Oddly Elegant

Wordless Wednesday

2013-04-10T10:00:00.000-04:00

Fun on the trip to the American Girl Store!

Wordless Wednesday

2012-05-09T14:55:00.001-04:00

Case of the lazies?

2012-05-08T11:57:00.000-04:00

Ever have a gut feeling that you shouldn't do something? I mean, it does not even have to be about anything important, just something inside you that makes you hesitate. I'm having that feeling today, and it is about going outside to walk my 3.5 miles that I walk all the time. As I ponder my gut feeling, I cannot decide what to do about it. There could be several reasons why I might be feeling that exercising today is a mistake... For instance, maybe my "secret 6th sense", (oops, not secret anymore) is trying to alert me of danger.

What type of danger, you might ask? Well, that's a good question. I know, because I asked myself the same one. Here are several reasons I have come up with so far. Some make sense, and the rest, well, keep reading.

Reason number 1 is that my body is very sore from walking/Pilates yesterday, and the pain is really my body telling me to take a rest day. Reason number 2, it is cloudy and I have heard thunder and the forecast is calling for rain/thunderstorms. This could also be my secret 6th sense trying to keep me from getting struck by lightening. The third reason is that there may be an escaped convict hiding in the woods just waiting and watching for someone to walk by. If I don't go walking, it cannot possibly be me, said convict attacks/murders.

Reason number 4: Even though most of the dogs I usually come across are friendly (except these three psycho dogs that try to bite me every time), maybe there is one that has eluded it's fence and is hungry for the next person to walk by! I have said a few prayers while walking that some of the fences stay shut, or that the electronic collars have fresh batteries in them, because there are some ferocious dogs behind visible and/or invisible fences that I would not like to meet in the road! Reason number 5: Yesterday there was a dead poisonous snake in the road and I just about stepped on it. Today there could be one that is alive that I do step on and it bites me.

And the last reason is the one that makes the most sense to me. Reason number 6: I am just feeling lazy today and my mind is rapidly coming up with any type of excuse to keep me from getting my exercise that is good for me and makes me feel better mentally as well as physically. I think I will go with the latter, what about you? What do you do when you don't feel like doing your daily exercise?

New kicks

2012-04-19T17:11:00.001-04:00

Going to run many miles in these!

Hem Your Own Designer Jeans While Keeping The Original Hem!!!

2012-04-05T12:57:00.001-04:00

While living in Atlanta I discovered the awesomeness of designer jeans. My favorites include; Seven for All Mankind and Citizens of Humanity, but no matter which designer brand you love, if they are too long as all mine are you need to have them hemmed. The first pair of Seven for All Mankind jeans I bought I opted to pay the “seamstress” at Nordstrom to hem my jeans as they were about a foot too long. I assumed that she would do a great job since she worked at Nordstrom, but you know what they say about assuming! Apparently it is true. She simply cut off the extra material and hemmed my jeans leaving me with a $200 pair of jeans with a crappy looking hem. I still wore them because as a waitress at Mellow Mushroom I couldn’t afford to just buy another pair right away. It took months of saving my tips to even consider it, and even then I had to choose to sacrifice things like food and fun to buy theses jeans! But alas I did, because I just LOVE them so much more than any cheaper option.

Believe me when I say I do not enjoy paying ridiculous amounts of money for jeans that cost a few of those dollars to make, but I pretty much live in blue jeans year-round so I justify it that way.
Any who, so for the tutorial… After my experience with the seamstress who did not know what she was doing, I set out on a mission to learn how to hem my jeans while keeping the original hem, and do it so that it didn’t even show! And guess what? I did, so here I am to tell you how to hem your own jeans.
All you need is:

a sewing machine
basic knowledge of how to sew
jeans that are too long
thread that matches the stitching on your jeans (I found jean thread at Wal-Mart, and took my jeans with me if the thread was a different color)

Alright, first you need to get ready, meaning thread your machine and pin your jeans to the length you want them to be. Either have a friend do this or measure a pair of jeans that is the desired length from the crotch to the hem and use this as your inseam length. Remember that you will be wearing shoes, so take that into consideration and maybe put the shoes you wear with your jeans most often on while being pinned.
If you have to pin them yourself, make sure you look at where the jeans fall in a mirror to be sure you like the new length.

Now, take jeans off and measure from the pins to the hem (DO NOT INCLUDE ORIGINAL HEM IN MEASUREMENT), stop at the top of the original hem (one leg at a time is easiest).
Next, you need to take this measurement and half it. This is when you re-pin right before you so. if you had a measurement of 2 inches, you need to pin all around the bottom at 1 inch!
When you have finished pinning the first leg, you are ready to start sewing. If your machine has a 1.)drop-arm , 2.)take off the arm and place your jean leg around to make it easier to sew. If not 3.)just be sure to not to sew all the way through the leg opening!

Now that you have your jean leg placed correctly on your machine, sew a straight stitch right BELOW the hem on the underside of the jean leg. See picture below.

Sew all the way around and don’t forget to backstitch a few stitches before you cut the thread off. Next, if you ever want to be able to let your jeans back out do not cut off the extra material, just tuck it under and iron it flat. I cut the extra material off as I am not ever going to be any taller, and here is what it looks like.

Be careful not to cut too close or the hem can come undone. (Lesson learned from my first try )
Whether you cut off the extra material or not now you need to iron your jean leg gently pulling them hem in several directions to get it really flat.
The next step is to straight stitch on the outside of the leg right ABOVE the hem, as close as you can without being right on top. This will make it look even more professional.
*Tip: While sewing go very slow to make sure your stitches are straight.
Repeat this process with the other leg!

A little John Deere Pillow

2012-03-01T12:07:00.000-05:00

I made this little pillow for my son who is five years old. It is my first attempt to make a pillow like this and it's definitely not perfect but he likes it and it makes a cute little decorative pillow for his bed. Now I need to think of something else to make so it will not be the only John Deere piece in his room. Maybe I can do something with his tractor toys like put them on a shelf. My issue with all the rooms in my house right now is trying to coordinate pieces and fabrics so it looks good. I cannot stand super matchy-matchy, but I would like my rooms to look more coordinated. Everything is so different right now it looks very random. I think my solution is paint and fabric!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-10-26T09:25:00.000-04:00

To see more Wordless Wednesday posts, go to 5Minutesformom.com link

What up?

2011-10-11T12:14:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Airing My Dirty Laundry, One Sock At A Time

Hey It's Okay (Tuesday)...

to still be sad about losing my job.

to miss my students and coworkers A LOT!

to drink Diet Coke constantly from the time I get up to the time I go to sleep.

to wear my favorite pair of flip flops year round even though I have a closet full of shoes.

to yell at my computer even though I get weird looks from my kids (husband so used to it)

to not want just a job, but the job I am the best person for.

curl up with a good book and read all day sometimes.

to not know what I am going to or want to do now.

To post yours, go to the following link:
http://whisperingwriter.blogspot.com/2011/10/i-got-this-idea-from-glamour-magazine.html