InspiredElectrons
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Make-it Fridays. Or Mondays. Whatever.
Mar 11th
This name I borrowed from my awesome friend with electric blue hair, Amanda Roberts, owner of Geek Details. She holds weekly gatherings where it’s an open invitation for people to come over and make things. I think they started at Make-it Mondays, and then she switched it to Fridays (scroll down a bit on her page to read about it). Or the other way around. Whatever. I’m contemplating copying this tradition. How fun would it be to weekly get together and make stuff together?! Thoughts?
Moving on. Last Sunday I posted about my goal of doing a weekly project. I’m happy to report that I’ve completed that goal! And, my other goal of blogging about it, obviously. My sweet friend, Keeley, told me she was excited to see what I chose. So here we go! In my ridiculously overstuffed evernote folder of project ideas, I have this tutorial for adding side panels to too-small or armpits-are-yucky shirts. I had a bunch of cheap t-shirts from Forever 21, in various colors. I loved the bright colors, but in their cheapness, they had shrunk. This was all due to the fact that they were $4 each and nothing whatsoever to do with me gaining weight ;) Here they are, all in their wrinkly glory:
(The red one I had already re-fashioned for last year’s Jimmy Eat World Concert. I cut the logo from a too-big shirt that was a too-small shirt for Phil and sewed it onto the currently-fitted-me red shirt.)
Next step, choosing which fabric to use for the side panels. That was a hard decision. I was starting with the bright blue shirt and chose a fabric.
Warning: Kitties like fabric. And cameras.
Then I realized I didn’t want any white fabric bc then that would eventually lead to yucky armpits. So I changed my mind, and I’m glad I did!
. 
This is a knit fabric that I rescued from my mom’s fabric supply. This is legit knit from the 80′s! Love the retro-ness of it! It turned out so cute!
It was perfect for wearing to the farmer’s market last Sunday when the weather, obvious by my shorts, was beautiful! I also kept going and did the teal shirt, and also the black one.
These ones had both shrunk up lengthwise. I didn’t realize that until I had finished the teal one, so I added length to the black one. I might go back one day and do the same for the teal.
So this kept me busy this week whenever I felt like doing something productive. It also gives me a nice addition to my wardrobe for free!
On to this week’s project! Actually, I’ve already completed it, but it was so easy that I don’t think it counts. So I might have two projects to blog about next week. We’ll see …
Google Reader, You’ll Be the Death of Me
Mar 4th
One of my favorite things to do on my mornings off is to make a cup of coffee (I use the Peruvian from Adventure Coffee Roasting and the amazing, everyone-who-drinks-coffee-must-have Aeropress) and read my feeds on google reader. My list of subscriptions is pretty long, and they all have to do with cooking, crafting, or sewing. Any others are friends’ blogs, or just plain humorous ones. My system is to read and when I find a recipe or project I want to do, I clip it into my evernote. That way it’s tucked away for later, and I’m not overwhelmed by all the endless ideas.
I’m very good with actually following through on the recipes I clip. That makes sense. I love to cook, and well, we need to eat dinner, so that’s easy motivation. My projects, however, … yeah. I’m clipping way more than I’m actually doing. I’m not overwhelmed, just a little disappointed in myself for not taking the initiative to do them. I need that creative outlet. I have plenty of time (Sorry, not trying to rub it in for full-time working and/or mommy peeps!). Sooooooo, what’s the excuse? GOOGLE READER! I think I’m enjoying spending more time reading it and clipping ideas. Then I move on to something else, like cleaning, or errands, or laziness.
So, new goal. I will do something from my “projects” folder once a week. And then blog about it (Say what? Consistent blogging from Jenny?).
And I’m off! Right after I pick something first.
Ok, that took 15 minutes. But I have something! Stay tuned.
Guessing Game
Dec 3rd
We get to travel somewhere in May. Somewhere overseas. For a month. Phil will be the sound man for a jazz group, which means all his expenses paid and then some.
Here’s your clue. Ready? I made it super hard…
Yup. China. (!!!!!!). We get to go for a month from mid-May to mid-June. I don’t know many details yet. I just know we’re going to the major cities. Phil will have to work some days, but not every day. Everything is being arranged for us, including our visas. We just go where this group goes. I will, of course, find out the details soon. We just found out this week that I would be able to go, which was Phil’s condition to accepting the job. All together now, “awwwwwwww”.
Kitchen Efficienizing (Part 2 cont’d)
Oct 10th
So there’s been a lull in the kitchen work, but never fear! I’m back on track! I (finally) finished the backsplash. I have a tendency to start things and not finish them. I finally got sick of looking at the partly done backsplash. The main thing that was keeping me was the cutting. I had to cut the tiles perfectly to fit into those weird places. I finally thought of a solution: I cut out squares of paper the same size and used those to test first. It worked!
Tada!
d
Dratz. You can see water spots. Oh well. That’s what a backsplash is for, right?
Left of sink
I think this spot is my favorite. I could just stand and stare at its shininess all day long.
So that concludes the backsplash project. Total amount of time? Maybe 2 hours. Total amount spent? ~$70 (includes matching switch plates). We are SUPER happy with the results!
Next up, Part 3. Here’s a teaser:
Can you tell what’s new? Super excited about these!!!
“Help Jenny With Her Garden” Party!
Aug 28th
Last Saturday, six friends came over to help me build a new garden in the front yard. They were bribed with food and booze did it out of the goodness of their hearts. Why was I building yet another garden? Because we finally figured out the problem with my stunted veggie production. The location! Here is how their days were going:
Sun rises, birds sing, music from nowhere serenades the start of the day
Wow this shade is great!
Arggggggggg my eyes! My skin! I’m burning! I must be in hell! (aka it’s noon and the hottest part of the day)
Whew! The heat is gone. But I’m too fried to produce anything. I’m just going to curl up and protect myself. Sucks for the other plants that have to get sun until nighttime.
And there, my friends, was the problem. The plants need sun all day from the minute they are planted. That helps them acclimate to the increasing heat. A garden in the front yard would be south facing and receive sun all day, especially during the winter when the sun patterns change. So a new garden bed in the front it is! Bonus – it’s irrigated out there. Woot woot! Here are some snaps of the fun:
Manly men digging up the hard soil
Yes, us girls actually did work, not stand around looking cute.
Bribery
Sweaty and fed
Thanks everyone! You're the best!