Web Slingers

The leaves are falling and crunching at my feet. The air is crisp and full of the scents of Fall. Caramel apples and pumpkin pie are always on my mind. And my children are daily talking about what they want to be for Halloween. Ahhhh, the joys of Fall. I love them so.

There is only one thing that I can't stand about this time of year. Only one pet peeve that drives me batty and makes me feel witchy.

Be careful, one tug on that dangling spider and you'll get a stone bird implanted in your cranium. Who knew fake webs could be so dangerous?

I'd ask you to have a seat, but every chair in my living room is draped in the stuff.

On the bright side, though, it's helping me to stay away from that pesky TV addiction I have.

Kids and fake webs, it's a scary combination.

Happy Halloween

3... 2... 1....

*

GO GET CANDY!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

The Haunting of Me

Image borrowed from twisted candy

When walking by mirrors I look away. I look away because I know that she is there, waiting for me. The look in her eyes haunting me with their questions, always pleading, "Why? Why?" and the look of pity upon her face that makes my stomach churn.


Yesterday I was cleaning my closet and stumbled upon an old jewelry box. It was full of old broken jewelry, love notes, and photographs. Jewelry that I would never choose to wear, notes that didn't belong to me (a frumpy housewife), and snapshots of her. I quickly closed the box and pushed it away from me. The closet can be cleaned later. Why is she doing this to me? Why won't she just leave me alone? But I know why she won't leave me alone. I killed her. I squeezed the very breath from her being, stole her place and hid her. I broke her up into little pieces and hid her body in various dark places. Why? Why would I do that? I'm not a violent person. I don't think I even realized what I was doing at the time. When it was all over I told myself that I had to do it, it was the right thing to do, it was better for everyone that she was dead. But now, years later, she is back and she won't leave me alone. WHY WON'T YOU LEAVE ME ALONE? Her laughter rings through my head. A loud, happy laughter so unlike my own. She loved to laugh and to make others laugh at her. She was brazen, obnoxious, and always ready for a new adventure. I remember her crazy, wild hair and the interesting way she dressed. Never one to bend to the latest fad she was always coming up with new and unusual outfits. The best way to describe her is, "not like me." I'm the responsible, serious type, I know there are things more important than fashion or beauty. I don't have time for silly escapades when there is so much work to be done. If I don't do it, who will? Maybe that is why I killed her. I couldn't stand seeing the stark contrast so I destroyed her so that no one could compare us. But killing her didn't make her go away. People still remember her, talk about her. And now I seem to see her everywhere I go. The other day I was talking to my husband and I swear I heard her voice coming out of my mouth. It's as if she is trying to come back, as if even death won't stop her from living.


Today I felt her inside me. It was when I flipped my wet hair back while taking a shower. I flipped it back and smiled as I ran my hand through my hair, just like she used to do. I looked in the mirror and saw here there, staring back at me. But this time she wasn't pleading, she was smiling. She was getting stronger and she knew it, I knew it too. In a panic I ran around the house, reaching into closets, pulling from under beds, gathering all the hidden mementos of her life. Sitting in the living room, surrounded by her remnants, I studied her, remembered her, allowed myself to want to be her. The ghost that had been taunting me and tormenting was winning, and secretly I began wanting her to win.


Why shouldn't I want her to win? She is my ghost, mine, the person I was before I got married and had children. I thought she had to die to make room for the new me. But she wants to live again, and so do I. No, I'm not going to go and do anything crazy, but maybe today I will do my hair like I used to. Maybe I will spend more than 5 minutes assembling my outfit, and I just might fix some of that old jewelry and wear it again. Who knows? Maybe I will laugh a little louder or take my kids with me on some silly little adventure. After all, it is Halloween, the perfect time to let old ghosts live again.

This was written for entry in Scribbit's wonderful WriteAway contest.

Works For Me

Halloween Countdown Ghost

After answering the question, "How many more days till Halloween?" like a trazillionmillion times each day I was starting to get a little short tempered with the kids. Rather than bite their heads off I had them help me make this cute ghost counter. Every day they cut a ring off and the next ring tells them how many days are left till Halloween. Haven't heard the question since. Now they just like to report how many days are left to me like a trazillionmillion times each day. We are definitely making one of these for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Hanging Shelves

I think these are one of the greatest organization tools out there. You can install them in a snap, move them around at will, and store them in a small space when not in use. I have one hanging in Mr. Hot's office closet holding my fabric, there is one in my son's closet where we shelve prepicked outfits for him to wear to school each day (saves SO much time in the mornings), and here are the two I have hanging in my mud room. One is for shoes and the other holds hats and gloves. Each kid gets their own assigned shelves and this saves me so many headaches when it is time for us to get ready to head out the door in the mornings. LOVE THEM!

For other great ideas check out Works For Me Wednesday over at Rocks in My Dryer.

Let It Begin

How do you know it is October in the Ice Cream household? When you open your underwear drawer and find a plastic spider, or the bread bag and find a plastic rat. Yup, that's what passes for funny around here. Halloween is upon us in all its glory. There will be major shortages in black construction paper and green crayons will be worn to the nub as we start the ghoulish process of decorating. One of the rules that I try to live by in life is never buy what you can make (so long as it's cheaper and not to hard to make yourself). So, when I saw these cute ghosties from Crate and Barrel:

I thought, "We can make those!" And make we did. Using white and black Fimo/Sculpey clay we got to work:

After baking them we taped them to some votive holders:

Voila! Or, should I say... "BOO?"

Halloween Candy

I wake up this morning, pick up 5 candy wrappers and toss them in the garbage, go look in the Living Room and find 3 unwrapped, prelicked, lollipops in my carpet, go to put breakfast on the table and scrub off the taffy that had hardened on the surface overnight. I don't know why there is a half eaten peanut butter cup on the bathroom counter; I don't ask any questions, just throw it away. As I sweep up bits of candy and wrapper I discover that all parts of a Snickers bar will sweep up except the nougat part. I brush my teeth twice because just the thought of how much candy I ate last night gives me the heeby jeebies. I walk up to the buckets of candy; 4 buckets=LOTS of candy. Shhhhh, the kids are still sleeping and I'm thinking up ways to toss the sugar without inciting a mutiny. Then, suddenly, I start taking a closer look at this "bounty of the buckets". Do you moms realize what I have on my hands here? I have an unlimited supply of baking confectioneries. I take out all the little bags of M&Ms, Kissables, the Hershey bars, and anything else that is purely chocolate and stick them in a big bag for chocolate chip cookies. I take all the Reeses Pieces, peanut butter cups, Mr Goodbars, and all things peanutty and put them in a big bag for peanut butter cookies. I take all the Snickers and Babyruths and put them in a big bag to melt down for yummy popcorn balls. I fill another big bag with Butterfingers, Crunch bars, and Kit-Kats because they make great ice cream toppings and milk shake stir-ins. I put all the non filled lollipops and Jolley Ranchers in a big bag for making stained glass candy windows for Christmas candy houses. Ooooo, Christmas candy houses could also use swirly lollipops, Smarties, Sugar Babies, licorice, Dots, Sweet Tarts, and anything else colorful. And then I'm thinking, in my candy induced delirium, "Watch out Martha Stewart 'cause here comes the Handy-Halloween-Candy-Creations-Mommy-Monster". This is when I realize I need to go back to bed and sleep off the rest of my candy high.

I hope you all had a Happy Halloween!!!!

Lizzy

Dracula by Bram Stoker

I did it. I finished Dracula the night before Halloween. I was willing to sacrifice dishes, laundry, even my children in order to do it. This book has been the inspiration for many different films and is considered the first book to truly define and set the character of Dracula and Vampires in general.

Interesting things about the book:

1.Dracula has a moustache. Seriously, this bugged me through almost the whole book. And it is described as bushy, too.

2. Dracula did not go to London to pursue a look-alike of his lost love. He went there because there were no longer enough people to feast on in Romania and what was left took special precautions against him. So, he upped and moved to London to feed on the masses and to create a whole race of Vampires to rule the night.

3. if you are bit by a vampire you are in their power but you are not a vampire yourself until you die. So, poor Mina was bit. When Dracula tries to go into hiding she thinks she is safe until Doctor Van Helsing tells her that she can live a normal life while he is gone, but as soon as she dies she will be in eternal torment.

4. Dracula can go about in daylight without burning. He just can't change shape, turn into mist, or squeeze through tiny cracks during daylight hours.

5. Van Helsing is NOT Hugh Jackman. He is more like Albert Einstein.

Things I didn't like about the book:

1. I really loved the character of Dr. Van Helsing. BUT, by the end of the book I wanted to pull my hair out every time he started talking. It was cute in the beginning how he would ramble on like an absent minded professor, but when wolves are circling and your possible eternal damnation is emblazoned on your forehead you really just wish he would GET TO THE POINT!

Things I liked:

1. I love how the classics all have such strong morals to them. This story is full of expressions of faith, friendship, and forgiveness.

2. It gave me chills multiple times. Sometimes because it was to gruesome to think about, others because I couldn't imagine being in Mina's place, or her husbands.

3. I actually liked the epistolary style of writing. Ok, that was a fancy termed I just learned that basically means that it is told as if you are reading a scrap book of various journals entries, newspaper clippings, telegrams, and letters.

4. I liked, and respected, that main characters died and it still ended in a realistically happy way.

My husband's two cents: "It sucked" (Yes, pun is definitely intended)

Halloween Flip Book

What do you get when you take several cool Halloween costumes and mix them all up?

You get one messed up ghost!

The kids and I made these flip books just this morning. Everyone created two Halloween characters and then we put them together, stapled into a book, and cut in strips (don't cut all the way through). Now you can mix and match to make some crazy costumes. Pablo is still working on designing the front cover of the book =).

I used a template that I whipped up in Word so that the pictures would all line up. If you are interested in doing this craft yourself you can email me (littlemissadvice at gmail dot com) and I can send it to you.

And for other great Halloween ideas, go check out Scribbit's Winter Bazaar

Halloween Fun In The Kitchen

This last Saturday the kids and I had some fun in the kitchen making Black Cat Cookies. I was so impressed by how cute they turned out and the kids were able to put on all the faces all by themselves (Even Monsters Man's turned out perfect). I covered the faces with plastic wrap and tied orange raffia in a bow at the chin. We took them to some families from church last night and got rave reviews.

Tonight, after Family Home Evening, we are going to make White Chocolate Ghosts (Except ours will be minty green ghosts because I only have green mint chips on hand). And I don't have lollipop sticks so we will either use popsicle sticks or skewers.

Tomorrow we will be attempting these tasty Witch Fingers. I think we will color them green for added witchiness. I love finding kitchen projects that the kids can help with. The best part about all these recipes is that it is really hard for the kids to do anything wrong. The weirder they look, the better. Yet another reason I LOVE Halloween, no perfection needed.

=)

13 Days Till Halloween

THE THIRTEEN DAYS OF HALLOWEEN by Carol Greene (edited by me)
On the thirteenth day of Halloween, my good friend gave to me thirteen Jack-0-lanterns, twelve cauldrons bubbling,eleven bats a-swooping,ten goblins gobbling,nine wizards whizzing,eight brooms a-flying,seven spiders creeping,six owls screeching, five cooked worms, four giggling ghosts, three fat toads, two hissing cats, and a vulture in a dead tree.

Starting today there are only 13 days left 'till All Hallows Eve and that means it is time to start the celebrating. This year, in honor of Halloween, I will be reading Bram Stokers Dracula (last year I read Shelly's Frankenstein, and the year before that it was Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde), I will be watching Creature From the Black Lagoon with my kids, Young Frankenstein with my hubby, and Arachnophobia by myself. But this year I want to do more. There are no turkeys to cook, no cards to write, no presents to wrap, no stress to worry about. I am going to take advantage of this and do all the things I wish I had time to do during the other holidays, but with a freaky twist to them of course. We are going to make haunted candy houses, paint Halloween ornaments, make ghost cookies and take them to our neighbors, read a pile of Halloween books I got from the library, make caramel apples, carve pumpkins, roast pumpkin seeds, and make mummy hot dogs.

HAPPY 13

Halloween Toys

Evil Halloween Fun

I have to admit that I LOVE scary! I love scary movies (the good ones, not the bloody sex kind), I love scary music, I love scary books (not Steve King), I love scaring others, and I love being scared myself. So, would it surprise anyone that I love Halloween? It is probably my dad's fault because he was a Halloween enthusiast. I was never allowed to go out as a princess, I had to be a dead princess with a green face, bleeding throat, and black finger nails. One of my favorite ways to have fun on Halloween is to cram my house full of creepy plastic creatures. Don't get mad if you get an ice cube with a spider in it, find a rubber rat in your shoe, or see a snake in the shower, because I just can't help myself. So, next time you see a package of fake fingers buy them, then serve them in hotdog buns for dinner.

For more great Halloween ideas go visit Scribbit's Halloween Winter Bazaar .

VHS Streamers

Is this a familiar site in your household? It is in ours, thanks to Sweet Terror. Most of the time I can fix the tape but occasionally the tape is toast and must be tossed... or must it? Broken VHS tapes aren't completely useless, especially around this time of year. Pull out the black tape and you have quite a large amount of shiny, black, streamer stuff for all sorts of silly Halloween decorating. You can use it to make a large spider web on your wall, ceiling, fence, etc. Make a shaggy witch wig for your scarecrow or pumpkin. Hang it in front of your door like a beaded curtain. Use it to make curtains over your windows. It makes a great replacement for tissue paper when wrapping a gift, and can be used as a ghoulishly black ribbon too. Hang it from the branches of your trees. Use your imagination and have lots of fun with it.



For more great Halloween ideas check out Scribbit's Winter Bazzar.

Halloween Idea

Last year I rigged this up over our front door and the kids LOVED it. Get some of those little hoop and hook screws from Home Depot, some clear fishing line, a big ugly plastic spider, and a big needle. Place three hooks as pictured in figure 1. Place one at the top of your door molding (outside of the door), place one on the inside-top corner of the door next to where it opens, and place one on the wall where the top corner of the door meets when it is open. (Can you tell that I was never meant to be a technical writer?). Next, thread the big needle with a long piece of fishing line and push the needle into the "bum" of the big spider. Thread the fishing line through the hook at top of door molding, over the top of the door, through the hook in the wall, then secure it to the hook in top corner of the door. Adjust the length of the fishing line before securing line to last hook. Now, when you open your door the spider will fall down in front of your visitors and scare them, or at least mildly impress them. Decorate with a big spider web above/behind your spider.

P.S. Try not to forget that the spider is there. Nothing will give your husband more delight than seeing you scare yourself with your own spider contraption as you rush out the door to go grocery shopping.

P.P.S. Make sure that if the fishing line rubs against the top of the door frame that you put a piece of clear packaging tape over the wood of your door to protect it or the fishing line will "saw' a little line into it.

For more great Hallowenn Ideas head over to Scribbit's Winter Bazaar.