I've been trying to get away from using plastic bags at the grocery store for a while now. I had a couple of the reusable bags that they sell, but never enough for an entire shopping trip. I didn't want to stock up on them, because I kept thinking about how easy it would be to make my own. I tried a pattern made from tracing around a plastic bag that had a cute little pocket on the front, but it was labor intensive and floppy. I kept thinking that home decorator fabric would stand up better. I have a bunch leftover from the sewing frenzy that happened when we moved into our new house three years ago. So I took one of the bags from the grocery store and made some rough measurements, did a little math, and started to sew. Nine bags later, I think I can handle an entire shopping trip. And best of all, my shopping bags match my throw pillows! 
Today was the last day of school for the kids. Tomorrow we are off to the Nickelodeon Hotel to celebrate everyones collective birthdays. The kids are pretty excited, even though I've glossed over the details. They've been excited enough about school ending without adding to the drama. They all rushed to their rooms as soon as they got home from school and started packing swim suits. In addition to my 9 shopping bags, I also managed to get 6 loads of laundry done today and bake my birthday cake. I kept thinking surely someone would make me a cake, but it never happened. We tend to deemphasize adult birthdays around here, but you can usually count on at least getting a cake! So rather than being cheated entirely out of my birthday I made my own cake. Pound cake with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. It was delicious!
Your shopping bags look great. I need to make some for us, as everytime we go to the grocery store I feel a little guilty. Before my mother passed away we went through them quickly, and even bought some one time (10 cents each) so it seems like the full service grocers should give a small discount for 'green' people.
ReplyDeleteHappy belated birthday, I'm sorry your family dropped the ball, but at least you had a yummy cake, and not the super sweet dry variety that I have sometimes purchased.
Count me in for the pound cake, fresh strawberries and whipped cream! Sounds lucious.
ReplyDeleteI have been thinking about the grocery bag making myself. I don't know if my husband wants to carry cloth bags to the store. He ends up at the grocery store a lot more than I do.
If we wouldn't wait almost three weeks to go for each of our grocery spurts, nine bags would MAYBE be enough for us. But seriously, we need more like 25!!! Gosh! We're actually on week #2 of no shopping---it's just HARD to get there! BUT! I can see making a handful of them because we always need to do the "necessity" stops here-n-there for bread and milk. You think you could throw together some "rough directions" for us to follow? Nothing fancy, but they sure did turn out great!
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you're enjoying your summer so far. Hope your feet are still meeting the pavement in the cool hours of they day. You really going to try to qualify for Boston? (I remember a comment last week or the week before) Good luck!