Homemade Halloween Costume Ideas

I love homemade Halloween costumes and with a little thought they generally pretty simple and a whole lot cheaper than paying for some run of the mill, off the rack get up. I posted some of these costumes last year, but I wanted to repost them for a little inspiration.

Zombie Rockstar

Made from stuff we had around the house and a purchased wig and face make-up.

Spongebob Squarepants

Painted on a box we were given from the hardware store!

Toilet Paper Mummy

I made this one in complete desperation. By the time he finished trick-or-treating all the tp had fallen off.

A Baby Costume

If I can make this so can you! I learned how by searching You Tube Videos

for tutu's, baby leg warmers, and hair bows. 

Homemade costumes are so cute people! This year let's strive to be more like our mother's and make them! My kids get a million compliments on their costumes when they are homemade. Chloe wanted to be an Angel this year and I was going to make it out of white tulle. My mind was whizzing with ideas and possibilities when she changed her mind. There are so many options for homemade costumes. You can make any costume into a zombie. You can use your kids old soccer or baseball uniform and make them into a zombie player. One of the only costumes I remember wearing as a child was when my aunt made me into a scarecrow. I think it had something to do with the fact that I wouldn't let her brush my hair. Her last minute costume idea and a pair of overalls and some straw turned out to be the most creative and memorable.

What's the most memorable homemade costume you have worn or created?

Remember Me?

I'm certainly not going to make any promises about future blog posts, but I'm here now, so lets get to it.
Life is fabulous here in North Carolina. The fall weather has me giddy every time I step outside. I even decorated the front door! It may be symmetrical, but I think it's darn cute! The children have adjusted better than I hoped. The public schools they attend here are much more rigorous academically than the ones in California. I suppose that's not really a surprise and it was a big part of the reason for moving to begin with. But I just wanted to let everyone know that sometimes big changes are scary, but we embraced it and it has payed off.

In other news, I've been sick all week and yesterday, between loads of laundry I crawled in bed and snuggled with my computer. Since being in NC, I rarely even turn on the computer anymore, because real life has taken over my virtual life! So I fired her up and spent the whole day perusing Pinterest. It was so much fun and so inspiring! I'm adding a Pinterest Button, so you can follow me to see what I'm fussing over.

Halloween is on the prowl and while Nash may be too old to Trick-Or-Treat, I think a T-Shirt from Kohl's that says "Costume" and a scary mask will suffice for him to pass out candy. Chloe on the other hand is giving me trouble-shocker! Just like last year she can't decide what to be, so I have to put my foot down. She was choosing between an Angel costume, that I was going to make, or a Zombie Cheerleader. I went with cheerleader because we bought a $12 hideous cheer costume from Marshall's last month and I am eager to slash it up!

Milk Free Strawberry Cake

First Birthday Cake

I will make a brief appearance today to share with you a cake I made last weekend. I made this at the request of my sister-in-law for my nieces' first birthday party. Her children both have severe milk allergies. So she asked if I could just use store bought strawberry cake mix and Duncan Hines Vanilla Frosting. Both are milk free.

Let me tell you, I'm not used to working with gooey soft store bought icing, so it was a bit of a challenge. Her colors were blue, pink, and black and white. This is what I came up with. It's not my best work, but she was really happy with it. I simply removed the top layer for the birthday girl so she could dig into it and we cut and served the bottom layer to the guests. The birthday girl was so cute, she made a giant hole through the side straight into the middle like she was trying to eat her way to China! I think she liked the strawberry filling!

The black letters are her name that went all the way around the cake. In hindsight, I would have done that differently, because you have to turn the cake to see her full name.

I used Fonderific Fondant in white because it was the only brand I could find that was milk free. I used Wilton Sky Blue and Duff's Electric Pink to color the icing and fondant. After I cut the letters, I used a food safe marker to color them black. It was a lot easier than trying to make black fondant.

Summer Reading

I suppose part of the reason I feel like I'm on vacation since I've moved, is that I have been continuing to read. I've never been much of a reader. I've had to really be able to fall in love with a book within a few chapters or I'm out. Right before summer, I found a few books that I hadn't read and wanted to read and get rid of before the move just because I was trying to get rid of unnecessary clutter. That is one thing I love about owning a Nook. I can have tons of books and I don't have to worry about storing them. It is a wonderful thing.

The point here is, I'm now addicted to reading and I have been reading more lately than ever before in my life. I have bought some light, easy beach reads and I am loving them. I read in between unpacking boxes and in between hanging photos. I read while the kids are in the pool, and before bed. However, my favorite time to read is in the morning while sipping coffee. I sit on our new comfy chair that looks into our beautiful forest like backyard. It is such a peaceful, relaxing way to start the day. Without further ado here are two beach reads from this month.

I'm currently in the middle of this. It's about a family of women who go back to their vacation home on a small island off of Nantucket. They live with no hot water, no electricity, no phones, TV, etc. It reminds me of my own summers spent on our family's ranch in Mexico.

I was drawn to this book because it takes place in Nags Head, NC. It's about a group of girlfriends who rent an old beach house together for an entire month. I was a little turned off by the ending, but I still thought it was a fun read.

This isn't exactly a lighthearted beach read, but it was great nonetheless. Bring your tissues and your cooking skills along with this one. I was intrigued by the fact that this book contains a recipe at the end of each chapter. The family portrayed here does enjoy their dinners together and I love how the food described is made accessible to me. I wanted to mention this book because I noticed this author does have a book out called The Beach House, which  is currently in my cue.

I myself am off to the beach later this week for hubby's annual family reunion. It's about a four hour drive for us, but I'm looking forward to taking a vacation from our permanent vacation :). Speaking of vacations, we took a really fun day trip to Asheville, NC this weekend. We visited the very large Biltmore Estate. It was very fascinating. I can only imagine what life might have been like back then in the Vanderbilt family. Gloria Vanderbilt, mother of Anderson Cooper, is a descendant. Asheville was very different than I expected, it was a hippie mountain town. That's the best way I know to describe it. If you go make sure and stop by the Tupelo Honey Cafe or at least pick up their cookbook. I saw it today at Border's going-out-business sale. Don't bother rushing over to Border's just yet, you'll only save a whopping 10% off.

We Have Arrived In The East-Personal Reflection

Hey y'all! They really do say that here. Don't worry, I'm not there yet, nor do I see it in my future. We haven't been here for quite a week. I can't sleep. My shoulder and neck are killing me. I was tossing and turning imagining where I will put each piece of furniture and how will I decorate each room when our furniture finally arrives on Monday morning. It has been a hell of a week, wait, let me rephrase that. It has been a week from hell. The flight was fine besides the hour delay on the tarmac and Satan's spawn who happened to be sitting in front of us. We stayed a few nights in a hotel, spending our days driving around the town aimlessly. Ahhh, hubby's favorite thing to do, drive around. The hardest thing has been only one car. Talk about losing your independence. We spent several days browsing for furniture without buying anything, which really needed to be bought, considering I sold the kids beds before the move. Then, finally one day, we bought a couple beds and a table and moved into our empty house. Last night was our third night here.

Sitting up in bed, after checking my phone for the time which was 5 am, my first thought was to wonder if my family was still partying back home. I missed the first family party, my cousin's 30th. It was a surprise party. She and her sis threw me a surprise 30th and I really wanted to help with hers too, it just didn't work out. So, I am left to imagine how it went and I'll wait to hear all about it. I've been homesick since we began our stay in this big empty house. Besides normal bickering, the kids have been incredible, despite all the changes. I'm so proud of them. Things will be better once our stuff is here and we are busy unpacking. I'm optimistic about our future here, and still confident in our decision. The school year will be the most telling. In the meantime, here is a list of some things about NC...

Things about North Carolina I have realized since becoming a resident in the last week:

1. Most public restrooms don't provide seat covers.
2. I have found a miniature produce stand on the roadside that reminds me of the one back home. It has delicious peaches, which happen to be my favorite fruit.
3. The humidity is not as bad as I remember.
4. The kids and I love the thunderstorms, as long as we are home when they happen, which is usually in the late evening or night. Note to self, plan accordingly.
5. They have amazing restaurants here. However, I'm longing to cook and eat at home.
6. The lady who lives across the street from us is from San Diego. Yay.
7. The road to our house seems just as dangerous as our last road. Boo.
8. I don't think they have any cell phone laws here. As far as I can tell everyone is always driving and texting or talking. You can tell if they are talking even before you see the cell phone pasted to their face because they go really slow, then speed up, then slow down, then speed up again. The texters, just swerve all over the road.
9. City wide speed limit is 35, unless otherwise posted. Otherwise posted is 45. WTF? Must be so people can text and talk while driving.
10. People don't like to take the freeway, or highway, or beltway, or whatever they call it. If given directions, people will always tell you to go the side roads.
11. The downtown is called uptown. I do not subscribe to this nonsense. I don't care if it is up or down or sideways, it just sounds wrong.
12. I like how the daily rains wash everything clean.
13. I like my Costco at home better.
14. It seems like Harris Teeter has a monopoly on the grocery store chain situation. While there are a few others I have seen, Harris Teeter is the head honcho.
15. I have yet to see an unkempt lawn.
16. The Mexican food restaurants look promising.
17. I like to do yoga on my backyard deck. But it's more like that new thing, hot yoga. It's very beautiful, I feel like I'm doing yoga in a forest.

That's all I can think of now. Since things are arriving soon, we get our cars tonight (YAY!!!), I will be busy turning this house into our home. I'm sure I'll be back to regular blog posts in about a month. I sure am looking forward to it.