bad pictures of a great dress

I made a new dress! I made this pattern once, last summer, and intended to make more but just never got to it. I picked up some quilter's showcase calico at JoAnn for $2.49/yard and used this brown tone-on-tone for Butterick 4443.

I know some people would be aghast at making a dress out of cheap calico like this but frankly, I am kind of sweaty all summer, exacerbated by the fact that my house does not have air conditioning, plus we spend time at the pool many days of the week so my dresses end up smushed into a bag and abused in other ways. I get inexpensive cottons, inexpensive zippers (from Wawak), and this way I can have lots of dresses at a low cost and when they wear out after a few summers I don't feel like I'm losing.

I wish these photos were better because this is a fantastic dress pattern and I'm really pleased with the results. Those puckers in the picture don't look like that in real life...it is just the way the fabric is hanging. The dress is fully lined with lawn (ordered from fabric.com a few years ago); the pattern calls for lining the bodice but I did the skirt as well. It not only prevents seeing through the skirt, but also gives the dress more body and nicer drape. It looks so much better on a body than on a hanger...I will try to have someone take my picture when I wear it.

Other than a few pairs of shorts for my daughter I hadn't been sewing a lot lately. But I re-watched one of my favorite television series EVER, Wartime Farm, and got the bug to make a frugal frock like they do in one of the episodes. Watching the ladies sit and sew together, making do and mending, lit my fire and got me to the cutting table.

Watching that series again also got me thinking about lifestyle in general. I was so happy, just totally experiencing flow while stitching away, and feeling so excited about this dress and looking forward to wearing it. And I started reflecting on how dressing this way is the most comfortable for me, and makes me feel both comfortable and feminine, but not in a girly-girl way, just in a sort of self-sufficient way. Knowing I can clothe myself (and my family) feels pretty awesome. 

During the school year, when I was driving my son to pre-K every day and interacting with other mothers in my age group, I semi-consciously started dressing more like them. The mom I became closest to dresses very "sporty spice" in workout-type clothes nearly every day. I rarely see her in jeans or what I consider regular casual clothes. It's always yoga pants, leggings, cropped leggings, sporty tops. (Nice ones, not the stained-and-holey yoga pants of parenting articles everywhere.) Lots of the moms at the preschool dressed like that, presumably because they were on their way to the gym after drop-off (?) so I was surrounded by sporty clothes and neon sneakers. And it's funny...I mean, I go to the gym for a run each morning but I only wear my exercise clothing there, then shower and dress in my regular garb. But I found myself dressing more like my new friend as time went on. I even picked up a few pairs of yoga pants on sale at Old Navy (I have never worn them before).

And I am comfortable in them...sort of. 

But now school is over and I am home more, interacting primarily with my son. I'm not seeing other parents much. I'm doing my housework and spending time at the park and library. And I am remembering how I really like to dress, what I really like to do with my time. Sometimes it's hard to be the crafty mama in suburbia. I live where some people our own age hire a lawn service rather than mow their own grass (unheard of in my family...a guy in his 30s mows his own lawn). When they hear I knit or sew or bake bread or any other "rustic" pursuit I get that weird reaction of awe and confusion, like "that's so neat! but....why would you want to do that?" Kind of like when I am knitting a sock in public and some joker offers that "you can buy socks at the store you know."

Well sure you can. But where is the satisfaction in that? I had forgotten, over the course of the school year when I was on the run so much, how much simple, satisfying pleasure there is in DIY. Sitting in church last Sunday I noted that my children and I were all wearing something that was the work of my hands and my sewing machine. That felt so good. 

So, the pictures are bad, but the dress is oh so good. I can't wait to make more and wear the heck out of them all summer long. They're just so me.

walk it like you talk it

So I've been really curious about homemade laundry soap for a long time. Like, a long, long time. Years.

This weekend I finally went for it. Detergent is pricey, peeps! Is homemade cheaper? I'm going to find out. Does it work? So far - and I've only washed 5 loads - the clothes seem clean.

I will admit that there were a few moments, as I sat on my basement floor grating a bar of soap into a recycled yogurt container, when I wondered if I'd gone off the deep end. But then I felt super awesome scooping a tablespoon of my homemade mix into the machine.

I used 2 cups of Borax, 2 cups of washing soda, and one grated up bar of Dr. Bronner's castile soap in tea tree (chosen both for scent and anti-bacterial properties of tea tree oil). Some recipes say use 1 tablespoon per load, some say 2...so I split the difference and have been using 1.5 tablespoons in large loads. I knew it wouldn't make suds, but I still watched for them anyway. Nope, no suds. But the clothes do seem clean, they have only the faintest scent of the tea tree oil when they come out of the machine, and really don't smell much after the dryer.

I noticed the towels seem slightly less "fluffy" - I can see the individual loops in the towels more when I am folding them. Also, the whites are slightly less blinding because homemade soap is just that...soap. It is not detergent and lacks the surfactants and whiteners of commercial detergent. But then I thought about the kids my daughter goes to school with, and how I've noticed they often have two different socks on, or one sock inside out, or dingy socks from being washed with darks and colors. And I relaxed about it, because who cares if her white socks don't blind you when you look at them?

I still have a small box of Tide for the tough jobs that my soap won't handle...and again, I just started this experiment so we'll see how it goes. My son has an oral-motor weakness that results in a lot of drool-soaked shirts, which, after sitting in the laundry basket for a few days, can really stink. I've found, up to this point, that only super-expensive Tide gets them back to wearable condition. But who knows? Maybe I can come up with something better (and less expensive).

So far I've spent 10 bucks. But I've only used a fraction of the Borax and washing soda. I'll have to purchase new bars of soap once in awhile, and I'm keeping a rough tally of how many loads I wash so I can see if this is a savings or what. (I'm a stay-home mom of two kids, one of whom is in school...I can manage to keep count of my loads with a scrap of paper and pencil next to the machine, it isn't hard.)

I know, I sound like such a weirdo. Bear with me...I'll report back with my findings.

random stuff

Whoa, new templates and stuff on blogger! I can't decide if I like it or not. I'm kind of a simple girl, and the blog looks kind of busy to me now. We'll give it a try and see what happens.

So, what's up? Not much I guess. We started speech therapy for AJ. So far I mostly find it aggravating, what with a new person coming into my house at 9:00 two days a week, meaning a mad scramble to clean and prepare. Plus I'm just not sure about the therapist herself...she's highly disorganized and actually forgot to come one day last week, which irritated the hell out of me. Anyone out there have thoughts about speech therapy? What it should look and sound like? I mean, I have no idea if she is "helping" at all here. I have a feeling my son will talk when he talks and that's it...not sure if this weird woman coming here and playing with him two days a week will actually have an impact.

Other than that nothing seems to be going on. Life feels boring and I'm not sure what to do about it. I need to do something other than serve meals, do dishes and laundry, and let the kids veg out in front of the television. Today at least we hit the beach...

Unfortunately beaches on the Niagara River aren't too great. I had to keep reminding the kids to please not step on the dead fish parts. Yuck.

Anyway. I've been really into the farm blogs lately. Do you read farm blogs? Holy moly, I just lose myself in them! I know farm life is incredibly difficult and my wussy self would probably fall over and die on a farm, but there's something about it that I envy so much. It looks like such a pure, practical, good life. A day's work is grueling and if you don't get the work done it totally impacts your livelihood, but it looks like such a worthwhile way to spend your time. At the end of the day you've done something. I like doing something. I like work that matters. What bums me out is feeling like I trudge along day after day doing stupid busywork. Seems to me it sounds much more productive to say "I planted 200 lbs of potatoes today" than to say "I emptied the dishwasher for the thousandth time, did 3 loads of laundry, and went to Target."

Over at farmama, Sara just told about ripping out their lawn to plant grain. And I got really excited when I read that! Sometimes I feel a bit constrained by my cushy suburban life...I feel resentful that I'm supposed to make sure my lawn looks as manicured as possible (even if it means spraying toxic chemicals where my kids play). I would get a much bigger kick out of ripping out half the backyard to plant fruit bushes and trees, and a real garden (not just the 5x8 space I have now that holds a few tomatoes and some zucchini). Sara at farmama also often talks about just wandering the farm each afternoon to select their family's dinner. Envy!

I don't know what it is. I just feel itchyscratchy like I'm supposed to be doing something with myself and I'm just not. The kids are bored too, I can feel it. It's getting harder and harder to get Daughter off the couch, and that just shouldn't be. None of us are as perky and bright as we should be...and if we're not living right, and living well, it's on me as the person driving this train. I have to do better. Just not sure what that means.

so far, 'sew' good

Oh, I love me a lame blog post title, don't you?

I finally got around to photographing and posting the summer sewing thus far...both kids are taking a nap due to a super active morning, so I am taking advantage!

Let's get right to it then.

For Daughter:

3 pairs of shorts, all from Butterick 4176. Cute pattern, very easy to execute, but kind of a high rise on these. However, that might be good for playing outside in the summer...she won't be constantly tugging them up as she plays. We haven't found many storebought shorts that actually fit in the waist for my skinny girl, so hopefully these will work out. The cottons are two really old cuts that I used for sundresses when she was, I believe, 2 years old. I had about 1/2 yard left of each, just enough for these shorts. And the denim is quite a nice weight, purchased from W*Mart when the fabric department closed a couple months back.

#3 (of 4) using Simplicity 5489. Oh, how I love this pattern! It is so easy, and gives such a satisfying result. On the others I made, I used the bias band that the pattern calls for, but on this I simply lengthened the main dress piece by about 5 inches. I only bought a yard of this totally awesome fabric, and when I got home I realized that the design ran from selvage to selvage. Whoops! Not enough fabric to cut all the pieces properly, so I used batiste and a lightweight interfacing for the facing pieces. The buttons are just white plastic, but I didn't want to take away from the print. LOVE this fabric! (Daughter says she hates it, but I think she'll come around.) The 4th dress (from this pattern) is cut out and awaits assembly. That will be sundress #7 total for this summer, so I think I can lay off the sundresses now!

For AJ:

I bought a 1-yard cut of this buttery soft linen in a lovely brownish color, intending to make AJ some little lightweight pants for this summer. Unfortunately I grabbed the size 2 pattern pieces rather than size 1, and as my kids tend to run one size behind their ages, these are too big for this year. Hopefully next Spring they will be the right size. I'm not even sure which pattern I used for these...any basic pull-on pants pattern would give the same result.

And for me:

Really, really basic pull-on skirt to run errands in all summer long...made from a really old cut of ugly purple-gray linen I got on clearance at Hancock fabrics. I know we were in our first apartment when I bought it, and it predates Daughter by at least a year. The pattern I used is ancient, too: McCall's 3199, "quick & easy drawstring skirts in 5 lengths." I cut the XS in the shortest length, and it fits perfectly, hitting just above the knee. This pattern obviously runs HUGE, as I'm never an XS in anything. I'm not even an S, and often not an M. So yeah, it's got a lot of ease.

Wrap skirt using another cut of fabric and pattern that have been around forever - the pattern is New Look 6637 (long and short wrap skirts, drawstring pants and shorts). I made this pattern about 10 years ago, I'm guessing, and it was a disaster. I didn't really know what I was doing, so I'm betting my darts were awful, and I used ties as called for in the pattern. Now, seriously ladies, who would ever want bulky ties right at their waistline? It just looked awful...made me look frumpy and lumpy and fat around my middle. Ugh!

But then I saw a blog post somewhere about wrap skirts that button, and I thought, eureka! I could totally modify this!

I used a pretty piece of pique, donated to my stash by my mom, who intended it for a sundress for herself, oh, probably about 15 years ago now. The problem is, it is white, and who wants their underpants showing under a white skirt? Not me. So I chose to make another entire skirt out of white batiste, and I simply sewed them together, all the way around, leaving an opening in one of the lining seams. Then I turned it right sides out, pressed, measured carefully for one inner and two outer buttons, and voila! I now have a cute, just above-the-knee skirt that is really quite flattering. And my underpants do not show.

I plan to make at least one more of these, as they are so easy and very comfortable!

And finally, a linen top. I took major liberties with the colors here so the lint on my bathroom mirror wouldn't show up in the picture. The actual color matches the fuchsia in the wrap skirt. It looks seriously awful on the hanger, so I had to take a modeled photo. This is some linen I bought about 3 or 4 years ago at Joann's, meaning to make a long-sleeved blouse from it. And I remember buying it, too, because it was another incident of rudeness at the Joann's cutting counter...I was also purchasing featherweight interfacing that day for another project, and the woman haughtily told me I was buying the wrong interfacing for this linen and my project would never work out.

Anyway.

This is another somewhat old pattern, New Look 6483, which I have used in the past with great success. The only change I made to the pattern was to lower the dart by about 1 inch. I can never understand whose bust these patterns are drafted for. Are your boobs up under your chin? Cause mine sure aren't, but the dart in this pattern points way, way too high. Lowered slightly, it works out just perfectly. I cut the 12 and made no further modifications, and I find the top fits exactly how I like, with slight ease for movement, but no gapping. I LOVE linen, so will probably make a few more of these if I can find enough scrap linen in my stash.

Well, those are the finished garments as of today. I have a few more things cut for Daughter, and then she should be just about done for the summer. AJ isn't really getting anything handmade this year due to his physical needs (turns out they make onesies all the way up to 5T, hallelujah). I still need more summer things because my wardrobe hasn't been updated since before I had children. At least a sundress and a couple more skirts and tops are needed. Maybe some capri pants. I also placed a recent order with fabric.com for several cuts of lawn and dotted swiss to make summer nightgowns/pajamas for Daughter and myself. Now that I've tossed all the breastmilk-stained summer PJs, there isn't much left in my drawer!

I'll keep plugging away at it, a little at a time, until we all have what we need. But really, despite the enjoyment I get out of sewing, I cannot imagine having to make a wardrobe for a large family completely by hand as they did in the old days. I know people had only a few garments each, but still...to make everything, including underthings and linens, all by hand and by candle/oil lamp light? Sheesh. I tip my hat to those frontier women who did it all (with no electricity nor running water, and a baby on their hip).

So, what are you making?

slow clothes movement

Oh boy, if you've been on board with what I've been talking about lately, go read this! It's good stuff, and comes very close to articulating what's been churning around in my head.

Did you read it? Ok, ok, let's talk about it, yes?

Do you like shopping? I hate it. I go into a store and look at the racks and racks of clothes, and I kind of freak out. Too many choices, too much useless "fashion" for me. I have become almost painfully practical, and cannot deal with the fast-changing styles in the store.

But, I admit, I also dislike shops like Goodwill and Amvets. I'm all for hand-me-downs and will take them from people I know, whose homes I've seen and whose care of said items was good. AJ's physical therapist, who has also become a good friend, brings me enormous bags of beautiful boy clothes, and has just offered me several pairs of winter boots for my son. Oh yes! I will definitely take those. But I haven't gotten on the used clothing train as far as second-hand shops. There is nothing wrong with shopping there, I have no problem with anyone else doing it, it just isn't for me at this time.

Rather, I like to buy and make very classic, standard wardrobe items and then wear them out. And I like to either find made-in-the-USA if I can, or make it in the USA, specifically, in my house.

It has long bothered me that the people making our cheap, mass-market clothing are likely very, very poor people, young children, or overworked and abused women in oppressive countries. I think we tend to believe that because the US has strict labor laws pertaining to children and to a legal number of hours worked by adults, other countries do, too.

HA. They do not. The 12 year-olds making our t-shirts in the Philippines are not subject to labor laws, I don't care if they are working under the Target umbrella. And I think it is kind of important to remember that. It is important to know what happens to get those inexpensive clothing items into your closet.

Sure, fabric production is not much better, but perhaps by reducing our insatiable desire for newer and more fashionable clothing we can reduce demand for these cheap items. At least by purchasing the fabric rather than the finished good, I have removed one part of the slave-labor chain.

That said, I broke my self-imposed rule of sewing only from stash today. Our local WalMart is eliminating its fabric department, keeping only notions from now on.

Considering most of my fabric stash is small cuts (1 yard) originally intended for quilting, I've been having trouble scraping up enough to make dresses for Daughter. So when I heard about the WM fabric clearance, I went to check it out.

In this case, spending a little money will turn out to be very frugal in the long run!

For about $30 I got enough fabric to make at least 3 dresses and about 4 or 5 sets of pajamas. This flannel (plus a red piece that is currently being washed), was $1.48 per yard, making even the largest pajamas for Daughter about $4.50. But if I cut carefully I'm betting I can squeeze more (like extra pants for AJ) out of some of these fabrics (where gender-appropriate, of course).

I'm picturing a fall school dress for Daughter - main body being the large print, collar and cuffs/pockets in the small print. About $5 for this. It will be perfect with some white tights (or better yet, handmade knee socks!) and brown buckle shoes. Love!

There are some other pieces too, which we cut right into for a sundress, and a large cut of dark indigo denim for another fall dress (also being washed right now so unavailable for photographing).

And we need to get the kids involved! Cripes, it is so sad to hear about moms and grandmas who cooked and sewed but told their offspring to get out of the way...it is a story I have heard more than once. (Princess getup is optional.)

Or how about some good old-fashioned repurposing? That was big in the "old days" too - you got a hand-me-down dress from your cousin/older sister/neighbor, and your mother made it fit. Gosh, I don't even know anyone who knows how to do that (I do not...I've never learned alteration skills, though I'd like to). Even Martha Stewart is getting in on it - next time one of Hubs' dress shirts wears out, I'm making one of these.

I mean, there is definitely the argument to be made that trying to clothe your family from handmade and repurposed clothing is time and labor intensive. Yeah, it sure is! That is why I am starting my Daughter's summer dresses in February! But if you step back from the relentless pursuit of more, and instead make do with fewer, better items, it could be done. There is a great post about that here, regarding buying and caring for very high quality items for your children, especially if they can be passed down. Why do our kids have to have 5 or 6 or more sweaters, when really 1 or 2 will do? My Daughter currently has about 10 pairs of pants in her drawer (several were Christmas gifts). She never even wears about 5 of them because she doesn't like them.

However, I certainly do not advocate going back to a time when the woman of the house spent every waking minute cooking, cleaning, and sewing. I can't imagine it, really - if I had to make my husband's every sock, I would keel right over. He has humongous feet and it takes me weeks to get through a big boring pair of socks for him! All I'm saying is that I wish we were all a bit more conscientious about our clothing (and our food, too...but that's for another day!) and participated a bit more in the process.

I know I am largely preaching to the choir here, and I promise I won't always rant and rave about this stuff. What I love so much about the internet and the blog community is the prevalence of thoughtful, like-minded women (and some men, too) who are taking back responsibility for what is worn, made, cooked, grown, etc. in and around their homes.

Boring, dreary February is almost over. Easter is coming soon for those of us who celebrate, and hot on the heels of Easter will be Spring and sun and warmth. Are you ready? Let's make stuff!

why sew?

When someone finds out that I made something (I very rarely announce it, but am often asked), I typically get one of two reactions. Either the person reacts with awe and respect, saying "wow, that's great...I could never do that!" Or they react with a sort of thinly veiled contempt, sneering "uh, don't they sell _______ in stores?"

Both of those make me feel sort of embarrassed and sad. The second because it's kind of nasty, implying that by sewing or knitting something I am wasting my time. The first because anyone could knit and sew, if they really wanted/had to. I certainly was not born knowing how to knit or sew - I was shown the basics by my mom and then worked and worked at getting better. I failed miserably many times, and tossed out a few "wadders" along the way. If you give yourself permission to fail, heck, you can learn anything.

So why do I sew (and knit, and crochet, and quilt)? And why do some women find it abhorrent? It's an interesting question.

I guess I do it because I get immense satisfaction from making something with my own two hands. It's a sense of accomplishment. And there is a certain gratification a homemaker and mother feels when something she has done actually stays done. Great blog post about that here. So much of housework is dirty and unpleasant...it is nice to make something pretty that stays pretty!

I also do it to save a bit of money when I can. Much like knitting, sewing can be done inexpensively if one is not tied to fancy name brands, gadgets, and equipment. A good machine, decent shears, good quality needles and threads, and fabric bought on sale (and don't discount the bargain table at places like WalMart - you can often find mill-ends and overstock fabrics that are of good quality for $1.50/yd), and you're on your way. Easy patterns go on sale for 99 cents all the time, and can be reused. I like to find 3 or 4 good patterns that Daughter and I both like and make them over and over with different buttons and trims for fun.

And I guess a big reason I do it is to keep handmade alive and well. My dad and I were chatting a few weeks ago about gardening...he often tells about the amazing gardens family members would grow when he was a child. They were Italian immigrants, and they knew how to provide for themselves. I want to grow a garden this summer and I have very little idea how to begin. Dad will help me as much as he can (he has successfully grown basic garden items like tomatoes, zukes, and herbs for years), but there is no one else for me to turn to for guidance. And I think that is sad.

Likewise, with sewing, I know my Nana (Dad's mom) could alter clothing, but I'm not sure how much of a seamstress she was. My other grandma could make almost anything - holy cow she was an amazing crafter - and I know she sewed because when she married my grandpa he bought her a Singer Featherweight with all the attachments (yes, we still have it). My mom learned to sew on that machine and tells about making simple shorts and tops when she was a teenager, because back then it was so much cheaper to sew than to buy ready-made. My great-aunt knit herself entire fine-gauge suits, consisting of jacket and skirt, on US size 1 and 2 needles. As a child, I would sometimes wear the pair of gray, yellow and white wool argyle socks she knit for my Dad. But that's about it on the sewing/knitting front. Other family members surely learned to do these things at some point, but no one does it anymore except me and my mom.

I have grown pretty tired of picking through endless racks of the same clothing in the stores. How many times have I been out with my kids and run into someone with the exact same outfit on their child? More than I like to think about! And when I look at the labels in those Target pants and Old Navy shirts they all say "Made In (poor foreign nation)." It used to be that imports were something special. Now we import quite literally everything. And I don't know exactly how to word it, but that makes me uncomfortable.

It used to be that people had just a few outfits, and one or two dressy items, which were of excellent quality and kept nice so they would last. I have tended toward purchasing cheaper clothing because I thought it more important that our drawers be filled for some reason. So off to Target we would go, buying 5 pairs of pants, 6 t-shirts, a package of socks, and maybe a dress or two. Then Christmas and birthdays come along, and before long the kids' drawers and shelves are overflowing with outfits that will be worn just a few times before being outgrown.

Now, I will never claim to be any kind of ace seamstress, but if I put my money towards good materials, and invest a little (ok, a lot) of my time, I can create a small but sturdy wardrobe for my children, supplemented with some higher quality store-bought things. And if we're talking about summer clothes, I can do this for myself as well (I have not conquered tailored pants or shirts for cold weather, and I live in jeans anyway). I can make nightclothes for all who need them, and knit warm socks and sweaters (necessary when it is chilly for about 8 months of the year).

By doing this I can feel just a bit less dependent on big companies and foreign nations for the things I need. I don't like the fact that, as a nation, we have given up control of our needs to anyone who will provide them. No one knows how to do for themselves anymore.

And the best part of making some of our things is that Daughter gets a real kick out of it. She goes through my patterns with me, chooses fabrics she likes, and picks out rick-rack and buttons to embellish her clothes. What a thrill, to be able to provide her what she wants while she is still young and doesn't feel the need to be exactly like her peers!

So that was sort of rambly, but it is hard for me to put into words why I do what I do.

Why do you sew or knit or crochet or quilt or can or preserve or keep chickens in your backyard? What does it mean to you?

bread

How much would a loaf of bread have to cost before you'd quit buying bread?

I've been chewing on that one for awhile now. Regular, inexpensive wheat sandwich bread is about $1.50 here, and I buy two loaves each week (we eat a ton of sandwiches, as Hubs takes one for lunch each day and usually Daughter and I each have one, so that's 6 slices minimum per day). I buy that because it's relatively cheap and convenient, but I would rather have better. However, the in-store baked good stuff, like honey-oat-apple, and hearty multigrain, costs about $4 for a small loaf.

$4! For a loaf of bread! Our grandparents and great-grandparents would just barf. Gosh, even our parents remember when bread cost a nickel.

If bread can go from a nickel a loaf to, on average, say $2.50 for a decent loaf of wheat, what will the price get to in our lifetime?

Now, I'm not one of these peak oil activist types, and I hang onto the hope that we will continue to have enough fuels to keep things humming, but I am enough of a realist to know that things aren't getting any cheaper. The cost of fuel affects EVERYTHING. As oil and gas continue to rise in price, all our goods and services will as well. It costs the farmer more to produce the crops, costs the truckers more to haul the wheat to the mill, costs the mill more to process the grain, then again costs the truckers to haul the flour to factories, etc, etc.

So maybe a better question is, how expensive does gasoline have to get before you quit buying bread? If bread is $5 per loaf will you buy it? How about $10? It could totally happen. Our grandparents probably couldn't imagine bread going from 5 cents to well over $3 for some loaves. How about if gas itself costs $5 or more per gallon? How many trips would you be willing to make to the store each month?

I'm guessing fuel prices will continue to rise. Prices of goods will rise as well, and that quick run to the supermarket to grab 3 or 4 things will start looking like a bad idea. Inflation is likely, and we are already seeing wages stagnate while prices rise. Just watch the nightly news and you'll see it.

My plan is to slowly move my family away from total dependence on the supermarket. I've been simply devouring blogs about growing, processing, and storing food lately, and it is certainly feasible, though a lot of work. But I don't like feeling that I would be totally lost if for some reason the supermarket became inaccessible to me.

I want to build a small raised garden this summer and grow some lettuces, tomatoes, maybe cukes, some peppers, herbs...as much as I can with my extremely limited knowledge and experience. And I am going to make bread-baking a part of our daily lives around here.

I am blessed to have a kitchenaid mixer. Oh, thank heavens for this amazing machine.

My dad, who taught me most of what I know about yeast baking, buys high-gluten flour in 50lb bags. He splits it with me, and we store it in these old cookie containers. They are perfect for the job - not too heavy. I combine flours - about 2 cups of this, and 4-5 cups of unbleached AP flour or a blend of AP plus whole wheat, depending on my mood.

We purchase yeast from our club store (BJ's) in a two-pound double pack for $3.69, and take one pound each. I use the supermarket brand shortening (generic Crisco) because it doesn't affect the flavor (I save my real Crisco for pies where you'd notice). I buy the huge can and keep it in the fridge to prevent rancidity.

It takes maybe 5 minutes to mix up the ingredients, including heating the milk/sugar/salt/shortening mix on the stove. The dough hook on the kitchenaid makes short work of kneading, but if you don't have a powerful mixer with a dough attachment, this can certainly be done by hand. You must knead for 8-10 minutes if by hand, while the machine can do it in about 5-6 minutes.

After kneading, you simply put the dough in a greased bowl (I use cooking spray), cover it with a clean white flour sack towel or something similar, and then cover/wrap the bowl all snuggly-wuggly in a blanket to keep the dough warm.

Kneading is also a great job for kids. Here I am enslaving my daughter - this is after the first rise. We have knocked the dough down and are preparing it for the pans.

Plunk the bread into greased pans - this recipe makes two loaves, but I split it into one loaf and 6 rolls to use for our dinner of french onion burgers tonight - and allow to rise again. This is at the end of the 2nd rise. You can see how high the loaf has risen above the edge of the bread tin.

After 30 minutes in the oven, you'll be rewarded with the lightest, most delicious bread you've ever eaten. Makes the storebought stuff taste like pasty cardboard.

Who wouldn't want a burger on one of these babies?

I couldn't stop myself from splitting open a still-hot roll and loading it up with sweet, fresh, salty butter. SO GOOD. Actually, so far I've eaten that and two slices of the loaf.

If I can do this in the nice weather, and then run out back for some lettuce and other salad supplies from the garden, then all I have to keep in the freezer is meat. I can reduce my need to load up my grocery cart! I can spend less money! This bread recipe costs about 50 cents, I think.

And making bread is not as time-consuming or difficult as most people believe. It is experiencing a resurgence in my generation that makes me so, so happy. What a great thing, to be able to create this basic staple for your family, free of preservatives and mystery ingredients. It does take practice to get a good, light loaf with a good crumb. I used to make really sh*tty bread! But with practice and patience (can't rush the rise!), I've gotten pretty good at it. Oh - you can even use a bread machine just for the mixing and kneading, but I recommend baking in the oven in real bread tins.

Tomorrow, my birthday, is to be a baking day. On the agenda: pumpkin bread (to use up some canned pumpkin I opened last week), english muffin loaves (so delicious, and waaaaaayyy cheaper than buying english muffins), and cookies if time permits.

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Basic White Bread

1/2 c milk

3 Tbsp sugar

2 tsp salt

3 Tbsp shortening (can use butter or marg)

2 packages active dry yeast (mine is bulk, so I use about 2.5 Tbsp here)

1.5 c warm water (105-115F)

5-6 c AP flour (or a mix)

Heat milk, sugar, salt, and shortening in a small pan over low heat until fat melts and sugar dissolves. Cool to lukewarm.

Dissolve yeast in warm water in large bowl (mixer bowl if using a mixer). Add milk mixture and 4.5 cups flour. If using mixer, attach dough hook and mix about 1 minute.

Continuing to mix, add remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, and mix until dough is slightly sticky to the touch. If using a kitchenaid, dough will cling to hook and clean sides of bowl.

Knead about 5-6 minutes by machine, or 8-10 minutes by hand, till dough is smooth and elastic. Place dough in greased bowl, cover, let rise in warm place for about 1 hour or till doubled.

Punch dough down and divide in half. Shape each half into a loaf (or rolls if desired), and place in greased bread tins. Cover, let rise in warm place about 1 hour or till doubled.

Bake loaves at 400F for 30 minutes - if top browns too quickly, loosely cover with foil. Bake rolls for about 15-20 minutes. Remove from pans immediately and cool on wire racks.

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There are a gajillion recipes and resources related to breadmaking on the web. I'd be happy to try and answer any questions anyone might have. Please do let me know if you try making bread!

living simply and appreciating what i have

I know I've been away for 2 weeks...didn't exactly mean to do that, but whenever I went to blog, a few things stopped me in my tracks. The first being my son, who is now a full-on toddler. He literally never sits still unless he is eating or sleeping. There's barely any time for me to sit down and blog when all I have is his 2-hour naptime to get things done. I mean, I can't even empty the dishwasher when he is awake, as he will climb into it. The second reason I've been quiet is that my husband reloaded my computer with windows 7, and now our really, really old digital camera won't talk to my computer. I have to figure out a way to make it work, or else use a different computer to upload photos, or something. I'm sure not going to replace a perfectly functional camera just because of stupid windows 7.

And the third, most compelling reason, is that I've been thinking. A lot.

Just before Christmas I discovered a new-to-me blog, Down-To-Earth. Since then I've spent hours prowling through her archives, reading about her simple life. And as a result, I've been devouring as many other blogs as I can find about simple living, how to make and do and make do.

See, we moved our family to Affluent Town last year because we grew up here and want our children to have the benefit of the excellent school district. Now, we are not what I would call affluent - we have enough to pay our bills, enough for a few of the things we want, and enough in savings to feel relatively comfortable. But we do not take vacations, rarely eat out, don't often purchase new clothes or shoes, etc. I started out being frugal because I had to be (I certainly was not always frugal...see: my whole life before age 26). But I'm becoming more and more frugal because I want to be.

Here in Affluent Town, high school students don't usually ask each other if they have a car...they ask each other what kind of car their parents are giving them for their 16th birthday. Yes, there are a few beaters in the high school parking lot, but there are just as many Lexuses and other fancy cars. Most of the kids have better cars than the teachers, I am not even joking.

Our house is a modest 1960s split-level, 1750 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, attached 2-car garage, nice big backyard. Around here this is considered a "starter house" by many. To us, it is a palace! We don't ever anticipate needing more room than we have, and if we are to move again, it will likely be to a house of similar size. For the foreseeable future, we intend to stake our claim here, maintaining and slowly updating this home where necessary.

I am so grateful to have this warm, dry, safe home that I want to do everything I can to hang onto it. As stay-home-mom and homemaker, I am the CEO of this place, and as such I've come to see it as my job to care for and make last the house and all the items in it. We regularly drive by much, much larger and fancier houses than ours, and just as often pass very small cottage-like houses that were built before Affluent Town became affluent. I am very, very happy right in the middle.

Conspicuous consumption has started to make me uncomfortable. More than uncomfortable, actually. It makes me a little bit sick. Take, for example, my mother-in-law: she has lived in her current home for 4 years. When they moved in she bought all new bedding and accessories for her bedroom. Now, she is completely replacing everything, including purchasing many extra pillows and accessories...and a FIREPLACE (fake). She is so jazzed to show this stuff off...but then we look around their house and see the broken fridge (it is held up by a piece of wood on one corner), hear stories of a leak in their basement that they just can't afford to fix, and eat with silverware that is destroyed from being used as 'tools' for years by my father-in-law (who does not own decent tools and can't be bothered to go find them anyway when a fork or butterknife will do).

In my house? We have had the same bedding since we got married. We have nice dishes that we received as wedding gifts, but we reserve those for guests (we do not have china, just nicer everyday dishes). In my kitchen I use the dishes my parents got when we were kids from turning in receipts at the supermarket - do you remember those deals they had back in the 80s? Well, those are the dishes I use. Some are missing, but they are perfectly functional, neutral, and hard-wearing for use with children. My flatware is my dear Grandmother's regular kitchen flatware that I remember using at her house when I was really little. She died over 20 years ago, so you can imagine how old this flatware is. I have it all with the exception of one butterknife. No one knows what happened to it - it was gone before I "inherited" the set (read: grabbed it when we packed up the house after she died). So I have plenty of plain and simple things that work, and all of our furniture and appliances are in good repair...unlike my crazy mother-in-law!

My husband also grew up in a house of "if it's broken, throw it out and buy a new one." I did not. So this past weekend I went to the store and bought a tube of superglue to repair 4, count 'em 4, toys that would have otherwise been useless.

I also sewed buttons back on my husband's pea coat - including one I had to rob from the collar to make a full set on the front. The fabric is not worn out, so I keep repairing the pocket linings and re-sewing the buttons. I was telling my mom about it today, and she said maybe he needs a new coat. When I said that would be $100, she said that's a good price for a coat. Well, yes it is, but if you don't actually NEED the coat, is it still a good price? Hubs and I have both been wearing the same navy pea coats for about 6 or 7 years. I have them dry-cleaned every season or two; they are good, warm coats that hold up well. Do I peruse catalogs and sometimes wish for a new coat? Oh heck yes. I have long coveted a red or camel tailored wool coat. But my coat is still good and who am I trying to impress? So forget it, that $100 can go toward something we need much more.

In addition to that I did something really far out - I sewed up the toes of two socks that Hubs wears all the time (work socks, not sweat socks). Whoa. I have never done that before. I mean, socks are cheap, right? You can totally throw them out and go buy a pack at Target! But if you can put that off, why not? Each of us received a Target gift card from Hubs' grandmother for Christmas. My challenge to myself is to see how long I can leave them untouched. I am hoping to use them for seasonal necessities as the weather warms up this coming Spring (shorts and shirts for the kids, undergarments, socks, etc).

I've also been spending lots of time in the kitchen - living simply, as I've read and discovered, is a lot of work - baking and preparing and storing food. Last week I made a coffee cake, muffins, and dinner rolls, and today it was cookies, pizza dough, and pizza sauce. All totally from scratch, all delicious. The freezer is stocked and I spent pennies.

The thing is, Hubs goes to work each day so I don't have to. I am able to stay in my home and raise my children as I see fit. He earns the money, but I spend almost all of it. That's really quite a burden when you think about it. How would I feel if I was the one going to an office every morning, dealing with corporate B.S., attending meetings, driving around town doing tasks...only to come home and find out my husband spent the day buying crap at discount stores, fed McDonald's to the kids, and cooked nothing for dinner? If he is going to work to earn the money and provide the food, clothing and shelter we all need, then it is for sure my job to be the best steward of those things that I can possibly be.

Does that mean never spending money on anything fun? Nope! Just yesterday we decided Hubs would take Daughter to see "Curious George Live" - her first theatre experience! Someone gave us a free ticket voucher, so we figured we could spring for the other ticket. Because I push frugality in other areas, we are easily able to absorb a little fun spending on a show. And when I'm out shopping and I decide to pick up a couple skeins of sock yarn at Joann's (with coupons, of course!), I do not deny myself that $10 or $12. I figure since I spend all my time cleaning up other people's messes, I deserve a treat once in awhile. :)

So that's kind of where I am right now. I go through my day wondering how I can simplify things, cleaning out cupboards and cabinets and closets, reorganizing, deciding what I truly need versus what I want. Shopping based on need only. We work too hard to waste. I never want to fall on hard times and look around me at piles of stuff, wondering where it went wrong. I want to instill good values in my kids, and teach them to respect and appreciate what they have. It's going to be a real challenge here in our new home, surrounded by kids who have so much. The urge to keep up will be strong. But I think if we stick to our guns and strive to keep it simple, we'll end up happier in the long run.