Halloween Costume Rescue Day 4

These girls had a great idea. How easy is this. They wore white clothes, pinned a red dish cloth around the waist and got the hats at In-n-out. I think the badges they made on the computer.

Halloween Costume Rescue Day 3

The Nerd:

What would halloween be without a couple of nerds. Now the first nerd costume is the classic.

The Classic:
taped glasses
t.p. on shaving cut
plaid shirt
bow tie
work badge
pencils in pocket protector
high water pants
Calculator on belt
white sport socks
black tennis shoes
stand with bum out
stand with stomach out


The Napoleon Dynamite nerd:

Vote for pedro shirt
glasses
curly hair
walkman (tape player)
moon boots
skinny body
large adams apple
squinted eyes
Some people are naturals at this costume!

Halloween Costume Rescue Day 2

Today's suggestions is to consider all things animal! You can go all out like this professional and get the whole big hairy suit and buck teeth. My guess is that this costume is quite the investment plus look what it is doing to the kids. The boy is mesmerized ( i think it's love), The baby is so scared she is eating her hand and her eyes are bugging out, and The girl has gone completely crazy.

Now look at this cute little critter. White sweat suit from Walmart. The ears and nose were purchased at minimal cost probably at a place like Joannes fabrics. A piece of pink felt was cut out ond attached to the shirt and a Pom Pom pinned onto the bum for a fluffy tail. White make- up and you have a real cutie pie.


Oh look here are some more critters. Please pay extra attention to the addorable little black kitty in the front of the line. A black leotard with ears , tail, black gloves and bow make up this kitty costume. Ignore that green thing behind the kitty. Oh look another bunny, and of course the ever famous (store bought) dancing hippo.

So can you think of an animal you might like to be for Halloween?

Halloween Costume Rescue

This post is for all you Halloween hating people. Why do you hate it? Because you can't think of a costume. I know that this is it. This is the single thing that kills it for you. Well I love costumes. I love putting together a costume. Once I decide on an idea those creative juices get flowing and the possibilities are endless.

For the rest of the month everyday I am going to post at least one picture of a possible Halloween costume idea. Today I am going to start with a picture of the costume I wish I had this year. This is actually a picture one of my kids took at Disneyland.

Cruella DeVille:

What's not to love? The wig is black on one side and white on the other, the coat (to die for), the red gloves, and finally the makeup are all just perfect. Now I do think she needs a couple of stuffed animal dalmations in a cage to carry around.


Now for an idea. How about this cute Frankettestein! This was an idea in American Girl Magazine about 10 years ago. Lets start at the top. Rat that hair and spray. Put a white streak in the front of the hair. Paint face green then add some stitch marks. Take a piece of ribbon and glue two wooden spools painted silver to the ribbon and tie to neck. This makes the bolts on the neck. Long sleeve turtle neck. I like the purple to go with all the green. Green tights with the stitching drawn on them and then some chunky black boots. I loved this costume. (Note on the face paint. I buy theatre paint at a costume store. It looks like a container of green eye shadow. You get a wet paint brush rub it on the green then paint on the face. You can scratch your face and it doesn't get on any think else. Not slimy at all. It dries in a way that you can't even feel it on your face. It washes off with soap and water.)



Here is another version of the same costume, along with a hippie and a pimp daddy whose clothes were purchased at a thrift store. Every family should have at least one pair of bell bottom polyester pants and an afro wig. Natalie chose to go without green paint on her face and the costume still works.


So there you have it. The first day of costume rescue. You can do it. Make a costume.

Lovely Weekend

Monday and Tuesdsay have been unbelievably windy. Yes it finally arrived. But before that we had a lovely weekend. Our girl was gone to a youth conference so we had a quiet and relaxing time. Saturday morning was so beautiful. After going to the gym for a last chance workout for the week we enjoyed the gorgeous blue sky while soaking in the jacuzzi. It was perfect.


Here is the steamy jacuzzi:

Here is the beautiful blue sky. That is the top of Ken's head. I told him I wouldn't take a picture of him just the beautiful sky and the 70 degree weather.

I can't wait for another day like this one especially when I look out the window today.

What did you do this weekend?

Halloween Decorating

"There is no season when such pleasant and sunny spots may be lighted on, and produce so pleasant an effect on the feelings, as now in October."
- Nathaniel Hawthorne

I love the fall season. I think it really started when I was a young newlywed living in Provo Utah. I can remember streets lined with trees that were loaded with beautiful leaves in deep reds, oranges and yellows. The mountains were no longer green but dotted with these same beautiful colors. The temperature would cool off and the air was crisp and seemed to have a different smell to it. We would often take Sunday afternoon drives up the canyon to take in all the beauty of the season. Now back to today. In California we don't get the same kind of autumn as we had in Provo. It can still be a lovely time of year here and we do have trees changing and fall flowers blooming and the sky seems a bit bluer than usual and the light just has a golden glow to it. I have always loved decorating my home for fall. Maybe it is my way of trying to recreate the season like it was in Provo. Thus the fall colors in my dinning room. (oops slightly over exposed).

I usually decorate with fall items that will last for Halloween and Thanksgiving. This year I decided to do a little extra Halloween decoration on my entry table. This is what I came up with. I just used things that I already had around the house along with a few small things I picked up at the store.

This is my most treasured Halloween decoration ever. This little wooden haunted house was given to me by my brother and his wife. Troy made this himself. Isn't it amazing. I Loooove it!

These are not real pumpkins. The clown hat and crown that they wear were birthday presents from my mother in law. I think they are charming.

The ribbon and stickers are Martha Stewart. The rest of the stuff I had. Well ok, not the chocolate eyeballs.

The ostrich feathers were given to me a few years ago from my Mom. The urn they are in was from the clearance isle at Michaels. I think it would look even better with some black sticks, sticking straight up out of it but I haven't been able to find any.

I don't think I even decorated for Halloween last year. This year with my new found time, now that I am not working, I was a bit more motivated. After I finished I thought it may have been a silly waste of time but then Dani came home from school and was excited about my little apothecary of poisonous candy.

Do you decorate for Fall. How about Halloween? What is your favorite item?

Finally if you can't bring yourself to bother with the decorating then my advice is just invest in a yummy smelling fall scented candle to give that cozy feeling and also spend some time outside and enjoy the beauty.

p.s. clip art from mo jackson doo dads

Prepare for October

You have heard the term "batten down the hatches". It has a nautical origin and 'battening down' was done on ships when bad weather was expected. Well right here in Rancho Cucamonga the first of October should be the official batten down the hatches day. Any day now the big, bad, naughty wind is going to arrive. It will undoubtedly arrive in the middle of the night (typically at around 1:00am). It will blow for a couple of days at a time and will make a mess of this lovely place. So I decided that I had better get busy. I made sure that all the trash cans were tucked away in their little corner where the wind won't catch them and send trash all over my backyard as well as all my neighbors backyards. Next I checked for anything that could go flying in a 50 mph gust.



All umbrellas and pool toys were stored away in the garage and all patio chairs that were around the pool were moved to the patio. I did leave the patio furniture, usually it will stay put unless the wind is really fierce. I am thinking of putting the furniture covers over the table and chairs then wrapping bungee chords all the way around to hold it on.

The final task the trees. Now best case would be to actually strip every leaf off of every bush and tree in the yard. That is not possible. I did decide to go after my apple tree and my peach tree. They were both totally overgrown and a mess. I have no idea if this is a good time to trim them. I don't care if it was a good time to trim them. I am certain that trimming them on a morning when it's already 90 degrees outside is not good. Nope -- don't care about that either. In fact I will say that if that peach tree never had another peach on it I wouldn't care, but I digress. So here are before and after pictures of my work.

Apple Tree with peach tree in the background before :


The apple tree after surgery



The peach tree after surgery




Even with all the preparations I can still expect to find all kinds of junk in my yard when that first wind kicks up. A few things from the past: empty soup cans, kiddie pool, boxes, beach balls, newspaper, a dirty diaper, anything that you might find in a persons trash cans. We have scooped out a few unfortunate critters from the pool who were walking to close to the edge when a big gust came. Sorry Mr. Gopher, Miss bunny rabbit, baby mouse.

Now, lest you think that where I live is the pits let me say that there is something wonderful about that wind. It makes for the most beautiful clear blue skies you could imagine. The rest of the year is also great here. Warm, warm, and sunny. No snow, no tornadoes, no hurricanes, no non-stop rain. Hey! how did these pics get in here?





In fact it is such a great place to live I think some of you should come and visit. Even if it is during the windy season. Any takers?

So there it is. What kind of crazy weather do you live with and what do you do to get ready for it?