Thank you, Mr. President!

Cate is in 4th grade this year and one of the annual 4th grade field trips is a trip to Plains, GA. Cate's teacher, who we love to the moon and back, is new this year and mentioned to me one afternoon a few weeks ago - Wouldn't it be cool if we could meet Jimmy Carter on our field trip? (For those who may not know, Jimmy Carter is from Plains, GA and after his presidency ended up moving back there). So, I decided to see if we could find anyone who had any connection to President Carter. I emailed several possibilities (dead ends) and eventually took it to social media. I posted on my Facebook account - does anyone have any connection to President Carter?? And lo and behold - one of the former teachers from our school PMd me to let me know one of the new teachers was from Plains AND Jimmy Carter was good friends with her parents. So, I emailed this teacher who was beyond gracious and she agreed to contact her mom to see if we could work something out. Her mother is the pianist at the church Jimmy Carter still attends. Well, President Carter was more than willing to meet our kids but he had meetings that day and it looked like it wasn't going to happen. Well, it was ok because a field trip is a field trip and, to a 4th grader, thats up there with Christmas and their birthday. So, yesterday we all meet up at the school and board our bus to go to Plains which is about an hour from Columbus. Since they go to a small private school, this is the only time they get to ride a school bus which further enhances the field trip fever.

So, the wheels on the bus went round and round until we got to Plains and Jimmy Carter's boyhood home. The kids got to wash laundry with washboards and real lye soap.

They got to shuck and grind corn.

They got to manually plow a field.

Then, they went to the home that the Carter's farm overseers lived in. While we were there, I noticed there was a large caravan speeding down the road. Then, the several vans and SUVs pulled over next to where we were and who walks out of one of the vans but

the 39th president of the United States, Jimmy Carter!

President Carter stayed there and talked to the kids for about 20 minutes. He answered questions from them, posed for pictures, shook hands with all of the parents. He was so kind and patient to the kids, like a sweet grandpa. He answered each question like it was one of the most important questions anyone had ever asked him. 

We later found out that he had been meeting with a Chinese delegation and took time between meetings to specially come and visit our kids. It was the first time any of them had ever seen a real president, not to mention having one who gave them his full attention. They asked questions like What was your favorite sport growing up (baseball) to what is it like having people want to kill you (scary but part of the job.) He shook my hand and I thanked him. Agree or disagree with his politics, Jimmy Carter is a good, Christian man. He even took the time to share his testimony of Jesus with the kids. It was definitely a field trip they (or I_ will ever forget!

After President Carter left, the kids got to rake the front yard with an old handmade broom.

Then, they toured his actual boyhood home. Jimmy Carter grew up in the original DIY times. We have to FIND things to make, but they made things out of necessity. There was no Pinterest, there was no money. They used newspaper for insulation, made brooms and rakes from sticks and tall grasses. Everything on Jimmy Carter's farm had a use. I think that is something we could use a lesson on today. One thing I took away from this field trip is how utterly blessed we are. We have indoor plumbing, running water, comfortable climate controlled homes. Jimmy Carter grew up without those things. And even growing up a farmer's son in rural Georgia, he still became president. My hope from this trip and from the way we are raising her, is that my daughter will know that she can be anything she wants to be - including president of the United States.

One man's trash is another man's treasure! An upcycled shirt to skirt tutorial

Some people call it junking, others call it thrifting - I call it Treasure Hunting. I grew up in thrift stores and at yard sales - not because it was cool but because I grew up without a lot of money. I remember ducking down in my parents' big boat LTD with the classic red vinyl interior while my mom went into the Valley Rescue Mission Thrift Store. There were no TLC shows about it, just necessity. So, hunting is in my blood. During one of my Goodwill hunts recently, I spotted this awesome lightweight material top in white with navy blue circles and swirls. My first thought was 4th of July. So, I grabbed it. It was a 4x, so I knew I was going to have plenty of material for my daughter who is in between an 8-10 right now. This is a great project because there is NO pattern needed and you can find everything here for inexpensive or FREE! (Seriously, you would be surprised at how much you can walk away from a yard sale with when it gets close to noon). So here we go:

Tutorial:
Trash to Treasure Top to Peek a Boo Lace Slip Skirt

Materials:
An item with enough fabric to cut 2 pieces the width of your child's hips x 1.5 and the length you want it to hit minus the width of your lace (I measured waist to knee)
3/4 elastic
Another item with the same amount of fabric as your outer layer that will serve as the 'slip' under your main layer. I used some inexpensive white cotton I already had.
Lace trim (I found my entire bolt in the clearance section of Hobby Lobby for $2.00. No lie. Make friends with the clearance areas at JoAnn, Hobby Lobby and Hancock - they can be your bestest friend.) If you don't luck up on a bolt of lace, you will need an amount equal to the hem of your underlayer. Should be (Child's Hip x 1.5) x 2 + 2" (I always like to add a margin of error in case you pin the lace funky or something. I would much rather have a smidge too much lace or trim or not enough.
Matching threads.

Start by measuring your child's hips (Or widest point) multiply that by 1.5. Then measure your child from waist to where you want the skirt to hit. Cut the outer fabric shorter by the width of the lace you have. For example, if you want a 15" length skirt and you have 2" wide fabric, cut your outer layer 13. Cut the underlayer the full length you want.

Start with the underlayer. Sew one side together right sides together and finish the raw edge either with a serger, french hem, or narrow zig zag on the sewing machine. Press your hem to one side. Lay your underlayer out flat and pin your lace on lining the bottom of the lace up with the bottom of the fabric. Sew at the header of the lace (the top) using a short zig zag stitch to attach your lace to your fabric. Once attached, trim the fabric under the stitching away leaving just the lace.

Next, hem your outer layer (or cheat if you are using a shirt by using the pre-existing hem). Sew one side together right sides together and finish the seam.

Line both pieces together at the top and go ahead and press down .25" and then another 1" with an iron. Open up the ironed creases and sew each layer of the skirt with its other side making two tubes - one with the outer layer and one with the inner layer. Put the inner layer back inside the outer layer and match the pressed creases back up tucking the underlayer under the outer layer. Sew close to the edge of the 1" pressed portion leaving about an 1" unsewn.

Cut a piece of elastic 1-2" smaller than your desired waist measurement. Run the elastic through the casing you just made using a bodkin or safety pin (make sure you mark both sides of the elastic before you run it through so you can make sure you don't twist it.) Once you get back around, overlap your elastic and sew it together using a zig zag stitch. Pull your elastic into the casing and sew the 1" opening closed and Voila! You have a beautiful upcycled skirt!

I hope you have enjoyed my first tutorial. It is my first, so be gentle. I hope you will consider trying it. I love reusing things that are already out there. 1.) Its usually cheaper. Fabric is Spendy! 2.) If you buy from thrift stores you are helping your community. 3.) You are keeping old clothes out of the landfill and helping the environment! Sure, you could use this tutorial with regular fabric, too, but you don't get all of the benefits I just mentioned!! Hope you have a great 4th of July!

Somethings are just easy as pie...

Both of my kids are now on Pinterest (because, well, shouldn't we all be??) My son kept finding all of these great recipes, so I told him - if you find something you really want to make - we will go get the ingredients and you will make it from scratch. Next thing I know, I am looking at Little Chief Honeybee's blog (http://honeybeeinthecity.blogspot.com/2011/11/wedding-wednesday-chocolate-chip-cookie_30.html) and drooling along side my kids at the chocolate chip cookie dough pie she had up. So, off to the Publix we go and pie making ingredients we have in hand. So, tonight, I took my OCD hands off the wheel and stepped back and let my 11 year old make his pie. It would have been faster if I had mixed the ingredients myself, it would have been easier to measure everything out myself, but it would not have been as sweet. We have to let our kids walk on their own path. As parents, it's really easy to want to hold their hands and walk one step in front of them to keep them from tripping or from running into the bad things. But, they have to trip, they have to fall. They have to win and they have to lose. They need to come in first and they need to come in last. We can't live their lives. And sometimes, we have to let them wipe up their own pie batter when they drop it or else they will never know how. Learning makes life sweeter and sometimes letting them find their own way can be as easy as pie.

Be on the lookout for my next blog entry - an upcycled shirt tutorial! Have a happy and safe 4th of July and God Bless America!

The Imperfection of Perfection

Perfection is one of those things that has always been a blessing and a curse for me. The journey toward it has inspired me to be able to accomplish many things. However, the inattainability of it has also caused me to either not do something or to be disappointed when something I did didn't turn out to be 'perfect.' Tonight's case in point. My daughter is in a sewing camp making clothes for her American Girl this week. On Friday, they want the girls to be "twins" with their American Girl. Well, she has outfits that match that we have bought at various American Girl stores during our travels, but you know, I AM a seamstress and as a seamstress and stay at home mom and pinterest addict, I of course should MAKE matching outfits for Cate and her baby (I think she decided to take her 'My American Girl' Hailey with her). So, I had already started making Cate a skirt out of pre-ruffled fabric (thanks so kindly to the Hobby Lobby clearance for that score. 50% off per yard and all I had to gather was the waist to attach it to the waistband. I had enough fabric left to make Hailey (or Kailey or Kanani or Samantha) a skirt. Then she needed a matching shirt. All of this in two days before the twin day when in the summer, of course all I have is T-I-M-E. (Im sure the stay at home moms out there know about the overtime in the summertime). So, I found an online freebie tshirt pattern for the American Girls and basically kinda threw it together. I left the armholes and neck raw (knit doesn't fray). I was kind of disgusted with myself for being such a half butt, but when Cate saw it, she lit up. And this morning when she went to camp, she was so proud. I was worried her teacher was going to judge the poor construction of the outfit, but when I picked her up, all she could talk about is how much the other girls in her class and her teacher loved their matching outfits. Sometimes, I think, we are our worst critics. That we don't even do things that would be great because we fear failure or imperfection. We don't stop to think that other people don't judge us anywhere near as harshly as we judge ourselves. We need to lighten up on ourselves and give ourselves grace. Our fear of imperfection leads us to a standstill and causes us to avoid the perfection of the moments that happen when we do try. Cate wasn't concerned about finished armholes or ruffle fabric that didn't line up completely. She was happy her mom made her and her girl outfits and she was proud as punch to wear them. That memory was perfection.