corduroy pants

I fell in love with a boy, some years ago, who wore corduroy pants.  He doesn't so much anymore, although he might if I got him some.......but that's another post.

On Saturday, we were picking up some pants for the kids (they've been incredibly hard on jeans this year, and they've also both grown a ton) and Clint had Emery try on a pair of khaki colored cords.  Emery really liked them, so we brought them home.  Clint told Emery on the way out of the store, "You can't run in these or they'll catch on fire."  Emery wanted to know why, and Clint explained that the friction from the bumps on the fabric would cause a fire. 

Monday morning I told Emery he could wear his new pants.  He paused for a minute and then said, "I'm a little scared to wear them, Mom."  I asked why, and he said, "Because what if I forget and run.  I don't want to catch on fire."  I told him he'd probably be ok.  A few minutes later, he was hurrying to get his teeth brushed and he ran a bit.  Then he slowed way down and said, "Hey, I didn't catch on fire!" 

I love these boys of mine!

Strawberry Season

Those who follow my instagram feed will know that I got a killer deal on strawberries this week at Safeway.  They were $ .99 a pound.  I bought a lot of berries. 

I made 4 batches of jam.

 I made a batch of strawberry pie filling*.  This was a bit more tricky, as I couldn't find a recipe that I was really thrilled with.  I read several, and then made up my own.  It's delicious and canned really well.  It's a keeper for sure.

I only had one minor mishap, which ended up ok in the end, because look how clean my stove is now!

*Not that I make pie, but I will use it for cheesecake topping and pancakes with whipped cream.  Yum!

The Christmas Project

Each year, I try to come up with something homemade (read cheap inexpensive) present to give my siblings.  I knew in January that I wanted to make a nativity advent calendar.  It was Clint's idea, and it went like this:

J: I think I'd like to make a nativity for my family for Christmas.
C: My parents have a really cool one.  It's Mary and Joseph and they travel along the path to Bethlehem, a bit every day for the month.
J: Ok, I'll talk to your mom.

I did call Clint's mom.  She no longer had that nativity, and after scouring the internet, I couldn't find anything similar to what Clint had described.  I'm sure it's out there somewhere, though.

I put the project off for a long time.  Well, mostly put it off.  I bought a lot of felt when it went on sale, and I had purchased some blue felt on a bolt, on clearance at Wal-Mart a long time ago.  I knew that would make the perfect background, but I didn't do anything else.  Then October arrived, and I decided that I'd better get serious.  I finally broke down and purchased a pattern off of Etsy.  It's a great pattern, and I'm sure that I got way more than the $10 I spent on it, but it sure was more labor intensive than I originally realized.  I worked every minute between when the pattern arrived and December 5.  Then Clint's dad passed away, and our life was knocked off kilter.  When we returned from our week in Idaho, I did the bare minimum required to get by so that we'd be able to have some sort of Christmas.  Unfortunately, the Christmas presents fell by the wayside.  When February came, and we started talking about taking a trip to Idaho over spring break, I knew this was my chance to deliver them in person.  I renewed my work like a mad woman, and I was able to have them nearly finished when we left for Idaho.  I did a little last minute work at my mom's and was able to get them all done and delivered (except for Sally's and Kendra's, but they'll be delivered/picked up soon by my mom).

I didn't count the hours that this project took me, but I'm sure it was more than a hundred.  The process went something like this: trace the pattern onto Wonder-Under.  Iron Wonder-Under to felt.  Cut each felt piece out.  Repeat 500 times.  Iron each bit of felt on top of each other to create each figure, times ten.  Yes, I made ten of these.  I am insane.  Then I had to cut the background and pockets, iron the barn, grass, and sand to the background.  Sew 24 pockets on each background, and then iron on the numbers.  Finally, I cut all the figures out of the black felt and stuffed them into pockets.  Emery helped with this part, and we only lost one camel in the process.  Luckily it was found without any yelling or crying.

Sometimes when I make something, people will ask me what it would cost for me to make one that they can buy.  I can tell you that it's not likely that I will ever make another one of these, but if I do, it would cost more than $100. 

I do love how they turned out though.  The little figures are so much fun, and I know it will be a treasure in our house each holiday season.

Next year, everyone is getting a box of cold cereal!