Peekaboo… October 19, 2009

Okay so I’ll be honest. I’ve mostly disappeared from my blog due to Facebook. Strangely enough as Halloween (also known as my favorite holiday) draws nigh, I have had more and more visits to my very neglected blog. Sadly tho none of the visitors have stayed because what they were looking for I didn’t actually have to show. Namely I had no Michelin Man costumes. That’s right folks- the only reference to the Michelin man on this blog was actually aimed at my sister in law’s Renaissance Festival costume. Sorry to disappoint all of you but there it is.

I do have some pictures for you of random bits and bobs from the last month that I’ve been gone.This is my fireplace mantle in the main living room (our house has a double fireplace thats open on both sides witha  double living room as well) I added a streamer like you’d find at any party store that has been cut like paper dolls into the shape of bats. (not pictured are the red ones that look like blood dripping cut from red crepe paper streamers) The hanging skulls are from the dollar store and everything else lives on the mantle year round. The dolls are art dolls that I made a couple of years ago and the wine glasses came from a thrift store still in their original box. The picture is my mom’s original artwork. This small decoration makes me grin every time I see it.

I’ve been working on decorating our basement a little at a time for our Halloween party. I’d show you pictures but this blog posts to my facebook account and since I want it to be a surprise for as many guests as possible you’ll have to wait til afterwards.

 Jarell is still in Virginia and won’t be home in time for the party but at this point I’ll be happy if he makes it home for Thanksgiving because things have been going really bad for them out there. Its going to be rough waiting even that long for him to come home but the money is really needed after this summer with no work and when he gets home we hope he’ll have made enough to take the winter off which would be nice since he works outside in the cold.

This little church was a dollar store find as well. It was a paint your own Christmas village type of church that I mangled with a bead rasper and painted in spooky colors. Really simple  to do and a quick cute way to have some spookier decorations without spending 50 bucks a piece on the Halloween villages that they sell at Michael’s.

Have I really been gone that long? September 21, 2009

Oh dear its been almost a month! I keep thinking about posting and then I get sidetrack (Ooo whats that? A kitty?) Sorry about that folks. Knowing how you all depend on me for my daily dose of…. crazy or…. whatever it is you come here for when none of the good blogs have an new post to look at. So we’ll go over what I’ve been doing for the last month.

First I was getting ready for Jarell to go out of town and working on my Halloween costume.

Front and back shots

Its been quite a bit of fussy work which I absolutely love but now I’ve reached the point where I have to have a few items for decoration that I don’t want to buy yet so it has moved to the back burner. I have also started on a costume for Jarell this year- a new venture because I’ve never actually sewed anything wearable for him. How hard can it be tho right? (ha! famous last words)

Jarell left on the 15th for the West Virginia job so I’ve been trying to keep busy without tying up my phone line in case I get a chance to talk to him. Thats a big part of the reason for my absence from the computer- I take every chance I can get to talk to him because our conversations are about 5 minutes long at a time and he only has one day off a week. Some of you who’ve been around for a while will know that this is the third September in a row that he’s been gone and so maybe you’d think I’d have gotten used to it by now but in fact the opposite is true.

Each time he’s gone it gets harder and I have more days where I feel like I can’t get enough to breathe. The phantom pain of a missing limb haunts me at the strangest times- I roll over in bed at night after a particularly nasty dream and he’s not there  to comfort me. Or I go to call him at lunch time to see what he wants to eat and then remember he’s a thousand miles and a time zone away. Its not a lot of fun and I’m sure there are a lot of you out there who can understand what its like in one way or another.

We’re planning on having a Halloween party this year and so thats my other way to keep busy right now. Turning our basement into a haunted house or something resembling one with as little money spent as possible because its more fun that way- seeing what we can come up with from the random stuff we and my sister in law have collected over the years. It has the potential to be really cool because between J11 and myself we’ve managed to come up with quite a few low cost high impact ideas for absolutely disturbed and scary decorations. It helps that we’re working in an unfinished basement because whats creepier than the basement torture chamber right?

So other than all of that I have just been trying to keep busy as much as possible. Talking to a few friends from school through Facebook- dealing with some stuff from my past that I wish I’d known about back then. Trying to stay sane. Watching lots of movies and playing a few video games too. Just your average everyday ordinary life I guess.

And with that awkward segue I leave you to return to more interesting waters.

I feel like a heel January 5, 2009

On Saturday Jarell and I went out to celebrate for my birthday. He took me to Joe’s Crab Shack and then we went and saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and it was so nice. As we headed home I had a bit of a feminine malfunction and was embarrased and unhappy due to the hormones that go along with that sort of thing. We had the kids at our house and stopped to pick up a pizza to take home for dinner. When we got there Jarell’s next oldest brother’s car was in the driveway and he was genuinely surprised about that as he had just tried to call him. We walked inside and I was being thankful for my extra long sweater that covered things till I could get changed. I walked up the stairs and heard “Surprise!” I had the impression of sparkling clean and a stack of presents on the table as I rushed into our bedroom to change, but was in a hurry due to the nature of my problem. When at last I was myself again I went back into the main part of the house and realized that the kids had cleaned everything and there were brownies fresh from the oven (which Jarell had been covertly telling the kids when to get started so that they’d be ready when we got home). He was saying to them, I told you guys not to worry about cleaning and they were saying, too bad and I felt like a heel for thinking they’d forgotten. Sweet kids, such wonderfully sweet kids. Jarell didn’t know that J7 was coming, but my MIL, J14, and my niece got there soon after we got home. We ate pizza and ice cream and brownies and I opened my gifts and everyone played with the Wii. It was so nice and such a sweet surprise. I got a book of Curry recipes which makes me ecstatic and a DVD Clue game which is confusing and fun. I feel bad about being so disappointed but I know part of that was PMS. I’m not sure whose idea it was, but they’re all great.

Photos from this weekend (Image HEAVY!) November 11, 2008

These pictures are of course all clickable and to really see the detail you’ll need to do just that. I appologise in advance but the internet hates me so this was the best I could do.

In order left to right, top to bottom

My baby brother Clifford in all his finery, My darling dearest in one of his many costume incarnations, J11 putting the finishing touches on J13 for his Pyramid head costume, J11 and my MIL as Mrs. Doubtfire, Jarell again in another incarnation of the costume and his mom, J9 as the redneck Spartan (complete with Uncrustables box helmet , J13 posing in the basement in full regalia, Me in my not Tia Dalma costume, and again me, J13’s back with fake scars and cuts, J’s 9,11,13, and 14, J11 in her costume- how cool are her eyes here, T-bucket in his not costume, A couple of closeups of my make-up – I was feeling bloodthirsty, J14’s full costume- aren’t she and her sister beautiful dolls?, J12- the other twin LOL and yet he’s not the one witht the nickname of Bubba, and the last three (sorry Dana!) are of our pumpkin display and haunted house candle holder.

Photos courtesy of myself, Jarell, and the rest of the J’s.

*oh and J11 went for the Jigsaw from the movie Saw look while J14 was leaning towards the look of a female Joker a la Heath Ledger.

Where the weekend went July 7, 2008

Well I have spent a very eventful couple of days since I talked at you all last. We went ot the family get together and ate good food, talked, and watched fireworks. I got to spend some time with my nieces who I don’t see as often and that was a nice treat.

Then we headed home. On Saturday we had our own shindig to prepare for and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that my step sister would be coming down from Gladstone with her boyfriend and the girls again. We ended up with 8 out of the 14 kids there (including Jarell) and it was a lot of fun.

It was the best party yet actually- I got the pasta and potato salads made and Jarell cooked the burgers and hotdogs. I let the bread machine make delicious onion herb French bread and J11 cut up the veggies. The garden provided the lettuce for the burgers which made me as proud as a peacock. I had time to sit and enjoy myself and the girls played with my nephew which made everyone happy. Then the girls stayed over with me which was a nice albeit exhausting treat.

As I type they are watching Wallace and Gromit Attack of the WereRabbit. We made necklaces and cookies. Played with puppies and petted a horse and some donkeys courtesy of my youngest sister in law. Jarell became a swing set temporarily for baby bug and I made bug a pair of shorts from a couple of old t-shirts. I made a dress for baby bug, but it didn’t quite turn out right so I have to do some revamping on it.

That’s been my last couple of days. Their mom will be here to get them in a little while and tho I enjoy having them around, I am ready to get my house back in order. I love the girls tho and have had a lot of fun with them. They are wonderful sweethearts who are growing up before my very eyes. I was 12 when bug was born and 16 for baby bug so I’ve grown up with them being around and it makes such a difference. And they make me feel so loved. At random, one or the other of them will decide to give me a bear hug and squeeze with all their might. Then when one is done, the other takes over. Or they curl up with me on the couch to watch TV. I love being an aunt more than I could ever describe. It makes me look forward to having kids of my own, but at the same time it reminds me cherish the time that Jarell and I have alone as well.

I haven’t yet adjusted to the neat freak inside of me so having extra mess around me messes with my head. It crazy actually because I never cared whether things were clean or not at my last couple of houses, but this place is not just a house, its my home with my husband and I love it and want to take care of it. This clashes with my natural laissez faire attitude towards housework. I clean the house thoroughly (for me anyway) every Wednesday and do the dishes regularly and having any kids around whether nieces and nephews or the J’s makes me antsy because I can’t wait to get the house clean again. How weird is that? I guess I’m already turning into my mother which as long as I steer clear of the anger stuff isn’t the worst thing in the world.