Thursday, July 31, 2014: A good day

A very unsuccessful trip to the local Homegoods today.  I was looking for a lamp to match the lamp I bought for the bedroom at a local TJ Maxx yesterday (on clearance no less!).  If I don't find a match I'll have to return the lamp I have and start over.  It is for the nightstand, and I'm really particular about symmetry, so...  Anyway, no luck on this.  Maybe we'll try another local TJ Maxx and Marshall's tomorrow if I'm feeling motivated.

The unsuccessful trip did lead us to a church rummage sale.  Babygirl found a "treasure" (her word) in a small black and white plastic fan.  I told her she could have it for her dress up bin and she was enthralled.  It was so cute to see her playing with her, and almost every volunteer we ran across commented on it, at which point she would tell them *all* about it and how she is going to tell her Daddy all about it when he gets home!  I foresee my $1 fan investment keeping her entertained for quite a while!

I found some books; I love church rummage sales for books!  I read so much and go through books so quickly that I buy most of my books used--otherwise we would be broke!  My favorite find was an old 1950's print of The Great Gatsby.  I have loved Fitzgerald ever since I first read Gatsby in high school (nearly 20 years ago--yikes!) and have been collecting the old prints of his books for several years.  I pick them up whenever I find them, but I didn't think I would ever find my favorite!  Definitely a good day!

Dress: Shana K; Jacket: J Crew; Bracelets (top to bottom): J Crew, Banana Republic; Shoes: Bando Lino

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Shirt: Max Studio; Earrings: Ralph Lauren; Bracelet: Hannah's; Ring (right hand): antique; Jeans: Lucky; Belt: Calvin Klein; Shoes: Mariza Vellutini

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Babygirl pulled the toilet paper holder off the wall first thing this morning...  No, the WHOLE thing.  Off the wall.

Also, her (imaginary) little blue bird is missing.  We've never had so much trouble with an imaginary pet before; normally they are remarkably flexible.  They can be running through a parking lot one second, and the very next second they can be discovered to be quietly sitting in the cart next to Babygirl safe and sound...  This bird seems to be a whole different (imaginary) animal.

Oh well.  I'll miss this stuff later, even if it is to be considered a crisis now.

Dress: Jolie; Bra Camisole: Cosabella; Jacket: J Crew; Necklace: my own; Bracelets (top to bottom): J Crew, my own, J Christy's; Shoes: Clarks

Monday, July 28, 2014: Water softener woes

Ugh...

Monday is usually a day I do a lot of laundry.  I hate laundry.  Today it has been made worse by my water softener.  We inadvertently ran the water softener out of salt last week.  Completely out.  In our house a water softener without salt results in nasty rusty water.  The salt was refilled this weekend, but apparently we never actually cycled the water softener...  It was not scheduled to cycle again until tonight.  Not knowing that the softener had not cycled, the first thing I attempted to wash this morning was Babygirl's mostly white bedding.  Ugh.  Now its yellow and sitting in the wash tub waiting for me to get the rest of the laundry done so I can soak it.  Thanks god for oxyclean whitening.

I have manually cycled the water softener.

Friday, July 25, 2014

Waiting for it to be time to wake Babygirl from her nap so we can drive to the airport to get Hubby.  She'll be so excited!  She always misses her Daddy so much when he is gone.

Top: J Crew; Cardigan: Gap; Necklace and Bracelet: my own; Jeans: Lucky; Belt: Calvin Klein; Shoes: Mariza Vellutini

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Top: Panitti; Camisole: Old Navy; Jacket: J Crew; Jeans: Lucky; Belt: Calvin Klein; Shoes: Charles David

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Finally starting to see the light at the end of the laundry room tunnel AND I managed to go grocery shopping today!  Hooray!

I also returned my milk bottle horde (new record: 24!) and caught up with the garden...

My life seems to be an exercise in excess since I came home: excess laundry, excess cucumbers, excessive milk bottles...  On a related note I think we will be having cucumber salad with the salmon I am making for Babygirl tonight, and cucumber sandwiches for lunch tomorrow, and cucumber infused water and cucumber eye masks, and...  (Don't suppose you have any great ideas for how to use cucumbers??)  At least I won't have to buy cucumbers for Hubby to juice when he comes back!

Top: Josephine Chaus; Jacket: J Crew; Bracelets (top to bottom): my own, J Crew, J Christy's; Jeans: Lucky; Belt: Calvin Klein; Shoes: BCBG

Working on a pintrest inspired makeover of my junk cabinet...  It definitely needs some help and organization!  I should have pictures later this week or next week if everything works out!

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Loads of laundry done since returning from up north last night: 4; loads of laundry remaining 80 (feels like it anyway!)

I really don't want to go grocery shopping today, so Babygirl and I may be eating elsewhere tonight!  Grocery shopping can happen tomorrow!  I've got cucumbers coming out of my ears, but I can't think of a cucumber based dinner...

Dress: Carol Little; Jacket: J Crew; Bracelets: Ralph Lauren; Ring (right hand): TJ Maxx; Shoes: Mariza Vellutini

Monday, July 21, 2014: Back from Up North

First the good news: My Moose finished his antibiotics up north!  He is doing really well and seems to have made a full recovery!  I've seen few symptoms of Lyme Disease from the beginning and see none now!  I'm (of course) ecstatic!

We had a few lovely relaxing days up north.  This was my front yard for the last few days; isn't it gorgeous?  I wish I lived here all the time.

The cabin is a yearly loan from some friends of Hubby's family that we look forward to each year.  It is on a small lake.  The lake only has about ten cabins, only one of which is a full time residence and the lake is no wake restricted (you are not allowed to get a boat to a speed that would cause a wake--the waves that come off the back when they are moving quickly) so things are very peaceful.  We usually head up early in the season (we were a little more than a month later than normal this year) when things are particularly quiet, but there were not many people up this week, so we still got our peace.

After several years of the lake being "down" the dock was moved further out last year.  Of course that means the lake came back up this year!  Never mind...  We were warned and we all brought our "puddle boots" (as Babygirl calls them.)  Babygirl found the top of her boots one day out on the dock; instead of using the blocks as steps she decided to just walk through the lake...  She was very amused when Hubby showed her how to "empty" her boots by raising her legs in the air!

Hubby and Babygirl had lots of fun fishing.  I personally would rather watch paint dry than fish, so I usually read a book, walk the Moose, knit or go to town and do some antiquing instead.  I'm glad Hubby has someone to share his love of fishing with now.  Babygirl and Hubby both caught several fish (all released back into the lake) and Hubby was very proud of Babygirl for reeling them in and sometimes even releasing them all by herself.

Babygirl was thoroughly entranced with the loons.  Usually we see the baby loons newly hatched (last year they hatched while we were there!) but coming up later meant more mature babies!  They were being taught to dive for fish earlier today when we were packing up.  I love watching them and listening to their calls.  Babygirl was imitating the calls with some success!

I found some lovely flowers on my walks with the Moose.  The flowers were different from the ones I usually see earlier in the year.  I picked a bouquet of daises, yarrow and orange hawkweed for our table while out walking the Moose.  Since Babygirl loves flowers she thought it was fabulous and even picked a few more daises from the backyard to add to the bouquet!  Most of the actual flowers I photographed I am not familiar with.  I just thought they were pretty, so I snapped them with my phone and left them alone to continue their life cycle.  I also really liked the way the ferns I took a picture of were fanned out.  Almost as if someone had arranged them.  I think my favorites were they tiny white flowers I found along the driveway.  They were so tiny and delicate, barely the size of a pencil eraser, I didn't want to even touch them for fear of disrupting their fragile beauty.

One day I came back from a walk with a special treat for Babygirl--I had found a patch of just starting to ripen blueberries!  Since blueberries are her favorite fruit she was thrilled and we all went out and collected the handful of berries that were ripe to go with her yogurt the next morning!

We all had a great time and were all very sad to leave today.  Hubby has been visiting the cabin since he was a very small child, and has been "dragging" me along for 13 years now.  Moose has been coming up since we adopted him as a puppy nine years ago.  He still enjoys swimming out the middle of the lake, and if you don't take him out on a leash he will very shorty be in the lake!  This was Babygirl's third year up there; her first trip was at four months old, and she enjoys it more each year.  

Unfortunately, Hubby has to be elsewhere for business tomorrow, so we had to leave.  As usual, we wished for *just* one more day...  Babygirl, Moose and I dropped him at an airport on the way down and made the rest of the trip home on our own just in time for dinner.  We will pick Hubby up at a different airport closer to home at the end of the week.  Even if we were sad to leave it is good to be home, and there is always the next trip to look forward to!

Wild life spotted:

• Several roadside rafters of turkeys ( I was a turkey spotting expert apparently)
• Deer
• The loons 
• An eagle
• Snakes sunning near the lake
• A raccoon attracted by our garbage
• Black squirrels 
• A fox (which yipped causing the "What Does a Fox Say" song to be stuck in my head.  I've known that they yipped since I was a small child--apparently the song's author(s) didn't do much research...)

Things I forgot (because I always have to forget something!):

• Babygirl's toothbrush (luckily Hubby had a spare!)
• A belt
• Face soap
• My hairbrush
• Extra hair clips for Babygirl
• Nail polish remover
• A dirty dish towel I left in the cabin kitchen instead of putting with the rest of the laundry to be brought back :(  My apologies in advance to the next person to go up.

Thursday, July 17, 2014: Inside the Coat Closet Door Organization

In an effort to help organize my home and reduce clutter chaos I have added storage to the inside of my coat closet door.  It has been there for a while, but I thought I would share it today.  I have mentioned before that my house is small and lacks storage, which means I sometimes need to think outside the box and create storage.  Inside the coat closet door was a space I felt could be utilized to help make our entryway less chaotic.

Since I didn't want to put holes in the door and most of the stuff is pretty lightweight I used command hooks.  I put one hook up for each car so car keys can be easily found when we are leaving the house.  This has really helped keep car keys from being left in random places around the house.

The little basket was given to me as a gift a long time ago with bath products in it.  I kept it around for some reason, and when I started organizing the coat closet I thought because of its relatively small size it would work here.  I used two more command hooks to hang it, and now U have a place for my sunglasses and other small items.

The blue mesh pouch was actually bought for our cruise; I liked that it was made with mesh fabric so you can see what is stored in the pockets.  I read online that a lot of people like to take them to help organize their staterooms, especially in the bathroom, so when I saw this at Ikea I bought it with that in mind.  We hung it in our stateroom bathroom and it was rather underutilized; I think if we had found a place to hang it in the actual stateroom it might have gotten more use.  Regardless, it is now very well used, especially in the winter for hats and gloves!

Originally I gave each family member two pockets, but Hubby wasn't really using his since he pretty much just has gloves which he just sticks in his coat pocket.  Only the gloves and hat he wears to plow the driveway ended up in his pocket.  Babygirl, on the other hand, always had over flowing pockets.  It only made sense to consolidate Hubby's two pockets to one and give the extra one to Babygirl.  Babygirl's third pocket holds her sunglasses and (normally!) sunscreen for her (we ran out the day I took this picture!) making them easily accessible by the front door.

The pockets are hung with a command thing intended to hold pictures.  I don't recall why I originally bought them, but I have found that they work great for thin cords like the ones here (or the ones for phone chargers...)

I hope that my storage might be an inspiration to you and help you to calm the pandemonium in your life.  You might find inspiration like I did with things that are not working in other places--all the organizational things here were created with things we already owned!

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Trying to get everything together for our annual trip "up north".  When you live in Wisconsin the northern half to three quarters of the state is referred to as simply "up north", and it is considered part of your duty as a Wisconsinite to "go up north" at least once a year.

We are leaving tomorrow and I have not started packing for Babygirl, Moosedog or myself.  I still am working on laundry!  Might be a long evening...

Top: Kenar; Cardigan: Banana Republic; Bracelets: J Crew; Jeans: Lucky; Shoes: BCBG

Monday, July 14, 2014

Dress: London Times; Jacket: J Crew; Necklace: my own; Bracelets: J Crew; Shoes: Clarks

Saturday, July 12, 2014

Friday, July 11, 2014

I have an eye appointment this afternoon.  Should make for a thrilling day...  Maybe with some luck it won't take too long and I'll be able to hit some garage sales this afternoon too.

Dress: Tart; Bra/Camisole: Cosabella; Necklace: J Crew; Jacket: J Crew; Shoes: Kate Spade

Thursday, July 10, 2014

I decided a week or so ago to buy a different soap refill for the soap dispenser in the bathroom.  Pretty much immediately after filling the soap dispenser I decided the the soap was irritating.  I couldn't put my finger on it, but I didn't like the color, and the scent was driving me crazy (and definitely not in a good way.)

This morning I finally figured it out.  The soap smells like an ex boyfriend.  Funny how a smell can jog your memory and give you a strong opinion on something; no wonder I can't stand it!

Dress: Izaac Mizrahi; Jacket: J Crew; Bracelets: J Crew; Shoes: Natural Soul

Wednesday, July 9, 2014: A Peek at the Utility Room

 Today I'm giving a you a peek at my utility room.  Feel privileged most people aren't allowed to see it!

I am trying really hard to keep the utility room clean and organized.  It is a difficult task, because it tends to be our "dumping room" and also is where all the things that do not have a home elsewhere in the house get stored in part because it is the only room of the house that is not "open" to visitors.  I always live in fear that someone will accidentally open the utility room door when looking for the bathroom when we have parties!  I'm really working on it, but living in a small house with limited storage makes it difficult.

Today I'm only going to show you the sink.  (I even cleaned it for you.  It still looks crappy because the sink is stained from years of use, but believe me it is cleaner than it was--all the linty dust from the dryer is gone!)
In an effort to make things look better I made the skirt for the wash tub a few years back.  It really helps to make the space look less cluttered by hiding all the clutter I store under the sink.  It was really easy to make.  I just hemmed three panels (I really could have just done two, but I wanted three to keep things from showing in the small gap between the sink and the wall) and attached them with self-adhesive velcro.  I made the panel next to the washer longer than it needed to be so it would wrap around the back slightly.  I even had a little bit of fabric left over that I used to make a valance for the blinds.

When we first moved in I painted almost every room in the house.  (The whole house was the same shade of ivory, sometimes with feather duster faux painting.  I could see past it, but could not live with it.)  One day while at the hardware store I found the sprayer in the plumbing section (sold to be attached to your shower for rinsing children) and figured it would be great for making cleaning painting supplies!  It definitely made my life much easier for cleaning up paint trays, rollers and brushes, and has been helpful for many things since then.  I even use it when I deep condition my hair--it makes rinsing my hair without getting in the shower much easier!  If I colored my hair myself I think it would probably be great for that as well.  Also, since it is right next to my washing machine it is useful for cleaning out the washing machine drum--I can just spray it out, and also for dissolving powdered detergent.  (I mostly use liquid detergent, but I also use a lot of powdered oxyclean, and it has a tendency not to dissolve in a cold water load.)  You also can use it to fill a bucket on the floor.  It has been very useful and rest assured that at less than $20 this sprayer was money well spent, and I will install one in every house I ever live in!

The clear panels were put up by the previous owner, and we thought they were a great idea, especially after we installed the sprayer!  They are just clear plexiglass panels with holes drilled at the corners for screws.

I am a big fan of command hooks--I now can have hooks wherever I want without drilling holes in my walls!  I have one to hang the measuring cup (mostly used to measure bleach) in easy reach of the sink and washing machine, and one to hang the excess hose for the sprayer.

The vase is for holding flowers, but also does double duty for drying brushes and sponges when it is not holding flowers.

I hope you enjoyed this little peek in my utility room.  In spite of the small space (and usual mess) I think there are some good ideas, and I hope my sharing will help someone else to make their space more functional!

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Dress: Cynthia Rowley, Necklace: J Crew; Shoes: Mariza Vellutini

Monday, July 7, 2014: Produce!

I have my first produce from my garden!  (I'm always *way* too excited about the first of my produce!)  This is the first year I have done cucumbers; I always thought they would take up too much space in my small garden before.  This year, inspired by the library program Babygirl participates in (where they only have four small raised beds) and things I have seen on pintrest I put in a cucumber plant and have trellised it.  So far I am very happy with the results!  It only takes up a few square feet, and it seems to be doing very well.  Lesson learned: you can do cucumbers in a small space!

Cucumber salad with dinner tonight!

It finally feels like summer.  It is really hot today.  Rather a shock after the mild weather we were having!

Did some shopping with Babygirl this afternoon.  The local Gymboree outlet was having a everything $9.99 and under sale, so we bought  a bunch of stuff there: new jammies, swimsuits, dresses and jeans.  The J Crew outlet was also having a sale, so Babygirl got new flip flops (they had flowers on them and she fell in love) and I bought a new bracelet and necklace.  The bracelet was so prefect that I wore it out of the store--it looked great with my dress!

Dress: Lily Pulitzer; Bracelet: J Crew; Shoes: Mariza Vellutini

Friday, July 4, 2014: Happy Independence Day!

Ribs on the smoker, watermelon feta salad, sweet corn, baked beans, Hubby's corn bread, angel food cake with strawberries picked yesterday and fresh whipped cream for dessert;

Boules and maybe some fireworks for Babygirl later if we are lucky.

Happy Independence Day!

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Hubby was off today, so we had a lovely family day.  We took Babygirl to the local strawberry picking farm--something she had been looking forward to ever since I told her about it!  It has been raining a lot lately, so the fields were kind of soggy.  Babygirl and I were glad we wore our "puddle boots" (as she calls them.)

We also visited a local farm stand and picked up some sweet corn and a local butcher to buy ribs for tomorrow's feast.

Hubby and I discovered we have a harvestable cucumber in our garden!  The first produce from our garden this year (other than herbs)!

Planning on leftovers for dinner to clean out the fridge a bit, then a bit of outside play time.  It is a good day.

 

Wednesday, July 2, 2014: Easy Toddler Quilt II

I wanted to do another lightweight quilt for Babygirl.  The way I look at it, you need at *least* two of each bedding item for a small child!  (This is helpful on bedding change day, and also in case of emergency.)

I made Babygirl the easy toddler quilt not too long ago, and she loves it!  It has birdies, purple, AND Mommy made it: what could be better??

This one is a variation of that project.  The fabric is a flat sheet from the Company Store (it was a sheet) and I wish I had bought more of it because it is really cute and I love it; unfortunately it is no longer available.  I previously made a duvet cover for Babygirl with the rest of the fabric.  Obviously, after making one toddler-size duvet cover I had some fabric left over.  I also bought one matching pillow case at the time that I bought the sheet.  It took me weeks of searching online to find this colorful butterfly fabric.

I did not want to do the same quilting pattern because I thought with the busy fabric a simpler quilting pattern would be easier on the eyes.  Quilting is necessary to keep your layers from shifting.  That being said, quilting does not necessarily need to be continuous.  In fact, there is a method of making quilts called "hand tying" that does not involve stitching.  When you see quilts with yarn ties they are "hand tied".  I was inspired by a pillow at Crate & Barrel to use a method of non-continuous stitching on the second quilt.

Quilting Inspiration

The appearance is similar to hand tying without the (in my opinion) messy looking yarn.  (I've never really been a fan of the look of the yarn.)  I figured I could get a similar look on the quilt with my sewing machine and it wouldn't look too busy for the pattern on the fabric.  Rather than the square pattern here, I thought I would like a diamond pattern.

I started with the same basic instructions in the easy toddler quilt.  Prewash fabric, iron, layer, pin.  I did use polyester batting here rather than cotton, but I'm not sure that made things any easier.  The lack of slippery polyester fabric definitely made things easier this time around.  In spite of the pain in the butt aspect of having to prewash it, I think I would do cotton batting again if I do another one.  Just personal preference--I'm not a polyester fan.

I started marking the pattern for my quilting with my handy dandy drywall t-square.  I drew a grid on the fabric with a disappearing ink fabric marker.  I used the width of the t-square for the width between lines to make my life easier.  That way I just needed to line up the t-square with the last line and draw another line.  When I was done with the first direction, I used the t-square to draw a line at a right angle to the first line and then continued the process in that direction.

Drawing a grid pattern with the handy dandy ginormous drywall t-square.  

Once I had my grid marked out, I started marking the intersections where I wanted to quilt.  If I wanted a square pattern, I could have just quilted every intersection.  Since I do not like to make my life easy like that I used a different color disappearing ink fabric marker to mark the intersections I was going to quilt.  This ended up being every other intersection on the top row, then the opposite (or unmarked) intersections on the next row.

Marking out the quilting pattern; as you can see the blue dots form a diamond pattern.

When all the intersections to be quilted were marked I sat down at the sewing machine.  I used the stitch for sewing on buttons set to the narrowest with for my quilting.  I had the machine do approximately ten stitches per marked intersection  I also used the darning plate to keep the machine from automatically advancing the fabric and I did not use the presser foot (sorry Mom!) to make moving the fabric quicker and easier.  I stitched every marked intersection in a zig-zag pattern.  I found that using the zig-zag pattern I was less likely to miss intersections than stitching straight across.  I also found the threads easier to cut (since I did not cut threads between stitches.)

Quilting done.  Threads still need to be clipped.

Once I was done with the stitching I cut the threads using a seam ripper, cut the quilt to square, zig-zag stitched the edges for durability and bound the edges using pre-made double fold bias tape for the edging..  I used a narrower edging on this one.  That was just my preference for this fabric.

I read a tutorial this afternoon from The Seasoned Homemaker on how easy it is to make bias tape, so I ordered the tool to make two inch bias tape (which will make one inch double fold tape) from amazon.  I was rather unhappy with the feel of the pre-made bias tape (it is 55% polyester...), so I replaced the edging on this quilt with homemade cotton bias tape.  It was kind of a pain in the butt for me, but I am happier with the quality and it matches the shade I made for Babygirl's room a couple years ago.  I also made a narrower version to trim the matching pillow case!

Done!

I also had the bright idea (pintrest inspired project) to make some pillow cases trimmed with fabric to match the quilts for Babygirl.  You can see the pillow case that matches this quilt here.  I am really happy witht he way it turned out!  Hopefully I will have a tutorial for that sometime next week!

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Dress: Max Studio; Belt: Tommy Hilfiger; Necklace: my own; Shoes: Stuart Weitzman