I recently spotted a guy walking down the street wearing loose-fitting jeans, cut-off around mid-calf and left raw at the hem. They struck me as both comfy and funky, and I resolved to have some myself. Since my husband basically wears jeans every day, I figured he’d be a good source for an old pair. And yes, upon inquiring, I was given a worn pair that hung off my hips just perfectly!
Alas, they were worn in the butt, and there was a big hole that allowed my underwear to peak through.
No problem though. I cut off the lower legs, trimmed a patch and sewed it over the hole.
Now the only problem is I want to wear them every day! Yay for husband jeans!
May 23, 2012
clothing
1 note
Far and away the best thing I’ve discovered from this project has been my local New York Public Library branch. Though I used libraries in high school and college, once I graduated I mostly purchased books. Poking around well-curated book stores is one of my favorite things to do and I rarely leave empty-handed.
Amazon Recommends became a new, less magical, way of doing that. One-clicked books piled up, often not read. I call these my aspirational books. I believe I’ll read them. I’d like to be the kind of person who would read them. But often I don’t read them. This year I’d planned to read them all. Instead I’m checking out books from the library.
Now when I walk past my local independent book store, I look at the collection in the window and whip out my iPhone. The NYPL has an app and I easily request whatever catches my eye. Usually within a week, it’s at my local branch for pickup. I can be the person who reads To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918!
But here’s the thing: if enough time goes by, I have to return my library books. And when I’ve failed to become the person who reads the entire book about World War I, that’s ok. Back it goes to the NYPL. I will now be the person who reads Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier. At least until early June.
May 22, 2012
library
books
6 notes
I’ve been jogging again after ages of not doing it. Before I had kids I ran the NYC Marathon and several half marathons. I ran road races on the weekends and logged 20+ miles a week for years. All that stopped when I had my second child, Minna, and I’ve been slow to return to the streets, until now.
I signed up for a road race to force myself back into running, and it’s been fantastic. Except that it’s suddenly warmed up here in New York, all my running tanks apparently were purchased when “cropped running top” was the style. Also purchased: the “crazy low rise running short.”
Ick! It’s one thing to feel my little belly jiggle as I jog. It’s another thing to expose it to the west side of Manhattan so early in the morning. I didn’t take Vanity into account when creating my guidelines!
So be it. I’m Making Do on this one, and it’s all the more motivation to run hard and fast, so the jiggle is burned off. The plus side? I’m a blur as I speed by everyone!
April 17, 2012
clothing
2 notes
I broke down and bought a compost bin. I’ve wanted to get one since we moved into our current house and never managed to find one that was just right. I’m terrified of attracting horrible giant NYC rats. And we have limited space. But I found a small one that rotates, the same a friend uses in her NYC yard, rat-free.
I’m excited to be able to produce less waste and to use our compost in our small garden. It will be great not having to buy compost, and being more sustainable in our daily lives. I’m also looking forward to teaching my kids about composting, and learning how to do it together as a family.
Did I break my rules? I don’t think so. I’d say it’s household purchase, not personal. And it’s a long-term investment in something that’s better in the end for everyone. Still, now buying anything makes me feel all weird and funny. I guess that’s progress?
April 13, 2012
bought
sustainability
2 notes
Ooops, that picture below of Minna wasn’t supposed to show up here! I’ve got my old blog Megnut resurrected at Tumblr now: megnt.tumblr.com and I was trying to get instagram to post the photo there. But that didn’t work. Oh well.
April 13, 2012
Stop that noise! (Taken with instagram)
April 12, 2012
3 notes
Do you have a freecycle network in your area? I get--and give away--a lot of stuff in my area this way. It's serendipitous, it gets stuff out of the house and to the person who needs it, and it creates community. You can also post for things you want. The perfect desk may be sitting in someone's garage gathering dust.
I’ve checked the freecycle.org website but there doesn’t appear to be a whole lot of activity in New York City. There aren’t a lot of garages here for stuff to gather dust in. Most people put stuff they don’t want on the curb and you take it if it looks good to you. That said, I’m holding off on the desk for now while we get the kids’ room sorted out. Maybe I’ll happen upon a great desk while I’m out and about.
April 11, 2012
I’ve gotten some thoughtful emails about my new desk situation, and not just how to convert the crib into a desk. Several folks have suggested looking for a used/vintage desk at a second-hand shop and fixing it up. This has me thinking about the value of time to stuff. Pre-Industrialization if you wanted a wool jacket you grew Merino lambs, sheered them, carded the wool, spun it, wove it and then sewed your jacket. Carding the wool alone took DAYS of work. Now of course I can go to the garment district and buy a few yards of wool and sew a jacket. Or just buy a finished jacket in ten minutes and do something else with my time.
Somewhere between doing it all and doing the buying of a finished product is the sweet spot for me. And while no one (yet) has suggested I chop down a tree, mill it, and build my own desk, the idea of spending hours to locate a good desk and then fix it up feels “expensive” to me. Maybe it’s because I have specific desk requirements (size, storage, etc.) and the idea of searching and searching for just the right desk is unappealing. Or maybe the fixing up part isn’t something I enjoy as much as sewing or other time-consuming crafts I do undertake. Or maybe it’s simply because I know New York City doesn’t have good deals on used desks to fix up and I’d be over-paying if I tried it here. Or I’d have to drive out to the country some place to get the right price.
What I’m saying is: I think I’ll sell some furniture we won’t be using (like my son’s twin bed frame) and put that money towards a desk. I don’t know if that’s Making Do or not. I sorta doubt it is.
April 5, 2012
build
Tuesday I arrived at the gym to discover a gaping hole in the back of my tights! My favorite tights! My Pilates instructor said, “Well looks like you get to go shopping!” but of course I couldn’t. And even if I could, I hate shopping to replace something that was perfect. I waste hours trying to find the exact item and the replacement is never as good. During the course of my workout the hole got bigger and bigger. I kept saying, “I’ll sew it!” and my instructor kept saying, “I think you need new tights.”
When I got home and inspected I discovered that the pocket that had torn away was in fact glued (! I know, right?!) in place, and had simply come unglued. So I tore it out, and sewed the uneven hole closed.
First time using the lycra stitch on my machine. Sloppy work. And I didn’t bother to even change the thread but hey, making do! We’ll see how they hold up tomorrow at the gym. I’m pretty confident they’ll be fine. Yay!
April 4, 2012
sewing
Somewhere along the way recently I came across this Banksy quote about advertisers.
“People are taking the piss out of you everyday. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small. They make flippant comments from buses that imply you’re not sexy enough and that all the fun is happening somewhere else…They are The Advertisers and they are laughing at you….You owe the companies nothing. Less than nothing, you especially don’t owe them any courtesy. They owe you. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don’t even start asking for theirs.”
There’s more to the quote, and I encourage you to click the link and read the whole thing. I’m no street artist like Banksy, but the temptation to do something to the ads that surround me is pretty great. He says, “Any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours.” When private property, say the top of a building, is rented to another private party, say Disney, only those two parties gain. The rest of us, the public, trying to occupy our share space, say the corner of Christopher St and Seventh Avenue South, in New York City, gain nothing. We lose. In fact, we suffer. These billboards do leer. And laugh. And push their products. A few months ago, it was a poorly animated penguin movie with a crappy script. Before that, a super high-end boutique just arrived from Paris. Now? A male dating site with two nude “sexy” men.
If I could tear them all down I would. Instead I avert my eyes. I walk faster. I tell my son he can’t see the penguin movie because it’s PG, not G. I keep thinking about this one line, “They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you.” Why did we let them?
April 3, 2012
ads
8 notes
