For Girls' Eyes Only

Hello ladies. Today I want to talk to you about breast pumps. If you aren't interested in breast milk and don't want to hear how I think I broke a world record in milk production today, then you can scroll down and read about a blanket binding I sewed yesterday.

I heart my Lansinoh double electric breast pump. If you're in the market for one, this one's the one to buy. My son won't latch on to the breast, so I have to pump the milk and feed him in a bottle. I really don't mind because that means my husband can partake in some of the middle-of-the-night goodness. I just jab him in the ribs, tell him it's his turn about three times, and voila, he's up and at 'em.

Today I slept in a little later than normal. I didn't get up until 8-something, and I hadn't pumped since 10:30 PM. About 11 hours of not emptying the breast is not a good thing. They felt like bricks. I think I could have broken a window with them. I couldn't pump right away either because Joel was hungry and crying, so I had to feed him first. Then I realized the pump parts had been rinsed last night but not washed thoroughly. By the time I started pumping, it was 9:05. In twenty minutes, I had pumped 12 ounces. 12 ounces in twenty minutes has to be some kind of world record, people. And that's not even taking advantage of the fact that I have a double breast pump. I broke a part the other day so I can only use one flange, so I can only pump one breast at a time.

Speaking of broken parts... I got on their website, and the part I broke was 90 cents. I about fell out of my chair with disbelief. But don't worry; they made up for it in shipping and handling. They wanted over 7 bucks to ship something just a little bigger than a quarter. I decided to buy several extra parts for the pump just in case I break or lose something else. I ended up buying five bucks worth of parts, and the shipping stayed the same.

Just in case you're totally enthralled with breast pumping and would like to see graphs on my progress, you're in luck. (Yes, I am one of those moms). Below is how much I have pumped each day for about the past month. Each color represents a pumping session. You can see that lately, I usually have pumped only four times a day. I figure if I am getting the right amount of milk in just four pumping sessions, why pump more?



The other graph is how many ounces my son eats in a day (what's going on with that sixteenth day?). During the first month of his life (not shown), I had to give him more formula, however as you can see, he barely needs to eat formula at all now. I am still using the free sample cans, though I am on the third and final one. (Luckily my sister-in-law gave me two, and my hospital gave me one so I have plenty).


Ok, as promised for those of you who just want to read about sewing... another blanket binding project. My mom kept all my thirty-year-old blankets, however they were in sorry shape. She gave me four big boxes of my and my brother's baby stuff when she found out we were pregnant, but alot of it needed a facelift, like this striped blanket below.

I didn't know that they actually sell blanket binding already made until about a month ago when I thrifted a bag of vintage sewing stuff, and several packages of it was inside. Woot, woot! That made it a heck of a lot easier, and it turned out so much better than the one I did a few months back.

Here's some of the blanket bindings I got in that thrifted bag o' goodies.

The finished product.

Bunny Ears and Lots of Tears

Today I decided to make Joel some bunny ears. Yes, Easter was two days ago. That's the story of my life, folks. Two days late and a dollar short.

They were really easy to sew since I used felt. Not just any felt... felt I already had lying around the house! Another craft project to use up the stash. Yay :)

I used a hat that fits him as a template, but I made it a little larger since the felt doesn't have as much give as his hat. When assembling the ears, I used pipe cleaners inside so that the ears would be positionable. As it turns out, they were pretty heavy and would not have held up on their own. That was okay though since he was laying down for his photo shoot.

Why does my mom torture me so?

No self respecting two month old should be caught dead in a bunny suit...

How to Make a Child Leash

Happy Easter everyone! (All three of you!) This weekend we're up at my parents' place, hanging out and watching the same exact Mecum Car Auction show that we watched last night. As I have several built-in-baby-holders for a couple of days, I should be able to get online in peace for awhile.



So I was online trying to find some blogs about sewing a child's toolbelt (yay, I have thrifted almost all the kids tool toys I need!), when I ran across a tutorial on how to make a child leash. Hmmm. I'm not sure I feel about this one. Joel's not mobile yet so maybe my tune will change next year, however it just doesn't feel right to me. Although on the other hand, I do have the tendency to want to call him "Licorice" (my deceased pet rabbit's name). I also keep catching myself almost saying things like, "Not now, Joel. You just ate; now it's the humans' turn to eat. Mommy and Daddy are hungry too!" (as if he isn't human). I think Joel is going to grow up and have a complex.

So what do you think about toddler leashes? Yay or Nay? Do you think it would be a good idea to get a bunch of ladies together and pump a bunch of these out? You know how there's knitting and quilting groups to make little hats and blankets to send to people in need? Well I could start a group of lady-leash-makers, and we could pass them to out to mommies in need. You know the type, right? They let their kids run wild, terrorizing grocery store shoppers.

Um, maybe we better not.

Back in the Saddle, err the Sewing Machine

I actually got a chance to sew today! No, the grouting isn't finished (though it is close, and we'll finish it tonight). Instead of grouting this afternoon, I decided to make a poodle skirt for my friend's upcoming 1950s-themed bridal shower.



It was really easy! And the best part is, I didn't buy a thing for this project. That's right folks, you should be very proud of me. I used things already in my stash! The purple felt was free several years ago from a friend. The elastic was from an old pair of shorts that had long since been scrapped (but of course the packrat in me cut off the elastic and kept it). The white felt was from an after-Christmas clearance sale from Michaels. I've had the glitter for years and years; it was attached with Elmer's spray adhesive from the closet. The buttons were in one of my several mason jars of vintage buttons, and the ribbon was already in my ribbon bag. And last but not least... the fuzzy "fur" was thrifted several years ago. Can you guess what it really is?

It's okay. Go ahead and guess. I'll wait.

*Twiddles thumbs and whistles the Jeopardy theme*

Give up?

It's actually faux spider webbing for Halloween! I bought several bags of it for a quarter each to use as stuffing for pillows, softies, etc.

Here's a close-up of my furry friend. She's glued on with hot glue. Have I mentioned before that I *heart* my glue gun?



The only thing that isn't on the skirt that I would like to add is the leash. I would like to use some sequinny ribbon, but I don' t have any. If I were to buy some, then I can't say that the skirt was made entirely from things I already have, so I probably will just leave it as is. Oh well. I'm pretty pleased with it anyway!

The Most Awesome Cake Ever

Isn't this the most awesome cake you've ever seen?



Yes, it's really a cake! You can visit parenting.com to see how to make it. Basically, you take a cake and cut it to fit the burger basket. After you ice it, you top it with the yummy french fries! Well they're not really fries; they're toasted slices of pound cake with a side of red icing. This cake is going to be sweet for my friend's wedding shower in a couple weeks. I'm throwing her a fifties themed shower, and I already had purchased 14 of those burger baskets. We'll be having good old fashioned hamburgers, fries, and malt shakes. Mmm! A heart attack on a platter.

Ok, enough blogging. Grout is calling my name. Ugh.

Must. Finish. Grouting. Soon.

Still Spring Cleaning

Yep, I'm still at it. I don't think the bathroom will ever get done. I'm now working on regrouting the tiles on the walls around the bathtub. It's looking pretty good but I get bored easily and keep taking breaks, so it's not going very fast. My goal is to have it done by Friday. We'll be out of town from Saturday until Monday night, so it can dry while we're away. Tuesday then we should be able to shower at home again for the first time in over two weeks!

I'm also scrubbing the grout between the tiles on the floor to make it white again. It's amazing how dark they had become and I hadn't even noticed. Up against the new white though, the dingy grey really sticks out bad!!

In the kitchen, I've got a crock pot full of venison stew cooking. My coworker's boyfriend had hunted and killed a deer, and since my hubby loves it, she gave me two steaks. I've never cooked deer meat before, so hopefully it turns out good. I figure you can't really go wrong with the crock pot. It makes the toughest cuts of meat nice and tender!

I've also started saving all my hubby's coffee grounds, and all my egg shells for the garden. I absolutely hate gardening, however to save money I just might give it a try this year. Even if I don't actually plant anything, I figure I can save these coffee grounds from going to the landfill by putting them in our soil.

The only other thing going on today was finishing up our taxes. We're getting back a few thousand, so I'm pretty happy about that. We need all the padding in the bank account we can get since my job is still up in the air for next year.

The only sewing I've done lately was to trim down the sides of Joel's Easter sleeper. I had thrifted one for him before he was even born, but it's a size 3-6 months. From what my mom had said about me as a baby, I figured he'd fit into that size at 2 months. I was wrong. It wasn't a big deal to make it a little thinner, although the arms are a little long on him. Here he is wearing it:

Spring Cleaning Bonanza

Thank you to those of you who have checked in on me, to make sure I’m still out there! Sorry this blog has been abandoned this past week and a half. Things have been very busy in my household. The spring cleaning frenzy has set in. Spring cleaning does not really equal interesting blogging, so consider yourself warned!

It all started when I decided to clean out the hall closet. We had way too many towels and sheets jammed into such a small space… some things had to go. Next I reorganized the gift wrapping station in the laundry room. I like to buy gifts year-round when I see something (cheap) that reminds me of someone. It was overrun with presents, gift bags saved from previous presents, and tissue paper (yes, I save that too!). I’m glad to say that the chaos has been reined in. Speaking of gifts, I have done a little thrifting lately in my spare time (though there hasn’t been much of it!) The other day I found an OSU soft baseball and bat, still new in the packaging for five bucks. It was a little more than I normally like to spend at a thrift store, however I’m sure it still would have cost way more new. I’ve also found a little toy drill and jigsaw for fifty cents each. That got the brain ticking… I am going to sew my son a little tool belt whenever I finish finding some more play tools. That way I can tailor the tool belt pockets to the exact size of the tools. I think it will make a good toddler gift. I have a few years to get it done :)

Next up: the bathtub. I had Bathfitters come out last year to give us an estimate to put a shell over our existing bathtub… they wanted over $6000.

I just about fell out of my chair.

For that much money, I would expect to have a whirlpool tub! Needless to say, we passed. But we still have to do something because the grout has gotten really nasty. In our free time we’ve been removing the old grout and caulk so that we can put in new. As we only have one shower in the house, this means that we have to drive to Jason’s parents’ house to shower every evening after he gets home for work. Since we’re gone each night from about 6 until 10, that alone has seriously cut into my blogging time.

Last but not least, as if refinishing the grout and caulk wasn’t enough crap to deal with this week, three days ago we had an ant infestation in the kitchen. Great. Just what we needed. I couldn’t kill them at first. I tried to scoop them up on napkins to take them outside. That lasted for about the first three ants. Then I started killing them while apologizing to them. But by about the sixth or seventh ant, you could have called me the ANTi-Christ. I think I killed about fifty that first day. Then it hit me…. A long time ago corn syrup spilled in the kitchen cupboards and hardened. It was impossible to get off; it was as hard as glass. That’s the cupboard the ants were attracted to, so obviously I had to find a way to get the corn syrup up. I emptied the cabinet and tried prying it up with a screwdriver and hammer. That didn’t work. Eventually I figured out that pounding it with a hammer and turning it into dust did the trick. It was slow going, but at least I got it to come off. Jason also did some bug spraying; we didn’t see a single ant yesterday!

Then to top it off, I got my official RIF (reduction in force) letter in the mail the other day. The board of education approved over one hundred layoffs, and I am one of them. Music K-6 is being eliminated if the levy fails. So besides the fact that I have been busy cleaning and reorganizing, I really just have not been in a very bloggy mood. Please bear with me; I should be back to my old sewing/crafty self soon!

A No-Cost Wedding

Ok, so it won't really be no cost since my sister-in-law bought the bride a white sundress at Old Navy, however it will be pretty darn close to it. My husband's cousin is getting married with pretty much no money to spend on it, so we're pitching in to make it practically free.

I'm putting my sewing talents to work by sewing a short birdcage veil (hopefully) and a bouquet with things I already had in my stash. I'm not sure if she will like the bouquet so I may have just wasted several hours on it. I'm not sure if I like it myself. It's not quite done, so maybe I'll like it once it's finished. I still have to put in some filler flowers and/or some greenery. Still trying to decide just how to do that. I think I might take some tulle fabric and place little tufts of it in the bouquet. If it isn't a big hit with the bride, I can always give the bouquet to a little girl in our family. She can play dress up with it.




Yep, pink and purple. That's what the bride requested.

I used this tutorial over at Lettie's blog, Polka Dot Pineapple. She is very crafty, so check her out! I changed a few things: I didn't want the center of the flower as big as Lettie's because I am not planning on using these flowers as pincushions. I made the petals 2 3/4 inches, and the center of the flower only 2 inches. Also, since these flowers were going into a bouquet, they needed stems. I used pipecleaners, curled the end, inserted it into the center of the flower, and held it in place with hot glue. Unfortunately, I only had red pipecleaners... not so good for a stem color. I wrapped each stem with green florist's tape. I will then wrap a pretty ribbon around all the stems to complete the bouquet. Maybe I'll get that done this week. Maybe not. I'm so bad at finishing projects.

I promise to throw a Green Bridal Shower

Howdy folks. I've been reading this blog, and I must admit that I am feeling pretty bad about myself right now. I am such a consumer hog. I could do such a better job at reducing the amount of trash I create if I just tried a little harder.

The wonderful people at cleanbin.wordpress.com make their own laundry soap, pasta sauce and pasta (tried it before but it's so time consuming... I even own the pasta maker attachment for my kitchenaid mixer but it makes such a mess and takes forever), and practically anything else that you could think of so that they don't have to buy it with all the packaging that comes with it.

I've done some things in this department, but I must admit that I could do so much more. I've sewn bag after bag to take with me to Aldi's when I go grocery shopping, however I need to do a better job of bringing them with me to other stores too. If I just have a couple things, I always tell the clerk I don't want a bag, but if I brought my own bags with me wherever I went, I would feel better. Yes, I recycle the bags that don't end up as wastebin liners but still, I feel bad.

The cleanbin people don't buy store-bought cakes because of the plastic packaging and were saddened when someone brought them one. I'm sure they don't even buy cake mixes because that comes with packaging too. Get this: they even take reusable containers with them when they go out to eat (which they don't do often anyway) so they don't get their Whopper or Big Mac wrapped in plastic which would be promptly thrown out anyway.

I'm feeling the major guilt: we stopped at McDonalds last night when we were on the road, still over an hour from home and dead tired. If I was going to stay awake I needed some caffeine, so I got a McCafe latte and a McChicken sandwich. Trash, trash, trash. At least what the hubby got was recycled (an energy drink in a can from a gas station). I wish I had thought ahead and we could have brought our thermoses (is that the plural form of thermos?) and made some coffee at my grandma's before we left. That would have been a heck of a lot cheaper too.

I did, however, buy reusable plastic spoons and forks for our wedding shower instead of my maid-of-honor buying the throw away kind. I wrote a cute little poem that went along with them so people would know not to throw them away.


But then I think about all the stuff that we did throw away, and I am sickened. The cake came in a throw-away container, as did the big Subway subs. Many of the decorations were one-time-use only, such as the balloons, tablecloths, and the kissy-lips tablerunners (which was actually a thrifted wallpaper border).

I am throwing my friend, T-2, a shower next month, so right here, right now, I am announcing to the world that I will make her shower green. I will dig out those reusable forks and spoons. We'll use real glasses instead of styrofoam. (We'll be using my collection of Coke glasses since this is going to be a fifties themed party). I already bought reusable fifties-styled burger baskets for our burgers and fries, so hasta la vista paper products! I will most likely have to use paper napkins though, to line the burger baskets. *sigh*

The decorations will be reusable. I am going to get some thrifted records and make record bowls with them. My friend, T-3, already made two which she gave me. One can hold the cards. Another can hold the games. If I make a few more, they can hold things such as chips, candy, etc. as long as I clean them very, very well. I'm also planning on having us watch the old fifties version of "The Father of the Bride," and I can use those red and white reusable popcorn containers that my nephew gave us for Christmas.

I could make another bunting (T-3 really thinks I should) using material I already have. I think it would be cool to make one that looks like records, but I don't think I already have any suitable black fabric that would do the job.

I probably won't buy a cake, as she is having two other showers where I'm sure there will be cakes. We can do ice cream malts instead for our dessert, in true fifties fashion. Of course, those will be in glasses that I already own, so no plastic there.

Now for the gifts: I can't really tell people not to wrap her gifts in wrapping paper because it's bad for the environment. Oh well. At least I know I'll be using a reusable gift bag.

If you have any other ideas on how to make her shower greener, please let me know!

Wearing o' the Green, Scarlet, and Gray

Happy St. Patty's Day (there's ten minutes left until March 18... I barely got this post in on time!)

So did you wear your green today? Here's my fam toting our glorious green garments:


I should have sewed something green today, but I ran across an OSU towel at a thrift store for 59c, and you guessed it, it's becoming a toddler bib. I'm on a roll with these towel bibs. They're so quick and easy to make. I'm a lazy sewer. I like short projects that I can get done in under an hour. It's something about the instant gratification...

Below is the bib all finished minus the trim. The gray fabric was a polo shirt of my hubby's that made it to my fabric pile. Thank goodness for pit stains! I get lots of shirts that way :) The fabric on the back was a thrifted skirt awhile back. I love polka dots. They make me happy.





And once again, I can't decide which trim to use so I'll put it to a vote. My husband voted for the white rick rack, but I don't think I like that one. I think I like the red polka dot ribbon the best.

All the trims... aren't they purdy? I like the packaging for the black rick-rack-esque stuff. Below are the four options. Leave me a comment and let me know which one looks the best.

Beep, Beep! Don't be an Idiot

You know how they have those cars that give you a warning if you're about to back into something? I wish my sewing machine had that. That would save so much time and hassle, don't you think?

For example, "Beep! Beep! The fabrics are not right sides together!"
Or, "Beep! Beep! You're sewing that pocket on upside down!"

It would also be helpful when out thrifting little boys clothes. I kept picking up pants that T-3 was telling me actually were for girls. Um, T-3, you forgot to mention that ruffles are for girls!


Oh well, they were 60c, and with a little seam ripping and re-sewing, they'll be fine! But if I had my own Idiot Warning Device, this could have been avoided. "Beep! Beep! See the ruffles, stupid?"

Something smells fishy

After a thorough search, I think I’ve found where that fish smell is emanating from. I found some leftover fish scraps in the dining room.

No, not that kind of fish scraps! Leftover scraps of fabric from a little fish bib I sewed today!

Does anyone have any ideas what I can do with these fishy scraps? I thought I could sew them together into a small (teeny, tiny) pillow although I really don't need any more softies in this house. Joel's room already looks like a stuffed animal factory vomited all over the place.

Here's the finished bib. It started out as a thrifted towel. I was able to make both the front and back sides from the towel; no additional fabric was necessary. The end product is kind of wonky because of the particular stitch that I used when topstitching. Live and learn, I guess! At least I got to experiment with a new stitch on my sewing machine :)

Sunday Stash & Saving Some Cash

I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’ve been on a rhyming thing lately. Please excuse any corny poetry that may happen to come your way.

So yesterday was a big day. T-3 and I went out to Gap and Old Navy for “Friends and Family” day, and we each spent a whopping $1.50. I bought a Christmas onesie for Joel. She bought some undies. (Maybe she didn’t want me to announce that?)

Then we went to a thrift store in the ghetto. I guess the best thrift stores are in the ghetto because they had some killer prices on baby clothes. Not-so-much on some of the other things though. Like, get this, men’s ties were going for about four dollars. They must have been smoking crack to think someone is going to shell out four big ones for a used tie (Yes, George Washingtons are “big ones” in my book).

I got eleven items of clothing for Joel for under $6.05 plus tax. I won’t bother you with more pictures because, really, once you see some baby boy clothes, you’ve seen them all. I did get a really cute Brutus Buckeye onesie and a Cleveland Browns turtleneck onesie that I should have photographed but didn’t. Village Discount Outlet, the thrift store we visited today, is my new fav. Yes, it may be in the ‘hood. Yes, I’ll probably get lost trying to find it again. Yes, I was just a bit afraid for my life. And yes, the second we walked in the door, some woman was screaming and cussing up a storm because someone stole her purse, but their prices were so cheap. I told my husband, “I know I’ve hit rock bottom when I pass on pieces of clothes for ninety cents because I think I could do better.” Seriously. There were some things I put back that were under a dollar because I thought they were too expensive. I mean, compared with the long sleeve shirt I got Joel that was only twenty cents, can you blame me?

Here’s two photos. First up, some thank you’s for Joel’s first birthday (90c) and another t-shirt (25c) that’s going to become kiddie-pants. I found them at the thrift store when out with my husband.


Yep, we went to three thrift stores together. I have never been so in love with the man. At the High Street Salvation Army, all winter clothes were 75% off, as were all pink tags (the above t-shirt was a pink-tagged item). I didn’t even look for wool sweaters because I know once I started, I wouldn’t be able to stop. He was showing signs of boredom, although I’ll give him credit, he doesn’t whine or complain or drag me out by the hair. I just might have to go back tomorrow though because I really want to find some wool for felting.


And now, this week’s puny little Sunday stash: two items I thrifted today (99c for the polka dots, and 15c for the surf-board-looking one The latter was 75% off. Sweet!). I certainly don’t need to keep adding to my stash, however isn’t that what all sewers do? It’s a sickness really. Use what you have?! *scoffs*


Speaking of sickness and fabrics, did you know that there is an actual phobia of fabrics? Textophobia is “An abnormal, persistent fear of some textiles/fabrics.” Textophobia sounds more like a fear of high school students using their cell phones to write messages to their friends while in class, at the mall, and driving their cars.

But truly, I think I have textophobia. I am fearful of some fabrics, aren’t you? Isn’t there just some fabrics that you hate to sew? You find them downright scary? You have nightmares about their slipperiness or their thickness? You hate to spend money on them because you know when you get it under the needle, you’re just going to screw up royally and either waste money, or waste time while you rip out seam after seam, or both. No? Oh, it must just be me then.

Poop on Ann Arbor

Joel slept the day away today, allowing me to actually get some sewing done. Yay! I whipped out Wednesday’s thrifted t-shirts faster than you can say, “Poop on Ann Arbor.”
No offense to any Michigan fans out there. You know I’m just kidding.

(Well, I’m half kidding).

(Okay, I’m not really kidding at all).

So I mostly finished a total of six pairs of kiddie pants today. I say “mostly” because I didn’t want to do the elastic or hem the bottoms until he’s ready to wear them so I can make sure I get a good fit. That and I hate working with elastic, so I’m putting it off for about a year.

First up: the map pants. You can see this was a well-loved t-shirt in its former life by the amount of wear and tear it’s received. You can barely even make out the license plate that says “GR8 ST8.” I cut that out and put it in the trash. It was pretty nasty.


Upon closer inspection of the shirt, I discovered this:



What were they thinking? I really wanted to use this part of the map for the seat of the pants, however it just wouldn’t work. That’s too bad, because then he really could have pooped on Ann Arbor.

Here’s the finished product along with a pair of Buckeyes pants to cleanse my palate from that bad Ann Arbor aftertaste:




I’m tempted to stand up and sing a round of one of my favorite hating-on-the-state-up-north tunes. “We don’t give a damn about the whole state of Michigan, the whole state of Michigan, the whole state of Michigan. We don’t give a damn about the whole state of Michigan, ‘cause we’re from Ohio. We’re from Ohio! OH! We’re from Ohio! IO!”

Anyway…. A few more cute pairs of pants:




And last but not least, a pair of Valentines pants that were originally a pair of napkins. They’re kind of girlie, however he was a February 14th baby.


I know lots of people have done tutorials on this subject and another one really isn't warranted, but I did snap a few mid-completion photos for you. The first shows off my designer pattern. Nothing says kiddie pants like a cut-out ad for Papa Johns Pizza and a Pet Extravaganza.



If you go to this tutorial for the pants, you can see how she started with a t-shirt that had the picture on the bottom right of the t-shirt. I don't know about you, but all the t-shirts I have have the design just below the neck, front and center. If you're lucky enough to have the design at the bottom of your shirt, then you can do as they recommend and use the bottom of the t-shirt for the hem of the pants. If you're unlucky like me, then you will have to move the pattern to the top of the shirt, center the design on either the left or right side of your pattern, and then do the hem of the pants yourself.

The previous photo shows you where to place the pattern for the easy method. I forgot to photograph the more difficult method. The good news is, even if you have to do the difficult method for one of the two pattern pieces, you can probably do the easy method for the other as long as it is just plain with no design. And by the way, "the more difficult method" still is not difficult. It just entails doing one more step since you have to hem the bottoms.

Here's what you get once it's cut out. I've highlighted the crotch areas in pink. That is where you will sew first. After you've sewed those two lines, you'll turn it so the crotch is in the middle, and voila, you have legs like you see in the last photo.


If you know your colors, you can sew kiddie pants like these! Pink was first. Then do the yellow, creating the legs. Next, sew a casing for the elastic to go through where the blue line is, making sure to leave an opening for the elastic. Finally, hem where the green lines are, unless of course, you are one of the lucky ones!

My Knight in Shining, Second-Hand Armor

Thank goodness for Salvation Army’s half-off-all-clothes-except-the-blue-tags day! I went to two SA’s, and the first one (which was a little further out) definitely had some good deals. Most of the men’s tee-shirts were originally 99c, and a couple actually were only 49c, so with the half-off on top of that… well you can do the math!

They also had very good prices on baby clothes. Most of the places around here want a buck to three bucks per article of baby clothes. Come on. Baby clothes use about 10% of the fabric that adult clothes use, so why in the world are they priced so high?

That’s what I never got about bikini swimsuits. They use up, what, like 1/4 of a yard of fabric, yet they command such high prices?!

Anyway, at the first Salvation Army I went to, the baby clothes were mostly 69c – 99c, plus half off on top of it. Cha-ching! Unfortunately, the pricers at the second Salvation Army suffer from greediness and had their clothes priced more like $1.99 or $2.99. We walked out of that one with nothing. (The fact that my son was screaming had something to do with that though. Luckily, the other customers thought he was cute and did not give me evil stares of death).

Today is the final installment of the thrifty three-part-series from Wednesday. Today we will focus on everything that is left, which is the baby stuff. If you don’t give a hoot about babies, you can close your browser now. Fair warning.

The most interesting thing in this shot is the 99c bedskirt (although it might be a tie with “The Flea’s Sneeze,” a story about a flea who passes his illness around the barnyard). Normally on the tag I can find the size of mattress it fits, but this one didn’t say. It looked to me like a crib sized bedskirt. If not, I think I can sew it to make it work. Joel’s crib is one of those convertible ones that will turn into a toddler bed, so he’ll still need a crib sized bedskirt for his Wild West Cowboy room. I like that this one is two shades of blue with red gingham. The walls in the spare bedroom (which will be his toddler bedroom) are red and beige, so it should go well in there.

Lotsa clothes! Won’t it be fun to dress up little Joel in this suit? I’ll take lots of pictures, I promise.

Here’s a brand-new-in-the-box Monkey mirror for the car, a fish towel (59c) which I am going to make into a toddler bib, modeled after the NY Rangers Bib I did a few weeks ago; a boppy cover (99c), and two 11x17 mats (99c).

And last but not least, a shield which is meant to hang on the wall but will instead be a toy for Joel. I’ll have to take off the picture hanger on the back and add a drawer pull for his hand to hold on to, and then sew him something with this fabric (from a few weeks ago). Then my little man, toting thrift store finds, will feel like a knight in shining armor!

Three Cents on the Altar

My husband thinks I’m a cheapskate. He told me yesterday that on the way home from work, they were talking about cheapskates on the radio. He said he almost called in to tell them about me and my hotel soaps. (I blogged a couple months ago about how I ground up all those little soaps from hotels, added water, and ended up with several containers of hand soap). That’s not being a cheapskate, right? Okay, maybe just a little.

I think this guy has me beat, though: a caller explained how his buddy loves to pick up coins (who doesn’t?!). While in the middle of his wedding ceremony , he spied three pennies on the altar. Apparently, he eyeballed them throughout the entire ceremony, and then afterwards, went back and picked them up! Yes, and his buddy got the whole thing on camera. It just wouldn’t be a wedding without some kind of debacle, now would it? I can just imagine the conversation that ensued between the newlyweds.

Husband: Honey, did you see those three cents sitting on the altar?! I totally scored!
Wife: OMG. Tell me you didn’t.
Husband: Lookie here. One’s from 2007, 2002, and this one here’s a wheat penny! Can you believe my good fortune?!
Wife: I want an annulment.

Of course, maybe the wife is a cheap skate too, in which case the conversation may have went something like this:

Wife: You went back for those three cents, right?
Husband: Yeah, I've got them right here. Two for you, one for me.
Wife: I'm feeling so turned on right now! Let's skip the reception and head straight up to our honeymoon suite!
Husband: Woohoo!

So could you pick up and keep money you found on the altar at church? I’m cheap, and I love to find money, however I just couldn’t do it. I can’t think of too many places where I’d skip it and leave it, but that is definitely one of them. The bathroom floor of a public place- that would have to be another one. I probably wouldn’t pick up coins from the floor of a thrift store either, at least not the ones around here. They’re pretty gross.

What a perfect segue into my next topic: yesterday’s thrifty finds, part deux. Today we’ll focus on the vintage finds. (Yay, my favorite!)


Here are my pretty red finds. I have a collection of rolling pins with pretty painted handles, and the ones with red handles are my favorite! I scored this one for just two bucks :) The tablecloth was a little more than I wanted to spend ($3), however I just couldn't leave it there since 1) it has roses on it, and 2) my dining room is red, and it will look smashing on our table. The other finds aren't vintage, however since they were red, I added them to the photo.


All my vintage sewing stuff that I got for a buck. It was worth it for the elastic alone, since I need elastic to make the baby pants (see yesterday's post).

I can't believe there's red rick rack in there. I was just saying the other day that I wanted red rick rack to finish off my NY Rangers bib, but since I didn't have any, I just went with something that I already had in my stash. Grrr. If this had just come a few weeks sooner...



Interesting. I'll have to check this little toy out. It says it makes sewing fun. Isn't sewing fun already?! Now a seam ripper that makes seam ripping fun, that would be something I'd be interested in. Maybe I should invent one and become very rich.


Don't you just hate those pesky zipper snags? Well do I have the product for you. And it was originally only 29c. Wow. Those were the good ole days.