I am feeling really awesome right now because I just finished altering a vintage wool suit that I bought at the thrift store yesterday for $5.50, and I’m wearing it.  I’ve never owned a skirt suit before and I feel rather sharp (and sister missionary).  I love that it’s vintage (70’s I’d guess) because the skirt is below knee length and flared, instead of above knee length and tight, with a slit.

A new suit might cost $200, so in theory I saved $194.50.  Or, even if I found a used one, but didn’t know how to alter sleeve length and waistband (too short and too small) then I might have spent another $50 on alterations, according to this website. Which would still be saving a lot of money, but that would be money I don’t have.

I’m trying to build the perfect wardrobe (snicker).  My bust and waist measurements have grown since giving birth, which is upsetting to me because now tons of my clothes don’t fit, including things I’ve made.  I think I still look attractive -it’s not the extra inches themselves that make me sad.  It’s that my clothes either don’t fit or barely fit and look awful on me.  Some I can alter,  and some will probably fit me someday, but yesterday  I got rid of a huge pile of clothes that will probably never fit me again, and then bought some clothes and tons of sewing notions at the thrift store.  So I’m kind of starting out with a clean slate.  My closet and drawers have lots of breathing room now -it’s nice.

I have very little money to spend, so I was getting a little depressed looking around online at nice clothes I would like to have.  There is just no way I can pay $20 for one cardigan -and that’s the cheap cardigan!  But then I decided to get creative and (I always want to say “damn the man” here but I do not curse and “darn the man” sounds so dumb, so I will just say something less striking) use my sewing and altering skills to get the kind of wardrobe I want.  It is really fulfilling to get what I want for much less money because of skills I have.

If anyone who lives near me would like some clothes altered and has the money, I would be happy to do it for some extra cash.  If you look at that alterations pricing website I linked to above, I would charge 30% less than that since I’m not a “professional.”  I do have three years experience doing alterations in a costume shop for BYU theater department.  Or, if you want something sewn “from scratch,” or repaired, I can do that too.  I can even make stuffed toys and dolls.  In fact, I’m thinking of starting up an etsy shop soon.

Today I read a post on one of my favorite blogs, NieNie Dialogues. I’ve been reading her blog for about two years now.  It’s a typical “Mormon Mommy blog” except for one thing: almost a year ago she and her husband were in a plane crash and were severely burned, NieNie on most of her body.  They both survived and she continues to blog.

Her post today is about how she is feeling sorry for herself because she used to look so beautiful and now her skin is scarred from the burns.  I was struck by this post, I thought, “How many women in their 20’s hate their skin when in fact their skin is perfectly lovely?”  I’m afraid the answer is, most of them.  I hope the women reading NieNie’s blog realize how thankful they ought to be for their healthy skin.  Even NieNie herself, though she is (understandably!) struggling because she looks like a completely different person, and people stare at her, and her kids were afraid of her at first, probably realizes that her skin is one reason why she is still alive today.  It is what protected her body from the fire.  We should all be greatful that we have skin that protects us, and even more so if it looks nice.

I checked out a few magazines from the library a while ago, including Martha Stewart Living and Real Simple.  Both were, of course, about 75% ads, and most of those ads said things like “fight against aging” and were just obsessed with facial skin and how keeping it looking impossibly smooth and dewey would not be so impossible if you would only buy X product (ranging in price from $ to $$$).  It was really disturbing to me, probably because I never watch TV and haven’t read a magazine like that in months.

It is such a waste of time, money, thought, it’s bad for your spirit, it’s bad for your heart to hate your body like those ads suggest you should.  They claim loving your skin means obsessing over it, when actually that probably just breeds more dissatisfaction.

My philosophy is, I look better now than I am ever going to in the future (as I age, have babies, gain weight, etc) so I might as well enjoy how I look or I’ll be kicking myself in ten years, twenty years, wishing I still looked that good.

I sold my first thing ever on craigslist.com today!  I listed a black futon for $30 at about 11:00 and it was GONE by 3:00!  Unfortunately I didn’t make any money off of it because I was selling it for my brother.  But it still made me happy!  I’m going to try my hand at selling off our furniture right before we move.

But now that I’ve seen how quickly things sell, I wonder if I will ever have any success buying stuff.  I guess we’ll just have to try it and see what happens.

I have obtained several boxes from three different dumpsters without even trying.  So it looks like we won’t have to buy any.  I’ve used up all the small ones for books so now we have lots of big boxes.  I’m not sure what we’ll use them for…. I suppose our record player and printer need to go in something.  Hmm, and our DVDs are lightweight so maybe we can put them all in one big box. And our pots and pans will take up lots of room I suppose.

I really don’t know how we can fill up a whole relocube.  We might end up taking some furniture just for the heck of it.

Gosh, I can’t stand waiting! It’s only January and we won’t be moving until the end of April at the earliest! GAAH!

I’ve been thinking of storage solutions this weekend.  I found two cool ideas for jewelry storage/display that I’m planning to implement.

first, the tree branch necklace holder:

like this one only a real tree branch, which I will wedge into a block of wood and glue onto something heavier, like a brick.  Then I will spray paint it all white or silver or something.  Or, I might just put the branch in a pretty vase.  Actually, that sounds a lot easier.  Put it in a vase with something inside to stabilize the branch.  I like bringing nature inside; I think it’s pretty.  It will help the top of my dresser look like I actually tried to decorate it, instead of just having a few functional boxes and clutter on it.

second, the picture frame earring holder:

made using a picture frame with screen, wire mesh, plastic mesh, or even a recycled onion net-bag tacked to the back of the frame.  I know, brilliant!  It’s straightforward, cheap and easy to make, highly customizable, looks nice to my eyes, has plenty of space, and doesn’t clutter furniture surfaces.  There are tons of these, including the one pictured, on etsy.  I might see if Samuel wants one for his cufflinks.  It would work with wire mesh, the kind with 1/4″ squares.

I think this will work well with my jewelry.  I like having it on display so that I remember to wear it.  None of it is so valuable or delicate that being out in the open will harm it, except my pearls, which I will keep somewhere else.

Right now the earrings are all piled in my jewelry box, and the necklaces are hanging on an ugly faux-tortoiseshell  plastic hook thing that hangs crookedly from our blinds’ drawstring, because we can’t nail anything onto the walls.

Sigh.  I love Wymount, but then again….