it's about time

use it or lose it: sweater edition

i celebrated my re-found freedom (after five weeks without a driver's license thanks to the slightly disorganized state of pennsylvania) by driving to the big city and wandering from store to store... without buying a single item. i'm in the mood for sweaters and scarves and cold weather things, but they aren't on sale yet. and we all know i'm not buying if it isn't on sale. 

so i came home empty handed, but not defeated. one of the items i really liked was a grey and cream striped cardigan. and since i had a grey and cream striped turtleneck sweater in my closet i figured i was half way there.  

the long and short of the tutorial - cut up the center of the front and hem the edges. i had to trim the turtleneck down and sew that too, but if you used a sweater with a regular neck you wouldn't need to do anything to the neckline. 

i rarely wore the sweater as it was because i hate turtlenecks (which begs the question - why did i buy it in the first place?), but i love love love cardigans. love them. and this one is one of a kind.  

- fitz and i are indulging a new obsession - football. we've both always sort of kind of been fond of the sport, but this season we've been following the green bay packers passionately. was exceptionally happy to see them pull out a win despite a rough start against the vikings today.

- when i get restless i like to paint. and since i lack the skill to paint pictures, furniture and picture frames and other knick knacks become my target. today's victims - the insides of my nightstand drawers and a rouge picture frame that was in the salvation army pile. the drawers are looking lovely. this might be redemption for the frame. we'll see.

- three weeks ago i made an appointment for tomorrow to get my winter tires on the car. i could have chosen any hour of the day... so i picked 8:30am. back then, when i wasn't thinking clearly, i reasoned that it would be good to get up early and start the day. just now i'm realizing what a horrible decision that was. i suppose this would be a good time to go to bed.

use it or lose it: frame edition

i always find myself smitten with fancy picture frames. the big, chunky, detailed moldings are beautiful and have a multitude of purposes outside of their original intention of framing pictures. every time i spot one at a yard sale for a couple dollars (a LOT cheaper than the $50+ a custom framing store would charge) i'd buy it and add it to the collection. but collections of unused things in the storage room just won't do anymore. 

my necklaces are usually just draped on the corners of the mirror, but then they get tangled and i can't see them and trying to get one off usually means they all fall down. 

so... screw some hooks into the top of a pretty frame and voila. necklace holder/organizer/thing-y. 

i was prepared to stop there. post this picture and be done. but then i saw something similar, but with a pretty striped fabric backing the frame, a backdrop to the jewelry. of course i can do that! 

subtle change, but it looks just that much more complete. that much nicer. 

two more things out of the pile - the frame and some fabric!

planning ahead

we're only jumping the gun by a few weeks or so...

meet charlie the christmas tree!

he'll live on the porch until christmas eve and then come inside to celebrate with us. and the day after christmas he'll go back outside again. then in the spring we get to plant him and watch him grow! 

we snagged charlie from the bargain lot at a local nursery because he is kind of small and crooked... and quite perfect in our eyes.

added bonus(es) - i'm excited that i don't have to store tree paraphernalia all year from a fake tree or the stand and whatnot for a real one. we get to give something back to the earth instead of cutting a tree and taking away from it. and since we don't have room for a tree inside this is a great compromise - enjoy him outside most of the season and still have room to walk in our living room.

now all we need are some lights and ornaments!

use it or lose it: serving tray edition

this tray has been around the block twice as far as colors go. when i bought (for twenty-five pennies!) it was a chocolate brown. bo-ring. i'm always game for a bright yellow so that was color number two, and while the color in and of itself wasn't bad, it just didn't look good in the house. it really clashed with the yellow-cream walls. 

the tray ended up in the storage room for a while, but since i still love the size and curves i had to give it another try. color number three was an aqua blue. no dice. it's a pretty color, but again, just doesn't work in the house. 

and color number four happened to be a dark grey. i should have started with this since grey always has been and probably always will be my favorite color. but i kind of like the other colors peeking through when it gets roughed up a bit. and why is it roughed up you ask? because i managed to scuff it against something within hours of painting it. rather than trying to touch up that spot i decided to get out the sandpaper and just help it along a little. 

tea, anyone?

operation: use it or lose it

we have too much stuff in our house so i've started on a mission - love it, use it, or give it away. half of our storage room is piled with things to give away, but there are a few items i set aside for one last ditch effort at repurposing.

and so tonight, a loved-but-probably-never-gonna-wear shirt became a scarf. a will-be-worn-a-lot-this-winter scarf. and it's exceptionally festive with my green t-shirt!

i'm adding two disclaimers - 1) i'm sick. 2) lighting in a basement suite is horrible, especially at night. 

there. 

and a quick, and fairly incomplete, tutorial...

1) pick your victim. mine happened to be an overly nautical tank top that I rescued from superstore for $3.

2) cut off the hem and cut across at the arm pits.

3) fold the body portion in half and cut along the fold. This gives you two equal width pieces.

4) turn the strips inside out and cut off one side seam. You now have two long strips of fabric.

and apparently i stopped taking pictures of the process right about here.

5) pin the ends of the strips to each other and sew a straight line.

6) wrap the big long loop of fabric several times around your neck.

7) take a gratuitous picture of yourself in the mirror because your photographer is at a board meeting.

voila. infinity scarf for you!

hello fall

i made banana bread twice this week.
the air is decidedly cooler.
football is on every sunday.

delightful.

q: how many people does it take to change a light fixture?

a: three.

and one spectator. i even make nachos to snack on while watching.

and yet the light saga continues. they (landlord, landlord's girlfriend, and fitz) reinstalled the old fixture with a new box hoping to save some money. frugality fail because the fixture doesn't fit with the new box, so we have the light wired and working for now, but the whole thing has to come down again and be replaced with something that fits. you'd think this is a minor issue in the grand scheme of "renovations", but every time we touch the light it becomes magically more complicated.

yeeah.

$5 footlong

Who will have dry feet this winter? Who paid $4.95 for rubber boots?

I'm stylin' now. 

happy thanksgiving, yo

our kitchen light is ugly. have i told you this before? i've contemplated replacing it on more than one occasion, but my better sense holds me back. why spend money on a house i don't own? oh, but today i got my wish. landlord danced a little too hard across his kitchen floor and we heard a crack and a scrape and the whole light fixture was hanging down by some wires and a piece of broken plastic casing. awesome. 

conveniently landlord's girlfriend and all her remodeling savvy was here so she got the thing unwired (after shutting off the electricity), evaluated, and a plan made for replacing it. i put in my vote for something less gaudy. today is winning. 

in other news

1) I got a new computer! And by 'new' I mean Fitz's old computer. But it's a serious improvement over my beloved-but-falling-apart-by-the-day six year old macbook. This one even has a battery!

2) It's officially fall. Maybe even late fall according to the weather.

3) Thanks to Netflix I'm curled up on the couch watching The Sons of Katie Elder. John Wayne is fab.