Another thing to keep my kids entertained

We went out to eat tonight, a real treat for us since Dave Ramsey came into our lives. My in-laws are in town and wanted to take us out to eat, they apparently don’t remember what it’s like to go out to eat with two small children. I did really enjoy my Smokey Bones pulled pork sandwich. We did meet the people at the surrounding tables though since both of my children are rather friendly and wave at everyone. Being in an area with so many Grandparent ‘snowbirds,’ this goes over quite well. The woman behind us was celebrating her 81st birthday with a vodka on rocks. She kept both kids entertained for several minutes. Another thing that kept the kids entertained for several minutes, all I could really hope for, was their chalk cloth place mats that I made for them last summer. I have not made any recently, but thought I might share a few pictures of them. I did sell them on my site for a very short time. I actually really disliked sewing with the chalk cloth and messed up as many as I had that turned out nicely. One side is a laminated cotton print, the other is chalk cloth. Chalk cloth is a bit pricey and is something not sold locally for me. It was an exciting package to get in the mail though since it can’t be folded and comes on a tall roll. I used a coordinated binding to edge and make ties. I do enjoy having a few projects made from it, but am glad to be done with chalk cloth. I am also glad that we finished our dinner with everyone getting something they liked, made a minimal disruption to the dining experiences of the other patrons in our area and that I was the only one at our table to spill something. A special happy birthday to table 33.

coloring with daddy

I met with my small group at church this evening. It's a new group and I think it's going to be a really great mix of people, hopefully another couple or two will join, but I really like the new couple that did met with us tonight. I left daddy at home with the kids tonight since his parents are in town and he was in the middle of assembling a new disney princess bike with streamers, training wheels, matching water bottle and apparently a really confusing brake system. I have been on my own more this week than in the past four years combined and I have been making the most of it. Today I even enjoyed a frozen coke on my way home from grocery shopping by myself! I treated myself to a new book from the book store but have not figured out of which envelope that money was supposed to come.

When I got home, the kids were at the kitchen table coloring with daddy. It was way better than I expected, half thinking it would be 'video time.' They were using their crayon rolls which I made for them a few months ago. I haven't listed any on my etsy site yet, but plan to get around to it one of these days. It is a basic design, a long piece of fabric sewn with slots for the crayons. A ribbon is attached so you can tie it up once it's rolled. There is some folding and hiding of seems, but it's a quick little project. I have made a few as small gifts, one for my crafty Indiana friend, two for our friends with the orange tree, and have fabric laying out to make one for my sister's art teacher. We keep ours in the 'diaper bag' (my Vera Bradley back pack, an anniversary gift from my hubby) for trips to restaurants and long car rides. I created them originally for a plane trip last fall to Indiana. My hubby is very smart and a little tricky, somehow I always end up flying alone with the kids back and forth from Florida to Indiana. Handling all of the materials, kids toys, treats and snacks is an issue and these crayon rolls simplified at least one pat of that for me. I thought I was rather ingenious with this design, only to find about twenty other etsy sellers who thought they were ingenious too. I was pleased to see them out and even more pleased that everyone was sharing the blue and brown crayons, as everyone was drawing an ocean picture.

My snack bags and sandwich wraps

I found some great vintage fabric at an estate sale a few weeks ago. That was a weird experience, to go through a stranger’s house and literally pick up anything and ask ‘how much.’ The contents of this couple’s cabinets and drawers were spilled on the counters for people to pick through and buy one piece at a time. I got a great deal on some sewing supplies and wooden spools, my new collection. My favorite fabric was a pillowcase with a total vintage cow boy look. I paid 10 cents for it and the sales man gave me a funny look when I eagerly asked how much for an old pillowcase with a few random tears. I held onto it, waiting for the perfect project. Luckily a friend from Indiana saw a picture of it in my fabric catalogue and requested a few things to be made from it. When I was little and I got something special, I saved it. I did not use my Holly Hobby stationary set because I wanted to save it for special occasions. In college I finally used the last of it. I still have two full jars of a special sugar hand scrub I got 5 years ago. I’m saving it for a special occasion apparently. Anyway, so this great fabric did not sit long. I made my friend a sandwich wrap and two snack bags. I use a laminate vinyl to make everything washable and durable. I do sell both of these on my etsy site and they have sold pretty decently. It took me several attempts to get a size and shape that I really like before I listed them. I have actually made more for my friends and family than I have sold. They have been great birthday gifts for our friend’s school age kids. My kids and I use our wraps and snack bags all the time and I’m sure Bee will use her wrap even more when she is in school next year. My husband is now on board and uses his sandwich wrap to take a sandwich to work every day. I am doing a giveaway of a sandwich wrap on another blog. I guess that makes me official into the blog world, although I don’t understand it all yet. I’ll be sure to link that when it’s all set up.

ruffles and twirls

I’ve been sewing for Bee. I don’t use patterns and am half self taught, half taught by my self taught mom. We basically make a lot of things up as we go. Bee wanted a dress with ruffles. I found an adorable patchwork skirt dress in an old picture that I wanted to attempt, I decided to combine the two. When we fabric shop, Bee picks out strawberry shortcake, brightly colored unicorns, or something sparkly with fairies. I am not opposed to strawberry shortcake, but don’t think she belongs on a dress. I convinced her that we needed a July dress for her birthday with red, white, and blue. We picked out 5 fabrics, mostly florals. By the time we got home from the fabric store it was time for lunch and naps. I got started right away as soon as Lou was asleep. I decided to have the straps tie at the shoulder to lengthen the years she will be able to wear it but mostly because I don’t know how to sew a zipper and I recently made a dress that fastens with buttons. I got her out of her nap three times to try it on. She doesn’t sleep during nap time anymore, just plays with polly pockets, so she didn’t mind at all. I finished it that evening once the kids were in the bath. After washing up, she tried it on, and was thrilled. She really wanted to wear it to bed but we settled on wearing it the next day. She twirled around the house all day rather pleased with herself and her ruffles. Her only comment was that it would be even better if it had strawberry shortcake on it.

Sweet and sticky

One of the great benefits to living in sunny Florida is winter months with endless fresh oranges. We don't have an orange tree, but friends do. In exchange for some sewing projects, we got oranges. When I say we got oranges, I mean I filled up both produce drawers in the fridge at least five times during the winter months. We were able to go and pick them ourselves too, which was something this Indiana native had never done. Mostly I picked and Bee and Lou played on our friend's play set, I was more impressed with the process than they were. Once we had to hop the fence and run from some dogs, but it was worth it for multiple bushels of local organic oranges. Our friends brag that their tree is organic, but have explained to me that really it means that they neglect it by not spraying it and the dog really like to poop by it. These particular oranges are so juicy that it's silly to try to peel and eat them. You end up with such a mess that you decide to just juice the others. So that is what we did. I made fresh squeezed orange juice every morning, the kids did rather like this particular part of the process. I squeezed extra and froze it, I squeezed extra and made smoothies, I squeezed extra and added orange juice to various recipes, ruining a fair amount of meals. My freezer overflowed with gallon bags full of small amounts of frozen orange juice, reminding me of a time not long ago when my freezer overflowed with gallon bags full of small amounts of frozen breast milk. Just when I had the last of the oranges used up, a different friend from church all but begged us (twist my arm hardly) to take a bushel she had picked. She too had more oranges than she knew what to do with and was trying to find loving homes in need of oranges. I agreed to take more oranges, a few grape fruits and a couple star fruits. I quickly discovered I don't like grape fruit or star fruits. My mom came to visit last week (luckily she liked the grapefuits) and I decided to attempt homemade marmalade. She was able to watch the kids while I stewed sticky orange parts for the seeming hour or two this would take. I scoured the net for recipes and settled on the slightly complicated one included in the pectin box. The oranges were peeled with a vegetable peeler. Those peels were then cooked with some juiced oranges. Sugar and pectin were added as well as the orange 'meat' from about 15 more oranges. The recipe called for something like 8 oranges, so I was surprised and confused that I needed 15 to meet the 4 cup quota. Either way I didn't cut the peel in small enough pieces and have to scoop up as much as I could and use kitchen scissors to cut them smaller. I then poured the mix in a few glass jars and a few plastic containers. I would have liked to use all glass jars, but was not prepared ahead of time for this cooking adventure and like most things I do, made it up a I went. The results were good nonetheless. I shared a few containers with friends, and am enjoying the rest myself on toast and biscuits. Apparently, I am the only one in the house who likes orange marmalade. I did use up the last of the fresh oranges and was happy to be rid of them finally. Last night I made stuffed acorn squash. My recipe calls for a fresh peeled orange, I didn't have any.