These are the Voyages...

I love Halloween. It ranks up there in my Most Favorite of Holidays. I love the costumes and the cute decorations (I do not like the super gross decorations, though) the fun music and movies-the black and whites are the best.  Around our house, we start talking about Halloween around the end of the summer. By the second or third week of school, my kids have a pretty firm idea of what they'd like to "be" for Halloween. This is done for two reasons. One, who doesn't want to plan out the PERFECT costume idea? Two, in our house, I usually make the costumes, and so need a good month or so to formulate just exactly HOW I'm going to create the vision these kiddos have in their heads. I even go so far as to make my own patterns. It sounds crazy, I know, but I try to make them as simple as possible to avoid some of the more complicated patterns that exist out there, not to mention keeping my costs down by not having to purchase the patterns. I take an item of clothing that my kids already own and use that as the template to make the pattern on newspaper. Depending on what they want to be, I just alter it until it becomes the desired character.

This year has been a little different. Instead of only 2 costumes to make, I made a total of 5 (actually 6 if you count the do-over on mine). My husband (and I) spent some time watching the original Star Trek on Netflix this summer. My kids naturally wandered in and asked if they could watch, too. Of course! was the answer. When we got to the Trouble with Tribbles episode, my kids had basically decided that they like it. Somewhere along the way, the idea came out that they could dress as Star Trek characters for Halloween. It all got sorted out, we could have Kirk and Spock, Dad would be McCoy, and I would be....a female member of Star Fleet. You see, Uhura dates Spock, and since my son is going as Spock, that seemed a little weird. So, I'm a Lieutenant in Engineering. Either way. But what about our little one? She could be a Tribble!! So, it was settled.

I spent a good month brain storming how to put the uniforms together, and we watched the newest movie a few weeks ago. I spent the entire time studying their uniforms to get the right idea. I looked up uniforms, ranks, and insignias in the Official Star Fleet Technical Manual (yes, my husband owns a copy). This was important. I needed to get the details right. This was the first time in many years that my husband has decided he wants to have a costume! I typically don't dress up, sort of because he doesn't. But this he was excited about. So I had to get it right. I don't think I've ever paid so much attention to details for Halloween. But it was fun. I sewed for a week straight.

Here is Captain Kirk. Captain of the Enterprise. His rank as Captain is indicated by the color of his tunic, the insignia on his chest and the two and one-half stripes on his cuff.

This is Mr. Spock. He is the Commander on the Enterprise, as indicated by two stripes on his cuff. He is a Science Officer which is noted by the color of his tunic and the insignia on his chest.

Here we have McCoy. He is Lieutenant Commander, giving him one and one-half stripes on his cuff. He is a Doctor on the Enterprise, and so a Science Officer as well.

This is a standard female Lieutenant (one stripe) in Engineering, as is indicated by the color of the mini dress and the insignia on her chest. By the way, according to Trek: The Encyclopedia, "women have the option of wearing pants or dresses in "Where No Man Has Gone Before,"" and so I must be from that episode because there is no way I'm wearing a mini-dress and nylons for Trick-or-Treating. Or any other occasion, really.

Here is our darling Tribble. Defined in Trek: The Encyclopedia as a ball of fur that purrs. I hope she doesn't give us too much trouble.

And more of Kirk and Spock because they look so AWESOME!

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Happy Halloween!

The Holiday Porch

For about 3 days this week, we had 3 holidays on our front porch. The Sunday before Halloween, while visiting my husband's parents, they gave us two HUGE pumpkins that had grown under their fence from the neighbor's yard (he said they could keep them). We brought them home and then worried about how to carve such massive pumpkins. Sometimes when a gourd gets that big, the meat of it is really thick. We didn't really want to exert the brute force it would take to carve out even just the traditional triangles and a smile. As my husband and I looked them over, our boys asked if we were going to paint our pumpkins again this year. Oh, yeah! Last year, all the cousins got together and painted pumpkins at my mom's house. We decided this was the safer route and the kids got to be more 'hands on' about it. So, they painted the pumpkins and they were placed on the front porch.

About a week into November, I remembered a pair of wooden pilgrims that I had painted about 7 years ago. So, I retrieved them from the crawl space and they took their post next to the front door. I looked at the pumpkins and decided that they were comfortable where they were. (Did I mention the massive size of those things?)

The Monday after Thanksgiving, I decided I wanted to hang the Christmas lights on the house while it was still moderately nice weather and the ice was not yet a threat. I had spent a good couple hours and a blood blister on my thumb getting the burned out lights all changed and good to go on Saturday. So, it was time. I went with the limited ladder approach this year, just wrapping them around the porch and the two window awnings instead of across the eaves of the roof.

And then, for three days, our porch celebrated Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas all at the same time. I'd have left it longer, but today was garbage day, and my husband wanted to toss them, rather than have them get all slimy over the next week or 3. So, we took the kids out to the porch, had them sit by their own pumpkin and we got a shot. It doesn't show the lights very much, but if you look at the edges of the picture, the lights are wrapped around the porch railings.

Our Holiday Porch. Happy Hallow-Thanks-Mas!

And, since we are talking about Halloween, here is a bit of sew and tell that I didn't get to share yet. I love to make my boy's Halloween costumes, and they love to be involved with all the details. Here is what we had this year.


A Mad Scientist

I made the jacket pattern using a robe that my sister made and passed to us when her son grew out of it. I just eliminated the hood and sash and added a collar and buttons. My son picked out these huge toy buttons. He saved that flourescent yellow shirt all month so it was clean for his costume. He made his name tag that says, "Hello. My name is Mad Scientist." Clever. One day, he is going to be a scientist, I just hope he doesn't really go mad.



A Bat

This guy's bat ears just wouldn't stand up straight. But he never complained once. His favorite part of the costume was that the wings had handles that he could grab for flight. When he was busy with other bat things, he simply let go and the wings hung quietly behind him. I must note that the bat head and vest are made with fleece because bats have fur. But the wings are just cotton, because bat wings are not furry.

And of course, a spooky Lindsey Stirling video that would have been posted with these pics on Halloween, had I sat down and actually posted when I thought of it. Nothing like fighting off zombies with a stringed instrument and a few good dance moves. Please enjoy.

Kitchen Curtains

At the beginning of August, my husband and I decided to reorganize the kitchen a little bit. In so doing, we went through our kitchen cabinets and realized we really needed a change. You see, our kitchen has open cabinets. No doors. We found what might have once been the cabinet doors in the shed out back, but they were in bad shape, so they didn't stay.

The previous owners had painted the shelves and put a decorative edge on the shelves. They also put a chicken wallpaper border along the inside of the bottom shelves. We thought it was cute, and so simply gave the shelves a new coat of paint and used them as is.

However, this month, as we were cleaning things out, we realized that it wasn't really that grand of an arrangement. The top shelves (which contain things rarely used) were extremely dusty, greasy, and sticky. Being uncovered all the time allows excess dust and the grease from the stove to accumulate. We had to thourougly clean everything up there and reconsider the open cabinet idea.

Curtains! It was a quick and inexpensive fix. We decided that the chicken/rooster motif was a good way to go, so we found a bolt of fabric (we bought what was left of it) with appropriate fowl and some inexpensive curtain rods. I measured and then set to work.

And now, here we have a lovely set of chicken curtains to cover the kitchen cabinets, still showing off the wallpaper that was laid in the bottom shelves. There is a border around the rest of our kitchen with little country houses. But it's faded and peeling. So we decided that one day, we are going to tear that down and find some sunflowers to go around the top. They will go nicely with the sunflowers in the curtains and balance things out. But for now, I'm content to admire my chickens over the cupboards.

I've Spilled the Beans

It's funny, really, that I want my own blog. I don't even have a Facebook page. But, this, somehow seems more appealing to me. It seems more the place where I can chatter on (hence the spilled beans) about the things that seem important to me. So, after much internal debate, here I am.

Of course, you may hope to know a little about me. I am a stay at home mom with two boys (a 1st Grader and a Preschooler). My hubby works hard to "bring home the bacon" so that I am able to enjoy the kids, and be there for all those crucial (and not-so-crucial) times.  I do have a bachelor's degree in Family Studies, and I use it often. My boys are my life. I am grateful every day that I am not employed (note, I did not say work-- that I do) because otherwise, who knows when the dishes and the laundry would get done!

I enjoy many things when I have a few moments to just be me. The first thing I may turn to are puzzles. I love puzzles of all kinds. Word puzzles, number puzzles, jigsaw puzzles--I love to find the pieces and bring them all together. This is evident in my home. I have 3 one-thousand piece puzzles that I glued and framed hanging on the walls. There are 2 or 3 more, waiting for me to work on. They have come in phases, however. The frames can cost a pretty penny. So, like any family on a budget, I have to be sure I don't get ahead of the income as I finish a puzzle. Otherwise, it will have to sit in waiting before I can frame it. That's a pain.

Another thing I've come to enjoy is sewing. I've decided that sewing is just another kind of puzzle. Only, in this case, I get to create it from start to finish. I choose the fabrics, the threads, and the pattern. I have found it greatly satisfying to finish a sewing project. And now, it's time for a little "Sew and Tell." Most recently (read: this week), I spent about 15 hours on my latest sewing project. I am proud to say that the pattern is mine in entirety, I created it all from scratch. I have just finished a beautiful tree skirt. Now, I know, it is too early for Christmas displays. But this one had to be done early. It's not for me. In our community, there is a "Christmas Tree Jubilee." Trees are donated and then auctioned off for charity. They are on display the day before and after Thanksgiving. The winners of the auction get the tree and all it's trimmings. The PTA at my oldest boy's school is donating a tree. So I volunteered to make the tree skirt. I am very pleased with what I have created.

One of my key interests is the world of literature. I love to climb into another world. When I'm reading, I can become someone else, experience things that I haven't before, and go where I've never been. And then I can just put in a book mark and come home. The adventure will wait for me, until I return. I think, that for the most part, I will use this space as a place to write about what I have read. I have been doing quite a bit of reading this year, and sometimes you just need someone to discuss the books with! So, you may come here and find piles of literature. I am always open to new recommendations, and any insight into a novel that I have missed.  I hope you will browse, comment and enjoy.