You have got to be kidding me

Bear with me people, it's just me on my soap box again.

So a few weeks ago I was taking my daughters for a walk to the city park. The city park also houses the pavilion where the school serves it's free summer lunch 5 days a week to all children under the age of 18. On average 60 or so children as well as parents and other chaperons come to the pavilion for the free lunch. I just happened to be at the park at lunch time with my girls on this particular day-the day the cheerleaders for the 2010-2011 school year were there trying on uniforms in their underwear. I kid you not-7 or 8 girls standing under the pavilion in sports bras and some in little panties trying on skirts and shirts for the upcoming season. 2 of the girls were in their full on bras. And everyone was coming for the free lunch, tables of 6th and 7th grade boys (mouths gaping wide) filled up, parents with their little kids and not a one of those girls put any clothes on. I was shocked. Call me old fashioned but isn't that something that you would do at some one's house or in a bathroom not at the city park? I thought surely one of the adults in charge would tell the girls to put more clothes on but all I heard was how hot they were looking in their short skirts. Appalling people, simply appalling. Now to top that off I have recently heard that the same cheerleading squad is required to weigh in and each girl is told how much weight they need to lose. Now whether that is a standard cheerleading practice or not-I don't know. But if it is or not, it is down right terrible if you ask me. What are we saying to these girls? Are we selling sex here or is this still just High School cheerleading? If my daughter was on the cheer squad and was required to
#1 stand around in her underwear or
#2 weigh in
you can better believe something would be hitting the ceiling, and she would be pulled from that squad immediately.
Sorry people, it's not okay. Why is this going on and no one is doing anything about it?
Want to see what cheerleading can be about watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-ih_ZkaKC0 I am pretty sure this squad is not focused on weighing in or looking hot.

Melon Days

Why hello. I have not fallen off the face of the planet-I am actually sweating it out in my little town spending as much of my free time working on stuff for my Melon Days booth. For those who are new to Small Fry and Co, Melon Days is our little towns festival because we grow watermelons here and so each fall we have a big celebration with all you can eat watermelon, a parade, booths on the park, food, games for kids-it's a blast and a real treat for our town. If you live in my great state and want a little get away for some small town fun come on down and eat as much watermelon as you can.
Anyway, so I did a booth last year selling baby stuff and decided that I would like to do it again this year but I am so BEHIND!!!!! I am sewing as fast as my machine will allow me. Here is a sampling of what I have so far.

Change pads (in all the styles I have created), diapers and wipes holders, banners that say "welcome home baby girl" and baby boy, booties, wipes cases,
brag boards and bibs. I still have burp cloth cupcakes, onesies, flower clips and binkie clips to finish. So pretty much I ought to stop blogging and get sewing.

Brag Boards

Here is something I have been working on for my Melon Days booth-Brag Boards.
Pretty straight forward-a 2x4 cut to length, painted and sanded with some decorative paper around the edge. Then I took clothes pins and painted and sanded them as well and Mod Podged paper to one side of them and attached them to the board.

I alternated directions of the clothes pins so you could put pictures both towards the top and bottom. They (the boards) have hangers on the back so they could hang on a wall or you could sit them on the edge of a shelf.

Here is a boy's version.

I know these are nothing new in the craft world-this is just my interpretation. I think these are great for busy parents who want to display pictures of their kids but can't keep up with getting the pictures in the frames (and Grandma's too-hint hint mom!!!!!).

Dear Walmart (This may only apply to my location)

Dear Walmart,
K-mart had a better selection of shoes than you did this past weekend and that isn't saying much. You would think when you have the monopoly on a market that you would...I don't know...offer some sort of selection to actually interest someone in buying something from that department rather than saying, "heck I will wait until I go some place else." Will you ever learn or will you just keep stocking really ugly footwear?
Sincerely,
Waiting until I go some place else.

Tiny Socks Stitching Pattern

Here is July's Stitching Bee pattern. I am particularly excited about this one because I created it all on my own-not even an ounce of inspiration from some place else. I ever wrote the verse myself. I had some baby socks in pumpkins room that never stay on her feet and I had to do something with and thus this wall hanging was born. I am saving it for a gift I think. If you are in town at the end of the month and want to come to stitching bee let me know. All are welcome.

Getting Bountiful in my Town

My friend and I decided to take the plunge and start a Bountiful Baskets site here in our town.

I am excited to be a part of something that will help make more fruits and vegetables accessible to our small community year round for an affordable price. Heaven knows I would like to have something more than apples to choose from in the winter.

Zucchini Season

I had no place else to stack my zucchinis the other day so I put them on the hearth by our wood burning stove. I figured it was appropriate considering when I was younger at home my mom used to grow so many zucchini plants that we would have to carry the zucchini's in like wood in our arms.
Last year in our own garden we had one pathetic plant and it produced NOTHING. So this year I said I wasn't going to have that happen again-and it has not. I wouldn't say I am a huge zucchini fan but I do have a couple of favorite recipes. One of which I am going to share with you: Lemon Poppy seed Zucchini Bread. This is moist and delicious and a great way to use up these babies should you have a stack somewhere in your house.

Lemon Poppy seed Zucchini Bread

4 cups flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 package (3.4 ounce) instant lemon pudding

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

4 eggs

1 1/4 cups milk

1 cup oil

3 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp lemon extract

2 cups shredded zucchini

1/4 cup poppy seeds

2 tsp fresh grated lemon zest.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, pudding mix,baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl which the eggs, milk, oil, lemon juice, and extract. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in the zucchini, poppy seeds and lemon zest. Pour into greased loaf pans and bake at 350 for 50-55 minutes or until tooth pick inserted comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes before removing from pans. Makes 2 large loaves or 3 small.

This seems to have a lot of lemon in it but is not overly lemony at all. Enjoy!!

Cupboard front revamp

In our laundry room we have these brownish metal cabinets. We use them for food storage. We have the majority of our food storage in our basement but we then bring up smaller quantities of the stuff we use the most to store in these. I am trying to get our food storage organized but one of my big problems is not remembering what we have and what I have used, plus when it comes time for making dinner I have to stand with all the cupboard doors open wondering what in the world I have that I could use to make dinner. So I have been trying to think of a way that I could use the cupboard doors (which are magnetic and metal) to make some sort of organizing system. This is what I came up with. I used Chalkboard spray paint. There is such thing as chalkboard paint in a can which probably would have worked great on this project and would have made less of a mess but I didn't have that and I was ready to do this project (p.s. please ignore the crap on top of the cupboards-that didn't disappear just because I got the actual cupboards organized). These cabinets do not disassemble in any way so I just taped off the sections I wanted to paint, covered everything below with towels, opened the windows, turned on the fans and painted. After the paint was dry I used a silver permanent marker and a ruler to section off the chalkboard. My sections include: Item, Have and Used.

The idea is to record on the outside of the cupboard everything that is inside and how many we have. Then as we use something we put a tick mark in the used column. When I re stalk the cupboards I will wipe off the numbers and start again. The chalk wipes off really nicely on the cupboards and I only had to do one coat. I love the finished product. They look so organized and feel so organized and I can know at a glance just what is inside.

My girls

I love these pictures because my little small fry looks like a little pioneer child. She still loves her rainboots.

And excuse the dirty face and the fact that she is clinging to the lid to the butter, and check out those blue eyes!!!. What a gorgeous little thing and she came from me-go figure!!

Firecrackers

Just barely in time for the 4th of July I am finally posting my other firecracker idea. This is for a little center piece or piano decoration (I think pianos are so fun because they are a great place to put decorations).

First you will need an old broom handle or in my case an old plunger handle. (Just a side note for those who know my backyard, this picture is also to show you that the pile of rocks/cement that once adorned the back corner of my house is GONE!!!!!!)

Cut it into sections of varying lengths. I had my husband do this with his big power saw but you could do it with a hand saw as well. You just don't want them all the same length. At the last minute I decided that I wanted to vary the width of my firecrackers too and so I searched our sheds once more and found another random handle that I had my husband cut as well; this one was a bit fatter than the other. Sand all of these down if they are rough or have paint on them.
Next paint them. You don't have to be an artist for this part. I actually think having the lines somewhat uneven makes them look more rustic. After they are dry I add a bit of brown ink and smudge it around to make them look a bit antique.

Next sand them again.

Now to make a hole to put your wire in. I was thinking that this would need a power tool for sure but I decided to just use a push pin and poke a hole in the top of each firecracker piece. This was just the perfect size and depth for my wires.

For the wire I just cut a random length of wire and wrapped it around a pencil, pen or paint brush to curl it. I left both ends straight to attach to the firecracker and to the star. To attach it to the firecracker I used my new favorite crafting adhesive-Superglue. If you can get away with out getting any on your finger this stuff can be fantastic in your craft room. I put a little dab over the hole I made with my push pin and stuck in my wire.

After I had painted my stars (they are wooden craft stars), I sanded them and then attached them to the wire with hot glue. Using hot glue instantly turns the this craft into a one sided creation but I couldn't think of a better way to attach them and except for a center piece on a table, it would always be looked at from one side anyway so I decided to go with it. Then I attached the firecrackers to a wooden base with hot glue as well.

TADA!!! Let freedom ring.