Hopeful Homemaker

Halloween Glitches

October 31, 2011 jennifer Musings on Life and Beauty

I suppose it must be asking too much for a two year old girl to make it through a day like Halloween with her hair done and without indulging in a little self-applied makeup session.

And apparently it is far too much to ask that same two year old to put her costume on when the family goes trick-or-treating, so she went like this. Her costume was her makeup and her squeaky shoes. If only I’d paused long enough to take a picture of her at 9 a.m. when we left to help with the kindergarten party. She looked adorable in her little clown costume, so sweet and innocent.

And then there’s this blank stare she’s giving me in these pictures.

That’s because she had just finished a little drawing spree… with a permanent marker… this is what I saw first:

Then I started looking around and noticed black graffiti on the white walls, on the white couch, and all over the side of the above piece of furniture. Oh, and the sheet music for my son’s piano recital? Don’t worry, she got that too. And don’t worry, it’s just a piece of music that his piano teacher wrote… I’m praying she has another copy.

If only I could figure out how she finds things like permanent markers, and how to get the big kids to take me seriously and put them away properly, and how to entice her to choose different activities…. Why on earth does she have an aversion to the coloring books and crayons in the other room?

Good thing we love her so much.

I hope your Halloween was enjoyable, and that it didn’t involve strange encounters with mascara or any blunders with permanent markers.

Hopeful Homemaker

Halloween

October 31, 2011 jennifer Decorating, Halloween

The kindergarten Halloween party is over, and two of the children are playing upstairs while my three year old naps on the couch. The party must have worn her out. I listen to her quiet breathing, combined with the muffled sounds of the other two talking and marvel at these moments of quiet that occasionally drop into my life.

The sun is shining and I’m about to head outside for the last of my weeding and bulb planting before the temperatures plummet tomorrow. This gorgeous day is supposed to hold through tonight, which will mean plenty of happy children come dark. We’ve got kids scheming to meet up with friends to trick-or-treat and little ones still vacillating between this or that costume.

Before the day is over, I thought I’d share a few pictures of the Halloween decorating I managed to do this year. It was minimal, but fun.

This year I put a bird cage on a mirrored tray and used that as my starting point. I was in the mood for simple black and white, so I made a few black and white velvet pumpkins and put my favorite vintage crowns on them. Yes, I still like crowns on pumpkins. Most of them sit in a footed silver bowl.

A little vintage bust fit nicely inside the cage as well, along with some beaded leaves and a small collection of black and white seashells for pattern and scale.

I added my favorite velvet crow to the outside of the cage for fun. I like having him perched up there.

On the back side of the cage I used my gold glittered “Boo” letters and added a wire spider hanging from the top.

While I like to challenge myself and use things differently each year, I do love to hang my beaded spider web across the picture frames every year. It looks great there and the children love it.

Lastly, I hung a vintage black scarf across my favorite mirror in the living room. In a mostly white room, I like the dramatic effect of the black hanging there. If I’d done this all sooner and had more time, I would have really gone for it with a black and white theme in this room. Maybe next year.

And there you have it. I used some of my traditional orange things in the kitchen as well. Tomorrow it will be time to take it down and prepare for Thanksgiving, one of my favorite holidays. For now, I’m going to take my little one (now the only child not asleep) out with me to pull a few more weeds in what may be the last sunshine we have this week.

I hope your Halloween is a lot of fun!

Jennifer

A Year of Habits, no. 43

October 30, 2011 jennifer Helpfulness of Habit

Yesterday I had an experience that reminded me of the importance of doing what needs to be done. It was a simple thing but it made an impression on me. The weather really cooled off here this past week, and although I knew I needed to just get outside and plant my bulbs, I wimped out. For some reason the change in temperature really seemed to affect me, and I couldn’t warm up, which killed my desire to do any yard work. At last it was Saturday and I was without excuse. The frost took my gorgeous dahlias from heavy with bloom to black and limp overnight. So in spite of my desire to do other things, I went out yesterday in the chilly gray and got started. After I’d been working for a while, the sun came out. I noticed the warmth on my back first, followed by golden sunlight shining across the yard. As I worked, I couldn’t help but think about life. Sometimes we start things, because they need to be done, under circumstances that feel gray and cloudy. And sometimes we start things and the clouds get worse. Sometimes the ground we’re working is hard and other times the soil is soft and easy to work. But sometimes, when we’re working hard because it’s the right thing to do, the sun comes out from behind the clouds to warm us and light the way ahead.

I felt grateful for the reminder. If we keep at things, eventually the sun will shine.

It was a good week, a busy week. Our last soccer game has been played. Thousands of sunflower seeds have been soaked, dried and roasted (which also means my kitchen counters are, at last, clear again). Halloween costumes have been worn and changed over and over again. My family room has been vacuumed more times than I wish to count. Considering how much laundry I did this week, I’m amazed at how much more there is to do. Piano recital songs have been memorized and practiced, errands run, projects finished. I’m behind on many things, ahead on a few things.

And suddenly I’m also dozing off as I type. Tomorrow is a busy day (Halloween is for all moms) so I’m going to get some sleep and re-read this in the morning to see what else I need to add or fix. {Sorry. I’m really tired!}

Have a great week!
Jennifer