It's good to be the (consignment) Queen!

Our vacation is fast approaching, so all my boys need some spring/summer things in advance of when I usually buy them. Last weekend, I did the dreaded task of sorting through all my bins in the garage that hold out-of-season and outgrown clothes, so I knew what I already had. I found that strangely enough, one of my children had ten pair of shorts, and one had zero pairs! I made a little mental list of who needed what (Andrew; shorts, Bentley; pajamas, etc) and headed to the consignment shop with Elvis in tow. He insisted on being held, so as I grabbed up clothes as fast as I could, added them to a stack on the counter, then went back for more, I had a little baby trying to grab everything off the shelves! I had store credit, from the last batch of clothes I consigned, so I ended up getting practically everything I need, including hoodies all around and shoes for Andrew; and the big hit of the trip; a Boise State hoodie for a lucky Bentley Jeffrey! I love the little terrycloth beach cover up for baby Elvis! It was only 2.95 and perfect for keeping him warm poolside and at the beach! After my store credit was deducted; I bought 28 items for $47.97! Not bad!

I posted earlier about needing summer sandals for myself, and I went to Payless to look for the shoes I have pictured, tried them on, and found that they were the kind of shoes that slip off your heel continually while walking! No good! So I sort of fell in love with the green wedges with the flower on the toe, and as it turned out, I didn't even need the wide width! I also picked up these blue sandals with a buckle and again, the flower; I couldn't resist these, and I wanted to have some flat sandals for Disneyland in case the wedges prove too high for walking. I love colorful shoes! To me, almost any color goes together; and since I know have a blue pair and a green pair; I can't think of a single color that would clash with both! Payless was having a BOGO sale, so I ended up getting two pairs of shoes for myself and shoes for two of my boys for $60. Not quite consignment prices, but not bad for shoes!

This morning we had the unwelcome surprise of having Callan wake up with a croupy cough; it's been exactly a year since my little Callie scared the daylights out of me and his daddy by developing a life-threatening case of croup, which led to a two day hospitalization and sleepless nights for both of us whenever croup is afoot. Fortunately, the usual remedies helped tremendously, and we're hoping for an uneventful night. We will probably sleep with one ear out for him and clothes laid out for a quick getaway to the hospital if necessary. I've learned that with so many children, sickness is inevitable, and I don't waste a lot of time worrying about what could happen, I'm just thankful we live in a day and age where they have effective treatments and that we live only 5 or 10 minutes from the hospital.

I was thinking about that yesterday, when I was practically shaking with exhaustion at the grocery store, since I'd been up most of the night. I think a person's happiness depends a lot on their level of thankfulness, although I occasionally have bad days, I always know how lucky I am; I've known loneliness and sorrow in my life, but I always knew it was not forever, and the pain had no portion in me; I always could see this life, the one I dreamed about, and knew it would happen. So even though I'm often overwhelmed, and exhausted, and have many things I could spend a lot of time worrying about; I am a content and thankful person. I wish that peace and happiness for everyone.

I have a busy day of laundry today, with hopefully some time to work on my sewing; have a great Sunday!

Big Girls Don't Cry.....

I just realized today that we have exactly two weeks before we go on vacation. Where did the time go? And me with a half-finished swimsuit and not a wrap skirt to bless myself with! And my etsy shop is really picking up, which makes me worry about putting it on vacation mode; I'm still leaning towards "not"; just putting up a notice that says that shipping will be delayed until I return; which I think effectively dissuades a lot of people, but you can't have it all!

Up high on the list of the things I can't have right now, is the tan, toned body, I envisioned myself in on the beach...I considered getting a spray tan for about half a second; then decided to be true to my paleness. I'm not fooling anybody with the fake tan, and I actually like being an oddity in a sea of the perfectly tanned. Sure, I'd like to look great; but having an orange-y glow is not my idea of beauty. So I'll just go out with my fair skin, flashing like a beacon for the world to see! And the toned part it not necessarily happening; I've been rather neglectful of my gym membership lately, because I've been so, so, busy; and having five 9 and 10 pound babies is not conducive to a bikini bod! Cleansing breath! The only thing that matters, really; is having a great time with my family; I don't care if I look like a beached whale and everyone is blinded by the glare coming off my snow-white thunder thighs! I remember last time we visited San Diego; although I had lived there for three years and only been back in Idaho for three; I couldn't believe the contrast in the culture! Where in Idaho, I'm a fairly stylish and put-together person, I confess I felt like a country bumpkin! I remember my husband, a native San Diegan,  remarking while on the freeway with cars whizzing by us, "why is everyone in such a hurry?". Quite a culture shock, even for the initiated.

So, big girls don't cry, right?! I will not cry, no matter how many things I have left to do; my sleep deprivation, my dwindling soap stock, my white legs, or my Idaho style!

I'm going to wake up every morning, put on my new perfume and lipstick, and slog through my miles of housework and the ever-present laundry. I need to start putting less pressure on myself; no one except me expects me to have an immaculate house,  five children, and and etsy shop, but I do find it discouraging when I work so hard all day and seem to never make a dent. But, as my husband always says, my real job, my only job, is to take care of our boys, and any day that ends in them being happy, safe, and healthy is a success. 


On a much more fun note; I'm due for new summer shoes, and have been looking around for something to go with my vintage summer wear. I also have a wide foot, so finding something in a wide width is difficult; but here is what I found:

I think these are pretty, and since I'm accustomed to walking in higher wedges than these, I think these will be comfortable enough for at least one day at Disneyland. I love the white, I remember when white shoes were "in" and then most horribly out; so the white is fresh and eye-catching. I love to wear white shoes for some reason! I think I'll go and try these to make sure they're truly "wide", and then buy them!

Have a great Friday, everyone! 

Mr. Sandman.....

So remember my pledge not to stay up past midnight? We'll that's all gone out the window now that I realized I only have barely over a month until our vacation, and several pieces that are a must sew. The bathing suit pattern I cut out the other night is on the top of my list; I would hate to wait seven years for a vacation only to end up at the beach in a threadbare, stretched-out, five year old,  I've-worn-it-through-two-pregnancies-and-never-liked-it-anyway bathing suit!

So last night I buckled down (at 11pm) and got to work; movie on the laptop; boys and husband in bed. After all my enlarging/reducing/reducing I found that I had made the shorts gigantic! I mean, really big! I stitched them together as cut because I didn't want to lose the lines of the pattern; tonight (if I survive that long), I'll try them on and reduce by taking in the side seams. I have to adjust to the fact that they are meant to be rather flowy, drapey shorts, as was the style, and I don't want to lose that. However, I also don't want to be drowning in fabric. I think it will all work out; I did have to change the pattern size significantly, and it's natural for there to be differences in fit with a vintage pattern compared to modern expectations.

I hope, hope, hope to be back on track; sleep-wise soon, as soon as I catch up a little (promises, promises). For tonight, I feel rather exhausted, and may or may not pass out completely as soon as a finish this post!
I do have a great weekend coming up, and I'm excited about tomorrow being Friday!

Have a great night, everyone!

Dishes at Dawn?

I've posted before about the joys of late-night sewing; but this morning started out very differently. First of all, last night I fell asleep at 9:30! A far cry from my usual night-owlishness; I think all my late night shenanigans are catching up with me. After feeding Elvis at 5 am; I decided to get up and get some things done. I had already had nearly 8 hours of sleep; which never happens, and I also had a mountain of laundry that I had intended to fold. I was dreading another morning doing the digging-through-the-clean-laundry-looking-for pants-shirts-socks-no-not-that-shirt-where's-my-Perry-the-Platypus-shirt-those-aren't-my-underwear "thing" that I do whenever I get behind; so I put on another classic movie (thank you Mr. Netflix) and started folding. It would've been a perfect morning, except I didn't have any coffee, since I'm terrible at making coffee, James was asleep, and I was afraid to run the coffee grinder for fear of waking up some boys. I held out until 6:30; then woke up James, who made coffee, using his patented "coffee-grinder in between two couch cushions" method of noise-free coffee grinding.

I was thinking this morning about whether I need to switch from late-nights to early mornings, I just might be able to get lots of things accomplished, while still being able to spend the evening with James, and maybe, just maybe, getting more sleep, too! Or maybe it is impossible to "do it all"; I'm sure I'll keep trying!

On a completely unrelated note, I've been looking for a movie that I remember seeing when I was a teenager, it starred Van Heflin, who was famous for doing a coin trick while onscreen; it was his way of making sure the camera was on him and not his co-stars. I remember it was a Film Noir kind of movie, involving a lot of gangsters and a lot of drama; but it was also a very sweet love story. I remember one of the last lines in the movie was Van Heflin saying to the female lead "You're my good luck charm" or something similar. Either I have imagined a very plausible movie plot, or it's a rare movie, since I haven't been able to find it! I've googled, wikapedia'd, gone to the TCM website, read biographies of Van Heflin...what in the world? Any of you movie buffs out there that can help me; please do!

Grumpy Mama Creamy Pasta; or How to Feed a Tribe for $6.00

A few days ago, one of my favorite bloggers, Brittany at VaVoomVintage posted a recipe for Grouchy Girl Pie after a grouchy day. I had a very, very grumpy day today; where I started to think there was no way I could accomplish all the things I set out to do. I was very grumpy on the way to pick up my older boys, and then I decided to "get over myself" and just do what I had to do. I came home with a plan; after giving my boys their daily chore assignments and having no idea what to make for dinner; I decided to fall back on one of my "easy dinners" that just happens to be a very thrifty meal to make. Today I just happened to have about 1/2 cup of white wine that my husband poured me last night and I fell asleep before drinking, so rather than throw it out, I decided to add it to my recipe; but I normally make non-alcoholic pasta, so just substitute more milk for the wine in this recipe. As always, I'm a very "throw it in" cook, so these are my best estimates of what I use! And this makes a huge amount;  I will feed six people (plus Elvis, indirectly) with this and have leftovers for a lunch or two or three. I weighed the pot after I was finished; over 10 pounds!

Creamy Pasta in a Pinch

20 oz dried rotini or a similar shape pasta
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
2-3 cloves garlic
3-4 marinated artichoke hearts
1/4 cup butter or olive oil (or a combo)
2 cups milk
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (the cheap stuff)
1/2 cup white wine
Your favorite seasonings, basil, oregano, or an Italian blend

The first thing I do is set a pot of water on the stove to boil, then I oil a glass pan, add the chicken breasts, salt and pepper them and put them in a 425 degree oven to bake. Then I chop the garlic while the butter and/or olive oil is heating up in a skillet. I add the garlic and saute briefly. I add the flour, stir to make a roux, then add the wine and/or milk gradually while mixing with a wire whisk. Stir until thickened and bubbly. Remove from heat, add chopped artichokes, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper to taste, seasonings. By this time the pasta should be ready and the chicken should be cooked. Drain the pasta, return to the pan, add the sauce, chop up the chicken and add that as well. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Simple!


I also serve this with a loaf of my home baked bread which I posted a recipe for earlier, salad mix, and broccoli or asparagus. Here's how I break down the cost:

Pasta $1.50
Chicken $2.00 (I have three freezers and only buy chicken if it's $2 or less)
Garlic, Seasonings, Oil, butter, and flour .25
White wine (doesn't count because it was re purposed)
Milk .25
Parmesan .50
Artichoke Hearts .10 (I got a great deal on a jar of artichokes, and just used a small amount)
Homemade Bread and one stick of butter (my boys like butter!) .75
Salad Greens .40
Asparagus .25

I may have under-or-over estimated a few of these things, but I think it all comes out in the wash; so I've managed to feed my hungry family for $6.00!

And it's delicious!

Flour Frenzy

This picture is a quick snapshot, of me, in my kitchen in all my red apron-ed glory....I wish! Ah, for those yellow dishes! I love yellow dishes! Unfortunately my kitchen is not as darling by half. Today is Thursday, which means that tomorrow my Andrew will be selling homemade bread for the mock economy in his classroom. My bread is in high demand there; probably because it is bought with mock money; so I try to make at least 6-8 loaves for him to sell. And that's on top of the bread I'm supposed...I mean am making for everyday use. I also am extremely backed up in the soap department, so today's tasks include one batch of Patchouli soap...which is done; and I have three loaves baking in the oven as we speak.

And it shows. I have developed a system for making the most of my tiny kitchen and limited mixing and oven space. I make one batch of bread which makes 3 loaves, using the recipe I posted earlier, let it rise in the mixing bowl for about an hour; then when it's risen, I take it out and immediately start another batch of bread in the mixer, then form the first batch into loaves, repeat until exhausted and covered in flour. If I do this properly, I should have one batch rising in the bowl, one batch rising on the baking sheet, and one batch in the oven.  Unfortunately I am terribly behind today, and at this rate will not be able to fill my kitchen from floor to ceiling with bread; although I am exhausted and covered in flour....

Off to bake more bread!

Happy Thursday!

The Sound of My Silence

I don't usually post pictures of my family; but I can no longer resist! My Sweet Elvis!

I had a slightly overwhelming, busy day yesterday; and after the boys went to bed I absolutely collapsed with exhaustion even though I had a million and a half things to do, as always; and a must do thing (sewing a button on one of the few pairs of pants Bentley hasn't either worn out or outgrown). I even woke up at midnight to feed the baby and when back to sleep in my clothes; which is horrible. So at five, when Elvis woke up again, I took the opportunity to take a shower, and check my etsy shop and e-mails. I always love creeping quietly out to the living room when the house is quiet. It's the only time the house ever is quiet and I can have productive and reflective time to myself. I need to do that more often; of course, when I have the choice between that and sleep, it's a tough call.

It was also a momentous occasion this morning for my two and a half year old, Dorian. He was one of my easiest potty-trainers; I think because I was determined to rely almost totally on cloth underwear, and didn't soften the blow with Pull-Ups; which may as well be diapers, and I have found to lengthen the time it takes to potty-train; which is very counterproductive. Dorian has been in cloth underwear solely for several months now, except at night, because I've noticed staying dry at night lags behind potty-training by a few months. I vowed when I bought the last package of Pull-Ups that it would be the last package of pull-ups; and the night before last was the last one. We explained to him carefully that he was wearing real underwear and that he would have to stay dry. After an early snafu; shortly after he went to bed; which shows that he had been using the Pull-Ups as a crutch; he woke up this morning dry! What a big boy! I've been pleasantly surprised that potty-training has seemed to get easier with each boy; four and counting; I think it's a combination of my increasingly matter-of-fact attitude and having really sweet little boys who have all been serious about being a big boy!

In other big boy news; my sweet little Elvis, who is 7 and half months, and doesn't quite sit up yet; has decided to skip that step and start pulling up! I can't believe that my tiny boy, who was born what seems like yesterday; is becoming quite the little man! How fast they grow!

Happy Wednesday!

Homemaking; Fifty Years Later...

"If you're tired from overwork, household chores you're bound to shirk.

Read these pointers, tried and true

And discover what to do" ~ From the Betty Crocker Cookbook, 1951 edition

When I first bought the book from which this advice originates; I was amazed by the matter-of-fact assumption that a woman would aspire to do this very underrated job: make a home. All the directions and advice were geared directly toward women; because of course in 1951, the home was the woman's domain. There was no shame in it, no pressure for a woman to come up with gourmet meals and climb the corporate ladder at the same time. The cookbooks were written with the homemaker in mind; with tips from start to finish on stretching that grocery budget, keeping meals nutritious, colorful and interesting, and curiously for a cookbook, tips for the woman on staying healthy and keeping her spirits up. Feminists everywhere faint in horror; but as a homemaker myself, I find the treatment of that hardworking homemaker charming and sweet. In addition, I've found that the advice is surprisingly practical and ageless. Some of the menu plans are a little quaint; that is to say, I've never served this on "Some Sunday Night"...or ever!:

Welsh Rarebit with
Tomato Slices, Anchovies, and Gherkins
Chilled Pears
Chocolate Cupcakes
Coffee, Milk, or Tea

I do think it would be fun to try out some of these menus, get a real "flavor" from the past! (perhaps another project to undertake?)

If there's a cure for laundry; I ain't found it!

Happy Friday! I know on this blog I've bemoaned the constancy and volume of the laundry in my busy house, so I decided to make it an actual topic,  rather than just a complaint, and share some tips I've learned over the years and mountains of laundry. Just to give you an idea of the vast scope of the laundry that is done in this house, I've posted the picture below, which is clean laundry waiting to be folded. This is not the biggest mountain I've ever had, this is my normal laundry pile that is produced ever other day!

Just to keep up, I wash and dry at least two loads on the "off" day, as well as about five loads on the days I plan to fold. And don't get me started on the sheets! My problem with laundry started when I was quite young. We had a large family growing up, and I often folded laundry with my sister. Actually, my sister folded, and I sat and cried because I hated laundry so much. So, the joke's on me, because I got married and had five little boys, and there is nearly as much laundry now as when I was a little girl, crying because I had to fold part of it!

And unfortunately, I have looked far and wide for a cure, and have found none! The only way around laundry is through it! In order to reduce the cost of doing laundry, at the very least, I found a way to make my own laundry detergent that costs only .03 per load, instead of the 15 or more cents per load using the Costco size natural laundry detergent. It's easy to do, with ingredients that are readily available, and it works; it really does! So here is the "recipe" I use:

For 1.5 gallons (the size of the empty laundry detergent jug I have)

4 oz Fels Naptha Soap, grated
1 Cup Borax (my fave)
1 Cup Washing Soda (like Baking soda, but in the laundry aisle under that name)
Water (preferably distilled, but I use tap water all the time)
A few drops of the essential oil of your choice (lavender, lemongrass, lemon, are all nice)

Melt the grated soap in a saucepan with 2 cups water. Warm up more water and add about 3/4 of a gallon to the laundry jug with a funnel. After the soap is melted, add the borax, washing soda, and essential oil, until they are all combined and dissolved. Add mixture to the jug, then fill with more warm water to the top. Shake often as the mixture cools, and before each use. Use 1/2 cup per load; warm water cleans the best with this; as most detergent.

So I may not have found a cure; at least not easily obtainable (think delivery laundry service....) but at least you can save a little money, as well as use something that is not petroleum based and is free of surfactants. I will post later about my folding system; and I will keep dreaming about that cure!

Check out my new feature; tips from a 1951 cookbook on thriftiness and homemaking, I will be posting a new tip every day!

I can see it in your eye; that you want to make pie....

I decided to put up a post about one of my favorite things; pie. I just happen to have a half bushel of apples that are mocking me; reminding me daily by their presence that I have a million things to do that I never seem to get around to doing. So in the spirit of pie making, and with hope that I will, in fact, use the apples for the purpose with which they were intended, I decided to share a few things about pie that I have learned over the years, mostly from that lovely lady, Betty Crocker. As I talked about on an earlier post, my favorite cookbook is a reprint of a 1951 Betty Crocker; the pictures are charming, the recipes a dream. It provides a glimpse into the daily lives of my favorite of the species; 50's housewives. There is a wonderful section which gives tips on stretching the family budget as well as keeping your spirits lifted; no therapy required. I actually think I will post about those tips at a later date; they are just priceless!

I always use Betty's version of a pie crust, it's so simple! Modern cookbooks make the process seem so difficult and time consuming; when it should be....easy as pie! You don't need the finest quality butter, or a food processor, or special flour, or special equipment, just flour, shortening (I know, I know), cold water, and either a pastry blender (which is just a little hand-held gizmo), or two forks. Also, modern recipes call for a higher percentage of fat to flour, which is just not necessary. The recipe I use calls for 2/3 cup of shortening per two-crust pie, certainly not health food, but I have seen other recipes use almost equal amounts of butter to flour! And I just roll the dough out with a wooden roller, no fancy-dancy new models with Teflon, on my wooden cutting board. I would love to have a marble inset to my counter top for dough; but for now, wood it is!

The problem with making pie, is that it is a fairly time-consuming dessert, so last time I made pie, I came up with a new technique, based on something my Granny used to do while making pie. Some of my best memories of my Granny are from my visit to her home in Missouri when I was eleven, she loved pie, and loved baking pies, so my sister and I helped her while she made lots of fruit pies. She came from a time and a place where pie was a staple, more of a way to preserve and a vehicle for fruit than a fancy dessert. She told us that while she was growing up in the 1930's, her mother used to make a dozen pies at a time. I always think of that when I bake pies; and hope that my pies would be Granny-approved! I remember her making the filling and then freezing it for another time, since she didn't have enough pie tins or oven space, so last time I made pies I did something similar. I don't claim that this is completely my idea, I'm sure other ladies have figured this out long ago, but for me it was a new idea!

I simply made enough filling for an extra pie, and placed it in a pie tin with no crust, greased. I did this with cooked filling, but I'm sure you could do this with the uncooked filling as well. I then baked that pie tin with just filling until it was done, then cooled it in the pie tin and when it was cool, stuck the whole thing in the freezer. I froze it until solid, then popped the filling out of the pie tin, wrapped it in plastic, and put it back in the freezer. When I needed a fairly quick dessert some weeks later, I simply made up a pie crust in the same pie tin, added the frozen block of filling, topped with another crust, baked as usual. It made a delicious, fresh-baked pie, and since the filling is the most time-consuming part, was ready in a snap! Of course, you can also freeze entire pies, but that requires putting pie tins out of commission, but I haven't had the greatest luck defrosting whole pies, and the crust has a tendency to become soggy when frozen. 

Now, do you want to make pie?

Foolproof Busy-Day Bread.....

I posted earlier about making bread for my family and want to share the recipe I use. It's always difficult for me to share recipes, because I'm a "throw it in" kind of baker, especially when it comes to bread, but this method I use is actually based on an episode of 'Cake Boss'. Some of you may have seen it; when Buddy and family went to Italy, they stopped in a bakery that makes bread daily in a centuries-old wood fired oven. The bread looked absolutely delicious, and although I don't happen to have a centuries-old wood fired oven handy, and in fact only have a years-old floor model from Sears electric oven, it still makes awesome bread! In the episode of 'Cake Boss', the baker was asked what their secret was. He answered that it was "the air" in that particular region of Italy that made the bread so great; alas, I have no Italian air, only Idaho air, but the bread doesn't seem to notice. I make all my bread dough in my Kitchen Aid mixer that was a wedding present, and is something I still use every day and couldn't live without, but you can certainly use a little elbow grease and mix and knead the bread by hand. I developed this recipe by listening carefully, or rather, reading the subtitles when the baker said "5 grams salt per kilo flour". A rough estimate of 5 grams is 4 teaspoons, and that's the amount of salt I use per kilo, which is about 2.5 pounds. This seems like a lot of salt, and I've actually found you can reduce it a little without affecting the recipe. I should also add that instead of bread pans, I love making bread in the traditional Italian fashion, round loaves which are formed by making a simple dough ball, smoothed over with ends tucked into the bottom, slashed on top once with a knife, on a baking sheet. Cornmeal is good to sprinkle on the greased pan, but I generally forget to do this, and it's not crucial. So here goes:

Busy-Day Italian Bread

2.5 pounds unbleached flour
4 tsp. salt
4 tsp. active dry yeast
Warm water (think warm bath temperature: 100-120 degrees)

Add the dry ingredients to a stand mixer bowl, or other large bowl. Mix with wire whisk. For stand mixers, use the dough hook attachment, add warm water while mixing on the lowest setting. By hand, add some water, then mix with a wooden spoon. When dough starts coming together and pulling away from the bowl, or becomes too stiff to mix with spoon, stop adding water and mix away until a soft, slightly sticky, smooth dough forms. With mixer, continue to mix with dough hook, which kneads the dough,  for a few minutes, until everything is well mixed and the dough is smooth and while soft, is able to be removed from the bowl in a big dough ball and handled with floured hands. If you've added too much water, just add a bit more flour, but don't overdo it, it should still be a soft dough. If you're kneading by hand, knead your little heart out, it will take probably 10-15 minutes of vigorous kneading to reach the same point. Cover bowl and allow to double in size, an hour or so, then punch the dough down, divide it in half for two large loaves, form loaves on greased and cornmeal-ed baking sheet and cover with a towel. At this point preheat your oven to 400, and put the rising bread on top of your range, to allow the heat from the preheating oven to accelerate the rising process. The second rise is faster, in my oven the bread is ready to go as soon as the oven finishes preheating, probably 20 minutes to a half hour. Pop the bread in the oven and bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes. And that's all there is to it!

If anyone needs me to clarify anything or has further questions, please comment and I will respond with whatever help you need (short of actually coming to your house and baking the bread myself!). Enjoy!

I'm so sorry there are no pictures of this bread! I never thought to take any, but I will take photos later today when the bread for today is finished, to show!

Vintage Success....one down, LOTS to go!

I posted a few weeks ago about a vintage sun suit I was making for Baby E, along with lots, and lots, and lots, of projects I intend to finish before our much-anticipated vacation at the end of March. I've been trying, and trying to find time for my sewing, but lately it has been difficult to fit it in to my ever-busy schedule. Tonight James had a late soccer game, so I was able to do some of my other chores, like making more Crunchy Mama soap for my etsy shop while he napped. I was so close to being finished with the sun suit, I only needed to do the dreaded buttonholes, and of course the normal hand-sewing and trimming thread duty that I despise. So here, at long last, is the finished 1955 sun suit; with shaky atrocious buttonholes! Fortunately, I found adorable buttons with anchors on them to lend a nautical air, and to hopefully disguise my usual wretched buttonholeing when the suit is worn this summer! I loved this pattern, straightforward, simple instructions, and a new twist, a technique I've never encountered before; flat-fell seams, where instead of sewing the side seams with right sides together, which makes a seam allowance on the inside; you sew the side seams wrong sides together, then on the right side, trim one of the seam allowances, then lap the other allowance over it, making a clean line, then top-stiching over all. I love to learn new (old) techniques, that's what makes vintage sewing so interesting, you never know what kind of instructions you may find, and it challenges your skills as a seamstress.

Also, I am at this moment, defying my self-imposed curfew, but since James is out playing a soccer game, and it is a weekend, I decided that it was allowable! No pumpkin-ing for me! I hope to be productive while I have this little opportunity, and perhaps even sleep in just a bit in the morning!

Desperate Housewife

No, I'm not talking about the TV show, which I do not watch, but about little ol' me! It seems that this whole having-five-children-and-an-etsy-shop-and-attempting-to-make-a-new-wardrobe thing got a lot harder all at once! I don't know where the time goes! I wish I could be like this woman in the pictures, blissfully and serenely making her house beautiful calmly, all while wearing a plethora of colorful aprons, but the reality is, I am often frazzled, harried, annoyed, panicked, and most of the time wearing a layer of baby food, flour, or something worse over the outfit I choose hopefully in the morning. There are a few things I insist upon, one of them being that I get fully, fairly nicely dressed every day before taking my boys to school. I just feel so much better about life when I can at least put on some lipstick and go out into the world. I know lots of mothers who bring their children to school in pajamas, and think nothing of it; I don't judge them, in fact I admire their ability to "roll with the punches" and adapt to whatever is going on that morning, but for myself, I just can't mentally go there. The other thing that is important to me is to have my house looking as clean and inviting by dinnertime as I can make it. Now, I'm not married to a tyrannical, oppressive husband, and I know James would never fault me if he came home to a topsy-turvy house, but I feel as a homemaker, this is my foremost job, and I just wouldn't feel like I accomplished anything if I hadn't made significant progress on the home front by the time James got home. The sad truth is that the house often starts out looking great in the morning, and becomes progressively worse as the day wears on, despite my frenzied efforts to the contrary, and this bothers me. It seems like I should be getting somewhere for my efforts, and I guess staying ahead of the mess five children can make is a difficult task, but really? As I said in an earlier post, it is often close to midnight before I feel my job is done for the day, which gives me exactly seven and a half hours in which to sleep, sew, and make soap. Hardly enough. I need to either get on a better routine, or clone myself! I think I will start by allowing myself the breaks and the rest I need, because I think I will be much more effective if I start getting more rest. That brings to mind an old saying, which I recall from 'Mary Poppins', but I'm sure is much older than that, "Well begun is half done". I can hardly begin things well if I am not getting enough rest, so I vow to go to sleep no later than midnight from now on! EEK! That will be a hard one to stick to!