Condo Blues

Friday, September 29, 2017

Friday Favorites Linky Party 391



I had a pretty bad day that ended in inspiring a very good thing. The day started forcing my sleepy self (and trusty travel coffee mug) to get up and out of the house for a cart trip. Even though I've driving the route a million times I missed an early exit. I didn't think much of it because of the familiar landmarks along the way.

An hour into my drive I realize those roadside landmarks were for driving to my in laws house and NOT the place I needed to go. I get there 40 minutes late. I hate being late. As I'm fussing with something in my car trunk, I hear light ker-clutch. 

Thursday, September 28, 2017

Elizabethan Doublet Costume Reveal!

My husband needed a new Elizabethan nobleman costume when he performs at renaissance festivals. It is a tricky business because the history geek in me wants to be as historically accurate as possible.

However unlike a living history museum, what we do is historical entertainment. Being outdoors in all temperatures and weather conditions means there are some liberties I have to take in the clothing design,  construction, and preferences of the guy wearing it. In other words, please don’t yell at me historical clothing purists. I know where I did not follow Elizabethan Sumptuary Laws (dress code.) Thank you.

I gave you a costume project sneak peak in Elizabethan Doublet Costume Work in Progress.  I cut the velvet front of the doublet trim larger than my pattern so I could hoop it and spent a 12 hour day doing nothing but embroidering the border design over and over holding my breath every time hoping everything will line up when I finished. Thank goodness it did!

Gold metallic thread would make the embroidery really sing. After a few frustrating test pieces I learned there is a finesse to machine embroidering with metallic thread that I do not have yet. That is a skill to learn for another day.

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Friday Favorites Linky Party 390






Please support and follow our lovely blog party hostesses:

Jerri at Simply Sweet Home - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst
Christine at Light and Savvy - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst
Jen at Creatively Homemade - Twitter | G+ | Pin
Dawn at LeroyLime - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL
Maisy at Becoming Alice - FB | G+ | Pin
Sheree at Stage Presents - Twitter | FB | Pin | Inst | Inst
Lisa at Condo Blues - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst
Penny at Penny's Passion - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst
Kelly at Under a Texas Sky - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL





If you are featured this week, be sure and grab a featured button for your blog!

You can show your love for this week's favorites by going over and commenting on the posts and by pinning or sharing!

How to Repair a Dishwasher that Won’t Drain

 My dishwasher did not drain after washing a load of dishes. I like my dishwasher and it is barely four years old.  I really hoped I could fix my broken dishwasher because I do NOT want to go through The Great Dishwasher Research Hunt again.

Basically there are a series of filters and pumps in a dishwasher that can become clogged through normal use, not rinsing dishes, or in my case my bad habit of not removing paper labels from jars before I stick them in the dishwasher clogged the drain pipe. This little exercise cured me of that habit.

Unclogging a dishwasher drain pipe is much easier than the dozens of YouTube videos I consulted make it out to be. The most difficult part of the process is dealing with the vile stench of the clog because I’m a baby about bad smells. 


How to Unclog a Dishwasher


Pin this tutorial for reference later!

Thursday, September 14, 2017

Friday Favorites Linky Party 389

Wow what a crazy couple of weeks its been. How are you Hurricane Harvey and Irma folks doing? 

I know Texans are tough and Floridians totally have hurricane prep and recovery DOWN but that hasn't stopped me from worrying about family and friends in both states (everyone is OK whew) and all of you in the Condo Blues community (if you have the power to read this post.) Some of you are dealing some stuff that is totally out of your control that just flat out sucks.

Which in all honesty, makes me think that writing about all of the Halloween costume and decoration posts on my blog calendar seem trivial, silly, and stupid. Then again maybe you might need that as a brain break to better deal with endless cleanup and the kids not going back to school because they are still being used as storm shelters. I dont' know. What do you folks need? Tell us in the comments below. 





Please support and follow our lovely blog party hostesses:

Jerri at Simply Sweet Home - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst
Christine at Light and Savvy - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst
Jen at Creatively Homemade - Twitter | G+ | Pin
Dawn at LeroyLime - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL
Maisy at Becoming Alice - FB | G+ | Pin
Sheree at Stage Presents - Twitter | FB | Pin | Inst | Inst
Lisa at Condo Blues - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst
Penny at Penny's Passion - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst
Kelly at Under a Texas Sky - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL





If you are featured this week, be sure and grab a featured button for your blog!

You can show your love for this week's favorites by going over and commenting on the posts and by pinning or sharing!



Monday, September 11, 2017

20 New Ways to Use and Repurpose Old Towels

I swear the amount of towels in my linen closet magically doubles or triples on its own. I bet it is some relic from a science fiction universe (or that I live in a small house with a small linen closet but I’m still blaming aliens because it is more fun.)

If I don’t clean it out my linen regularly the towel population grows to the point it is so large I can’t close the closet door. Which given the size of the linen closet, it doesn’t take a huge towel population to achieve this.

But it also means that I regularly have old towels with a worn spot or edge but overall fairly usable and as such, something I don’t want to send to landfill hell if I can get another reuse out of it.

Luckily, old and worn towels are one of the easiest things to reuse and upcycle to save a little money, the environment, or better yet – time.

Pin these creative reuse ideas for later!

20 Genius Ideas to Reuse Old Towels You Have to Try!