At 16 weeks my belly is starting to get a bit large and once comfortable pants are decidedly uncomfortable.  I finally broke down and purchased a couple pairs of maternity jeans and must admit they look great … at least they would look great if they were made for the under 5′ 9″ crowd.  Apparently, petite women don’t have babies at least as far as the fashion world is concerned.  Anyway, I took the jeans to be hemmed but then there was this ice storm and other things happened and over a week later I have yet to actually wear my purchase. 

If you are like most women you will understand that my wardrobe does not contain a single size of anything.  It contains instead a wide variety of sizes intended to accommodate diets, un-diets and the phases of the moon.  Because of this, I didn’t get desperate all at once.  Instead my choices narrowed over time until finally only a lone pair of slightly stretchy pants remained.  It was the thought of choosing between hubby’s gray sweats or wearing brown corduroy for the 4th day in a row that led to this epiphany.

One pair of Hane’s boxer briefs plus one pair of past their prime jeans and voila!  Twenty minutes later – maternity pants on the cheap.  They won’t win any contests but they’re comfortable and should last until I’m back to my normal size(s) again.

I’m sure your wondering why someone who can obviously sew when necessary took her jeans to be hemmed in the first place.  …. Yeah, me too.

Categories: crafty stuff | 8 Comments »

To be fair this was midway through our bedroom rearrangement (That story coming soon.) so there were a number of items that got dumped here for lack of a better place.  Also, I am aware that the pictures on the wall are not artfully arranged.  In fact they were not really arranged at all.  They were hung there for safety’s sake.  I have tried storing pictures using various stacking methods and leaning against the wall methods and packing away methods but every method was either too labor intensive or left my frames scratched/dinged in some way.  Now I hang my art on a single wall until each piece finds it’s proper home.

Ahh, that’s better.  See the shelves?!  Hubby hung those for me so I could collect all my crafty supplies from their scattered locations into one place.  I also have supplies stored in the 3 Sterilite containers.

I love these because the clear drawers make it easy to find what you need.  I also like that they roll and when moving time comes none of these supplies will have to be repacked.  I just tape the drawers shut and roll the unit into the moving van.

Here’s the view from where Brother was sitting (above).  I knew I wanted as much working surface as possible and I had three folding tables but three tables (four if you count the kid’s computer desk) in such a small space wasn’t working until we tried varying the heights.  The big white table is at counter height and makes a great layout space and cutting surface.  The blue table is desk height perfect for all sorts of general work and the sewing table is slightly shorter which works for Sister who wants to learn how to sew and I can always move the machine up to the blue table if I have a big project to do.

This configuration also left room for the kid’s computer in the corner.  (Yes, my children have their very own computer and this is their homepage.  Impressive, eh?  I made it myself. )

A metal magazine rack my parents picked up at a garage sale several years ago works great for keeping paper and cardstock sorted.

And this handy wrapping paper rack, which I found at Lowe’s after I’d already taken the other pictures, is really designed to hold plastic wrap and such on a cabinet door.

To complete the ensemble I re-labeled ev-er-y-thing using this cutie font from here (Thanks Julie for the tip.)  My hubby laughed out loud when I told him to “check out the labels” and my sister mocked me openly but I know that you, internets, will understand the need for this bit of crafty icing.  It had to be done.

Categories: crafty stuff | 4 Comments »