Happy Halloween 2016

Can I get a giant high five?  This year, Halloween costumes were ordered/assembled prior to October 1st!  I am incredibly proud of myself and love that I have annual reminders in Mid-September to order advent calendars and Halloween Costumes.  No last minute scrambling this year!

This year Mr. Boy saved up his money to buy his very own Deadpool Costume.  He has seen a very edited copy of this movie and loves this character so much.  He loves that this character breaks the "Fourth Wall"   and I'm pretty excited that all those drama classes Mr. Boy takes is starting to sink in.

As for AK, she has wanted to be Catwoman for an entire year.  She loves comic book characters (she lives in the right family for this) and my only beef with this costume is that she looks way too grown up.  Where are my sweet baby faced children? 

Looking in the rearview mirror and seeing my costumed kids never gets old and I love it so much.  As for me, I'm Agent Carter.. as in Peggy Carter from Captain America.  I wanted to do this last year, since the Agent Carter TV show had just debuted, but I was busy recovering from my Unicorn Horn surgery. Long story short.. no one knew who I was, it was kind of terrible costume idea.

Happy Halloween! See all Halloween Costumes of years past here. 
  

Five for Friday: Witches Tea Edition

Five things that are rolling around in my head today:

1.  I hosted my annual Witches Tea this week. It's a girls night to celebrate those witches in my life who have my back.  I love it, and I love celebrating my gal pals.  My friends are invited to wear black and wear their most glam witches hat. Every year I forget to invite someone... I have a love/hate relationship with Evite and it's app.  Seems like it doesn't always pick up my contacts list all the way.  I need a better way... anyone have any brilliant ideas?

2.  I think it's important for kids to see that "Mom has a thing tonight with her friends" to help them see mom as more than a maid and a short order cook.    But maybe I'm just grasping for some justification to ignoring them and also forcing them to do 100 chores while I panic about the state of my house.

3.  I don't bake, so something like this stresses me out a bit.  Last weekend's attempt at Blueberry Crostatas were a disaster and even the dog wouldn't eat them.  However, I'm crazy lucky to have talented friends who don't sleep and make amazing treats to share.

4.  My forte is drinks.. specifically mocktails. This year we had a Caramel Appletini, along with my signature drink. I like to call it.. Drugs, which is a medicine syringe of Cranberry Juice in Ginger Ale.

5. Every year I have grand plans for a lavish spread of appetizers and decorations, yet I get distracted by other projects.  Then at some point during the party I look around at my house full of my favorite witches and I realize I shouldn't have stressed.... these are my witches and they always have my back.

And I am one lucky witch!

Burning Down the House

This summer we took a detour on the way to dropping Mr. Boy off at camp and visited my childhood home.  I showed the kids the neighborhood where I spent my elementary school years.  My kids who shun sightseeing,  were surprisingly enthralled with seeing the neighborhood.  They have always loved hearing stories of my colorful childhood and beg for them at bedtime.  "Tell me the story of your mom being a mama bear."  "Tell me about your arch nemisis Howie Hayward."   For them being able to see the setting with their own eyes, was the missing piece to the story.

It's a lovely neighborhood with neat manicured lawns and homes that back up to a golf course.  The country club was the social hub of the neighborhood and most of the neighbors lived a pretty posh life.  Many of my neighbors had found wealth in the form of "black gold." (oil)   It wasn't the most glamorous town, mostly agricultural, with blazing hot summers, and a whole lot of oil,  but our neighborhood was definitely one of the nicer ones in town.

As we drove around, I showed them my elementary school, the childhood homes of my friends, and all the homes that had been burned down. After showing them the fifth house that burned down, I realized, "Wait a minute, this is not normal." This is pretty much a running theme of my childhood.

When several neighbors got financially in over their heads, they burned down their homes or their businesses to collect on the insurance money.  I'm pretty sure they all got caught, because I can't remember a house that burned down where it wasn't arson.  Instead of insurance money, the owners got jail time and I'll bet that didn't help with their financial problems.

I showed my kids the toy store that burned to ground taking other neighboring businesses with it.  I vividly remember mourning all the Barbies that were senselessly burned.  Arson.

I showed them the gorgeous golf course home that burned to the ground in the middle of the night.  We watched the firefighters battle the fire in our pajamas from across the golf course. A few days later the police found boxes of fine china, silver, photo albums, and other prized possessions stored in the back room of his office.  Arson.

I showed them the house next door to one of my favorite friends that burned to the ground because of a "cooking fire."  Later we learned she had sat in the backyard waiting for the fire to spread before running to the neighbors to call for help.  A week later her second car was found stuffed with possessions she stowed before the fire. Arson.

As an adult, it's fascinating to me that people would get so desperate they would burn down their own homes.  It seems like an outrageous solution and one where you are sure to get caught. 

So fast forward to last week, when there was a house fire in my neighborhood, my kids instantly jumped to the conclusion that it was Arson.   AK thinks we should tell the police to look for a second car, or check the back room at their business.  Mr. Boy is super proud to finally be able to have something exciting to show his future children... when he comes back to tour the neighborhood.