All week the kids have been asking to go to an event at their school that happened tonight. It was called Soups on at Paragon, and included soup and salad supper and David McNinch for entertainment. I must tell you it was a parents worst nightmare… almost. I guess it just isn’t my idea of fun. But the kids really wanted to go and the man already had plans to talk to a friend in the Philippines on the phone this evening. I figured he would really enjoy having a little solitude first if I just took the kids. I go to stuff like this and wonder why we do it…

• The boy hates soup in nearly every form. He looked at a selection of about 30 soups and turned his nose up at all of them. He ate salad and bread sticks. I guess I shouldn’t complain since the boy actually eats salad!
• The boy absolutely hated the audience interaction bits. He felt like everyone singing along was ruining it. Since he is probably the most musical of all of us, even at six years old, I took his word for it and stopped singing.
• The only drink offered was canned lemonade. A little annoying when you try to keep sugar intake to a minimum. I try to let them enjoy sugar in goodies that are worth it (a freshly baked cookie, birthday cake for special event, or a friends gourmet dessert) but I don’t think cool aid or a can of fake lemonade is worth it!
• Sitting across from two brothers having a contest to see who could guzzle TWO cans of lemon syrup the fastest. And then they start a yelling argument with each other while their aunt was taking the little sister to the bathroom. The argument (which happened during the middle of the entertainment) made half of the gymnasium full of people turn around and give me dirty looks for not having my kids under control… lovely!
• We got up and moved. I kind of felt bad for abandoning them, but after having a folding conference table rammed into the back of my chair about seven times, a seat on the bleachers was lookin’ pretty good.
• And of course, entertainment that moved at the pace of a lazy afternoon…. not at the pace of a parent trying to get those kids in bed so I can finally relax!!!

The kids had a good time and were very thankful that I took them. And as I reflect, I can see that it isn’t all bad…

• The girl absolutely ate it up! She was completely fascinated by all the instruments and wanted to try playing the spoons as soon as we got home.
• Connecting with the community at large is a good thing. As shallow as it still seems in this setting, it has to start somewhere and I hope that being a part of things like this leads to more friendships.
• Watching a bunch of crazed, out of control kids and realizing you have the most awesome, well behaved kids! That taking them to an event like this is easy after all the work you put in over the years. That they are calm, attentive, and actually obey when told to stop sucking your lips all the way into the water bottle (he does have a hickey around his mouth anyway, since I caught it a little too late!)

So was it worth it? Yes! Would I do it again? Over my dead body!

I am part of the freecycle group here in town. It is a great way to get rid of stuff you just can’t imagine anyone would want instead of throwing it in a landfill. I have gotten rid of a broken lawn mower, a broken snow blower, a broken snowmobile, and actually gave away a functioning computer monitor and a nice kid’s bike. Occasionally someone posts something that interests me, and so I have collected a pair of dress shoes for the boy, a set of training wheels for the boy’s bike, and a sofa that I still need to reupholster. Last week someone posted two bags of sewing trim that they were getting rid of. With a freecycle group as big as the one in our town, I never get my hopes up that I might actually be the one on the receiving end. But I got lucky and a few hours after it was posted, I piled the kids into the car to drive the two miles to pick it up. I couldn’t stop grinning. I was so excited by all the rickrack, ribbon, lace, and fringe. Fun, fun!

I was dying to use some but I wasn’t sure what to make. As I was sitting thinking about how I really needed a big stash of bookmarks so they would always be handy, it came to me. I started experimenting with some fun paper I had, folding them over to make them more stiff and then decorating them with rickrack and ribbon. Here are a few of the bookmarks that I came up with.

I had fun making them and will probably make a lot more. It is a nice mini project when I don’t have time to get out one of my big projects. And I still have to make enough to have that stash of bookmarks handy by the sofa.

I found these fabrics at different times and different stores and I didn’t have a plan for them. I just have a weakness for stripes and a weakness for anything with an oriental theme.

I was thrilled at how cute the two fabrics looked together. The striped fabric is a heavier (possibly polyester blend) fabric that doesn’t lend itself to pillows or clothing, but is great as a tote bag. It is fully lined with the fun parasol print.

I was a little worried because I thought the straps looked way too long when I got finished. But when I slung it over my shoulder it came to just the right spot to be easily accessible. So I probably should look up the standard lengths for bag straps, but this actually worked for me and I might do it the same way again if I make another tote.

After I thought I was finished I started thinking about embellishing it a little. Carol clued me in to this fun flower trim. The flowers can be used individually, but white wasn’t going to look quite right so I got out some fabric dye and quickly dyed a couple of them pink to match.

I found a pink button in my stash and some aquamarine beads to match the bag and this is what I came up with.

The man was quick to ask if I was making it for myself. I think he would have been surprised. It doesn’t match anything I have. Somewhere along the way I realized if I collected things from all the styles I like, I would have a very mish-mash house and I would look like a schizophrenic dressing a different personality everyday. So I had to try to settle on a style and this doesn’t fit it, but it is fun to have the opportunity to dabble in that other personality. I am also working on mod style quilt that wouldn’t fit anywhere in my house, but I love it anyway and hopefully someone else will, too.

So I listed this on etsy.com where I am opening a little shop and hope to fill it up soon. And if nobody wants this bag, then I might just have to break it out and use it when I take the kids to swim lessons this summer!

It’s been a little busy around here and I have finished a few projects, but haven’t gotten them posted up here yet. Last week included a kindergarten field trip, stomach flu, snow day, half day, and parent teacher conferences. This weekend all I wanted to do was hibernate and thankfully the grandparents took the boy to a model train show, and the dad took the girl on her first photo shoot, so I had a nice long afternoon to myself to snuggle up and read a book (and of course catch up on heaps of laundry! You don’t actually think I would get time off, do you? ;-) Actually, I did feel pretty spoiled even though there was laundry.

Here is one of the little trifles I have been working on. I was trying to come up with some fun, easy, little projects so I made some coasters out of a vintage bedspread I found at a thrift store.

They are backed with some fine wale corduroy. And the baby blue binding has mitered seams on all the corners. Well, it turned out to be not so easy after all.



But I thought they looked kind of cute all ready to go.



I might make more, but I need to come up with a design that doesn’t take so long to make. I also really like this fabric and think it would make some fun tote bags, so I might try that.