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Bottles for Dollar$

By on May 13th, 2013

Jana MacDonald (Southeast parent and PTO secretary) will be heading to Malawi in August, on a short-term mission trip with “Little Dresses for Africa.” They make very simple dresses here to distribute to the little girls over there. They’ll also be working on projects such as medical missions, sanitation education, feeding programs and repairing roofs with local grasses.

 Please help her raise money for her trip by donating your clean bottles & cans!

Date: Saturday, May 18th

Drop off location: Southeast Elementary School

Time: 8 -3 (during the Southeast Tag Sale)

Please bring clean, recyclable bottles and cans.
No need to sort them. We will do that for you.

Thank you!

If you have questions, or for more information about Jana’s trip, please contact her directly: jana@earlmacdonald.com

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Many Hands

By on April 21st, 2013

A few weekends ago, I had a sewing party for Little Dresses for Africa. Yesterday, I finally had the chance to tag them all. To date, I have received 55 dresses! That is simply amazing! I have so many people to thank for this. All of the people who contributed to my sewing party (or made & donated dresses) as well as the many people who have so generously sponsored my trip.

So here they are, my ginormous list of helpers from across the US and Canada! Thank you!  The following dresses are going in honor of my sewing party helpers, in the order shown:

Wayne Norman: Willimantic CT
Wayne hosts a morning show on WILI 1400 am radio. He had me on his show to talk about Little Dresses for Africa and my sewing party.

Julianna Mazza: Milford CT
Juliana is a journalism student at Uconn who interviewed me about my trip to Malawi for her final class project. That will air on Uconn TV.

The Elliot Family: Lebanon, CT
Jamie worked on this dress with her daughter (my friend Erin!).  She also does a great job teaching bible stories and caring for for the children during our monthly MOPS (Mothers Of Preschoolers) meeting.

The Rossi Family: Mansfield Center, CT
Lena’s kids go to school with mine and she made three of these lovely dresses for me!

The Hart Family: Storrs, CT
I’ve known Kara since her oldest daughter took my baby music class! She made this lovely dress!

The Blanchard Family: Mansfield, CT
Jennifer’s kids go to school with mine and she spent a good chunk of the morning ironing fabric. This was a huge help!

The Lownes Family: Storrs, CT
Chandra loaned me her tag punch so I could make all these cute little tags for the dresses. That saved me hours of time! She also worked on coating paper beads for me too!

The Campbell Family: Coventry, CT
Becky made some delicious ginger cookies that I bagged up for guests to take as thank you gifts. Thank YOU Becky!

The Elliot Family, Coventry, CT
Janine is an excellent seamstress and made 2 dresses for me at the sewing party! She has an Etsy shop too – check it out ;)

The Dakin Family, Coventry, CT
Stephanie and I are friends through MOPS.  She also blogs at momkaboodle.com. And, she made this adorable dress!

Now, these cute little dresses will be going with me in honor of my many sponsors. Here they are, in the order shown. Zikomo! I couldn’t do this without you!

 

The Christopher Family: Storrs, CT
These are our good friends from town and Erin hosts our local MOPS group! 

Louise Horvath: Shelton, CT
Louise is my mother’s cousin. She doesn’t know me very well but was willing to contribute. Thank you!

The Colon-Semenza Family: Mansfield, CT
Christina and I met in the Moms Club years ago. She’s also a dynamic athlete and hangs in our running circle.

The Day Family: Coventry, CT
The Days are good friends of ours. We celebrate November birthdays like nobody’s business and me, Madison & the girls have been known to frequent the local sushi restaurant together on occasion.  :)

The MacDonald Family: Surrey, BC Canada
These are my fabulously supportive in-laws!  Just all around, really great people.

Euna Staniforth: Madison, WI
Euna is Earl’s aunt and an excellent seamstress as well! She’s even taken sewing seminars with Nancy from Nancy’s Notions (the one who provides the patterns for the little dresses).

The Johnson Family: Mansfield Center, CT
The Johnsons are just rock solid awesomeness. Chrissy and I trained for and ran the the Philly Marathon in November. I cannot say enough good things about these people! Mwah!

The Johnston Family: Mansfield Center, CT
Amber is my good friend from town. She made me about a dozen dresses! And happens to be an excellent photographer too!
honeysucklepictures.com

The Lacoss Family: Tolland, CT
I met Lynn through MOPS. She is our “mother mentor” and has been fabulous at filling that role. She made 2 dresses for me and is the most forward-thinking Grandma I know! :)

Ok, now that your eyes are going completely buggy from staring at the screen for so long, here’s my final list of generous sponsors for tonight, along with their dresses:

 

The Ellis Family: Storrs, CT
Melanie was another one of my super stellar running partners as we trained for the Philly Marathon!

The Macbride Family: West Hartford, CT
Earl taught piano to both of the Macbride’s kids. David is a gifted composer (who wrote a fabulous song for Stella) and Lisa is a talented artist.

Theresa Looke: Vernon, CT
Theresa works with my mom, but I have never actually met her! She is usually the kind voice that answers the phone when I call their office.

The Zubec Family: Winnipeg, MB Canada
The Zubecs are really fun people! Earl grew up with them and I had the pleasure of spending a really fun weekend with them in Ottawa!

The Krug Family: Avon, CT
Cary is my fabulous older sister and Bob is the lucky one who got me as a sister-in-law! (and I have three beautiful nieces too.)

Kim Aldinger: Seattle, WA
Kim and I grew up in Woodside Acres together! We have shared many fun times! She travels the world, studied at Harvard and has a PhD in neurobiology. She’s one smart cookie from the small little farm town of Ellington, CT.

Dennis Kawa: Winnipeg, MB Canada
Dennis is a good friend of our in-laws. They attended the same church for many years. He even came to our wedding, all the way from Winnipeg!

Girl Scout Troop 65030: Mansfield, CT
These girls have been working on making dresses for a badge! They have made so many and have been such a huge blessing to me!

The Gruhn Fmaily: East Windsor, CT
Paul is a good friend of Earl’s. They like together and jam!

The Smith Family: Ellington, CT
These are my folks! The good people who raised me, fed me, clothed me and gave me flute lessons. My mom would come with me if she weren’t already travelling this year. Thanks for your support! xxoo.

The Mandoiu Family: Storrs, CT
I first taught their son in my baby music class and now I teach their daughter flute! They are gifted young musicians!

I just love reminiscing about all of the people who have helped me so far on my journey! This is a community effort and I couldn’t do it without you.

Together, we are sending the message of love and hope…  one little dress at a time. 

Thank you!

 

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So Many Little Dresses!

By on March 26th, 2013

As many of you know, I have been busy raising funds and awareness for my short term mission trip with Little Dresses for Africa. In five months I will be there, serving the people of Malawi! People have been so generous: contributing toward my trip, making dresses for the little girls, making beads for me so that I can sell bracelets, and donating supplies. This has indeed become a community effort!

I had an article in the local paper called The Patch to promote my dress making party. Some UCONN journalism students saw my article and interviewed me for a school project. They will also document my sewing party, so I’ll have some wonderful footage of the day!  Wayne Norman from the local radio station (WILI) had me on his show last week and will also do a follow-up with me when I return from my trip! Things are moving forward and God is good.

One special woman from Canada sent me 23 little dresses to take with me to Africa! They represent hours of work and I know they will make some special little girls very happy! Originally I was making dresses to take in honor of each of my sponsors, but I’m realizing that that will take some serious time. I’d really have to ignore my children in order to pull it off. So, these beautiful dresses will go to Malawi in honor of my sponsors, but they were not made by me. They were made by Phyllis Brewster of Surrey, BC Canada. Many thanks to my mother-in-law who introduced Phyllis to my mission.

Here I have six little dresses going in honor of the following people (in order shown, from left to right):

Victoria Saunders, Toronto ON  – a friend of Earl’s while he was at McGill. She doesn’t even know me! How cool!

Cora Lynn Deibler, Storrs CT – a very fine illustrator from UConn’s School of Fine Arts. She designed the banner on Earl’s website: www.earlmacdonald.com

The Nebbia family, Wales MA – Aaron was a former student of Earl’s and his dad, Eric, is a fabulous drummer. I became friends with Cheryl through them and she just has a heart of gold!

Dan Luddy, West Hartford CT – another former student of Earl’s! Thank you!

Phyllis Brewster, Surrey BC – the lovely lady who made these dresses! What a blessing! Thank you!

The Trombley family, Worcester MA – I have known my fabulous friend Liza since middle school! I spent so much time with her family growing up and have such great memories of them all!

I’m gearing up for our sewing party on Saturday! I’ll take an army duffel bag with me that will hold 150 dresses! So, sew on my friends, sew on!

 

 

 

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Radio Interview

By on March 22nd, 2013

Today I had the wonderful opportunity to speak with Wayne Norman on his radio show, which aired on WILI 1400 AM.  I spoke about my trip to Malawi with Little Dresses for Africa and about my upcoming sewing party on March 30th. It’s only about a week away. If you think you’d like to join us, please let me know what time you might be there. I have been informed that I can only have 4-5 machines going at once, so it’s helpful to have a head count.

Listen to me here as I sit down to talk with Wayne Norman. Forgive the pauses… it’s early :)

My friend, Louanne, is the leader of her daughter’s girl scout troop. Together, they are working on a badge while sewing dresses for my trip. Here is an email I received from her. It is a testimony to the community-building power of Little Dresses for Africa!

Thanks so much for introducing us to this mission; we are having a great time with it and learning so much. Thought today about the remarkable connections between my great grandmother, whose pin cushion we were using; my grandmother and her scissors which cut the fabric; my friends, the mother’s of my daughter’s friends, all helping to sew; you and the others on your mission trip delivering the dresses; and the women and girls in Malawi who should get some pleasure in wearing them- all connected by this project. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Thank YOU, to all of the wonderful people who are making this possible. It takes so many! And a big thanks to Wayne Norman for helping me build awareness for LDFA. Together, we are sending the message of love and hope… one little dress at a time.

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A Sewing Party

By on February 25th, 2013

Soul Food No comments yet

March for Change

By on February 14th, 2013

It’s been two months since the tragedy at Sandy Hook. Solving gun violence in America is a multifaceted issue. Many things need to change. But gun reform is fresh in my mind after attending the March for Change in Hartford this morning.

Thousands of people flooded the Capital Building. Dozens of buses from all over the state shuttled people to the event. People clothed themselves in green, in support of Sandy Hook. Posters were held high in peaceful support of gun reform.

Just to be clear, we’re not talking about responsible gun owners here:  the family that chooses to protect their home with guns, the farmer who needs to protect his harvest, the hunter who is providing food for his family, etc.  I have relatives who have proudly served our country in wars dating back to the Civil War; including my dad, my uncle and my grandfather. Certain weapons just do not belong in the hands of every day civilians. We have the right to bear arms; our children have a right to safety in our schools.

We need change. The time is now.

Here’s what has been proposed, as common sense gun laws:

  • stricter background checks for the sale and transfer of guns
  • a ban on ammunition magazines holding more than 10 bullets 
  • expanding an existing ban on military-style semiautomatic rifles
  • buyback programs for those guns already out there
Today, Secretary of State, Denise Merrill spoke. She said that she knows legislators want to do the right thing, but that they are getting emails 100:1 in support of guns. We are being labeled as the silent majority, but now our voices must be heard! We need to speak up. We need to tell them that we want a vote and we want it now! I heard from many state representatives, including Governor Dannel Malloy who would support common sense guns laws. So write to your legislators today. It is so important.

The NRA has called our concerns “the Connecticut Effect.” Give it some time and it will quiet down and we can keep things as status quo. We can never forget. I don’t ever want to get so wrapped up in my every day life that I forget the feeling I had at Ana Marquez-Greene’s funeral. The feeling of despair, but also the feeling of passion. That I’m going to help make this world a better place to live in – for my children and for future generations.

We can’t forget. In her last post, Ana’s mom said,  ”I don’t know too much of anything, but this I do know: if we don’t find a way to bury at least some of our differences, we will as a nation, continue to bury our children.” We need to work together, toward a peaceful solution to this problem. It is a problem and the time is now.

Many of you have heard of Vicki Soto, the first grade teacher at Sandy Hook who hid her students in her classroom and told the gunman they were in the gym. She lost her life that day protecting her students. Today, her sister Jillian spoke. She gave one scenario that made things very clear for me. And I’ll share it with you:

Imagine the five most important people in your life. (Go ahead, do it. Write the names down.)

Now imagine that you hand me that list.

Now imagine that I take your list and I cross off one name. At random. Just like that. Gone.

What would you do? 

That is the reality for 26 families. And if we do nothing, it will continue to happen. We need change. The time is now.

Newtown doesn’t want to be remembered by this tragic event,  but as a community who used this tragedy to transform the world. Love wins! Two weeks ago, my prayer was this, and it remains the same today:

“Help us not to forget, so that we can press on toward a peaceful solution. Amen.”

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Pupcake

By on February 9th, 2013

Tomorrow, our faithful friend turns 10! He’s lookin’ pretty good for an old man!

We’ve been stuck at home due to Blizzard Nemo, so we took some time to make Dexter some birthday *pup*cakes!

For some reason, the children love celebrating the birth of our dog. I don’t know who got them hooked on this tradition (ahem). Tomorrow he will don the birthday hat and feast on the birthday pupcakes.

Oh Dexter, you’re such a good boy!

Seriously, we said the word “pupcake” and the dog would not rest until he had one. I’m not joking… whining, drooling, panting, pacing – until the pupcakes were prepared, cooled and delivered. Once a year I make these things and he knows the word “pupcakes,” yet he can’t master the commands “come, sit, or heel.” Or can he?

These are the perfect treat for little people to make because dogs never complain of a little egg shell here and there. It’s the only time I bake with kids and experience no anxiety :)  Really! You can’t mess these up!  (We cut this recipe in half, because Dexter’s watching his weight.) Here’s the recipe, in case there’s a special canine friend in your life:

  • 2 ripe bananas (I used left over sweet potatoes)
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 tsp double strength vanilla
  • 3 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1 Tbsp baking powder
  • 2 Tbsp honey
  • 1/2 cup peanut butter
  • Dog food for “sprinkles”

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). Spray cupcake pan.

In a large bowl, mash bananas with a fork. Add all ingredients but dog food and stir to combine.

Fill the cupcake molds 2/3 full. Top each cupcake with dog food as “sprinkles,” pushing them down slightly into the dough.

Bake 20  minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Allow to cool for 3-5 minutes in pan before inverting onto cooling rack. Allow pupcakes to cool completely before feeding them to your dog.

These pupcakes have been an annual tradition for many years. Our son has even sampled one and was pleased. Though it’s completely edible, it’s not my cup of tea. You be the judge.

 

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Little Dresses for Africa

By on February 8th, 2013

I’ve been busy, making two more Little Dresses for Africa! 

I think these two dresses came out so cute! They will both be coming with me to Malawi in August!  I’m so thankful for my little model here. The only payment required?

Snacks.

(Healthy snacks, for all of you discerning parents. And, at regular snack time so she wasn’t actually getting *extra* snacks. Which means she wasn’t actually being *paid* for her work. But she doesn’t know that).

I’m bringing this one in honor of DIANE QUINN, who so lovingly sponsored me on my short-term mission trip. Love those cute little buttons! This is actually a dress for a 2 or 3 year old, so the leggings were necessary, so as not to be inappropriate ;)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had some fun with this next photo shoot! I’ll bring this little dress  in honor of the GUENTHER family! This fabric reminds me of Liesa: hip & fun! The Guenthers are from Winnipeg, Canada (Earl’s hometown) and they have a heart for Africa having lived there for several months.

Thank you to all of the people who have generously partnered with me on this journey. I am 2/3 of the way there!

Together we’re sending the message of love and hope… one little dress at a time!

 

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Mission to Malawi: Dress #3!

By on February 2nd, 2013

Hi friends! The fabric chosen for this next dress (if I’m going to be honest) is not my favorite. I’m not one for “themed” articles of clothing. I once gave in to Dora the Explorer light up shoes and couldn’t wait until Stella outgrew them. We live & learn. Works in progress.

When I went shopping for fabric a few weeks ago, I brought Stella along with me. She made me do it. She made me purchase this fabric. Because who knows what little girls want other than, well… little girls.

Pink.

Princess crowns.

Sparkles.

 

Here you have it folks, my next dress for Africa. Dress #3! With gold ties that would out-shine Wonder Woman’s bangles.  Although this fabric is not something that I would choose for myself, some 2 or 3 year-old little girl is going to love it! And it will be going with me to Malawi in honor of:

The Mitchell Family!

Because frankly, every time I think of their youngest, I think Princess. In fact, I saw her today and she was dressed as (you guessed it!)… a princess.

We have attended church with the Mitchell’s for the past 5 years. Our boys are 6 weeks apart in age and our girls are about 3 weeks apart. We are blessed by their friendship and I am so thankful for their support!

Together, we’re sending the message of love & hope… one little dress at a time.

If you’d like to contribute toward my mission trip to Malawi, click here to learn how. I’ll bring a dress to Africa in your name too!

Africa!, Made by Moi, My Quest for Less 1 comment

Just Bead It

By on January 25th, 2013

So, I’m heading to Africa. In August. With Little Dresses for Africa. My passport has been renewed, my flights are booked and I’m starting to organize my sewing party! If you don’t already know about my short term mission trip, please click on the Africa! link at the top of my homepage.

I have been so blessed by the outpouring of support that has come my way. I have reached about 2/3 of my financial goal! I have also had many people offer to make dresses, people have donated fabric and a friend has even loaned me a tag punch so that I can make tags for each of the dresses I plan to bring. I can see that this is a community endeavor as I strive to bring awareness to the people we are going to serve, and I am so thankful.

I belong to a local MOPS group (Mothers of Preschoolers). We meet once a month and in our last meeting, I shared with them about my trip to Africa. Then I showed them how to make paper beads (an African art form). Together, we spent 30 minutes making paper beads and I ultimately made bracelets out of them.

Like this one:

and this one:

Many thanks to the lovely ladies who helped me make these bracelets. It is a time consuming project to do on my own.  I have decided to give one bracelet to the next two people who donate $25 or more toward my trip to Africa. Just follow the instructions here to contribute toward my trip. Be sure to scroll all the way down to my name, so that the funds will go toward my trip. Email me at jana [at] earlmacdonald [dot] com and let me know that you have done that. Once I get confirmation of the donation from our team leader, I will send a bracelet out to you (US and Canada, only).

So cute. One of a kind. Beautiful, upcycled African art!