Let the Party Planning BEGIN.....again!

Spring is here and my mind has begun mulling over preparations for Lydia's birthday party. Yes it is still 4 months away, but this gives me something to hunt for in my various thrift store shopping sessions. Much like shopping for Lydia's cloths, I can't expect to find everything I need instantly and I enjoy having time to hunt for a bargain and to plan what I want to create. First a few generic party items. I can not get enough bell jars (for displaying candy, flowers, whatever). After Lydia's party, these will probably become specimen jars for the next Halloween party. At $1 to $3 each, I think I will get my money out of them. The candle stick is just asking for a nice coat of white paint so that it can become the base to a cake plate. I don't even secure the plate to something like this. It is large enough to be sturdy and if I just set one of my white dinner plates on it, it does the job, but can disassemble for washing and storage. At $3 it was a little pricey for thrift, but considering what I would pay for a similarly shaped cake stand that wouldn't separate for storage, (oh, and considering that I have a 15% off coupon) I decided to splurge!

Have I mentioned the theme yet? Lydia will be turning 3..... "Under the SEA"! So that makes the $1.75 loot pictured above pretty much PERFECTION! I am going with a glitzy mermaid meets shabby chic look (and NO Ariel, Sebastian, or other cartoon characters).

This is some sort of cake plate, but wire... with pearls? Pretty un-practical (either the food falls through the holes or you cover up the details with a plate)...but also pretty much mermaid shabby chic perfect. I figure I can find a glass plate to go on top of it to make it function while not hiding it's unique form. At $2 I figure I can make it work.

A plastic starfish bowl holds some glass globs that will be strewn about. Those 6 ceramic shell plates are so great, and I found them on Goodwill half price day (the last weekend of the month here) so they went fro $6 for all 6 down to $3. Finally, that clown dolly with the painted face? She mistakenly ran away to join the circus, but later realized she was born to be a mermaid. So for $5, I think she is deserving of a new outfit with a lovely long tail.

So that's it for now. I think we have a date and location selected (a Friday night...... is that wrong for a toddler party?). I have a few projects to start on and a color scheme (light and dark aqua, green, white bubbles and orange accents) to guide my collecting. The general feel of what I am looking for is beginning to materialize and I am already having a whole lot of fun.

I told Lydia I had started planning her birthday party and she yelled out "No you not. You planning your birthday party." Ummm.... She may have me on that one! Smart kid!

W.O.W. Wednesday: Thrifty is NIFTY!

First, I am amazed that this post is happening on time! I had NO idea how difficult it could be to keep a regular blogging commitment, like Words of Wisdom Wednesdays! I am starting to understand the appeal of a WORDLESS Wednesday!!! We have been sick, AGAIN, this week. Mostly just me with a bad cold this time around. Thankfully, PJ has been up for dealing with groceries and some extra Lydia duty AND I am off work next week to get all better and all caught up.

SO, with that out of the way... today is dedicated to my LOVE of all things thrifted!!!

I have always LOVED bargain hunting, thrift store searching and antique shopping. I can only buy so much stuff for myself and for my home, but having a baby who will outgrow her cloths every few months opened up a whole new dimension to bargain shopping. I love that most of what you buy at a thrift store is already washed, so if it shrinks or wrinkles, that has already happened to it. Also, most thrift stores benefit a charity. I get cheap clothing and at the same time, I am helping someone. Double bonus! Finally, if I am careful with what I select, I can often buy something for a low price, have Lydia wear it for a season or more, and still sell it at consignment for at least (sometimes more than) what I paid for it. That shirt on my darling 8 month old Lydia above was one of my first thrifted favorites. I bought it for $1. She has worn it for 3 summers and I will sell it for at least $1 when she finally outgrows it (more on that later)

First, Let's talk about color. My favorite thrift shops aren't organized much, so I am drawn to the color of clothing first. I have always been weird about "baby colors" on baby cloths. I don't mind pink, but that pale baby girl pink that is on EVERYTHING for baby girls, gets on my nerves. When Lydia was small, I jumped for ANYTHING in colors that I thought looked good on a red head. That's tip #1 no matter HOW much you spend on clothing, for yourself or your kid, figure out what colors look good on you and stay in that range. I can usually do OK with this rule........until the holidays. I keep finding cute Christmas and valentines shirts and then I can never make them work on Lydia because they are red and that just isn't one of her colors. I don't really have a problem with red, but nothing else she has really matches it. However, if I focus on a few colors that DO look good (fall colors, rich jewel tones, green, turquoise, brown) then no matter what I buy, in whatever sizes I find, it almost always comes together to make an outfit, even if the pieces were bought years apart at several different thrift stores. So now I try to find pieces, even holiday pieces like the light green and pink shirt above, that fit Lydia's color scheme.

So, remember that first top, it's a size 3T! When I bought it, I planned on setting it aside for a few years. I have big plastic bins organized by season and size that are FULL of clothing just waiting to be worn. That is tip # 2 for thrifting. Size doesn't matter! If it is a great style, pattern, color, fabric and price but too big, you can save it for a few years. I try not to buy more than 2 years ahead and I try not to get anything too trendy. I shoot for a little bit vintage and a little bit classic kid, and LOTS of embellishment. I am aware that eventually Lydia will have an opinion about the matter and I am trying to limit the advanced buying a little.

I have developed a pretty good system of selecting staples. I always buy bottoms (shorts, pants, or skirts) in brown, khaki, olive green, denim, and often purple and fuchsia. Tops are usually patterned and in colors that work with those bottom colors. Since the bottom colors are always the same, shopping for tops at the thrift store becomes much easier. I never mind if I have too many tops, since they usually get dirty. However, I tend to buy WAY to many dresses. I am trying to get that impulse under control. I realize Lydia really only wears dresses to church, so more than a handful and they go to waste. I have decided one summer staple is to look for a simple white dress each year for wearing at the beach. I think every beach trip needs a picture that includes a white dress on the beach . The white dress in the above pictures was another $1-$2 buy. Because it is just elastic with string straps, it can also be worn for a while.

That's tip #3. What starts out as a dress, can become a long shirt and then a regular shirt as long as it is the right shape. So that elastic band dress is easy, but only works as a summer dress. If I can find something sleeveless, but not too thin or summerish, like the "dress" above it can work for almost any weather depending on what is under it. I found this shirt on sale for $3 at The Children's Place (Score!) I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the color and the style of it. I bought it in a size 3 on purpose. With a few nips and tucks, she wore it as a dress at 18 months and as a long shirt at 2 years. She will get at least one more fall out of it and then I can sell it at consignment!

OK, so tip #4 might not be for everyone. I will often alter thrifted cloths. Some items are easier than others. Skirts, like this one can be taken in quickly by just overlapping a small flap and sewing it in place. I love the pattern on this skirt and then when I found those shoes, I just HAD to make the skirt small enough to fit her while the shoes still did! Pants can be shortened, but that is usually permanent (as I think rolling the cuffs looks bad) but if the length is OK, you can make the waist smaller the same way. Shirts can be harder to alter. If there are pleats on the front, I often add an extra pleat or two to shrink the width. I have learned a few more tricks, but you have to have a pretty good feeling for clothing construction, so I will stop there for now.

Tip #5 is related to size doesn't matter. Tip #5 is size may be deceiving. Because thrift store clothing has been washed it may have shrunk. In fact, that may be why it was thrifted in the first place. Lydia has a pair of size 4 pants (Gymboree) that fit around age 2, but are too short now. Thankfully they had an adjustable elastic waist, but you have to ignore the size on the tag and go with what fits. The sweater above is a beautiful, hand knit, wool sweater imported from Ireland. It doesn't have a size on the tag, but it looks like an adult small that shrank. Of course that only made the knit tighter and more perfect for Lydia to wear in the snow last year.

Here is one last thrifted favorite, the Gymboree strawberry shirt. It is a size 4, but was designed with elastic in the armholes and neck so that it gathers a little. That also means it looks smaller in those areas. So Lydia wore it at 1 and 2 years old with white pants or white shorts. It will still fit this summer (and probably next) and I am really excited because I just found a really cute pair of white pants (at the thrift store) with little embroidered strawberries on them that will be perfect for year 3! Here's hoping Lydia will eventually be as excited about these finds as I am.

Have you heard about Henry?

OK, I admit it. Prior to cutting off our cable in favor of Netflix, I was addicted to watching shows like Hoarders and Intervention and Teen Mom. Hoarders had no redeaming value, but it was a train wreck of crazy cat ladies and I could not look away. Intervention, was different. I found myself not so interested in if they got treatment (the usually did) and if they relapsed (sadly, they often did). Mostly I wanted to see the flashback portion where family, friends, and often the adicted person try to explain how they got that way. I realized that I was mostly watching to generate a list of pitfalls to avoid in Lydia's life in the hopes that she will never have the problems of the people on these shows.





And then I heard about Henry.

Henry was an 18 year old who went to a private school in Knoxville that I could only hope to afford for Lydia some day. I do not know Henry or his family, but I have been drawn into the tradgedy of his story. His mom is a local writer and blogger. PJ actually worked with his dad at one time, years ago. Like many kids, henry experimented with drugs. Saddly, he eventually found himself painfully addicted. His family sent him to treatment facilities and tried to get him the help that he needed. They watched helplessly as he turned 18 and they could not force him to do anything.

And then they watched a beaten and braindamaged Henry pass away from an assault and overdose. For 10 months they have attempted to work with local authorities to get justice for Henry. They freely admit that Henry was an addict, and realize that his decisions played a role in what happened to him. However, they also know that someone gave him a lethal dose of drugs and beat him to the point that his ears bled.... for weeks. The people who were with Henry while he overdosed are adults, who resisted calling 911. Henry's phone shows a lengthy and strange relationship with this couple, and Henry's own account (provided during a breif recovery period prior to his death) asserted that this couple involved him in a prostitution for drugs ring. The woman even called and texted the family numerous times to state that she wasn't going to be blamed for Henry's overdose, sometimes 20 times a day.

I can't imagine the pain and grief of watching your child suffer with a demon that you can not save them from. I can not imagine watching your child suffer a physical assault of this nature. I can not imagine watching your child die. And I cannot imagine that the police would do so little (not interviewing the victim during the moments he was alert, not reviewing the text messages on his phone, not seeking any arrests in this case, and even calling the sketchy couple "good samaritans" for eventually calling 911 hours and hours after Henry's overdose).

Henry's family has waited patiently for 10 months. They are now breaking their silence, and telling the painful details of Henry's story while teaching many of us a LOT about laws pertaining to prescription drugs, accidental and intentional overdose, and how a "good kid" from a "good family" can still succumb to a terrible disease. They are now seeking the full attention of the media, locally and nationally, to help them get justice for Henry. They are asking bloggers to blog about Henry. So now you have heard a little about it from me. Please read the details of Henry's story at her blog (http://mamapundit.com/) and if you know anyway to help, consider helping. If it were your kid, wouldn't you want everyone to know, to be warned, to help?

Words of Wisdom Wednesday 3/2/11

First of all, this may or may not show up as a Wednesday post. I DID start it on Wednesday, but never got to finish it. To explain my tardiness on this post, Lydia and I both got sick on Saturday with a stomach virus. She seemed to clear it pretty quickly, but I lingered in illness land for four full days, with little interest in food and even less ability to correctly digest what I did eat. No kidding, I lost 10 pounds in 4 days. I gained most of it back once I was back on solid food, but I was wiped out. By day 3 of my illness, Lydia got a raging fever, probably a secondary infection related to the initial stomach virus, so we were off to the pediatrician and then Children's Hospital and back to the pediatrician for follow up. Ugh! I returned to work Wednesday and have been swamped until today.

So, back to what I did start typing on Wednesday......This week's words of wisdom are a spin off of last week's "everyone needs to get away and find their inner Sistine." If you are a close friend of mine, than you have probably heard me ramble on and on about any major decision. At some point in one of these discussions a good friend told me " No matter what you are worried about doing, there is always someone you can think of who is doing it with fewer resources."

I can very quickly get overwhelmed being a wife to a man who can't seem to stop working, the housewife in a house that is constantly under construction, a teacher at a school that is an hour commute from my house, an artist who can't seem to find enough time for all the ideas in my head, and then mom to the first of hopefully a few kids. That last one, that's the biggie.

I would like to have more kids, but the constant debate in my head is when. I want kids close enough together to play with each other, but not so close that my crazy life spins out of control. One has been pretty manageable, but I am certain that two is more than twice the work. Being out-numbered by little people scares me! I know that there will be sacrifices and trade offs and I probably just need that push that says that it will be OK.

That's when my friend's words of wisdom help out a lot. Remembering that other people manage these things everyday and often with fewer resources than I have helps me to be thankful for what I am fortunate enough to have. It also helps me to trust in my ability to manage new situations a little more. So that's it. A little discombobulated due to sickness and the toddler who is begging me to put away my "puter", but I suppose somewhere a single mom of twins is typing her own blog entry on less sleep than I got last night!

Christmas Re-cap!

Ooops. Somehow I never got to post about our trip to see Santa Clause. I think might be because it was traumatic for both of us.... and because the pictures did not end up on my camera as planned, because of the trauma and drama. I was SO excited to take Lydia to see Santa this year, because SHE was actually excited about Santa this year. This would be her third year going to see the man in red, but this was the first time she knew what was going on. She had done so well on her other visits to see St. Nick (at 6 months and 18 months) so I was getting all worked up over the fact that THIS year she would actually be able to talk to Santa!

My mom met us at the mall and as we have done in the past, we let Lydia ride the toy train. Then we waited in line and when it was our turn, we had Aunti take Lydia to meet Santa, while I got ready with my camera. We had talked with her about saying hi to Santa while we were in line and Lydia wasn't a bit worried.

But when Aunti tried to pass her off to Santa, Lydia clung to her for dear life. So it was my turn. Aunti Jen took the camera and I tried to position Lydia on Santa's lap.

No luck, so I tried to re-group and come at it from a different angle. At this point I would have been fine with the goofy screaming kid on Santa's lap picture. Lydia wasn't going to let it get that far. She went limp, she clung to me, she ran away.

Finally, we settled for this compromise. See my hands? I ended up posing in front of Santa with Lydia on my lap (while I balanced on my hurt knee!) I was not expecting to be on camera that day, so I won't show you the full shot.

Look at that smirk of vindication. She got her way and the old man gave her a cookie anyway! She wouldn't even look at him to get the cookie, though. She buried her head in my shirt and reached one arm back to take it. Oh, well. Only 10 months or so until we try it again!

Words of Wisdom Wednesdays

A friend of mine who also blogs has Wordless Wednesdays. Since my blog is morphing more and more into an opportunity for me to put my thoughts in writing (hopefully so that Lydia can read them one day, but also as an exercise in the discipline of writing) I have decided to try doing "Words of Wisdom" Wednesdays. Basically, there are things that I think are really great ideas and I want to remember to teach these things to my kid. So hopefully this will remind me of these concepts when I need reminding, hopefully it will keep them in my mind to tell her, and if not, she can read it someday.

So, for this dreary February Wednesday, when my head feels achy and I have a sore throat, and my husband has definitely caught a bad cold (so he is not able to help much at home), when my bank account is smaller and my bills are larger than I would like, when spring break seems SO far away, and the piles of papers to grade, laundry to fold, and dishes to wash seem larger than I want to deal with, when my weight is up and my energy level is down ......I am trying to remember these words of Wisdom. "Even the pope needed a way to get away from it all."

The pope? Yep! Specifically this pope, Julius II, the man behind the painting of the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo (along with many other important commissions). I am not sure where I picked up this interesting tidbit of art historical information. Probably in college, so Dr. Townsend (if you are reading this via Facebook) help me out with the details!

Anyway, when learning the undisputed facts about Pope Julius commissioning the painting of this ceiling, my professor mentioned something about the Pope wanting sometimes needing to "get away from it all". I am not sure where the lecture ends and where my own imagination picks up, but the idea of the Pope, the most powerful person in Renaissance Europe ( a man who never had to bother with a mortgage, or bills, or cramps, didn't have kid, or a spouse, etc. etc.) needed a place to go, to calm his mind when the weight of a world of souls (OK, maybe being pope could get stressful) was just too much for him. The pope had the resources to hire artists to create fantastic visions to take him away from his problems, but also the pope NEEDED that.

Even the people who seem to have it all (all the power, all the money, all the resources) still have their moments when they feel like they can't cope. If they can have these moments, so can I. It's normal to feel down and it WILL pass. Try to find a way to take a break and focus on the things that help you get through it all and it might pass more quickly, or you may at least be in a better frame of mind to face your problems.

P.S. A friend of mine has a related lesson about people with no resources that I need to remember to elaborate on later (don't let me forget, OK?)

Aside from remembering that it is only human to need a break every so often, I also like to look at what worked for Pope Julius when he was stressed. Michelangelo's figures are just so strong and yet so graceful and often very calming. This is how I want to look and feel when twisting and turning and reaching to get things done.

Here is one of my other favorite things about the ceiling of the Sistine. This is how Michelangelo thinks of God. Aside from wearing what looks like a pale pink hospital gown (is it wrong to chuckle at the thought that it ties in the back, leaving even God's arse exposed?) God is shown in this billow of fabric containing heavenly beings. In The Creation of Adam, you can really see the details of these figures that apparently have been floating around with God since the beginning of the world. See that one woman under God's arm? Most historians agree that she is meant to either be Eve or the virgin Mary. Either way, the message Michelangelo sends with this tiny detail in a small part of a really big ceiling is that even at the beginning of the world, God knows how it is going to end. Either he knew Adam would have an Eve (and all that would happen between those two) or that as a result of Adam and Eve the world would need a virgin Mary, through which we get Jesus. Sobering thought. If God's plan had already worked out all those details, I probably shouldn't worry so much about the details of my own life. I like the idea that some of those unseen figures in that God cloud play a part in my life too.

And then there's Adam, lounging on Earth, not yet fully alive, waiting for God to touch his life. I wish I could be more like him, relaxed as could be, waiting for God's hand to touch his life.

No wonder Pope Julius liked to come here to get away from the world.

And thanks for the inspiration, Michelangelo!

Maybe next time I am struggling with life in general, I can think of his masterpiece in the Sistine Chapel....... or maybe I can spend a little more time focusing on my own little masterpiece.

Pajama Party with our Priest

Our church is preparing to host Family Promise soon. Family Promise is an organization aimed at getting homeless families the help that they need to find and keep permanent housing. Have you heard the statistics that most people are 2-3 paychecks away from being homeless? Think about your bills and how much or little you have left at the end of the month and it is a scary thought. Even scarier is that most shelters are seeing larger numbers of families (most with children) needing housing. Furthermore, most shelters don't take families. Women and children go to one shelter while men go to another. Family Promise is a network of churches who agree to house a set number of families for one week. They provide the organization and transportation and we provide meals, supervision, and clean sheets. It is a really great program and my favorite thing is it ends up being really FUN! Everyone is hanging out at the church, eating meals and watching TV, playing with kids. These are really nice families and fun to get to know.

It does take a lot of help to pull off and so we are preparing for our upcoming Family Promise week with a kick off Pajama Party at church tonight. I volunteered to make pajama party themed cupcakes (surprise, surprise!) and was inspired by these images found online. The idea and the above image appear in the book Hello Cupcake, but I also found step by step directions here.

I have also seen this idea applied to an entire sheet cake, often just using Twinkies as the people, like this image from Sugarcraft. Sadly I had more ambition than time and scaled back my plans from homemade cupcakes to ones from a mix. Then at about 8pm LAST NIGHT (when I finally was able to go shopping for supplies) I scaled all the way down to pre-packaged Zinger snack cakes. Oh well, I still got to do the fun decorating (with store bought icing!)

Here are my Zinger people in progress! Those are miniature Nilla Wafers for the faces. I used icing for the body (the real directions used marshmallows and even jelly beans for feet). The directions also called for airheads candy for the sheets, but my Walmart didn't have those so I used Fruit Roll-ups. Have you tried unwrapping one of those things lately? They must be made by the same folks who make "child proof" medicine bottles that kids can open but adults can not! Sticky stuff and apparently fruit roll ups are advertising on the Roll-ups now (my box was about providing laptops to kids in Africa, so they had printed African animals on them. Sorry, I am a little cranky over all the sleep I lost to peeling and trimming those roll ups. Plan ahead. Get the airheads!

So here are the finished products. I had a lot of fun with trying to do different hairstyles on them all. Some even have Teddy Graham teddy bears tucked in with them. Hopefully our Family Promise guests will soon sleep as soundly in homes of their own!