I believe in ... FALL!

It has happened again. I was having a harvest party for the Girl Scouts ... after all, Thanksgiving is a mere week away it seemed appropriate. I had most of the things I needed but had to pick up a few last minute items. Guess what I found at the store? Sheaves of wheat? Indian Corn? Pilgrims? Turkeys? Get real. Those things are all part of the forgotten season ... Fall. That's right. I am hear to tell you that there is a season and and event between Halloween and Christmas. Fall, Autumn, Harvest and Thanksgiving. Sadly, this always gets squeezed out by Christmas ... starting in September it seems! So, as I looked for items for my harvest party, I was treated to chestnuts roasting on open fires and jack frost nipping at my nose. The upside was that the fall items I needed, while limited in supply, were 60 - 90% off. Don't get me wrong. I am all about Christmas ... but can't we wait until at least the Friday after Thanksgiving?

Homemade Halloween Costumes

I don't know about your neighborhood but my neighborhood goes really, really, really big for Halloween. I'm not talking about a few kids running around and dads pulling coolers ... I'm talking kids trucked in from other neighborhoods, neighbors hosting parties in driveways, garages turned into haunted houses, full size candy bars that the kids have to earn by performing a trick (like balancing a balloon on their elbow) or answering trivia (name a country other than the US (1st grader) name a country that borders Germany (5th grader) and golf carts stuffed with assorted ghouls hauling trailers with plywood coffins stocked with booze. It's impossible to over buy on the candy and most people have a special stash of goodies for the kids they know. In short, it's a late night, all out romp on Halloween night. Now, poor Prissy is an only child. That means that you have got to find a buddy for Trick-or-Treating or things get really sad. For the past couple of years Prissy has teamed up with Hermione G. for loot-getting. Now, technically, Hermione G. doesn't live in our neighborhood but the description above works for her neighborhood too so let's just pretend it's the same neighborhood, shall we? This year the girls got all coordinated-like and everything. They announced, in June, that they wanted to be Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum for Halloween. Now, it doesn't take a rocket scientist (in other words, I didn't consult SEMM on this one) to figure out who (Craftier) is going to have to pull this together (Craftier) because I have somewhat of a reputation for being the go-to mom on these sorts of things (Craftier). In my former life, I managed large projects for a range of clients. In my current life, I manage the largest annual project of kid year for a two discerning clients. Funding may not be at stake, but geez, I was stressed. My clients and I met several times to discuss the options. The kept saying "round like berries" which sent me down the superstructure path. How'd that work for me? Let's just say I'm no civil engineer. In the end, I went with the original plan ... pilllows ... lots of pillows. Turns out you can turn two normal-sized 12 years olds into fat little berries with size XXL red stretch pants and pillows from their beds. Add a beanie ordered on-line, men's XL dress shirts with "Dee" and "Dum" written in fabric paint, suspenders from "who the heck knows what it's really for but it's red" from the notions section at the fabric store and POOF story book characters come to life. All of this is to say, what do I like right now? Homemade Halloween Costumes.