Weekly Reflections - Week Twenty-Two....

At Home

It was cold outside this week here on Drywood Creek as the kids were inside fighting head colds. They were supposed to sing last Sunday in church, but when Levi woke at 5:00 a.m. throwing up, the plans changed. Thankfully, everyone was feeling some better for our Middle School Book Club on Wed, in which we discussed Call of the Wild by Jack London. Stay tuned for a future post.

Last night, our CM Study Group met to discuss the final chapters of Consider This by Karen Glass. I'll be posting more about the second half of the book in the near future as well.

Around the Web

This week Brandy shared The Best Kept Secret of Homeschooling. Did I ever tell you I homeschool just as much for my sake as the sake of my children ;-)

The Answer to the #1 Question Homeschoolers Ask Me may surprise you.  It did me, but it shouldn't have since it's a question on my mind. You can listen here if you don't have time to read. 

Yesterday, I listened to Schole Sisters Podcast 7, Virtual Scholé Sisters Groups and Technology Tools. I'm not very techy, but Brandy and Amber presented some wonderful ideas for finding your sisters online. 

In Fashion

I pretty much live in jeans. I am 5'6", which is about average height here in the U.S., but for some reason it seems jeans come with a length more suited to 6' women. Sometimes I roll the bottom over, which I know is not very fashionable, but the alternative of tripping and breaking my neck doesn't sound fashionable either. So recently, I decided to attempt shortening my jeans. 

Now, I don't know a ton about sewing so my method may seem a bit crude to the experienced seamstress. However, it worked and only took me about an hour to finish five pair. First, I found a pair of jeans that was the right length. Next, I laid them on top of a pair that was too long, being careful to line them up at the waist and crotch. From there, I cut the bottom of the longer pair off, leaving about 1/2 to 3/4" hemline. No, I didn't measure anything. I simply eye balled it. 

 

Next, I folded the bottom under to line up with the foot of my sewing machine. This helped me guide the pant leg through evenly since I wasn't measuring anything. After the first pair, I did realize it was much easier to pin the pant leg under before sewing. This took a bit of time, but saved a whole lot of headache. 

See Melissa concentrate, ha!...Ruben was taking pictures as I was sewing. I should note, I chose my least favorite pair of jeans to sew first in case my experiment went astray. Thankfully, it was a success and I was able to add five pair of pants to my wardrobe that are actually now the right length!  See the variation of lengths that I cut off...

I know many people are able to buy jeans from the store the right length or have them professionally altered. However, we live on a fixed income and all our clothes are second hand, bought from thrift shops and thrift sales. I usually go for fit around the waist and hips as well as comfort, not worrying about length. I typically spend anywhere from $1 to $8 on jeans, most of which are name brand. Finally being able to hem them myself is very gratifying and it really wasn't that hard. Best of all, if I wouldn't have told you, you would have never noticed :)