Happy Halloween!

Here is the finished Fiona costume. Hmm, not what I was hoping. It is far too large and shapeless, It looks like what prison matrons wear in the land of Oz! Luckily, preschoolers are far too excited about the holiday to notice what I'm wearing. With the two classes we had:
4 witches (one in a hoop skirt and light-up hat)
1 kitty cat
1 cowboy
2 transformers
1 vampire bat
1 spider
2 princesses (one Cinderella, one Barbie)
1 lion
2 spidermen
1 mickey mouse
1 adorable little military man in dress blues
1 monarch butterfly
1 pokemon (Pikachu)
and one reluctant Scooby-doo

Way too cute! I wish I could post photos of my little friends, but I'm pretty sure that is a violation. Matt the fire fighter came to school today with his fire truck to discuss fire safety. He gave me some strange looks (probably the green face). Still, it's better than last year. I noticed after Adam the firefighter left that my fly was open! Very professional!

Tonight, not one trick-or-treater. Oh, well, more chocolate for me. Hope your Halloween is just scary enough. Boo!

Halloween costumes

Right now I'm avoiding finishing my Halloween costume. I just need to hem it and add the back closure. I'm leaning toward velcro because I've made it too big, velcro will overlap and the pattern directions say to add this complicated lace-up thing. Looks too hard for something I won't be wearing very often (say, twice?). I don't do clothing sewing very much. I love to quilt and complicated patterns for quilting tickle me, but clothing seems hard. I have to read each step (more than one time) and interpret the lingo then do the step. Exhausting! And I never like how it looks when I'm done. The finished product never matches how cool it looked in my head. I hate that! My quilts are starting to look like what I see in my head, but not clothes.

Maybe its the model. I do not have a figure "that looks good in anything" to put it mildly. The Halloween costume in question is Princess Fiona from Shrek. Although I am not green, there are similarities.

When I was a kid, Halloween was my favorite holiday, better than Christmas. I loved to dress up, had a big box of dress up clothes, forced my siblings to dress up as well. When I was too old to trick or treat, I put on a costume to take the little siblings out. (remember when you could just let kids go out? even at night? all by themselves?) When I got to college, it was all about how sexy I could make the costume. Tinkerbelle, Vampire (very short skirt), Football player (told people I was a tight end, I shudder to say) and St. Pauli girl. That one involved athletic tape for authentic cleavage - ouch!

After college the parties got better. Our friend Jimmy and his housemates threw some amazing bashes, the whole house was decorated top to bottom. Jimmy made a very fetching Marge Simpson and a perfect Jack Skelton (from a Nightmare before Christmas).

Then we had children and Halloween (like one million other things) became all about them. My hubby was happy, he never liked dressing up for parties, anyway. I missed it but didn't really notice because I was so busy making dragon, knight and bat costumes and convincing reluctant toddlers to wear the darn things.

Where was I going with this? Well, now I dress up only for the preschoolers. I am an assistant preschool teacher and I love my little friends. Tomorrow and Friday they will show up dressed as tv and movie characters (disney princesses for girls, superheroes for boys - that is a whole separate rant). They will look astonished and ask why I am wearing a long green dress and green ears with a tiara. I was the only mom who dressed up for my oldest's kindergarten Halloween party. He loved it, I loved it, the teacher and other parents thought I was a nut.

Everything changes. Now we can't even say "Halloween" - it is a Harvest Party (and yet none of us are farmers. The kids won't have or recognize a costume that isn't on tv. After the age of ten, all the girl costumes are sexified. I was appalled at the ads in last Sunday's paper for costumes (and remember, I made Tinkerbelle look like a hooker) Nobody trick or treats on my street, too dark and too far between houses. I never go out on Halloween.

Secretly, I wish we still did. That may be the real reason I am making a Fiona costume. If I have one, we are halfway to "Shrek and Fiona go to a party". Hubby would make a perfect Shrek, although he isn't bald or green, he is large and cranky (well he would be if I made him dress up as Shrek)

Oh well, I'll try to post a photo of the finished costume. Happy Halloween!

Disclaimer

Here's the warning: I'm not very exciting. This is not a blog full of high adventure and hot secrets (I wish). But my favorite blogs are written by stay-at-home moms so maybe there is hope that you'll like it anyway.

Maybe you'd like some recipes? I'll throw some in. I like to cook, I have an embarrassing amount of recipes, I keep the ones I cut out of magazines, etc. in 3-ring binders. Some of them are downright odd. I made this one for the confirmation brunch at church this last Saturday. This egg bake features White Castle Hamburgers! Yep, sliders. It is more popular with burly men and teenage boys than with ladies, but burly men and boys are my life.

Slider Egg Bake

12 White Castle hamburgers or cheeseburgers
6 eggs
3 cups milk
3/4 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp pepper
8 oz shredded cheddar cheese

Grease a 9X13 pan and put the burgers in it (frozen is fine). Mix eggs, milk, garlic salt and pepper and pour over sliders. Sprinkle cheese over the top and refrigerate overnight. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes (uncovered).

See? that was interesting and easy! Shop around for the burgers, they are much more expensive at County Market than at SuperTarget.

Pilot episode

"Why do you want a blog?" asks my hubby. Hmmm, don't really know. "Because my friends have one" sounds very childish, but it is partly true. I love to read Sue's and Gretchen's and Julie's blogs. Since I've been thinking of writing one, I find I'm writing it in my head all the time anyway. Maybe if I write it, I can get it out of my head. (this works for quilts and other creative things that won't leave my head any other way.)

Also, my computer skills are woefully inadequate for this millenium. Since I recently purchased this fine laptop, I need to learn how to do all the stuff my kids learned ages ago. Last week I learned how to put music (legally purchased) into my mp3player/phone. I wrote it down, it's very complicated, it takes up most of a page of my scribbly handwriting. I think a blog will require many basic skills and be fun.

Last but not least, I need to practice talking without putting my foot in my mouth. Writing has the advantage of editing. Still, I'm afraid you are going to find out just how strange I really am...