Artsy Fruit & Veggie Displays

Thinking about trying something fun with your table next time you have guests? Checkout this great website on carving fruits and vegetables. Make a lovely display for your friends to marvel over. http://www.mosspink.com/veggies.html

Sewing Matters

My daughter’s friend asked to borrow my Kenmore sewing machine today for a sewing class at CCAD. Shannon is exploring the skills associated with becoming a clothing designer to decide what she wants to do when she grows up. My sewing machine is 23 years old. I bought it when I was a senior in high school from Sears, even before I bought my first car. That gives you some idea of how significant that purchase was at that point in my life.

When I was in middle and high school, I took 6 years of home economics where sewing was taught. While, home economics is not a requirement at my kids’ school in suburban Columbus, I grew up in a rural farming community in Ohio, where it was viewed as a necessity. Little known fact and a bit funny to tell people today, is that I was the president of Future Homemakers of America and member for 4 years. I also was the Future Farmers of America’s “Queen” at my school. So, you can imagine that I was involved in the things that seemed to matter to my community, where the focus was on being handy.

With today’s heavy spotlight on technology and social media, I wonder how many kids today learn some of the basic skills of life, like sewing and gardening. I feel that these skills have been invaluable to me during my lifetime as a creative type and eventually owning an interior decorating business. I’ve sewn everything from my own clothes, to Halloween costumes for my kids and even window treatments for my home. I don’t consider myself an excellent sewer or even someone who does it often. I’m more of a convenience sewer for when I can’t find what I want.

My twelve year-old daughter, Madison, recently asked out of the blue if I could teach her to make a dress. We have finished the preliminary steps of buying, reading directions, preparing fabric and cutting out pieces. We are now ready to start the sewing. I’m delighted that she is exploring this as a sideline craft to her hobby of incessant reading. I value raising independent, well-rounded kids who are not afraid to take a risk and try something, regardless for potential to fail.

So, with all this being said, when you are thinking about what activity to engage in with a child, consider doing projects that create a basic life-skill for the benefits of handiness, hobby and learning to take a risk.

Some interesting sites on sewing:

Sears Sewing Machines

Teaching Children to Sew

Free Sewing Patterns

Butterick Patterns

McCalls Patterns

Simplicity Patterns

Threads Magazine

Turkey Traditions

Soon, I will be sharing my thankfulness with family members like many of you. This year we will have members from both my husband’s and my family gathering at the table. We usually have 20 or more people, bringing the noise and activity level up.

I love Thanksgiving and the joy of being together with family. I love it more than Christmas. For me, Thanksgiving maintains a preciousness free from much of the commercialism, expectations for gifting and harried schedules that black Friday brings upon on.

For years, I have been the “noodle maker” in the family, creating egg noodles from scratch and making a crock pot overflowing of a chicken dumpling noodle recipe. It is a 3 day process to make and hang the noodles up to dry. Various family members call weeks in advance to ask if I will be making the noodles in line with tradition. Their mouths start watering the moment they think about the dish. The family doesn’t know it, but one year I cheated. I bought cans of chicken and noodles because I did not want to let them down and I did not have time to make them. I seasoned up the canned goods with flour, more chicken and lots of spices. My family never knew. My kids and I smirked and holding back laughter every time someone commented on how good they were.

Every year we have had a gravy issue for as long as I can remember. Apparently none of my siblings or spouses learned how to effectively make good gravy. One year someone put powdered sugar in the gravy amidst the madness of too many cooks in the kitchen. Another year, the gravy was so lumpy we could do nothing but make fun of it. And then there was the year we got the gravy "just" right and my nephew dumped it all over the carpet while carrying to the table. Last year we just bought the gravy in a jar. Ahh, some things create a different kind of tradition to look forward to.

In preparation for the big day, the girls and I gather in the kitchen and whip up a bakery’s worth of products to serve for dessert. We make cherry and pumpkin pies, brownie and cake recipes and add in a few specialties like pumpkin rolls. We always have a table or two dedicated to desserts. We usually eat the desserts in “phase 2” of our turkey feast after we've made room for more.

Some families take naps, watch a movie or watch a game after their turkey meal. My siblings are pretty active adults and we often will head down to the basketball court near our home and engage aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews in a rowdy game. Or if the weather does not cooperate, we engage in lively board games full of lots of smack talk. This year, I am predicting a rock band tournament in the basement lounge. I can hear the squeals of “Roxanne” now.

My family is also goofy and growing up with five siblings, we learned to entertain ourselves with very little. So lots of silly play happens when we get together at Thanksgiving. Last year we made up a song and sang it rappin’ battle style to my mother. It was our very own version of “I’m getting nuttin’ for Christmas” full of lots of funny statements about our behavior as children. Verses included lines like, "I pushed Brian down the stairs, accidently cut his hair, dressed him up to be a girl, broke his collarbone with a twirl...Oh, I'm getting nuttin' for Christmas...." Of course all these things were mostly accidents! It was pure comedy as each kid one-upped the other.

Whatever your Thanksgiving traditions and plans hold, I hope that you will infuse the joy of thankfulness into everything you do.

Peace out,

Sandy

Cluck if You Hate Daylight Savings Time

The farmers and I doth protest daylight savings time. It appears that the chickens do not adapt to the changed clock until several weeks have gone by, making the first few weeks of April and the last few weeks of October very frustrating. Cluck!