Costumes and Catch up

Can you believe it's November 5th already?!? Cripes! Seriously, where does time go?

Here's that picture I promised of the girls in their costumes: Oldest as a vampire, dressed in black with crimped hair and pointy teeth; Youngest as a purple witch with black-painted fingernails and pointy hat; Middle as supergirl. I found the groovy blue polyester pant suit at a yard sale a while back and bought it to wear for Halloween one day. I don't know how people did it back then, but polyester is freakin' hot!! I was sweating buckets wearing that and ended up taking the jacket off and just wearing the pants with a t-shirt. So much for dressing up!

We had a great time! (Thanks sweetie, for having us up!) The girls got plenty of candy to last, at least, until Christmas and I got to see the brand-new baby, and catch up on the news with my best friend. We really ought to get up there more often, since we always have such a good time, both kids and adults.

Mom is officially retired now. She met us for Halloween and then rode home with me while Hubby drove her car. No more scheduled work hours, no more pissy supervisors, no more dragging herself to work when she feels like crap. I'm so proud of her and I hope she'll be happy living with us. We love having her here and the girls love their grandma!

We have had some mild days lately, so we are working the firewood. Hubby is frustrated with his chainsaw-- it's over 20 years old and it seems like there is always some reason to take it apart and fiddle with it before it will run, and even then, it struggles with cutting. Hubby hints for a new chainsaw, and I would love to get one for him, but as usual, money doesn't permit that. So he does what he can with what he has, even if he's a little grumpy about it.

It's gotten cold today, and I'm tempted to start up the wood stove, but we'll see. Maybe we can get away with not starting it up for another day. I'll just bundle the kids up in warmer clothes, do some baking to help warm up the house and see how it goes. I won't turn everyone into popsicles just so I can put off another day with starting the wood stove.

I've sort of lost my blogging groove. I need to get back into it. Bear with me... it's been busy here and I sit at the computer thinking I'd rather do something else, so I do.

My husband's cousin died on Monday. He was only 40. I feel bad for his Aunt, she found him, and I'm sure she is devastated. No parent should ever have to bury their own child. Services will be next Monday, so we are making arrangements for going up for the day.

Time to put Baby down for his nap, then go out and help Hubby with the wood. Later, dudes.

It's a Bird, It's a Plane...

It's Super Girl!!!

I couldn't be more pleased with this costume I made for Middle!

And more importantly.. She loves it!

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Such a picky child, she likes things a certain way; like her pancakes being cut but still touching, or me pouring her juice and not Daddy, or this shirt with those pants...

I worried she wouldn't like the costume and then I was gonna have to figure something else out and let Youngest be Super Girl, but she loves it. LOVES it!

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I cannibalized a damaged shirt that had burned sleeves from my Mom's house fire back in Jan., and I saved the shirt because I thought the fabric was nice. I cut along the sides and around the front of the collar, then hemmed the rough edges to make the cape. I planned to save the button and button-hole from the collar, but it was too big, so I overlapped the pointy parts of the collar and put snaps in. The front panels of the shirt had the sleeves trimmed off then sewn together to make a matching skirt. If someone looked closely at the skirt, they would see button holes on the bottom hem! As it is, she zooms around the room whenever she puts it on, so I doubt she would sit still long enough for anyone to notice!

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I had the old blue t-shirt-- it had a logo on the front for a zoo and I made the superman logo from fleece I had lying around and made sure it was big enough to cover the old logo, then sewed it on. Middle was literally breathing down my neck while I was sewing it on the sewing machine and the minute I snipped the last thread, it was whipped out of my hands and on her body! Just look at her smile in the picture above!

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The other costumes are done, with no sewing from me. We pulled together clothing to make a witch outfit for Youngest and already had a witch hat from an old costume that had been ruined; and for a vampire costume for Oldest, I only needed to get the fangs and make-up. When I was going through clothes, I found a lion costume for Baby from my sister, so he'll use that, since the french painter outfit is too big for him.

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Can't wait to get pictures of the whole gang!

Happy Halloween!!

Getting into the Spirit!

I started out writing a very different post because I was feeling really weirded out lately, but I don't want to make you guys all depressed so I won't be posting it. On the brighter side of things, I am feeling much better, I have a spring in my step again and I am so excited for Halloween, which is just around the corner!

The girls have finally decided on what they want to be for Halloween, so I am busy trying to gather materials to make their costumes. Oldest is going to be a vampire; Middle is intent on being SuperGirl, and that's a fairly easy costume to put together, so I am not complaining; Youngest will be a witch. Baby will be the french painter, and if the outfit is too big for him, then I'll whip up an easy mummy costume.

Hubby is going back and forth, unable to decide what he wants to be. First it was cyclops with a horn, then it's Uncle Fester, then it's two horns and an eye in the back of his head... he's worse than the kids!! :o)

I have an outfit that I can't wait to wear! I picked it up at a yard sale a couple years ago, and I'm so excited about it! We're going to my closest friends' house for Halloween and she is going to LAUGH when she sees it! (Can't wait to get your reaction, girl!)

Things are getting festive around here. The decorations went up last night and I picked up a few make-up things along with black nail polish and all the girls wanted their nails done. Then Hubby came home and he wanted his nails done in black, too, so I painted his. This morning, Oldest asked me in a quiet voice, "Why does Daddy have his nails painted, too?" hahaha!

I gotta go, gotta get those costumes made! Here's a pic I took of Charlie the cat:

Happy Halloween!!

This and That

It went from feeling like winter was here early back to lovely fall days this week. We took advantage of the warmer days and gathered fallen logs in our woods. How nice it has been not to start up the wood stove just yet. Maybe we can push not using the wood stove to November? Wait and see, it was overcast today, then rain, and all the windows are shut again, so who knows what the weather may bring this weekend.

I am trying to get the girls to come up with ideas for Halloween costumes. I don't want to buy over-priced, cheaply-made costumes that rip and tear on the first day. When I told the girls to make suggestions, they all immediately wanted to be disney princesses. *sigh* Let's see if I can get them to come up with other ideas. Oldest wants to use a renaissance princess costume we have that is surprisingly well-made and we've had for a few years now. I hemmed it when she was 4 and it was too long for her and will probably need to let it down for her to wear. I'll need to make her a crown of some sort as the one that went with it is long gone.

Last year, when we went trick-or-treating at the mall, there was an adorable little toddler who was made up as a french artist, with the black and white striped shirt, black pants, black beanie and carrying an paint board and brush. I'm hoping to get Youngest to dress up like that, as she already has the clothing, I'll just make a beanie and a cardboard paint board. She got upset when I told her we'd "paint" a mustache on her and she didn't want that. I think she just doesn't understand that it will wash off and I need to explain better to her what I meant.

The power company sent out their tree trimming people to trim any branches or cut down trees that pose hazards to the power lines. Several months back, a rep from the company went door-to-door, letting homeowners know and to get permission for them to come up on your property. They came up yesterday and spent most of the day trimming our trees. I know they are doing a good thing, preventing possible disruptions to the power, but I still can't help feel bad for all the trees they are cutting down.

The previous owners planted a great line of evergreens and they are nearly 3 stories tall. Each tree had the tops lopped off and we can now see the neighbors lights across the road. I know they'll grow back, but still... On the bright side of things, the tree-trimming guys asked us if we wanted the wood chips. Yes!! So after they were done for the day, they dumped the whole truck-full of wood chips exactly where we wanted them. They'll return on Monday to finish the job. They also left the logs from the trees they cut down which we will save for next year's wood pile.

My van is fixed, after nearly a month of being in the shop. Only one time, out of that whole month, I was able to "escape" for a couple of hours, when my Mom was here and Hubby took me to the food store. The rest of the time, I was "stuck" at home and feeling a bit stir-crazy. I am used to getting my kid-free time at the food store at least once a week, when I can leave the kids at home and get a few hours all to myself, without constantly being at the beck and call of 4 little ones. It was hard not having that time to myself and I appreciate the freedom the van gives me. Hopefully, the van will not give us any more trouble for a good while and now we can focus on getting the truck checked out. Always something to fix or work on around here!

Have a good weekend!

It's Definitely Fall!

I love the cooler weather we are having now. There have been a few days where we came close to starting a fire in the wood stove, but we held out. On nights where the temperatures dip into the low 40s, we have a little space heater we use in the hall, aimed towards the bedroom doorways and it wards off the night-time chill. Pretty soon, the wood stove will be fired up, I'm sure, but the longer we can put it off, the longer our wood will last.

It's been an extra busy week here. I took the remaining green tomatoes off the vine and turned it into green tomato salsa. Oh my! How tasty that was! I made a small batch first, to see if we would like it, and it was so good, that I made a bigger batch the next time, after buying what I needed to make more. I ended up canning 12 pints of green tomato salsa to enjoy during these cold winter months.

My Aunt and Uncle also brought us 150 pounds of russet potatoes! I took about 25 pounds and turned them into potato skins, loaded with bacon and cheese and froze them for later snacks/meals. All the potato that was scooped out has been turned into potato soup and mashed potatoes. Yum! We are a family of potato lovers and we definitely eat our fair share of potatoes around here.

Oldest was playing around with the bungee cords that we are using to keep the chairs with the table, to prevent Baby from climbing them (read previous post for more info). We tell the kids all the time not to play with them, they are like big rubber bands and they'll snap back and might poke your eye out or hurt you. Sure enough, Oldest hooked one end to the door knob, the other end to the sliding door handle and it popped off and clipped her in the eye.

*The day after*

It gave her a deep little cut in her eyebrow and left a shiner the next day. I am SO relieved that it missed her eye. She had a very swollen eye for a day, and now she is left with what looks like a bad make-up job on her eyelid. I hope she has learned her lesson (a painful one at that!) and will not play with the bungee cords anymore.

There will be one more preserving of food for me before I can finally put away all my tools for the year-- pumpkin! I have no pumpkin left from last year and am looking forward to making pumpkin pies, breads, cookies, and more! Hope to get a pumpkin this week and believe it or not, I'm actually tempted to get another bushel of apples. Wait and see how busy it gets this week, before I decide to get more apples. I feel like I turned all the apples into sauce before we really got to eat any out of hand, so I am craving the crunch-crunch of apples and the juice dripping down my chin. Plus, I've never made caramel apples for the kids before, and I think the kids would love to try them!

Let's Hear It For The Boy

Sorry for the disappearance.. Baby has really been keeping us hopping! Of the 4 kids, he has the most curiosity and is more determined to get into things that he is not supposed to get into!

On Saturday, the Husband had to take my Mom to the halfway point so my Uncle could take her back to their place, then he went to work afterwards, which meant I was home with the kids, alone, from 9 in the morning until their bedtime at 9 at night. I was B.U.S.H.E.D! At one point, I think I cried in frustration, which prompted Oldest to include me in her dinner-time blessings and she asked God to help me feel better. Yeah, it was that tough!

If I forget to lash the cabinet doors, Baby opens and climbs in or pulls out all my pots and pans. Not so bad this cabinet, but the other one, he has broken my vintage melamine bowl (karma- I broke my mom's when I was little), pulled out the very sharp and very dangerous mandolin slicer and used it as a banging toy (ack!) and pulls out all the mixing bowls and piles them high in wobbly towers.

He broke a vintage christmas glass I had, and being deaf, I didn't hear the tinkling of broken glass, so I didn't know until I saw him with a bloody cut on his nose and leg. When I investigated, I found the broken glass.

He has discovered the cat's litter box and I have found him no less than 5 times with his hands in the litter so that we now keep the door to the room, where the litter box is, shut. Poor cat gets locked in there, too, but he has his food in there also, so not so bad for the cat really.


We have started to bungee cord the chairs to the table because he has learned to climb the chair, then climb the table where he proceeds to table dance, grab stuff and toss it off and just grins from ear to ear!

I had a moment where I didn't see him and the girls found him behind the couch with a fistful of markers, coloring the floor, the couch cushions, his mouth and hands.

He has gotten into the puzzle cabinet and there are at least 6 puzzles now mixed together and in the other half of the cabinet is where I keep my balls of fabric strips that I've sewn together and, like a cat, has rolled them all around the room, unraveling them as they roll.

**Deep breath**

**Let it out slowly**

I don't know if it's because he is a boy or if this is just his nature, but at this rate, all the doors to all the rooms will be kept shut, the cabinet doors will be glued, and the shelves and tabletops cleared! I cannot steal away time to myself because he gets into things and he is so quick about it, too! I used to be able to lure him into the living room then dash down the hall and he would take a few minutes to catch up to me, but now? I tried that today, and when I turned around, I nearly fell over him, he was right there behind me!

When the Husband leaves for work, he always tells me to, "Call me if you need me." And my response is now: "Where's the phone?!" I'm only half joking. I look forward to Baby's afternoon nap time, that's when I can relax a little and not worry about where he is or what he might be getting into. At least he hasn't figured out how to climb out of the crib...yet.

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::Mountain Mama Wares Shop Update::

Whoo!!

I finally have all my homemade jams and jellies for sale in my

Mountain Mama Wares shop on Etsy!

Please click on the link in the right sidebar to go and visit.

I have 3 flavors in 1/2 pint sizes available:

*Crazyberry*

*Rhuberry*

*Wild Grape*

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I also have a Sampler set in 4 oz sizes,

but I have only 5 sets,

so if you want some, order fast!