Showing posts with label projects. Show all posts
Showing posts with label projects. Show all posts

Monday, January 27, 2014

Project Focus Changes

Its Monday everyone!
The most hated day of the week.
How do you handle your "Case of the Mondays"?

Here's how I plan to handle mine from now on. Monday = Blog Day.
For those that know me, you all know I'm a grouchy blogger. Where else would I find all this snarkiness? In order to keep my household a happy one, when my hubbs leaves for class on Monday nights- I blog.

Now I promised you some changes and most of you have stuck with me through the "family posts", your patience will be rewarded. Now prior to the pregnancy discovery I was already considering moving in this direction, so now I have the perfect excuse.

Mrs. Abby Normal, ME, is changing its focus to PlusSize & Maternity Style. 
Why??

How about some brutal honesty? I am (before baby bump) bordering one that very fine line between the women's and plus size department. I am the average size of women in America. Ladies, this is why we have a hard time buying everything from jeans to lingerie! And imagine adding pregnancy to the challenge- forget about it.   I know before we got pregnant I hated shopping period, but the day my mom took me maternity shopping was agony. My typical clothing shopping means hitting the PlusSize department followed by the Women's department, then finally the Juinor's Department in hopes of finding something that fits my style and my body. This doesn't happen often. PlusSize is usually slightly to big everywhere except my chest. Women's kinda  fit but involve a lot of mixing, matching, and accessorizing to minimize the frumpiness. And the Junior's XL/XXL rarely fit but when they do they always hang funny. My body is no longer shaped like a tween (was it ever shaped like that).  But this, ladies is the problem, our bodies are not shaped the way designers think they should be- trust me I know. 
When I was in school we had 2 options when learning to pattern, make sloppers to fit us or the standard size form. I choose the form, because it was easier to learn and adjust on. When I did competitions the models we had to design for were the same standard size- anyone care to guess what that size is??? Size 8!! Can you F*cking believe it? Do you know what the average size of women in america?? 
Size 14 (my size is 12/14).
  Ok now before I completely lose my temper, lets reel it back in. Tangent over- for now. We can discuss mainstream fashion and why fashion makes us hate our selves until we are blue in the face, but it wont change anything. We, normal people have to figure out style for ourselves. 
Ladies pinterest does nothing for your confidence or your happy self image.
When we discovered I was I became glued to pinterest searching the words maternity fashion/ pregnancy style. And do you know what I discovered- hundreds of blogs by the cutest LITTLE tiny moms-to-be.
Where are the curvy mom blogs? Have we become to ashamed to post our pictures on our blogs- no! They post all those damn pictures on facebook. And worse it, most are with a duck face wearing underware. 
Enough is Enough!

So my new challenge, my New Year's Resolution if you will, is to document my struggle and bring your tips, tricks and projects that will take you from AVERAGE to Maternity and back again.
From now until I squeeze a human out of my body, I will blog about my clothes and style (not stretch marks, hemorrhoids, or cankles). I can not guarantee I will be stylish everyday (otherwise the ppl I work with will tell on me) but I will post the good and the bad.
My goal this year is to make a difference- with others and myself. 
So feel free to ask questions, leave comments and follow along this crazy journey.

Until next week,
Later Taters 


Saturday, January 25, 2014

Relative Update... Home Edition

I'm Back.
 A little late with this final update.
But...
Lucky for me (and you), I have time today because my hubbs put me in timeout due to my grumpiness while painting. I am not mad about this.

As most of you know, we bought our house in July of 2012. We are talking a total fixer upper! 
But this guaranteed us a 3 bedroom house with an actual yard, in a established neighborhood, well under market value for this town. Downside: we had to basically gut it. New floors, new kitchen, ceiling repair- the whole 9 yards. And are we done yet? Yeah right. But we have made progress, and with the baby on the way we are moving as fast as time and money allow. 
How about some pictures???

  This is our home. 
Since we bought it, we have pulled up no less than 10- 7ft tall holly bushes.
We have grand landscaping plans for the spring, as well as painting the house in the fall. 
But doesn't the purple kinda grow on you?

 The Living Room (or part of it)
We removed the carpet and sub-flooring, extended the wall between the living room and kitchen, removed the chair rail and scraped the popcorn ceiling.
Right now we do not have actual floors, but maybe with our tax return we will soon.

 THE KITCHEN
This was the biggest and most expensive project.
Total demo: removed the wall containing a oven and stove-top, including cabinets. Patched ceiling where wall was removed, scrapped and repaired popcorn ceiling. Removed 2 layers of old linoleum, and replaced with tile (we did all the work ourselves with the help of our parents). Brand new cabinets, sink, and all appliances.

Our Master Bedroom.
The one I was painting when banned.
 We removed carpeting and laid 12" professional grade plywood floors.
Scraped and finished ceilings, like the rest of the house.
We removed the crappy wood closet organizer, and later today will be installing a new fancy one!!!
Hopefully we will be moving into this room tomorrow.


My office.
1/2 of our finished garage basement, contains my office.
We removed the carpet and painted.
You will be seeing lots of photos of this room soon.

Well, at least for now, this is our home. It often feels like we live in a construction zone, and we kinda do. When we move from room to room, there is always a constant need to move painting and flooring supplies. After this weekend we will be moving on to our guest bedroom, then finally the nursery. 
 I'm being told my timeout is over, so back to work.

Until next time,
Later, Taters!

 

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

teaching...

i got the job...
knowing that i like to be busy and that i am constantly working on something new will not surprise any of you. so when the opportunity arose for me to add to my ever growing resume, of course i took it. in addition to working freelance designing costumes, alterations, my etsy, craft shows and my semi stable part time job, i will be teaching sewing classes at Joann Fabrics in Mt. Juliet. its close to home, its my community, it's kids... what more can i ask for- right?

Joann's in Providence Shopping Center has classes for all ages and interests. they also do a open house every couple of months for those interested to meet the instructors and see the projects offered
 the next open house will be December 1st from 1-3pm.
here is the link for anyone interested ...
Joann Class Home Page
Kids Studio Classes
class flyer's

for now i am the teen and kids sewing instructor.
the teen classes will feature things like pjs, jackets, purses, and even some home interior projects.
the kids studio classes (8 and up) will teach kids how to make jackets, pillows, blankets, pjs, and book bags.
no matter what age group, these are great projects to teach kids independent sewing both by hand and machine. in each age group there are classes at different levels from beginners to advanced level. and each class is geared to teach a specific skill.
if you cant tell already, i am super excited. i love to sew. and when you love something you want everyone to love it too.
since the class schedule changes every 2 months i will update regularly on the projects and whats coming up.
This could be a great Christmas present, after school project, or even a productive winter break babysitter!!! -mommy and daddy movie date anyone???

for Dec. i will be teaching the following 3 classes...

Headtime Story: Kids Sewing 101. $35- one 3-hr session
pillow case, contrasting fabrics. teaches sewing machine basics, simple construction
Wed, December 19th.  2-5pm

Frosty Friends Fleece Blanket: Kids Sewing 102. $35- one 3-hr session
fleece blanket, hand sewing and embroidery
Thurs, December 20th. 2-5pm

Just My Style Bolero Jacket: Kids Sewing 301. $45 two 2-hr sessions
kids jacket. using pattern, adding trim
Sat, December 29th 10am-12pm
Sat, January 5th 10am-12pm

and remember i will be at Joann Fabrics in Providence December 1st from 1-3pm to show you the December projects!!!
don't those sound fun!! cant wait, hope to see you soon.