Two down, two to go.

I finished costumes for Conner and Grant. A Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich and a mummy, respectively. Oddly, the sandwich was easier to make than the mummy.





Devin made his own costume last night (last minute). He is going as Charlie Brown dressed as a ghost.

He made it himself and held it together with staples... I assume I'll be doing it the right way in time for Halloween so he can run around with his buddies.

Mitch wants to be a zombie. He needs tattered clothing, so we'll be borrowing some of Conner's "play clothes" and then making up his face with scary zombie stuff.

I tell you, I am actually looking forward to the sugar coma they'll all be in next week. I'll get a rest.

ANOTHER Quick Halloween Fix.

I have never been one for Halloween decor. I was always more of a "harvest time" Halloween decorator... but I sure am having fun putting little scary details around the house this year.

Both Conner and Mitch told me they think I'm "going overboard". Devin probably thinks it, but doesn't say it, and Grant takes it all in stride.

I did this to a picture in their bathroom.

I trust you have all seen or read The Shining by Stephen King and I don't need to reference this any further. (And of course you know what it says when you see it in the mirror....)

Add a little bit of water to red acrylic paint. Prop up your picture and then paint your letters directly on the glass. Let them drip a little bit, then lay the picture flat so the "drips" dry the way you want them.

After Halloween, the paint will wipe right off with a scrubby sponge and Windex.

Quick Halloween Fix

I have 3 plates that hang above our slider. They are sweet... not spooky. I thought I'd give them a quick fix.

I cut out 3 circles of black cardstock that are the same diameter as the centers of these plates.

I used my Cricut to cut out white letters. I stuck the letters onto the black circles with a glue stick.

I used double stick tape to cover the birds and the text.

When Halloween is over, I'll just peel off these circles and toss them. This took me all of 5 minutes and it was using scraps of paper I already had.

I love cheap and easy.

Sticks, snakes and a messy house.

I'm at T-minus 6 days before our Halloween party. I had lots and lots of ideas floating through my head as I got started with decor. You can read my plans and ideas here. Some things I'm doing, some I figured out a cheaper or easier way... all plans are always in flux.

But then, I started getting carried away with the sticks. Our patio is going to serve as the dance floor and I wanted to make it creepy with black branches and sort of have a tree root/underground vibe. It's been slow going but I am loving how it looks.

So far:
Sticks and branches = free
Black spray paint = $45
Black ribbon = $2



My fabulous bloggy friend, Shawn, loaned me a fabulous "Fallen Angel" costume and a cool vampire costume for Handsome Hubby. It looks fantastic. Problem though. Shawn is teeny, tiny, slender and delicate.... where as I am built like a linebacker. I'd have to dislocate a shoulder to get into the sleeves, so I will improvise and take an angel wing and make it a veil. The sleeves will hang loose and I will be a vampire bride. Tah-dah!

We were invited to a friend's party last Saturday and I did not want to wear the same thing two parties in a row. (HH didn't see what the big deal was, but you ladies know what I'm saying.)

We didn't match, but I thought our on the fly costumes came together pretty well. HH went as Frankenstein and I went as Medusa. $2 worth of rubber snakes** from Dollar Tree, a $1.88 remnant of black fabric and a little gold ribbon.

**If you try painting these rubber snakes, DO NOT use spray paint. It wouldn't dry. Use acrylic paint instead.

Ignore the mess behind us. I've been busy spray painting sticks and neglecting housework and paperwork... I'll be catching up on my bloggy reads next week.

Sweets from my sweet.

Like most moms, my refrigerator has become a trophy wall.... an art gallery.... a scrapbook.... a day planner & calendar.... etc, etc.

In other words, it is usually a chaotic, jumbled mess. So when Grant came to me and said, I have a present for you.... it is on the refrigerator, I stood looking at it for a long time. (click and biggify the picture to see if you can spot it...)

He finally had to point it out for me.


awww! Thanks pal. I love that kid!

Want your house to get egged on Halloween....?

...then by all means, pass out WATER to Trick or Treaters.

Your name is not a choice....

Grant has been taking an inordinately long time to get his class work done. Halfway through a math problem his pencil will become a rocket... or a plane... or a robot that hops over and bothers his neighbor.... whatever.

He has lost recess and "free" time on a few occasions. A couple of times he has seemed surprised and had a few tears over it when it happens. (You can imagine how well HH and I tolerate whining and crying, I'm sure...)

We also discovered that he is giving his teacher a choice as to what to call him....


Grant... or TJ... Whatever...

Um, hello? Your name is Grant.
Not TJ.
Not PJ.
Grant.
Learn it, live with it.
End of story.

The one where I'm gonna wash someone's mouth out with soap soon....

Scene: the kitchen after school. Grant is having a snack and we are discussing his day.

Grant: "Some of the kids at my school are using bad words!"

Me: "Uh-oh! That's not good."

Grant: "Yep. They're using bad words from The Nightmare Before Christmas." (It's one of our Halloween movies that comes out with the decorations and books. He's been watching it quite a bit.)

Me: "I don't recall any bad words in that movie."

Grant: "Yep. H - E - C - K...." (carefully spelling it out)

Me: (laughing a little) "Oh honey, Heck isn't a bad word. Don't worry about that."

Grant: (thinking for a moment) "OK. Then what about F - U - C - K.....?"

oy.

My old photographs are yelling at me. Make them stop.

I have been TOTALLY avoiding the 17 photo-boxes I have that are filled with photographs. Sometimes I hear them trying to get my attention when I walk by the room they're in. I pretend it's just the wind, but I hear them....

"Hey Miss Emergency Preparedness!"
"What if there's a fire....?!"
"None of us are scanned or backed up!?"
"Your oldest kids' baby pictures are in here!"
"YOUR baby pictures are in here!!"
"Hey Miss Organized...?! How come your older kids don't have baby books?"

Like I said, I try to pretend I don't hear it... but I do.

There's an online service that will scan all the photos that you can fit into a box for a nominal fee. They've been written up as one of the best in the country, and it's pretty economical... I just haven't committed.

Today I will commit to at least start the process. Groupon (which, if you haven't joined yet, you're missing out) is having a great deal today. Click here to get up to 67% off of scanning services. I am going to take advantage of the $75 for an entire box of scanned photos (instead of the normal $150.)

You have until midnight tonight (PST) to get in on the deal, but you have until April 13, 2011 to organize and send in your photos.

Gawd! Maybe those boxes will finally Shut. Up.

Geez.

How to make a Haunted Tree. (With things you already have, of course.)

I've mentioned that we're throwing a Halloween Party and I am trying my best to decorate for pennies on the dollar. So far I've spent about $38 on supplies ($30 of which went to black spray paint) and I think I'm in pretty good shape.

We have a bare planter that is right off our patio (aka The Dance Floor for the night of the party.) I wanted to do something with it to gussy it up. A Haunted Tree and lots of candles the night of the party should work well.

Here's what you need:

• An old heavy pot
• An old tomato cage
• Branches
• packing tape
• craft paper (or paper grocery bags)
• black acrylic paint
• a spray bottle
• black spray paint
• child laborers (optional)

Turn the tomato cage upside down and wedge it into the heavy pot. Take your first branch and wedge it in there too, securing with tape as you go.


Add more branches, making sure that you arrange them in a creepy, spooky way... like they might reach out and grab ya or something. :) Secure them with tape too.

Here's where the child laborers come in. Roll out your craft paper (or spread your grocery bags on an already embarrassing portion of your lawn. Take black acrylic paint and water it down. Fill a spray bottle and hand it to one of your kids.

This serves three purposes.
First, by using the acrylic paint first, you won't need as much spray paint later. (This saves money.)
Second, it helps to soften and "age" the paper you're using.
Third, your child laborer will feel like they are helping to decorate for Halloween and you won't feel as guilty about crafting instead of taking your kids to the park or something.

When the watered down paint has dried, rip the paper into big chunks and crumple it up. Don't be shy... really smash it and crumple it. Start tucking it into the bottom of the pot and winding it around the tree "form" you created with your branches.

Use more tape to secure it. It's OK to do a messy, crinkly tape job. In fact, I think it'll look better overall when you're finished if you do.

When you're satisfied with the way it looks, break out the spray paint. I only partially painted mine. I will do the final coat and make the necessary adjustments the morning of our party. No sense in getting it "just so" and then leaving it outside another 20 days.

Now I just hope the dog doesn't knock it down. Part of the reason that nothing grows in this planter is that squirrels run back and forth across the top of this wall and it drives our dog crazy. She runs through the planter chasing them. Oh well. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Sticks, spray paint and pumpkins, oh my!

I have already mentioned how much I love sticks.
They're free.
Spray paint is cheap.
People will think you're fab.
No one needs to be the wiser, right?

Instead of working on other projects, I gathered and painted more sticks today.

This will greet people who approach our front door.

I made this today. Took 15 minutes (10 of it was drying time for the spray paint.) (I am so NOT kidding when I say that there are days when I really do wish I could have this up year round.)

I also repainted my free chandelier for the 3rd time. It was red, then blue, now orange. I plan to spray paint little pumpkins in a glossy black and add them. Or black pillar candles.... not sure yet.

Not a very good photo, but the chandelier will stand out a bit more once I get my black pumpkins (or candles) up there.

Oh, yeah... and these chairs were burgundy this morning... I love spray paint.


I think I have a bit of a spray paint buzz at the moment and might possibly have killed more brain cells this week than I did my entire college career...

Oh, how I loves me some sticks....

If only I could have grown my own pumpkin, this project would have cost zero dollars. (Instead it cost me $4.99)

I told you that I was going to let you in on my Mr. Toad's Wild Ride of a creative process. I got distracted from my "big picture" by this little project.

I took some of the many, MANY sticks and branches I've been collecting for my upcoming Halloween Party and spray painted them black. (I just throw 'em in a big pile and turn them every few coats....)

I spray painted an old ratty terra cotta pot while I was at it. Inside the bigger pot, I placed a smaller one. This elevated the pumpkin and created a little gap of about an inch all the way around. I tucked the sticks in around it.

That's it....
Go....
Do....
It's practically free.

That's right. My Labor Day Post. Better late than never.

OK, I had to post about Labor Day weekend. I was all ready to do so in a timely manner, then this happened and it seriously put me in a funk for about 2 weeks.

I had to go back and write this post because I am so proud of my mom and dad. They were the Grand Marshals for the local fair and Labor Day parade.

They are tireless volunteers for their city. I can't think of anyone more deserving.

We went out on Saturday to the fair. It was like being in Satan's armpit it was so hot out there! It was 106 when we got off the freeway and 111 by the time we got to the fairgrounds. I thought I would spontaneously combust. The kids couldn't even go on any of the carnival rides because the metal and plastic would have burned them.

You know where we found relief from the heat due to the shade and the mister system....? The livestock area. I've never hung out in a barnyard for so long.





Fortunately, it cooled off a little bit later on, because Handsome Hubby and I went back to the fairgrounds for a high school "alumnight" event.


Our high school has been open since 1963 and there were all sorts of people there. It was strange, because people were focused on the year written on name tags first... the name was secondary.
Funny.

We drove back out bright and early on Monday morning for the Labor Day Parade. It's a little town, and a little parade, but that doesn't mean that it isn't a huge deal for our family. We are so proud of my folks! (Have I mentioned that...?)




After the parade, loads of people came back to my parents' home for a BBQ. They invited the local Marine ROTC too. When Grant got a glimpse of the young Marines arriving, he ran back to "his" bedroom at Gramma & Poppa's and put on his Marine Corps T shirt.

Semper Fi!

My sis and I are incredibly proud of my parents. They are amazing, fabulous people. We are privileged to know them, let alone have the honor of calling them Mom & Dad.


The weekend ended with a car-full of of crashed out kids.

Yep. That's Grant. Asleep with a lollipop in his mouth. I tried several times to remove it without waking him up and it wouldn't budge. We figured it out later:

He had the stick shoved between the gap in his two front teeth. Classic.