50 Shades of... Mom? AKA: Mama's Losin' It Writer's Workshop; Prompt #4: Show us what your kids want to be for Halloween this year

Every day year my daughter dresses up. Usually, there is some sort of procrastination issue at least my husband thinks so. It's not necessarily by me, as two years ago... it was by Amazon.

Marissa had wanted to be a peacock for Halloween. Wow, that stuff at the Halloween stores is super slutty cheesy and cheap-looking, but with a super high price tag and nothing in my daughter's size. It was September, so I thought I was r-e-a-l good being able to order online. Everything I was ordering showed less than two weeks to deliver.

The first piece came within 3 days. So far, so good. And then... NOTHING. Nothing until almost the end of October. Mind you, it didn't all come in... That feathered crown I was going to make with the long peacock feathers? N-O-P-E. Those didn't come in until almost December... so... they're in the craftroom, waiting for something to be done with them... One day...

Last year, the hubs bought her the Anna (not Elsa) costume. I just made a fleece hooded cape. I made it the week before. And it was done the week before Halloween and to my husband that is still procrastinating. Whatevs... It was done and I was done with it.

This year... Marissa wants to be Catwoman. So... way back in August... I ordered off Amazon, double-checking to be sure all of the products would be shipped through Amazon, not another vendor because everything that came late two years ago had been shipped from Asia. I did not want history repeating itself.

I ordered this

See those super sharp nails?

 

And I bought this...

Oh yeah... Can you whip it?

 

My older girls were finally cleaning up their big pile of stuff and saw the padded envelope with the items in it. Being the nosey children adults they are, they looked through the envelope and asked me, "Is there something you want to tell us?" "What?" I asked (not knowing what they were even talking about). "A little '50 Shades,' huh...?" they asked. "What ARE you talking about?" was my response. And then they showed me... I laughed so hard I cried and almost peed my pants.

 

I'm sure it seriously looked that way to them. A black whip. A pair of motorcycle gloves with sharp metallic-looking nails on top. Oh yeah, baby. Mama is turning "50 Shades." 50 shades of laughter and skin color, maybe... I thought it was hilarious!

 

So I explained to them it was only their sister's costume, and they supposedly already knew what she was going to be. I was only waiting on the bodysuit/costume. And the next day it came.

 

Marissa promptly took it out of the box, took off her brace (she is going brace-free for Halloween... it is kind of special, so she'll get more than two hours out of the brace), and jumped into her suit. Much to my delight and amazement, it didn't need to be altered at all!

See how the fluffy puffy wanted to get a piece of Catwoman, too?

 

It fits so awesome, she even felt like Catwoman! "Mrrrr Owwww!" Those nails look totally sharp! Watch out!

 

 

This is a writing prompt from Mama Kat, to help me get my creative mojo back. Here's hoping the little pushes help... If you'd like to participate, please visit Mama Kat and visit some other wonderful bloggers and writers who have linked up. Please always leave a comment. Comments are so appreciated. Thank you! And come back tomorrow evening for a fun Fall Festival Blog Hop with lots of awesome crafters!





All About Halloween 2007

Halloween prep started early this year during the summer. (We are trying to overcome procrastination... Yeah, right!) Costumes were decided on, fabric was purchased, and the construction of the garments was undertaken. At the beginning of October, we put up the decorations, but not all of them... As always, some stuff just never got done. But hey! At least I got the costumes made! Yay me! Stacy and Rey were "vampire fairies" and Marissa and Jake (my nephew, Josh's son) were Raggedy-Anne & Raggedy-Andy. I think they all turned out really good... (I'm gonna pat myself on the back, now... check it out for yourself in the scrapbook below.)

Make your own slide shows and scrapbooks

The house (we only did the entry way and a couple of things tacked on the garage doors, and not much on the inside) looked eery, with all of the smoke from the fires. The moon was really weird, but beautiful. (This photo was taken on 10/26/07, courtesy of Mike Reid.) The fires smoked and lit up the sky, making everything take on an orange-y glow.

I actually got some other things made, this year! The ghosts in the scrapbook are at my mom's house... I didn't make mine... yet...

And these cute mummy hands (were a pain in the butt) are awaiting to be brushed with a brown-colored ink, to add a burn-ished look and grave-liness to them. So I accidentally gave my mummy two right hands! Ok, I'll fix them for next year. You can find this project in the "free projects" section of www.tallmouse.com (Halloween).

I've certainly got a lot of ideas for next year. If you have ideas or patterns, feel free to e-mail them (or a link) to me! I really like looking at other stuff. (The same goes for Christmas ideas... it is coming... SOON!) I hope to put everything up next time... I don't think I'm purchasing anything at the after Halloween sales (Joann's and Michaels already have 70% off!!!), as I didn't use it all this year. Bummer!

But Halloween, itself, was slower than most. There weren't as many trick-or-treaters this year... Everyone I've talked to had much more candy left than last year and purchased about the same amount... There weren't as many houses giving out candy, either! Last year, there were more than a dozen houses participating around my mom's neighborhood. This year... 4!!! On the whole block! Including my mom's! Wow, what a change. But then again, there were lots of kids we saw who were skateboarding (and trick-or-treating) but not dressed up. Oh well...

I'll play more catch up later... Toodles for now! lisa

The Little Princesses are Busy Today

With a little 2-year-old who seems to want to dress and undress every other minute, it's hard to get anything done. Yes, she is cute. Yes, I am fortunate to have a healthy beautiful child who loves me. Yes, I'm going NUTSO!

She is my little architect. She loves blocks, she keeps building houses and castles with them. But, like most children, she doesn't want to do the cleanup, and she destroys what she's built with a wild imagination! (Her favorite "voice" to use is a deep-sounding monster.)

The early mornings are spent taking the elder princesses to school. They go to two different schools this year, which can be quite trying in the traffic of the morning. (It seems fellow drivers of mine seem to forget politeness and respect while on the road. Mind you, I am always polite and always right! LOL!!!) But, nonetheless, Stacy (and the girls' friend, Cassie) get to the high school (yes, she is NOW that old!) somewhere between 7:30 and 7:48am, depending on if we ran "late" or not... and Rey gets to the middle school before 8am. The schools are right next to each other, with access to the building SUPER far apart, and single lane two-way streets with gobs of drivers... YIKES!

Princess Stacy is a full-blown Freshman this year and takes FOREVER to get ready. She is thrilled to get to (finally) wear make-up, although I don't allow "too" much. She is taking AVID (Avenues Via Independent Determination) - check it out at http://www.avidonline.org/! This is SO great for kids and teaches them lots of things they don't seem to learn in school anymore. With the always changing state standards, it is hard for the teachers to teach the eternally important items such as note-taking, organization, test-taking strategies and the like. She will also be on the swim team and is currently contemplating water polo. She is still attending Sylvan Learning Center (http://tutoring.sylvanlearning.com/centers/92557/programs.cfm) and continues to grow (mentally, not physically... she is still "short!").

Princess Rey is a "Rule-the-School" eighth-grader this year and can't wait to join the high school next year. She applied for the Peer Mediation Program and was accepted. Hopefully, she will give excellent advice and help other kids solve problems with each other. She continues to be enrolled in GATE (Gifted and Talented Education). She is a little bit peeved, due to her sister gets to wear the make-up, and she doesn't...

They both still swim with MVAQ (Moreno Valley Aquatics, http://www.mvaq.com/), enjoy scrapbooking, and enjoy antagonising their baby sister and basically driving me crazy! But no one wants to hear that, now... or do they? Hmmmm....

So, there's a quick update on the goings on here... I'll give you more later...

I'm back to finishing a couple of sewing projects before I start on the girls' (and Jake's) costumes. I am working on a tote for a friend that donated all of her old jeans to me to make purses and totes out of... Here's a pic of a purse I made for a birthday recently.

Stacy and Rey are planning on being "vampire fairies" (very original, and their idea!), while Marissa and Jake (my nephew) are going to be Raggedy-Ann & Raggedy-Andy. They should all turn out cute! I'll do pics, but you'll have to wait!

And hey, check out the stuff in the margins! I've been trying to add more stuff, including a poll (very generic for now)... Toodles for now! lisa