Day 26 - Sack Lunch Mystery Treats

When we were teaching I used to pack school lunches for us. But now since we left work we only pack lunches for traveling. It's always nice having something prepared at home for those long flights to wherever.

Now there will be no flights. No cruises. No road trips. No travel anywhere. No leaving the house ever. Which is probably why this sight in my sewing room was probably so unexpected.

When I did my grocery pick-up a couple weeks ago, I wasn't questioned about why paper lunch bags were coming into the house. No strange looks when all these individual serving size snacks - chips and popcorn and cookies and mini pies and more - were being piled into the sewing room. If he had asked, I would have told him about this idea I had. Something completely out of the ordinary for us.

Mystery treat bags.

I put two salty snacks and two sweet snacks in each bag, mixed all up so no two were the same. Now each night after dinner but before bedtime (during those times the munchies hit) we pick out one bag to share.

It's a surprise every night and a welcome distraction from our ho-hum stay-at-home life.

Day 25 - Sew In Sunday for Box Cutter Boy

Ed is definitely not the fix-it guy around here. Never was, never will be. And why he thought he should try and cut up a box for recycling without me being there, I'll never know. What I do know is where he placed the box when he was cutting it. I also know the aftermath of cutting a box in such a place.

Our old Coleman camp chairs have been through a lot with us. Spring Break Oregon Coast trips and Idaho mountain trips when our daughter was young. A cross-country Idaho to Maine and back tent-camping road trip. The chairs were put to use when we needed to sit and rest when painting walls or staining fences. When pruning roses and shrubs. Recently they have been put to good use for our pizza picnics and for sitting in the sun, soaking up the warmth.

Long since faded and covered in years worth of paint splatters, they are pretty sorry looking these days. But they do the job so we haven't even looked for new ones. Although, thanks to Box Cutter Boy, we probably should. The evidence of where he put the box when cutting it is clear.

Right across the seat. Seriously???

My Sew In Sunday task today was trying to figure a way to fix the chair. The fabric is in bad shape so there would be no restitching of it. But thanks to some duct tape and a couple cut up Boise Hawks seat cushions,

a bit of Velcro, and some of his favorite Cincinnati Reds baseball fabric, we have a seat cushion to cover his messy cut-up mess. 

He's a happy camper now. Happy camp chair, too.

Day 24 - Face Mask with Nose Wire Sewing Tutorial

The popularity of my face mask tutorials has made me determined to make them even better. Thanks to lots of good feedback, I think I'm getting pretty close to a perfect fitting mask. Today I delved into using wire for the nose section. It's a great fit, and now hopefully Ed will be more willing to wear his out in public. (Not that we go out in public, but just in case we do.)

And yeah, today's not Tuesday but who really cares?

For this project you will need:

• 8" x 14" piece of cotton fabric
• 7" piece of 1/4" or 1/8" elastic, cut 2
• Pins or Clover Wonder Clips
• 7" piece of flexible wire
• Iron
• Sewing machine
• Matching thread
• Rotary cutter
• Cutting ruler
• Cutting mat

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Check out all my other face mask tutorials:

Looking for other travel accessories ideas? Check out these projects!

You can find the step-by-step how-to tutorial for the cloth fabric face mask with nose wire right here:

Day 23 - Ladybug, Ladybug

Another sunny 70 degree day and my list was a long one.

• Wash outside windows
• Scrub screen doors
• Hang laundry outside
• Thin volunteer sunflowers
• Spray weeds
• Get the BBQ set up
• Figure out a story to tie into the broken winged ladybug who landed on Ed's hand

It was a great to-do list and I had every intention of checking everything off of it. But the sun felt so very good as we sat in camp chairs in the backyard.

And just like that the window washing, screen door scrubbing, sunflower thinning, and BBQ setting up was pushed to another day. Added in? Another spontaneous pizza picnic like the one we had last month. Camp chairs, little metal table, and a cheap pizza in the backyard. This time we tried Little Caesar's with their free delivery on orders over $10. Total bill, including tax and tip, was $12.20. Not bad for two people and we have enough leftovers for another meal tomorrow.

Something removed completely from the list? I didn't need to figure out what to say about the broken-winged ladybug as I had my own ladybug visitor today. She looks mighty fine, just like our day.

Day 22 - Sunshine on my Sunflowers

On a beautiful and sunny 70 degree day the windows in the house are finally opened. Getting fresh air inside the house is such a wonderful thing. Being able to breathe fresh air outside isn't too shabby, either. Lucky me getting to soak up the sun, and lucky that my sunflower quilt is finished, too.

Sunshine + blue sky + fresh air = aahhh...