Before and After: Sport Coat to Tote Bag Refashion

We bought a sport coat for Phil to wear with his Halloween costume. Even though I found it at a thrift store it was still $10, which seemed a little expensive to me, but we needed it so I paid the price. Once Halloween was over and I started putting things away I wondered what we would do with it. I hated to just send it back to the thrift store since I didn't feel I had quite gotten my whole $10 back, so I started thinking of things I might be able to use it for. The coat itself, although it was too big for Phil and not really his style, was made of 100% wool with a nice lining and was still in really good shape, so I decided to turn it into a tote bag.

Before:

This is the first time I have ever sewn a bag, let alone one made out of an old coat and leather (I wasn't sure if my machine could handle it but is sewed right through that leather like it was butter)! It took a bit of trial and error figuring out the size of everything so that it the finished product was half decent, but I love how it turned out and think its a fun accessory for fall and winter. I especially love the lining, which of course came from the original coat lining and still has all of the original jacket pockets.

After:

I am hoping to post a full tutorial soon, but there are A LOT of steps for this one so its taking me a while to write it all out. For now, I hope it just inspires you to think twice before you fill up that goodwill bag and repurpose your old things!

Money Wise: The Credit Card

Note: I originally wrote this and other posts about our finances on a personal blog but have decided to share them here. The original publishing date is shown below.  

4/21/14

Like so many, Phil and I have had our share of credit cards. I got my first card when I was 18 and getting ready to go to college. It was a Capital One card with something like a $300 credit limit. My mom, who like the majority of us believed the myth that we all need a credit card to build our credit, allowed me to apply for it. Don't get me wrong, my mom did nothing wrong here, she didn't know any better and neither did I. We have all been ingrained with the idea that we need a credit score to do anything; it's only recently that my mom and I both have learned that that is not true. My mom did have the wisdom, however, to teach me to use my credit card carefully. I used it only a couple times a month to buy gas and groceries and then always paid it off in full.

Later, when Phil and I got married, we opened a joint checking and savings account with Wells Fargo, and each got a credit card through them. Looking back now, I don't even remember asking for a credit card, it seems like it was just part of the package and we signed away. I don't blame Wells Fargo either, their bankers are just doing their job. And most of them probably believe you need a credit score too. 

We never considered not using our cards, at least not at first. We continued to use them as I always had, buying the things we needed anyway and then paying them off in full every month. We never carried a balance, and we had the "benefit" of getting 1% cash back on all our purchases. That is not a lot, but, we told ourselves, if we were buying it anyway why not make a little money while doing it?

You are probably wondering why, if we always paid off our cards and received cash back, is it a big deal? Why close them? Well, that was our feeling too, for a long time. Actually, until about a month ago. We have known for a while that once Phil graduated we would get super intense and pay off all our debt as fast as possible, and the closer it gets to that time the more excited I am to get going on it (we can't start yet because we don't have an income and need to save everything we can for moving expenses once he starts a new job). We really want to be debt free, and even though we have never carried a  balance on our cards, we came to a realization that to keep using them was kind of counter to our goals. When you use a credit card, you are borrowing money. It doesn't matter if you pay it off right away, you are still borrowing it. And we are done borrowing money. No more. Ever. I don't want to worry about the "what ifs" any more. When you pay for things with money that you actually have, you never have to worry. You never have to worry about paying it back, or interest rates, or missing a bill, or not having enough, because YOU HAVE ENOUGH!

So, we cut up our cards (two Wells Fargo cards and a Target card, I had closed my Capital One card previously) and even though we still have our student loans to pay off, I feel even closer to our goal. 

Luke's Birth

Today is our little man's first birthday. I can't believe it has been one year already. I know moms say things like that all the time, but really. ONE YEAR. What happened to my baby? Looking back over the past year I just feel so lucky to have this little guy in our family. He makes us smile every single day and I can never get enough hugs and snuggles.

Pregnancy wasn't really that fun, and labor was definitely not my favorite. But looking back now, I would do it all again (and I guess I probably will) in a heartbeat. My first labor and delivery wasn't exactly as I hoped it would be, but really, does a baby ever come exactly the way one hopes? All that really mattered in the end is that he made it here safely.

My due date was December 2,  so as it came inching closer I was sure getting antsy. I really wanted to deliver Luke naturally. I had read about my different options, and taken some classes and I just felt like I wanted to be in control. I didn't want to have to worry about having a bad reaction to the epidural or not being able to feel anything, so we had been prepping to manage the pain drug free.

Unfortunately, I tested positive (as about 50% of women do) for Group B Strep, so my doctor kept reminding me that if my water broke I needed to hurry in to the hospital to get on antibiotics right away. Well, my water did break at home, and we hurried in, but I wasn't really having contractions. Since there is a small window of time once your water breaks that they baby needs to be delivered in, they had to start me on pitocin to get things going. I was ok with that since it was what needed to happen, but I still wanted to go epidural free.

We went in about 6 p.m. on Saturday, Nov 30, slept the night in the hospital which was not at all restful and then they started the pitocin around 7 a.m. the next morning when I still wasn't having major contractions.  At first I was thinking, "oh this isn't too bad, I can totally do this." Pretty soon that turned into, "this really, really hurts, but I can totally do this". And then it became, "OH MY GOODNESS THIS HURTS SO BAD!!! but...I can totally do this...right?" A big problem was that I wasn't able to really walk around at all. Since I had to be hooked up to an IV for both antibiotics and pitocin, not mention all the monitors they strap on you, they wouldn't let me leave the bed except to pee. I had hope to be able to ease some of the contraction pain by walking, stretching, bouncing on the exercise ball, and anything else I could think of, but the nurses really wouldn't let me.

About 9 hours later and dilated to an 8 I decided to get the epidural. I was so exhausted, not having slept for like 36 hours and enduring the awful pitocin induced contractions (I am convinced that they are worse with pitocin than not, although I guess I don't know for sure) all day, I just couldn't do it anymore. The epidural definitely made me feel better, but then, although the nurse assured me that I would still be able to feel it when it was time to push, I really couldn't feel it. I felt some pressure after a while and decided that must be it, which I guess it was, but then after pushing for what seemed like an hour we had made no progress. I just couldn't feel it (am I the only one who had this experience?)!

And, now after being awake for 36 hours, enduring pitocin contractions all day, and pushing for an hour, I was beyond exhausted. The doctor could tell, so she decided to suction Luke out, which totally freaked me out, but I just wanted him to come out already so I agreed. A great big push and one little suck later and there he was! He immediately started peeing, which made us all laugh, and then started crying. Phil cut the umbilical cord and they put him right in my lap. He was so perfect and the long day and painful contractions and disappointment all just disappeared.

It really was love at first sight.

Happy first birthday little one. We love you.