couch in front of the window. It blocks about half of it. I never cared for that (although I am not against furniture in front of windows, I dislike blocking a window I paid a lot for!), but I could NOT figure out a way around it.

My helpful friend John suggested I consider getting rid of the loveseat, so the couch could be put across the room, and getting a nice chair instead. He actually suggested a nice red leather chair. I have ALWAYS wanted a red leather chair. And now I get to pick mine up tonight. Squeee! Better yet I have two people interested in the loveseat too!

As for the things that were in the basement, much of our furniture (pressboard) was damaged enough to claim it on insurance, but not enough to render it totally unuseable. I put the bookcases and the entertainment bench up on my office's employee exchange and got myself a bit of cash for them. Inspired, I also posted my daughter's all-terrain stroller (which she won't ride in anymore, she wants to WALK) and made myself more than half the money back on that.

All told it looks like I'll be getting about $160, not including the loveseat. Not too bad, huh?

The money is secondary, however, as I am so excited that our living room has so much beautiful space now and our rec room is going to get a beautiful treatment as well. I feel like this "mishap" actually messed up things enough to break me out of the dreaded status quo and give me the impetus to make some big changes I had been putting off.

My new goal in every room is to have the things I need and love to use in that room.

Saving Space AND Getting Paid

2009-03-09T09:06:00.000-07:00

Wednesday I decided I was going to go through all of my CDs. I uploaded them all into my computer and onto my Ipod, and then for most of them I put the CDs in a bag and got myself a lovely credit at my favorite used bookstore! I did save some of the CDs, but every time I look at them I find another few I can part with.

I realized that when I buy on Itunes, I don't have a hard copy, so why is it so difficult to get rid of them? It's not like I won't be able to find them again someday if something happened to the file. Not to mention most of them have been lying in the basement since we moved in and I haven't gone down to get them for any reason other than to sell them!

The Best Way to Do It

2009-03-04T11:42:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend Mr. Knitty helped me declutter my kitchen. He took everything from each cabinet and put it on the table. Then I had to sort and then rearrange what was left to fit appropriately. I was surprised by the impact removing only 2 large boxes of stuff had. Some stuff got thrown out too. As I was rearranging each cabinet I kept asking "Where is the rest of the stuff--this cabinet was SO full??" It was a very nice "problem" to have.

Encouraged by that, yesterday morning I gave my hall closet and my right-by-the-door cabinet the same treatment. It feels sooooo nice to look in there and see the coats hanging all nice, my totebag collection thinned out a bit, and a space on the top shelf for my bag of reuseable grocery bags.

On that front, my mission to reduce my use of plastic bags has been succeeding! Now that I shop at Whole Foods, I not only remember to take my bags, but I buy less stuff and so I don't need to remember to take as many :-) That little 10 cent rebate is quite a motivator :-) Maybe I will put my 10 cents in a jar and see how much I save.

Next up is my wardrobe. I'm going to take everything out of my closet and my dresser and put it on the bed. Then I'll just go through it and see what I wear, what I don't, what doesn't fit, and what I need to fill in the gaps.

My goal with the wardrobe is to fit my entire wardrobe into my dresser and closet, including my sweaters. I have stored them a number of places and I never wear them because they're not right there where I get dressed. I am hoping to clear space for them in the dresser drawers. As a last resort, I may invest in a new piece of furniture to put them in.

Irony

2009-02-11T11:05:00.000-08:00

Ironically enough, my commitment to stop buying has led me to.....careful, conscious, quality buying.

See, whenever I needed clothes, I used to go and buy a whole bunch of new things from Target. A part of me really enjoyed being able to lay all the pieces out on the bed and coo over how little I spent. All those nice new things were exciting! Unfortunately, one or two washes later and they didn't fit right. The shoes that felt comfy in the store weren't that comfy in daily use. And the handbag that looked so chic didn't suit my life.

I've always drooled over issues of Real Simple where they show a closet that has 3 fabulous dresses, 2 pairs of fabulous jeans, 3 pairs of knockout shoes, 2 nice bags, and 3 nice skirt sets. I always thought how liberating it would be to open up my closet and find just beautiful things that I love! Unfortunately, I was favoring quantity over quality. I was getting a lot of pieces but nothing worked right.

Over a year ago, when Maggie was small, I needed a morale boost and so I went shopping. I was very limited because I still had baby weight, and getting used to a whole new "shape" was difficult. I found a pair of jeans, quite by accident, that fit SO well. So comfortable, just right, made me look great. I also, on the advice of a friend, purchased a pair of Dansko mary janes. Well, as I type this, those jeans are in the wash and the shoes are on my feet. Nearly all of the clothes I've bought in the interim are gone--donated to the thrift store or given to friends.

And though I remember feeling immensely guilty about spending $100 on a pair of jeans and $125 on a pair of shoes, I am still USING those. I spent $100 (more!) collectively on those cheaper outfits, and all of those are sitting in the "sharing box" right now.

I have decided I am no longer going to buy anything that isn't either absolutely fabulous or perfectly functional. (I realize sometimes function has to come before fabulous, although it should not always do so!). No more purses that are just right except for the handle/color/shape/strap. No more pants that fit "well for $20 pants". No more shoes that "look great and don't hurt a lot".

First I went through my closet and got rid of all those things that weren't "just right". And then I looked at what was left to start to fill in the holes. First priority was some pants. I decided that since I work in such a casual office, I'd get a pair of dark, more polished jeans, rather than "work pants". If I need to dress up, I always wear a skirt anyway. Second priority was a new black cardi--a key piece I wear year round with tshirts, dresses, skirts, everything! And then the next priority was a new purse. A purse that was "just right": held everything with a little extra space, had a big outside pocket for my phone and wallet, and had a long strap so I could carry it cross body. I found something even BETTER because it is pink :-) On these three items I spent a shade over $200. But I have already used all of them more than last year's Target binge combined!

Rather than NOT buying anything at all, it turns out the secret is to buying only things that I really love. Buying higher quality things means they last longer, and the higher price tag makes me think extra hard rather than buy on impulse. I don't know why it took me so long to figure this out!

Still More Small Victories

2009-01-23T11:56:00.001-08:00

*my best friend gave me a coat she couldn't wear anymore---OMG it's so warm and wonderful and much nicer than any I would have bought.
*I have been doing okay on the grocery front--making creative meals with what I have on hand
*I resisted the urge to buy a new Stephen King book by thinking of all the books I have at home
*I've realized the only way to avoid Blythe cravings is to simply stay off of TIB and just enjoy the dolls I have.
*I almost bought yarn for a felted bag but then had a great idea to do freeform crochet, which will make the varying weights and brands of wool that I have less of a problem and more of a design feature
*I even considered buying a new purse but decided not to even entertain the concept
*I am going to dig out some of my favorite skirts that don't fit and remake them for spring
*we made crayon tarts with our broken crayons. Maggie loves to stack them up

It's odd, my buying impulses have cooled and these are more about creative living than specifically avoiding purchases. In a way I miss Target (I miss having something to do) but I don't miss the stuff--I'm starting to view stuff as "just more crap I have to store" rather than "something I could really use".

Oddly enough, without a constant influx of new purchases I am enjoying the things I have more. When I think a cup of tea sounds nice, instead of considering a new teapot I immediately think of which one I want to use (that I already have). I'm having fun mixing up my current wardrobe rather than going and buying new things when what I have can be used.

I am really really eager for spring though--I would really like to be able to go out and take walks again instead of being cooped up inside!

More Small Victories

2009-01-09T19:57:00.000-08:00

I am finding that the secret to this thing is in the so-called small victories. It's the daily decisions and small, seemingly insignificant purchases that are the ones that add up!

*I finished Maggie's socks
*Maggie and I made Valentines together
*I successfully resisted the urge to purchase a travel Scrabble set (since I already have a Scrabble set, and I really don't carry it around that much)
*I was hanging up clothes in my closet and was annoyed at the lack of skirt hangers. My first impulse was to write them on the shopping list, but then I decided to make some out of clothespins and regular hangers. When I went into the laundry room to get those things I found 5 unused skirt hangers I had forgotten about.
*I am involved in a grab bag with my knitting group where we are exchanging things we already have, instead of buying new.

Already I feel a change in the way I look at purchases. Instead of thinking "I'm not so down I need to improvise skirt hangers!" I'm thinking "I could save some money and also if my skirt hanger needs decrease, I can still use the regular hangers and clips". Instead of thinking "I haven't bought anything in a while, I can treat myself" I am thinking "I don't need anything, I have everything I need and can create anything else I might want."

It has become almost a game to see how long I can go without mundane purchases!

I must say, however, that I am making an exception. Since my goal is to purge my life of non-meaningful purchases, I think this one is fair. Yesterday I was on the floor with Maggie and found one single feather from my beloved Columbia stuck between the baseboard and the carpet. I've vacuumed the corner a hundred times--how fortunate it was down deep enough I didn't get it. I had been regretting I didn't save some of his feathers when he passed. So I am paying an independent crafter on Etsy to cast this lone memento of my little blue companion in resin that I can wear as a pendant. I think that's a good use of $25.

Small Victories

2009-01-07T13:09:00.001-08:00

*It's January 7th and I have only bought one new thing other than food/cleaning supplies. A workout video.
*I set aside a pressie for my cousin's bday that involves no spending
*I made a pair of socks for Mr. Knitty's bday from stash yarn (made out of CORN!)
*I am working on a pair of kneesocks for Maggie's half bday
*I went to the mall yesterday with my cousin and didn't buy ANYTHING
*I went to Target and failed a little--I bought two $1 picture frames but I'm going to return them
*I cooked dinner 5 nights in a row

Maggie and I are going to make valentines rather than buy them. I am really eager to cut out paper and do them with her!

Buy Nothing New Year

2009-01-05T16:57:00.000-08:00

Some friends of mine on another site are trying a Buy Nothing New Year (BNN). The idea behind this is you, well, buy nothing new except consumeables like food, of course, and toiletries, of course, and things like underwear that one just really can't buy used.

The main point of BNN, however, is not to just shift your buying to used things, but to force yourself to really think and slow down before making purchases, rather than impulse bying. The time it takes to locate a used item is time to rethink whether you need the item at all, or whether you might have something at home already that could fulfill the need, or can make something, or can do without the item all together.

I'm not sure that I'll make it a whole year, but I am hoping that the attempt at least for a month or two will help me solve this crazy shopping issue I have.

I am hoping that I will no longer struggle with an overage of stuff, constant trips to the thrift shop, and too many bills. Bill-wise, I am hoping to continue the goal I've had to put my entire paycheck into the savings account and pay expenses out of just my husband's check. I've been doing it for three months already, and I barely noticed that my time was up. I've decided to extend this to a permanent goal.

6 Big Boxes

2009-01-05T12:42:00.000-08:00

I use Maggie's diaper boxes as "sharing boxes". This just means they are going to the thrift store, but I like to make the emphasis to Maggie that we are sharing the things we don't need anymore with people who might need them more. The boxes are the perfect size; even when full they're not too heavy, but they're large enough to hold nearly anything.

I had three boxes stacked up in my craft room for ages. I wanted to drop them off but just didn't get the chance. So I put them in the car, figuring sooner or later I'd find myself near the thrift shop and I'd drop them off. Then I did a major cleanout of Maggie's space post-Xmas and ended up with three MORE boxes.

I am contemplating these 6 boxes. I would like to just dump them off and get rid of them and stop thinking about them. But I think I need to consider them a little more, and what they represent.

These 6 boxes represent a large amount of stuff. Enough to cover a twin bed 6 inches deep. These boxes represent money I (or someone else) has spent. They represent 6 boxes worth of stuff I have carried home in my car and up the stairs. They represent 6 boxes worth of stuff I have washed, folded, dusted, sorted, stored, maintained. They represent 6 boxes worth of stuff that I (or someone else) used not enough to use UP, but to leave in good enough condition for donation. They represent 6 boxes worth of things I probably didn't really need in the first place.

That last one is a stunner. It just slapped me as I wrote it. I didn't need that stuff. But instead of putting a bit of thought into the purchase, I bought it. I spent hard earned money, time, effort, and energy to buy this thing that I didn't really need. And now I am spending more time, money, effort, and energy to box it up and take it to the thrift shop.

It sort of makes me sick to think of. I wonder why Americans like me feel like hamsters in a wheel--running, running, running, and not ever getting anywhere. We are spending our money and time and energy buying and caring for things we....don't really care ABOUT.

Although I will eventually drop these boxes off at the thrift shop, I am currently doing a bit of penance by carrying them around in my car and looking at them in the craft room (there are three in each place). A really important point I have to mention is that I CANNOT remember much of what is in those boxes anyway. I do know what's in a couple--either because I just filled them or because I can peek at the contents bursting out of the box top.

But for now, they are Box Filler. I spent money and time and hours of my life energy on Box Filler. Ouch. I hate to think of how many credit card bills I might have dodged, how much more time I would have had to do something else, how much less stuff I would have had to carry up and down the stairs, if I didn't have these 6 boxes of Box Filler.

And then I realized I was a bit *worried* about not having that steady influx of diaper boxes once my daughter is toilet trained. How screwy is that? That I might be *worried* about not spending $60 a month on disposable diapers if only to have the boxes to fill with more Box Filler.

I've got to do something.

Part 2: The Shopping Problem

2008-11-10T09:35:00.000-08:00

So with all that destashing, you'd think I'd have tons of wide open space. And I did. The problem was it never stayed wide open for very long. Very soon, things came along to fill those spaces and clutter them up. Where were those things COMING FROM? And besides, WHY was my credit card bill creeping higher and higher every month?

I consider myself pretty smart but it took a while for these two concepts, in addition to the thrift shop lady's comment, to merge into one idea in my mind. I was my own worst enemy. I was continually purging and destashing, but at the same time I was continually shopping and creating both more clutter and more bills.

When I thought about it, I realized that I had been shopping unconsciously for some time. When I'd hear about a party or something the first thing I'd think about was buying a new dress. I loved cleaning out Maggie's dresser because then I'd go shopping and buy her all new clothes. I'd be lying on the couch admiring my pretty pink vase from Carrie and I'd immediately wonder if I should buy another one since I enjoyed this one so much.

My first impulse for nearly any stimulus was to go out and try to buy a solution.

And my house was littered with attempts at these solutions, and my credit card bills were coming out of my savings account every month and depleting my savings.

I realized I had to put a new set of rules in place, and quickly. I'll examine each one in upcoming posts!

Yes! I made it...in under a year!

2008-11-10T09:12:00.000-08:00

Um, I'm guessing that's a pretty lousy record. :-P

There is hope, however. I am going to be writing in here more often as I am working on a personal goal regarding my consumption habits. So this blog will be not only about knitting, crocheting, and general crafting, but also about learning to break the ingrained shopping habit that many of us in the US are subject to.

The Destash Project

So, a few years ago, when I was pregnant with my Maggie, I wanted to clear a room in my house to be all hers. Unfortunately, in our 3 bedroom house, I had BOTH spare bedrooms loaded with stuff! My challenge: I needed to turn our larger spare bedroom into a combination craft room and guest room, and leave the smaller spare bedroom completely EMPTY. It was a challenge for sure, but once I got going I found that it was easier as I went along. The first thing I did was get rid of a lot of things. I had developed a bad habit of acquiring too many things from the local thrift store because it was cheap! Many of these things I was probably never going to use, so I chalked it up to a thrift store donation and sent the stuff back. Other stuff was rehomed to my online friends, local buddies, and used in the making of gifts. I succeeded, and I felt WONDERFUL! My house felt so clean and so awesome. I had a whole room totally empty, and I had gotten rid of some pieces of furniture in my spare room so that it was a bit roomier in there.

After Maggie arrived, a whole bunch of stuff arrived with her, and so I ended up doing a second purge and destash about a year after the first one. I used each diaper box that came in and filled with things for "sharing"; outgrown clothing (both hers and mine!), knicknaks that took up too much room, games we didn't play anymore, and some of the many dish sets I didn't use and didn't really love.

One day as I was dropping things off at the thrift shop, I commented to the lady who was accepting my donation that I seemed to have an entire box to donate every week, and yet my house still seemed full. She smiled and said "You must shop a lot!"

Such an innocent comment yet it gave me pause. I didn't think I shopped a lot. Sure, we made biweekly runs to the Babies R Us and the Target for formula, diapers, and suckies. And I had to rebuild my wardrobe a bit, as I had nothing to wear. And none of my shoes fit so I had to get new shoes. And heck, when I didn't have anything else to do I'd pop Maggie in a cart and just walk around the Target. I justified it as exercise. Sure, a few things hopped into the basket every time, but just incidentals.

My friends, incidentals add up. They add up to the point that every week I was donating a box of goods to the thrift shop AND throwing away two huge bags of garbage. And with a baby in the house, incidentals...well, they kinda suck. :-) The more clutter you have, the harder it is to keep your house at even a crappy standard of clean. And when you have a grand total of 5 minutes in which to keep the house from looking like a bomb had just gone off, you need to do whatever you can to keep things put away.

The chief thing, I have found, is that everything needs its own place. I used to keep the things I didn't use in my storage places, and the things I did use sat out. That was no longer desireable, and I realized it was pretty stupid. I removed all of those "don't use" things and reassigned them---either the garage, the basement, or the giveaway box. Now the things I use are right there in cabinets and storage spots so that I can get to them, and they're very easy to put away.

The next thing is to avoid collecting, unless it's a true collection that you love and that gives you joy. I used to buy cookbooks by the ton. What if I wanted to make French stuff one day? Buy the two volume set of Mastering the Art of French Cooking! How about Indian? Oooh, Easy Indian Cooking, Traditional Indian Cooking, Inspired Indian Cooking! You never know what you might want to make. The problem is, the more cookbooks I amassed, the less I actually enjoyed them. Some of them I looked through, and some of them I used, but really not many. Meanwhile my bookcase was FULL and I was always adding "just one more". One day I finally went through and made a few piles--the ones I actually used, the ones that I truly loved to page through and drool at, and the ones that I didn't really use. Guess which pile was the biggest? And guess what netted me a $75 trade in credit at the local used bookstore? And guess who has 2 empty shelves on the bookshelf! Me!

Which brings me to the subset of that point--realize when a collection (or object) used to bring you joy, but simply doesn't anymore. I used to love browsing through vintage cookbooks because I could lose myself in a fog of "the good old days". It was an escape. It was fun. But I no longer feel the need to escape into the good old days--these days I'm more about living in the now! And I needed that space (and the credit to buy gifts and movies for Maggie!) more than I needed those books.

Slacker!

2007-11-19T12:13:00.001-08:00

Can it actually be *2* months since I posted? Updates...updates all around.

Maggie:
Doing great and growing like a little weed :-) She likes to sit in mama's lap in restaurants and check out the food on mama's plate. She tried to snag an eggroll; resulting in one of my favorite pictures to date. She also looks at the pictures in my photo album and scrapbooks. She just had her first overnight with Grandma & Grandpa last weekend...such a big girl! She and I are having fun going out and about. I put her in her car seat and ask her "Are you ready to roll?" We pack all her stuff; stroller, seat, diaper bag, plus all mama's stuff in my little VW Bug and off we go :-)

We are planning a trip downtown to take her to the American Girl store to buy her a Christmas doll. I can't wait!

General Crafts:
I've been having fun fitting in craft time when I can. In the mornings I put Maggie in her little bouncy seat and I work on my beads and have my coffee while we chat and go over our plans for the day. When she is watching her toys on her play gym I work on my scrapbook or my photo albums, then we look over the pictures together. I can't wait to introduce her to doing crafts so we can do them together for real!

Knitting:
I've violated my 2-project rule. But it's okay. I now have a project in each room where I usually sit & work, and so I have something to work on no matter where I sit. I am only working on 2 main projects; the other ones are easy little projects to work on while Maggie plays or while we watch TV.

Secret Project: I can't reveal details about this one! It is a gift for a very dear friend and you will all get to see it when it is finished.

Cinxia Sweater: From Knitty. I just began it last Thursday. I had 1,000 precious yards of Mountain Colors Twizzle for a sweater, and the problem was finding a sweater that used only 1,000 yards. I finally found one and so far I am really liking the textured pattern at the bottom.

Harmony Pullover: For my Maggie. I got the pattern out of an issue of Knit 'n' Style from last year. The part that is taking the longest readjusting the pattern to make a smaller size, as the sizing begins at 2T and she's not quite there yet. I've finished the back and begun the front and I only started it Saturday morning!

ZigZag Afghan: I'm just working on this to use up old acrylic yarn. But I'm really really liking how it's turning out so it may get to be a Christmas present. It's very pleasant and easy to work on, but the best part, I must admit, is watching the volume of my stash go down!

Love to all and pictures next time--the only ones I have with me are old!

My Latest Finished Object!

2007-09-20T13:31:00.000-07:00

Baby Maggie's first day in the office!

Finished Objects!

2007-06-08T08:08:00.000-07:00

It has taken me far too long to get the picture of the green capelet up on here :-) The pattern is Wandering Aran Vines by Norah Gaughan and the yarn is Cascade 220 sent to me by the lovely Miss 13. The yarn was originally destined for a felted handbag, then later reworked into an ill-fated cardigan sweater, and finally ended up in this lovely cabled creation. The cables were a lot of fun to work and made the project go very quickly. The buttons are colored wood slices that my mom bought for me. I wore it for a wedding on St. Patrick's Day!

And then my latest masterpiece; probably the most challenging thing I have ever knit. The pattern is the Spring Garden Shawl designed by Karen of the Knitche (my LYS!). I think knowing that I could always go see Karen and go "help!" gave me the confidence to try this pattern. As it turned out, I didn't need any help; the pattern was really well written and I found myself cruising along because it was so enjoyable to knit. I treated myself to fancy beads from Bead Heaven and they are just the perfect color. The yarn is Misti Alpaca. I am *so* proud :-)

The only minorly bad news in my knitting world is further drama with the cursed Lacey Lamb. This yarn is supposed to be so wonderful but it has been a nightmare. The first two patterns I tried with it did not work out, which is admittedly not the fault of the yarn. The third pattern was the Jenny Shawl by Lucia. The pattern is certainly easy enough, but the yarn started to misbehave; ejecting huge wads of tangled yarn with nearly every pull. I finally reballed it on my ballwinder, which only made things worse. I ended up with an inside-out rat's nest which was when I decided maybe I should just cut my losses and bind off the shawl even though the pretty lace edging was only partially done.

Alas, the shawl was too small. Way too small. And so I tried to pick out the edging and dropped a few stitches and the whole thing just fell apart on me. I ripped out the whole thing. I would try the pattern again with a heavier yarn; all that garter stitch is definitely mellow but got a little boring for me because I needed to do SO many rows of it with such fine yarn. As for the yarn, that's it. Three failed patterns and several hours of knotted mess are enough for me. I regret purchasing it and I am considering emailing the company to tell them how disappointed I am.

However, I feel much better now that my "plate" is cleared. I can start any project I wish now; as both of my shawls are done. I have to confess that there were a few errors in the green Jenny Shawl that I tried to repair and they didn't "fix" very well. I had been telling myself they would block out but there was this doubt at the back of my mind, and I feel better now that I've ripped the whole thing out.

Now to decide what to start next!

Tag! Tag? Tag!

2007-05-16T12:41:00.001-07:00

Dee tagged me in the comments of my last post, and my reactions were as follows:
1) Yay! I finally got tagged! Now I get to....
2) Yikes, what am I supposed to do when I get tagged?

Sadly enough I had to look at someone else's blog in order to figure out number 2 there. But I learned that my task is to share 7 random facts about me. So here we go.

1) I love parakeets and have had at least 1 or 2 at all times since I was 4, when I got my first one for my 4th birthday. My current flock is 6, the largest it has ever been is 7.
2) I can't garden at all. Like, At. All. Last summer people suggested I try growing mint. They said to be careful or it would take over my whole yard. They also said bugs would not eat it. Well, I had a chance to make 1 pot of mint tea, and then bugs ate it. It died about a week later. I killed mint inside of 2 weeks. It's okay. I'd rather knit than garden.
3) I taught myself to crochet when I was 7, using a book. I knew how to make all the stitches but didn't know the names of them so I couldn't follow a pattern.
4) One thing I'm very proud of myself for is my final senior project in college. I stood up in a dark auditorium in front of an audience and performed a scene from a play, in four different voices, all by myself. And I did well and was SO proud of myself for being able to do that.
5) I love onion rings, but I hate onions. I break open the rings, remove the onions, and eat just the "ring" part.
6) I don't enjoy most contemporary video games; I get too confused. I prefer old school games like Super Mario Brothers, where I know exactly what I am supposed to do and where I am supposed to go.
7) I always eat peanut butter on saltines with Campbell's chicken noodle soup. Something about those combined tastes is just perfect.

Finished at Last!

2007-05-04T12:00:00.000-07:00

Here, at long last, are the pics of my gorgeous shawl. I also included a close up so you can see the lovely knitted-on edging.

I love this shawl for several reasons.
1) The shape is very flattering, and the curved top helps it stay on my shoulders much better than a standard triangle shawl.
2) It was easy and pleasant to work. There was not one part of it that really required my full, undivided attention. I carried this shawl around in a little crocheted sack while it was in progress, and could pull it out and work on it in a few quiet moments. I worked on it at my folks' house on Easter, at knit group, and also by the pond while watching geese. There was no "screw up on one stitch and blow the whole pattern" factor.
3) I love the yarn! It's so soft and pretty, and I love the way the colors dance on the fabric. I just feel good wearing it. The yarn was nice to work with as well.

And thus I must share with you a link to the lovely ladies that make this yarn: www.rovings.com Excellent yarn and excellent customer service as well. I would not hesitate to give these ladies my business in the future!

Miss 13! Please Read!

2007-05-03T09:29:00.000-07:00

I seem to have forgotten your email address! Read my post "less technologically impaired" and give me a holler!

Good News/Bad News

2007-05-03T09:09:00.000-07:00

Good news is, I received the extra yarn that the Rovings yarn company was kind enough to send me to complete my shawl. Regular readers may remember that I was working on a great shawl from this lovely yarn, and ended up running out with about 4 inches of edging to go. The yarn is sold in immense quantities so I was reluctant to buy a whole new ball, and then have a ton left over. I phoned the company seeking to purchase a smaller amount and the lady agreed to send me 75 yards and she wouldn't accept any payment for it. Talk about customer service! I highly recommend both the company AND the yarn.

And so, the good news is I will be completing the edging on my shawl tonight and wearing it home :-)

**********
And for the bad news. Just yesterday I commented that I was 10 rows into my green Lacey Lamb shawl and was having trouble keeping the right stitch count, but was adding in extra stitches in the plain side panels.

Apparently this plan did not work out as well as I expected. On each row, I was a few stitches off; between 1 and 4. On the next row, though, I'd be a completely unrelated number off. I'm not sure if I'm just THAT bad at counting or if I actually ended up misreading the chart somehow or what. I eventually got to a row where I was something like 7 stitches off, which is way too many. I tried to fudge it but just ended up dropping stitches, making a mess, and eventually just undoing the whole thing.

**********
Theory & Philosophy:

I guess my knitting personality just does not mesh well with lace. It requires extreme precision and I am just not a very precise person. I view knitting as a time to relax, enjoy TV or conversation with my husband. I like knitting I can do while sitting at the park watching geese. I enjoy the process of lace knitting, but it just seems that it requires more concentration and precision than I am willing to give.

I am not viewing this is a moral failing or a lack of patience that needs to be acquired somehow. I am viewing this is a reflection of personal limitations and an opportunity for growth. Rather than force myself into something I'm not enjoying, I'm going to work on patterns I do enjoy, that mesh with my life and my personality. If it requires monastery-like silence and keen concentration, I just don't enjoy working on it.

I really did enjoy working on the easy lace shawl I made from the Rovings wool. The beautiful handdyed variegation made it an ideal yarn for a simple pattern. Best of all, that pattern doesn't require absolute precision. Every 10 rows or so, you do an eyelet row. That row requires you have approximately the right number of stitches and in an either even or odd number, rather than an absolutely precise number. This is my kind of pattern :-)

I have also made another discovery. Many shawl knitters have told me they prefer working shawls from the top down; casting on a million tiny stitches and working progressively smaller rows. They say it is encouraging to have increasingly smaller numbers of stitches, rather than increasingly longer rows. I disagree! Casting on all of those stitches was a major pain in my butt, and working into those wonky little cast on stitches made the first row unpleasant to work as well. Also, I've found that when you only have a small number of stitches on the needles while you are getting your bearings on a chart, it is a simple thing to tink out a row that didn't go well, or, in the worst case scenario, it's less painful to rip out a little 1 inch triangle than a 6 foot long strip. (trust me on this one).

And so I think I will continue to work my shawls from the point up, and I will continue to seek out simpler patterns that I can enjoy knitting, and make use of all of those lovely hand dyed yarns out there!

Updates

2007-05-02T13:02:00.000-07:00

Good news first! The shawl is going well so far. I am 10 rows into the lace edging and even though I had a minor freakout when I was 1 stitch off on the cast on, I seem to be on target now.

I have found that being PRECISELY on the stitch count at all times is a tall order for me. So what I've been doing is "reading" the knitting below to make sure all of the increases and decreases are in the in the right spots, and making up the extra stitches or lack thereof in the side panels, where it's less visible.

Maybe it won't be perfect, but it won't be a total mess. I also figured out, statistically speaking, that doing just ONE row with only a 1% margin of error would add up to having 3 stitches off. That's a lot; enough to throw off a pattern. And who expects to have 99% accuracy on all things?

*******
Now for the bad, the slippers were too small! After cramping up my hands doing that silly round-the-sole 3-needle bind off and felting for 2 hours and drying for a week, I put them on last night to find they were too short. They were also too short for my mom, whose feet are smaller than mine.

Fortunately, they found a new home with one of the ladies in Mom's workshop, who is completely impressed and wore them all afternoon during the workshop.

Project Updates

2007-05-01T12:03:00.000-07:00

Important notice***read the post below this too!***

Green Felted Ballet Slippers: done. I made them to replace the red pair I have enjoyed for several years, which tragically developed a hole in the bottom. The red ones were dyed with Tropical Punch Kool Aid, and the green ones with Lemon Lime. I did the green ones with a double sole like the pattern originally intended, which was a) a pain in the butt and b) rendered them WAY slow in drying :-)

Piggy/Boobie Blanket: done. At long last. The pattern wasn't terrible to do, but it was indeed a lot of little futzy ends and bits and pieces and ends to be woven in. Not my favorite type of pattern, but worth it as it is very cute.

Immense Dishrag: done. It is a crocheted pattern that's very cute; something fun & mindless to work on in front of the TV. I just needed something that didn't require much of my brain that evening. I chained the number of stitches called for, and ended up with a dishrag that's almost a hand towel.

*****
Currently I'm working on a pair of scrappy socks from ends of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock left from other projects. It's just too good to waste. This is my "carrying around" project.

And then just last night I started Ene's Shawl from Scarf Style to use my bright green Lacey Lamb. I think it's going pretty good. I've never done a shawl where you cast on for the long side first, and it is really tedious casting on 375 stitches. I just did the first actual row this morning, and I came up with one stitch extra. I'm REALLY hoping that it was just a miscount on my cast on row. I always seem to have this happen with lace; I'm close, but just one or two stitches off. Sigh. Wish me luck. It took me two sittings to do the stupid cast on, so I am totally not down with ripping this crap out.

(less) Technologically Impaired

2007-05-01T08:25:00.000-07:00

UPDATE : I now have a gmail account. It is:

leopard mama 169 at gmail dot com

Just omit spaces and insert the standard email-style symbols.

If you are reading this and know you used to be on my contact list, would like to be, or know someone who should be, please give me a holler and pass it on to friends. Ask them to email me back so I can add them as a contact as well. Thanks!

************

If anyone has tried to email me in the past week, I have been suddenly locked out of my Hotmail account. So, I am not ignoring you. I just can't get in to my *&%$ account. And as a result, I have lost all of my contact info.

Update later :-)

Butter Lamb!

2007-04-20T07:31:00.000-07:00

This is from a couple of weeks ago (Easter to be exact). This is a Polish butter lamb I made for our Easter dinner celebration.

His body is made of sticks of butter, and his "wool" is made by extruding butter through a garlic press. Mr. Knittykat extruded all of the butter for me, and I arranged it on the lamb.

He turned out so cute!

(o)(o)

2007-04-16T07:51:00.000-07:00

As promised, here they are in all their perky glory.

You'll notice some have "nipples" and others do not. The "nipple" ones are the future faces of pigs, and the one without is a future "butt".

The stitch pattern for the blanket is very nice; it makes a thick and soft yet still drapey fabric, and the lines going up are actually crocheted cables.

Don't Be Mad At Me!

2007-04-13T09:26:00.000-07:00

I am just a bad blogger, aren't I? I wouldn't blame you if you all went away and never wanted to read my blog again. There's nothing more frustrating than checking....and checking....and checking.....

I will attempt to make up for it with a longass post. Okay?

*Projects*
I finished my lovely green Wandering Aran Vines capelet. I ran short of yarn during the collar, but decided I was not crazy with the design of the collar anyway. I ended up doing an attached i-cord to stabilize the neck a bit. Since it's definitely bright green, I wore it to a St. Patrick's Day wedding to celebrate. Since then, I've found it's a lovely casual coverup to toss on to go for a walk or at work when I feel chilly.

I also made a pair of socks from the Opal Rainforest yarn in the Parrot colorway. I think I have the "procedure" for toe up socks two at a time down now, these socks only took me a week to make! Since I have made so many socks in this manner, I collected the instructions that I like for each part of the process and made myself a set of little "flashcards" to tuck in my bag, so I don't have to remember to take 3 different knitting patterns with me when I wish to travel light!

In progress, I currently have a blanket I am making for my baby. I do not have a picture of the blanket right now but I can tell you that this blanket has been nicknamed the "Titty Blanket". Why? Because the blanket design features squares along the top and bottom with the faces (and butts) of pink pigs. I have yet to add the ears and eyes to the faces, and so right now....they look like perky pink boobs adorning the bottom of the blanket. I'm having so much fun working on it and watching people's expressions, I'm almost tempted to leave them as boobies rather than piggies. Almost. :-)

*Project Theory*
You expected that list to be longer, didn't you? Well, I'll tell you why it's not. I've always been the type of person who has a million projects going at once. At some junctures, this was an acceptable set of circumstances for me, but I realized it was bothering me for more than one reason. First of all, having unfinished projects makes me feel guilty. I see all the projects sitting in my bag and I feel like they are hanging over my head. Second, it affects my work. When I am just grabbing something to quickly knit in front of the TV, I never bother to work out a gauge swatch, or copy the pattern so it's easier to read, or do any of the other things that make a project turn out correctly.

With some big changes coming up in my life soon, I decided the last thing I needed to do with my limited knitting time was feel guilty and do shoddy work. And so, I decided I may only have 2 projects in progress at once at any given time. A new project may not be started unless I have finished, woven in, sewn up, and blocked the previous project, or whichever parts of that process it requires.

At one point in my life I would have found this stifling. But honestly, I have actually found it LIBERATING. I am now freed from the ominous Unfinished Projects lurking over my head. It forces me to either finish them or undo them and leave the yarn for a new project. I no longer need to keep a journal to keep track of my knitting projects in progress. I no longer feel obligated to knit when I'd rather do something else just to "get things done". Since I only have two projects going, they fit in 1 or at most 2 knitting bags. No longer do I need 7 of them lined up on the couch. No longer do I grab my knitting bag for knit group only to find my notions bag is somewhere in one of the other bags. I grab my main bag and I go, and everything I need is in there (and it's not overflowing!)

Between projects, I find myself actually savoring the process of deciding what new projects to make. The decision to make a project is a much more thoughtful one now; I want to make sure it is something I will actually enjoy and wear and use, not just "something to do". And since I only purchase yarn when I KNOW it will be used, I am free to choose what yarn I want, rather than feeling I must buy something inexpensive.

*Knitting Drama*
Of course, new, relaxed, easygoing knitting policies have not eliminated knitting drama from my life. One of my recent projects (I cannot call it finished yet) was a lovely shawl out of some lovely handspun handdyed Polwarth wool that my mother bought for me at Stitches Midwest. I looked for a pattern I would enjoy, but I had difficulty finding one that was not too easy yet not too complicated. I don't like a lot of complicated lace designs because I don't find them relaxing to knit. I found the perfect design in a knitting page-a-day calendar and started. I enjoyed knitting this shawl so much and it was such a simple, enjoyable knit that I finished it in 2 weeks. Well, almost finished it. To my horror, I ran short of yarn with only 6 inches of the lovely knitted-on edging to go.

I didn't want to rip out the edging and rip back any of the shawl body, because I would have to remove a whole pattern repeat. I had also spent all of Easter sunday working on the edging and didn't want to rip it out either. But the yarn is sold in very large balls and there was no way to match the lovely colors.

So I did what any desperate knitter would do...I called Rovings, the company that makes the yarn. The dear lady there listened to my tale of woe and agreed to send me a small ball of yarn so that I could finish the shawl. Talk about customer service! I highly recommend both the yarn and the service at Rovings of Manitoba!

My other knitting drama came in when a dear friend Pearl asked me to knit her a capelet.....last August. She had a ball of lovely handspun yarn she had bought from another friend, but didn't know how to knit or crochet, and asked me to incorporate the yarn into the capelet as an edging. Alas, the yarn, gorgeous as it was, was totally inappropriate for an edging. It would have stolen the beauty from the lovely thick & thin yarn. I decided instead to try to figure out a way to feature the yarn in the capelet. The only problem was that there was only about 100 yards. Nowhere near enough for a capelet.

Over the months I tried. I gave it my best. I tried different size needles, lacy patterns, a neat drop stitch pattern. Nothing worked. Nothing showed off this yarn properly, and I really wanted to do right by it! Mournfully I related to some friends that I thought I would simply have to send the yarn back and disappoint Pearl. I could make her a scarf or a hat, but what she wanted was a capelet, and I wanted her to have a capelet. I came to my friends looking for a nice, non-jerky way to send back the yarn and call off the swap.

Instead, my lovely friend Ninnycat came up with a perfect solution. She offered to send me a capelet she had made, so that I could send it to Pearl and she would have her capelet. Then I would be free to make something more appropriate with the handspun yarn, and no one would be disappointed. In exchange for this wonderful kindness, I was able to find some yarn that Ninnycat wanted that she couldn't find locally, and so I think everyone, all around, is happy.

And so both of my knitting dramas have come to happy conclusions!

*Decluttering & Good Energy*
I have never been a particularly "woo woo" person, but I think I am starting to really believe in positive energy and how it relates to a space. Before I found out I was expecting, I had 2 of the three bedrooms in my house filled with...stuff. One was supposed to be a crafting room. It was so overwhelmed, however, with THINGS, that I could never really relax in there and it was always a mess. The other was a guest bedroom, which was somewhat more relaxing as it didn't have as many THINGS in it.

I wanted, of course, to clear out a room to make a room for the baby. However, I was saddened by the thought that my cluttery room and my not so cluttery room were going to have to merge, making a REALLY cluttery room that would rob me of my relaxing little haven all together. And then I decided that I was being silly. It did not have to be so. I was in charge of these things, they were not in charge of me. A good percentage of the things in my cluttery craft room were either unfinished projects, or items I had gathered to "do something with someday".

With the help of my fearless husband, we decided that Someday had come. It was time to clear the decks, and do some rough justice on the prairie, as my favorite TV judge likes to say. It was time to decide which supplies I was going to use for crafts I enjoyed, and which were merely things for crafts I didn't enjoy and wasn't going to do. And it was time to face those unfinished projects and "someday" supplies and decide what I could reasonably expect to use, and what should be passed on to someone who will use it.

The first box was hard! Breaking the seal, beginning to admit to myself that no, I really wasn't going to do this project but SOMEONE would. Admitting that maybe I shouldn't have bought that huge cross stitch kit, but keeping it around to guilt myself was not going to make me enjoy the project (or even do it, I'm remarkably immune to guilt). But when I began offering up some of these unloved supplies to my friends online, I was touched by how excited people were to take these things off of my hands! The cross stitch kit went to someone who genuinely enjoyed cross stitching. Some beads went to someone who was currently working on a project in just that color. A shrug I had made that just didn't flatter me went to someone with a more petite build who is still getting compliments on how cute it looks on her.

All these folks sent me either shipping money or something fun that they made in exchange for my stuff, but to be honest knowing that the things are out there being used and enjoyed rather than stuffed in a box is even better to me! As I continued to sort through things, I looked at things with new perspective. I no longer saw it as "What if some day I really NEED this odd little kit that doesn't really appeal to me?" Now I saw it as "Someone out there somewhere will enjoy this kit and make the project, and it's selfish of me to keep it crammed in a box."

Due to this, when it came time to merge the craft room and the guest room, I was completely surprised to find that I actually found the new combined room MORE relaxing and comfortable than either of the old rooms. The boxes on the closet shelf contain supplies I like for projects I plan to do and enjoy doing. The drawers in the armoire contain the same. Nothing is overcrowded or stuffed full. I can find everything I need. Everything has a place. I keep finding little boxes of odds and ends and find I can put 95% of them away right off the bat, because there is a place for everything.

And so now I felt a wonderful feeling flowing through my rooms. Good Energy! Positive, calm, happy energy, rather than stifled, cluttery, guilty energy. I feel so much lighter having let go of the things that I don't want and don't use, and don't enjoy. Many of them were things I bought on impulse, but kept them because I had spent good money on them. This added to the feelings of guilt, and why keep something around that makes you feel guilty? It won't bring back the money you spent on it. But maybe, just maybe, it can make someone else happy.

And I've rediscovered and am enjoying so many of the things I DO love, because I couldn't find them under all that stuff! I can happily access yarn I want to knit with without having to confront a drawer full of pinecones I picked up in the park to do something with "someday" :-) Many of the things I found inspired me....and I realized I DID want to do the projects and so those things are carefully stored and ready to be used in the future. At any rate, I'm happy all around with the results of my efforts.

Lessons learned:
1. Don't buy things on impulse
2. Resist the urge to buy things just because they're cheap
3. If you do wind up with things that make you feel guilty and bad, let them go
4. Someone else will always want what you do not
5. Clearing out things that don't matter to you allows the good energy to flow...
6. ....And it lets you enjoy the things you DO love even more!

Big & Pink!

2007-02-22T09:27:00.000-08:00

Oddly enough, no one even looked twice when I walked into the office with my new friend under my arm.

He is finally done! All felted and eyes in place and everything.

Yay!

Problem Solved

2007-02-20T08:19:00.000-08:00

I ripped it.

I couldn't stand it anymore.

It had to be done.

As soon as I started doing it, I felt so much better. I always feel good when I see the yarn in fresh new balls filled with possibility and promise rather than a not-working project. I am currently thinking of Dee's suggestion of a cropped cardigan. I'm not sure if I want to do something sorta elegant like Knitty's Otis, or if I want to do something cutesy like their C3. I'm going to meditate on it while I work on the two current projects I have.

Yeah, you heard that right. I always end up feeling overwhelmed when I have too many projects going on, so I'm REALLY gonna try to keep it to just one or two projects now, even if it's hard :-)

Right now as soon as I finish the ripping I am down to just my piggy blanket, and my Pomatomous socks!

Project Updates

2007-02-16T06:58:00.000-08:00

I don't like it when I have too many projects going. I feel anxious and pressured to finish them all. Half-done projects hang in my mind and urge me to finish or rip, finish or rip. The problem with the group of projects I have now is that they are mostly either self-designed projects that keep having problems as I am not following any sort of guideline, or projects WITH patterns that are written in a clumsy, uninformative, annoying fashion.

The Green Sweater Saga:
First we have the Mommy Sweater or Lilly Sweater (it's pink & green a la Lilly Pulitzer). It began life as a felted handbag, but before I felted it I decided I didn't really need another felted handbag and so I ripped it out. Then I decided it would be nice to have a pretty apple-green cardigan sweater. I only had 4 skeins of green, so I figured I would use the pink as accents when I ran out of green. I had gotten down to the armholes when I became pregnant, and so I decided I would flare out the bottom part to drape gracefully over my belly somewhat like the Rosebud sweater from Knitty, only a cardigan.

Once I ran out of green (saving back one ball for the arms) I did a panel of hot pink lace at the bottom and then a pretty heavy duty ruffle to finish it off and keep it from curling. (Finishing the bottoms of sweaters is always a challenge for me as I don't like ribbing, garter, or seed stitch in that application.) I also added a hot pink ruffle around the neck. When I tried it on, I really liked the swingy shape, but I am not sure that I am into the garish color combination when combined with a pregnant belly. I am for certain proud of my bump, but I sort of feel ungainly and "loud" in the sweater, which I don't feel in my ordinary maternity clothes.

Another problem I have is that the fronts are curling in quite severely. I've tried adding a button band but the powerful curl curls that over too. It is wool, but I don't think I can undo the curl. The only viable option I've thought of so far is putting in a zipper, which is frequently my solution with cardigans because I don't make good buttonholes.

And so now I am faced with an issue. I really love the green color, but there's not enough to make the whole sweater. And while a touch of pink would be nice, the quantity of pink is rather obnoxious and I don't think I'll wear it. My options as I see them are:

1. Rip the whole damn thing out and use the yarn for something else.
2. Pull out the pink and make a shorter, non-maternity cardigan with smaller pink accents.
3. Bury it in a drawer and seethe at the annoyance (just kidding)

BTW if you want to respond you can cast your vote. I am leaning towards option 1 unless I can think of a graceful way to accomplish 2 without just ripping the whole thing anyway, a graceful way meaning a way that conquers the rolling on all sides without resorting to ribbing, ruffles, garter stitch, or seed stitch.

The Tale of the Pink Flamingo:
My lovely friends at knit group surprised me with a kit for a felted pink flamingo 2, maybe 3 years ago. I held off on beginning the kit, always waiting to be done with my current projects so I could just focus and enjoy making something as fun as a felted flamingo. Alas, it was this summer, around this birthday, that I began him. I got to a certain point and the directions stopped making sense. I buried him in the bottom of my knitting bag for 6 months, at which time my husband glanced at the pattern and went "What was confusing you? This makes perfect sense to me."

The second challenge was finding a fun fur that coordinated with the unusual pink of the Lamb's Pride RPM Pink. I LOVE this color, but most of the fun furs didn't match or even sort of match. I finally found one. It was even on sale. The catch? It was twined with a strand of railroad yarn which I had to clip out as a fellow knitter rolled the fun fur into a ball for me.

A warning to any who might attempt this pattern; this is not an easy sitting-in-front-of-the-TV pattern. Many of the rows require a lot of concentrating, turning, wrapping, counting, etc. It's definitely doable, but more challenging than I expected a felted stuffed animal to be.

I started up again on the pink flamingo, who began to take on immense proportions. By the time I finished his body, he looked like one of those hoodie towels you put on babies after you take them out of the bathtub. In fact, when I put him on MY head, he could have almost been a hoodie towel for ME.

Last night at knit group, I was DETERMINED to finish him. All through the pattern I kept thinking "He's gotta be almost done" and then there would be another Herculean row or another directive to "Knit 64 rows". But I did it. I finished him and left knit group with an entirely sewn together flamingo that was probably at least 3 feet long. I scared a Barnes & Noble patron when I put my enormous flamingo on my head as a hat. I'm sorry ma'am! I didn't mean to be scary!

When I got home I needed to stay up anyway to bake a birthday cake for Mr. Knittykat, and so I felted him. Even when felted REALLY hard, he's still more than 2 feet long. He is definitely very cute, and is currently stuffed with grocery bags, perched on the edge of the counter in my laundry room. Even without the grocery bags, he can sit up which tells you how hard he has been felted. I don't know if my gauge was off or what but this is one BIG felted flamingo.

It is such a great feeling to have him done; he was a fun project but I reached a point where I wondered if he would EVER be done!

See, you didn't get a blog entry for a long time, now you get a REALLY HUGE one, and maybe another because I feel wordy today :-)

Naughty

2007-01-29T12:41:00.000-08:00

Forgive me, dear readers, as it has been...what....almost a month since an update?

I have had little time for crafts as shopping for baby things, cleaning out the craft room for a nursery, and shopping for a new car after Mr. Knittykat totaled his (he is fine) have eclipsed my free time.

Baby News: According to www.babycenter.com my baby is about the size of a lime. I, on the other hand, am another story :-) I have been in maternity clothes since right before Christmas! I can't say I mind; in fact I feel really cute and pretty. I go to the doc again later this week so perhaps more updates then.

Craft Room: I am in the process of cleaning out the craft room and consolidating guest room and craft room in order to open up a room for a nursery. I have been making good progress. Once I finally sat down to go through stuff I was able to purge a lot, rehome a lot, and compactly reorganize the rest so that my new consolidated room is actually neater and more pleasant than the TWO rooms used to be.

Car: Fortunately it was the car we were planning on replacing soon anyway. And fortunately everyone was all right (except for the car). And fortunately the collision insurance paid us many times more than we would have been able to sell or trade in the car for, and so we had a boosted down payment to make on the new vehicle.

If I had any crafts, I'd show 'em to you, but for now you just get this pic of me & the knittykitten :-)

My Other Secret Project

2007-01-05T09:24:00.000-08:00

10 weeks, 2 days
Due August 1, 2007
About an inch and a half long.

:-)

What is it about Texas?

2006-12-20T09:48:00.000-08:00

Another Steggie, on his way to Texas! I think it's funny that both people who have "ordered" Steggies are from Texas. The yellow one really turned out cute, didn't he?

The Secret Project

2006-12-12T08:09:00.000-08:00

I've been working on this project since July, but I couldn't say anything about it. My mom ocassionally reads my blog and since this was a surprise present, I didn't want to chance her seeing it. I also couldn't work on it at knit group...so it was pretty slow going. It was a challenging project for me; she who does not like to read charts or have to concentrate very hard, but it was definitely worth it and turned out beautifully.

I downloaded the pattern from a blog and I modified it to make it wider and added the beads.

The yarn is Mongolian Cashmere :-) I thought Mom deserved a little luxury and knew she would never buy cashmere for herself.

I offered to let her model the scarf on my blog but she decided her top wasn't presentable enough, so you get me looking all serious and dramatic.

Perfect Husband

2006-12-07T13:25:00.000-08:00

These are just TWO of the dozen beautiful roses my sweet husband brought home for me earlier this week. Haven't they opened just perfectly? They smell as sweet as they look, too.

:-)

Steggies on the Move

2006-11-20T10:29:00.000-08:00

These two Steggies are on their way to Texas! When I posted the pattern here, I posted a link to it on a bulletin board community where I like to hang out. I made the offer to make Steggies for non-crocheters in exchange for a $10 donation to Jennie's fund. Pretty much as soon as I hit the submit button, a lovely friend asked if she could "order" two, one green and one pink. I was happy to oblige her and thank her for her generous contribution.

Once I get these guys mailed off, there will be Steggies in 3 different states! Since I am such a smalltime blogger, I am quite impressed with this feat :-) I also had another blogger, one with actual published patterns, mkcarroll put a link to my pattern up on her site! Thanks mk!

Steggie! Now with downloadable PDF!

2006-11-16T08:47:00.000-08:00

Thanks to my very sweet friend Lucia I can now offer you the pattern for Steggie :-) Look to your right and scroll down to just below my blogroll and there is a button there. If you click on it you can download and print a free PDF copy of Steggie so you can make your very own loveable baby stegosaurus. If you have any questions about the pattern, please email me and I will try to answer them for you!

I would like to ask a huge favor of all of you who are interested in downloading the pattern. I am offering the pattern free of charge. However, if you download it, please consider making a small donation to this fund. Even if you can only spare a dollar, every dollar helps and I would be most grateful for your generous help.

My friend Jennie was born with cystic fibrosis and she is currently on a waiting list for a double lung transplant. Over the course of her life she will incur a large number of expenses for the surgery itself, special medications, and special treatment she must receive to make sure that the lung transplant is not rejected. Her family has set up this fund through COTA, the Children's Organ Transplant Association, to raise money to help offset these costs.

Donating is safe and simple. The site is secure and all donations are tax deductible. You can donate online with just a few clicks. COTA keeps none of your donation for their administrative costs--ALL funds donated go to Jennie's care. When you make your Steggie, you can know that you have helped give someone very grateful a second chance at life.

Blessings,
Kathy

NOTE!: If you navigated to this page from another website through a direct link, you will need to visit my main page in order to access the Steggie button. Simply click on the word "Purrls" in the pink bar and look in the right hand column under the blogroll.

Happy

2006-10-26T11:14:00.000-07:00

I usually have really groovy evocative names for colors but I just can't think of anything more suited to this yarn than "Happy". It's my favorite colors all blended together in a sunny, cheerful mix.

As you can see, it's still horrifyingly tangled. But when I looked at the wound ball I had, I decided that the colors were shown to better advantage in the tangled wad than they were in the ball. You also get to see what a disaster I've made of it :-)

Pansy

2006-10-25T07:37:00.000-07:00

My knitting buddy Lucia was nice enough to volunteer her house and garage to hold a yarn dyeing party for our knitting group members. Believe me, this is an extremely messy process and she and her husband Jim went through an awful lot of work and hassle to set this up for us. It was definitely worth it in my opinion because I had a wonderful time!

I dyed three skeins of yarn; two worsted weight skeins of Cascade 220 which I dyed hot pink and orange, and this skein. My inspiration for this one was a pansy; the ones that are yellow and purple with green leaves. The spaces between the green and purple turned a nice shade of brown which adds the pansy's little brown throat. I am very happy with all of my skeins, but you only get to see the Pansy one.

Why? Because the pink and orange ones are horribly tangled! I tried to wind them up and ended up making a bigger mess than I started with. I even had a swift to use and I still messed it up. Thus, I need to bring them for an appointment with Dr. Doree, Yarn Untangler. She loves to untangle yarn, and I can certainly do a job of tangling it up so we make a good team :-)

Squirrels!

2006-10-13T08:10:00.000-07:00

Completed at long last! Look close and you can see the squirrels looking at each other on the bottom part.

For this project I used leftover Lorna's Laces sock yarn (the pink) and some sock yarn that had been ripped and saved just because I really liked the color. I forgot what it was called, but it's the orange yarn.

The original pattern had much more Fair Isle; making it squirrels in a snowstorm. These squirrels are out and about on a sunny winter day, when just the last few snowflakes are falling. I am calling them Squirrelly Sunrise.

This project actually was a voyage of self-discovery. I attempted it because a) it was a free pattern b) I love squirrels c) I had the yarn already d) I wanted to try Fair Isle. Alas, I discovered that I do not like doing Fair Isle. I did these mittens at the same time on Magic Loop, which meant I had 4 different balls of yarn twisting all over the place. I had to stop and untwist after every half-round. I had to use a very complex system to keep my yarn balls in order, and if one hit the floor and rolled under the coffee table a lot of cussing ensued.

I just didn't find the process relaxing. Once I had gotten to the end of the squirrels, I made the decision to modify the pattern. For one thing, the pattern did not involve any increases for the wider part of the hand, which even on my small hands was a problem. And secondly, I was just plain sick of stranding and untwisting. I am a huge supporter of the idea that knitting is a *hobby*, and hobbies should be fun. If you are not enjoying what you are doing, you shouldn't be doing it, if it's a hobby.

And thus, after completing the squirrel part I took off on my own design and simply allowed the self striping yarn to create its own pattern while I incorporated some increases for the thumb gusset. Once I dropped that strand and untwist business, I completed the hand part in a weekend. For an extra touch, I sucked it up and did one row of Snow Stars at the top before decreasing for the tip and finishing off my mittens.

I really like how they turned out and don't think I would have liked them as much if they were totally Fair Isle. These sunny warm mittens are a reminder on winter's darkest days that Spring will not fail us, it will come again. The sun will warm the Earth and the snow will subside, save for a few last sparkling jewels, and the squirrels will come out of hibernation to play in the sun.