Blog vs Instagram's Instantness

It has been a month since I blogged?  Weeks since I journaled.  Days since I exercised.  Only two days since Instagramming.  Faster, easier.  This blogging takes more effort, plugging in camera, downloading, filing...

John & I did go out this morning---NOT shopping, but walking our neighborhood route.  I forgot to put on my fitbit, so that is 4,000+ steps plus 11 flights of stairs unrecorded.  We are trying to be healthier.

This photo is from the Trunk or Treat night at Church.  We went with Day of the Dead theme, sugar skull makeup, dark suits with fedoras for the guys, flowers in our hair and black lace for Roxie & I.  The lip temporary tattoos were cheater makeup, easier to stick & stay on our lips through a chili cook-off meal.  I loved the "Book of Life" film with the culture of remembering family dead.

My little friend, 18 month old King Henry did not recognize us.  When we talked to him, he gave a startled 2nd look.  Didn't try to hold him...

For a "trick" gift I made skull earrings to pass out to the young women.  Erasers from Target were the perfect softness to push in and glue the earring findings.

Steampunked Kilts: Trunk or Treat

 

Sam & Roxie's kilts are 8 yards and 5 yards, fully pleated in back.  John and mine are quickly done, costume only, not even the right tartan, but close.  Roxie's is not quite Davidson clan, but she loves green and blue and it was in my fabric stash, conveniently.

I decorated our car trunk with silk flowers hung #56 tags, and the red satiny quilt (from Luanna) and the 56 days left sign:  Christmas countdown.  We won one of the trunk decorating prizes!  Scariest?

People, friends, have asked me this week how I am doing, really doing, and they made time to listen.  I have gotten teary-eyed and mushy and choked up and realized how much I am still grieving for Maxwell's loss.  I miss him, and still feel really sad.  It makes sense to me now the year of mourning in Victorian times, family wearing black, or at least black armbands in remembrance of their lost one.

   It has been easy to escape reading books and not having to "think" or "feel" or to stay busy, really busy, or get involved in serving someone else so I don't think about being sad.

One listening friend said, "I don't know how you are doing it, even waking up and getting out of bed."  

Holidays are sad, since we use them as gathering, food celebrating, and remembering.  Max was a blue-body suit man last year.  He asked me to mend his suit where it had ripped a little at the neck.  I fixed it but didn't get it back to him, he said he didn't need it until Halloween.  Every time I see Suzu in her matching suit, I think it would have been a fun picture/video of them together.  Regret un-photos=times you wish you had photographed, but too late.

 

Dealing with stress and grief--besides drinking more water, getting outside once a day, not eating sugar, reading scriptures on my own, doing something unexpected and nice for someone else at least once a week, and everyday being nice to myself (hot shower) and giving myself a complement--saying something out loud while looking in the mirror.  Something about me that I like and is real and true (not just something I do well, but an attribute describing who I am, inside.  Kind of like the pep-talk in "The Help" that the maid gives her boss's daughter "You is kind, you is smart, you is important").

 

And yes, our garage now has burnt orange diamonds, for Halloween.

Because I am a visionary woman.  I like to see changing colors in my environment.  The autumn trees are gorgeous and inspiring and I like to savor colors like flavors for my eyes.  (Haha, now I am laughing at myself.)

Roxie Hair and Cookie Quote

This weekend I had a mad scramble on Pintrist researching Renaissance hair dos, intricate braids, updos, the tricks behind the locks.  The night before we experimented:  I came home with some yarns that matched her costume and she chose two that were "strong and not overly feminine."  The theme is something about chivalry, and Roxie didn't want to look like a damsel in distress, but a swords woman who could do some saving!  She is busy studying the map of the festival, plotting what she wants to do this year.

Adding yarn fibers instead of fake hair, for color and bulk.

We twisted the back hair section into rope braids

It was so long!

And lightweight, she said, not heavy (not as heavy as hair alone that long would have been).

She is at the Renaissance Festival with 4 cousins and Grandma Sandy and Grandpa John, only one in costume.

Even when you think you know your child, sometimes you hear a story from someone else, and it fits with their personality, and you know it is true, but it still surprises you:

Roxie got a taste of these cookies at Church when the cub scouts were making them:  When the last one was gone, she said, "Sadness ensues" and made an impression.  A family brought dinner to us this week and these cookies, with the recipe and the story about Roxie!

Family Far Away

First, for Suzanna:  black F string was broken when I got home.  White B string broke sometime Friday when I was at work (it was one that I had tuned on Thursday, and it wasn't broken Fri am during seminary, did I tune it too far?)

Suzanna, Roxie, Sam before headed to Renaissance "Time Travelling" Fair in PA before she left for college!  They had a great time together.

Sam had a birthday while I was gone.  This is the Milkyway cake I made him before we left for a family celebration!  See the mini-candy bars edging the top?  See that homemade caramel oozing out from the edge?  I used my favorite caramel popcorn recipe, double batched so there was some for cake, some for popcorn.

Trek Prep

There is a great Church program for the youth, ages 14-18, called TREK.  If you have seen any historical reinactments, that will help you understand what it is.  In order to help these teenagers understand and put them in the right frame of mind for the experience, NO electronics allowed, no cameras, music ipods, etc.  And we dress in period clothing, 1850's style.  Long skirts, bonnets, bloomers, aprons for the girls; long pants, long sleeve shirts (no t-shirts or baseball caps) suspenders, Western hat for the boys.  Mess kits.  Water bottles required.  This is the reason John and I have been walking, getting ready for this event!

Three days in the PA mountains, up near Gettysburg.  Pulling/pushing handcarts.  Grouped in "families" with a married couple in charge of 4 young women and 4 young men.  Bathroom rules:  ladies to the right, gents to the left, and take a shovel and your own toilet paper.  Everything gets buried.

Hoe Down  (dance) outfit.

Suzanna is wardrobe ready!
More photos to come....

Meanwhile, checking out pioneer games, my favorite so far:  Mancala!  Here is an electronic version to help you learn the strategy and rules.

Incognito

I didn't reconize the person walking across the soccer field, looked twice when they started walking across my back yard:

Suprise! Suzanna, slipping home from a French skit in costume!

1821

The Methodist Church on route 136 is 190 years old.  We  helped my friend/old boss Joan celebrate with her congregation.  Suzanna was the harpist.

Costume borrowed from Joan, complete with pocket and chatelaine. Loved the bonnet and hat.

Does she know how beautiful she is?  Great classic look!

Costume Details

New crazy short hairdo. Spiky daring after Michael's cut.For Family Home Evening we opened up our 72 hour emergency kits. Rotated out the stale chocolate, beef jerky (NOT indefinite shelf-life, goes rancid?), too small shoes & clothes. Sam is holding a pair of jeans originally bagged for Max? that he can't even get a leg in. Apparently I was really worried about people having shoes to walk on their own, I even had a spare toddler shoes in my pack. I was not going to carry anybody for long.
Sunbonnet pattern from web, with nice long neck protection. I made 10 new ones for the last seminary combined activity.

We Three Teachers!
Side-view of sunbonnet, posed on lamp shade.Roxie needed a parrot costume for school. To give her credit, she did tell me the day before...but somehow I thought I had more time. At 8:03 am she told me she really wanted help with the beak I had promised her. I grabbed a shoulder pad I had taken out of a jacket, covered it with black fabric and attached two elastic head bands, to hold it in place over her nose so she could still breathe and talk. The two elastic bands, one behind her neck, one up over crown of head.
Her wings were a thrifted Mod dress, cut to make a skirt. It was the right coloring, and the top of the dress fit her perfectly, so I cut the "skirt" in half, gathered top and sewed the bottom of skirt halves into sleeves, attached to top of sleeveless dress, all before we had to leave to get to school by 8:30 am. She loved it and wore it the rest of the day after the play and wants to be a parrot for Halloween!

Last costume detail: me, many moons ago. I don't remember the broken broom. Or was it a lighted broom? Are those Christmas lights, or a flashlight in my hand? Note the angle of broom head to the stick. What is going on here? I remember looking out through those witchy-poo eyes. The backwards black coat and the cardboard-poster board black homemade hat, I don't remember...The red scratchy couches behind me, yes. How fun it is to dress up, yes, I still feel that!

Disclaimer: THESE ARE COSTUMES

We don't normally dress this way. This is pretend. Getting ready for the Trunk or Treat next Wednesday!
Saturday was a good sewing day. Roxie is a character from the Lord of the Rings Fellowship game she plays online with siblings and John. Sequin pillow shams and a shiny sheet in her new favorite color made an excellent cloak-cape-hood.
And I saw this idea on another seminary teacher's blog. T-shirt HATS!

Cut out two circles, use the bottom of t-shirt for band around head (cut down to size of your head, unless using a tiny t-shirt) and make a visor. I used an old pair of jeans instead of interfacing. Fast, and raw edge forgiving. And suprisingly comfortable.

Remember, pretend. Not who we really are. Although me still wearing that painting shirt from yesterday is real life.

Nice Teeth!

(Roxie photographer, Sat pm before stake activity)
We left before the dancing ever started. 8:30 pm I was exhausted, felt my social skills dwindling rapidly. We made a smooth exit during the applause for one of the program numbers (and felt bad that we missed Peter Paul and Mary).

BEST. CUPCAKES. EVER. Peach Pit's mom made spice cake + pumpkin with oj frosting=perfect! She says no oil, no eggs, just 2 ingredients. Usually I lick off the frosting and give the cupcake to John. But I ate the whole thing of this one!

Favorite part of "New Moon" was an oil painting coming to life, the shadows and highlights on the faces merging into real life moving film. Nice touch.

Second was the cliff jumping shot, camera following the jumper up and following his dive up and arching into the water below. The spiralling camera stuff back to back would have been more effective with some additional editing (I'm volunteering for the job). Better than the first film, but too many yawn moments and weird awful pausing. Staring is not acting. A good book to film adaptation needs Peter Jackson. More visual storytelling. Tighter editing. And more. Not just scenes, unless they are montaged and given to the audience faster. Much faster.

Third, was Bella's green dress and Alice's red leather gloves.

Fourth, Victoria's cool vampire moves.

But this is not a recommendation. I'll wait for all the films to be made and watch them with a fast forward button.

It was fun being out with popcorn sharing friends. Waving down the row to familiar faces! That part was fun! I learned that KatieW is super loyal, stayed with me to watch the end credits (I have to see who the gaffer is and where it was really filmed).

But my favorite date is still John. I am thankful to start and end my days with him, my best friend.

HOWL-o-WEAN (from sugar, ha!)

I love a holiday honoring spider webs! Negative print made in our paint program, before John goes with big boys to build grandpa's fence. In the rain.

The kids were clever with their costumes this year. Suzu is an anime character she likes, someone from Bleach. Thus the hair.
Stewart used defunct Mathmatica CD's, hot-glued them on a thrift store black hoodie.
Suzu did Roxie's hair and let her borrow a necklace to go with her Snow Queen/Princess.


Sam found a great u-tube Box Man costume, and recreated it.<

Max was singing with Boychoir when we took this photo for the Trunk-or-Treat. His costume is a mystery man...