Friday Night Photo #120

I have gotten up so late the past couple of days that it feels sickening to me--I feel like my entire day is almost gone by the time I get up! The only thing I can really contribute that to is taking the iron supplements. They have helped me SO much in several ways, including sleep. But I really don't like sleeping until late morning--time to start using the alarm clock again. Haha! (I could probably do with going to bed earlier, too.) I am so used to getting up on my own super early that I haven't used an alarm clock in forever.

Anyway, this day feels like it's going by ridiculously fast and I have quite a bit to get done. So, I'm going to get on with it. Friday night photos...

First, and I thought this was super cute, I found "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret." by Judy Blume at Goodwill. When I opened it up, I saw a note that a girl must have written for her friend. So sweet! The  was a hardcover, but the dust jacket was missing. Still, I wanted to buy it to give away or something, since I love it so much. (I never did get to go see the movie! I had planned to go with my mom for Mother's Day, but we had something big come up. Maybe we'll be able to watch it when it's available to stream.

Speaking of Goodwill, I bought several items for an experiment I'm going to try (probably next week). It's well known that I *never* wear dresses. Perhaps once every 2-3 years? I always feel good about myself when I do, though--dress, hair, make-up--and I really should do it more often.

And since I do things in extreme (are you *shocked*? hahaha) I'm going to try wearing a sundress every single day for a week (I have 11 total, so maybe I'll even aim to wear all of them). Why do I have so many when I don't wear them? Well, I only had a few before I went to Goodwill. And I got them cheap. I want to see if it makes me feel good about myself, or if I get bored with it, or if it feels like it makes no difference whatsoever. I'm just curious!

Since thrift stores are NEVER short on dresses, I flipped through the racks until I found several that I liked. I despise my upper arms, and have no plans to have surgery to remove the excess skin, so I avoid anything that shows my arms. However, sundresses are pretty much meant to show your arms! 

I'm hoping that by doing this, I'll get less self-conscious. It's kind of like exposure therapy, in a way, like my psychiatrist was talking about--doing things that cause high anxiety and the anxiety will eventually come down (it can only get so high until you spontaneously combust). (I lied about the combustion, but seriously... anxiety has a cap.)

I won't show a picture of me wearing all the dresses on this post, but yesterday I tried them on for Jerry (I had no idea until yesterday, but he has a "thing" for sundresses--why did I never know this?!). He (on his own, I did not suggest this) laid them on the bed in order of favorite to least favorite as I tried them on, hahaha.

A lot of them are sleeveless/spaghetti strap or halter top, so they show my arms big time. I'm nervous and it's super tempting to wear a shrug or jacket over them, but if the weather is warm enough, I want to try to wear them as-is. (I have a permanent farmer's tan from when I was running all the time, so that's not exactly attractive, either.)

One of the dresses--which I realized isn't pictured above, probably because I set it aside--I bought more as a "project" dress. I hated the wooden beads at the neckline, so I figured I could remove them and turn it into spaghetti straps. I absolutely LOVE how it turned out!

I had to include the black buttons along the neckline because of the tiny holes in the fabric from where the wooden beads were. It wasn't super noticeable, but I thought the black buttons looked cute there.

I'm going to alter two more parts to the dress (which is why I'm only showing the neckline now). I hope it turns out! I'll show pictures once I'm done.

Anyway, a couple of other thrift store finds:

These jeans, I did not buy--but I thought they were so cool with the fleece sewn in! If I was still having problems with being cold 100% of the time, I totally would have bought these. The entire inside, including the legs, had this fleece lining. 

I thought this dress was very ugly and wasn't considering buying it, but it made me think of this dress trend that I wish I'd been able to do because it looks so cute on other people! I'm talking about the side cutout from dresses so that it leaves the side of your waist bare. It looks so flattering and adorable on people with the right body for it, but for me--it's just a window revealing stretch marks and love handles, haha.

This is Duck's favorite time of year because he gets to watch the birds. Anyone who owns cats is probably familiar with the chirping noise cats make when they see prey. Duck will spend hours entertained by the birds outside.

Sorry for the gross picture, but Jerry had to have staples in his head from an accident at work! He hit his head pretty hard on some duct work. Of all the things to get injured by...

This is how Duck was lying on my lap. Isn't it so sweet?!

I've had this gray zip-up hoodie for a while but I didn't like the design on back (it was a picture of grapes and had some sort of saying on it--I should have taken a picture before I started this). I was going to get rid of it, along with a very large Michigan t-shirt. Then I wondered if I could cover the hoodie design with the t-shirt design. So, I used embroidery thread to sew it (in a big circle) on the back. I also replaced the wrist and waist bands of the hoodie, which I thought looked too tight for the shirt. I want to do one more thing to it (there is a design on the actual hood as well that I want to cover up) so I'll post pictures when it's done. So far, though, I really like the back! I may do something to the letters and Michigan shape on the back, too. 

This was the disaster that was my bed several days ago when I decided to organize my sewing stuff. I managed to condense it down somewhat and organize it a little better. But the only way I'll ever have everything organized and readily usable (like my sewing machine and serger, ironing board, cutting mat) is if I have my own craft room. And that will likely never happen ;)

I posted this picture a few days ago with the whole story, but I was very close to being attacked by the dog in the center here. It was kind of a crazy story. You can find it here.

Jerry got to start playing softball again! This is HUGE news for him. He absolutely loves softball and his employer used to sponsor a team. They quit doing that several years ago, but this year, they were finally able to do it again. So, he'll be playing double headers on Monday nights. I really like his work friends, and I'm excited to go watch him play. Seeing him play on Monday was so much fun--I haven't seen him so happy in a while! And it was cool to watch him interact with his friends.

Jerry's coworkers kept calling Noah "little Jerry" (Noah's on the far right). I don't think they look alike! Eli definitely looks like my family. Regardless, I have three great-looking guys, don't I? ;)

Eli, Jerry, and Noah

Jerry and I don't have a headboard on our bed (super annoying!) so we have this large wedge pillow that goes between the wall and the bed. Estelle has claimed that as her favorite place to sleep, now. Unfortunately, she purrs SO loudly, but it's sweet that she likes to sleep by my head.

A little while later, Duck decided to come lie on my lap as well. And Joey was up on the bed. Phoebe was actually behind Duck, but you can't see her in the pic. 

And there we have it! No big plans this weekend; Jerry is off, but the weather looks iffy, so I don't know what we plan to do. Have a great weekend! xo