Overheard This Week

Son: Mama can I have a sip of your Dr Pepper?
Me: No, I'm not drinking Dr Pepper.
Son: Can I have a sip of your Diet Coke?
Me: No, It's not Diet Coke either.
Son: Can I have a sip of your drink please?

My Friend Becky

I spent a bit of my lovely week in New York going through the boxes my parents have kept for me.  Some items I brought home, some items I threw out, and some I asked my parents to please keep for the time being.  I think I only have 4 file boxes left!  Most of what I brought home consisted of Dolls and Sewing patterns.  I found my mom's stash of stretch and sew patterns, and I think I may be buying and/or reusing a lot of jersey in the coming months!

One of the most exciting finds involves this pretty lady:
I remembered playing with the My Friend Dolls after reading several posts about them on various blogs.  I also became momentarily obsessed with having one again, luckily my parents still had this cutie.  I know we also had several outfits (I remember the ballerina outfit, the rain coat, and the jogging outfit) but alas they did not make it.  One of the cool things is that there were a lot of patterns made for these dolls.  I didn't only find stretch and sew patterns, I found a My Friend dress pattern too!  Now, to find time to sew...

Halloween is Coming

I'm not a big Halloween person, but I do still remember the childhood anticipation of it.  This is the first year my son remembers and knows what is going on.  We've bought our costumes and the dress up play is in full swing.  Plus, we just put up the Halloween tree, which I must admit is a personal favorite.  (Yes, he did do double duty as the Christmas tree before we had the kids.)

Overheard This Week

Mama, I'm glad we're back in North Texas, but if we could get back on an airplane and fly back to New York I'd be even happier!

Overheard This Week

Son: Grandpy what is that on the ground?
Grandpy: It's a pool cover.
Son: Where's your pool?
Grandpy: We don't have one, the people who lived here before us took it with them.
Son: Oh, you mean like the light fixtures?

Fall

There is nothing like an east coast fall, especially if that is where you want to be.  The seasons in Texas just aren't as dramatic.  I've been enjoying the crisp temperatures, the excellent cider, and the leaves.   Oh and of course the sheep and wool festival!  More on that later.

Overheard This Week

(While staring at a stack of cheese sandwiches waiting to be grilled)  Mama that is the biggest sandwich I've ever seen!

Just Add Elastic

I'm pretty excited about this project.  I made a cute pair of pants for each of my kids!

The pattern is Basic Pocket Pants from Growing Up Sew Liberated: Making Handmade Clothes and Projects for Your Creative Child.  It was a very easy project to make, now I just need the elastic I ordered to show up!
These pants started out innocently enough, I was browsing the clearance section of Super Buzzy when I saw these fabrics!  I originally intended for my daughter's pants to be green with pink edging and my son's to be red with green edging, but well once the kids saw the fabrics the whole color scheme was changed!  Luckily for me there was a 1 yard minimum or everyone would have been sad.

Overheard This Week

Daddy: Is your scratchy throat gone?
Son: Yes, Mama gave me some honey and it went away.
Me: Do you know where honey comes from?
Son:Yes, it comes from the barbershop!

Something New

Today I made applesauce and canned it!  It was the first time I ever made applesauce or canned anything.  It was so easy I could hit myself for not doing it before.  I've had homemade applesauce, I remember a batch of my Grammy's that was pink.  My mom did a little bit of canning when I was young, but we were more of a freezer family. 

This is what I did: 
I cut the apples into quarters (how many, ummm 5lbs or more?)
Removed the seeds I could see and the stems and threw them into a stockpot 
The pot had an inch of water in the bottom 
I boiled them on medium until they were soft 
I then ladled them into a food mill 
From there I heated up the applesauce again and canned according to the directions in my kit instructions.

I also had some left over which I put into containers and transferred to the fridge.  Let me tell you Just Do it! It will be worth your time.   (I bought the food mill because I like very smooth applesauce, many people do not, so you could just peel and core the apples and mash them with a potato masher.)