Totally Ungirl-y Halloween

My two girls are Girly Girls - they like pretty dresses, love ballet, and the littlest refuses to even contemplate the notions of jean.... so their costume choices came as somewhat of a shock...

Darth Maul (from Star Wars - Phantom Menace) and a Skeleton!

So dh in the theme of the oldest's choice in costume went with the Emperor from Star Wars. Here is the costume I sewed up in 18 hours.

Things I learned.....

• 9.25 yards of fabric is more fabric than I have ever seen in one sitting! LOL!
• 9.25 yards needs to be spread over two bolts because in stores a bolt is only 6.5 yards.
• I won't ever work with a fabric thicker than the one I used for this costume! LOL!
• I won't be making Grim Reaper / Emperor costumes for a living! LOL!
• I enjoy sewing costumes
  
• Its time I made a costume for myself.... :)
  
  

...And Back to Creating

We just got back from a wonderful week at Disney (see HS blog) and I'm getting back in the groove. Hitting the crafting wagon again - and feeling the pressures of the upcoming season - have I mentioned that Halloween is my FAVOURITE time of year, and how much I'm not a Christmas person!?

Something interesting happened today - a strange feeling but I'm not sure how to put it into words.... maybe it was the crafting buzz hitting me hard - or maybe it was something else - I don't know... but there is a buzz (for lack of better description!) in the air about me.

... 3 weeks ago - Dh requested I sew something for him! WOOHOO! Just a Halloween costume but still it's something for him! LOL! Considering he never wore the sweater I made for him when we were dating (it was technically too small - because suddenly my tension changed!) I'm feeling adventurous and hoping it works out! I'd have to say its the biggest project I've taken on! Cause Sass-Fox, frankly, I'm still chickening out on your request... though I have the pattern and 1/2 the fabric! LOL! But if this works, out I'll be on your request ASACIO (ha - as soon as Christmas is over!)

I'm not gonna share the project with y'all yet, but we did just joke that Heaven help me I hope it works out or he'd hold it against me (he said he wouldn't!) - but it'll be good practice for the girls wedding dresses (HA, highly unlikely said the brain - I think I might leave that one to the professionals - I have to learn to work the darn serger first - I'm still petrified of that! *GRIN*)

E-Mealz - recommendation

Sorry - A Little Advertising here.

I suck at menu planning and have recently found a reasonably priced service that works for us.

We're using the Walmart Register - that has WW points on it and when I follow it, not only is it saving me money - its more than paying for itself.

I'd recommend it to anyone looking to take the stress out of planning decent meals for their family! I'm cooking again (a fair bit.)

Here is a link! (if you try it please use my name as a reference!)

Going Dental

Oy! Something came over me and I'm not sure I like it!

I went and paid a bill on Monday, after M's recent dentist visit and suddenly felt a pang of guilt that I've been making M go to the dentist regularly every 6 months and she has beautiful clean teeth while I have dirt and grim on mine! I had 2 root canals 2 years ago (??) after a 10 year abstinence stand on dentistry! Let me tell ya as a dental fear patient, that normally would put me off for life but dang it, I think I've found a dentist office I'm comfortable with!

Chatting with the hygienist this morning I was tickled to find that she agreed with me in my plight to NEVER EVER send my children to a pediatric dentist. Having dealt with a pediatric dentist many years ago from age 3-8 - who subjected me to the torture of removing teeth without adequate freezing, and drilling and filling my teeth with the same inadequate freezing, or cleaning my teeth and yelling at me to open my mouth wider when it was open as far as it would go - apparently chair side manner wasn't his best class! Anyway for me to find comfort with a particular dentist is nothing short of a miracle and for me to actually work up the nerve to send my children to them is a miracle within a miracle! LOL!

So all in all a good visit.... 10 yrs no cleaning - 2 root canals (at the 8 yr mark) and 1 filling, I've been given a good bill of dental health (minus that cavity!) I attribute it to the new kids anticavity mouth washes on the market and that purple Listerine stuff. That cavity I have, was there 2 yrs ago when the root canal was done, but it was marginally smaller and I've been religious with the mouth wash!

So all in all a good start to the day even if it was just a trip to the dentist - all over by 10 am!

WOOHOO Go me!

meme: Trivial info!

Tagged from Ignore Me Its Easier

1. What is your occupation right now?
Home Maker

2. What color are your socks right now?
Pink and white

3. What are you listening to right now?
M - playing with computerized bubble wrap and S singing the Death March from Star Wars.

4. What was the last thing that you ate?
Banana and Berry smoothie

5. Can you drive a stick
YUP!

6. Last person you spoke to on the phone?
Bank's Card services - and funny transactions department! :0

7. Do you like the person who sent this to you?
Yup - she's pretty cool!

8. How old are you today?
36

9. What is your favorite sport to watch on TV?
Baseball or hockey

10. What is your favorite drink?
Sweet Tea!

11. Have you ever dyed your hair?
just for my wedding and only streaked

12. Favorite food?
Mexican

13. What is the last movie you watched?
Princess Diaries

14. Favorite day of the year?
October 31 (HALLOWEEN ROCKS!)

15. How do you vent anger?
Yell, stomp around and then cry!

16. What was your favorite toy as a child?
My Baaa lamb

17. What is your favorite season?
Early Summer

18. Cherries or Blueberries?
Blueberries

19. Do you want your friends to e-mail you back?
always

20. Who is the most likely to respond?
Gah! who knows!

21. Who is least likely to respond?
See above! :)

22. Living arrangements?
Wishing to move - someday!

23. When was the last time you cried?
Don't remember

24. What is on the floor of your closet?
hee hee... you don't want to know - everything

25. Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending to?
??

26. What did you do last night
read for a bit

27. What are you most afraid of
dying young

28. Plain, cheese, or spicy hamburgers?
Plain

29. Favorite dog breed?
Springer or Cocker spaniels and Retrievers

30. Favorite day of the week?
Thursdays (don't know why!)

31.How many states have you lived in?
1 state, 1 province!

32. Diamonds or pearls?
Emeralds (I'm with ya AmyD).

33. What is your favorite flower?
Forget me nots


Please consider yourself "tagged" and link back so I can read your answers!

Need Scrapbooking Advice

So, I've renewed my interest in scrapbooking, but now its outside this box (the computer that is!) I want to dabble with traditional, and I think I could interest my 7 yr old in it too - while she plods through her school work, but have a few obstacles in my way that I need to wrap my head around.

I guess I'll start with the reasons I gave up traditional in the first place.

1. Lack of time. (Its amazing what happens when the kids grow a little!)

2. Glue - I think I hate gluing. now I know I'm still doing this wrong, but inevitably when you use glue - think school glue (yes I'm that clueless! LOL!) - the pages warp and loose their nice crispness, so I think I need different types of adhesives.... but what adhesives does a scrapper use and where do I find it?

• If I want to glue one background to another what do I use for adequate coverage?
• If I want to glue just a small thing to a page, what do I use for that?
• If I want to raise something - for dimension - what do I use?

3. Cutting photos??? - OMG isn't that akin to sacrilege! I still can't get past the notion of cutting pictures, its almost as bad as writing in a book! LOL!

4. Being Cheap and lack of storage - I look at my friend's scrapbooking supplies and tools and think - gah with sewing, knitting and kids already in our space where would I find that space for this and still keep my house organize (not that it currently is - but shhhhh let me dream!)

5. Where to find supplies? I don't know, I think dh would have a heart attack if I went supplies shopping to scrapbook! LOL! I mean I walked out of Joann's the other day with $100 worth of stuff (fabric, scrapbook papers, a specific scrapbook.) Joann's, Michaels and Walmart aren't the best places to get supplies either..... but all the online places make me want to hide my wallet!

So I'm thimking hybrid. No storage, except for tools, but printer ink gets expensive!

*********************
All this because FIL gave us this cool gift a while ago and lord knows dh and I won't ever use it - but in this months' Scrapbooks etc magazine, they had a cool way idea, and of course one idea leads to another and now I need advice on how to traditional in order to use it!

I really should just stop picking up magazines on a whim!

So who wants to teach me tradition scrapbooking??! LOL!