Being a soccer mom is brand new for me. I am probably one of the most sedentary people in the world and could not have any less interest in sports, either playing or watching. In fact, I had a Chinese Herbalist tell me that my body type is not suited for exercise, which validated my feelings of dislike for any type of physical exertion. OK, maybe I’m being extreme. I am quite health conscious so I do like to take walks.
So how in the world did little e end up playing soccer this year and I end up taking her to two practices each week and 1 to 2 games each weekend? I don’t know. It was all E’s ploy. He convinced me that it would be so beneficial for little e to learn how to work with a team, become more comfortable around other people, be disciplined, learn how to encourage other team members, and make good friends. Somehow, I am now a soccer mom and I actually get excited and cheer for our team, which is, by the way, ranked #2 in our league. See, how proud I am?
The families take turns providing after game snacks for the girls and they usually get a brown paper bag filled with a drink, fruit, and some chips or salty snack. I thought it would be fun for me and little e to sew fabric pouches for the girls with their team name embroidered on it and put the snacks in there. My preliminary searches for embroidery machines resulted in ones that were $1000+, way too expensive for my purposes. Finally, a week before our turn to provide snacks, I came up with the idea to write their team name with puffy fabric paint. The only problem is that my hand writing is not great and I thought it would come out looking like a 5 year old’s school project. Thankfully, one of my friends helped (hers are the nice ones) while I did a few because we were running out of time.
I used a canvas fabric my mom brought back from Taiwan and picked up some braided rope-like string from Joanne’s. That string was actually rather expensive, about $2 a yard and I needed about 1.25 yards per pouch. Good thing I had the 50% off coupon so it brought the price down to $1 per yard. However, I didn’t have enough for 2 pouches so I went to Michael’s and found a whole spool worth (10 yards) for $1. It wasn’t quite as nice, but for the cost, it was a great deal. I plan on making a lot more pouches so I’ll remember to go to Michael’s from now on.
They are not lined but the insides are nicely finished with the serger. I love that thing!
Here they are all stuffed with food. E had the task of getting food and we got nutella sticks, pirate’s booty cheese puffs, organic juice, fruit jellies and fresh strawberries (which could also be dipped into the nutella.) I think the girls were pretty happy! They were playing against the number 1 ranked team in the league and they lost, the first game they lost all season. They were a bit bummed so I was happy that the pouches brightened their day for a moment.
So just a few days ago, I decided to look further into embroidery machines and found this one for only $299 at Staples. With an additional 20% off coupon, I got it at $240 and it just arrived on my doorstep today. Little e and I can’t wait to break that open. I will be embroidering everything! Towels, shirts, pouches, bags, you name it! William Sonoma now has that Mark and Graham store where everything is monogrammed . That website is giving me a lot of inspiration for things to make. Little e has volunteered to read through the instructions and set things up. Let the monogramming begin!
