I’ve got  a new sweater that I really love.  Only it’s not a new sweater, it’s an old boxy oversized men’s pullover that was sitting in the Goodwill bin.  Then I saw these tutorials on Angry Chicken (also this one) about restyling sweaters.

Since I had no cute trim in the house (it’s been so long since I sewed anything), I nearly despaired of fulfilling my urge to spruce up some knitwear.   Then I remembered seeing a tutorial on “Sewing with Nancy” about making a lettuce-edge on knits with a zigzag stitch.  (See, zoning out to PBS in the middle of the afternoon when the children are sick DOES come in handy!  I knew it would someday!)

Here’s pretty much how the sweater looked before: (I didn’t take this, but it’s the same brand and almost the exact style)

I cut up the middle to create a cardigan, chopped off the sleeves to leave a 3/4 length with a large cuff, fitted the sides and sleeves a little more (zigzagging over the cut edges inside), and lettuce-edged around the front neck, all the way around the front and bottom hem back to the neck, then the cuffs.

And here’s the finished product!

The ruffly edge is insanely easy - you just use a really small tight zigzag and stretch the fabric as it goes under the needle.

I like to wear this around the house to dress up my “mommy uniform.”  If I can pull together the right outfit, I might even wear it to church!

Total time from finding the sweater and threading the machine to putting it on:  2 hours.  A nice Saturday afternoon project.  Restyling old clothes saves money, and it is a good way to “reduce recycle reuse”.  Cheap, fast and good - that’s hard to find in this world!

Please read the letter below and feel free to contact Rev. Hevrin directly if you can help develop - or wish to contribute to - his project.  Remember, he cannot accept money, only the actual shoes.

Dear Friends-Brothers and Sisters-Family,

I have grown into a person who believes that God has taught me: life is to be LIVED. In that belief I have become a person who LIVES in the idea that life is not about IF. Life is about HOW. Vision, helping people, making a difference in this world has to be about HOW. Surely Jesus is not about if we can accomplish.  Surely Jesus is about HOW we can accomplish.

I have a vision, that the men and women of 3-71 CAV will be given the opportunity to give out shoes to the Afghani people in the area of operation we serve. The soldiers I serve work hard doing “what they do”. Part of “what they do” is giving out HUMANITARIAN AID.

The people of this region would be blessed with shoes–such a simple blessing; but real and affective at making a difference in a persons life.  I cannot legally ask you for a donation. So…I am asking for people of vision to search out their hearts and ask, “How can I provide shoes for the soldiers of 3-71 CAV to give away to the Afghani people”?

The Peramiters:
1. This would be a direct donation to 3-71 CAV, the unit I serve as chaplain.
2. The shoes will be sent directly to me at the address listed below. (I have no access to funds to offer for postage).
3. The shoes will be given out to children, teenagers and adults as humanitarian aid.
4. Every donation will be sent a letter of thanks from me and 3-71 CAV.
5. We cannot accept money.
6. The shoes must be new, or in “good shape”.
7. Time Frame: I leave that up to you. My hope would be for our soldiers to have these shoes to distribute by June 1st.
8. How many? I don’t have a target number. Let’s see what God does.

I love you all. Please continue to pray for our soldiers, who everyday live in
harms way.

In Christ,
Brian Hevrin
Chaplain (CPT)
3-71 CAV 3rd BCT
10th Mountain Div LI

Address:
Hevrin, Brian
TF Iron Titan
HHT 3-71 CAV
FOB Altimur
APO, AE 09364

And if you do watch, you still might not realize what a great opportunity it is.  The PFP challenge is a sponsored fundraiser for Feeding America - a network of food banks across the US.  You know how public TV and public radio will issue “pledge challenges”, when some big-time donor will match all pledges dollar-for-dollar during a time period?  Basically, this works the same way, only instead of pledging money, you are pledging to lose weight.

For every pound you lose during the challenge, their sponsors will donate one pound of food (10 cents) to the Feeding America organization. That money will be used to buy food for needy families.

So if you are already working on a weight-loss goal, now that you know about it the question becomes - WHY AREN’T YOU DOING THIS? It costs you NOTHING, it takes less than 5 minutes to sign up, and you are ALREADY trying to lose weight. Talk about multi-tasking, something you are doing for yourself becomes a way to help others too!

I’ve pledged to lose 10 pounds, which would have been 10 pounds in 12 weeks at the time I signed up, but is now getting a little tougher since I’ve been sick and stalled on my weight loss. At the end of the challenge we all report how much weight we ACTUALLY lost, and that’s how the donation amount is counted.

The challenge ends May 5, so don’t wait! The more time you allow yourself the more pounds you’ll be able to report.

If you’re not currently losing weight, you can also send in labels and boxtops from General Mills products, or you can donate money directly to Feeding America. All the rules and pledging/donation options are outlined on the website: pfpchallenge.com

Now, there are cynics out there (and I’m one of them) who will say, “but isnt’ this just a publicity stunt for these big corporations (Subway sandwiches and General Mills foods, apparently).”  Well, yes of course it is.  Who cares?  How is that any skin off my back, as long as they donate the money?  Who is better off if I don’t participate, and who is worse off if I do?

I can say from personal experience, it does help with those self-sabotaging munchie moments, when you think - “if I eat this junk food (or third helping of pasta, or whatever), I’m taking food out of the mouths of hungry children.”  It’s a lot easier to choose a cup of tea instead.

Better choices for me, a helping hand to a very worthy cause, no extra time or effort out of my day.  Can’t beat that.  Go pledge (or donate) now.

Years ago, I just lit up while reading David Allen’s book Getting Things Done.  One of the important concepts is how “open loops” cause stress.  You know how there are certain things that annoy you, get in your way, or are just weighing on your mind?  It could be anything from the way the water pools on the bathroom counter when you pump the soap, to the tedious form you have to send back to the health insurance company; the more times you think, “I REALLY have to do something about that,”  the more stress it creates.  This stress blocks you from being creative, enjoying life, and achieving your potential.

Basically, leaving those “mental loops” open makes you loopy.

You have to close those loops by doing something constructive about the problem.  Unfortunately, you can’t always drop what you’re doing and fix the thing you noticed/remembered/dreamed up at that exact moment, so you need a system to capture all those ideas and tasks.  The rest of his book is about his very organized system for keeping on top of those projects, tasks, etc.

Well, life changes and I had completely forgotten about the GTD system, when I saw a review on Lifehacker.com about “Autofocus“.  Basically, it’s a list - just one long running list in a notebook of all the things you need/want to do.  Now I’ve been doing that for years, and I have the sixty gillion notebooks to prove it.  But here’s the brilliant bit - nine times out of ten, I can do something about one of the items on the list, but haven’t finished it.

For example, “get estimate from electrician”.  Well, then you call the guy and leave a message and wait for a call back so you can make an appointment.   Now what?  I have to cross something off my list, otherwise I don’t get any of the satisfaction of keeping the stupid list in the first place and just want to tear my hair out.   But it’s not finished.  And if I cross other things off the page and move to a new page, I’m going to forget to go back and see what was leftover - I always do.  I could write every tiny detail of what it takes to finish the task: “call electrician”  “call electrician again”  “ask neighbors for new referral of electician who will return calls” “call new electrician”.

But I don’t need written proof of how annoying my life can be.

So the brilliant bit is:  when you act on an item and it is not finished, cross it off and rewrite it at the end of the list. Okay, maybe I’m just an idiot, but in 37 years I did not figure that out on my own, so maybe you didn’t either.

I’ve been keeping my new, improved, Autofocused list for a few days now and - you know what?  I really have gotten more done and fewer things have fallen through the cracks.  If you visit the Autofocus link above, there’s an explanation and tutorial about some more parts of the system, all the info is free.

Whatever your system for getting things accomplished, go close  those mental loops before your brains fall out!

zero to female in 5 minutes or less

When you’re working on 3 hours’ sleep and getting 5 minutes in the bathroom alone is like negotiating a hostage crisis, your “beauty routine” tends to fall way down on your priority list.

Even a partially-reformed slob like me can only go so long in sweats and bedhead before thinking, “Is this what I want the world to think of me?  Is this what I want my daughters to think of me?  Is this what I think of myself?”   I finally understand why my own dear mother used to put on stockings, heels, and full makeup before going to the grocery store.

But  frankly, I was fairly low-maintenance even when I was single. So I had to start from scratch to come up with a pared-down routine I could do head-to-toe in about 5 minutes, that left me feeling “done” for the day - even if no one sees me but my girls and the UPS man. They count, too.

I also had to find a way to keep it all handy in one place in the bathroom, because once I open that door I’m back on duty and won’t get another break till naptime.

Here’s my solution:

• A pretty basket (scavenged from a baby gift)
• generic hypoallergenic body lotion (knockoff of Lubriderm or Cetaphil)
• a tinted moisturizer so foundation is squirt-and-smear (this one by Olay Total Effects does leave a nice glow all day, but it also is very hard to wash off my hands and sometimes my towels pay the price)
• 3-in-1 makeup stick for eyes, cheeks and lips  (this one from Wet ‘n’ Wild 3 of a Kind is inexpensive and blends nicely for a soft, natural look)
• eyelash curler and mascara
• deodorant/antiperspirant
• comb and basic hair accessories
• watch, wedding ring and basic earrings

What’s your beauty bottom line in the morning?

Today was the last day of week 1, starting week 2 program on Saturday.  Hopefully it won’t take me 3 weeks to get through each “week” of the program!

Got my new bathroom scale, according to it I have lost 1 lb in the last 3 weeks.  It is seems to be very accurate, judging by biggirl’s weight compared to the doctor’s scale yesterday.  I’m going to weigh in again on Saturday morning, I think the pizza I ate last night has me bloated.  Then no more than once a week, don’t want to get scale crazy. (which I have done before)

And no, I don’t eat pizza every day - or every week.  Not lately.

I am eating better the last couple of weeks.  I have been reading “The Solution”, by Laurel Mellin, which is about doing inner work to overcome emotional eating and other drives that keep you struggling with weight - it’s really good and I notice I’m having a much easier time making healthy choices.

THIS MUST NOT STAND.

Granted, a lot happened since The Man put that shiny rock on my hand.  The most relevant was that my thyroid stopped working. (Wish I had known that at the time, could have saved myself years of angst and a bunch of those pounds).  But now I’m checked out, properly medicated, and have no excuses.  And I miss running - I really, really miss it, and I especially miss those days when I ran at least 3 times a week - which meant I didn’t have to watch every single bite I put into my mouth.

I’ve been walking 3 times a week for a few weeks now, but I’m just not in the kind of shape to lace up my Adidas and go for the burn a few weeks after having a baby!  Thank goodness I ran across the Couch to 5K Running Plan.

It’s an 8-week plan of interval training that is designed to build your endurance from sofa spud to 3-mile jogger, starting with 3 20-minute workouts a week.

Twenty minutes, three times a week.  I can do that.

And interval training is supposed to be the best workout for burning fat - not just while training, but for the rest of the day.  I see Bob and Jillian coaching intervals for their contestants on “The Biggest Loser” all the time.  If it’s good enough for the fabulous Jillian, it’s good enough for me.

I’ll be writing here about my progress, we’ll see how it goes.

• Healthy
• Spiritual
• Generous
• Organized
• Green
• Frugal
• Loving
• Fun
• Beautiful
• Wealthy

Don’t you?

But there are limits. Maybe it’s the nature of blogging and “niche” sites, but it seems like a lot of people out here in the netiverse are…well…(no offense) kinda nutso about whatever topic they’re writing on. Take frugality, for example. I don’t have all the money in the world - but I dont’ have all the time in the world, either. On one of my favorite sites, Hillbilly Housewife, you can find all sorts of tips on reducing your grocery budget and scratch cooking, but a lot of it trends like this:

Monday: Begin the week with a hearty breakfast. After the breakfast dishes are done, prepare the vegetables for Lentil Soup, and put the Lentils on to cook. Soak 2lbs of pinto beans in boiling water to cover for 1 or 2 hours. Half of them are for supper tonight and the other half for supper tomorrow. Punch down your bread dough which should be nicely risen by now. Divide it into 4 loaves. Allow it to rise for 1 or 2 hours and then bake. After soaking the pinto beans, boil them until tender and refrigerate. Reheat half of them for dinner and use the other half for tomorrow.

I’m sorry, that ain’t gonna happen. I have a 2 year old and a 2 month old, we’re trying to live in New York City on one income. That’s my thing, the big circumstance that affects the way I do everything. Maybe your thing is you have a 100-hour a week career, or you’re juggling work and children, or a vocation plus a day job (or two), or you’re taking care of your parents, or you have a mountain of debt, or a chronic health condition - or all of the above.

Everybody’s got something, and we haven’t got time to do everything “right”. But we can’t just throw our hands up and let entropy win. Surely, I tell myself, there have to be ways to improve, to become more the person I want to be, without making myself crazy.

So that’s what we’re doing here. Self-improvement, lifestyle design, whatever you want to call it. It’s about taking our circumstances and our desires, from pet peeves to big goals and breaking them down into doable steps.

As my beloved FlyLady says: “You do not have to have the “perfect” amount of time, the “perfect” circumstances or the “perfect” setting to accomplish something.” Don’t try to be perfect, just take what you’ve got and do some little thing every day to make it more better gooder.