Recent purchases I wish to discuss:
1. Curtains for the dining room! We converted the porch to a dining room….ten years ago? Or so? And I have never bought curtains, because I couldn’t decide or even really narrow it down. Recently the needing-curtains issue has come to the forefront of our attention, and I have spent quite a bit of time looking at curtains online and in stores and wondering how, HOW, does anyone ever choose? And then not buying anything.
Today at Target there were four curtain panels on the endcap, marked down because they were purchased online and then returned to the store. They happened to be one of the many curtains I had considered online but been unsure of because it’s hard to tell about colors/fabrics online. And they seemed good, I was in a good Buying Mood, so I bought them. And I had William hold one up to the window, and he and I agreed they were good! And so I waited for Paul to come home, in case he wanted to veto them, and he did not want to veto them. And then it was down to the final issue: would I be able to find them on the Target website and order two more panels? And yes! With some struggles (Were they listed on the site by the brand name on the package? No! Did the package contain any other identifying information? No!), I WAS able to find them and order two more, AND they were on sale! Here they are:
(image from Target.com)
Closer shot:
(image from Target.com)
They are basically grey plus a weird greenish yellow. I love a good weird greenish yellow. Online, I was uncertain if it was the kind of greenish yellow I like, but it is indeed within that range. I was also worried the curtains would be too busy, but they are not. My dining room is painted Sea Salt (that post about paint colors was written when it was Obama/Biden vs. McCain/Palin and we didn’t yet know we’d get Obama), and the wall-art in the room works really well I think with the colors of the curtains. I am pleased.
2. A Cat & Jack skirt for Elizabeth. It’s black with gold sparkles. I bought it on clearance, without noticing that it was supposed to be hand-washed in cold water. As if I am going to hand-wash ANYTHING, let alone a child’s garment, let alone in cold water. It went through the washer and dryer before I read the label. We now have gold glitter EVERYWHERE. I’ve run half a dozen loads of laundry since then but am still finding abundant gold glitter in the lint filter. There is gold glitter on the floors of both levels of the house. There is gold glitter stuck to many, many other pieces of clothing. This morning a child noted I had a single gold glitter piece on my cheek. If you walk barefoot in my house, no matter which rooms you walk in, you will have a sheen of gold on the soles of your feet. Please visit us for all your gold-glitter needs: it is the loaves-and-fishes of gold glitter around here.
3. More of those embroidered jeans I bought awhile back! When we last spoke on this topic, I’d ordered one pair, and then as soon as I tried them on I rushed to the website to immediately buy more—but since they were a clearance item AND I’d waited a couple of weeks between jeans-arriving and jeans-trying-on, they were sold out in my size. Working on nothing more than hope, I kept the product tab open on my desktop, and every day I checked just in case. I thought maybe someone would return some, or they’d find another box of them in the warehouse or something. And one day, one GLORIOUS day, they were suddenly in stock in my size. I immediately ordered two more pairs. I am so jeans-happy.
I can not tell you how delighted I was when I first cleaned the dryer of pink lint sparkling with glitter. I was a mom! I had a daughter! I’m less excited about cleaning the lint catch in general. But every time there is glitter in there, it makes me so happy.
The loaves and fishes of glitter comment made me giggle.
Yay for more of the jeans you love!
And YAY for the curtains find! I am still in the looking and getting overwhelmed and not buying phase, bug I am only six years into needing curtains, so, there’s time.
Yes, abundant gold glitter! Glitter miracles!
I love your curtains! All the curtains in our house are floral and sometimes I wish we had something a bit less busy.
Also, when we had to get new curtains for one room, the only way I could choose was to really limit our options: ok, we’re going to this one store, and looking at their small selection of curtains that are the right size/type, and choosing the best out of that lot.
Hey! Those aren’t the curtains I picked!! Lol, though, they are totally curtains I would buy for my own house. Good choice, in one of my favorite color combos. :)
-Domestikook
I love those curtains and the fact that you got them marked down is even better. And I’m with you – when yo find a pair of jeans that you love, get multiple pairs.
Love those curtains!! They would be perfect in my living room. :-)
I need new jeans too and it’s just so hard to find the right fit, the right look, the right price all in the same pair(s) of jeans. I’m so glad you got to buy more of the ones you love.
I need to thank you for the post on those jeans. I bought a pair and I LOVE them so very much. My children are not big fans (I was told yesterday I have moved from mom jeans to grandma jeans but, 1. I don’t agree. and b. I AM a grandma now so… (a 46 y/o grandma, but a grandma.).
Anyway, they are my new favorites. Do all of the jeans in that brand from that site fit the same? Do you know? Because I’d love to order another pair but I can’t justify 2 pairs of embroidered jeans.
Oh, and nice choice on the curtains. Lovely! I am not a big curtain person. In my own home. I love how they look but I am much too lazy to choose, purchase, hang, and keep them clean. Although, I fell in love with a set, ordered them, and… they sit in my closet. In the original package. Unopened. So, I may possess new heights of laziness, never before seen in the world.
I also have some of the Denim 24/7 jeans in the “bootcut with invisible stretch waistband” style. The sizing seems the same; the fit is slightly different, but I’ve only tried one pair of embroidered and one pair of bootcut, so it could be that it’s just the regular variance between pairs. The bootcut ones are less flared than the embroidered ones; they feel less fitted in the thigh and a little snugger at the waistband. I like them a lot. They’re not MAGICAL to me the way the embroidered ones are, but they’re good.
THANK YOU! I ordered 2 pairs of the bootcut in different colors. We shall see. I am wearing the embroidered ones right now.
Those curtains are gorgeous. YAY JEANS!
And really??? HAND WASH IN COLD for a kid’s skirt? ARE THEY NUTS? (True story, my parents gave me a lovely little store bought machine made sweater for my son when he was born. Hand wash. HAND WASH for a baby. I put it on him once to take a picture, then wrapped it up and we never looked at it again.)
Jeans-happy is a great term!
i recently bought an outfit for my 6 month old that i discovered upon arrival was DRY CLEAN ONLY. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
I have so, so, SO many curtains left to put up at our house. So many. I hate curtain shopping.
What manufacturer does this?? Why? WHY??
My friend has those curtains, and they are really great! I wonder if the people who design children’s clothing with special washing instructions have ever had children. My mother-in-law especially loves buying fancy dresses for my four-year-old with challenging laundry instructions and we mostly just don’t wear them.
Lucky for me, my washer has a “hand wash” setting! So I just assume that anything labeled hand wash is good to go as long as it’s on that setting and blithely toss it in, then hang to dry on a rack. Ta dah! Hasn’t ruined anything yet!
Also, I don’t think I’ve dry cleaned anything since the 90s.
I’m not even 100% sure where the iron my husband brought into our marriage is, now that I think about it.
I read your “Sea Salt” entry, and it reminded me so much of Anne Tyler’s style of writing (which I love) If you’ve never read “The Accidental Tourist”, I recommend it. :)
I had to laugh about the glitter. I foolishly ran a Christmas card adorned in glitter through my work printer. It took me two hours to get it to stop bedazzling all my printouts with glitter. I’m glad I was able to get it out otherwise IT would have hated me.
Yay for the jeans and the curtains!
I know it makes me sound like the most ungrateful daughter-in-law but it frustrates me to no end when m MIL buys Youngest clothing because she has a tendency to buy her things that require special washing. Examples include: two glittery skirts that must be washed in delicate cold and hung dry, one furry WHITE vest that must be similarly washed, a velvet sparkly white shirt… You get the idea. I don’t specially care for my 7 YOs clothing so these gifts last a very short time in my house upsetting Youngest and causing MIL to wonder where her lovely clothes are. I’ve mentioned on more than one occasion that high maintenance clothing for Youngest is not practical or really an option. Comments have fallen on deaf ears. I guess I’m just using your comments section to vent about this since it appears no one else will listen. Sigh.
My FIL is a laundry nut. Arrives at our house for a visit and immediately washes clothes (his own, my mil and ours). I must hide any thing with a special wash label as he washes everything on hot, drys on hot. He has shrunk many a special item including hand knit sweaters for kids made by a friend. It makes me crazy. We own so little hand wash/dry clean clothes between the 5 of us but he manages to find and wash all of it. Also gross to find your underwear folded by your FIL. I should be greatful for the laundry help but I’m not.
I love the curtains. Did you update us on the shower curtain decision and I missed it (or forgot)? I’m very vested in this decision for some reason.
Oh yes, did you get the shower curtain with the dinosaur riding a bicycle, or the unicorn with rainbow laser eyes (I’m guess-remembering here), or something even better??
Ha, no, you didn’t miss it: a friend gave me a shower curtain as a gift, so that solved the dilemma! It’s Lenox Chirp.
We also own said skirt. Glitter. EVERYWHERE.
At least you read the tag. Oops.
My husband has an ISSUE with glitter, I call it his glitter allergy. He throws away glittered greeting cards, he would throw away our daughter’s art from preschool if I hadn’t warned her teachers (they let her glue jewels instead). As soon as she figures out that it bugs him he is going to be so screwed.
Swistle! After 16.5 years in this house, we finally got blinds for the kitchen! You have reminded me to write about it. It is life changing. The kitchen window faces southwest and at times the sun was blinding. NO MORE. But then all our other window coverings looked like crap so now we are redoing them all.
Also – I neeeeeeeed embroidered jeans!
I clicked through on the skirt link and sure enough the one review says there is glitter everywhere, ha! At least it’s not just you guys.