1. My dear friend Lawrence is now selling some of his fantastic subway drawings on Etsy.
2. Today I schlepped the kid and a bag of outgrown maternity clothes to a maternity resale shop, hoping to sell the too-small pants and buy a maternity coat. My belly is sticking WAY out of my regular coat and I am cold. I am also too cheap (thrifty? wise?) to shell out for a brand new coat that will be worn until March and then never again by me. Actually, first the kid and I checked out Goodwill, but that doesn’t count as schlepping because it’s his favorite store. (No coats for Mama there, but I did score a brand new waterbath canning pot for $8, so now I can return the one I borrowed from my neighbor an embarrassing number of months ago. And the kid scored some shin guards, which he’s been wanting because he’s a Soccer Player. Yes, the caps are intentional. I wish you could hear him say it. “I’m a Soccer Player!!!”)
So, anyway the resale shop. No coats there, either. Well, there was one, but it was $300. $1050 when new. What a bargain! What asshole spends $1050 on a maternity coat? And the thing was unremarkable, too. Old Navy would have looked just as nice. In New York this wouldn’t have surprised me, but I give Portlanders more credit for good sense, etc. I guess not. SOMEONE in Portland bought a maternity coat for over a thousand bucks and now wants $300 for it. Yeah. Not for me, thanks. So no coats there, and get this. They rejected ALL six pairs of pants I brought in because they were “outdated.” Granted, I bought them all for my first pregnancy in 2005-06, but I wore them for this pregnancy too, and they still look good to me. Which means this. I am old. I am now old enough that I no longer know when my clothes are out of style. Not that I ever gave a damn about that, but I used to at least be AWARE that I was choosing something that wasn’t in style. Nope.
3. Because I always do what Norma tells me to (and she hasn’t steered me wrong yet), I’ve started making our yogurt at home. I won’t say it’s better than the Nancy’s we were buying before, because oh my god is Nancy’s good yogurt, but this stuff is delicious, too. And super cheap. A gallon of hormone-free, local milk is $1.99 at New Seasons (the wonderful, new New Seasons store brand), and that gallon of milk makes–yep–a gallon of yogurt. We go through a lot of yogurt around here, so this is big news.
Home made yogurt is the best! I won’t buy yogurt anymore because mine is just so much better. I like flavoring it with my home made jam. And you can’t buy all of those flavors. Good for you!
I buy just about all my clothes at thrift stores. Plain clothes, undoubtedly “outdated.” I wouldn’t have it any other way. I look at what’s in style now, and it’s ugly.
Yes, I am old.
I’ve been making my own yogurt and I love it (I’m a recent convert to eating yogurt and I love my homemade stuff). I eat it with homemade granola for breakfast.
You can only hope that someone was so desperate for a nice maternity coat that they were forced to pay that much money for one. On the other hand there are enough trust fund babies in Portland that it wouldn’t surprise me that one of them would pay that much for a coat and not think twice about the cost.
i wouldn’t want to think of anyone THAT desperate for a coat! but meanwhile, a GALLON of milk for $1.99??? we pay more than that here for a measly 1/2 gallon!!!
Cari.
I have a couple of bins of maternity clothes that I
1. Haven’t gone through ever because I thought I’d jinx us (no I didn’t know then we were already screwed there)
2. Still haven’t gone through because I’m a chicken.
I think there MIGHT be a winter coat in there. I’ll look. My friend Bec was HUGE with her son G so we might luck out.
I’ll let you know if I find anything.
TT
I had to go through a similar situation, we just moved and I’m pregnant with our second kid, I ended up getting a coat from Motherhood Maternity. I’m not sure how much you were looking to spend, but they have some good wool coats online. The prices range from $50-$80 depending on the style. They are really good quality, and most of them are classic styles so you should be able to get a good return if you sell it at a resale or consignment shop.
Oh God. I just lost an hour and a half reading Norma’s blog. The red basket weave scarf she knit looks exactly like the only scarf my grandma ever knit. It was my grandfather’s and I have it now. She knit it out of very fine brick red sock yarn because he found everything else too itchy and it must have taken her forever.
Would it be catty of me to suggest that given the price of that coat and their assessment of your maternity pants, that perhaps this particular maternity resale establishment is a bit on the pretentious side?
Also, since you mentioned Old Navy, I feel compelled to point out that this rather cute maternity swing coat is on sale for $4o there. http://oldnavy.gap.com/browse/product.do?cid=50200&vid=1&pid=697830
PS. Oops, I just realized that coat is sold out except in XXL, which you most certainly are not. But they might have others…
(or Target…)
Hello there,
perhaps this pattern could help you, as it is or as an inspiration? It’s a knitted coat-expansion, if that makes any sense in English…
http://katzenzunge.blogspot.com/2008/05/seaweed.html
You might want to look into a coat panel instead (a friend of mine makes them that can also be used with a sling) – much cheaper and longer lasting as an option (feel free to email me if you’d like her contact info). Good luck!
Non-coat-related ps.
I just looked at those drawings, and they are BEAUTIFUL.
A friend of mine who’s a new mom found Pass It On, a twice-yearly consignment sale for the Portland and Hillsboro areas. She loved it and has been sharing the info with everyone she knows. Here’s the site: http://www.passitonsales.com/pio-index.html. While it won’t address your current coat needs, it may come in handy later š
I got a “swing” coat (sort of a-line in style) from Lands End in a size bigger than I normally would wear. Worked great. I don’t think it was more than $100 and in theory, I could wear it now, but it’s currently being enjoyed by another soon-to-be-mom.
I am in a similar winter coat/pregnant lady predicament & it’s been really cold here (I think about -2 degrees Fahrenheit). I got this really terrific wool blanket coat/cape thing years ago at the thrift store & it fits over my giant baby belly, although it’s no good for tobogganning & skiing. Good luck with your search!
Yes, the clothes thing. I’ve come to the same conclusion recently. I am no longer cool enough to know that I am uncool!
I thought I saw a pattern online for a wool insert that you knit and then button into the front of your coat when you are too pregnant for your current coat. Don’t know if it helps, but it’s a thought.
A…thousand…wait…seriously?!
Oh my gah. That just sort of boggles my mind.
…and suddenly, I feel a lot better about paying thirty whole dollars for a pair of brand new jeans…(Christmas present for the hubby. Don’t tell!)