Halloween - better late than never!

Wow, I honestly had no idea that it had been a month since my last post. October was ridiculously crazy, I even had a bit of a breakdown at one point. And really, I wasn't very happy with my ability (or lack of) to handle the stress, so I wasn't about to blog about it :)

So, it has been brought to my attention that I didn't share my kid's costumes this year. And I didn't even talk about them... which is weird since we are normally discussing them several months in advanced. But this year, I feel like I got off easy... which was probably a good thing.

My daughter was Luke Skywalker (wearing black) and my son was Anakin (he didn't want to be the pod racer one - I thought the helmet would have been fun to make). I didn't make the pants or shirts, just the robe, tunics and belts. And yes, my daughter even got to have a lightsaber. This was a huge criteria for her and what costume she wanted since I didn't allow her to carry weapons last year. I think I was just weak this year and liked the idea of an easier costume.

We did all Halloween "stuff" on Halloween - including carving the pumpkins which is why they still look nice and fresh.

This year was a learning experience for me. After the chaos, I figured out that having two online shops that sell costumes - meaning twice as much business. Which is awesome... if I had anticipated it and been ready. I am happy to say though, that this Halloween was my best yet. And probably the most enjoyable in terms of creativity as I really liked making costumes from recycled tshirts. They added a bit of challenge. My favorites were the Bjork dress and the Queen of Hearts... both of which sold (yay!). I don't have great pictures of the Bjork swan dress (I made it too big for my daughter to model). But you can see the Queen of Hearts in my photos on my Facebook page for NueToMe.

I wasn't accepted to any big craft fairs this holiday season, so I've decided to mostly take it off and focus on my shops (and family :)).

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Tantrums

Today was the day of the tantrum. And the sad thing, it wasn't one of the kids. It was me. I had a tantrum and I'm sorry that my son took the brunt of it.

Here's how it went down...

I've been trying for several weeks now to get to the thrift shop so that I can get some tshirts to finish off some costumes that I have in the works. But with driving my kids to swim lessons, tae kwon do lessons, play dates, special events, etc... I haven't had time to make the trip. Boo.

But today, there was nothing on our calendar. Yay! So after lunch, I packed the kids up and headed to Goodwill. But alas, steps from the door to the store, I hear my son say "my stomach hurts" in his dramatic whiny tone. Ugh! I hate that he can be so dramatic... I never know when he is pulling my leg. And this time, it felt a lot like he just didn't want to have to go into the thrift shop.

Thankfully, I erred on caution and packed them back into the car and headed home. This is when my tantrum started. I started in (mainly talking to myself - but out loud) about how I've been putting this one errand off for weeks because I've been driving them around from one thing to another. And how I just wanted 15 minutes to get a few materials so I could finish off some costumes and get them listed... so that I could pay for more of those classes. Yep, I went on and on with my little tantrum while my kids sat in the back and listened (for once). Three signals from home, my son lost it all over the car. Grrrr!

I apologized to my son, sent him upstairs to get cleaned up and accepted my punishment of cleaning up the mess. Yuck! Then I proceeded to call my husband and complain just a little bit more - I mean, I needed to finish my tantrum :)

My son seems to be doing fine. I'm not sure what happened... perhaps he ate something weird? I'm not sure what though as all the meals were normal.

So, I don't have complete costumes to show, but more sneak peaks. I did finish one... and it can be seen here! Wonder Woman!

All costumes are made from recycled tshirts - it's been a fun challenge. That last one is done... but I need to find a model that's a 4 or 5 so that I can see how it fits. But, it's one of my favorites, so I can't wait to share it!

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