Mama Drama Mondays: Sew Frustrating

It was decided. Back in April or May, I can't remember which. Peri knew what she was going to be for Halloween. I thought for sure she'd want to revert to her Alice in Wonderland costume for the second year in a row, but to my surprise (and likely due to the movie being watched daily) she announced, "I'm going to be Veruca for Halloween!" We're talking about the original Veruca Salt from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory from the 70's. (Pssst, she's the bratty, I want it now, child, in case it's been a while).

Ever since we started watching the movie, Peri has been acting out all of Verucas' lines and even singing and dancing to her song, then pretending to fall down the garbage chute. Yup, Veruca's her favorite and she just had to be her for Halloween. I wasn't worried about her changing her mind, that is one thing I can always count on with Peri. Stubborn girl. :oP Knowing this much in advance, I took to Ebay to see what I could find. While I could have spent $60 on a custom made costume, that was a bit out of my price range, and instead, I made an offer on a red velour Christmas dress for $5 and called it good. I knew some modifications would need to be made, but hey, there's a first time for everything.

Anyone that knows me, knows that my sewing machine and I are not on a first name basis. We have a mutual respect for each other, but we don't tend to work well together. So I was resigned to the fact that any modifications would need to be done by hand. I'm happy to say, that after a few hours, I finished Peri's costume and it turned out pretty cute.

Since I try to have my kids sorta match, I originally thought of making Ryah into a giant blueberry so she could go as Violet but thought it would be a little awkward for a 3 year old to walk around in. Now if you ask her what she's going to be for Halloween, she says," I'm gonna be a Oompa Loompa." You should hear her say it, it's so cute. It was such a great idea, in theory, until I realized that costume would need to be made from scratch. :oP

After many many many hours of sewing by hand (and a little help from my friend Mandi and her sewing machine - seriously, she cut about 5 hours of my time in just 15 minutes) the Oompa Loompa costume is done. Woo hoo!

I love Halloween, and all the traditions; pumpkin carving, decorations, candy corn cookies... but I won't be adding "making costumes" to the list. I can say I've done it, conquered it, but won't be going there again. Well, not unless my sewing machine and I can come to some sort of agreement, like, sew for me and I won't melt you down into scrap metal to be used in some hideous yard art project. Now there's a thought...

PS. I'll post pics of the girls on the Mama Drama Facebook Fan Page next week.

Happy Halloween!!!!









Originally written for The Mama Dramalogues

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Ooooo Scary... Read it Again!

Since the first hint of pumpkins, goulies and witches hit the stores weeks ago, my girls have been begging me to break out the Halloween goodness. I have a hard time doing anything before October 1st, so now that we're officially past that, I could no longer procrastinate and Jim and I were forced to venture under the house and dust off the Halloween bin.

After a fun filled evening of spooky inspirational music and candy corn treats, we've put everything out and the girls are super excited. I dug out all the Halloween/scary movies (Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline, Corpse Bride, It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown) and pulled all the Halloween books from the shelf so we have a month of spooky reads. Yup, we're all set!

Alyssa's book post got me thinking about all the Halloween books we like to read around here. They've become even more special since we only read them this time of year. So I thought I'd share our faves and hopefully, you'll share yours because we're always looking for more! Plus, it's early enough in the month, that there's still time to check them out!


Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman

This is probably my favorite one. The girls and I just read it tonight. It's about a witch who grows a pumpkin so large, she can't manage to pull it off the vine and she's got quite the hankering for pumpkin pie!
Lots of fun to read and cute repetition for the kiddos.

I give it 5 out of 5 pumpkins

Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson

The story of a witch out for a nice leisurely flight. She meets some friends along the way, each one hoping that there's "room on the broom" so they can come too. Super fun rhyming tale (I love cute rhyming stories) and there's definitely room on the broom so don't miss out!

I give it 4.5 out of 5 pumpkins

In the Haunted House by Eve Bunting

Not a whole lot of story to this one, but the girls love it, so I have to include it in the list. Cute story about a little girl and her dad who venture into a haunted house, but who's the one who's really scared? Like I said, not the most fun to read, but the kids enjoy it.

I give it 3 out of 5 pumpkins

Spooky Hour by Tony Mitton

Another fun rhyming tale as the "midnight spooks" countdown to their Halloween party. Cute story with lots of different ghoulies and fun to say sound words like "clickety clack."

I give it 4 out of 5 pumpkins

Pirates Don't Change Diapers by Melinda Long

Technically not a Halloween book, but with the pirates, I'm sneaking it in here. I was reluctant to read this originally, but found out that it's a really cute story and it's made even better if you use your best piratey voice when you read it. Argh, matey, don't pass this one up!

I give it 5 out of 5 pumpkins



Happy spooktacular reading! :o)







Written for The Mama Dramalogues.

Boo!

Is it taunting you too?

Thought I'd change it up a bit and succumb to the dark side; just in time for Halloween. Thank you Millstream Cottage for providing these super cool scrap page elements! You're so talented.

What's new with you? I hope you're peachy keen. What's new with me? Well, in my quest for becoming the much hotter, thinner version of myself, I've recently turned to a Naturopath for help. I wouldn't consider myself "granola" by any stretch of the imagination, but I definitely lean more towards a natural way of doing things rather than pharmacuticals. After all, I have a feeling some of them might be to blame for my current woes. So, I figured it was worth a shot.

After meeting with my Naturopath, and ordering up some bloodwork, she informed me that she wanted me to cut out milk and gluten. Cold turkey for the gluten. Yikes! What would I ever do without my beloved carbs?!! We suspect that I may have a gluten allergy (I've had a hunch for a long time), and we'll see if bloodwork confirms that, but for now, no wheat products for this chica. I have to admit that after being gluten free for a couple of weeks, I do notice a difference. On the one hand, my cravings and gluteny goodies, hope that it's all in my head, but we're resigned to the fact that this may be where we part ways.

Have you gone gluten free? Please feel free to share your tips and tricks and any gluten free brands you love. I've tried a couple of gluten free bread products and haven't been impressed yet. I had no idea those evil little gluten bits were in so many things! I now know that there is such a thing as gluten free fries at Red Robin. You have to order them without their "special seasoning," which contains gluten. Who knew? I think this may all be a weight loss trick because there aren't as many edible food options out there now, so I'm definitely eating less. :oP

I'm going back Monday for a follow-up appointment and to go over my test results. Hopefully we can get a routine going and be on the fast track to the more fabulous me! Wish me luck.

Have a great weekend!