Life at a "Swell's" pace

It's time for strawberries here in the Willamette Valley of Oregon and right here in Lebanon, Oregon it is the strawberry capitol of the state. The STATE! It's that awesome!? Being the strawberry capitol of the entire state Lebanon, Oregon has some big shoes to fill.

This time of year there is a lot of strawberries throughout the Willamette Valley and you can't go to a restaurant, grocery store, or even drive down Main Street without seeing strawberries on parade or on display in the businesses or buildings. It's actually a pretty neat thing to be part of.

We have a lot of strawberry stands along the roadways and highways, we have a Strawberry Festival (photos of that to come soon), we also have the World's Largest Strawberry Shortcake. The shortcake is pretty fun because you get to see the cake as it makes its way through the street during the Strawberry Parade and then you get to try the shortcake at the festival later in the day. All of these is a weekend-long event here in the Strawberry Capitol of the state.

With all of these festivities dedicated to the strawberry, it's a great time to get a ton of strawberries, either from local stands, the grocery store, or at the MANY u-pick farms around the valley. I love snagging a bushel of few of the strawberries to make into many different recipes that are begging to be made. One of my favorites is the Summer Strawberry Freezer Jam that we make once a year. But here are a few more of my favorites from some of the best bloggers and DIYers out there.

1. Strawberry Sour Cream Pie from Carolina Charm

2. Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler from Reading my Tea Leaves.

3. Strawberry Protein Cups from ABpetite.

4. Strawberry Yogurt Muffins from Delighted Momma.

5. Crunchy Romaine Strawberry Salad from Live Grows Wild.

6. Strawberry Cheesecake Jello Shots from Brit+Co.

7. Strawberry Oat Pancakes from Lil' Luna.

8. Strawberry Chocolate Cheesecake Cupcakes from The Crafting Chicks.

9. Strawberry Pie from Craftaholics Anonymous.

10. Super Simple Chocolate-Covered Strawberries from South North South.

We even stopped off at the local Shari's Restaurant and picked up a jar of their own unique, homemade Strawberry Jam, and hit Burgerville for their Strawberry Lemonade!

YUM! Be sure and visit these wonderful, creative ladies and try their strawberry recipes. Do you have any great strawberry recipes that you enjoy? Let me know in the comments section below, I'd love to hear about them.

ENJOY!

Eco-Tip: Go paperless with your bills, tickets, and even receipts. If you need a receipt for tax purposes, ask them to email it to you instead. For this and other tips on going green visit, The Earth and Me Go Green.

Happy 85th, Maurice Sendak! -June 10, 2013

Source

This Max costume was so fun to make. We all laughed till our sides hurt while we were making it, and all the while the movie "Where the Wild Things are" was playing in the background. I think we hit replay on it about six times.

For the Suit:

I started with 3 yards of fabric. I went with something a bit fuzzy, but not too bulky.

I had Skylar lay down on the material with his feet and head hanging off the edges.

I then traced a rough outline of his body on the material just for a guideline.

I had to do two different tracings for the body to get the layout just right.

Then I cut it out, giving at least a 3-inch clearance all the way around.

I then sewed the edges, right along the edge of the fabric, taking note of the 3-inch clearance and not sewing in further than that.

My sewing machine is very old, and super awesome!

When sewing make sure you leave the neck, wrist, and ankle cuts free.

I then had Skylar put the suit on and I trimmed where needed.

These were a rough trimming and nothing fantastic.

Once the suit was cut where needed and trimmed where needed I started in on the hat. I went with this pattern for the hat. The full instructions can be found here, as well. Jessy is great at explaining and it's a pattern where you can't go wrong really!

For the Crown:

We took a Burger King crown.

Cut the end off to make them come to a point.

Then modeled it around the house. We have this weird obsession with Hexaflexagons in our house currently.

To make it shiny and gold, I used spray adhesive and fine-grain glitter. Similar to these:

Just my luck that it rained the next day and washed the gold glitter from the sidewalk.

I poked brown pipe cleaners into the sides of the hat and knotted the ends so they would stay put. Then used self-stick velcro on the hat ends to keep it closed under his chin.

For the Scepter:

What you'll need is a wooden dowel, newspaper, a solid foam ball, gold glitter, spray adhesive, aluminum foil, and a big jewel.

Spray the foam ball with the adhesive and apply the gold glitter. Work in sections and allow to dry between sections to prevent smearing. Once the glue has dried completely, drill a starter hole into the foam ball and add a few drops of Elmer's glue inside the hole. With a hammer beat the wood dowel into the hole till it is secure and allow to dry overnight. Finally, take a large sheet of aluminum foil and fold into a fat rectangle ribbon and place around the top of the foam ball. You can secure the foil with gem-headed push pins or staples. Cut the top of the foil into triangles to make the scepter appear to be sharp at the top, like the picture below.

Apply your jewels around the sides and the top. Sew on large buttons onto the front of the suit and make sure not to rip the material like I did and have to cut some of it off. Learn from my mistakes and actually put some material behind the buttons when you sew them on. Poor little Skylar lost about five-inches of material and it looked tight on him. Lesson here on sewing and I won't repeat that mistake. Anyway, after the buttons are on, Max comes alive!

For the gloves/paws. I took white gloves and cut the finger holes into "claws."

I used a strip of faux fur from a snow coat of Skylar's and just used a large safety pin to pin it on, but I am sure the same affect could be achieved by using about 1/2 a yard of faux fur and rolling it, pinning it together, and then pinning it on the butt of the costume.

Skylar had a blast being Max for Halloween. I am really pleased with this costume and I hope these tips help you create a Max in your own home!

Eco-Tip: Use cloth napkins instead of paper at home during meals. Cloth napkins can be washed and used over and over again rather than paper that ends up just being thrown away. For this and other tips on going green visit, The Earth and Me Go Green.

Originally published on South North South on November 4, 2012 and republished on June 10, 2013.