Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Days 12 & 13: Baking Up Some Goodies

These last 2 days have been the best 2 days of my experiment. I think we are finally finding a bit of a groove. Even the kids seem to be getting used to the routine. They know that if they wake up early that I am in cleaning mode so they lounge on the couch reading books and playing with toys. Yesterday was the first day where I had finished cleaning before lunch and I decided rather than tackling another area to thoroughly clean out I would instead work on a little baking and sewing. I got some delicious banana chocolate chip muffins baking in the oven and sat down to re-purpose an old dress into something new again.

The muffins were delicious!


I only have 2 aprons that I have been wearing and washing on repeat since starting the experiment. I have longingly eyed some adorable aprons on Pinterest and I decided this dress would make an adorable new apron. The first step was to cut the dress open up along the back seam. 


I spread the dress as flat as I could on the floor in order to plot where I would cut. I also made sure to carefully cut the zipper away from the dress. Once I seam rip the excess fabric off I will have a perfect zipper for a future sewing project. 


I then laid another apron over the dress and traced around the edges at the top. I measured from the front middle of the dress hem to the front middle of the apron hem. I then marked this measurement all the way around the dress, measuring from the hem up. I chose this method rather than tracing the existing apron as I wanted more a of a skirted apron for a dressier look. I then cut along all my lines. At this point I had to break to finish making our dinner. We had some delicious meatloaf with glazed carrots and some of my hubby's grandmother's potato salad that she had sent over. 


Yum! Once we were all well-fed, I actually indulged in a little more sewing before we sat down to some television. 




I added lace to the skirt's under layer and some bias tape around all the raw edges of the soon to be apron. I only made it half way through and decided to call it a night so I could relax with the family. 

This morning I seemed to pop out of bed (this routine is definitely becoming natural) and cooked up a nice breakfast of over-easy eggs, toast and oranges for hubby and I before a long day of snowy, cold weather. I sent the hubs off to work with a container of my fresh mini muffins for a mid-day snack and got to work on the house. Everything got dusted, all the floors got swept and the bathroom got a full wipe down as well. And I finished with 15 minutes to spare before lunch time. 

I have been busting my butt for 13 days so I decided today I would take a little break after lunch and I sat on the couch with the kiddos and we all read books. I actually finished my recently started, Heloise's Housekeeping Hints by Heloise Cruse. Despite being published in 1962, the book had a ton of great tips that I jotted down to try out! It was an easy and quick read and gave me a much better idea of the type of routine that a homemaker would have had each day. I can say, just thinking about their laundry day makes me achy and exhausted on their behalf. We have it oh so much easier nowadays. 

My doorbell rang, and I found my grandmother standing on the stoop dropping off fresh strawberries and grapes in the midst of our winter storm. I love my grandmother! I knew instantly I had to bake up something yummy to go with the strawberries. I, unfortunately, do not have an angel food cake pan so I had to settle for some pound cake. 


As the cake baked I went back to work on my soon to be apron. I finished binding the raw edges and began adding ties which I made from the cut off bits of the skirt and from some remnants in my scrap pile. The final touch was to add some pockets made from the skirt scraps and bias binding. 


I think this is going to be my new favorite apron. How could anyone feel bad in an apron as fun and flirty as this? It may even make scrubbing dishes more pleasurable . . . maybe . . .


Dinner was served up between the finishing touches. Ribs had slow cooked in the oven for nearly 3 hours todaym which was perfect for keeping our house warm and toasty as a wintry wind kept it pretty frosty outside. I served them up with some baked potatoes and more glazed carrots. 


And our dessert, absolutely divine! 


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