BLOG TAKE TWO

I had a morose blog typed up, but it was [insert appropriate negative comment here]

I can sum up the lame-ness of it in two sentences:

I couldn't figure out how to post my pretty Christmas pictures.

AND

Kayla and I have been sick.


MOVING ON!


I popped over to a new blog that Stacey found. http://www.hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/ and am feeling much perkier.


So I will leave you with this Tale of Two Sisters.

Imagine being a twin . . . . . .

One twin is a home body, likes to cook, has kids, a minivan, cats, and a closet that would make Tim Gunn cry.

The other is a bit of a fashionista, loves clothes, Starbucks, and actually has a social life. She actually reads style books written by Tim Gunn.

Needless to say I am twin one.

But thanks to my sister living with me for a while, I am trying to mend my ways.

Actually . . . . I'm trying to look better because I'm sick of that 'You are soooooo lame' look that she delivers to me along with phrases like "Burn that when you take it off today" and "I am veto-ing that barrette in your bangs. What are you 12?"

I'm starting from the inside and working my way out because sister dearest works at Victoria's Secret and is my instant snitch for all things on sale. In the last 2 month I have purchased 3 new bras, had 2 given to me by sis, and bought about 30 smoking pairs of VS underwear.

And that's where the problem begins.

Have you ever had "Garment Amnesia?"

Garment Amnesia: def When a person doesn't recognize a garment purchased recently because they forgot what it looked like in the first place. See catch phrases like "I've been looking for this" and "Why did I ever buy that?"

My sister and I tend to lump laundry together and wash a mix of hers/mine clothes every time we do laundry. She, however, doesn't suffer from Garment Amnesia. My sister can look at a garment from 6th grade and tell you if it was hers or mine.

So tell me, dear friends, how ridiculous is it that I have to ask my sister to help me sort my laundry because I can't even identify my own underwear?

Tim Gunn, please know that I love you and am working on my fashion issues. . . .

Recipe

We had a very full weekend, including a Christmas photo session which I will intentionally forget to mention until a later date, due to the happy tone I an striving for in today's blog.

How to whip up a fun weekend in fall:

Start with a night of dressing up in halloween items that mommy bought on clearance.
Add a touch of cookies to decorate throughout the week. . . .


Sprinkle in some dried leaves . . . .
And toss in a couple of little girls to get some super big smiles!


(In hindsight, we should have used this recipe to get good Christmas pics, but the leaves may have posed a problem. . . )

Mad as a hatter!

"What's going on in your life?" you ask.

My second favorite answer is I got a promotion at work! Jeff and I have been planning all the ways to spend all that extra cash I will be earning like. . . yachts and private planes.

Just kidding, but I'm totally psyched because I haven't had a promotion since I started and due to the economy getting a raise has been pretty tough, so this is pretty big news for us.

And what has taken me so long to post?

Well let me see if I can sum up in one word what I have been doing with my last month.

Halloween.

While Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday over all. Halloween is the holiday that I was built for . . .

Because I LOVE costumes.

Do you know about me and theater? Have I mentioned it yet? I am a pretty poor actress and singer, so I didn't get to do much on stage, not to mention I pretty much sucked at hitting my cues to enter and leave . .we won't mention the one time I was spacing out in the green room and completely forgot to go on stage. (Don't worry, I didn't have any dialogue that got dropped.)

But I did fall in love with this lady.

Donna

(Ritchie Valenz has begun crooning in the background)

Dear Donna taught me everything I know about doing this . . .

No! Not dressing in drag! Costuming!

While Mom and Grams get all the credit for teaching me how to sew (yes I did leave my high school home ec teacher out on purpose . . .) Donna was my college theater professor of costume and makeup design. Due to her fun and laughter, when I wasn't with my boyfriend off campus, I was in her shop stitching away merrily.

And once a year I let that theater minor loose on the world and wind up with something a little like this . . .

The Mad Hatter!!!

This is me downtown competing in a costume competition on Saturday.
And yes I did place, I came in fourth after Han Solo riding a Tonton, a Chilean Miner, and a Husker *ahem* violating the Mizzou tiger (yucky, but it was well done.)
Currently there are probably 100 plus pictures of me surfing around the intranet and I'm sure several videos of me dancing like a loon
oh, excuse m I mean I was "Futterwacking" like a loon. When in Wonderland . . . .

And now here is where I brag. I made almost the entire thing myself. Yep, the hat. the jacket, the gloves and eyebrows were all me. The pants were modified from Goodwill, and my sister actually had the socks and boots in her closet. Between my makeup design starter kit and my sister's collection of eye shadow, I didn't have to buy a single piece of makeup.

And the gift card that I won wasn't anywhere near what I spent. But I always figure that some of these pieces will be reusable, so they have been retired to the costume closet upstairs until needed again.

I did save a bit of time for my girls' costumes.

Sadly the camera was running out of batteries and I was running out of patience, so these pics are all I have.

And, alright, I admit it!

I purchased the Tink costume! (I just heard Donna's gasp of outrage from across town . . .)

I just couldn't find the right color of stretchy fabric to make a tink costume that would last for at least 2 years. And if I'm going to make a princess/fairy dress for Alaina, it needs to be built to fit for a few years because she loves to dress up.


Jeff was very fortunate in that I didn't have time to make a costume for him, because he would have made a nice Peter Pan. (Ha ha!) Don't mind Kayla, I swear she's just screaming "Take the picture already!!!" : )

I swear if I had the time, I would costume everyone I know for Halloween.

and really that's about it. I've signed us up for holiday photo sessions this weekend so I've resigned myself to rushing around getting haircuts, dresses and everything else for the little ones before Sunday.


And with that planned, Jeff and I are looking at zero relaxing weekends before December.

*Sigh*

I don't know why I ever think that I can get anything done between Labor day and Christmas.