Currently...Getting Ready for October

How's your Monday so far? Monday really does set us up for the week, doesn't it. It can be so full of promise and positivity, or it can make you want to crawl back under the covers and try again tomorrow.  Hope your Monday's going well.  Here's how mine is filling up.

Fighting a cold. Or something. I don't get sick often but it seems that when I do, my body is playing catch up for all the time I wasn't sick.  I've been drinking hot green tea since yesterday, because that is the cure for any illness (you knew that, right?)

Planning meals for children who won't be at the dinner table. We're in full extra-curricular mode, so we're spending a lot of time in the car.  Dinner either has to be ready exactly when they get home and stay for a few minutes (crockpot and 1-pot dinners are great) or portable (quesadillas, rice dishes that can put in plastic bowls) in order to stay out of the drive-thru lanes.

Bracing myself for the onslaught of Halloween decorations. Its not my favorite holiday. And its not because of the candy; the candy in fact, is the one thing that makes it bearable. It's the skeletons and ghosts and goblins and spiders and scary things that will be everywhere for the next 33 days.  It's a tall price to pay for all those little packs of M&Ms and mini-chocolate bars.

Rearranging clothes drawers and closets.  It's the seasonal switch. Move clothes from the front of the closet to the back. Set aside clothes that will be too small or too out of style when it gets warm again. Pack away clothes that will make it to the next season.  And I always imagine that we're going to take this South Pacific vacation in the middle of winter and will need those bathing suits and shorts and sundresses, so I don't pack them too far away.  (You never know, this could be there year!)

Panicking because October 1 means there's only three more months to get done all the things I had hoped to get done in 2014!

Have a good week!

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What's the Closet-Life of a Dress?

As we start heading towards fall, it’s about that time to start moving sundresses and tank tops aside and pulling the sleeved-shirts and pants to the front of the closet.  This transition time is also the perfect time to do some closet purging, as you notice, but maybe don’t really want to admit, that you did not wear that linen skirt all summer. Nor last summer either. And truth be told, you’re not sure you even really like the color so much anymore.  So you fold it up, put it aside with everything else, just in case you might like it next summer.

Let’s admit it – cleaning out the closet isn’t just a physical process of taking clothes out that have exhausted their usefulness.  There’s a couple mental obstacles in the way of moving clothes into piles so that they can live another life in someone else’s closet.

When has a dress has passed it’s useful closet-life and it’s time to let it go?

It is not flattering, now or ever will be again.  I really like empire waist dresses, you know, the ones where the waistband hits the bottom of your bra. Its comfortable and breezy in the summer, and yes, hides all those scoops of ice cream.  Or so I thought!  Someone took a picture of me in one of my favorite dresses and I realized that I look like I’m in my second trimester!  But I thought it was a fluke (bad lighting, camera phone, bad angle) and kept wearing them. Until I took another picture in another dress and surprise – same thing, me and my second trimester self.  I’ve piled all my empire waist dresses aside.  Some are destined for some woman who needs the flowy-ness, the rest are now restricted to wearing around the house or walking to the busstop when there is no danger of being photographed.  (Sorry, I couldn’t truly truly give them all up.)

There was a different President in office when you purchased the dress.  You know that dress that you recall the exact event you bought it for?  And that event was long time ago?  I have a few dresses that I did the math and calculated five, six – or more - years ago.  I’ve kept it because, on a good day, it still fits. But even when it does – it was six years ago.  I can get away with a classic fit dress, a black skirt, a navy dress, but anything else – it either looks too young for me or dated by style.  Even the color is wrong.

It never fit right anyway.  You buy the dress, maybe it was on sale, maybe it looked great on the mannequin and you are sure that once it shakes out, once you put on some Spanks, lose a couple pounds, wear a different bra, its going to fit perfectly.  But it just never does.  Let it go.  That goes for those shoes, too.  Even the cute ones. They always did hurt your feet, anyway.

You have no idea where you will ever wear it to.  I have tops and dresses that require a much more active night-life than I have, which right now is pretty much dominated by PTA meetings and kids sporting events.  I have a really cute one-shoulder zebra print silk blouse.  Perhaps someone else has the right party to go to.

Shorts that have lasted through more than one summer.  Don’t take this as a disposable clothes idea, it’s just that regardless of whether I actually still wear that size or not, shorts never seem to fit right after one summer.  Maybe the ice cream reshapes my behind and thighs, same weight, different shaping. Like sand.

Anything two sizes too big or two sizes too small.  I’m letting a larger or smaller woman enjoy my shopping.  I don’t want to return to the too-big size and by the time I get back to the too-small size, the clothes will be out of style.  Okay, even that skirt I really like, it looks crazy slipping down my hips.  And the other one, well, who knows when was the last time it fit to know how it looks.

And to top off the pile?  Anything you just don’t like anymore. The why the heck did I buy this, the what was I thinking, the it used to be cute outfits. Why are these so hard to let go?

Now, when all those are gone…. Hey – I need to go shopping, I haven’t got anything to wear!  

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Currently...Getting Ready to Party into Spring

March 30 - Can you believe there was wind, rain, hail, and snow yesterday?  The sun looks like it's peeking out today - please stay!  Starting out this sunny week, here's what I'm up to.

Eating... what is destined to become my new favorite omelet, but hardly will be served at the local diner. The site Food52 asks for readers to try and review recipes, breakfast choices were up this go 'round. One of them, a definite "gotta try it" was Kimchi Frittata with Sriracha Drizzle. But let me first say, I could/sometimes do eat kimchi, the fermented cabbage considered to be Korea's "national dish," at every meal every day. And sriracha, well, that's just the firey cherry on top, right? I didn't bother making it over the weekend since my family does not share in the idea that kimchi can be a breakfast food; though, perhaps my son would but he doesn't like omelet/frittata style eggs. Since I get to enjoy it all by myself, I only made half the recipe. The frittata is a simple mix of kimchi (I used Mat kimchi, the Chinese cabbage version that most people think of when they think of kimchi), scallions, soy sauce and eggs, with sriracha and rice vinegar. It reminds me of the steamed eggs my mother used to make when we were kids.  I'm eating it, all by myself, with a bowl of rice (what else?)

  

Plotting murder.  With the help of Shot in the Dark Mysteries, I'll be hosting a murder mystery dinner for a dozen of my friends. They offer a variety of themes, for any number of party-goers, male/female or co-ed. I considered a party with couples, but thought perhaps the spouses may get a little nervous, realizing how sinister and plotting their loved one could be, so I'm keeping it all women.  Keep up with me on Twitter for more on "Murder in the Winery" tomorrow.

 

Reading Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. I admit, I don't know what's going on in this book.  You may know already, if you've read my bookposts before, that I rarely read the back cover. I really do choose a book by it's (front) cover.  And this one glows in the dark, as I surprisingly found out one night on my way to bed.  There is, as the title suggests, a 24-hour bookstore, that doesn't really sell too many books. Instead, the "members" come by at odd hours of the night to exchange books, like a library, but the books are written in some kind of weird code. I'm following along with the bookstore's newest employee Clay Jannon trying to figure out what these members are figuring out. 

 

Purging winter clothes in the kids' closets and drawers. This winter has been so long that they've all grown out of their clothes. Coat sleeves are up their arms, jeans are skimming their ankles, and buttons are stretched tight on their shirts. Time to get rid of winter gear. Hopefully spring will indeed cooperate with my housekeeping.  As I outlined in a previous closet-cleaning post, I've got my piles line up - donate/give away, pass on to a sibling, throw out, recycle.  The task can be overwhelming, so I'll set a timer - an album on the iPod will keep me motivated, happy, and within a time limit.

 

And to welcome in the warmer days of spring, I am stitching a new pink and green shawl/scarf! I started and made good progress this weekend thanks to a rainy day basketball tournament.

 

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8 Ways to Re-Use & Recycle Your Old Clothes

Do a simple search on Pinterest and you will find a bazillion ideas for that old jacket or table or bicycle chain. Even before I was pinning stuff online, I was cataloging ideas in my head and putting things aside just in case I came up with an idea. Although I’m still pinning cool re-purposed stuff, I’m trying to get better about saving all the stuff only when I realistically have time to make them.

When I cleaned out my kids’ closets, there were a bunch of t-shirts and jeans that they had outgrown, were unwearable (ripped, stained, etc.), or didn’t like anymore. Most of the wearable clothes, I donated somewhere.  This is what I did with the rest.

Jeans

• Shorts – I swear, you’d think my kids played for the Baltimore Orioles or that they are required to crawl through school the way they wear out their knees.  The girls’ jeans get cut-off and worn as shorts, nothing new here. If you want to be fancy, you can add embellishments like edging and lace trim around the leg, iron-in designs to cover holes in the pockets, etc. (I don’t like the look for my son, so his get moved into another pile.)
• Make a quilt - A few years ago, when I was feeling quite industrious, I cut squares out of all the throw-away jeans and made a quilt, which we use as a picnic blanket. It’s great – it’s durable, washable, comfy.
• Recycle – Did you know that you can use denim, a cotton fiber, to insulate your home? I’m not stuffing my walls with our old jeans, but I did find a place that collects denim to recycle into home insulation: CottonfromBluetoGreen.org. You can send in less than 100 pieces of denim – in any kind of condition, any type of garment – and you can even have a denim drive! Check their website for more info. I figure its going to cost about $20 to mail the box but that pile is out of my house and I feel good about our used denim going to good use.

T-shirts

• Dust rags – This is how my mother used our old tees. I’ve found thermal shirts work great, too.
• Scrunchies & headbands – Cut the body and arms into strips for quick, easy hair ties. My daughters and I go through so many headbands and hair ties. They get worn out, they get lost. These are easy, they cost you nothing. I throw them in my gym bag so I always have one handy. They will lose their stretch after awhile, but surely you’ll have another t-shirt ready to use by then.

• Tote bag – Great for the tees that have a design that you like, for instances a sports team or school logo.  Or a Girl Scout shirt. I cut off the neck and arms, and sewed across the bottom. Ta-da! Perfect for carrying cookies and badge projects to the next meeting. This took me no more than ten minutes to do.

• Quilt – Again, in an industrious mode, I cut my daughter’s t-shirts in equal size squares (13”, I think) and made a quilt out of them when she finished elementary school. The t-shirts squares have to be lined with interfacing so that they do not stretch; this is easy if you use the iron-on interfacing. Sew the squares together in a row, then sow the rows together. Use a large piece of cotton fabric as the backing, and whichever loft of quilt batting that you select (someone in the quilting section of the fabric store can help you with the backing and batting selections). I hand-quilted hers simply by tieing it in certain points. If you have the skill to quilt, or you have a wonderful friend who does, you can do something more intricate (you can also find services who do this specifically).

Sweaters

I kept the ones that had a hole or stain in it, not worthy of being donated. My plan is to unwind the sweaters and reuse the yarn for a future crochet or knitting project. I’m not making any promises, we’ll see.

These are the things I thought that I could handle with our old clothes. If you are feeling more crafty, again, just search pinterest – or peek at my board - and you will find all kinds of ideas to refashion jeans into skirts, t-shirts into fancier t-shirts, sweaters iPad cases, and all sorts of stuff.

Let me know of any re-use/recycle projects that you’ve come up with for your old stuff. I’m always looking for new ideas!

I spent spring break cleaning out the kids' closets. This is part 3 in my series of posts about what to do with all of that stuff. Read more in previous posts on  cleaning out the closet and donating your used items.

Don't need it anymore? Donate it!

I mentioned in my post on cleaning out the kids’ closets that donations is one of my sorting piles. It’s actually a few mini-piles. And as I suggested, anything that goes into these piles should be clean, still fashionable, and wearable. Use the “would I want this?” rule. Broken zippers, hole in the sleeve, missing buttons? If you’re handy with a sewing needle, take the time to make the repairs if you intend to donate the item. Otherwise, re-use/recycle or trash them.

Clothes Donations

• Pass down to friends – These are some of my favorite outfits that I thought particular friends would like. Also included, my aunt hand-knits sweaters for my kids, so I prefer to personally give them to someone rather than put them in the anonymous donation bags.
• Moms’ group – When our kids were smaller, we used to exchange some barely worn clothes in our moms’ group. This is great for boys’ suits, girls’ special occasion dresses, and infant and toddler winter coats, all which hardly get worn out before the child grows out of it. This is also a good pile for specialty wear like dance costumes and sports equipment (swim flippers anyone?)
• School – The nurse and guidance counselor at our elementary school keep a stash of clothes for the inevitable little kid accident, whether it’s someone falling in a mud puddle, spilling their chocolate milk at lunch, or not making it to the bathroom on time. I put our too-small school logo shirts, along with a few casual pieces in this bag. In the winter, I also include mittens and jackets. Be sure to ask first if they need it, if the school doesn't have a regular collection.
• Local clothes collection – When I have seasonal clothes to donate, I take them here. They will accept any clothes, but space seems to be tight, so I figure that in-season clothes are more welcome than out of season items.
• Pick-up donation – I admit, I don’t know what the various agencies who pick up clothes and household stuff do with it all, but I’m glad to be rid of it. For this reason, this is my pile of last resort.

Non-clothes Donations

Books – I don’t get rid of a lot of books, but sometimes I acquire books that I don’t really intend to keep or I have craft books I don’t need anymore. And my kids have used books that we don’t need to keep because they’ve outgrown them. I pass these on to the next readers:

• Donate to library or one of the local schools for used book sales
• Take to a kid-focused event (for example, PTA, Girl Scouts, the swimming pool) and invite the kids to take whatever they want
• Donate to women’s shelters
• Give to the guidance counselor and teachers at school for their classrooms

Towels and sheets – The mis-matched sets, the towels that don’t match the new bathroom paint color, the towels that are worn or torn – I’m taking them to the animal shelter.

Craft supplies - Donate to the school for the classroom and art teachers.

If you're closets are like mine, you'll find that most of the stuff you are getting rid of isn't in bad shape, you're just done using it. Pass it on and help someone else enjoy it.