Spazzmanda

I had fun on Halloween (but let’s face it, I always do.) Check out my photos at flickr- it is sort of a hodge-podge of the events that spanned over two days. On actual Halloween I tagged along with the boys to witness the debut of this:

Yes. That would be the tiniest storm trooper costume ever made. He was very cute. Er- I mean- scary. Storm troopers are BAD guys so he was fearsome. Yes. very, very intimidating. I was quivering in my Ziggy Stardust boots (I threw Ziggy together at the last minute because I didn’t want to wear my other costume yet and to see if I could.)

Here is my costume from Saturday- I was Jackie O. (My hat is a padded oatmeal box because that’s how I roll.) Mom helped me sew this last week.

There were many other good costumes this year. I saw two girls dressed as Richard Simmons (?) and my mother made a Cher costume.

Could you die? How funny is THAT?! Yes, my pop was Sonny complete with furry vest. I could go on and on about this, but I won’t. Being pressed for time and all.

Oh, so that brings me to the scary news. I’ve heard through the grapevine that my gym is closing. Wait! It gets worse! My gym is closing and merging with another gym nearby AND the teachers of the classes I love can’t teach at the new location because they don’t provide Les Mills classes. Which is a load of crap, but whatever.

Wait! If you can take it, it gets even worse. A certain unsavory individual that I have been fortunate enough not to run into (…yet) I believe is a member of the gym where mine is expected to “merge.” My biggest fear is that there will be much hair-pulling and potential blood shed if I am ever faced with a scenario where I would be confronted with her, particularly while adrenaline is pumping. I would like to think that I could rise above the situation -folks, it would be much more likely to end with an eye-narrowing contest- but the part of me that is still royally pissed (the part that believes I’d be fully justified in whooping some ass) would rather simply avoid the situation all together if at all possible.

I have no idea what sort of rights I’ve signed away or what this merging will ultimately mean to me, but I do know that the gym has been my sanctuary and I will not risk it being tainted by having to submit myself to the presence of… well… someone icky. Any creative ideas for getting out of a gym membership? I know they charge my credit card monthly and I can simply cancel the card and be done with it but I’d prefer to be released from my contract free and clear. I might have to go to the doctor and develop some sort of “condition.” I sure hate to lie but I may be without options here.

Woo woo hair explained here. I let the local paper dress me up like Sarah Palin.  It was neat. You can check out the photo gallery here.

Crazy work night ended successfully, I think, for now. It was a late night. Now, I have other stuff to do, like not leave the apartment today at all if I can help it. Crud. Need to go get groceries, it might be fun to eat today.

Happy Sunday!

I did an acquaintance a favor this morning.

I’ll explain the woo-woo hair soon, I promise. Once I have a moment to collapse catch my breath.

So, why did we have a party on Friday the 2nd? Well, when you think about it, it is only two days after THE day and also, conveniently, Day of the Dead (dia de los muertos). Besides, most of the Halloween crap was half off. So, hence the party.

Because I know you’ve been waiting for it, here is a photo of my finished costume (with knit corset/tummy sweater)

I was Miss Transylvania (Pin-up style)- for inspiration think Frankenstein’s Monster’s Girlfriend meets Bettie Page. I was made from all of the parts of the other contestants. I liked this one, the dress was a tad short, but luckily it wasn’t too cold that night. The lovely Tara was “Jess” from Bret Michael’s Rock of Love (a reality/dating series that starred Poison’s Bret Michaels.) See Jack as a beyond awesome Bret below-his personality was beyond PERFECT for this costume,  I am very fortunate to have such clever friends. (P.S. and by the way, I just found out that there will be a Rock of Love Season 2 starring Bret again and I for one just can’t wait. I’m thinking a groupie/washed up rock star- themed party to kick it off- who is up for it?)

Don’t ask me what he is doing with his hands, I don’t know. All I do know for sure is that I went completely batshit for that show and he and Ra-ra did a bang up job on their costumes and the decorating- thanks once again for offering up your house to the party gods, we had a ball!

Here is one for the scrapbooks, y’all- a Day of the Dead family a la the Gradins (my most culturally-aware friends that never, ever, ever disappoint.) This would make a great Christmas card, for reals.

Jeff- not to be outdone by ANYONE- took his Elvis Costume to the next level and became Zombie Elvis (or Hellvis). He is so awesome, although it broke my heart when he demolished and dirtied the jumpsuit the effect was worth it.  That jumpsuit was damn sexy, but I have a little thang for the King if you know what I mean mama. I was also really concerned that the look (plus the uber- spooky contact lenses) would be too scary for our friends with children, but my mind was put at ease when Balthazar came running up to him shouting “Jeff- Jeff- EAT MY BRAINS” and I realized I was just being a wuss.

Thanks so much for those of you that came out and didn’t bail with a last-minute, lame-ass excuse or just pull a no show even though we make the effort to come to every freakin’ clam bake you ever host- I know it can take some serious effort to come out, on a Friday, in costume, two whole days after Halloween, and we appreciate it SO much! It was an AWESOME party and those of you that missed it, really, really do suck ass. Seriously.

And my favorite picture of the night- see more in my Flickr album HERE. I stumbled across this neat effect under many black lights in the bathroom of all places. Good times y’all.

As my ‘real’ costume was a tad on the busty side for the events that we took part in last night, I opted for a cute (and comfortable) Betty Boop while out with the surrogate siblings.

First stop was “Trunk or Treat” at Balthazar’s school. A really good (and safe) trick-or-treating option these days, with some big bouncy things and other stuff for kids. People decorated their trunks and gave out candy, it was a hoot. Fox, Ole and Balthazar were Tinker Bell, Captain Hook (sans hook), and Peter Pan- see how cute (Fox was up all night making these costumes)

We met up with Jeff -who pouted for a minute about not going OUT (like to a mall or somewhere heavily populated) in his awesome Elvis costume, but got over it real quick when he finally got dressed

and we got to partake in something much, much, grander. Balthazar is four now. This was his first year to trick-or-treat for real. Knocking on stranger’s doors and getting candy from strangers- all things normally forbidden are all good on Halloween. We selected my neighborhood (it was close and has lots of sidewalks) and stuck to about a block radius, and only to the houses with lights. Can you believe the porch with the brightest light in the neighborhood was actually a dorm and - oopsie - had no candy? I had to seriously talk Jeff out of egging them later on that evening- the NERVE! Turn off your damn light ladies!!! We crashed a party, briefly, and I almost peed myself when Jeff started telling women “Elvis loves you Mahmah.” We went out to eat and then promptly home for bed (I’m fighting a tickle in my throat and have a marathon couple of days ahead of me, so I had to get to the sleeping.) All in all, it was a truly wonderful Halloween!

So, first- I finished Sheldon and I used a retro yarn color palette (and the yarn itself is probably ‘vintage’ since it was once a friend of mine’s Grandma’s Stash.)

He is far from perfect, and might be a tad over stuffed, but he is a cute little f*@&er! I added a little turtle ’smirk’ to cover a minor flaw and now I love him even more! (He is to be a gifty for a special friend this Christmas!)

Next up, I cooked dinner last night. And not just any dinner, I was inspired by this recipe in the recent Southern Living- Corn Waffles and Cajun Shrimp and Vegetables and I made up my own “Spazz” version with what I had already in stock. And OH-MY-GOD everyone should make their cornbread in waffle irons, seriously, it is like all crust (like this brilliant brownie pan that I covet, covet, covet.) Anyhoo, I took no photos because I was too busy making an Apple Pie. I’ve been thinking about pie for weeks- maybe months. I dunno, just cuz. And I got to talking to my Mom yesterday about wanting to make a pie (crust from scratch and everything) and that Sarah Lee or whomever in the frozen food section just wasn’t going to cut it. So I did. I Googled “Apple Pie” and came up with this recipe.

This is me in full on pie mode- which was then served a la mode- so that is a good thing.

P.S. and by the way- God Bless the Cuisinart with dough blade. Moo-moo watched my every move. I suppose in her own way she was ‘helping.’ My pie wasn’t as pretty as the one in the photo online, but it was mighty tasty.

Yes, that is an mmm-mmm good Campbell’s soup bowl. Because hot pie and Häagen-Dazs could get sloppy on a plate, you know? We ate pie and watched my new favorite show, Pushing Daisies. If you don’t watch it- you must- it is one of the best things on TV right now (other than Heroes) and it comes on at 8 PM on Wednesdays.

And now for a work-in-progress. I teased that I was actually making a corset to go with a yet-to-be-revealed Halloween costume, and yes, I am indeed making one. Jeff doesn’t understand how it is going to hold anything up without boning, but it isn’t really a structural garment, it is more like a really wide belt. Can you handle it?

Now, it only looks like a big, ribbed, square, I swear. In actuality it is an ultra-sexxy corset fit for a queen. Hmmmm. I think the super-sexiness must come with the crochet border, right? Nothing sexier than crochet. I’m almost finished really and not worried at all. Nope. I’m sure I’ll find the time tonight- er- no, maybe tomorrow, um, wait going to this concert, ok, then on Saturday, the day of the party, sure thing, I don’t have anything else to do that day, no problemo.

All you SAFF-heads, have a rip-roarin’ good time and please, please, bring your schwag to the next meetin’ so I can ooh and aaah and rub my face on your fiber. You don’t mind, right? My face is normally pretty clean.

The end is in site for the costume construction for DragonCon. We will be revamping Pee Wee and Miss Yvonne (last year’s Halloween costumes) sometime this weekend in addition to our group outfit- the Life Aquatic team- and our ultra-secret creation. I just have to pack and make sure I don’t forget a single eyelash, in addition to packing up the car for the beach!

I have managed to do some knitting.

See- Baby Bobbi sans stuffing

I still have much work to do, but it is finishing stuff. The last arm is knit around the stuffing and closed up. This yarn has been a tad difficult to work with, but I went down a needle size too so the fabric would be more dense so it is probably my own fault. (I wouldn’t want his guts to come out, you know.) Then I will do the ears, a duplicate stitch around the neck - which I’m not quite sure of how or why it needs to be done, but I’ll do it. And then embroider the face. The head is freaking HUGE. I looked at the photo and I believe the head is supposed to be as big as the torso, but it looks, so far, gargantuan. But I think I may still be able to pull it off.

It snuggles good though. And, because I will eventually HAVE to mention it, so does this:

Look what Dr. Doolittle found in the woods. Yup, that would be a beh-beh kitteh, about a week old, abandoned by its momma and starving to death. No, it will not be living with us. In fact, I’m hoping that someone that will remain nameless will get off the fence and take this here little-un off our hands once it is old enough to go. (It has to be bottle fed and so far I’m proving myself to be not very maternal, thank goodness Jeff is maternal enough for the both of us.)