Sunday, May 13, 2007

Mother-Made this Mother's Day

Going back and thinking of all the things my mom made for me over the years makes me realize what a wonderful mom she has been, and also what a demanding child i was, apparently. Cheers to you, Mom, and your mad mad skills.

A list.


Costumes, Halloween and otherwise.


1. I was a weird child and i wanted to be weird/different things for halloween and not your typical princess or ghost. One year I asked my mom to make me what would be the coolest costume ever known to man: An ice cream cone.

Here's how she did it:
First, she found some weird tan spongey material and burned criss crosses all over it with an iron. Then, she took a bundle of quilt batting and glued giant chocolate chips to it and we attched it to my head by tying a thick piece of yarn around it and under my chin. GENIUS! And voila, I am a chocolate chip ice cream cone. Not only did it win contests but it made me very popular in school for a time.


2. Another year, and i'm now realizing my obsession with food, though it doesn't surprise me, i told her i wanted to be a watermelon slice. She sewed an awesome costume, pink with a green rind and felt black seeds at the top. My arms came out the side of the slice (our out the front?hmm) and there were leg holes in the bottom. The slice rested on my shoulders with 2 pieces of dowels(?) resting across my collar bone and behind my neck on my shoulder blades. Again, brilliant. I really don't know how she does it.

3. One time I was asked to be in a parade for the Highland Fling (holla!) and was to be an Indian maiden. My mother whipped me up the coolest costume complete with fringe and moccasins.

4. In 5th grade I played a winged monkey in The Wizard of Oz. She found me tan pants and a top and sewed wings under my arms so i'd flap my arms, and then this was the best part: she found brown fur material (chill, it was faux)) for my ears (made with a headband) and a long fur tail!!! Again, coolest kid moment.


Presents, Birthday & otherwise


There has GOT to be a billion things that would go under this category but here's what i can think of.

1. One year I wanted a weird cake of some kind so my mom made a bundt cake, stuck a barbie in the center, frosted everything and gave me candy beads and flowers to decorate her dress.

2. Another year I asked if i could have a pinata so she made one out of a balloon and spray-painted it black. Awesome. My black blob pinata.

3. One Christmas I told my mom i really really wanted a pet snake. I just thought they were so cool and it'd be fun to carry it around. Everyone was like, yeah right. shut up, jen. Well, Christmas morning, you know what i saw on my pile o' presents? A stuffed 8-foot long fuzzy snake made out of animal-print fabric, with buttons for eyes and a red tongue. Oh..my...GOSH! It ROCKED! i named him Snakey McSlithers, i wrapped him around me, and he never left my side all day. I miss him.


Projects

1. For the science fair when I was in the 5th grade, we decided I'd do mine on how those helicopter seeds work. My mom somehow "fashioned" me a seed.. I don't know if it was real.. i don't think it was because wouldn't it have gotten all dried crusty? i have no idea how she did it; she could have conjured it with a magic wand for all i know because it was perfect. We inserted fishing line through it, attached it inside a box with a hole on the bottom and i blow dried the seed up and down the line to show it whip around. I didn't win an award but she was a blue-ribbon mom that year.

2. In the 3rd grade my class was learning about dinosaurs. We had to do some big projects on it. My mom made the coolest brontosaurus out of paper maché which i spray-painted gray (see, i helped sometimes) and then.. ohhh mom.. she made me a... guess. you'll never guess. A stegosaurus made out of chocolate cake with chocolate square cookies inserted diagonally as the plates!!!

It was breathtaking, I'm not kidding. To read more about this somewhat sad pivotal moment of my life, click here



In short, my mom is the best. I want to be just like her. Unfortunately i am currently a piece of crap at sewing but one day i really really want to learn just so i can make ice cream cone costumes for my kids, or whatever the heck their weird hearts desire.

1 comment:

Brooke said...

I believe Dot could make anything. Maybe I'll test her one day. Call her up, "Dot! Emergency! I need to be a porkchop for a program my ward's putting on. Can you whip me up something?"