Activites of Friday and Saturday morning

 So, how have you been doing? We are good....going easy on the pool visits. Trying to only go in the morning so the sun is not too powerful yet since sunblock does not seem to work with us. My kids all now have rash guards as well...hopefully that will help their poor skin. The first sunburns are always terrible, aren't they? I remember getting burned so badly I couldn't see since my eyelids were so swollen (this happened in Italy when I was very little) so I am really trying to be aware of their sun exposure. But it is hard since it is so sunny here in West Texas and the only place to cool off is the pool. At any rate let me tell you what I did yesterday and the day before. We shall begin with where I was Thursday night!

I took the garbage out, but then I gave my wonderful neighbors some of the AWESOME bread that Martha (a fabulous wife of one of my husband's soldiers) brought me. (I am totally into bread at the moment. Sharon, whose lovely face is pictured below gave me about 30 pounds of hard red winter wheat...it is a long and wonderful story about where it came from and I will tell you at another time since I am here to chat about bags). I called Martha to tell her that I had a treat for her, so she came to collect her 15 pounds of the raw wheat.

Anyway, 2200 rolls around. The Curtis household is mostly asleep. The Smith household is also mostly asleep, but Brian and Sharon are up watering their flowers and I wanted to share the awesome bread with them, so I trotted over with Stanley since he is pretty much always with me. And Sharon showed me what she and her boys had rescued from the garbage at the pool. They had saved 2 Life Guard umbrellas! There was nothing at all wrong with the umbrellas either. Crazy? No fading or holes, I wonder why they tossed them out? Oh well. Their loss is our gain! Anyway she wanted to know if I wanted to make some bags out of them. Heck Yeah I do! Not only that, she also gave me one of her husbands old camping tents (quite old, like from the 1950's - which for a person is not old, but for a tent it is.).

So, this is the first bag I made for Sharon. It is tremendous. But she has 5 little boys, and this will hold everything possible for them to go to the pool. Lots of room for sunblock, toys, towels and snacks. I lined the bag with the tent canvas, so while sturdy it is not really heavy. It should be quick to dry too.

Inside are 5 large pockets and there are 2 large pockets on the outside of this bag. I made one for myself yesterday morning and added yet another pocket onto the back of the bag.

The straps are from a giant roll of webbing that they had in their garage. It is very thick, like seat belt material. There is a set or short straps and a set of long straps so the bag can be worn messenger style if we need to be hands free while chasing our children.

See, on the ground is more of the tent that I am dissecting - or deconstructing. It is the best sage green color.

See, I told you the bag was giant. You can even fit your average sized 6 year old. Stanley went over to deliver it after I finished adjusting the straps. I love having such awesome neighbors right across the street. Each move we have made has brought us wonderful friends and neighbors. In Kansas I had Jennifer and Debbi. In Australia I had Wendy and Erica and in Ft Hood I had Kerri, Vicki and Nicole. If you are new to the military, and get to live in base / post housing don't hide inside your dwelling with the blinds all closed and never venture out. Go meet your neighbors! We are great people and we are in the same boat as you are.

I have one more bag to make for Jill, but after that I have enough material to make a couple more giant pool bags. If you want one let me know!

Have a happy Sunday!