Post- Halloween Post

And so it begins.

 The seasons of ridiculously priced joy for children, the overload of crafts, food, and decorations. No one is immune, including myself. It's especially worse since Pinterest is around. At least now I don't have to pay money to find ideas to fulfill my holiday perfectionism.

Every holiday I have this ridiculous idea that I need to craft all the things! Cook all the things! Decorate with all the things! Of course, I could go out and buy all of this stuff pre-made. However, it would cost more money, I wouldn't have a gold star on my achievement chart (in my head), and I could possibly go through a holiday while keeping sane. We can't have that, now can we?

Growing up, every get together was what I can only describe as magical, so I feel the need to pass the magic on to my kids, family, and friends. So, ladies and gentlemen, here's my Halloween wrap-up.

In September, it was my Mom's birthday. I thought, "Hey! I'll craft her something! She'll LOVE that. It worked when I was 5, it still should when I'm 26, right?" SO I ended up making a pumpkin made out of cloth. Yes, my poor mother got a cloth pumpkin for her birthday. It wasn't even well done! I need to make it up to her. Anyways, here's the picture. I would link the instructions, but I've forgotten where I found them, so I'm sorry ahead of time.

You can also use a cinnamon stick for the stem.

Josh was gone to Louisiana for three weeks to go to a school for the military. He was promoted to Sergeant over the Summer, so this was required. While he was gone, I had to find something to do to keep us all from going crazy. I decided we must have a Pre-Halloween weekend. I borrowed some movies from my sister ( I had a few in mind, but there were some I had forgotten about until I read Krystal's recommended watching list), went to the store to get some necessary items, then came home and executed it all.

The kids and I spent all day making Halloween decorations...

Trash bag spider...

I take absolutely NO credit for the idea of this. I had an awesome neighbor a few years ago who shared this with me.

To make You'll need:
9 black trash bags (preferably the ones with the drawstrings. You'll love me for adding that)
Red plastic cups
Neswpaper (or something else to stuff the bag with)
Black electrical tape
(This is not necessary,  but I suggest bags of beans or something heavy to stuff in with the newspaper to keep the sucker from blowing away. No one wants to see a crazy lady, in a fuzzy pink robe chasing a huge spider across her yard like my neighbors hadf to.)

Begin by stuffing one trash bag full of newspaper. Pull the drawstring shut and that will be your spider hiney.
Use the tape to section off a head. Now you should have the base of your spider.
Cut 8 tiny slits in the sides of the body. Take the 8 extra bags and tie two knots, equal lengths apart, down the bags length-wise, and stuff the drawstring end into the slits on the body. Use more tape to ensure they are attached securely. These are your legs!
Take the red plastic cups and cut the bottoms off  and attach with tape to the head. Eyes! You have eyes now!
Cut the remaining piece of the cup into two equal triangles and attach to the abdomen of the spider for it's "markings".
For teeth, cut two small triangles out of the same cup and attach under the eyes!
There ya go! Spider!

 This craft was simple (other than burning the crap out of myself and having to hold the snakes down while the glue dried). I just got a wreath  and 4 snakes from the dollar store (as  well as the cute doormat directly below.) I used hot glue to attach the snakes, but I'm sure there are better ways of doing it. Then I attached twine and hung it up. I think it was worth the finger burns.

  This one is just bats cut out of poster board and attached to the wall. Pretty simple.

While we were creating, we watched our movies and talked about spooks. I decided that since Josh was gone, I'd try my hand at grilling. I can cook some pretty good stuff, but I have NEVER cooked a good burger. Not to mention, I have NEVER grilled. It took me awhile to get the charcoal lit (and to stay lit). But, once I did, I regretted it! I used half of a container of lighter fluid and nearly singed my eyebrows off. My burgers weren't holding together and they were trying to fall through the bbq slits. Did you know you could actually catch a burger on fire? I mean, I assume it's common knowledge, but I had never seen it happen until that day. I yelled at Isaiah to get me the water bottle to spray the fire down, and I may have cried a little.
Surprisingly, they actually turned out to be yummy! Who knew?!
After dinner, I lit the firepit and we made s'mores and the kids had a leaf fight. It turned out to be a pretty awesome weekend!

Now for the food....
I volunteer with a Cub Scout pack and being the overachieving, control freak that I am, I asked to do the food for our Pack Party.

Cupcakes, orange icing, chocolate icing web, Hershey's kisses. That's all it took and they turned out super cute.

 Worms....  We had some adults who didn't even want to eat these. Yes, these are edible worms and they actually tasted awesome.
Recipe:
Ingredients:
100 flexible plastic straws
(The straws with a bendable neck make the most realistic worms by adding ridges to the worm. Place bendable necks of straws at the bottom of the container).
an empty, cleaned

1-quart milk or orange juice carton to hold straws.
(The straws will fill up to the height of the container, the taller the better.)
1 package (6 ounces) raspberry or grape flavor gelatin
3 envelopes unflavored gelatin
3 cups boiling water
3/4 cup whipping cream
12 to 15 drops green food coloring
waxed paper
Instructions:
1. Combine gelatins in a bowl and add boiling water; stir until gelatins completely dissolve. Chill until lukewarm, about 20 min.
2. Meanwhile, gently pull straws to extend to full length; place in tall container. Wrap together with a loose rubber band to hold straws together.
3. Blend cream and food coloring with the lukewarm gelatin mixture. Carefully pour into container, filling straws.
4. Chill until gelatin is firm, at least 8 hours, or cover and chill up to 2 days.
5. Pull straws from container or, if you’re using a carton, simply tear the carton away from the filled straws. Pull straws apart. Run hot tap water for about 2 seconds over 3 to 4 straws at a time. Starting at the empty ends, push worms from straws with rolling pin, or use your fingers.

6. Lay worms on waxed paper-lined baking sheets. Cover and chill until ready to use, at least 1 hour or up to 2 days. Worms will hold at room temperature for about 2 hours.

 Witch hats....
These have been floating around on Pinterest for awhile.
1.Take fudge cookies and turn them upside down.
2.Mix white icing with a few drops of yellow food coloring until you get the desired color and dot in the middle of the cookie.
3.Stick on a Hershey's kiss.
You can make these more detailed if you wish. It's a good jumping off place.

Earwax swabs:
Okay, these were a PAIN but worth it! The original recipe call for the tiny marshmallows to be dipped in melted butterscotch. If you want ease, go that route. But, if you want realistic and  a pain in the arse, go with melted caramel instead.
1.Take sucker sticks (I found ours on the cake decorating isle at Wal-Mart), and stick mini marshmallows on the end.
2.Dip them in the melted whatever-you-choose-to-use and let set on wax paper.
Do not refrigerate.
The kids not only were grossed out by the earwax, but since we used the caramel, they had to pull apart the "wax". They were thoroughly disgusted and it was awesome!

I didn't make these for the scouts, but rather a family function. I just thought I would throw them in.
I melted marshmallows and butter and then dipped the apples in the mixture. Let set in the fridge for 15 minues.
Next, melt chocolate in the microwave.
Dip the apple in the chocolate and then directly into graham cracker crumbs. Refrigerate.


So, of course for the ACTUAL day of Halloween, I didn't get nearly as many pictures as I would have liked because, hey, I can't do everything! We went to our town's annual Scare-on-the-Square. There wasn't nearly as many people handing out candy this year, but, there was a pony with wings, so who cares about candy?!

My little Power Ranger and Pirate. Sofia wouldn't keep any accessories on, so it's hard to tell what she was supposed to be.

Papaw and Sofie

Power Ranger Sawyer

I hope you guys had lots of fun in October!
Til' next time-
Heather

Hey, There! Memba me?

Wow! It's been FOREVER since I've posted! I honestly had trouble even remembering how to work this thing. 

No one really reads this blog anyways, so I feel this might be a safe place to share. I have something that I hope will be big (eventually) in the works, but it all started with this book. It's called the Happiness Project. 

I have a good life, I mean a REALLY good life. Yes, there are everyday stresses like finances, education, and time management that always rear their ugly heads to deflate me sometimes, but if I look at the QUALITY of my life, I couldn't have it any better. My husband is smart, caring, and a great provider. He's never done anything that has truly hurt me, and goes out of his way to make me feel validated. My kids are smart and well on their way to being people who change the world.
We own our home, have three vehicles, and our bills get paid every month.

So, I got to asking myself, "Why am I not appreciating what we have? Why am I always so anxious? Why do I want to curl up in the blankets instead of being in the living room with the rest of my family?" I had read about The Happiness project from Natasha's blog (which I ADORE by the way!) and I decided to splurge on something for myself. When I first started reading the book, I was like, "This woman is educated, lives in New York, and couldn't possibly have any of the same issues I do." 

By the time I got halfway through the first chapter, I was like, "Holy cow. This is me!" Part of me was like, "Yay! I have something in common with this spectacular woman!" But then I was like, "Oh, I've got some work to do." I'll admit, I'm not even halfway through the book yet, but I've already been inspired. I won't be beginning my "project" until the beginning of the year, but there are some small things I can start today, like not being a stranger to my own blog. 

I'm making asking Josh to read it when I get done. He usually ignores my requests for him to read my vast collection of self-help books (Hey, don't judge, you can learn from anywhere, right?), but this time I think he might actually do it.

So here's to my homecoming blog! It's kinda good to be back!
Laters-
Heather

Drill Weekend Is Here Again

 Ah, the ever lovely, ever-present drill weekend. So, most of y'all know that my husband is in The Arkansas National Guard. You know this because one weekend every month I transform into some sappy-faced 13 year old who "misses her hubby SOO much" on Facebook. I mean, I'm kind of that way all the time, but I don't quite flaunt it as much on a regular basis.

 SO, here we are again, except this weekend is a 3 day drill and I woke up feeling like death licked me across the face and then sneezed on it.

Gross.

 I'm lonely and bored, so I thought I would post a probably-boring-to-everyone-but-me blog post.
 So, here's what's been going on the last few days.

I've been trying to get the house clean. It seems like such a simple task, right? No. You're a fool and probably only have one or two very polite children who find joy in helping you with everyday tasks. I know that you are out there, because while reading different blogs and websites to help me figure out how to organize and get the kids interested in chores, I found your pages and I sat loathing your parental awesomeness.

 I used to be that way, too. Now, on any given day, between the pets, the people who live here, and frequent guests, we have 13 bodies roaming the house... The small-ish house... The house that seemed HUGE when we bought it... The house that feels like it's giving my head a mammogram because it's getting so cramped now.

Don't get me wrong, it's NOT the people in the house that's driving me crazy, it's the crap. SO. Much. Crap.

So, what's the cure-all for a crap-filled house? More crap!

Yesterday, Josh took off work to spend time with me since he's been gone so much and he was leaving again. We went to Prairie Market (Our local health food store) for lunch, then we did what this girl grew up doing best... junkin'.
For those of you who don't know what that means, let's just call it vintage or antique shopping in cozy little shops off the beaten path, filled with eclectic people.

Okay, that was me blowing some smoke up somewhere. This is how it really is.
True Story:
We accidentally stumbled onto a rummage sale while driving through the umm... not so pretty side of town. We sorted through other people's crap (they had nice stuff!) and when it came time to check out, there was this amazingly gay man, wearing a button up shirt (with the top 3 or 4 buttons unbuttoned), acid wash jeans,  and was missing a tooth, who sauntered over to us.

Man: "Hi, y'all! How did you hear about us? Was it my signs?! Were they colorful enough? Did they just GRAB YOU'RE ATTENTION?!" (His hands were doing the rainbow wave in the air.)
Me: "Well, we were just driving past and YES! We saw your signs and decide to drop in.
Man: " Excellent! I just wanted them to POP!
Me: "Well, you did a great job!"
Okay, while writing this, this conversation seems mild, but if you were there, you would have heard our enthusiasm and the desperation in my voice to make this man feel fabulous.
I told him I would post about the sale on Facebook and his face went into disbelief, which then turned into utter excitement. He said, "FABULOUS!"
My job was done.
I told Josh I wanted to go back and collect him as my pocket-gay. He was amazing.

Anyways, that's just a mild example of junkin', but basically, you're going through dirty stores, digging through shelves and boxes, looking at whether or not you want to by previously owned awesomeness.

I live for thrift stores, garage sales, pawn shops; They're all like musty treasure chests.

After hitting about ten places, we called it quits and I inventoried my finds. I got 4 small red and clear, blown glass cups, a running suit, a shirt, a mens Hollister shirt, two pairs of mens Hollister shorts, camo seat covers,  a cast iron spoon holder for the stove, 3 Reader's Digest books (I might read them, but I got them because the covers were adorable prints and look awesome on my bookshelf), a cookbook, 4 coffee cups, a beautiful glass bowl, a giant ceramic popcorn bowl, and a soy candle from a new pottery shop in town, all for $45. I think I'm forgetting some things.

So, it was a fun day.

 All right, this might seem abrupt, but I'm ending this post now. The coffee buzz has worn off.

Happy Junkin',
Heather