Where, oh where did the day go?  All I remember is leaving the house at 9:45, frantic because we were going to be late to Henry’s 9 month appointment.  But we made it!  And then we didn’t come home for nearly 7 hours.

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Henry’s appointment went well. Still a little squirt, but I don’t think that’s ever going to change.  Henry showed the doctor his funny crawl (I really must get this on video for you guys – it’s ridiculous…. he swings one leg under him and scoots on his butt) and was assured this is normal.  Well, maybe not normal, but not bad.  The doc told us to work on waving hello and goodbye, and wouldn’t you know it, Henry waved at a lady in the store just a few hours later.

 

We proceeded to run every single errand in the history of errands (seriously – Marshall’s, Home Goods, Target, a shoe store, Home Depot, Goodwill, and a few more). At one point, I locked us out of the car – thankfully, Henry was in my arms and not in his car seat – so we called brother-in-law Nick and bribed him with Indian food in exchange for bringing our spare car keys.  It worked!

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This was Nick’s first time (EVER) eating Indian food, and he really enjoyed it. He got the Tikka Masala and also tried my Vegetable Korma. Always good ‘intro to Indian’ foods, I think.

 

Henry magically slept in his carseat through the entire meal, only waking up at the very end. People, this is a miracle. Those days of sleeping in the carseat as I drag it out of the car, through the grocery store, back in the car, back in the house, and past the barking dogs are LONG gone.  This was a nice treat… allowed us to have some grown-up lunch conversations, which mainly centered around what we’d do if we won the lottery (we always go in on group tickets together).

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Our last errand of the day was to Plato’s Closet.  I was attempting to re-sale some goodies from a massive closet clean-out.  I locked myself in the walk-in for three hours last night, dumping stuff in trash bags and rearrange drawers.

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Unfortunately, they only wanted one purse.  Just one purse!  I got $6 for it, though.  Everything else went to Goodwill.

 

While I was organizing, I remembered a great idea – thought I’d share because I can’t be the only one who feels like this.  Are you sentimentally attached to clothes?  I cannot make myself get rid of my first ‘cool’ dress from when I was 16, the cardigan I wore religiously through college, etc.  The worst of these mementos is my pile of t-shirts.  I try to pare them down every now and then, but I still had more than 30 cotton shirts.  A woman does not need that many cotton shirts.

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Anyway – here’s the idea.  I photographed all the shirts that I wanted to remember but never wear.  I plan to print off the photos and put them in a book.  Meanwhile, the actual shirts got donated.  Now I still have ‘my shirts’ but they only take up a little space on my bookshelf, not two drawers in my closet.

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What were you guys up to today?

{ 50 comments }

 

  • rebecca @ blueberry smiles March 18, 2013, 5:22 pm

    Cute idea for the shirts! A few years ago, I cut my old t-shirts up and made them into a blanket/quilt. It was a really fun project and I still have all the memories from my favorite college tshirts.

  • Hope March 18, 2013, 5:41 pm

    Love the t-shirt idea! I have way too many that I’ll never wear again but can’t seem to part with.

  • Whitney March 18, 2013, 5:50 pm

    2nd the Tshirt quilt idea! Obviously not free but I’ve had one made for HS and for college. My college one was made by this Etsy shop and I love it! Highly recommended.

    http://www.etsy.com/shop/3StitchCreations

  • Kelsey March 18, 2013, 6:05 pm

    I’ve also heard of making them into a block quilt.

  • luv what you do March 18, 2013, 6:07 pm

    We did tons of errands today too…Costco old navy and Jason’s Deli!
    That Indian food looks awesome!!!

  • Victoria (District Chocoholic) March 18, 2013, 6:15 pm

    And like everybody else already said: http://www.tshirtquilt.com/index.htm

  • Jelena@FabLifePhD March 18, 2013, 6:27 pm

    I have packed my old clothes in the box that stands under our bed for 4 months already. I guess I am to lazy to bring it to donation center.

  • Jen G. March 18, 2013, 6:32 pm

    Way off topic, but I just started using the DivaCup. It’s a lot harder than I thought it would be, so I went back to your Lunette post to see if there were any tips — thanks for mentioning that it could take a couple of cycles to fully get used to it. I feel better about how much trouble I’ve had (this is seriously my second day using it), and am much more willing to keep going with it.

    • Caitlin March 18, 2013, 8:14 pm

      Stay with it!!! You will love it soon.

  • AmandaonMaui March 18, 2013, 6:34 pm

    Today is still happening here in Hawaii. It’s only 12:30pm! I’m taking a lunch break now. Mmm orange sprout tofu with quinoa. This morning I cleaned and conditioned one of our leather sofas. We got them used, and they needed some help. Hooray for Leather Honey! It’s a big sticky mess right now, but it will soak in and dry out. I’ve also been studying for sociology class, and have plenty more where that came from. Oh, and the cat joined me for my study session and napped on my lap. Such a sweetheart.

    I’ve cut myself off of Facebook and Twitter for a while. Do you know how difficult it is to actually block Facebook? Even parental controls can’t do it! Facebook can be so evil.

    I might play my ukulele later. That’d be nice. Oh, and get sucked into The Sims 3 for a while.

    Have a wonderful evening! I can’t believe how many stores you hit today!

  • Gwen March 18, 2013, 6:34 pm

    I’m cheap and I use all those old t-shirts as workout shirts ( my motto is “a free shirt is a good shirt!”), although sometimes they get to a state of disrepair where I can no longer leave the house in them, and then they have to go!

  • Vikki March 18, 2013, 6:36 pm

    I bought a book called 108 things go do with a t-shirt and it’s sequel 121 things to do with old t-shirts and I’ve been working through those. I’ve been turning things into cute hooping clothes, market bags, and a cat bed. I also had far too many shirts in my closet.

  • Kristina @Run and Assimilate March 18, 2013, 6:41 pm

    The Indian food looks amazing. My boyfriend and I just found our new favorite Indian restaurant- kind of a random place but some of the most amazing food- I never order anything specific, I just ask for nothing super spicy and I’m never disappointed.
    I’ve always wanted to try the quilt idea, I have so many cotton shirts from high school to undergrad (I grabbed every free t-shirt offering in undergrad) to grad school, it’s unbelievable how fast they pile up.

  • katie h. March 18, 2013, 6:55 pm

    if you dont want that havard T, i’ll take it.

  • Laura @ RunningJunkie March 18, 2013, 6:55 pm

    That Indian food looks amazing. I love, love, love Indian Food!

    I think every girl has issues getting rid of clothes!

  • Katie March 18, 2013, 6:57 pm

    What a great idea! Especially for people who can’t really sew!

  • Sara @ fitcupcaker March 18, 2013, 7:27 pm

    Great idea..I love indian food!

  • Nicole March 18, 2013, 7:50 pm

    I used to have that with marching band, race, and band tees. At some point I let them all go, but I had so many!

    And that sucks that Platos didn’t take more. We have those here too, but also an adult version called Clothes Mentor. I just took a big bin of stuff in yesterday and made $81, which was pretty sweet. Sometimes the stuff they take/don’t take doesn’t always make sense, but I figure at least some of the stuff is gone and I have more money than I came in with. Although Once Upon A Child is nearby, so it’s hard not to spend a bunch of money there.

    Now here’s a dilemma I have: I wore a strapless blue dress as my wedding dress that I finally decided to get rid of by selling. They didn’t take it (not sure why since its Calvin Klein), so now do I keep it or just donate it? Lol.

    • Vikki March 18, 2013, 10:44 pm

      Princess Project….(or something like it.) I donated a all of my bridesmaids dresses to an organization that does prom dresses for underprivileged girls.

    • Alison March 19, 2013, 12:13 am

      What about ebay for the CK dress? It tends to be pretty easy to unload items with a recognizable label as long as you price fairly for the condition.

      • Sarah March 19, 2013, 10:03 am

        Check out liketwice.com — my new favorite site! It’s like an online version of Plato’s closet, but better!

  • Jessica March 18, 2013, 7:59 pm

    Did the doctor really say to work on waving? Seems kinda funny to me… 🙂 My son is 8 months old tomorrow and isn’t waving yet. And he just started babbling occasionally. But he also did all the physical stuff early.

  • Rebecca March 18, 2013, 8:12 pm

    Interesting shirt idea!
    My mom made a bunch of my old shirts into a quilt a couple of years ago. Fun to keep them around. I’ve got a few more shirts I think I might have her make into another quilt at some point–they’re holey or don’t fit right anymore or I just don’t really wear them, but I’d still like the memories.

    I did some errands today, too–not nearly as many as you, though! Just grocery shopping, really.

    My one cousin’s wife works at a store similar to a Plato’s Closet. I’m not sure what they take and what they offer for stuff, but it could be interesting to go try it sometime. Sounds like selling back textbooks–you spend a lot on them but then they either don’t take them or give you almost nothing in return for them. Gah.

  • Miranda @ Miranda Runs March 18, 2013, 8:18 pm

    That’s a cute idea! I’ve heard of making them into a quilt. I’ve also heard of making a collage (kind of) of racing shirts with the medals so you know which race goes with which shirt. Any of the ideas are cute!

  • Jessica March 18, 2013, 8:32 pm

    Thats funny! I was just going to ask about his nap- i was thinking “i could never leave the house for 7 hours w my 11 month olds nap schedule!” That IS amazing that he stayed asleep! Go henry! also, my zach has a hilarious crawl- I call him PEG LEG because he scotts and drags a leg behind him. lol silly babies

  • Halsy March 18, 2013, 8:41 pm

    Sounds lije you all had a productive day! That is awesome Henry slept for you! I miss those days! I never make much at Plato’s either. We also have a Clothes Mentor attached to Plato’s. Between the two all my accessories and shoes are always bought but not much clothes. I went in December and was bummed all my $100+ Banana Republic dress pants from just a couple years ago received $4 each. I didn’t really need them anymore as I stay at home and definentely a bit more hippy feom baby girl…so I guess $4 is $4.

  • Laura March 18, 2013, 8:47 pm

    My cousin did the weird crawl/scoot thing and now her daughter does too-it’s so funny!

  • Amanda March 18, 2013, 9:27 pm

    Nice idea! I plan on making my old college T-shirts into a quilt, save a few to wear now and again.

  • Sara March 18, 2013, 9:40 pm

    Thats a really cute idea, good for you donating them! I would not be able to part with them. Another T-shirt idea is a Tshirt quilt I ordered one for my Boyfriends Brother’s wedding present and did his T-shirts growing up, Hers, and then some of them together such as races and bar crawls they did together.

    http://seventwentysomethings.blogspot.com/2012/09/t-shirt-blanket.html

  • Shelly March 18, 2013, 9:52 pm

    I saw a pintrest post about making old t’s into reusable grocery bags… Just sew up the bottom then cut the sleeves off and neck out like the opening and handles. I thought that was a great idea!

  • Erin March 18, 2013, 10:16 pm

    There’s also Project Repat for the t-shirt quilt idea. http://www.projectrepat.com/ They treat their workers with dignity and I hope mine is coming soon. 🙂

  • Christine @ BookishlyB March 18, 2013, 11:00 pm

    You should have made a t-shirt quilt (or had someone to do it for you)! I did one with a whole bunch of race shirts and plan on hanging it above my treadmill.

  • Stephanie C March 19, 2013, 12:20 am

    Today I registered for my last graduate school class!!! Then I walked the dog, took care of some bills, went to a class, cooked dinner and cooked my lunch for tomorrow. The last part I did while watchin real housewives of Atlanta and part of real housewives of Beverly Hills. Tomorrow is the crazy day of work!

  • Paige March 19, 2013, 7:44 am

    Plato’s tends to be very picky about the clothes they choose. It usually has to be name-brand and within a year or so of the current purchase. Apparently, they can tell the year by labels. They frustrate me!

  • Kim March 19, 2013, 8:52 am

    My husband and I have a huge collection of t-shirts from colleges we visited, and now that my brother is entering high school, he thinks it’s super cool to wear our old MIT / Carnegie Mellon / Stanford Engineering t-shirts to school, so that was a good hand-me-down. I use some of mine for exercise t-shirts and work-from-home outfits with yoga pants, but definitely feel frumpy when I go out in public in them (they have stains out the wazoo) – just can’t seem to part with my hot pink Clemson Dancers shirt lol Also I wish Track Shack would give you the option to NOT receive the cotton race t-shirt (and not charge you for it), I have way too many of those and none of them fit right.

  • Joy March 19, 2013, 9:02 am

    I love the idea of taking photos of the clothes you have a hard time parting with. There are definitely things that I’ve kept for years and years because I just don’t want to part with them. Thanks for the great idea.

    And I remember my first time eating Indian food. The mixture of flavors was so incredible and now Indian food is among my favorite type of food to eat. I love spicy!

  • Leah March 19, 2013, 9:33 am

    I say make a quilt with all the old t-shirts :o)

  • Elizabeth @ Positive Change March 19, 2013, 9:42 am

    I spent my day cleaning, I don’t think I ever made it outside, only to run to the gym and back!

  • Janie March 19, 2013, 9:53 am

    we do that t-shirt idea for EVERYTHING my husband (!!) won’t give/throw away…a broken snowboard, an old TV, his old watch, etc. everything…and then we put it in a book! it’s great 🙂 xoxooxoxo

  • Emily March 19, 2013, 10:00 am

    Such a great idea! We were just cleaning out our closets this weekend and my hubs pulled out the shirt he was wearing when he bought his first car….10 years ago! lol It’s so hard getting ride of clothes with emotional attachments (for us anyways!), so many this is our answer. Love it!

  • Kristine March 19, 2013, 10:05 am

    Great idea about the shirts! When my dad passed away a few years ago, my mom took all his tshirts and ties and had them made into quilts for my siblings and I. A great way to store fond memories of happy times with a beloved father.

  • Katy @ HaveYouHurd March 19, 2013, 2:15 pm

    This is a great idea. My husband and I both played sports all of our life and we have about 300 million t-shirts! My dream would be to make t-shirt blankets out of all of them, but I’m no seamstress and I know it won’t happen. Your idea of taking pictures is great because I don’t feel like I’m losing them but they’re not taking up all the space in the world at my house!!! It also might be cool to take pictures of some of the cooler ones and frame them and use them as art!

  • Katie C. March 19, 2013, 2:29 pm

    Another great idea for older t-shirts you can’t throw out is to make a quilt, or better yet have someone else do it for you. I am sentimental over old t-shirts from concerts and races, etc.
    http://www.tshirtquiltcafe.com – can be pricey, but there are also tons of DIY videos out there!

  • Julie March 19, 2013, 5:01 pm

    Ha ha! I have a hard time getting rid of t-shirts, too. Probly cuz they usually commemorate events I took part in. I also have a hard time getting rid of my daughter’s baby clothes. She’s 13, & I finally went thru everything to make room in our storage area in the basement (a friend was having a garage sale). I wheedled it all down to 1 bin of baby/toddler clothes that I just couldn’t part with. 😉

  • Cassie March 20, 2013, 12:34 am

    Wait, did you go to Pitt??

    • Caitlin March 20, 2013, 8:41 am

      Yes you?

  • Charise March 20, 2013, 9:56 am

    Oh man, the sentimental clothes hoarding … I still have the shirt I wore on my first date with my husband more than 9 years ago. Even though it’s no longer in style and doesn’t fit right, I still keep it tucked away in a drawer.

  • Janine March 20, 2013, 8:57 pm

    The same thing happened to me with Plato’s closet. One single purse that my boyfriends parents gave me that I never use, but I did use the $6 and that was on the gas to Plato’s. ugh.

  • Courtney Leigh March 25, 2013, 10:30 am

    I just did the t-shirt picture thing myself this weekend. I had thought about a t-shirt quilt, but then I had a serious talk with myself and realized I was not going to make or pay for a quilt anytime soon. I’m far more likely to make a photo collage of old t-shirts than the other two. 🙂

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