Month: October 2011

Halloween is fast approaching and my original idea of going as a zombie Alice in wonderland is not going to happen. Even though I originally thought it was not going to cost too much money to make, I was wrong. The blue dress I planned on wearing is not going to work and after searching for over a week for a cheap dress that would, I gave up. Fortunately, I came up with another costume idea and it only cost me a total of $7 because I had everything but one item on hand.

Raven is going as Nine Tailed Fox/Naruto from the manga/anime Naruto. Since she is 14 this will probably be her last year trick or treating. She wasn’t originally going to go but I talked her into it and she in return talked a group of her friends into going.

So, Monday night (trick or treating is from 6 to 7:30) we will brave the cold in search of treats while wearing our awesome costumes. Speaking of cold, the weather turned nasty rather quickly and we are supposed to have snow tonight/early Saturday morning. Even though I love Thanksgiving/Christmas, I am not a fan of the cold. Burrrr!

Jenn, Andrea and Rachel!

Congrats to the winners and thanks to everyone who entered!

Last year, I used Shutterfly to order our photo Christmas cards (see the post here) and I am glad I did. They came out wonderfully and I could not have been happier … that is until this year. Shutterfly has generously given me the opportunity to host a giveaway on my blog. The giveaway is for 25 free photo Christmas cards from Shutterfly. All you have to do to enter is to leave a comment on this post with which card you will choose if you win. On Monday October 24, I will announce the three winners on my blog as well as contact the winners via email.

If you have never used Shutterfly for your photo needs, you really are missing out. I have used Shutterfly for more than holiday cards and have always been more than satisfied with their products. I have order a photo book from them (for a family member’s birthday present) as well as many, many prints. I know my Shutterfly order will feature nothing but the highest quality materials and will always reach me in a timely manner.

As for our holiday cards, I have it narrowed down to three designs. Charming and Lovely, Merry Little Moments or Deck Your Walls. Those are the three that I am drawn to. I think I will let Raven and Mike make the final decision since there is no way I can choose from those three!

One more thing before I end this post. Shutterfly wants to know if you blog? If so and you want a chance at 25 free cards this holiday season, register here: http://goo.gl/DDw7Q

I always decorate for Halloween (expect for the 3 years living with my MIL) but I don’t want to spend a whole lot of money of expensive decorations. So, I decided to makes some DIY Halloween decorations. The milk jug lanterns ended up costing me nothing since I had all the items on hand. Thanks to my mom and aunt who saved their milk jugs for me, I didn’t even have to make my family drink more milk than they normally would.

Things Needed:

• Milk Jugs
• Black Marker
• Knife or Scissors
• Christmas Lights

To start, clean the milk jugs thoroughly with warm, soapy water. If you don’t, the lingering milk will curdle and stink to high heaven. Once cleaned, rinse with water and let the jugs air dry for several hours. I turned my milk jugs upside down on top of a towel to dry. This way, you don’t have any water drops hiding at the bottom of the jug.

After the jugs are dry, cut a small opening in back of the jug. Make sure you are cutting the opposite side you will be drawing the face on. It is best to start with a small opening since you can always make the hole bigger if needed. Now comes the part where you get to be creative by drawing the face on the milk jug with a black marker. Draw whatever floats your boat, tickles your fancy, whatever!

Once you are happy with the way your jugs turned out, set them in place and stuff some Christmas lights inside the jug via the hole you previously cut out. I opted to pour birdseed in the bottom of the jugs to keep the wind from blowing them off the porch.

Here is how ours turned out.

My favorite is the mustache lantern.

Since my main client is a little dry at the moment, I know money might end up being tight for awhile and since Christmas will be coming up soon I need to start cutting back a little just in case my main client stays dry. So this year I am going to forgo purchasing a Halloween costume for myself and instead try to make one from things I already have on hand. I want to be zombie Alice in Wonderland and I already have a plain blue dress that might work. Actually the dress looks more like the dress worn by the Alice character in SyFy’s original movie Alice starring the oh so hot Andrew-Lee Potts. I have the black and white striped knee-highs, hair bow and makeup to turn myself into a zombie. Now all I have to do is add blood to the tights and maybe to the dress and I should be good. I also gotta go through my shoes and see if I have something that would work. What are you going to be for Halloween?

One of the things we love about our new home is the amount of deer that we get in our back yard. Even when London is outside using the bathroom, the deer are not too afraid to make themselves known. They seem to know how far London’s leash can go and stay out of his reach. Not that London would do anything but lick them if they would get close enough. Heck, I would wager that if the deer decided to rush London, he would turn tail and come running back inside as fast as he can. Throughout the day, it is not an uncommon sight to see 10 or more deer in our back yard eating apples and chestnuts from the trees.

Anyway, tonight is the homecoming dance and Raven is going. Actually, we are forcing her to go. She doesn’t like wearing dresses or dancing because it’s too girly but we tried to tell her that she will regret not going to school dances when she gets old. She has more than a few friends going so she will have some people to hang out with. When I took her dress shopping a few weeks ago, she actually enjoyed it more than I thought she would. This will be her first dance and I think I am more excited about it then she is!