Capote is not Kaput

Hubby has been spending the past several months doing projects with his Scouts to prep them for their Mountain Man Rendezvous.

Doesn’t that sound like fun? A bunch of grown men with beards, and a bunch of teenage boys…with no beards? Running around in the forest pretending it’s the 1800s?

One project that took a few weeks to complete was helping the boys sew their own wool capote mountain man coats for the cold weekend in the hills. Hubby did everything from ordering the blankets to devising the best way for them to trace the pattern outline with chalk!

He even enlisted some local gals in our church to help each boy…kind of the buddy system. She didn’t sew it for the kid but instead taught him how and supervised his work to make sure that he didn’t get three arms and no hole for the head.

Hubby is always looking for ways to teach them to fish, and not just to hand them dinner. Know what I mean?

But he was so busy helping the boys get ready that he didn’t have time to sew his own capote. And a man without a capote at this shindig? Well, that certainly wouldn’t do!

My bestest friend, Ann, even volunteered to come supervise his evening of domestic labor!

Deep down, I think that Hubby was really hoping that Ann would just show up and do the hard work for him. But, just like he wouldn’t let her with the boys, she didn’t hand him anything!

She simply showed him how to do it and then watched to prevent any mistakes.

So far, so good! We need some arms, though!

Ann is a super-experienced sewing extraordinaire. I am…well, not. I can’t even hem pants. Sheesh, it’s pathetic. So I’m really glad that she offered to bring her sewing machine and expertise to help Hubby prepare for the camping trip.

We even set up a temporary sewing site for Hubby to work. After measurements for his arms were taken, the pins were added to hold things in place while the sewing happened.

I learned a thing or two tonight as well, just from watching!

While they worked, I made some dinner. This was Day Two of my healthy transformation, and actually the very day that I hired Lindsey to help me meet my weight-loss goals!

So salad for dinner it was!

I’m wondering if these pictures can be used for blackmailing purposes some day. It’s not very often that a wife gets to admire her husband hard at work on a sewing machine, huh?

But I was proud of him for sticking with it. Sometimes, when Ann and I got distracted with some nice visiting, Hubby patiently waited until we could give attention back to him when he was ready for the next step.

He is The World’s Most Patient Man, after all.

One arm done! Looking good!

It was time to decide where to hem the cuff to give him enough warmth without being in the way. Ann knew all of these measurements and even how to mark them! Fascinating! I don’t know nuthin’!

Did I mention that Hubby sewed this entire thing himself?! So impressive!

Lookin’ good, Babe! Isn’t he a handsome man? Even when wearing a homemade wool coat, he looks handsome.

That’s hard to pull off for most guys.

Meanwhile, the marinated chicken had been grilled and was ready for consumption atop some beautiful mixed greens!

Hubby is such a supportive champ. He will eat anything that I make. Isn’t that crazy how much power I have over our diet and what we eat?!

Eating healthy has been so nice. I found this saying that I totally agree with: Nothing tastes as good as healthy feels.

So true!

Nice capote, Hubby. You look all back-woodsy now!