Trick or Treat: Take 3 - Then I'll huff! And I'll puff!

Jason and I went to a Halloween party last night.  We were able to showcase our costume idea.  A whopping two people got it from the start.  Most of the other party-goers needed a lengthy explanation of who we were.  At first, I thought it was an age thing.  Maybe the people at the party were too young to remember the movie scene that well.  But then a 25 year old walked in and said "Hey!  You guys are from The Shining!"

Here is the movie clip Jason and I mimicked.


HERE'S JOHNNY!!!

Right after we got married, Jason walked around with his hair still wet and slicked back a little.  I realized he looked exactly like Jack Nicholson.  I swore I would force him to dress up as Jack but never got around to it!  This year, I didn't have time to come up with a costume for me, so I just played Shelly Duvall.

I bought the clothes for our costumes at goodwill (my pajama bottoms, turtleneck and Jason's flannel shirt).  I bought this $3.00 sword at Party City. 


After Jason took his Dremel tool to it, it looked like this.


I made Jason's axe with a Ritz box and the tubing from Leo's leafblower.


Jason took a piece of cardboard from a box and cut a hole and painted it white to make it look like a door. 

Our costume has also been added to my absolute favorite costume website!  Coolest Homemade Costumes.com

But let me tell you about the all-time best costume, not just of the night, but that I've EVER seen.  But first, a quick background.  The hosts of the party were Michelle and Richard (the Scot).  They look like this:

Last night they looked a little different (Richard's costume is extra-hilarious because he's Scottish).  Michelle was a wisdom tooth and her costume was homemade!  Love it!



And now, for the best costume of the night.  Their friends dressed up as Richard and Michelle complete with the masks.


They look a little scary in photos, but in real life, these masks were a riot.  And eerily life-like!!  Well done you two.  You deserved 1st place.

Giant Eagle Catalina gone wrong

I pulled up to the check out line Saturday at noon.  To say Giant Eagle was packed would be a wild understatement.  I was in a bit of a panic since I left Jason and the kids in the parking lot to "whiz" through the store and pick up my items...30+ minutes later I'm tapping my foot impatiently in the check out line and praying that the woman in front of me stops chatting up the cashier!!

I paid and was waiting for the $2.00 Yoplait and $3.00 Always catalinas to print out.  She grabs them as they print out of the machine and trashes them.  I politely asked if I could have them and she said said the machine was broken and was only printing blank paper...$5.00 worth of blank paper?!?!

I asked her if there was any way to fix it and she immediately got on the phone for the manager.  After a few minutes, the manager strolls over.  Oh no...it was...HERThe same manager who yelled at me for using printed coupons.  (I have since stopped using printed coupons that say "Do Not Double" and all is well in my couponing world.)  I braced myself as the cashier explained what happened.  The manager asked me to visit the customer service desk to repair the damage and I happily went!!  I'm sure the people behind me were relieved as well. 

Customer service issued me a $5.00 gift card and I was out of there in seconds.  And not a moment too soon - Elena was a wreck!!

Total $15.57 - Saved $40.58 (Plus $5.00 for my next purchase) 71% Savings!!!




I'm starting a little stockpile for the local food pantry with Thanksgiving coming up!

Disproportionately adorable

I don't know why God decided to make babies' arms so short.
But I am so glad He did.

Trick or Treat - Take 2: The Mall

Our local mall has Trick-or-Treating for little ones.  It's a fantastic alternative for anyone who lives in a sketchy neighborhood...or for parents who have too many costumes and need a few opportunities to get their children dressed up.  Leo couldn't decide. 

But eventually picked the M&M my mom found at a thrift store a couple weeks ago!

Quick tangent: Bumblebees are a very popular costume.  I stumbled on this picture of me when I was only 6 or 7.  I'm the bumblebee in the center!

The Mall experience was interesting.  There was a huge mob of frantic children and their patient parents standing in a huge ring around the mall.  We waited in line between each store to get our piece of candy and move on.  The wait between stores was a few minutes and Leo spent it scavenging through his bucket of candy to try out every piece of candy in there.


2 year olds have no concept of Trick-or-Treating.  It is impossible to explain to them that they simple stick out their bucket and someone will put candy in it - over and over again.  As far as Leo could understand, each piece of candy Leo received was the last.  When his bucket was sufficiently full, we directed his attention to his very bored sister.





The excitement of the evening was just overwhelming.


Leo's candy bucket overflowed with lollipops and other candy unsuitable for toddlers.  As a responsible parent, I am obliged to go through all the candy and verify that it is safe for him to eat...that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I hid the bucket with what was left of Leo's candy and thought for sure he wouldn't even remember about the candy in it.  He asked me to take my chair.


I happily let him borrow it as he muscled it into the kitchen. 

All that work and he still isn't tall enough to reach! 


I spoke too soon...

UPDATE - I wrote this post about my homemade laundry detergent too early. 

Apparently, I still have the smelliest kids on the block.  I immediately took all the cloth diapers and rewashed them in Kirklands detergent.  If anyone has the trick to washing cloth diapers in homemade detergent, please let me know!!!!  They shouldn't smell worse after you get them out of the washer.  I read in a few places that adding an essential oil, like lavender, can make them smell great.  Maybe I'll give that a go and try again...


I will continue using the detergent for my clothes, etc.  But I'm scrapping it for the diapers until I can come up with a solution.

Trick or Treat - Take 1

I was never really THAT into dressing up for Halloween.  Take or leave it I guess...I mean, I have a lot of stuff to do.  Coming up with creative Halloween costumes is just not a top priority.

(Homemade 80's aerobic instructor costume - 2007)

Okay, so we're pretty big into Halloween around here!!  I love making a costume from scratch.  There is something very exciting to me about raiding the local Goodwill and creating a masterpiece (see picture above).  The legwarmers are made out of $0.50 red sweatpants I cut up and stapled together at work!!  I didn't have access to a sewing machine. 

It all started when Jason and I were at Franciscan.  We arrived back at our dorm after the worst day EVER to find a huge Halloween party going on.  I was a little deflated after our exhausting day (getting lost in the PA woods, robbed, etc.) and I could not muster up the strength to come up with a creative costume.  I put on some comfortable clothes, took a breather in my dorm room for a few minutes, and I arrive down to the common room to see my date.. dressed as a hobo...talking about needing some money for some crack rocks.  He was hysterical.


After taking note that Jason was not the kind of guy who was "too cool" for dressing up, I was really excited about our future.

Fast-forward a couple years and I'm a few weeks pregnant with Leo.  We hosted a small Halloween party at our apartment with just a few friends.  We also walked to the local brewery and were the ONLY ones dressed up.  Awesome. 


I left my mark on the walls, door handles and chairs that night.  (My mom sewed the whole Smurfette costume out of white felt.  I was dead wrong on the measurements and the dress was entirely too short!!)

After a few years of wildly uncomfortable costumes, I was determined to find a costume that would be comfortable for the evening. 

Cue Publisher's Clearing House Sweepstakes Winner!

I thought our costume was pretty amazing, until I saw my little brother...
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice!!!!

Only to be outdone by Dr. Evil and Mini Me

Everyone always remarked about how Jason and Leo looked identical.  This costume was just too easy :)

I know I know... can it even get better than that???  I took a poll on Facebook last year and a friend suggested that Leo looks just like Popeye. 


Last year, I was too pregnant, tired and lazy to come up with costumes for Jason and I.  We have a party to go to this year and I want to win.  Stay tuned for pictures from our couples costume :)

Happy Birthday Uncle Nathan!!

Happy Birthday Uncle Nathan!!!!


We miss you!!

Who really wears the pants around here...

My kid has an aversion to food.  When he suggests eating something, I get super excited.  It is usually the last thing on his mind.  His vast diet consists of peanut butter and jelly, hamburgers and yogurt.  Naturally, we tell him every night we are having hamburger for dinner and then serve him whatever we are eating.  He's smart.  He knows hamburgers come in a sandwich form - not bowl form. 

A few days ago, I made delicious apple cinnamon oatmeal for breakfast.  While devouring it, he made all sorts of exclamations of it's deliciousness - "MMM NUMMY!!" etc. etc.  Sure my ego was bloated.  I felt like supermom.  Fast-forward a day or two and I decided I needed a little pick-me-up so I made apple cinnamon oatmeal again. 

Fickle toddlers.  Today it was yucky.  The extra dash of brown sugar I sprinkled on top was equally inedible.  Ohhhhhhkayyyyyy...

So, I continued to offer it to him for breakfast thinking that eventually he will give up the fight and just take a bite of the darn oatmeal and realize the depths of its deliciousness.  Not so.  Finally yesterday, I figured out the trick.  The kid needs a change of scenery to get excited about the oatmeal.  I told him to take his bowl of oatmeal outside and eat it with the birds.  It worked!!



Who doesn't love eggs smothered with cheese??  THIS GUY!! 

Tell him to go eat it with the birds outside?  Done.


I wish it worked with all our meals.  Sometimes he goes to bed without having eaten dinner at all.  But other times we resort to the never failing / always-a-crowd-pleaser peanut butter and jelly crackers.  BUT NO!  One could simply NOT eat these at the table as mandated by mom.  They can only be eaten at the couch. 


Someone help me...

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