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Posts Tagged ‘halloween’

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Busy Busy Busy!

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008



Party Room, originally uploaded by punquin.

I’ve been super busy. We have our Halloween/Rock Band party coming up on Saturday and I am really OCD about party planning. But, when I chose the date, I didn’t realize it would be the same weekend as a big annual conference for work. Oops. That meant I’ve had to do as much cleaning/shopping/decorating as possible over the past two weeks. But, add to that the 9-10+ hour work days that are to be expected when we are about to throw a big conference. Oy.

I’ve been working on setting up the craft room all week, and it’s almost done. I have samples of the projects done, but I still need to make little signs. I still have the photo booth I made for my birthday party. I can’t set that completely up until the day of the party because it used my laptop.

Today was the first chance I got to work from home all week, so as soon as I stopped working for the night, I started chores. I inhaled vegan mac & cheeze while standing at the counter, wrapped all my fancy candy pretzels, vacuumed all three floors (plus stairs), bathed both dogs, gathered all the trash, and did 3.5 loads of laundry. Sore.

Tomorrow afternoon I will head to the hotel in Fairfax where the conference will be held. I’ll be staying there – the first time I’ve stayed in a hotel room alone. I head home Saturday morning at some point. Unfortunately, because I am staying both nights, I have to miss the awards ceremony Saturday afternoon to get home and do the final setup.

My first task when I get home will be to bake cupcakes. Dan has agreed to take on the rice crispy treats, guacamole, and sour cream dip (vegan for me). I’m recycling my mermaid costume, so I’ve spent no time on that beyond making sure I have all the parts ready. I know I’m going to be racing around like crazy come Saturday, but I’m sure the party will be fun!

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Posted in Photos | 6 Comments »

Pumpkin Picking!

Saturday, October 11th, 2008



Pumpkin Picking!, originally uploaded by punquin.

We had a nice (busy) day today, and the weather couldn’t have been nicer!

Last night, Laura came over after work and we practiced Rock Band 2 for a bit so she could get used to it before the party. We stayed up pretty late. We celebrated China’s birthday with a mini cake I had baked for her. She approved!

Today I woke up at 9:30 but rested until 10. I took my time getting up to let Laura sleep in. Once we were all ready to venture out into the world, we packed ourselves and Benny into the car. First stop was Panera to eat bagels outside (kibble for Benny!) and get some oj and caffeine into ourselves. Then we headed to a shopping center to look for Halloween decorations at the dollar store. We stopped into an office store to get register ink for work, then took Benny (who was napping in the car) to the pet store when I went in to get crickets (for our geckos).

We drove on to work to drop off the register ink, then on the way back, stopped at my favorite plant nursery that has a huge selection of pumpkins and other stuff.

I wasn’t sure if dogs were allowed at the nursery, but I hooked Benny to my leash and brought him anyway. Turns out there was a Bloodhound puppy already there. Everyone was saying how cute Benny was and a lady even took his picture. The prices were great there – I had been looking at mums around Ashburn and they were all $10 a pot. Here they were $4! So, I picked out one 16 lb pumpkin, a little 2 pounder with character, three spooky gourds, a little hay bale, a little Indian corn bunch, and my two mums. Benny chatted with the checkout guy and did his best to be cute.

On the way home, we stopped for cheap, tasty Mexican food. Laura has headed off to Arlington to house-sit for the night, so myself and the puppies will be relaxing. I think I’ll start decorating the house for Halloween tomorrow. My neighbors have all already finished their decorating!

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Costume Ideas?

Friday, September 26th, 2008

Okay, I need help! I am lacking inspiration for my Halloween costume this year, and I need to have it ready to go for our party on the 25th. I generally don’t like to buy costumes if I can sew them, so I need plenty of time.

The big difference this year is that I will have red hair. I can no longer get my favorite brand of braiding hair in light blond, but I have a lot of leftover strawberry blond (I used small amounts mixed in to match my real hair). I decided to it all at once so it doesn’t go to waste. I can’t hide my hair in a wig – there is too much of it. The best I can do is add to it, like with my 80′s pop costume where I crimped loose hair and pinned it in. I like being reasonably unique, but I don’t have to be. Making my own version of something is good enough for me.

So, help me with some ideas, oh great intarwebs! Strawberry Shortcake has red hair, but there are already cheesy costumes out there for that. I could sew a autumny fairy costume. The mermaid costume could come out of the closet (I’d probably wear that one if I went out to a costume contest on Halloween). The braids could be kinda Egyptian, though the color is wrong.

Help!

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Posted in Questions | 4 Comments »

Happy Halloween!

Wednesday, October 31st, 2007



Pumpkins, originally uploaded by punquin.

The jelly “bloody” hands on my door were a big hit with the trick-or-treaters. We had a lot of kids come through, but I had too much candy anyway. Candy, anyone? Benny didn’t appreciate having the gates closed tot he kitchen so he couldn’t say hi to the kids. Some kids wanted to walk right in and pet the “cute dogs” A few tried to open our door before I made it to it. Crazy kids.

Our friend Laura is here and we are all playing Guitar Hero 3. They both kick my ass at it!

Tomorrow we see Van Halen!

Witchy!

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Posted in Daily Life, Photos | 3 Comments »

Cuteness

Wednesday, October 24th, 2007



Hula Dog, originally uploaded by punquin.

If you need some doggy cuteness today to make you smile, visit the voting page for my work’s annual Halloween doggy costume contest!

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Posted in Dogs, Photos | 5 Comments »

Autumn Neediness

Thursday, October 11th, 2007

Autumn is finally here! It’s been in the upper 80′s and low 90′s recently, so it’s nice to finally have a breezy day in the 60′s.

When the weather turns like this, I think of all my favorite fall things. I’m really excited about Halloween (duh!), and on Saturday we are going apple-picking and pumpkin-buying. We may even go to a haunted house. We did a corn maze last year that was really fun. We’ve already finished off our first pumpkin pie of the season, and I’m ready for another one.

Of course this weather makes me want to shop for clothes. Actually, if I could skip the shopping part and just have new clothes, it would be perfect. I hate to shop. But, I tend to buy things cheaply (Target, Old Navy, etc…) so my long-sleeve shirts and sweaters have to be replaced after a year of wear. The shirts start to unravel at the hem and get these weird bleach spots in the laundry (we don’t even own bleach!?) and holes in the shoulders. My sweaters, being cheap, pill up like mad. It’s time for a new fall jacket, too. My aqua blue coat from Target 2 years ago is ready to be donated. (My winter coat, however, is still great after 3 years. It was an $80 splurge at H&M.)

Of course I get all these urges for warm clothes when we have no money to spend. New fences aren’t cheap. Neither is car tax. I at least amused myself with some “window shopping” at Target and made a wishlist there.

I do need to go to the mall. I was potentially thinking of going tonight. I need to get undies for under my costume and I want to check both department stores and specialty shops very soon so I have time to order some online if I have to. And, I got a fun Halloween decorating idea from a magazine that requires some cheapie novelties from a toys store. Oh, and a necklace/earrings for my costume (Though, I may need to make it myself. I think buying would be cheaper in this case.). It’s at this point that Danny would say, “Need, need, need…” I know, I know.

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Posted in Daily Life | 4 Comments »

Finished Costume!

Sunday, October 7th, 2007



Top and Pants, originally uploaded by punquin.

Despite fence painting most of the day, I managed to finish the bulk of my Halloween costume tonight! I still need to design/sew the thing that will wrap around my ponytail. I have to find or make some jewelry that matches (including a tikka). I have to get nude-colored undies for underneath the pants. My genie lamp is on order.

Now I just have to work on Danny’s costume! I am hoping for minimal sewing on his. I need to go thrift store shopping…

Front View

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Posted in Crafts, Photos | 19 Comments »

The Infinite Fence

Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007



Benny & the Fence, originally uploaded by punquin.

So, this is what we’ve done two weekends in a row. Paint, paint, paint, paint.

The HOA requires that our fence is white (though I like it that way anyway). The quote we got for painting was nearly what the fence cost to have built. Thousands. *cough* Yeah, we’re painting it ourselves. At least the outside of it.

We don’t really want to spend the next 20 weekends painting, so we may have someone do the inside for us. A neighbor gave us a recommendation that should be much cheaper. And, we’ll have done half the work already. It is so tedious. I understand why they charge a lot.

It looks good, though, doesn’t it?

I started decorating the front of the house for Halloween this evening, but I ran out of both light and tombstones. I’m hoping our friend Ivan can pick up a few more for me with his swanky store discount (though they are only $3 – $5 there). I’ll have repeats, but at least my cemetery will be complete. I need to put up more cobwebs and figure out what lighting to get. Purple lights will be fun.

Later in the month I’ll work on the decorations for inside the house (since we are hosting a party.) We’ll also go get pumpkins. I want to do several spooky faces for the stairs and cemetery. I am carving fancier designs into two fake pumpkins that I can reuse.

Who’s making dinner tonight?

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Posted in Daily Life, Photos | 10 Comments »

The Top is Done!

Thursday, September 27th, 2007



Genie Top, originally uploaded by punquin.

I finished the top tonight (and started the pants)! I had some trouble getting my sewing machine to do button holes until I took it apart and messed with it a bit. The ribbon I bought off of eBay 2 days ago arrived so I was able to add that already.

I took tomorrow off because I worked all day Sunday and we have a mile of backyard fence to paint. So tired. Long week.

Ribbon AddedButtons & Button Holes

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Posted in Crafts, Photos | 5 Comments »

Costume

Tuesday, September 25th, 2007



Top Almost Done, originally uploaded by punquin.

Here’s what I have of my Halloween costume so far… I’m too tired to write anything else! My work week started Sunday morning.

If you don’t know what it is, click the link for more pictures in my Flickr.

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Posted in Crafts, Photos | 10 Comments »

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