My newest obsession

I’ve always had a thing for ribbon. I must have caught the fever from my mom- she still has ribbon we used at my wedding over 6 years ago. Recently I was going through a box of sewing paraphernalia and came across 6 or 7 rolls of gorgeous ribbon I had purchased (and never used) about 2 years ago. I immediately got on the computer and googled “ribbon crafts” and was struck by the gorgeous girls’ hairbows that I saw. I don’t know why it never occured to me before; we had just moved from Alabama, where you can see little girls with ginormous ribbon bows on a daily basis. My Princess has super long blonde hair that tends to curl into little ringlets at the end. It’s so pretty and she gets a lot of compliments, but I think she’d get more if she let me actually brush it or pull it out of her face every once in a while. I figured a gorgeous bow might be the perfect bribe: “if you let me brush your hair, you can wear this pretty princess bow!” It totally worked. I’m a genius.

So I got to work and quickly realized that this would be my new obsession. It’s fun, fairly easy and you need to have a little creativity to do it, which I like. I can only make 2 or 3 in one sitting before my fingers start to cramp up, but that’s usually all the time I have anyway. It’s the perfect craft for me! So without further ado, pictures!

Fourth of July bow (she also wore this on Flag Day/the Army’s birthday last week)

Fishing bow, for trips to the lake with Daddy

Blue and yellow bow

Pink and green bow (which perfectly matches the ButterflyBabyPlace dress the Princess picked out)

Orange stripes and polka dots (orange is the Princess’s favorite color)

Blue and green loopy bow

Dainty lavender and antique white bow

Funky green and brown mini bow

Crazy bow (this has so many layers! It took a while to figure out, but it was fun!)

I’m going to have to come up with a better way to store these. Keeping them in a box squishes all the little loops down. Not to mention I’m totally running out of room to store these things. Maybe I’ll sell them?? They’ll be hard to give up!

Cover yourself up!

I’m a messy cook. I can’t really blame this one on my new front-heavy figure; pregnant or not, I can’t stir, scoop or serve without spilling something. It’s a running joke in my family that if I haven’t spilled something during the cooking, I might as well go shirtless for the eating because I’m bound to wind up with a lap full of pasta sauce. Tired of changing my shirt three times a day, I finally pulled out one of my old aprons. I have several from my Rainbow Girl days- I would cover a plain white dress with a fancy or fun apron to change the look from event to event. My two favorites are an old fashion style apron with a strawberry print and a frilly green one with cute cartoon frogs in stocking caps. I forgot how cute they are, but most importantly how well they do their job. My yellow shirt has nary a stain or splotch of the Italian crock pot chicken I’m making for dinner. So come on, Perfect Housewives! Let’s bring back aprons! They’re easy to make, but if sewing isn’t your thing, try Amazon.com. I like this one.

A simple way to look put together

One word: earrings. Find yourself a nice pair of simple diamond or pearl earrings (fake is okay, as long as they LOOK real 😉 ) and put them in. Don’t bother taking them out at night, as long as they don’t bother you. This way you won’t forget to put them in in the morning. I recently put in a pair of simple three-stone lever-back earrings that my husband bought me a few years ago and realized that all of a sudden my make-up looked better, my hair looked nicer and my outfit seemed to come together. I’ve left them in a few weeks now and they honestly make me feel just a smidge prettier than I normally do, which is nice. The best part? I don’t even have to think about them.

Check out these sparklers at Amazon.com. Only $14.99!

Or if you only like the real thing, here’s the Perfect Housewife’s choice!

Clothing Challenge

To start off The Perfect Housewife with a bang, I am proposing a Clothing Challenge.  This is something we’ll be doing every once in a while to get you dressed for success- whether you’re a stay-at-home mom, student or business woman.  The challenges could be easy…  this one is not.  You are not going to like it, but I guarantee everyone around you will.  Are you ready?  Then read on.

First, I want you to go through your dresser drawers and pull out every single pair of “sweat” anything that you own- sweatshirts, sweatpants, sweat shorts, whatever.  Now I want you to throw them away.

Catch your breath!  Let me tell you my reasoning for this first.  It’s two-fold, really.  First of all, sweatpants are UGLY.  I’m sorry, they are.  They do nothing for the figure and make even a hot celebrity look like a slob.

 

Second, there is no appropriate time to wear sweatpants.  If you wear them to bed, wear pajamas instead.  If you where them to workout in, buy some running shorts or a pair of yoga pants.  Old Navy makes super comfortable Fold-over Yoga Pants for less than $20.  The reality is, you should not be lounging around the house in sweatpants all day.  I understand you want to be comfortable, but you can be comfortable and not look like hobo in actual clothes.  I guarantee that you will feel better about yourself if you are dressed nicely than if you’re wearing a holey pair of sweatpants and the stained sweatshirt from your freshman year at college.  Added plus, it’s easier to just get up and go if you’re already dressed (please, please don’t tell me you’re okay with leaving the house wearing sweatpants).  As an added plus, your significant others will notice that you look 8000% better and may even hand out one of those elusive man compliments we’re always looking for.