Merry Christmas! Happy (belated) Hanukkah! Happy Noam Chomsky Day! Or may whatever winter holiday you celebrate be jolly! Well I had a great blog post idea for today. I was going to write all about my breastfeeding experiences (don’t worry it wasn’t going to be graphic). The plan was to call it, “Breastmilk and cookies”. Get it? You’re supposed to leave milk and cookies out for Santa? But not breastmilk. Definitely don’t leave him breastmilk. Well (luckily?) I ran out of time, and didn’t get to write it yet.
So we are starting to get into more of a routine with little Julius. It is starting to feel less like, “oh my God what have we gotten ourselves into” and more like, “okay we may be able to handle this”. I think the turning point was when I completed a shopping trip with the little guy. My friend Maren told me she schedules a reason for her and her little one to leave the house every day – whether a visit to the library, a breastfeeding group, or a shopping trip. I thought this was a genius idea, and though I haven’t done it every day, I’m trying to get out of the house with Julius several times a week.
For each outing it takes me an eternity to pack his diaper bag since I’m concerned I’ll forget something. By the time I’m done packing, my bag weighs about 50 pounds. This makes carrying a pocketbook out of the question! Instead I throw my keys and purse into the bag. The problem is, I’m never able to find my keys in that giant bag! There are so many pockets they could be hiding in! I decided to make a tether to attach my keys to the bag. All I have to do now is grab the end of the tether and pull and I’ve got my keys! Though I made it for a diaper bag, it would work great on a pocketbook. In fact, I got the idea from a bag I got from Will’s grandmother – and it has even made my pocketbook searching so much easier!
Key Tether
What you need:
- 1″ lobster clasp
- 1″ key ring
- 16″ of 1″ ribbon or trim
- Fold 1″ of ribbon over key ring. (Right side out.) Pin and stitch.
Fold 1″ of ribbon over key ring. Pin and Stitch.
- Insert ribbon through lobster clasp ring.
Insert ribbon through lobster clasp.
- Turn under unfinished edge 1/2″. Place folded edge 1/4″ below the key ring. Pin & stitch.
- Slide lobster clasp so it is opposite the key ring and the rest of the ribbon sits flush.
Fold under 1/2″ of unfinished edge and pin 1/4″ below the key ring.
- Stitch the ribbon together as close as possible to both of the unfinished edges.
Stitch along unfinished edges of ribbon to secure.
To use either attach key ring to zipper pull or loop ribbon around bag handle and through key ring. Attach keys to lobster clasp.
You can either loop tether around handle and through key ring, then attach keys.
Outside view of key tether attached to diaper bag handle.
Inside view of key tether attached to diaper bag handle.
Or you can attach key ring to a zipper, and attach keys to clasp.
Merry Christmas!
