Holey Jeans

My kid keeps busting through the knees of his jeans.  Seriously, I am pretty sure he owns about 7 pairs of jeans, 6 of which have holes.  The holes keep getting bigger, so this is what I worked on today.

It badly needed to get done and I was glad to  finally get into the sewing room.  Its been a few weeks.   My sewing machine has a darning stitich, so I adhered some scrap fabric on the back of the knees with an iron-on adhesive and then shimmied the legs onto the machine.  Now the question is will the patches hold up to what my 5 year old dishes out?  We'll see.

Gallery Walls are All the Rage

...and for good reasons.  Seems like gallery walls are every where in home decor blogs, particularly DIY blogs.  I couldn't be happier because I think a gallery wall is such a neat glimpse into someone's history and personality.  I was so very inspired by Nester Smith's posts here and here on creating a gallery wall.  How great is the subtitle of the second article?!  So, I said, heck, she's right.

I knew right away I would make my gallery wall on the big, cold, ugly blank wall to the left of the front door when you walk in. It badly needed some personality and warmth to welcome people into our home.

For the life of me, I can't find the "Before" shot.  Dang it.  If or when I find it, I'll post it. Trust me, it was ugly. Oh well, here's the wall with its new gallery  ::

The intake vent there is a special touch, no?  Yuck.  But, I figured that adding the gallery pieces would in a way distract from the vent and, in my opinion, it worked.  Though the vent seems to play an important role in the photos, in real life it is takes backstage to the stars which are all our art pieces.  

Most guests stand and look at each photo and are shocked at how interesting we are my husband is.  There is a photo and a couple of flyers from his band Hundred Monkey Theory in Albany, New York.

Also featured are two or three botanicals that he photographed.  His eagle scout medal is in a shadow box.  There is an announcement from a gallery opening when Dave's art was featured with two other artists.  There is a photo of donkeys hauling cement that Dave snapped quick while on a trip to Greece (he works in the cement industry).

Its funny because people who know Dave from one area of his life, say work for example, are quite surprised to find out what various talents and experiences he has.  Yeah, he's pretty cool like that.  I like him.

Aaaaaanyway.

Also featured on our gallery wall ::

• Two pieces by my friend Emily Armstrong., one made with spray paint and scissors (the yellow piece) and the other piece, which is so super cool, is a self-portrait (hanging from a pants hanger).  I have no idea what method she used, but I just love it.  Can I just say how much I LOVE having such unusual and quality art made by someone I know?!  Emily, you don't suck, for the record.

• A couple of orange round mirrors from Target, bought on clearance for about $3 a few months ago.
• A hand-emboridered gift from my friend Jen, who picked this up from her favorite artist-blogger, Marta.  (You can see it in the band photo.  Its brown and cream and says "All the great things are simple.")
• Several Nancy Noble family photos from October 2010 (one in a small oval cream frame and then two in a shadow box with a key found in our previous home).

• A record that is very special to me.  It was given to me by an ancient old man who was a grad student with me back in about 2001.  It is Duke Ellington: Concert of Sacred Music and there is a tap piece in there.  The man who gave it to me knew that I loved dance and tap in particular and he thought I'd appreciate tap being done in a "sacred" way.

• A gold-leaf-ish letter "B," picked up from Hobby Lobby when I realized I need a few more pieces on the wall to fill up more space.  

When I originally shot the gallery, there were a few empty frames that waiting for photos to be printed up or new mats or whatever.  Since then, all the frames are filled except the gigantic rustic frame, near the top of the stairs.

• Now displayed is a photo that has never had a home in our home, though I always wanted to display it.  Dave took this shot of the Notre Dame cathedral while in Paris on a business trip.  The carvings and the perspective of the photo are gorgeous.  

• I have two Sarah Cook family photos, from February 2010 and February 2011.  My, how my little one has changed.

 There is definitely room for growth, as I'd like the whole wall to be filled, floor to ceiling, and side to side.

If you need more info on how to DIY gallery wall, check out Nester Smith's articles (linked above) and Young House Love recently did a really beautiful wall, with instructions on how to do it.  For the record, I wasn't that precise.  After gathering all the pieces I could find, I laid them out on the carpet, fiddled around with the arrangement, and then started attacking my wall with hammer and nails.  I made a few errors, so there are probably 4 unnecessary holes, but they are all covered by art.  No big.

Buy More Storage? Or Lose More Crap?

Our growing book collection no longer fits on our shelves.  Dave and I also have quite a stack of books by our bedsides, waiting to be read. There is also a stack of in-process-of-being-read books in the living room.  Something has to change.

One option is to hike to Ikea in Atlanta and get another unit to go with the shelving system we already have.  But for a number of reasons, this option seems crazy right now.  Go all the way to Atlanta to spend money to display more crapola?  I mean, I love books.  I looooove books.  And I really like my knick knacks.  But to spend that kind of money and time on housing so-so things (like books I may not love) seems kind of twisted.  An extension on our bookshelf would cost $200.  The trip would cost approximately $160 in gas and wear and tear on the car.  Plus meals out.  Plus possibly an overnight, since I couldn't possibly hit Atlanta without stopping at my favorite shopping spots and I can't do all that in one day, plus drive time.

So, while my little kid was in bed early, and my big kid watched Idol with Dave, I quickly scanned through my shelves and pulled out 27 books that I am ready to let go of.  TWENTY-SEVEN.

Why, you might ask, am I getting rid of these particular 27 books?  Some of them are your basic "I'm having a baby and don't know what to do with him" type books, and I figure I won't need those basic books for my third kid.  Others are grad school text books that are probably outdated or I could find similar information online.  Others are novels that were enjoyable, but probably won't read again (especially given my queue of unread books).  There are a couple of meh-type books that were from book studies that I didn't love and never really even finished.  Then there were do-it-yourself books that are just plain laughable at this point.  We are not going to be building our own deck any time soon, so buh-bye Complete Deck Book. There were a couple of repeat books, like After the Boxes are Unpacked, which is about moving/relocating and the emotional components of that.  I read it soon after I moved, btw, and feel like I should have read it maybe a year after the move.  Anywho.

I am not a Kindle person, nor am I a library person, too much.  I like to be able to read books at my own pace, crack the spine if I want to and let people borrow them if they want to.  So, I am content with buying what books I consider worth it.  But, I do not need to go spend hundreds of dollars to store them all.  Feels good to pare down, rather than bulk up even more.  These 27 have been around my shelves for awhile and are ready to go.  I listed 16 of them on Amazon marketplace, but I'll be excited if even a handful sell.  The rest will go in the ever-expanding garage sale pile.

So, who's with me?  Who's ready to let go of a few unnecessary books?  If you are so inclined to get rid of a few, drop a comment here and include what you got rid of and why.

[I can't help but feel that its pretty ridiculous posting all this silliness about books and systems and money and stuff.  Two friends of mine lost their newborn baby today.  Such terrible loss while most of us spend so much time, effort, and money trying to acquire and store bigger, better, badder stuff all the time. What's really important here?]

Looky Who Lives With Us

By now you may have seen this delightful video about birds.  It cracks me up every time, especially because it is so darn accurate.  I should document the decorative birds I have in my home.  No, I should document the decorative birds that my friend Aimee has in her home.  She looooves birds.  And I love her birds.  Anywho.

A real (yet still decorative) bird has decided to make a nest here  ::

Perhaps you read about my front door make-over here.  This wreath pictured above has been on the door since about Christmas time, in place of the bouquet (which will make an appearance again.... I just like to mix things up a bit now and then.  But only a bit.).

The wreath is already nest-ish, but our little friend Birdie began adding sticks, leaves and dried grass to the center hole to make it even more of a cozy (though only part-time) home . We see her in there sometimes and we really do wonder when we'll end up with Birdie in the house.  My 17-month-old son Calvin seems to be afraid of her, pointing to her shadow that we can see on the inside of the door, saying "bird!" with a concerned look on his face.  I don't yet have a photo of Birdie herself, but here is her home  ::

Its amazing.

Chronic Problem in the Closet :: Part Two

So here is Version 2.0 of fixing the problem closet.  

I picked up a three drawer plastic bin from Target to put all the craft supplies in:  crayons, scissors, glue, yarn, googly eyes and so on.  I use these types of drawers in my sewing room to house things like various adhesives, thread, paper, and elastics.  

In this version 2.0, I stacked most of the games on the very top shelf, in order to leave one lower (and more kid-accessible) shelf with room for growth.  I figured it would be no big deal for me to get the games down when Big T wanted them.

However  ::

That game avalanche pictured above is what actually happened later in the day when Connect Four was requested and retrieved.  It is just not going to work to stack that many games that high.

So, here is Version 2.5, with the best loved and most used games in a shorter stack, on a shelf that my kid can reach himself  ::

There is still room for growth on that shelf if needed (though seriously, I don't want any more games or crafts, for reals).  

A shot of the floor area that houses the kid vacuum, the real vacuum, a fire extinguisher and a bin of balls  ::

A few items to note  ::

• The pale green box is still in use, only for paper and activity books.  I don't keep the lid on, as that would be too cumbersome for my kid.  I reduced the pile of books by maybe a third, so this seems to be a manageable amount.
• The blue wad next to Elefun is an Ikea kids' tent.  I don't love it being up all the time, so we get it out to play with for a day or two and then it goes back into hibernation for a few weeks.  It makes the tent special to keep it a rare treat.
• Regarding the craft drawers... I am not concerned with them being very neatly arranged on the inside.  What matters most to me is that every item can be seen when you open the drawer.  Its loosely organized so that one drawer holds crayons, markers and other writing utensils, one drawer has yarn and related items and the other drawer has random embellishments.  There is definitely some overlap, as pictured where you can see a crayon and a marker in the yard drawer.  But, it is so not worth it to organize these drawers within an inch of their lives.  They just need to be an accessible home for these items.  It is much easier to use than the box that used to hold everything craft related.
• I know its not a super cute, Martha-type space, but really.  The thing about organization in the home is that it means your life runs just a little smoother because you and your family can find things, plan things, etc.  I like pretty stuff as much as anyone, but it would be a waste to get cute matching baskets to put all this stuff in.  I want it to be sort of obvious to my children and husband what's going on in there.  Which means everything needs to be seen.  Works for me.
• Lastly, I had forgotten that we own a pop culture version of Trivial Pursuit.  Its got to be about 10 years old by now and hasn't been played in years.  Pretty soon all that pop culture is going to be quaint stories of yesteryear.   Maybe its time to go to the garage sale pile.  

Couponing, in Jamie's Words

If you didn't catch my couponing update post from earlier today, check out Jamie's philosophy of food shopping below.  Very insightful, full of good ideas and advice about being a good steward of time and money.  My favorite phrase:   "I am willing to spend more to save more and have less. Truly simplifying and buying better goods."  

Jamie said...

I get the free "yes" coupon paper on Sundays now and I clip out the ones I may use, but I'm going to be honest and say that now that I have the 3rd kid, I don't have time for all that. I was already finding it hard with only 2. If I buy sales items at Publix, which is what I generally do, then I can still save a lot with their bogo items. But in all honesty, I have not been grocery shopping very frequently now that I have the 3. You might think we've been eating boxed food, and I guess maybe occasionally, but not generally. There have been times recently where we went out, but I try not to make that a habit.

We joined a veggie coop last summer and it rocked my world. Our coop picks up food every 2 weeks and we got tons of fresh food, and last year the cost was only $12 every 2 weeks or $6/week. Cheap!! Over the winter months, we've had a couple of pick ups from the coop, which last for a while, each around $15. Since buying completely fresh food, I re-invented our way of eating - having to use up all of the fresh items we had. So now when I go grocery shopping, I literally stay in the produce and outer edge of the grocery store, with the occasional snack foodish items. We also buy bulk fruit and paper products at Costco. I may be spending more money, but I am saving in the cost of my time. And I believe we eat healthier.

I feel good about my system. My new philosophy on spending on anything including food is buy what you love within a reasonable cost to you even at times spending more and do not buy what you only like a little. Less clutter. I found that I would be wasteful and buy something just because I had a coupon, usually not food, but clothing or baby items because I thought I was getting a deal, even buying consignment clothing. I would accumulate more stuff because I was "saving." But it was creating more headache and pain for me in the long run, so now I am willing to spend more to save more and have less. Truly simplifying and buying better goods.

A Quick Couponing Update

I went to Publix this morning and did pretty well using sales and coupons.  I spent $75.33 and saved $37.71.  There were a number of items "unnecessary" items I bought full price, including some steaks ($10) and puff pastry ($4.39) to make a special dinner for Dave tonight.  If you subtract out $15 for those 2 items, that brings me down to spending $60 and saving the same amount, almost $38.  Pretty decent percentage.  Oh yeah, I also bought full price maple syrup for $7.  That makes my sale/coupon stuff even better.  I don't know if I've ever seen a maple syrup coupon.

I still wish, though that I could spend less every week.  When I lived in upstate New York, I frequently had $40 grocery weeks, using NO coupons.  Here in Alabama I am spending usually around $70 give or take every week. Why this dramatic change?   A couple of factors:  we have another member of the family and I now pack a lunch for Dave a few times a week (he used to exclusively eat out, so there is money saved, in the long run, but it makes for a more expensive grocery bill).  Also, I used to go to Walmart for things like toilet paper and personal care items, and I never kept track of how much I spent there.  Now, I buy all those types of things at Publix or CVS, with very few big box store trips.  I suspect I really am doing much better now on the weekly amount of money  I spend on grocery and personal items, but I can't prove it.  If I operated on a cash system, I would know, but I use my credit card for everything, paying it off every month.  I travel so much that it is worth it to use the credit card in order to earn airline miles (I use Capital One).

Anyhow, as far as where I am at philosphically with couponing these days, well, to be honest, its a pain.  I *like* saving money on normal every day things, but it becomes a problem when I start being a complete cheapskate and refusing to buy things that I need just because I could get it cheaper if I only had my coupons with me.  Please.  That kind of control is a little over the top.  So, I take a look at Southern Savers and Polka Dot Pantry every week before I go to the grocery, but there certainly have been weeks where I don't plan a trip out (as far as couponing goes) and just try to shop only for what I need, not for any real stocking up.  I don't get to CVS frequently, maybe once every 2 months right now.  I don't go there with my kids because it takes a lot of concentration to get it all right and I'd screw it up if I was distracted. So, that limits the time I can go there. Generally, I 'd rather not give up an after-the-kids-are-in-bed opportunity to hang out with Dave or do something in my sewing room, just to pop out to CVS.

And on the "its a pain" track... it does take me awhile to plan out a grocery trip.  I spend about an hour doing it and generally I am loathe to give up quiet time (aka my 1 year olds' nap time) for that, so I end up doing it while the kids are eating or playing or interrupting me.  Or all of the above.  Some times it takes much longer than it should due to the interruptions.  I don't love getting annoyed with my kids for just being normal.

On the bright side, here are a couple of things I picked up today that were super steals  ::

• Ziplocs -- $2.75 total for both boxes of 100
• Dove Men's Deodorant  --  $.44 each
• Dove Shampoo  -- $1.44
• Whole Wheat Angel Hair Pasta -- $.75 (no coupon, was 50% off, could have paid even less, but couldn't find the coupon in my paper... I probably shouldn't have included it in this photo. Oh well.)
• Frozen spinach and sugar snap peas  --  negative $.21.  That's right, I made 21 cents to take these off of Publix's hands.  

Grand total of $5.61 for all the pictured items.

Here my sweet little Interruptors, Big T and Lil C (those are their hip hop names), during our "Grocery Adventure" this morning   ::

Would love to hear more thoughts on the philosophy of couponing and why you may or may not coupon.

Chronic Problem in the Closet

My house has great storage and closets.  I feel fortunate to have so much storage, especially since my previous home, which was built in the 1880's, had maybe half the amount of closet space.  Currently, I have a little bonus hall closet called "The Craft Closet" when my 5 year old wants to do crafts.  The same closet is called "The Game Closet" when he wants to play games.  Besides the crafts and games, it is home to the vacuum, a fire extinguisher, part of the lego collection, and a bin of balls.  The problem is that it gets hard-core out of control for a number of reasons  ::

• we use it a lot (not a bad thing).
• there is not a designated spot for stuff  (a bad thing).
• its easy to just chuck stuff and close the door (a very bad thing).

Back in December 2010, I sorted through it and did a "light" bit of organizing in there.  I even took photos, but they didn't come out so well, which is why I never posted them.  I am going to post them today, however, because this little organizing job was inadequate and I want to share why.  

Here's a before shot ::

Like I said, out of control.  (Aren't you glad to know that In Decent Order's house isn't always in decent order?! Yep, we're real people, too.)

I took all the craft stuff out, did a slight purge (and btw I was totally not brutal enough) and then neatly stacked all the craft supplies in this box  ::  

However.  To quote the great Flylady, you can't organize clutter.  IT DOESN'T WORK.  When you have too much stuff, it doesn't matter how much shifting of stuff you do, it still will get junked.  To house too many crayons, activity books, aprons, paper, glue, and so on in the same box is merely a temporary solution.  

Also, when it is all in one big box, it is not reasonable to expect that my 5 year old son can handle digging through, finding what he wants, then neatly putting every thing back.  What would be more likely is that he just wouldn't bother doing a craft at all, if its all *that* inaccessible.

For me, it is easy to get rid of many things that I consider clutter in my life, but it is difficult to get rid of things that were gifts or things that seemed really cool or useful to me.  Even if those things have not  proven to be useful, the *potential* is what gets me some times.  Like the craft supplies.  For example, we have loads of activity books, most of which were gifts or I purchased myself.  When I stacked them all up this week (when I decided the closet situation was still not working), the stack was, like, MANY inches tall.  Is my 5 year old really going to go through and do all of these?  Especially when he is busy riding his bike for six hours a day, like he's done this week for spring break?  So, today I sucked it up and put several in the garage sale pile and saved a few goodies for car trips and rainy days.  But, I'll post more on the closet re-re-do later.  I am getting ahead of myself.  

Here's what it looked like after I finished neatening up my craft clutter back in December  ::

It didn't stay that way for long.  Later this week, maybe tomorrow, I will post on the re-re-do and talk about why I think this new situation will work better for our needs.  

Lest One Thinks It was a Joke

I had a lovely post yesterday about my no-food-outside-the-kitchen-and-dining-room rule for my kids.  The post ended with this sweet irony, which happened as I was blogging and ignoring my children ::

My precious toddler decided to unload all our goodies (including the chips half ground into the carpet) that we picked up at the home and garden show that's going on in our city this weekend.  We got lots of cool freebies, although how "free" were they when I paid $7 for us to get in.  Right?!  I also got suckered into buying some cleaner.  Sheesh!  At least I talked the guy down in price.  He got me when he said I could clean everything with it, including my stroller.

The barbeque potato chips now live in my vacuum cleaner's bag.  And the children are currently snacking in the kitchen.

Here's Why Food Stays in the Kitchen or Dining Room

Sorry to be obvious, but I am not sure it is obvious... food should generally be consumed in the kitchen or dining room.  Not sure what happened in my home this morning, but my two monkeys brought pretzel rods into the living room.  Which meant that I had to drag my vacuum out.  This was not on the agenda today.  

Its not a big deal, I mean really, its not.  It only took five minutes to recover from this little mess.  However, when it comes to running my home, there are certain systems that, when followed, make things run more smoothly.  I almost always quickly broom out the kitchen after every meal, so I don't mind if a snack creates a mess in there in between meals.  It will get swept up sooner or later.  

Someone recently asked how I get drink stains out of my carpet.  Um, what?  Only water in sippy cups is allowed outside of the kitchen and dining room.  This just saves that much cleaning down the road and no resident of my home minds this little rule.  

Decent order = food stays in the kitchen and dining room.  

Indecent order = as I type, my toddler just dumped a small bag of barbeque chips on my carpet.  Sweet irony.

Time Off, Lately

Well, I broke a personal blogging rule.... I have been reading a couple of blogs on organizing in the last few days.  I virtually never read them because I prefer to write about my own projects, using my own words and lame jokes, rather than possibly be subconsciously influenced by someone else's work.  Sheesh, but once I started I couldn't stop.  I will have to decide if I continue reading them.  The problem is that the few I checked out were so very helpful.  I got several ideas to implement in the near future.  Like this one on dishware storage so that kids can participate in setting the table and unloading this dishwasher.  I am ON BOARD, brothers and sisters.  I'll be sure to link back to them when those projects are in progress and/or complete.

So, things I'm working on lately... Well, tonight, its this  ::

You may have guessed it.  I'm at Panera, enjoying a dinner alone.  This is part of a new routine that Dave and I implemented a few months ago, which we call My Night Off.  Let's talk about that, shall we?

It is indecent the amount of stress, sickness, pressure, yuck that has gone on in our household in the last year. (BTW, happy horrible anniversary of our basement flood today....ironically, it rained all day today, just like last year, but unlike then, we had flood management systems in place that worked like champs.  Props to my engineering-minded husband and farming-minded dad who made it happen.)

Back to the night off... both my husband and I were sick of feeling out of gas, "on-duty" constantly, and rarely refreshed.  There are a number of things we're doing (and not doing) to address this problem, which includes this weekly night off.  Most often we both end up doing almost identical activities on our separate nights off, like we both saw "The King's Speech" a few weeks ago, just not together.  It has been refreshing to be able to look forward to a breather every week.  It does not replace time off together, like a date night (more on that in a moment), but it is so good for both of us individually.  Dave is an introvert and really just wants to be left alone sometimes.  I am an extrovert (with a few introvert qualities), but I just want to have a treat and do what I want for a couple of hours.  I usually am alone, though would love to have a Night Off buddy now and then to hit the movies or TJ Maxx with.  Still, I am perfectly content telling a server at a restaurant that I need a table for one.  Ahhhhh, no food to cut, no whining, no crumbs all over the floor.  I usually take a book and feel like I am indulging.

Before Panera, I hit Target tonight and picked this dress up for $10 ... talk about a TREAT.  I felt like Stacey and Clinton were right there with me, cheering me on for finding the right dress for my shape. And Birmingham Bargain Mom was there, cheering me on for the dealio.  ::

A word on the date night thing....more like a paragraph, sorry.  We have lived in our current home in the Deep South for almost 2 years.  I know, that probably sounds like a long time to most of you.  But, for me, for us, it seems to always take us about 2 years to  feel like we belong somewhere.  It is hard to get to know people in a new culture, and for the first many months that we were here, I was pregnant and miserable, my son was not in school yet and both of those things kept us a little isolated.  It is so much better now and we are making friends, finding fun things to do and what not.  But, that leads me to the date night point.  We reh-hilly  need to do that more often.  We probably get time off together once every 6 months or so, usually when Grandparents are in town, or if I make a big effort to get a babysitter.  We finally have developed a couple of relationships with babysitters and I have no excuse to not set up at least a monthly date with Dave.  We are always so giddy when it happens, so why not do it more often than twice a year?!  

This really is about Decent Order in my home because when the grown ups are out of gas, no matter how neat and orderly everything is, ain't nobody happy.  A friend of mine recently said to me, basically, suck it up, Tara, get a babysitter and attend to your marriage.  *That's* Decent.

Anyone have any Time Off stories to tell?  Do you need regular time off for yourself at all?  I dare say, I don't know anyone who doesn't need a break or a treat now and then.

Book It

Today I am tidying up my house for some company.  A group of friends is coming over and in honor of my birthday, we are having a serious Pictionary Smack Down.  I am dying, I can't wait.  During my cleaning, I did a little bit of tweaking of objects around the house and decided to make a little "places I've lived" display using books from my library.  I stacked them on a table in my dining room...I never know how to decorate this particular table, so it changes often.  Anyhow, the new askew book stack makes for kind of an interesting, if not slightly messy, conversational piece.  It is some purposeful indecent order, because my house is already full of squares and hard angles (I love modern design, which is full of 90 degree angles), so I feel like I have to be intentional about introducing shapes that are a little softer.  Its hard to make books look soft, but whatever, I just decided not to make a perfectly straight stack.  And my little brass turtle bell tops it off with some roundness.  So, there ya go, happy birthday to moi!

 

[And, in case you're curious, here's the rest of the table.  Its not the best little tablescape I've ever seen, but it certainly speaks to who we are, things we like, and so on.  Get the theme on the little silver tray?  Its a brass lantern (I think it was Dave's grandpa's), a vintage flashlight, and a candle.  (Hint  ::  its stuff that makes light!  Ha. )  And a super sweet Nancy Noble photo in a new frame from Nadeau (thanks to Groupon!).]