A Little Shabby Chic Motivation

Sometimes motivation can be found in the strangest places---even at a yard sale.

Last Friday, I stopped by a yard sale my friends were having in the church gym. After wandering around a few minutes, picking things off the tables that I thought I could resell in my Etsy shop, I made one last pass by the clothing tables and stumbled on this:

 As I turned it over in my hands and checked the zipper and seams, my friend said, "that's my old prom dress." 

"What year?" I asked her, sheepishly. 

"1986."

I immediately saw dollar signs, as 80s prom dresses go for good money on Etsy and eBay. After a conversation with my group of friends at the checkout table, I headed for the door saying, "Yeah, if I could fit into this dress, I'd definitely wear it!"

Fast forward to Sunday morning. We had a little time before church so I decided to iron it and get it ready to photograph and list on Etsy. I figured I'd start it out at $135 on eBay and list it for $140 flat on Etsy.

After I got it all arranged on my broken mannequin, Legless Matilda, I went to my closet to get my shoes so I could take everything outside and get some great romantic pictures. As I turned to leave my closet, I spied my favorite burgundy top that I used to love to wear when we lived in Seattle a few years ago. It doesn't fit anymore, but I keep it around because of that tiny spark of hope still in me.

I thought how cute it would be with this dress. I thought about all the great pictures Jamie could get of me spinning around in a field somewhere with the lacy dress and the burgundy velvet, and my long bleach-blonde hair. (I keep thinking that by the time I ever lose some weight, I'll have really, really long hair...)

I decided to measure the waist on the dress, just for fun. I thought, surely it's smaller than I was in high school. I wore an 11/12 in high school and probably could have stood to lose 20 pounds without sacrificing my curves.

I pulled out my measuring tape. 32 inches. My heart started fluttering. Jamie wore a 32 jean size in high school and I remember always wanting to wear his Calvin Kleins but they'd be too small in the thigh and too big in the waist. 

I grabbed my phone and googled, what size is a 32" waist?"

"14."

That's a FOURTEEN, ya'll. A 14 is doable. It's more than doable. That's 12 sizes and I don't know how many pounds away from where I'm at now, but that's 3 sizes up from my kinda chubby high school years. 

So, stay tuned as I do this thing.

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A Pedigree Dog Food Treat for Mr. Darcy @SamsClub #PedigreeGives #Cbias #shop

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #PedigreeGives #CollectiveBias

Look at that mutt! Ahh...he grows on me a little more every year. Yep, Mr. Darcy is back on the blog today, sporting his 1993 middle school kid hair cut and a cheesy grin, to tell you all about Pedigree Dog Food and how you can support Pet Adopt Month this October.

Yesterday, I took all nine of my kids to Sam's Club---the only store in town big enough for us all to walk down the aisles together without being in anyone's way. We were on the hunt for some Pedigree dog food for Mr. Darcy and found a good deal on this case of 30 cans. For less than $17, we picked up 30 cans of Pedigree Choice Cuts. These are big cans too---each one will feed Mr. D for four or five days.

This is a great time to stock up on Pedigree at Sam's Club because, through the month of October, they'll donate one bowl of dog food to a shelter for every Pedigree product purchased at Sam's.

Not knowing about this great deal at Sam's Club, I usually buy him dry food and canned food is reserved for a treat. This morning I set out a can too see how he'd react. He sniffed around a minute and then laid down, happily waiting for me to open it up. That is, until O'Neill came along. Remember him? He's our cat we adopted from a pet shelter about six years ago. While he was very gracious to welcome Mr. Darcy to the neighborhood a couple years later, he still feels a little left out if the Yorkshire Terrorist gets something he doesn't.

I suppose it was sort of rotten of me to open this up outside where O'Neill could get a good, meaty whiff of the beef and gravy. I guess I'll need to pick him up some yummy gravyish cat food next time I'm out. Feeding our pets nutritious meals is important to us. We want them to live long healthy lives so they can continue to chase off mice, bugs, and scary intruders. Plus, like I said, we kind of like them---even if some of us (ahem.) were adamantly against pets to begin with. These Choice Cuts are meaty, moist, and great for Mr. D's skin and coat.

Here's where he gets the goods! Seriously, I did not see this dog's face the entire time he was devouring his lunch. Would it be weird to say I was kind of jealous that he got meat and gravy while I boycotted PB&J and skipped lunch? Yeah, probably. I won't go there. 

Look at that face! In the time it took me to wrap up the can and stick it in the fridge, he had licked the bowl clean. I didn't give in to the pout then, but now that I'm writing this, I feel bad. I think I'll go give him some more now, poor guy! 

Do you have a great pet adoption story? Share it in the comments---I'd love to hear about your favorite pets.

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The Homemaking Party: 2015 Daily Planner Review & Giveaway #dailyplanner

This is a sponsored post on behalf of HomemakersFriend.com. I was compensated monetarily and with a sample product in exchange for this review. All opinions are honest and are my own.

Welcome to the Homemaking Party! I'm happy to be sharing our party with Sue Hooley, creator of the 2015 Daily Planner. This is a beautiful and uplifting resource that I'm sure you'll find useful and encouraging as you start off your new year. 

Sue's planner is unique because, not only does it feature lots of ways to organize your schedule, it's also full of Scripture to bless you and help you keep God's word the focus of your day.

I like how this planner is designed for efficiency and aesthetics---as Sue says, it gives the user a visual layout of a week or month. See the dotted line along the edge of the page on the right? You can cut those out as you go along to expose the tab for the new month. This way, you can easily flip to the page you need without a lot of hassle. 

She's got cut out tabs on each weekly page, for the same reason. Genius!

The planner is divided into seven sections: Yearly, Monthly, and Weekly Calendars, Task List, Projects and Events, Information, and Shopping Lists. It's a great system for organizing everything you'll need to remember on a daily basis---all in one place! Make sure to check out HomemakersFriend.com to order---she's even got a buy one get one deal going on now!

Would you like a free copy of Sue Hooley's 2015 Daily Planner? I'm giving one away to one US winner. Enter to win on the Rafflecopter below and make sure to link up with the Homemaking Party! 

We had the biggest party yet last week so share with your friends to keep our party growing! The more people who visit, the more views we all get!

a Rafflecopter giveaway Linking with: