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. 

How to: Perfect Pie Crust

Pie is the one thing I look forward to almost more than anything else on Thanksgiving Day. When I was a little girl, I remember my mom making the most delicious pies every year. She would always save the trimmings of pie crust, bake them on a cookie sheet, sprinkle them with powdered sugar and give them to me and my brothers. I loved that pie crust.

But, one year, my mom told me that she was tired of making pies from scratch and decided she would just buy a few pre-made crusts from the grocery store. I was shocked. Not only did I love eating those homemade pies (and trimmings) but it was a tradition to make the pies. Tradition is a big deal in my family and I just couldn't believe my mom was considering buying a crust (I may have been a little over dramatic). I pleaded with her, but she said it was just too much work and Marie Calendar's crust is just as good. "If you want homemade pie, you will have to make it," she told me. I'm not sure if she really thought I would do it or not, but determined to save tradition and my crust, I took on the pie making that year, and have done so ever since.

I use this pie crust recipe every single time I make pies and it is still just the very best crust I have ever had.

Perfect Pie Crust

Ingredients:
4 c. flour
1 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1 3/4 c. shortening
1 Tbsp vinegar
1 large egg
1/2 c. plus 1 Tbsp cold water

Directions:

Combine flour, sugar and salt in large mixing bowl and mix well. Cut shortening into flour mixture until ingredients are crumbly. Combine vinegar, egg and cold water in small bowl and add all at once to flour and shortening mixture. Combine with fork until dough pulls together (dough will still be crumbly). Turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead slightly until crumbs are all combined. Makes 4 or 5 pie crusts.

What is your favorite Thanksgiving food?

Before and After: Denim Shirt Dress

I altered this denim dress without taking enough pictures to do a tutorial, but I love how it turned out so I still wanted to share it here. I really like the shirt dress style, but I can rarely find any that are long enough for me so I knew I would either have to make one from scratch, or find something to alter. I decided I would start by checking out some thrift stores (always a great place to find big, denim dresses) and I found one for $3 that I was able to alter in just a couple of hours.

Before:

This dress was a size 16 (I usually wear a size 4 or 6) so it was several sizes too large, but it definitely had plenty of length! When I alter dresses like this one, I always look at is how the shoulders fit. I don't like re-setting sleeves, and I especially didn't want to re-set them in this dress because of the top-stitching that I would have to try to duplicate, so I tried to find one that fit ok across the chest and shoulders. It looks pretty awful in this picture (and it doesn't help that my hair isn't done either), but I wanted my dress to fit somewhat loosely (the way a comfy denim jacket would) so I knew it work out after the alterations.

After:

The make of the dress was fairly simple, so I really only had to do a few cuts and seams to get it to fit the way I wanted. I took in the width of the sleeves (about 2 inches) all the way up from the cuffs, along the underarms, and back down the sides of the dress. Then I cut off about six inches of length and sewed a new hem. I used the same techniques for the hem of the dress as I used in this jean tutorial.

I wear this dress all the time now.  It has been perfect for fall and can be dressed up or dressed down and it's so comfy! What do you think of my before and after?

Tip: Make a Laundry Schedule

Sometimes I wonder if everyone but me already knew to do these things. Either way, all of these tips are things that I have found to be really helpful to me as a homemaker, so it can't hurt to share them with you too.

This week, I have discovered the magic of scheduling my laundry (it's the little things). Usually, I do most of our laundry on Saturday, which sometimes rolls into Sunday because I forget to finish drying or folding it, and sometimes I don't get the laundry finished at all so I have to do random loads during the week because we need something cleaned. I would rather not use my weekend for this, but it has always kind of happened that way. Then, I thought, "what if I create a schedule for this, and do one load a day each day of the week? Then I won't have to do it on the weekend!"

I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner.

My new laundry schedule currently looks like this:

Monday - whites
Tuesday - darks/colors
Wednesday - towels/sheets
Thursday - Luke's clothes

That leaves Friday, Saturday and Sunday free to do other, more fun things. And since it is just one load a day, it is easy to get it all done: washing, drying, folding, and putting away.

Do you use a laundry schedule?

My Favorite Spot

I love our home. It is the just what we were hoping to find when we moved back to Utah, and although it is temporary (long-term temporary, but still temporary), I have still tried to make it a cozy place for us to live until the next time we move.

I have been looking for a bookshelf to put in the corner of the living room almost since the day we moved in. It was a great spot for our big, red wingback chair, and I knew that adding a small shelf would make it a perfect little reading nook. Most of my books are on shelves in our bedroom, which I love, but I really like having books out in the family area too. I think they add something special to any room, and I liked imagining myself curled up in our big chair reading stories to Luke, or just to myself.

When I finally found the perfect shelf ($15 on ksl!), it turned out even better than I hoped. It needed a little tlc, but once I gave it a makeover it was just right. I have some of my favorite book displayed on the top shelfs; a few photo albums, toys and children's books on the second shelf, and a few of Luke's board books and toys on the bottom shelf. It also has a drawer where the rest of Luke's toys can be stored away (which made both Phil and I very happy since they had been kept in a couple of bins that didn't really have a home in the living room).

Cozy isn't it?

Do you have a favorite spot in your home?