The Long and the Short of it

 So, here's one of my yearly projects.  I'm sure many of you do the same.  By the time school is out (or even before) my kids' jeans all have holes in the knee.  It's always the right knee, I don't know why. . .

I do a very basic job.  First, I cut them off (trying to get them straight an even. . . I am not a perfectionist so  I just eyeball it).

Then I fold the ends under about a 1/2 inch and iron them so that I have some sort of line to go off of.

If I want them to be extra nice, I will fold them under twice so that they won't fray at all.  Otherwise, I just fold them under once if I am short on time and if they are just for summer play anyway.

Next I sew around the bottom.  Twice.  They seem to lay flatter and nicer when I stitch twice around.

And that's it. :)  Here are a few of my finished products:

 A pair for my 3 year-old.

A closer look at my 9 year-olds

A couple pairs for my girls 

I even did a pair for my husband

My husband also had some work jeans with smaller holes in the knees that he wanted patched.  In this pair, the hole was straight across, so I just zigzagged over it a few times.  

And this is my very first patch job.  I know it is far from perfect, but hey, they are work jeans.  I cut out a circle of some other jean scraps and zigzagged around it.  I am not a real sewer, so if I can do this, anyone can!

And here's one of my daughters modeling her new shorts. . . she wouldn't make a decent face for the picture, though. ;)  

One reason I like to cut off jeans is so I can decide the length of the shorts--especially for my girls.  I like them to come to the knee.  We aren't short shorts people.  Another reason is obviously to save money.  Many times, money is tight around the start of school (along with the rest of the year ;) so these will end up being their school shorts, too.  Once they are hemmed up, they look very nice.

Coconut Oil Cream

So, I know I've been a little MIA these passed few months, but I have been doing things and taking pictures so I can do some new posts. :)  Things with my daughter doing chemo are going well but busy and I had my baby (#5) in October.  So, it takes a lot of juggling and acrobatics to get everything done each day! 

But here is a quick and easy thing that I have fallen in love with !  Coconut oil.  I use it all the time.  I have started using it instead of lotion, face wash, mouth wash. . . wait, are we in the kitchen or the bathroom?  Ha ha!  I will give more details on how I use it as face wash and mouth wash, but here is a nice, simple way to make it more usable as a lotion or moisturizer.  

Take some coconut oil and a hand mixer and whip it.  That's all.  Coconut oil has a melting point of 76 degrees.  So, below that, it is solid.  I've been using straight out of the jar for a few months and it gets a little hard to dig it out sometimes.  Once I whipped it up, it stays nice and fluffy and is easy to scoop a little out to use on my hands, my little boy's eczema, my daughter's dry elbows, etc.  I love it.  I hope you will, too. 

How to Clean Dehydrating Trays--The EASY Way!

I don't know about you guys, but I (used to) hate to wash my dehydrating trays.  They were big and awkward and didn't fit in my sink very well, making them very hard to clean.  

Well, here is the answer: the bathtub!  I heard about this and had to try it.  

I put all of my dehydrating trays and leather sheets into the tub with some hot water and a couple drops of dish soap.  I let them soak for about a half hour and then drained the water and rinsed them off.  They were so clean and I hardly had to do anything!  Love it!   I hope this helps all of you dehydrators out there. :)  

Cherries!

For the past couple weeks I have been busy with cherries. . . and kids, chemo treatments, an MRI, swim lessons, 4th of July activites, etc. :)  Our nearby orchard was selling them for $.75/lb and I was so excited to get some!  Aren't they beautiful?  

I pitted them with my cherry stoner, cut them in half and then had some help from my 2 youngest spreading them out on my dehydrating trays.

I dehydrated them for about 24 hours.  I think they got a little too dry, but it's hard to tell sometimes until it's too late.  

I also made a ton of fruit leather (I borrowed a second dehydrator from a friend because cherries won't wait!).  I think this is cherries with some pear sauce that I canned last year.  I like to add it to fruit leather to make it more pliable.  

 I also got some apricots and mixed those with cherries for fruit leather.  It is soooo yummy!  I love the tartness that the apricots add

So far I have gone crazy with fruit leather.  I have 3 gallon bags full of rolled up fruit leather.  And it's only the beginning of the harvest!  Fruit leather is what goes the quickest in my family. :)  

Hanging Towels. . . So Much Easier

This is what my kids' bath towels used to look like. (Actually, I should have left a couple of the towels on the floor!)

I saw this fantastic idea somewhere online. . . and once I was ready to do it, I couldn't remember where it was at all.  So, I kind of made up what I thought it was.  

I got some plain white ribbon at Wal-Mart (you can use cuter. . . I just couldn't find any that would match all of the colors of towels that I have).  It is about an inch wide.

I measured it out 10 inches and cut. 

I folded and ironed down each edge about 1/4 inch.

I looped the ribbon around (like so) and pinned it to the center of the towel.  

(To find the center, I folded the towel in half and marked it with the pin)

Then, I sewed the square where the ribbon ends met together and then an X in the middle, just for fun because it looks nicer.

Ta da!  Now my kids have no excuses when there towels are on the floor instead of on their hooks! :)  

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For My Own Record

I just wanted to let you all know that I have started a blog that is a record for me and my family during this time that our daughter is going through chemotherapy.  If you are interested in reading about our experiences, here is the site:  http://www.atlastiseethelight.com/

It is starting to be quite a book, but the posts will get shorter and I'll put more pictures on.  I just wanted to get the whole story covered of our crazy beginning times.

I will still try to do new posts here when I can!  Thanks for your support!

Freeze Dried Strawberries--a lifesaver!

With my daughter doing chemotherapy, we have to be careful with the food she eats.  Her diet is really pretty normal, we just have to make sure cold foods are cold, hot foods are hot, nothing out of bulk bins, and making sure fresh foods are very fresh.  The goal is to stay away from any bacteria and mold.  So, my daughter loves strawberries, but I don't make it to the store every couple of days to get her fresh strawberries.

Well, in my food storage I have some #10 cans of freeze dried fruit.  I had the great idea to open the can of strawberries for her to eat and she loves them.  This has been a great snack for her and I don't have to be so picky about which strawberry looks good.  

I also love these pour-able containers from Wal-Mart.  My other kids tend to just reach in and grab crackers or whatever out of the box.  So, I got a few of these containers that pour really easily and we can avoid germy hands contaminating snacks.

And my the way, Kayla is doing awesome with her treatments so far.  It's going to be long, but's it's going to be do-able.  Thanks for your support and prayers on our behalf!