Charting Your Own Course - Wearing Your Own Style

Look what I found on a website while looking for wardrobe planning.  This is an Issac Mizrahi dress for Target from 2008.  I guess Noble and I are behind the times; but actually I like the one I made for her much better.

What do you think?

I've always, and I mean always, worn what I wanted without too much regard for what was in style.  After all, I'm a pale skinned, red-headed, modest dresser.  I made my own styles.  And surprisingly, many times I was ahead of the game.  What I wore one season would come in style the next year.  It was uncanny.  At other times though I was behind the curve and by the time I got something it was past its prime.  But when you're a little nobody like me, who cares?  Now in my fifties, and with a matronly (read fat) figure it is impossible to look stylish.  (See below: I look TOP heavy in that outfit when I really have a fairly even hourglass figure.)

 
           So Today I am Serious!

Sewing Journal

In June, after Noble moved out, I was setting up my sewing room and had a flash of inspiration so I grabbed an old spiral notebook and began a sewing journal in which I wrote down all of the "To Do" projects as I found them while organizing the room.  Since then as I've finished a project or finished a piece of mending I've noted the date and checked it off the list.  Today I was able to, at long last, check off the T-Shirts for JET.  Remember those.  Oh my goodness.  I guess I'm kind of dense or rather a perfectionist who couldn't see the easiest solution until I'd finished two of them.  As I was serging the side seam of the third one I discovered that the easiest way to do them was to serge the side seam from the bottom up all the way to the end of the sleeve without unpicking under the arm of the sleeve.  After I followed that prompting I was able to finish the other three in less than an hour.  Thank you Lord for your tender mercies!

Completing a project is such a great feeling!  It spurs me on to complete more.  I have a deadline on the next one.  It is a patchwork quilt for a church service project.  On September 10 we are having a Day of Abundance, food of the food bank is being gathered, quilts are being made and we have a goal to fill up a truck from Salvation Army with donations.  "Because I have been given much I too must give."  Our Branch is making five quilts and I have one of them.  After I get the quilt done I will begin on my Autumn/Winter wardrobe.  I'd like to have some "Me-Made" days this winter.  Then on to Christmas presents.  I think I could sew from now until I die and never run out of projects.  But that's okay, I'm never bored!   

Today I Am Serious

That is part of my new mantra:  "Today I am serious about being healthy, losing weight and being physically fit."  Like most others I want to exercise and diet for one day and achieve my goals.  Sort of like practicing the violin once and playing like Itzhak Perlman.  Like that's gonna happen.  So I finally got it through my aging brain that reaching my goal is going to take a whole lot of todays.  Each day that I consciously choose to exercise and eat correctly will bring me closer to my goal.  The more days I chose to be serious the faster I will reach my goal.  Therefore Today I Am Serious.

In other news:  Noble is doing great at school despite logistical challenges like not being at liberty to go off post; not having a mail box to receive mail; not having a working computer, etc.  She is, however, having the sweet experience of being liked by a guy whom she likes at the same time.  This is a new experience for her.  Learning the language is progressing; she feels ahead in some ways from all the time she spent listening to K-Pop, watching Korean Dramas, and other television shows; and learning the Korean alphabet ahead of time.

Elder PW's letter this week was more upbeat; with new people to teach and a baptism on the horizon he is encouraged and happy.

JET began school last week and likes college; he has a good job at a car dealership which he likes.  Next two steps is finding the right living situation close to school and work and then getting a new (to him) car.  He attended the Singles ward this week and was gratified to have been scoped out by all the girls as well as having two of the cutest sit by him during the meetings.  Can't get happier than that for an 18 year old boy.

Doc Brown (almost 15) and Dandylion (13) come home most days with good things to say about school.  They both like learning and enjoy the small classes and attention of the small school here.  Doc Brown is so named because of his penchant for coming up with ideas for inventions and innovations a la Back to the Future.

And there's the latest news from the Heartland.

School Started Today - And other life changes

I still can't get used to school beginning before Labor Day.  But here in Iowa, ready or not, school begins the third week of August.  TopDad teaches woodshop, drafting, keyboarding, small engines, and an eighth grade exploratory class at the local Middle/High School.  (Our town is smaller than the high school I attended in San Diego)  Our two youngest boys are in ninth and eighth grades.  We had breakfast together today, read a chapter in the New Testament, had family prayer and they were out the door.

HOWEVER!  I am not alone as I had been looking forward to.  No, I am the caretaker of two very little boys, ages 4 and 2.  Sons of the neighbors across the street.  This came to be because I had prayed for a way to earn a little money to fill in the gaps of our budget; the neighbor prayed to find someone close and dependable to tend her two boys.  So here we are.  I get a chance to use all the patience I've developed over the years!

Jet, the recent HS graduate, is working in Council Bluffs and preparing to begin college on Monday.  He's getting his wisdom teeth out tomorrow and hoping to be hired for a different job at a extended-stay hotel which includes a room, so he can move to CB and live close to school, work and play.

Noble is at Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California studying Korean.  She's doing well and very happy.

Elder PW has been sick with a cold this week, but otherwise in good spirits, and pressing forward.

Yesterday was my first day tending Little Boy and Cutie Bug, and it brought back all the suppressed memories of how time consuming and exhausting having little ones around is.  Wow!  The best thing about children is that they grow up!  They learn to dress themselves, feed themselves, wash themselves, entertain themselves (boys are always better at this than girls, in my opinion), converse intelligently, etc.  So any mothers of young children reading this, press forward with steadfast faith--whatever stage you are in--it is not forever.

Along with all the usual household chores, and the new responsibilities for little people, I am an early morning Seminary teacher!  Am I crazy?  This will be a challenging year, but my mantra is "I need the money."

Sometimes it is impossible to cut expenses anymore, so the alternative is to raise income.  I'm thankful I can do something at home, allowing me a modicum of freedom to get things done.