Fred the shirt of red.

Before I tell you about Fred I would like to say a few things about my mom. She is an amazing woman that can look at things (crafts, decorations, clothes) and make them. My whole life I remember her sewing and making crafts. Looking at things in magazines or books and just knowing how to make them. She is an incredibly fast learning and a talented woman. I have yet to meet one like her. To this day the sound of a sewing machine makes me sleepy, the distinct smell of the machine lubricant reminds me of that serious yet beautiful concentrated face, and the soft glow of it's light brings me anticipation for the finish product.

Mom, thank you for letting me be apart of your "craft room," watching and eagerly awaiting the newest treasure you made. I wish I had more of the dresses you so lovingly created for me, I show them off often, waiting for the day my daughters can wear them. My fondest childhood memories, that suddenly bring a smile to my face when I so desperately miss you and my family, are filled with hot glue guns, the smell of rose popuri, the scratchiness of tulle, the warmth of fresh press fabric, the constant drumming of a sewing machine and you. Your beauty, your voice, and your infectious smile that makes me smile, I can remember as clear as day. (Yes even when I was pouting I was smiling on the inside.) Thank you for being patient, kind, hopeful, loving, and believing I can do anything I think of. This dress was one of those few times I had your talent to look at something and make it. Thank you with all my heart.


Onto Fred, today Lily is suppose to wear something red for her Dr. Suess read across America week. Her teacher has chosen "Fox in Socks." A wonderful children's book (very hard to read though). Lily doesn't really have very much red things. I showed her the 3 shirts she has and told her she could wear one for Friday. Her reply was she wish she had a red dress but that was okay she would wear one of the shirts. I asked if she wanted me to buy her a dress and she said, "No mommy, that's okay. I don't need a red dress for just one Friday. You can buy something for you." *Heart-breakingly sweet* While I was running my errands I drove past a thrift store called Value Village. I LOVE this thrift store. It couldn't hurt to look, right? As I approached the door I notice a sign "half off all items except new ones." Now being the bargain huntress that I am HOW can I not look now? After carefully examining most of the girls clothes I did not found a red dress in Lily's size. I would not be despaired. I'll just take a men's shirt and turn it into a dress. I have seen plenty of upcycled things on etsy and pinterest. This is where I met Fred. An extra-large, Puritan, long sleeved, button down shirt for $4.50 because of the sale he was $2.25. He will become Lily's new dress.

You will need:
a shirt that fits your child as a template
a men's button down shirt (I went with a XL)
1/2 yard of contrast fabric (this is optional)
2 elastic pieces 3/4 in wide by 11 in long. More or less might be needed. Measure the length from right above armpit front to right above the armpit in the back.
measuring tape
scissors
sewing machine
matching thread
iron
water (stay hydrated!)

Since my Lily is at school I will use one of her shirts as a template. Measure the shirt just under the sleeves. My measurement was 26. Now I want to add a 1 1/2 inches for seam allowances and just a little wiggle room. Lily's total dress length from her underarm is 21 inches long this should hit her right at the knee.

1) Remove any pockets. Turn the shirt over along the back of men's button shirts there is a seam along the top running horizontally, cut the shirt close to this seam. Cut the sleeves off. Remove the collar. I do keep the shirt buttoned up the whole time. (You can barely see the seam in this photo)

2)  The back of the shirt will become the front of the dress. Remember that top of the shirt with the horizontal seam that I told you to cut? From that piece cut the front part of the bodice. My piece is 13 3/4 inches long by 3 inches high. I use this as a template to cut the back piece of the bodice. I use a total of  3/4 inch when I make my finished edges. So I when I cut the back part of the bodice I want to make sure I leave enough room above the button to make a finished seam. Sew this finished edge now.

3) I am going to make a flutter sleeve for my dress. So I am going to make a straight cut and keep the curved edge. I can't really tell you how wide the strap needs to be but my measurement along the white line was 2 inches.

4) Take the remaining body of the shirt and cut it into a rectangle, this will be the skirt portion of the dress. Mine was 16 inches long. If you like the curved bottom that most shirts have it is okay to keep it. I wanted to add a ruffle on the bottom so I made the bottom straight.

5) Optional piece #1: Cut a 8 inch X 2 inch piece of fabric. You can use part of the sleeve but I used some of my contrast fabric. This I used in between the sleeves along the bodice.
Option piece #2: Cut 2 rectangles that measure 4 inches by 45 inches. This will be the ruffles on the bottom
Option piece #3:  Use any pockets from the men's shirt as a template. now I wasn't planning on making pockets so I didn't take any photos of them.
These pieces can be made out of a contrast material.

Sewing:

1) Drink some water. Go to the bathroom. Eat before you start. Make sure any children are occupied, feed, and or sleeping. Just all the little things that might stop your progress.

2) Cut out all pieces and if you have a Serger sewing machine serge all edges. If you don't have a Serger you can sew a zig zag stitch along all edges (or leave them raw it is really up to you)

3) If you are adding the ruffle on the bodice make a finished seam along the top and gather the bottom edge.

4) Find the middle of the bodice and the middle of the ruffle. Sew the ruffle to the bodice.

5) Sew the back of the bodice and the front of the bodice at side seams. 

6) Press the curved edge of the sleeve and sew to make a seam. On the straight edge make a 1 inch casing for the elastic. 

7) Pull the elastic through the casing. Place the bodice on top of the shirt you are using for a template. Pin the sleeves in place. Mark where the sleeves will go. 

8) Make a men along the bottom of the ruffle, if you are making one and attach it to the bottom of the skirt portion of the dress.

9) Gather the top of the skirt and pin it to the bodice. I normally refuse the gather and just use my Serger but on this step I suggest gathering. Sew skirt to bodice. 

10) Since I only took one picture of the pockets it will be a little hard to visualize. I cut 2 pockets using the shirt pocket as a template. I also cut 2 pieces of fabric the same width of the pockets and about 2 inches tall. I attached this to the top of the pocket and finished all sides before I sewed it to the dress. At this point I suggest trying the dress on and making sure the sleeves and pockets are where you want them to be. Pin pockets and sleeves in place. 

Carefully take off the dress and attach the sleeves and pockets to the dress. Ta-dah! It is FINISHED!!!! I really think since I forget to take pictures I should just do videos but I don't know how to edit videos.... Wow total fail. I hope you were able to follow along. Hopefully my next sewing project will be easier to understand and follow. 

If there is anything you would like to see made leave me a comment. If I can make it I'll post a tutorial. Tune in next time same Ronnie place!

......Again so serious and no humor..... What's happened to Ronnie?

Playroom to Gym...

So I was talking about my dilemma about the kid's playroom well it was bad. I was cleaning that room a lot. Since I had enough with the mess, cleaning, and the toy breaking that I decided to make it into a home gym. So this is what the play room looks like everyday when the girls go to bed. (Which was really ticking me off.)

So I cleaned it up. I took apart everything that needed to be taken apart, bagged all the toys, threw away all the crayon pieces, and Ta-dah! There is a floor there. Who knew? Yep all those boxes and drawers had labels and pictures to tell the girls what goes inside so the room was easy to clean. 

So what did we add? An exercise bike, a computer desk, my desktop (hopefully I'll be able to fix it soon), and an ottoman to sit on (since we really don't have a desk chair plus the ottoman fits under the desk nicely).
The baskets have Pilates items, weighted vest, resistance bands, wrist and ankle weights, small medicine ball, and a jump rope. Because I am totally going to jump my fat happy butt in an upstairs room. Like I even know how to jump rope. I look like a lead ball trying to skip. We also put in and over the door resistance trainer. We are still deciding if we are going to take the big desk and the computer stuff out and just put the TV and Xbox on the smaller corner desk. Which means I'm still trying to convince J of this idea. I would have taken pictures after we got the Xbox but I think you know what it looks like. I had to convince and lie to my husband to hide the silly thing so he would have known something was up if I didn't take pictures of the "finish product".

 So what's next you ask? I really don't know. I got an armoire for Christmas that I am planning on turning into my sewing/craft storage. I have been buying pieces slowly but surely to organize it. I love seeing them on pinterest and I thought, "I can totally do that!" So will it be my armoire? A sewing project? Another decluttering? Recipes? Who knows. Stay tuned til next time!

sadness supreme....

well our internet is down. im not happy about it either. so my once our internet is up and running i will post pics of our new work out room. also i cant use my shift or alt button on this phone. sorry to the grammar police. so hopefully ill have my net up and running by friday. wish me luck.

No I'm not dead......

So long time, no post. Well to be honest we have had a crazy last 3 weeks. On one of the mommy forums I am on, a mommy said something about a challenge to get rid of 2012 things in the year 2012. REALLY?!? Who has that much stuff just chilling in their house? Obviously me, since I thought, "YES! I can totally do that!" Well you would be surprised as to how much stuff you might actually own. So I am proud to say my garage is finally down sized! In just the garage alone I have gotten rid of:

29 Books
13 Cds
22 Empty cd and dvd boxes
3 Photo albums that had nothing in them
8 Broken picture frames that I swore I would replace the glass or glue the corner
300 Articles of clothing!!! O_o I didn't know we had so much! Most of it was rags, kids clothes and mismatched socks. I know why did I have mismatched socks in my garage? I don't know...
5 Back packs
1 Elliptical machine
2 Dvd players
1 Entertainment Center
1 Dresser, which I am totally kicking myself in the pants since my little one just broke hers!!!
1 Book case with no shelves
100 Holiday decorations
For a total of 486 items NOT including trash, which yes there was packaging stuff, boxes and the like.

Now for the house:

43 Books
13 Cookbooks
1 Shelving unit
2 Crockpots
27 Pieces of kid's dishware
30 Articles of clothes that no longer fit just my husband or me (and I plan to get rid of more)
14 Nick knacks around the house
18 Pieces of glassware
That comes to a total of 148 items inside my house and a grand total of 634 unwanted/unused items around my house!!!

I know, huh? I still have a lot to do! What the heck is this chick doing up and 0338? What am I doing up this early you ask? Well I am getting a start on the kitchen and getting a load of laundry done before my young ones wake up because today I am going through their clothes and getting rid of all their toys. BEFORE I get any hate mail let me say this, my youngest daughter (Boo) has destroyed all her big sister's (Lily) toys. Ever last one. I do not think it is fair to let Boo keep hers and make Lily throw her broken ones out or to give Lily all of Boo's toys. So away they shall go. The only ones not broken are a couple teddy bears and the Leapster Explorer. So more shall be purged from my house later today.

How did I get side tracked with this you ask? Well we had gotten the garage done one weekend and that Monday while Lily was at school I was dusting the book shelves and the books when I thought, "I don't read these at all anymore. I know the books by heart. Why am I keeping these?.......Goodwill it shall GO!!!" And it started. Slowly but surely as I accomplished my daily chores/routine I gathered up items and would take them to Goodwill each day.


Why is she donating them instead of having a garage sale? I would love to have a garage sale and get back some of my money but this is what got us in the clutter mess to begin with. I would rather take things straight to donations then have the problem I am having now. I have a completely great deep freezer for sale on Craigslist. It has been there for almost 3 weeks and no one will buy it. I have answered annoying emails about measurements, weight, color (even though I have a picture), cubic footage, etc, etc, etc. I just want it gone. My husband (J) and I went through this stuff awhile ago and agreed we would have a yard sale when he got sometime off. It never happened. He would forget which stuff was for sale, so would I, and by the time he had a day off it was too cold. This stuff has been here over a year. So new rule the crap goes or I do. He chose me. I WIN!

So since I have the forethought this time, I will take a picture of the dirty chaos that is the playroom before and the playroom after. Since there will be no toys I have decided to turn it into our gym/computer room. If you have stuck with me for this long, I'm going to wrap up with this (FINALLY) I hate clutter, broken or unused items so I am getting rid of them this is the reason I have been gone from my blog, my mommy forum and my personal life. I challenge my hundreds of loyal close followers to purge 2012 things for this year. Look I've only been doing it for 3 weeks and I have gotten rid of 634 things. This chick is crazy if she thinks I'm going to do that!!! Too much you say? Fine try 12 items and leave me a comment with what you got rid of, please. This is Ronnie saying, "Good night and good day."

Once a month cooking?

I guess it has become very popular via the internet to cook for 3-4 days straight then freeze your food so that you only cook once a month. Pretty cool, huh? I normally cook all day Friday or Sunday so I have meals for a week. Problem? I'm a totally picky eater. I love fresh veges. Let's face facts, you freeze a vege and it becomes mush!!! So I cook the main dishes and have the side items cut up and waiting for the week. This time around I did cook meals that needed squishy veges like beef stew.

Also, little known fact, Ronnie is extremely lazy. Take the cooking for example, I don't do cook for the week to free my weeknights, I do it so I don't have to wash so many dishes. I HATE washing dishes. HATE IT!!! I know, lazy, right? No. I have had skin problems since I was little and when I wash dishes it hurts my hands. I really can't wear gloves either because of the moisture issue. So a lot of cooking on one day results in minimal dishes and ouchies during the week.

I really wish I had taken photos of this endeavor but alas I did not. So no photos of the aftermath that was my crazy weekend. I did cook more then I normally do because I had a small deep freezer full of food that needed cooking! What did I cook you ask?

-Beef Stew
-Spaghetti
-Lasagna
-Stuffed Pasta Shells
-Manwich (totally for my husband only)
-Chicken Noodle Soup
-Chicken Penne Alfredo (I will add fresh broccoli once it is rewarmed. I loves the crunchy broc broc)
-"Refried" Beans
-Carnitas
-Chicken Enchiladas (Lazy style)
-Lumpias
-Beef Pot Roast
-Breakfast Burritos


AWESOMENESS! Oh recipes would be awesome too. Well that will come little by little.

I came and I conquered!!!!

Okay let's face it, if everyone was a carpenter or if everyone had mass quantities of money or if everything in the world was free, all our houses would be organized and pretty or cluttered as all get out. In my case, if I had mad carpentry skills and the equipment needed, I would build some AWESOME organizers, shelves and the like, problem, I have tried and I suck. Next if I could afford buying the "perfect pantry" from The Container Store it would cost me roughly $663 without the shelves. Soooooo, yeah, I am NOT paying that much. Over the last few months I have been buying containers here and there. Most of them have been the same type since I want it to be pretty. Although I still need more containers, that way all of them are the exact same, I think I'm okay with it.... Well for right now. So what did I do? About a year and a half ago I tried placing everything in cardboard boxes and labeling them, well between Husband Doodle and my little helpers things have gotten out of hand. See?

A lot of the things we had were either brand new or had such a small amount we should have tossed it awhile ago. Did somethings go bad? Yes. Did I fall for the free items, cheap items and promotional ones? Yes. So after getting rid of these items I have made a new rule: I DO NOT buy anything we don't already know and love. Don't get me wrong, it is wonderful to try new things but I won't buy any new products unless I have sampled it because I do not want this mess to happen again. So for a grand total of $138.72 I bought 12 plastic bins all of them came with lids but I couldn't use lids on some of the containers, 3 sets of different plastic ware, 6 cereal bins and 1 can organizer. I do still need a spice rack and I bought a dry erase board and attached it to the door and wrote everything we had and how much we had so I can keep track of all this fun stuff. I also need to label things but that will have to wait until A) my label-er reappears or B) I buy the ones for my printer. You ready to see the beauty of an organized pantry Ronnie-style? 

Very bottom of the pantry: Cans, sugar, tomato soup, left bin is the snack bin, right bin baking supplies. 

The snack bin has snacks already divided and ready to grab. Granola bars, Goldfish crackers, fruit leather, Auntie Annie fruit snacks, just yum yums.

First shelf: Pastas, tomato paste, tomato sauce, enchilada sauce, assorted sauces (aka Manwhich) PB and Jelly.

Second Shelf: Cereals, chips, flours, rice, oatmeal, brown sugar and beans.

Bottom shelf: Left bin: just bread stuff. I hope to start making my own bread soon. Middle bin: Salad dressings, other liquid things like vinegar and oils. Individual containers of chocolate chips, trail mix, nuts. Too the far right more cereal. 

Top shelf: Left bin: can chicken, dried fruit, seasonings. Both white baskets: different spices Right bin: Assorted Asian-y goodness. 

I came. I decluttered. I conquered. 

Declutter the fridge!!!

When we moved into our house we didn't have a refrigerator and we needed one CHEAP! Well the one we bought was suppose to be complete. Well it was missing the baskets in the door, the top split shelf, the bottom shelf and the crisper. To replace all these missing pieces it was going to cost over $500 to replace these pieces let alone to ship it to us. I have bought some of the pieces like the top shelf and the missing baskets. We still need the crisper drawers and the bottom shelf which will cost me about $350, which once again, we don't have. So thanks to my gracious Mother-in-law we were able to buy things to straighten out our fridge. Here's the before:

I have to keep the meat in the bags to ensure no yuck yuck gets anywhere. We also had to keep all produce in Debbie Meyer's Green Bags, which FYI are the BEST at keeping produce fresh. We had strawberries fresh and hard (Silly lady strawberries aren't hard.) for almost 13 days. Totally the best $10 I ever spent.

Since I can't really stack things without damaging my produce I have to use the baskets. So after about an hour of washing, drying, emptying, cleaning and filling THIS is the result!!!

Very top shelf apples, oranges, broccoli, cheddar cheese, eggs, my husband doodle's lunch, breakfast burritos waiting to be frozen and milk. My second shelf has two containers to hold meat and loose things to the left. So that little drawer is my cheese and lunch meat drawer, which also has my bacon, the bottom  is basically an empty waste of space so two lettuce keepers, I'll tell you how well they work in a day or two, 3 containers with reusable tags, another bin, and a produce keeper made by Rubbermaid.

Look how pretty my door looks!!! Our butter dish had some yuck yuck in it so right now it is soaking so I can put it back. So now I have an awesome fridge not as cool as some people but I do what I can with what I have. All my new containers were from *drum roll* The Container Store. I know I have totally fallen in love with this store. So I hope inspiration ensues and motivates you to declutter somewhere in your home. Good luck!