Archives for February 2013

February 28, 2013 by: The Domestic Fringe

Tell All – Confession Time

Today I tell all.

Or at least a few things you may not have known about me. It’s confession time on The Fringe.

I thought I would take this opportunity to get to know you a little bit better, but it’s hard for me to entice you into spilling your guts in the comments, so I’m going to go first.

After this, you should feel sufficiently guilted into leaving a comment and telling me all sorts of fun facts about you.

Even all you blog stalkers. Don’t pretend; you know who you are.

A Few Fun Facts

I eat popcorn. Lots of it. Sometimes with butter, sometimes with salt, but lately, I’ve taken to eating it with Parmesan/Romano cheese sprinkled on top. I love popcorn and think it should be a food group.

My son thinks I have ADD. He told me. Shouldn’t the psycho-analyzing go mother-to-son and not the other way around?

I get locked out of my online banking account often, at least once a month. My bank makes me feel like a thief, dressed in all black, sitting behind my computer screen. I am innocent, I tell you. Innocent!

I look guilty. A lot. Every time I drive past a police officer. I don’t know why, but my face screams guilt. Perhaps it’s the online banking thing or the time I may have stolen a cactus. Either way, I need to let go of the guilt.

I am bad with dates. I forget my own anniversary. It’s a crying shame. Good thing FringeMan has a calendar in his head. He remembers the date of the first time he went potty in the toilet like a big boy. Kidding. But, he may.

I wore Wonder Woman Underoos when I was a kid. Any other Underoo fans out there?

Source: google.com via Tricia on Pinterest

I cough all the time. When I’m in public, people sometimes look at me like I have the Bubonic Plague. My kids say they follow the cough. That’s how they find me stores. I’m ok, really.

Once, for a college class, I read a whole book written in Spanish. Then I wrote a report, in Spanish, on said book. I didn’t understand one word. I passed. God had mercy on me.

I was stuck in an elevator in the Empire State Building once. In the summer. With lots of other people. It wasn’t fun.

While in the Statue of Liberty, a stranger spit a big hock-a-loogie in my hair.

I watched as a man set fire to a street. Yes, the entire street. You can read that here.

For much of my life, walking was synonymous with falling.

I wore braces for four very long years and I didn’t even have any fun colored wires.

I once had to call poison control because I ingested large amounts of liquid lilac air freshener. Dying with dignity would have been easier than that phone call. Don’t even ask how I ate it. That happened in my early days of cooking.

I leave the most incredibly stupid voice mail messages known to man.

I still have a flip-phone. Flip being the operative word. It ages me.

It’s Your Turn – Go Ahead, Confess

For reals. It is your turn. Don’t leave me hanging. Start spilling your guts.

February 26, 2013 by: The Domestic Fringe

One Target Dress Worn Seven Ways

1 Dress Worn 7 Ways

In this post, I will show how you can invest twenty bucks into buying one basic dress and then wear it seven different ways.

I wish all my clothes were this versatile.

I’ll also be adding this to The Pleated Poppy’s What I Wore Wednesday.

Style #1

I bought this Target dress back in September. I checked the store’s website and it is no longer available, however, these black and white striped dresses are in just about every store I go into. You can find them at almost every price point.

I do not spend a lot of money on trendy pieces of clothes, because let’s face it, this dress will be out of style soon.

Thankfully with stores like Target and Old Navy, you can buy a trendy dress for $20-$30 dollars and wear it out.

Style #2

In this style, I paired my basic dress with black tights, heeled boots, and a jacket. I would wear this outfit to work. I think it’s office acceptable and still in-style.

The jacket is Kohl’s, but I’ve had it two days fewer than forever, so I cannot provide a link for you. Same with these boots.

A few years ago, I wore this jacket constantly, but I had to dust off the shoulders for this picture. I think I just got tired of it.

Style #3

I simply put a Chambray shirt over the dress. I might try this look with brown boots, but I was changing quicker than Superman between shots, so there wasn’t much time to think.

My Chambray shirt is a hand-me-down, but you can find one anywhere. They are popular right now. Maybe you are even lucky enough to have one left over from the 80’s.

Kidding. Just kidding.

Style #4

This is one of my favorite ways to wear this dress. I think it’s the mustard sweater – I just love it!

Sweater: Target, Necklace: I haven’t got a clue. Sorry.

Style 5

This is definitely a perfect way to wear this for winter.

I switched out the tights for thicker leggings (GAP) and added my favorite owl sweater from Kohl’s.

Style #6

If I didn’t hate vests, I might like this outfit.

The vest is a hand-me-down, but I honestly do not wear it. I do think this makes a perfectly acceptable outfit though. It looks fine together.

Style #7

Ok friends, I hate this look. Hate it! But in the spirit of full disclosure, I decided to include it.

It’s the scarf that really isn’t working. Ok, it’s the jacket too. Maybe if the jacket were more fitted and a little longer, it might work, but this does not work. The scarf is a circle scarf, but it looked even worse as a circle with this jacket.

Well, you win some, you lose some. The good news is, there are six other styles.

Denim Jack: Goodwill, Scarf: Kohl’s.

Which do You Like Best?

Bloggers Do it Better @ Pretty, Shiny, Sparkly

February 25, 2013 by: The Domestic Fringe

The Library: My Office Away from Home

Hello Monday

Since this weekend was a bust, I decided to show you our library, my office away from home.

I mean, I could talk about how FringeMan came down with the stomach bug, but that’s not a good Monday morning topic. Let’s just say I declared the second floor of our house a contamination zone and I slept on the couch. The kids and I stayed as far away from home as possible, so of course that meant at least one trip to the library.

This room is my office away from home. I plant myself here every time I come to the library. Usually the entire table is covered with my junk, a few books, and a random magazine or two. I use the power strip on the floor to plug in my laptop and I go to town.

They have a coffee machine too. What more do you need?

Books – Coffee – WiFi

These bookcases are in my office. They help me feel smart.

Our library is part old house and part 70’s mod addition. If you walk from room to room too quickly, you end up in a time warp.

I’ll just show you the old part today.

Isn’t this a pretty little nook? It’s the perfect place for a game of chess or lunch with a friend. At Christmas, they had a beautiful big Christmas tree right in front of those windows.

The ceilings and moldings are the true masterpieces. They just don’t build modern houses with such artistic details.

As the story goes, and I hope I remember all the facts, our library had a great big fire that made their building unusable. A family in town donated this house to be used as the new library. Some time after, the more modern addition was built.

The library is right in the center of town and we often walk to it.

You would think I wouldn’t have any late fees, but I do.

I’m wanted in libraries nationwide. I’ll leave it at that.

This lamp looks like Jadite, but I’m not sure. Maybe I should convince them to let me bring it to the antiques roadshow or something.

The library also has random collections of old things, like these ugly ceramic dogs. They change the collections out from time to time so the patrons can enjoy them.

And no library tour would be complete without a naked man on the mantel.

Yes, this is in my office.

So that completes my library tour, at least the really old portion of it. Despite the antiques, the card catalog is computerized and the librarians are absolute dolls. They teach us the history of the town and area, get us whatever books we want, and they know us by name.

They also send me an email when books are late and then call when they are really, really late. Thankfully they forgive me. Sometimes I just need an extra week with my books.

I love my library.

What about you? Do you visit your library very often?

I’m joining Lisa Leonard in saying hello to Monday. She’d love for you stop by and hello too.

February 23, 2013 by: The Domestic Fringe

Saturday Night Stars – Link Party, Wk. #1

Here’s the deal.

Every Saturday night, beginning at 7pm (eastern standard time), I am going to host Saturday Night Stars.

It’s your time to shine!

Simply stop by and link up your favorite post.

Link your Star Post from the current week
Link to a specific post and not to your general blog URL (if you don’t understand, contact me)
Visit at least two other Star Bloggers, read their post, and leave them a comment

That’s it my friends!

Saturday Night Stars is intended to be a social activity, so please socialize.

It’s your time to shine.

Show us the best of this week’s blog posts.

Can’t wait to visit!

I’d love for you to Tweet this, Pin it, and Share it with your friends. Let’s spread the word and help our fellow bloggers shine a little brighter.

February 22, 2013 by: The Domestic Fringe

Facebook Status Updates – What life is really like.

Today I decided to share my recent facebook status updates with you, because sometimes it’s the best gauge of what life is really like.

We got all our Pampered Chef stuff in the mail this afternoon and FringeKid said, “Yay! It’s like a kitchen Christmas.” And it is.

The night before my birthday, I had a Pampered Chef party and fourteen women, two children, and a baby stuffed into my living room. Add a six foot folding table, lots of kitchen stuff, and the Pampered Chef lady and the result is chaos – a good, fun chaos.

I pretty much host a Pampered Chef party every February. They have 60% off cookware and my handle-less pots and pans need replacing. I am happy to say that I have a lovely, shiny new set of pots and pans.

I never thought I’d be happy about a pot, but that’s what happens when you get to be middle-aged and all-together lame. Gee-wilikers what’s happened to me?

Someone save me before I start talking about measuring cups!

FringeKid’s survival tip: If you’re lost in the wilderness, follow the big dipper. It leads to civilization or Boston or somewhere close. Hmmm…I’m not sure I’d want to be lost with her.

My mother called me up the next morning and said she’d rather rely on her GPS, thank you very much. What mom? Don’t you know all stars lead to Boston?

It’s shocking how much cleaning I get done when someone calls me and says they are on their way, especially when they only live 10 minutes away. Good grief. I feel like I just ran a marathon. My house would be nearly perfect if one of you would just call every day to tell me you’re on your way over.

I refuse to elaborate, but you can read about the knock on my door for more details.

Sometimes I am so very dumb. Strike my last status update from the record and enjoy the season finale of Downton.

I may have given the season finale of Downton Abbey’s climatic cliffhanger away. May have. It’s hard to be silent though. I suppose I publicly deal with grief.

On another note, I am following The Dowager Countess on Twitter, because I’m dorky like that.

You can follow me on Twitter and join the dorky club, but only if you want.

I think this is a HUGE problem in our country. People can have jobs, but those jobs won’t give them full-time hours and benefits. There are too many working poor, in my opinion.

On a serious note, read this article about how Walmart won’t hire full-time employees and give them benefits. I think it’s a sad day when honest people work a full-time job and still fall below the poverty level under our countries’ guidelines. I’m sure there’s much to say on this topic and I don’t really mean to stir controversy, but you are welcome to be as controversial as you’d like in the comments.

Just mind your manners. That’s all I ask.

So tell me, what have your status updates said this week?

February 21, 2013 by: The Domestic Fringe

5 Tips for Fire Safety – Are you prepared?

Before the age of six, I watched as building after building burned to the ground. I lived in the middle of what many New York City firefighters call the Arson Wars.

school girl in New York City

My mother packed a bag of essentials for my brother and I and kept it right outside our bedroom door. I remember her waking me up in the middle of the night and grabbing the bag.

“There’s another fire. We have to go.”

I stood and watched as the men in my family sprayed the roof and sides of our home with a water hose while flames licked up nearby buildings.

Multifamily apartment houses were built close to each other, maximizing precious real-estate, building up instead of out. Only an alley separated my home from the flames. Fire jumped, consuming apartment house after apartment house.

These buildings were full of mothers, fathers, grandparents, and children. Each building housed six, eight, and ten families. They were full to overflowing with laughter and tears, fighting and heartache. Real people lost everything. Fire stole every earthly possession from members of my extended family.

Nearly every day a house in my region is destroyed by fire. They are old and they have old electrical and heating systems. People lose everything in these house fires and in too many cases, lives are taken in flames.

The most responsible thing we can do for ourselves and our families is to be prepared. Fire consumes.

1. Have a Plan

Ask yourselves a few simple questions.

What would I do if there was a fire?
Are my children prepared?
Do we have a meeting place?

You have a plan for your marriage, your finances, and your children, but do you have a fire safety plan?

Make a plan on paper.

Hopefully you will never need to use it, but a few minutes of preparedness could save your life.

fire truck and firemen fighting a fire

Designate escape routes. You should have at least two exits from your home. If you have multiple floors, locate an exit, a path of escape from each floor. Also, locate two exits from each room. The door is your first choice, but have a second.

Learn basic fire safety tips and teach them to your children – Smoke rises, so crawl. Feel a door before you open it; fire may be on the other side. Cover your mouth with cloth or a pillow to avoid smoke inhalation.
Designate a meeting place. When you and your family escape your house, designate a place far enough from your home to meet.

2. Install Interconnected Smoke Alarms

Interconnected smoke alarms are multiple smoke detectors placed strategically throughout your home. They are all wired together, so when one alarm is triggered, they all ring simultaneously. You cannot sleep through three or four or five smoke alarms all ringing at the same time. You will hear them everywhere in your home.

You will need to hire an electrician, but your family is worth more than a few hundred dollars.

If you honestly do not have the money to hire an electrician, buy several battery operated smoke detectors and place them on each floor of your home and in each bedroom.

Remember to replace the batteries.

fire hydrant

3. Update Wiring

My husband is an electrician and I hear first-hand accounts of fires that started due to faulty wiring. If you have a older home, make sure your wiring is up-to-date. Electrical codes change, as do fire codes. Be sure to upgrade the wiring in your home. My husband likes to say “Don’t wire for fire.”

Do not assume that because the electricity works in your home, you have no electrical problems.

4. Move Furniture

Move furniture and curtains away from electrical baseboard heaters.

Choose safety over perfection when it comes to home decor.

You should check manufacturer guidelines for specific clearance recommendations, but it is a good rule of thumb not to have furniture closer than eight inches away from baseboard heaters.

5. Maintain Heating Systems

Whether your heating system is powered by electricity, oil or gas, maintain your system. Regular maintenance will not only ensure safety, but it will also cause your heating system to work at optimal efficiency.

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The memories of fire from childhood are still fresh in my mind. We are vigilant about fire safety, because we know it can happen, even to us.

child on street in New York City

It is my prayer that you will take this basic reminder to educate yourselves and your family on fire safety and prevention. If nothing else, buy a smoke alarm and change the batteries.

Be safe my friends.

5 tips for fire safety prevention

For other fire related posts read Baby, You Light My Fire, Fire Ignites on The Fringe, and Monday’s Mayhem.

And yes, that’s little me in those photos.

February 20, 2013 by: The Domestic Fringe

Dressed in a Dress – A Good Week for WIWW

This turned out to be a good week for What I Wore Wednesday. I’m not sure why exactly, but not only did I get dressed every day, but I also took photos.

If you’re new around here, I don’t fancy myself a super-model for What Not to Wear – Clearance Style. I join The Pleated Poppy and hundreds of other women who chronicle their daily outfits in an effort to get dressed in something other than yoga pants (although I do photograph my yoga pants from time to time) and a fuzzy pink robe.

What? You don’t have a fuzzy pink robe??

You should definitely get one, but don’t tell the fashion police (aka Stacey & Clinton) I said that.

So, here are my outfits from this last week.

Yup. I had a birthday. Now I’m old, a fact I choose to ignore.

This dress is my birthday present to me. I found it at the GAP (it’s on the clearance rack right now with an extra 30% off, but not online) and my daughter absolutely talked me into trying it on. It may not be everyone’s style, but I knew I would love it from the moment I set my eyes on the red and white stripes.

It was on sale and it’s made from a thick cotton material and is quite warm. Since I hardly have any winter dresses, I justified buying it.

It’s the same dress I wore when I made this vlog on my favorite lipstick colors.

Then came Valentine’s Day.

FringeMan and I had a nice night out. We went to our favorite Italian restaurant and ate way too much.

Don’t even ask why there’s a candle on the floor. It’s a long story that involves me dragging couches all over the room, only to put them back in the same exact place they started.

I nearly talked myself out of buying this dress.

FringeMan and I went shopping for some very basic necessities and he needed shoes for work. After I grabbed what I needed (think an hour and a half later, because time stands still for me in Kohl’s), I browsed the clearance racks. They had more clearance than I have ever seen in a Kohl’s store before.

I plucked this dress from between a whole bunch of sweaters and decided to try it on. It was $14 dollars, a Narciso Rodriguez dress for Design Nation (no idea what that means, but I saved the tag so I could tell you). This dress is also more expensive online than it was in the store.

I really, really like this dress. It has a bunch of fun details that you cannot really see. The back has a long exposed zipper and there is some tucking/pleating on the backside that makes it nicer than an ordinary dress. There is also some tucking (I have no clue what these things are called) at the shoulders. Unfortunately the area is covered by my hair.

I decided to spend the $14 dollars for my marriage. I figured it was a relatively small investment. After all, before we were married, I would have spent $114 dollars on a dress and not have thought twice about it.

Every once in a while, I can still look nice for my husband.

My daughter wore her sparkly dress that her grandma gave her for Christmas. It cast fun shimmers on the wall, but I couldn’t resist adding a few hearts. It was Valentine’s Day after all.

She also wore her tiara, but you’ll have to follow the link to see it. I think it’s worth a click-over, because life is short and we too often forget to wear our tiara.

I am wearing the owl sweater my daughter gave for Christmas. I wore it twice this week, but didn’t think I really needed to show you photos of both days.

Yes, I repeat my outfits and hair sometimes.

The jeans and sweater are Kohl’s and the boots are Target.

I wore this dress twice this week too, but the second time I wore it with a long black and silver necklace (no scarf), black leggings, and no boot socks. Just different enough, for me anyway.

The dress was $6 (and change) in the GAP. It’s much more online. It was a final sale and although this dress is a size too big, I knew I would wear it often. I have the drawstring pulled pretty tight and the shoulders fall off sometimes, but it is SO comfortable. I love it. It’s a giant sweatshirt!

I made the circle scarf and boot socks using the instructions in THIS POST.

It’s a no sew, no cost DIY, so you may want to take a peek.

Last outfit. I promise!

The shirt and sweater are GAP (both very old). The jeans are Kohl’s & the scarf is Charming Charlies.

I hate these shoes. I bought them several years ago and they are suppose to be good shoes. I thought they’d be comfortable for winter, but they are not. Plus, they make my right foot break out in some weird lump if I wear them too often.

I wore them for vanities sake, and by vanity, I don’t mean looks. I had a doctor’s appointment and I knew they were going to weigh me. The only other closed shoes I have are boots and I couldn’t easily slip off a pair of boots. I didn’t want the added 3-5 pounds. Silly, huh?

Oh the things I’ll do to outsmart a scale…

So which was your favorite outfit?

And, more importantly, what did you wear this week?

Did you dress up for Valentine’s Day?