2 minute wrap: a tutorial

I saw this on pinterest and decided to give it a try and it's so freaking easy that I had to share as well. The original directions, here, called for one square yard of fabric and if you are a petite little thing like the girl on the blog,well, I'm sure a square yard would do it (although a square yard is kind of vague. Is it 45 inches square? 56?) so I altered it a bit to fit a normal sized person. When I say two minutes, I'm exaggerating of course. It's really more of a 30 second thing, but I had a few, um complications, which I'll explain below. They weren't to do with the actual making of the wrap though, so you should be just find.

So, here we go.

First, dig through your stash and look for a yard of 60 inch wide jersey (or, you know, buy some - this will of course add on some time, but you were looking for an excuse to go to the fabric store anyway, weren't you?)

Now get out your fabric scissors. Discover that your fabric scissors aren't in the scissor bin where you left them. Curse a little. Hunt around the house mumbling about how everyone in this house knows to NEVER touch mommies fabric scissors, find them in the kitchen utensil bowl. Curse some more. Discover that someone has cut something other than fabric with them because they are dull, dull, dull. Break out the sharpener and sharpen them and vow to hide them away next time so no one can find them. Whew. I told you, complications.

Fold the fabric in half so that the selvage edges meet and lay it out on a flat surface. Measure six inches down and six inches in from the folded edge at one end and mark the spot with a pin. Now measure six inches in and 16 inches down from that same edge and mark with another pin.

Cut, carefully, through both layers, in a straight line between the pins making two 10 inch long holes parallel to the folded edge.

Open it up, slip your arms through the holes and check yourself out in the mirror. (Well, realize that someone little hands and someone else's wet snout have been hard at work dirtying up the only long mirror in the house, go dig out the vinegar and a rag, clean off the mirror and then give yourself a look)

Crazy, right? The original tutorial also talks about using it as a scarf which, you know, is cool, but scarves I have, wraps I don't, so it was really the wrap part that interested me. But who knows, I might wear it as a scarf one of these days too. Either way, I think I need a few more.

shopping- how do you roll?

I had a tutorial planned for today but last night was struck with the overwhelming urge to talk about grocery shopping. I know, not very exciting, but just for shits and giggles, go with me on this, because I have a question. A couple of questions actually.

Last night I went out, past my bedtime (granted, that's pretty early these days) to fetch our weekly groceries. Our trip to New York threw off my shopping schedule and while I had hoped to make it through to today to do a big shop, I realized last night (after I had put on pjs a slippers, dang it!) that we were totally out of milk and bread, among other things. The other could have waited but milk and bread were a must for the morning. And since the little shop that we run to for forgotten items was already closed and we needed a bunch of stuff anyway, I got dressed again and headed out.

I rarely go to the grocery store at night, but when I do I'm always amazed at how calm and quiet it is. Everyone should go to the store in the middle of the night. Except not, because then it wouldn't be calm I suppose. Last night I arrived at the same time as two women who were doing their shopping together. You know how when you start shopping at the same time as someone else and you are both going at about the same pace you keep crossing paths? I hate that. For some reason I feel as though they think I'm following them, which of course I'm not, it's in my head. Which explains why I love grocery delivery I suppose. Well, last night I kept crossing paths with these two women. Normally I'd shoot off to the other end of the store to break the cycle but after two aisles with these two I realized that they were tandem coupon shopping, and I couldn't help but hang around and watch.

Coupon shopping fascinates me. I know that there are people out there who revel in it, who buy loads and loads of groceries for pennies through the coupon game, but somehow I've never been able to be much of a coupon shopper. Sure I bring the odd coupon, but for the most part I just search for deals on the shelves and pay my bill accordingly.

These two were super organized with a big binder perched at the front of one cart filled with photo pocket sheets to keep the coupons organized. At first I thought they might be kind of brilliant. Working in a team like that seems more doable. For one thing, you can split the amount you buy, so instead of coming home with ten of something, you only have to store five. Plus I imagine it's more fun to work together, both in gathering the coupons and in doing the actual shopping.

But as we went along I started to notice the actual contents of the cart. No fruit. No veggies, not a lot of meat or cheese. It was mostly snack food and canned goods. Lots and lots of chips. Now don't get me wrong, I love a bag of Doritos as much as anyone, but I very rarely buy them. We've always been on a pretty tight grocery budget, I suppose most people who operate on once income are, and I try my best to be health conscious for my family and minimize the premade, processed type foods. So most of the things in my cart each week are ingredients, rather than ready to eat foods. And the snack foods that I do buy are things like graham crackers or string cheese, both of which I can buy as a store brand.

So here is my question, or at least the first question. Does coupon shopping really save any money? I mean, if you are on a tight budget and you cook most of your foods from scratch, is it worth it, or can you save more by shopping store brands and skipping the snacky items that are most often on sale?

My other question is how people do it? Where do you go for all those coupons? I usually look though any fliers that we get but since we don't subscribe to the paper (sorry dad!) we really don't get many coupon circulars. I'm curious about the amount of time and commitment it takes to really make a difference on your grocery bill.

And also, where do you keep all that food that was such a good deal? We've never been bulk buyers, mostly because my husband and son will eat whatever is on hand within a week, so if there are three boxes of crackers that are supposed to last a month, they'll still polish them off in five days flat, which means the whole club buying thing ends up costing us more in the long run. But even if they didn't, say, devour everything in sight immediately (and still be long and lean, lucky genes!) I never know where to put all that extra stuff.

This has been on my mind lately as we get ready for our move. Since we'll be living in 'wholly cow it costs what for a gallon of milk?' New York, and will be on a student budget with all that implies, I've been flipping through cookbooks and my stock of recipes to look for my most budget minded meals for the coming year. Which makes me wonder if it would be worth my time to start playing the coupon game.

Advice, please. What is your experience? Are coupons really just a way to get you to buy what you don't need or do they help?

the mudroom, the mudroom

The mudroom, and more specifically, the siding on the outside of the mudroom, is the only thing at the moment that is keeping us from listing the house. Sure, there are a few other things that need to be done, but mostly, it's the mudroom siding. So you would think that that would be something we'd knock out ASAP. And we want to, we really, really do. But as it turns out, it's not just a case of slapping up some siding and calling it a day. In fact, this might be the most complicated renovation we've faced with this house. Seriously. Concrete counter tops and full kitchen renovation included.
But why is it so complicated, I hear you ask. Well, because it started out life as porch. And then it was turned, in a rather slip shod way, into an enclosed room. And then it was wrapped with nasty siding that covered up all the sins of the builder, of which there are many. Nothing is level. NOTHING. Nothing is on the same plane, or evenly spaced or square or anything that you would expect in a built space. But those are all things we can handle, I mean, this whole house has had those issues. The real problem is that the walls are going to come out further at bottom than at the top. All the new siding will stick out about 3/4 of an inch from the old siding. Now that doesn't seem like a big deal, but eventually the rain will rot away the wood at that level change and cause big problems. And because we aren't going to replace the whole end of the house siding wise, we cant slip flashing under the existing siding. It's all so....complicated. It's doable, somehow....I'm sure... we just haven't quite figured out how to make it look good and function well at the same time. But there are plans brewing, so I'm still hopeful.

For now I am thoroughly enjoying the door however. THE DOOR! I was looking back through our photos and realized that we cut the hole for the door in September! That's a long time to wait for a door. But it was worth it. The mudroom is getting a lot of use these days and we've mostly switched to no shoes in the house because of it, it's just so easy to go in and leave your muddy shoes before walking into the rest of the house. Ahhhh...sigh, wish we'd had that during this winter's snow. Or for that matter, last winter's snow. Sure it means that there is a constant jumble of shoes in there, both big and small. But that's miles better than a pile of shoes by the front door, or on the stairs, or in the middle of the living room, I've been tripping much less these days...
But beyond that, having two glorious big doors that open to the yard has meant that we now have the perfect spot to sit and enjoy the weather, watch the kids play or, as I found out this morning, wait for the bus in the pouring rain. Love it. And I'm not the only one. Someone has a new favorite spot to watch the world pass by.
Now if only these siding plans would come to fruition as nicely! Any ideas out there?

we now return to our regularly scheduled blogging

Or at least I hope we do.
New York plans are grinding along. They are mostly a case of "hurry up and wait" because there is so much to do, and yet, a lot of things cant be done yet. I've packed what can be packed, but the rest is needed for living and, you know, making the house look nice for prospective buyers, we've chosen a neighborhood but not an apartment because we don't need one for another month or so, we've prepped the kids and made as many arrangements as we can and now we're just in a holding pattern.

Without anything concrete to focus on I find myself obsessing on the ridiculous, like, what is the perfect bag for walking around the city with kids or can I pull of skinny jeans since that is obviously the look in New York in general and around Columbia in particular or given the choice, would I rather have a dishwasher or a washer and dryer in our apartment? How long will it take for Evelyn to get it into her head that touching everything within reach on the subway and then licking her hands is not a great idea? And then on the flip side, how awesome is my city boy at making his way through the hustle and bustle with out batting an eye?
But other than those random thoughts that are constantly running through my heads, life is starting to get back to normal. Or normalish. We work, we play, we fix up the house. Projects that were on the back burner for a while there are reemerging.
Like knitting. I haven't' been knitting much lately but 12 hours on a train can give you some serious knitting time, or maybe it was getting to go wander through a mecca of knitting recently. Either way, the great Christmas slipper debacle is well on it's way to being rectified, Evelyn's sweater is finally coming to an end and a new one for me is in the works. I saw someone wearing something like this last week and had the overwhelming urge to knit one like it right now. Good thing I still had a ton of worsted yarn in my stash left over from this sweater. I've also got some chairs to paint, our dining room chairs are pretty much done for and we are neither taking them with us nor storing them so the school house chairs that we used for a while last summer are going to get some fresh paint and some cushions for their new home (but first, I have to figure out a table, somehow I doubt we'll find an apartment that can accommodate our huge table, not, that is, unless we want to fore go other things, like, um beds or a couch) and a few other sewing projects are sitting on my table (figuratively, everything is stowed away in preparation for house viewings) that I'm hoping to get done before the good weather really hits. If it ever does....

So what's on your to-do list this week? Anything fun?

so far

It's funny what a few short days can teach you. For example, on day two and a half in New York I have already learned that:



The amount of thing on the "to bring to New York" list needs to be cut waaaaaay down if the little studio we are staying in for the moment is anything to go by.

Flip flops are not appropriate April in New York footware.

But then again. There are shoe stores everywhere here. Darn it. I just had to buy sone shoes!

Google map transit is awesome. But not infallible . Sometimes there is a closer subway stop.

By the same token it's worth trying out a few directions when searching for something like a grocery store. Because the crowded and expensive shop might be five steps this way. But Trader Joes might be six the other way. (dang it!)


My kids could live in the natural history museum.

Or FAO Schwartz (Evie in the pink section was hilarious)


Being on the city with an architect is pretty funny too. Do we go see the landmark buildings that everyone knows? No we do not! We have to go find the curved structure in Columbus Circle that Brad someone or other designed and the triangulated articulated somethingated tower down the road. Of course.

The people at the Plaza understand that little girls who love pink MUST go look for Eloise. And are happy to help.

Not so little boys who were once city kids switch back into metro mode easily. Little girls who have spent most of their lives in a small town do not.

Thank goodness for digital cameras. Because Evie took pictures of Every single animal in the museum. And Briton has logged about 600 photos of things on the street so far.

You can find anything here. Even this. (weird,right?)


As much as I love my garden and my house andy small town. There is another side of me that love love loves being in a city. I didn't know how much I missed it.

Chinatown, SoHo and lots of playground time today. All on my own with the kids while will is up at Columbia. Let the real test begin.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

on the road (train) again

I've always been afflicted with wanderlust. Even as a kid I would daydream about travel everytime a bus or train or plane passed by. For some reason that wanderlust has led more to moving rather than just travel, Will says its because normal people have crazy dreams about going places and they either just keep dreaming or take a vacation. Being far from normal, we end up moving.



But I'll admit. The last few years have cooled my need for the new. Or at least I thought they had. I haven't had that crazy urge as much since moving to Virginia. I think having kids in school is part of it. And living in a great neighborhood helps too. Sure, last time we were in an airport it almost killed me to have to walk past the flights to London, Paris, and my beloved Dublin for the boring old flight home to DC. But I made it.

Whe this NewYork adventure sprang I us, my first instinct was to say no. I was happy. We were happy. But very quickly that wanderlust started to take over and the desire for adventure started seeping back into my veins. I see it in the kids to. The fascination with the new. The wonder over what else life has to offer. It must be genetic, they are definitely our children. Will, by the way,was not born with wanderlust but ice rubbed off on him and he's even more of a dreamer than I am. Crazy how it works like that.



This morning we got on a train for New York. Not to move, obviously, just for a few days. Time to get acquainted with our new city a little. And when the train pulled I I got that flutter. The one I get when, for once, I'm the one boarding instead of the one sitting at the level crossing, watching the train pass me by. It's a good kind of day.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

t-minus two months

I woke up this morning and realized that two months from today, Will will be starting his first day of grad school. Two months. In some ways it seems kind of far off. There is a part of me that's ready to just GO already. But most of me is still in the overwhelmed, too many things to do, holy crap how are we going to pull this off mode. All we Will and I have been finishing projects. Rain delayed the door installation till tomorrow, but we've been caulking seams, painting trim, touching up walls and finishing all those little boring things that need to be done to make the house"finished".
I spent most of one day this week thinning out the shelves and cabinets around the house, packing away things that we don't need but want to keep, loading up bins with things that we don't need and don't want to keep so that they can be hauled to Goodwill. It's amazing how much neater it looks, just because there is less "stuff" around. Will finished the built in in the kids room (at last!) and together we've been sorting, packing, and finishing a huge list of to-dos. And there is more to do. I woke up at three this morning panicked about how many things were on there, sure that we would never get it done, and ended up down on the couch watching Emma until I fell back asleep again sometime around when the sun came up. Of course in the morning my list didn't seem so daunting, and I know that I always get a little in a dither when we move. But really, what I would love to be doing this week is reading the book that I ordered the day before we got the letter and haven't had a chance to pick up yet. Or puttering outside. But I don't think my house has ever been this clean, so I've been taking pictures for postarity, so that when we're in the middle of unpacking I can look back at a clean, pretty house and go to my happy place ;).
Strangely I'm not panicked about New York at all. I've pretty much come to terms with what we'll be doing and am more excited by the day, which is probably why I wish we could just go and not have to deal with all of this selling the house, packing, sorting and cleaning. But really, who would want to do all that? That's the sucky part of moving, right?
So sorry I've been a little MIA this week. I'm really hoping thing will calm down a little over the next few weeks. Monday we're off for a quick trip to our new city to check things out before we really truly sign on the dotted line. Officially and all. So I may be a little absent next week too. But I'll try to pop in from the road! Happy Friday All! (Is it really Friday? Where did the week go?)