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Hair bands – by the yard
As promised I went to Joann’s yesterday but alas, they did not have the elastic I was looking for. So I did a little research yesterday and found an Etsy dealer who sells elastic by the yard. You can buy 10 yards for $2.95. Add shipping to that and well for under $6.00 you could make hair bands until the cows come home, literally. 🙂 I don’t see my buying any bulk elastic for a while but just in case I now know I can find it on Etsy.
The next few weeks will be crazy at work, I can’t say much now but come next week I will write more. Basically I have no idea how much time I will have to blog in the next few weeks but I’ll do what I can. I have a few projects I’m thinking of starting and when I do I will track my progress.
~k
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Product Review – Twistband
A few weeks ago I saw this cool product called Twistbands in an email from my salon. At the time I was sleeping with my hair pulled up almost every night. My hair was longer and driving me crazy being down while I was trying to sleep. I’d been sleeping with my hair up for a couple of months when I started to see a lot of fly aways on the top of my head. At first I thought it was just new growth but the more I saw the more I started to think it was from the regular hair bands I was using.
When I got the email from my salon I looked up Twistbands to see what all the hype was about. Once I read the site I knew I had to have some. I love new products. The day I went to the salon I grabbed a 3 pack and cut my hair. 😉 Now I am no longer sleeping with my hair up because it’s shorter but I am still using the Twistband. So here’s my review:
To be perfectly honest, I think they are a waste of money. I paid $5.00 for 3. I could have gone to Joann’s and and bought this elastic for less I’m sure. (I haven’t been to Joann’s to look yet but I promise I will do this and report back.) Here are the problems I have with this product. First and foremost, I think they are over priced. Yes I know you have a make a profit but come on…..My second complaint is the quality. I paid 5.00 for 3 and they have raveled like nobodies business. This was something I easily solved with a lighter. And if we are being honest here, had the ends been seared and they hadn’t raveled I’d probably be a little happier overall. Basically this is a want product. Sure it does okay for my hair but I have short thin hair. Maybe I would think they were better if I had longer thicker hair.
I always wear the black one. See all the raveling? 
- Packaging and the 2 I haven’t used yet next to the one I always use.
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Guest bathroom – a sort of makeover
Over the weekend I was apparently super productive, okay not really but from the pics it looks like I was. 😉 A few weeks ago I decided I wanted a new shower curtain for the guest bathroom. I cannot, for the life of me, figure out what color I want to paint the guest bathroom so I decided a new shower curtain might help. Don’t get me wrong, I liked the one I had, but I just wasn’t really digging it anymore.
Matt and I were at Target a week or so ago and I decided to browse the shower curtains. I pretty much knew I was coming home with one but I was surprised at the assortment they had. The one I originally had my eye on just didn’t compare to a few others I found. I finally decided on a tealish blue one with geometric print. I really really like it. I feel like it really brightens up the bathroom. I plan to keep the brown rug but I am going to replace the decorative towels (shhh don’t tell Matt). Then I need to paint. And then I will accessorize. So basically it’s like half done. 🙂
Before 
After ~k
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In the closet
I think I mentioned in my carpet post that I had plans to rearrange the closet when we got everything back in order. Well I did just that on Saturday. We bought a shoe holder shelf for the closet and I’ve been waiting for Matt to put it in before we moved everything back to the closet.
The shelf we bought turned out to be a little too big for the closet so Matt cut in down and then installed it. It’s low and slanted so it doesn’t get in the way of our clothes but it is high enough off the floor that we can put shoes under it too. Mainly this is now where all of my shoes are. Matt’s shoes are in a shoe holder hanging on the door. {Basically we both have too many shoes!}
This is right after we put the shelf in.
The shelf with my shoes.
The closet back in order.
I know it’s still kind of messy but there is only so much you can do with 2 people and 1 small closet. Anyway, I said I rearranged and I did. Before we had 2 plastic bins on the left hand side, to the front of the closet. This is our “dressing station.” Basically where we throw our jeans at night. 😉 Then Matt had this shorts and pants behind the bins. On the right bottom side he had all of his polo type shirts. I didn’t feel this was the best use of our space and, well I rearranged without him so I put stuff back where I wanted it. I moved the bins to the right hand side and now all of his clothes are to the left. My clothes are now along the back wall and on the top right shelf. To me, the closet feels a little more spacious and it allows me easier access to my shoes.
Oh and I just wanted to mention the shelving cost us about $20.00. This was much cheaper then other shoe holders and to me, gives us a lot more space.
~k
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Otis the Owl, fail!
Over the weekend I decided to make the cute owl I found on Pinterest. I cut out my fabrics last week to save some time so I didn’t have to do all the steps at once. Anyway I was pretty excited about the color combos I had picked out. My original goal had been to use a fancy, thick stitch around the face, eyes, nose and body. Then I would sew the little guy up. Well this is pretty much where the fail happened.
First off my machine didn’t really seem to have the stitch I was looking for. I decided to play around with a couple different ones to see if any of them would do. Grrr, I managed to lock my machine up a couple of times. {This was totally my fault by not paying attention to what certain stitches needed.} Then when I did find a stitch I realized I had no idea how to actually attach the right foot. I looked in the book but nowhere did it say, to attach this foot do a, b, c steps.
After fighting with the machine for a while I decided to go ahead and sew my feet. This wasn’t too bad except they were super tiny. {There may be a reason the pattern says enlarge 200%.} I managed to get them right side out and decided I would go upstairs and glue my face and body piece to the main fabric. Then maybe I could stitch around it. The gluing was fine. A good idea in fact but at this point I was kind of like screw it. I knew I couldn’t do what I wanted so I decided just to sew him up. Well I got to the bottom and realized I didn’t have the feet on. In my haste I didn’t actually attach them correctly. I attached them so when turned right side out the feet were inside. Ugh! I ripped out the seam, put them the right way and sewed it back up.
I left a hole at the top, which should have been at the bottom, to pull the fabric out. Umm yeah, with the other pieces glued it made the fabric super stiff and hard to maneuver. Geez! I finally got him right side out but that’s where I left him. I figured it wasn’t worth wasting my filler for him. Actually I think this little project might be too advanced for me at this point so I might put this pattern on the back burner for a while. But this also means I really need to get more familiar with my machine and I need to get better.
Guess it’s back to the drawing board for more projects. And without further ado, here are the pics. He’s terrible, I know this {and I’m a little shocked I’m going to put it out here.}
~k
This is before I realized I put the feet on wrong. But they are at least facing the right way. 
The glued on face and body. 
The finished product. Well the back of it. Not too bad. -
Ranty owls?
Seriously, how hard is it to just do your job and do it well? It continues to amaze me how people just “forget” to do something. Something freaking so simple. GRRRRR! *small rant over*
In other news I have found the cutest (I hope) owl sewing template. I was inspired by my friend Christi over at Beach Dreams and Love Always. She posted the cutest little owl yesterday on Facebook. (She is an amazing sewer, too bad she doesn’t live close to me. 🙁 It has inspired me to make one of my own. I found a template last night on Pinterest and I’m going to print it off today at work. Then, well we’ll see how it actually turns out. I’m still not feeling super great with my sewing abilities. I think it would help to have someone show me how to use my machine. I think I’m a better hands on kind of person. Reading things and trying to figure out isn’t really good for me.
According to the weather report it should be nice and rainy this week, and well there is a complete lack of TV shows on right now, so hopefully I can hole myself up in the bonus room for a little while to knock this little owl out of the park. I’ll post pics when I’m done.
~k
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Just another Monday
Nothing like leaving your laptop at home to start your Monday! I got all the way to work before I realized my computer was at the house. I called Matt but he was already gone. Ughh! Thirty minutes later I was back at the office up and running.
Our weekend was pretty unproductive. It was entirely too hot all weekend to do anything but we still ran a few errands on Saturday. We heard the Room Store down the street from us was going out of business so I wanted to stop by and see what they had. I am still on the hunt for bedroom furniture and if I could find a set on clearance, that would be great. As we were passing we noticed the store wasn’t open so we continued on to Petsmart.
Sunday was much of the same. We ran to the grocery and looked to see if the Room Store was open. No such luck. We’re going to have to figure this out though because I want to check out what they have. There was also record heat yesterday. The temps got up to 105.8 at RDU for a little while. Umm, that is just TOO damn hot! Thankfully it’s supposed to cool off this week.
I also finished book 3 of the Fifty Shades series. I’m thinking this might be a record for me. I am super slow reader so 3 books in 2ish weeks. That’s pretty good. I will say I enjoyed the books, mommy porn aside, there was a decent plot and I don’t feel so bad for getting sucked in. 😉
~k
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Oh hula hoop
***This was originally posted on my old blog. A little throwback Friday. Enjoy!
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Originally posted on May 5, 2011.
As I said yesterday we have had spirit week at work this week and I am not a hula hoop champ. However there may be a little video of me hula hooping.
~k
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The day I was on CNN – flashback post
Today some coworkers and myself were talking about various things and the subject came up of “being famous”. I chimed in that I had been interviewed for CNN. So with that, I’ll leave you with a #flashbackfriday post from 2010 when I was published on CNN. 🙂
Originally posted 11-18-10
I was so excited that M was home last night it made my head spin. Literally. I went to lay down with him and the room started spinning. Nothing says “Welcome home” more than, I have to vomit now. I woke up this morning still feeling ill so I called in to say I’d be out.
I finally moved to the couch in hopes I would start to feel a little better. I started surfing the net and saw a post on the DW board about a bridal shop in Chicago burning down. Then on FB there was a link to a google doc where you could put down your information if you had a dress you could donate. Gee, there is one in my closet. I immediately signed up and linked to pics of the dress. Within minutes I had an email from CNN asking if they could use pics of my dress and would I mind doing an interview. I responded that I had uploaded pics to the site and I would be happy to interview. A few minutes later my cell phone rang. OMG CNN is calling me. I spoke to the reporter about why I would donate my dress and how I would feel if that had happened to me. She said she would send me a link to the article once it was up.
I immediately called M, who didn’t answer. Next I called my mom, who didn’t answer, so I called back and told her the story. M finally called back and I explained to him what was going on.
A few minutes ago I got an email with a link to the article. And what is the first thing you see? MY DRESS! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I’m quoted on CNN! How amazing! And more amazing are all the girls willing to help and donate their dresses. I know not many people read this but I am including the link to the article which also links to the google doc.
If you have a dress please consider how you would feel if, before you wore it, it was destroyed in a fire. Help other brides.
http://ireport.cnn.com/blogs/ireport-blog/2010/11/18/acts-of-kindness-for-brides-who-lost-their-gowns
~k
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Adverse reaction
When I was in 4th grade, I was in my first car accident. My neighbor and my mom would take turns carpooling. Well it was Paula’s turn to pick us up from school. One of her daughter Heather’s friends needed a ride to the Y for dance. The Y was maybe a mile, mile and a half from school so Rachel hopped in and off we went. We were crossing main street, a four lane road, when a truck pulled out in front of us and we t-boned him.
Heather and I were in the back seat of the blazer with Heather sitting in the middle. As soon as we hit, Heather hit her face on the center console. I hit the back of the passenger side seat. Once everything stopped Heather sat up, blood running from her mouth. She had braces at the time and her mouth was a mess. The rest of us were pretty much okay. I think Paula and Rachel had their seat belts on but I know Heather and I did not. This was the 80’s and even before that accident I’m not sure I really wore my seat belt in the front seat. {That clearly changed after.} Thankfully everyone was for the most part fine. I think Heather went to the doctor but it was nothing major, just a badly busted lip.
At 16 I was at the end of our street about to turn when the truck in front of me decided to back up. Right into my car. I’d had my license maybe a month and as an inexperienced driver I didn’t know what to do. A few months later on Halloween day I totaled said car. I was taking a friend to school, she had wrecked her car the week before. Well we got to the same spot she wrecked in and traffic was stopped. By traffic I mean the 2 cars in front of me. I stopped and proceeded to watch the car behind me slam into my car. Four car pile up and my took the brunt of everything. To make matters worse I couldn’t get in touch with my parents. My dad was on a day trip I didn’t know about and mom was headed to Montgomery. I called a friends parents and they picked me up and took me home. I then called the place my mom was headed to and left a message. My mom rushed home and we went to inspect the damage.
I was 18 I think when I hit a barrel. I swerved to avoid another driver. Thankfully the driver knew it was her fault and she paid for my new mirror.
The other day there was a really bad wreck on 40. At first I couldn’t see all the cars but as I passed I noticed a small car that was destroyed. I took a deep breathe, tried to compose myself and then the tears started. I called Matt to talk for a minute and seemed to help but not before I had a mountain of tears streaming down my face. I composed myself before I entered the office but for years now this has been my reaction to accidents. I don’t have to see it happen, I don’t have to know anyone involved. Just seeing a car torn apart is enough to send me over the edge. Maybe I have PTSD. 🙂 Just the thought of someone being hurt freaks me out and makes me sad. I know I have a huge heart. 😉
~k
