Mama Made: Puppy Coat (Upcycled)

Halloween.  A holiday I could take or leave. We'll do a bit of trick or treating for UNICEF. I grew up wearing lots of homemade costumes, hand me downs from my dad's cousin. Lovely stuff.  I'd love for my kids to sport handmade costumes too.  Only, if I go through all that work to make something for them, I want it to be worn more than once.  So, I decided to take a basic pattern and make it into a costume.

Pattern is Oliver & S, link here. Fleece was thrifted for a dollar.  Buttons were thrifted and a part of a huge tin of buttons.  Lining was upcycled from two receiving blankets from his childhood.  And a friend gave me this bone fabric, fit perfectly.

 And I love it.

 I love that these receiving blankets used to keep him warm all swaddled up. Now they keep him warm in a different way.

And here is my model.  He told me once it was finished that he was never going to wear it.  Thankful he's coming around.

 Did you know this puppy can pant?

 Roll over.

And beg?


 
 It's been popping up random places...getting a little use.

A Halloween costume, yes.  But a coat to last all winter? Even better. Particularly since Halloween in Maine always feels like mid winter anyway.

And really, who can resist a little puppy anyway?

Homemade Living Take 3: Eat.

For last week's post, "Grow", click here.
For the week's prior, "Stitch", click here.

Is it Post three in this series already?  My how time flies. I guess it's a little more "getting to know me"...today's subject being "Eat".

Warning.  There will be a lot of talk about food.  Many recipes are listed above in the "recipe" tab. If there's something you'd like to know just ask.

I'm sitting here beginning to compose at 11:11pm.  Why so late?  Because I just completed a double batch of oatmeal raisin cookies.  I like for my husband to have a homemade treat when he comes home.  I also have everything prepped for the crockpot for tomorrow.  A ginormous batch of potato, cabbage and carrot soup. All grown here.  Our garden to table, that's how I like it best.  Yes, I ought to be sleeping, as I am working tomorrow.  But food is something I'm passionate about.  So it's worth the lost sleep, I hope.

If you've been a reader long enough, you know that I am a bit..well...intense about that which we eat.  I try to grow and prepare as much as we're able.  Although I would gladly be a vegetarian if it wasn't for my husband's love of meat, we do consume some meat and that meat doesn't usually come from the supermarket.  We don't usually eat from boxes or packages, with the exception of a monthly pasta meal or crackers with a spread around the holidays.  I've even cut out cereal for breakfast.  I'm not saying the way we eat is what fits for everyone.  But for us, I aim to grow/raise or for each thing I buy to have only one ingredient.

If you would have told me we would be where we are at today with most everything made from scratch, I would have said 'yeah right'.  Because we weren't even close when we first got married-7 1/2 years ago.  I remember looking in my grocery cart after our weekly trip and thinking...do I really need to buy all this stuff?!  I set a little challenge to myself.  I decided to pick one thing from the cart and see if I could work towards doing without it.  No time frame, just working at my own pace to reduce my weekly spending. Lots of trial and error, but working towards a goal.

I started with eliminating paper napkins and heading the cloth route.  And then paper towels.  And then I was hooked. From that point forward, I have been picking something and working at it.  7 1/2 years later, I am still at it.  I have a ways to go, but I'm gradually becoming more homemade and more self sufficient.

Here's the kinds of things I've worked on eliminating and making my own.  Dessert is my ultimate fave, so of course that's in the mix.  But, these are all things I've gotten rid of and I now make on our own.

Many frozen/canned fruits/veggies.  We eat a lot of fruits/veggies..so we try our best to grow/preserve/eat our own throughout the year.  And eggs.  And meat mostly from my dad (who is a hunter).  That's the bulk of our diet.  Here's what else we eat:

Brownie mixes
 
Soups in a can (I used to eat Campbell's chunky regularly)

Pie crusts in a box

Cake mixes

Frosting

Store bought bread
 
Holiday rolls

Cinnamon rolls

Store bought English Muffins

Packaged rice mixes
 
Hamburger helpers (my husband loves these!)

Salad Dressings

Jams
 
Yogurt

Bisquick for waffles/pancakes

Replacements for breakfast cereals

Nutrigrain bars

Granola bars

Bread crumbs



Hamburger buns
 
Croutons

Doughnuts

Vanilla

Chocolate sauce

Granola

And non food items:
-All household cleaners
-Laundry soap/fabric softener/dryer sheets

Pizza sauce

Pizza crust

Relish

Applesauce


Working on:

Coffee Creamer (we still occasionally buy/occasionally make)

Vinegar (my first round is going so awesome!)

Ketchup (first time, kids approved)

More variety of salad dressings


In the future I want to work on:

Bagels

Mayo



Sweetened condensed milk

I'm sure there's more to all categories...and the list goes on...


So, you see, I haven't always been crazy. It's been a gradual process of eliminating something and working towards more from scratch living. 

And now the challenge...can you do the same?  Can you look in your shopping cart the next time you are at the store and identify one thing to work on eliminating?  I know you can do it! 

I'm posting today, along with:

Tammy- http://www.ourneckofthewoods.net/

Mary - http://homegrownonthehill.blogspot.com

Next Wednesday is:

Staci - http://lifeatcobblehillfarm.com/  

 Daisy - http://mymaplehillfarm.blogspot.com   

Sue- http://thelittleacrethatcould.blogspot.com/

At play

So, I guess this post is a continuation from yesterday's.  I started to talk about their play and that got me thinking some more.  Goodness, I love watching kids at play.  It's even more remarkable watching one's own little ones at play.

The subject of their play is what I find most entertaining.  Kids most often play that which they see.  Except for when we were moving (which was almost a year ago), my kids really haven't watched TV on my watch.  Their ideas are either from books or from the people around them.  I find them acting out the things I do regularly.  Which I find entertaining.

My favorite thing that he does is babywear.  If I have a baby on my back, he wants the same.  If I have a front carry, he wants the same.

 Cuteness.

 I found another clothes drying rack (thrifted for $5.00).  We didn't need it, but I was thinking of how fun they'd have 'helping' with laundry. 

 They love it.  One for each of them.

 He spends a lot of time farming.  Building fences, haying, stacking hay, feeding animals.

 He had to get this fence done to keep that horse in.

 And stacking wood.  He loves to stack wood. I mentioned that yesterday.  We're outside and he's taken it upon himself to get ready for winter. Here's what he found and stacked, all on his own. This has been an ongoing process all week.

 And here he is, trimming the dog's nails.

And canning. He loves to play canning. Here he is driving to the store to get more canning lids.  In a John Deere, of course.

Canning is a big job, you know.

It's stored for winter here.

And while I did put a stop to this play, the thought of him doing it makes me smile.  He was putting away our real eggs in his play kitchen.  He was going to make cupcakes.

He's so much like his mama. He found this picture of a drum in a book.

Focused for a whole hour putting stickers on it. 

And made a fantastic drum.

Sweet girl, although isn't quite at the pretend stage, definitely busies herself doing chores like mama.  She loves to organize laundry. And transfer laundry from washer to dryer, dryer to basket.

Give her a wet cloth and she will wash anything in sight.

She also enjoys feeding the animals, multiple times a day.

It seems that I've rambled along enough about my kids and their play.  I don't even know how many of you have read this far.  Every kid has their own play interests, so I'm not telling you anything new.  I think the point I'm trying to make is I feel blessed.  Blessed to have had the time to teach, show and be with them.  Blessed that they love to be around me and love to do what I do.  Blessed that I have had yesterday and blessed to have today.  We're never sure what our future holds.  But I do know that right now, I have this minute of being with them, watching them, enjoying them.  So I'm going to soak it all in, love every minute, and keep my babies close in all that I do.  And today, I'm going to join in and play too.

Thrifted. And Randoms.

Still doubling up on the thrifted posts.  I haven't shared as many as I had intended with you all.

This again was another of the 'expensive' thrift stores. 

Boots.
Vintage wooden child size chair.
Alphabet wooden puzzles, all pieces present.
Some fab books.
$10.00.  Still a deal, even at the more expensive thrift shop.

 But this deal is better.

New slippers for mama.
3 yards of pinstripe.
4 yards of waffle fabric.
Three things of floss/string.
Wooden tool box in the back.
$5.00.

And randoms.

It's so not typical to be able to play with her and just her.  Every now and then big brother is sleeping when she's up. It's fun to see what she gravitates towards when there's not a boss guiding/preventing every more.  She loves animals too.

It's fun to watch her intent and focus.  Without doubt, sheep are her favorite.  They make her giggle in real life and she enjoys finding the little sheep to play with.

And she looks pretty cute next to our new chair.

And this boy?  He'd stack wood all day long.  It's one of his favorite hobbies.  He's one of a kind.

 

 
I just love watching them grow. It's interesting to follow their lead and see where they end up.  So much fun, indeed.

Cinnamon Apple Oat Bars (Jackie Original)

A little creativity from my original jam bar recipe to make it a fall treat.  Better than a nutrigrain bar.  Great for snacking on the go.  Or breakfast. Or dessert.  Or anytime. 

Cinnamon Apple Oat Bars , a Jackie Original

1 stick butter, softened
1/2 cup bwn sugar
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup oats
1 T flax seed meal
1 cup of applesauce
Sugar to taste.
1 tsp cinn.
1/2 tsp nutmeg
3/4 cup cranberries or raisins.

Mix butter, sugar, flour, oats, flax  Press 2/3 of mixture in bottom of greased 8 inch square pan.  In separate bowl, mix applesauce, sugar to taste, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Spread over oats in pan evenly.  Sprinkle cranberries/raisins.  Sprinkle remaining mixture and press down gently.

Bake 350 for 25 minutes

(My husband is extra naughty, he sprinkles cinnamon sugar over it before he eats it).