Costumes, Cupcakes, and Cranky

I am recovering from a night of sugar-induced whiney, fussy, short-temperedness...the kids are feeling the same way.

Just kidding...it's they who were so out of sorts as the evening went on.  Things began on a decent note, although I had started the night off by pooping on their party, or for the more classy of you out there, raining on their parade.  I told them that we were not going to go trick-or-treating after the Fall Fun Fest, due to the Swine Flu.  Think of all those hands in all that candy, digging and leaving all manner of germs behind.  Can you believe I never had this thought until someone else mentioned it yesterday?!  I can't believe it myself.  Sometimes I just don't make any sense at all. 

What's kind of weird and funny is that Mike agreed with me when I voiced my concerns this afternoon.  I told him that I might not take them out after the church party and mentioned the reason and he was like,"Yeah, that's probably not good."  This from the one I was expecting to tell me to take a deep breath and stop overanalyzing these things!  That pretty much sealed the deal for me.

Of course, the sadness that ensued once everyone else was headed out into the neighborhood, plus talking to a couple of other moms (who said,"They're just as likely to get something here as walking around out there...") led me to change my mind.  And so we went. 

I can't say that it was all that fun.  Eliana wanted to eat M&M's constantly and hollered in my ear if I said no, plus I couldn't find the stroller so I had to carry her (oh, no!  I also never got to go look for the stroller...I think I must have left it in the street where Michaela played soccer this morning.  I can't think of anywhere else it might be.); we started off with one set of friends, which was an accident, and then when we went to catch up with the original crowd Christian lost it; Michaela complained when it was all said and done and we were headed home, because some of the other families that live outside of this immediate area were headed to other neighborhood parties.  And because I wouldn't let her have ice cream once we got home, showered, and ready for bed. 

I'll spare you the rest of the unpleasant details of our time before bed.  I will say that once everyone was down, they were out pretty quickly.  I don't know if this will be bad news in the end, since the clock goes back an hour tonight.

How about some nice and happy?

Here are the kids in their outfits just before heading to the Fall Fun Fest.

  

   

  

   

I know it's a lot, but the grandparents need to see!!  (I love Christian's outfit from the back!)

Eliana was delighted to find that there were copious amounts of chocolate at the Fall Fun Fest...chocolate and green icing.  I even took all of the icing off of her cupcake that I could by quickly swiping it on a plate before I gave it to her.  Can you imagine what she would have looked like if she had actually had the icing on it?

And looking at Christian at the end of the evening just cracked me up.  His costume was a little disheveled!  One of his moccasins was coming apart and check out his pants.  If you read the previous post, I had laid out the pants on the floor so the stripes were showing in the front.  I then said that the stripes were really for the sides, but so that I could show them off they were facing out like that...just for the picture.  Well, look how they ended up!  Totally turned so that they are running down the front! 

And yet again I managed to catch him without a limb!  This time it's the arm, though.  My timing needs some work. 

If I can get past the memory of the stinkpot moments, then I can say that they all had a really good time.  And now I'm off to divvy up the candy into equal shares and then eat the rest hide the rest.

Delusional? Of Course!

My kids have been telling me for several weeks what they want to be for our church's Fall Fun Fest.  This is an event that can either take the place of Halloween trick-or-treating, or be a candy-filled prelude to the later evening candy-gorge-fest that inevitably takes place each 31st of October.

As a little sidenote, or undernote, or whatever you may want to call it, I don't particularly like Halloween.  I don't have any very well-defined arguments or concise thoughts and intelligent answers to the question that has been posed to me before,"Why don't you like it?"  It's probably a combination of several things.   One is the large quantities of sweets doled out to all the children (which I will then invade and eat half of, thank you for that, all you so-called nice people out there...my bottom does not need your Snickers and bite-sized Hershey bars.  When you eat sixteen of them, they turn into a GIANT-sized Hershey bar which has more calories than a couple of Big Macs in the end.  And my end doesn't need all those calories, I say again.)  (I suppose I don't really have to eat half of their candy, especially all at once, but...well, I...oh, it's my fault, isn't it?  Shoot.)  Did I say this was going to be a little sidenote?  Sorry for misleading you.  I misled myself, if that helps.  I also don't care for all the spooky stuff:  the skeletons and the ghosts and the creepy goblins or zombies or whatever.  I know that it's become this funny sort of parody of scary in many ways, but I also think that it adds to that general sense of desensitization (is that even a word?  Should it be desensitizedness?) that we have in this country to things that we should be more sensitive to.  What a sentence.  Can you make sense of that?  The hardest thing for me to put into words has to do with the spiritual aspect...but, seriously, I feel like I'm going to shake to pieces if I even think about starting to talk about that.  I'm more the "I just feel that way" kind of person...so don't ask me to explain it, please.

Now after I've said all that I'll tell you that our kids went trick-or-treating last year around the neighborhood (for the first time in their lives) with a group of friends that was also at the Fall Fun Fest; I really did not feel like I could say no.  It would have been very awkward.  And, my goodness, did they have a good time with their friends.  This going out afterward has now become a tradition that has been long-anticipated by my two older children.  And they have been thinking for quite a while about what they wanted to dress up as.

Which leads me to the reason I began writing this in the first place.  They told me they wanted to be a cowgirl and a Native American.  (Not both together...Michaela wants to be a cowgirl [I'm sure you never would have figured it out that she wanted to be a cowgirl], and Christian wants to be a Native American.  Which will be so easy to pull off since he has hair the color of the sun's rays.)  I thought to myself,"I can make their costumes!"  Sure, since I sew all the time (in my head) and I have nothing else to do (except thirteen loads of laundry, and clean all twelve rooms in my house thoroughly, and actually make dinner one of these nights). 

(See title of post now.)

We went to the Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft store and I found the perfect fabric and craft supplies (imagine that!) for our venture into this great unknown.  I got out my sewing machine, and started cutting and sewing the next day, which was Thursday-two whole days before the 31st.  This is actually a major deal, since I am quite famous for waiting until later than the last minute to do anything.  Especially time-consuming things.  Things started out well, though.  The girls were home with me, and Michaela was sweet to keep Eliana occupied with The Little Einsteins.  I stitched a "fine seam"...

But if I tell the truth then I'll say the seam was really a hem and actually looked like a drunk bear had gotten a hold of my sewing.  Why a bear?  I don't know.  Why not?  It was the crookedest, wacked out hemline I've ever seen. 

Undaunted, I forged on. 

Then my sewing machine went haywire.  One of the most important parts for threading the needle was nowhere to be seen (I mean it, it's like it fell down into this slot that you are suppoed to slip your thread in and I couldn't figure out how to get it out, or if it ever was out, or if it was broken, or if I had a machine that was different than the one in the picture so no wonder I couldn't follow the directions.  I thought I was in the twilight zone when I was telling Mike my troubles and I turned around and there it was popped up out of the slot!  Talk about creepy.) and the bobbin thread managed to get wrapped around the small metal rod that the bobbin slips onto...how on earth did that happen?  It doesn't even seem possible, yet these are the kinds of things that do indeed happen to me when I attempt a project like this.  It wrapped around that metal rod about sixteen times and then also got mangled, tangled, and stuck in the space in between the bobbin cavity and where the needle goes in and out of that cavity.  It was crazy.  I thought I would cry.  I may have actually shed a tear.

I just wanted to sew a straight line. 

I decided that although theoretically a sewing machine would get the job done faster, in my reality hand-stitching would mean that this job would get done before October, 2015.  So, I set to stitching by hand. 

Talk about a straight line!  What talent (I don't have).  But at least now I was getting somewhere.

Somewhere called the Loony Bin.  But somewhere.

Michaela said to me,"Why are you stiching like that, Mommy?"  I told her it would be faster (I was just taking the needle and thread straight [sort of] across the material).  Later, I began using a backstitch, which is what the kids in Christian's class are using for their quilt squares, and she said,"Now are you going to use a real stitch?"

The first thing I worked on was a vest for Michaela...I hadn't seen any while out and about, and I think that even if I had I wouldn't have wanted to buy the plastic ones, or the ones that were fake leather and cost $30.  I didn't have a pattern, but just made it up as I went along (this might go a long way to explain my crooked sewing...).  I think it turned out all right when it was done, and she was very happy with it. 

I'm glad she is so easy to please.  I would like to do something to the shoulders, but I'm not sure what.  I'll look at it again later, since she had it on all day today.  Notice that I covered up my crazy stitching with red ribbon (which, by the way, I should let you know ribbon is very hard to put on a curve when the ribbon is straight, since the curve is, well, curved).  It's cute, and she likes it.  I also got smart and started using the Heat'N'Bond, which you iron into your hems and whatnot.  Sew much easier!  Ha, ha.  I do make myself laugh. 

Next I got to work on Christian's outfit.  I had looked up some stuff online and gotten a general idea of what I wanted to do, but then I just started messing with the fabric and laying it out to see what would happen.  I knew I wanted to double the fabric and cut out a neck hole which seemed easy enough.  I cut off one end of the large piece of fabric; I thought it would be wide enough to use as a tunic.  My plan was to cut slanted lines a little below the top, for his sleeves, and then below that stitch straight down, leaving some unstitched at the bottom.  I did all of that, and it looked pretty good; I flipped it right side out and burst out laughing. 

I wish that you could have seen it for real; it looked like a great tunic for a Native American broomstick.  And Christian is pretty skinny, but...I needed to go back to the drawing board. 

I did save that first attempt, thinking Eliana could wear it.  We convinced her to try it on (and believe me, the child is so opinionated that that was no small feat), and at first she thought it was pretty funny...

When it's just our family around, the child loves to be the center of attention...

"Me?  Why, yes...of course the world is revolving around me?!  Did you not know that?"

Then she realized that this tunic, or dress?, was starting to feel a little like a boa constrictor that had wrapped itself around her squishy little belly...

And she wondered how on earth she was going to unpeel this article of clothing from her body.

She hung out in there for a couple more minutes...

but then she was ready to get it off!  Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of that effort; it was equal parts funny and sad since she like to do things all by herself and got into a really tight spot trying to get it off of her arms.  I saved her from her misery, though.  I'm a good mom like that.

I went back to work on Christian's tunic; I cut a new piece and left more room this time.  The sleeves turned out longer, which I liked better anyway.  I stitched the sides again, and this time it looked like it would be roomy enough for the little man.

I cut the extra material off of each side and realized that there was a bonus (or extra bonus, as I always like to say!)...what was left looked just like the breeches that I had seen pictures of, which Native Americans had worn during the cold winter months.  I tried to use the iron-together hemming stuff down one side with the intention of leaving the other side open.  I ironed and ironed and nothing happened; I left it sitting for thirty seconds or more.  I flipped the iron upright and then set it back down just in case it had automatically shut off...nothing was working.  I could feel that the material was warm, but it wasn't hot.  I started to think that all the machines in the world were conspiring to make me lose my mind.  Didn't they know that it was already gone?!  I finally noticed that, no, it had not automatically shut off, but that I had actually turned it off myself.  That helped explain why it wasn't working! 

I started thinking that maybe 2015 wasn't that bad of a guess for finishing, with or without the sewing machine.

Once I had the one side ironed together on each pant leg, I cut holes all the way down the other side in order to be able to wrap the thing around Christian's leg and then use strips of (fake) leather to tie it together.  I thought it would be very cool. 

I finished the tunic and the pants by ironing on a bright strip of woven looking cloth-across the chest, and down the sides of the respective garments. 

I was very pleased with how it ended up looking, and when Christian saw it all and said,"Whoa!" with a huge grin on his face I was even happier.  There is nothing like doing something that your kids actually like.  It was a great moment.  The picture shows the stripes on the pant legs going down the front, but that's just so you could see them.  They will actually go on the outside of them.

Since I was on a roll, I decided to make moccasins.  I had looked around a little in stores, but hadn't found anything in his size.  So, I took his sneakers and covered them all up with this same fake leathery suede material...

After some folding, cutting, and the addition of leather strips, they turned out okay...

The one thing I'm going to have to figure out is how to make them not slippery...the sneaker is literally wrapped up in this fabric and he put them on and went skating through the house.  You know, I could put some of my microfiber cleaning cloths on the bottom of these things and let him go crazy dusting the floors...

I did adjust the tight tunic so that it fit Eliana in a more normal way, and I added a strip of that bright cloth to the bottom of it.  Pretty cute.  I don't know how authentic any of it is, and I don't want to offend anyone.  I tried to make the outfits so that they were more like replicas than the silly costumes you might find in some places.  I need to make the headpiece for Christian and a small quiver for some arrows, but then I'll be done.  I had a good time with this project, but the best part was hearing them say how much they liked the things that I had made.  It was totally worth the time and the needle pokes in my fingers.

And on a final note, I wanted to say that Michaela was so sweet while I was working.  She wanted to sew too, but she watched Eliana when I really needed her to.  She had ideas (I can't tell you how many times she said,"If I were you, I'd do...) and started her own little project with a scrap of the fabric.  She also made a belt for herself and was pleased beyond measure with it when she was done.  I love that girl.

Can you believe her eyes?  I know that it is a bright picture, but I just love the color of her eyes captured here.  That brightness and lovliness are reflected by her inside and out.

And now, since I reminded myself that I have a quiver to make, I am off to make a quiver!

A Note

Dear Dallas,

I am writing to encourage you as you work through this identity crisis.  Don't be surprised that I know...I totally understand what it's like to wonder what it would be like if things were different.  It's obvious that you are trying to sort out some issues that have been lying just below the surface but are now breaking through, and pouring out, so to speak.

But Dallas, lovely Dallas, you are not Seattle.  Nor are you a tropical rainforest.  I'm just going to give it to you straight...this constant rain cannot change the fact that you are Dallas, Texas, which just happens to be a great little spot in the northern part of our state!  Don't forget that you are one of the largest cities here!  (The third largest, actually.)  You have a lot to be proud of...this is the number one growing city in the entire United States of America!  People love you!  And they want to be here.  Think of Deep Ellum, and Tex-Mex, and the Arboretum!  White Rock, Six Flags, and the Mavericks!  All the places of learning, whether it be museums or schools, or universities and other establishments of higher education!  Let the sun shine, Dallas; there are plenty of reasons to put on a sunny face!

Look, I know what it's like to think that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence...Ironically, however, the rain has made the grass greener here on this side of the fence. 

Lovely job, but enough is as good as a feast, as they say.

We all know there is a time for rain, a time for watering the earth.  But too much rain all at once can be counterproductive.  There's flooding and there are sewage problems...it can be a big mess.  We don't want that, right?

Close your eyes.  Well, maybe not, since then you couldn't read this.  Instead, just think of all the wonderful autumns that have passed.  I've heard people talk about how glorious autumn is here ever since we've been around (almost four years); it's not too hot and it's not too cold.  Take heart, Dallas!  It's not too late to get back to what you were meant to be!  That would be not rainy every day. 

Let me know if I can help in any way, okay?  I am great at listening, and baking.  I'm hoping that this note will strengthen and replenish your soul.  Goodness knows the replenishment that you have given!  Now it's your time to shine! 

Sincerely hoping to see the sun tomorrow,

Christina

Sit Down For a Minute

I realized yesterday that the last several posts' titles had something to do with walking.  It struck me funny.  Especially since our blog is about us, the Walkers. 

I'm sorry, I'm giggling all of a sudden.  It's that crazy kind of giggle though, that's tired and weird, and could just-as-easy-as-pie turn into hysterical crying.

Speaking of pie, I really want to eat a brownie (I can, I made some last night).  I really need to go through about six thousand piles of papers and mail.  I'm trying to feel good about cleaning up our schoolroom (a little) today, and getting most of the laundry put away (or relocated from the living room so that any visitor we may have isn't greeted by Mount St. Laundrius, as it teeters, on the verge of falling over onto said visitor because it's so high). 

Here is something I can't believe.  I cannot believe that it is raining here again.  I think I might drown in the sound of raindrops and waterfalls.

Can someone please come clean our dining room table?  I had it all cleaned off (as far as dirty dishes go) except for my dinner dishes, and then the kids came home from Bible study and had to have something else to eat and it looks like all the dishes from my cabinets are on the table mocking me. 

Well, that was a little dramatic. 

I'm feeling dramatic, though. 

And super tired...and I need to switch the laundry.  Or did I, but I just forgot to start the dryer?  I need to go check on that. 

***

I'm back.  I switched my laundry and got my brownie.  I ran upstairs (well, I didn't run because I'm too lazy to do that) and retrieved the dirty laundry from Christian's bathroom.  The last couple of times I've done that there has been an extra towel on the floor, one that he did not use, a towel from the downstairs bathroom.  Someone is taking double secret showers here (name that movie reference).  I do not get it.  "No sir, I don't like it."  (name the character who said that)

As I was getting my brownie I remembered how Eliana noticed the cake pan (my 9 x 13 metal cake pan) on top of the stove, covered with foil.  She exclaimed,"Birthday cake!  Yay!  Have some?!"  The child is well-versed in the art of chocolate.  I'm so glad that I have these important life skills that I am able to pass on to my children. 

Guess what?  That proverbial lid?  Flipped it!  Let me tell you how I know...I decided that I would try to make the kids' costumes this year that they will be wearing to the Fall Fun Fest (which is on the 31st, but it's not a Halloween party.  This is true, and I like that, but then they go trick-or-treating with their friends afterward.  Last year was the first time, but apparently it is now a tradition...).  Yes, I am going to sew.  I am.  That is probably what I should be doing right now...along with the dishes.

How do you feel about putting ganache on brownies?  I thought it would be a good idea...now I'm not so sure.  It seems crazy (not to be sure), because it's chocolate on chocolate!  Could that really be a bad thing?  The brownies are just so good on their own...  It's like wearing a Vera Wang wedding gown with a Vivienne Westwood shawl coat wrapped around it.  Both are fabulous, but do you really want to pair them?

Aren't you glad you sat down for a minute?  Mom, I know you're still here.  I love you, Mom! 

And in lieu of anything that makes sense...

Just because I thought they were cute.

Hello?  Sense...are you there?  Can you please make an appearance here because...well, we've had enough of this other stuff.  That would be the nonsense.

Now...I'm off to do the dishes.  I'm sure you're glad to know it.

Walking

I'm walking on this road in the dark, through the night

And I keep on walking straight, while I'm waiting for the light,

Toward something I'm not sure of, yet a thing I trust to be-

A solid rock, a fortress, and a place of rest and peace.

My shoes are worn and dirty, and my clothes have turned to rags.

The wind it blows against me, making heavy all the bags

That are loaded on my back, that are swinging by my sides-

The burdens that I've carried for all these many miles.

Suddenly I stop, another step I cannot take;

The journey seems so hard, becomes one I cannot make.

A weary traveler does not rest, even when they stop

For holding on to heavy loads that stubbornly won't drop.

I feel the tears slide down my face, they fall of their own will

And though I can no longer move, I want the journey still.

A voice calls out,"You're not alone, you never were, my dear,

For I am right beside you, and I always have been here."

A hand picks up my chin, and then takes the bags from me,

"Let me have those burdens, for you are weak and weary.

There's no offense in these my words, for it's a truth you know."

He gestures then says kindly,"You think that these must go

With you on your journey, you have determined it to be.

But all the things that weigh you down are unnecessary."

I notice that the night is turning from its darkness to the pale

And lovely glow that comes just before the sun sets sail

Across the sky, a glorious ship, beginning each new day.

And I realize how long it's been since I have seen its rays

Or felt its warmth and reveled in the glory of its face.

But now I stand enjoying golden light in every place!

It slowly fills the world with bright and radiant beams

Lighting up the treetops and glistening in the streams.

The dirt and dust from traveling a long and rocky path

Are gone and now I am as clean as if I'd had a bath.

I wear new clothes that are not mine, they have replaced the rags,

And I can stand up easily without the heavy bags.

Without my load I notice that my shoulders are not sore.

I look at Him, and smile; I take a step and then one more.

But I know that there is something that I do not understand,

A mystery I can accept because I hold His hand.

Though I take the steps and walk the road that now is light

I am carried in the arms of the One who chased away the night.

Walking over rocks was toilsome; now the journey has become

One of rest and peace, while walking with the Rock, the Son.