My new dress pattern

Well, I'm getting closer to the kind of dress I'd like to wear. This is the results of a lot of hard work, thinking, etc. I took the top of a tunic I like and made a pattern for the dress bodice and sleeves out of that; the dress skirt is from a skirt I like. The tunic top is from an actual pattern, but I altered that a bit too.
I want to make one change next time - I hope to figure out how to make the tunic top a 'boat neck' so I do not have to have the slit in the front (it's hard to see in these pictures).
The fabric is a king-sized sheet I got from the thrift store - $1. It was PINK, but I dyed it taupe. The dye was not quite $2. So, that's about $3 plus labor. I might change the color at some point; it seems a little too light for my liking. I get things stained up and dirty quickly, so dark colors are better.



The back looks a little fitted here, but it's actually not; I think my elbows must have been pulling on the fabric.

Moths, larva and other critters

I wont put pictures of roaches here ... we know what they look like. So, what do you do if/when you find critters in your grains? I recently had a poll going with several choices. I see now that I should have been a little more specific with some of the more open ended questions, but it is still obvious what more than half of the people who answered would do if they found critters in their grains - "Yuck, that's totally disgusting - I throw it out of course!" With some it would depend on what kind, how many and whether the bugs were dead or alive. And then there were some that would sift out the critters and use the flour/grain anyway. I was encouraged by the amount of responses in this category ... I am glad to know more of you would do that than what I thought ... about 20% of you, or, 1 out of 5.

What would I do? I sift them out and use the flour or grain ... the kind of bug does not matter, nor does the amount or whether it's/they're dead or alive. There are some at my fellowship that do not appreciate this in the same way I do, so out of respect for them, I will use 'good flour' (usually fresh ground in my vitamix) when I'm making bread for the fellowship meal.

Why do I ask?

A Sister in the Lord shared a story with me one evening when we were going through her scrapbook from their time in Ghana. I pray I get the story right ... basically she said that nearly every time they used their flour, they had to first sift the bugs/worms out of it. One time there was so many of them and they were so small they slipped right through the sifter she used ... and there on the counter was a pile of really wiggly flour. She said that was just too much for her seeing that flour move all around like that. So she had her helper girl dump the flour behind their house/hut in the trees. Not too long after that, she saw some little girls scooping the flour up off the dirt; she knew they were bringing it home and giving it to their mother. All that time they had spent there living just like these people ... they had good testimonies and all ... and then this. She regrets not using that flour - if they could do it, why couldn't she?

I was so blessed to hear this testimony and it has really helped me to care what is in my food - just pick it out and use it. We are so spoiled here in the U.S.

I think it would be really interested to do a comparison of food here in the U.S. verses food somewhere else. Compare all sorts of things like what's eaten, how much, how often, variety, etc. If anyone knows of a good place to look for this information, please share.

In the mean time, I want to challenge everyone to use what you have, even if there are bugs in it. People all over the world do it every day; you can too. Cooking it should destroy most or all of the 'bad stuff'. I also want to challenge you all to eat more simple. Start off with adding more brown rice to your diet. If you already do that, then add more beans. If you already do that, then add something else cheap and healthy, or take out something unhealthy whether cheap or not (soda, candy, chips, white stuff, etc.).

I have so many ideas but not enough time.

A New Poll!

It's been a while. My absence from this blog can be attributed to numerous factors, however I will spare you the details and just say that some things are more important.

So, what's on my mind? In a word ... bugs.

Have you ever gotten into a bag of flour or other grain and found that some little critter decided to make their happy abode there? Why not? It's dark, warm, comfortable, climate-controlled, and ~ best of all ~ basically an unlimited supply of food!

So, what do you do?

How about a poll ... SEE ABOVE!! (or go to the main blog page Frugal Home and Health) I have set up a poll and plan to base my next post on the results. PLEASE VOTE!