I hate to find out how much I've forgotten

Ben has been reliving his childhood though rockets recently and starting Sam on the path of things that explode in the air or get lost in the woods. Sam likes the idea of rockets a lot more than he likes the actual rockets since with the Estes Rockets all he can do is watch them; for some reason Ben won't let him light them.

Despite this, rockets are hot stuff right now and Ben got it in his head that he wanted "rocket pjs." Have you ever looked for rocket pjs in adult sizes? I had no luck so I decided that for Father's Day, I'd make his rocket pj dreams come true and to top it off, I'd make matching pjs for Sam.

The fun part came first, finding the fabric. You do realize that fabric shopping with a three year old boy is nearly impossible, right? I was very lucky to find a pattern and that was done only by holding Sam down to prevent him from destroying the store. Fabric shopping became an on-line adventure and I found this:Surprising Ben and Sam with them is impossible. When exactly do I have Ben free AND Sam free time? Oh yeah, never. Yesterday I cut out both pairs of pjs with Sam's "help" and his perpetual "why." Amongst the Samstractions, I remembered a few lessons of my high school sewing teacher, a woman who was very tailored (including her hair), proper and old, such as how to make sure the fabric grain on the cut ends is straight before you lay out the pattern but I could not for the life of me remember how to block the fabric so it wouldn't stretch and once again be off grain when I ironed it before I pinned the pattern to the fabric. Ah well, they're pjs so it isn't going to matter very much.

Then while cutting them, I cut the little tab things IN like the lines on the pattern instead of out. Oh well, again, they're pjs.

Now, I wonder how many things I'll forget when I begin the process of sewing? Do I remember how to thread the machine? Fill the bobbin?

And why am I having reoccurring nightmares of the misguided white pants I tried to make in high school where I marked the pattern with orange whatchamacallit, the paper used with the little wheel? Yes, those are the technical terms. And why did the teacher want us to actually mark the sewing line so the orange would show if you missed the line by even the tiniest bit?

I never wore those pants for some reason.

I also made other misguided clothing over the years because I believed that it was cheaper than buying clothes. A blazer? What was I thinking.? I was wrong, I admit it now. I can remember only one thing I made that I actually wore on a regular basis (a white shirt with blue flowers I wore in college because I got compliments about it from a very cute guy who was involved with somebody else) other than the godawful polyester uniform I had to make for color guard (yes, I was a geek with a wooden gun, why do you ask?) that was worn with cheap plastic white boots. There are pictures of me in the uniform somewhere but I'm much to lazy to find and scan them.

Those years are past and the only things I've made in the last ten years are the curtains for Sam's bedroom, Christmas stockings, and amusing aprons I gave away as gifts to people who probably don't use them.

As I remember the time it took to make those things Sam pipes up "Mommy, why does it take so long to make pjs?"

Does anyone know where I can buy rocket jammies?