Halloween is almost here! In lieu of Summary Sunday, I'm going to take advantage of this Halloween Eve to share a little present with you. I love Halloween. In fact, it's my favorite holiday. Collin apparently had no idea of this and came out with "Who the heck has Halloween as their favorite holiday?" when it was brought up on a TV show this afternoon. I think he figured out very quickly by my glare that he had really stepped in it. I have to admit, I don't love Halloween for the typical reasons. I hate horror movies and I'm not super big on masks and scary things. But I love fall. LOVE it. I like the weather, the leaves. I like handing out candy and seeing cute trick or treaters. It also doesn't hurt that Halloween is our anniversary. Collin and I had our very first "date" five years ago tomorrow.
I've gotten Collin into the swing of things and we had a lot of fun preparing for it this year. We've been planning out this year's decor since last Halloween. Our yard is the home of a pumpkin massacre. We based our plan on the snowman sketches from the comic strip Calvin & Hobbes. We had plans all drawn out and thought that we had stored them with the Halloween decorations. But...when I got out the decorations a few weeks ago they were nowhere to be found. So we sat down a few Sundays ago and mapped it all out. We whittled down the items we had planned and got it down to our three favorite scenes.
We counted out all the pumpkins we would need and hit the grocery store. We got a few strange looks as we walked through with three full carts of pumpkins. The didn't have the mini pumpkins we needed, so we hit up another local store on Thursday.
It's been a very busy weekend trying to put this all together. I started working on the pieces at the beginning of the week, as I showed you earlier. I started carving pumpkins on Thursday night and just finished the last of them this afternoon. In all, I carved 13 mini pumpkins and six regular sized pumpkins. Collin and Darian both helped scooping and Collin did yard assembly.
We have three scenes in all: our headhunter, our captured pumpkin and our monster scene. Our neighbors watched us construct the mess and I think they were getting a kick out of it as much as we were.
Our headhunter scene consists of the headhunter himself along with four mini pumpkins in a cauldron and three "shrunken head" pumpkins on sticks. I sewed the mouths of the shrunken heads shut using embroidery floss. This was Collin's idea. The headhunter was the most complex carving - he took me quite a bit of time.
The mini pumpkins were the most fun to carve. Darian helped me to pick out the faces we were going to use. It was great to be able to have such a wide variety of sketches.
Our captured pumpkin is our victim tied down with rope and surrounded by his captors, five evil mini pumpkins. The mini pumpkins have their arms constructed from the leftover hanger pieces from the construction of the large arms. Collin helped me to tie the big guy down and we fixed his arms under the rope.
This little guy is my favorite. I like how goofy he looks. You might notice that the faces of my pumpkins look a little shiny. This is because I coated as much of their carved surfaces as possible with petroleum jelly. This should help them keep their moisture and maybe last a little longer. I'm hoping to keep the scene up until around Thursday or Friday.
And finally...our monster scene. We have our monster at the back eating a mini pumpkin and carrying the skull of another pumpkin. He is chasing three other pumpkin men. One has tumbled and broken his head open. His buddy is traumatized by this and can't keep down his lunch. And one other guy is obviously quite scared by the event.
Collin and I were giggling throughout the construction project. Every time we got another guy put together we lost it. It was a really fun project to do together. We've definitely decided that this will be an annual event. I'm pretty sure we'll start planning next year's scene soon...I have a few ideas.
I love the screaming guy. With the way he ended up being assembled, he's leaning in a way that really makes him look like he's running. And not to toot my own horn, but I think the arms are awesome.
The puker was brought back from last year. Collin created one of these that sat on our step for Halloween 2010. The kids thought it was hilarious so I wanted to make sure he showed up somewhere this year. He was probably the easiest pumpkin to carve.
The monster was the most challenging as a whole. We knew that he would need to be as large as possible and that he was going to be holding a pumpkin "skeleton" on one hand. The problems of balance and weight were concerns. But we worked through them with the use of dowels and skinning the skeleton pumpkin as thinly as possible from the inside. I also worked in my pumpkin from last year. You can't see him very well in the picture, but he's in the monster's mouth, screaming.
I'm hoping to get some pretty good pictures tomorrow night when we light the whole yard up. Every pumpkin I carved has the ability to add a candle. I'm super happy about that. It should turn out pretty awesome. We also have three yard lights that we've positioned to illuminate the area. They look pretty cool.
So a Happy Halloween to all of you!! Enjoy your trick or treating and trick or treaters. I'll be handing out candy at our house while Darian is out gathering up his candy stash.
So I finally finished sewing all of Darian's Halloween costume this afternoon. It took a lot of work, but I think it turned out pretty good. For those of you not in the know, he has chosen to be Finn (with Jake) from the Cartoon Network show Adventure Time.
We already had the blue shorts and went out and got him the aqua shirt specifically for the event. The hat, backpack and Jake bag were all of my own making. And now I'm going to share my process with you. You lucky ducks.
I had a little online help with the backpack and the hat. The bag? That one was all me, baby.
In order to swing this whole project, I used primarily things that we already had at home. My only expenses were: the blue shirt ($3 on sale and will be worn again as regular clothing), the yellow-orange fabric for Jake ($4 for a yard using my 50% off coupon at JoAnn) and a piece each of white & black felt. Total cost: less than $10. I'm that awesome.
Project 1 : Finn's Backpack
Finn's backpack was the first thing I made. To make the backpack I used some hunter green fabric I had laying around (probably about 1/3 of a yard) and I cut the legs off of some light green scrubs in my "repurpose" pile for the light green fabric. I swiped a button from the stash in my scrapbook room. I then constructed it using a tutorial that I found on YouTube.
Her instructions are pretty easy to follow. I just noticed one thing that I thought I'd pass on to you. About midway through she tells you how to make the straps for the backpack. She tells you to cut 14 inch strips and sew them, but when she shows you the final "tubey noodle things" they look super long. Don't let this freak you out. For the dark green fabric you really do only need 14 inches if you're constructing this for a child of Dar's age. If you're making it for an adult I'd probably add a couple of extra inches.
I also made a change from her plan. When the backpack was fully constructed I sewed around the sides at the top of the pouch. This tightened the top to lessen the slack and also made the backpack appear stiffer.
The backpack took me about three hours. When I was all done, this is what I ended up with.
If I were to do it over again, here's what I would do differently.
1. Use stiffer and thicker fabrics. My backpack is pretty light (which is good for Dar's costume, but not for long term use) and not super durable. If I were to do it again I'd like one I could use.
2. Create a lining. This is along the same idea of change number one. I would want this baby to be super sturdy. As is, it could probably handle some weight, but using it as, say a school backpack would be out of the question. It wouldn't handle heavy school books.
3. Increase the size. This one looks great on Dar, it's just right for him, but it would look super puny on me. I'd say up it to about 150% of this size and you'd be golden.
Maybe I'll work on this some time in the future.
Project 2: Finn's Hat
Finn's hat is super cute. I love it. In fact, when I finished making this one I purchased some fabric that I plan on using to make similar hats in a different pattern...I'll be revealing them later this fall.
The best part of Finn's hat? It cost me...wait for it...NOTHING! Yay for left over fabric! I had a small piece of white fleece in my stash that made the entire hat. For the whole project I think I used up about a quarter of a yard, if that. And the velcro? I swiped that from a Subway Kid's Meal bag that Dar had in his bedroom. Nicely played I'd say.
Now there is a tutorial available on the web for making Finn's hat. It's super easy to follow and comes out pretty cute. Plus it has a link to the pattern.
But...I didn't use this. I sewed a standard cap first. Basically, I cut two half circles. I cut one of the circles in half to make a back seam. I then sewed all of the pieces together. I flipped the edge up to sew a brim. Once I had the basic construction, I cut two slits in the top edges of the hat. These were where I placed the ears.
I sewed the ears by cutting out four matching ovalish shaped pieces. I sewed the edges together (except for the bottom), flipped them inside out and stuffed them with batting. I then finished off the remaining edge. I stuffed the bottom edges of my ears through the earlier placed slots in the cap and stitched them into place from the inside.
Now came the most difficult part for me, the chin strap. I used the pattern from the tutorial to help me with this one. I cut out a portion of the front pieces that he uses in the video. I found the center of the front of the cap and marked it with a pin. I then measured from the middle of Dar's face to the middle of his eyebrow. I measured this distance from the middle mark on the cap to each side and this is where I placed the edges of my chin strap flaps. I pinned those in, tried it on Dar to make sure it was lined up properly and then flipped the cap inside out.
I hand sewed each flap onto the cap in order to keep from having outside seams showing. After that, I put the cap back on Darian, measured out where my velcro should go, marked that with pins and sewed in the velcro. Voila! Finished hat!
As with the backpack, a few things that I will do differently next time:
1. I love the fleece, but I would definitely make a liner. This is pretty warm as is, but I want to make it more durable.
2. I'm going to try out the method using the tutorial. There is less measuring and it seems to go quicker. But...I'm not sure I like the final result as much as I like my own. So, I'm going to make one myself and compare.
Oh...and a tip about the pattern from the tutorial...it does not print out to scale. Make sure to flip your page to print as landscape. I then would probably increase the print size to 150% for a child and 200% for an adult. I just used my printout as a guide and increased by hand.
3. Jake Bag
I have to say, this is my favorite part of the costume. Why? Because I made it all from scratch and I think it looks pretty awesome.
To make Jake, I purchased a yard of the yellow-orange fabric. I ended up with some leftovers and probably could've gotten away with 3/4. But I tend to panic about the possibility of running out of fabric, so I always buy a little more than I think I need.
One BIG tip before I tell you how I made him. Don't be an idiot like me and let the face scare you. It is probably the most difficult part of the project, but you need to DO IT FIRST. Reason? It's really a giant pain in the butt to try and sew circumferentially on a bag. Cut your front square and THEN place the face.
Okay...now this is how I made him.
Fold your orange fabric in half and cut two 12 x 15" rectangles. Make sure you end up with four separate rectangles when you unfold. Two of these will be used for the outside of the bag and two will be used for the lining.
Take the two lining pieces and sew the two long sides and one of the short sides together. DO NOT sew all four sides, you need to have a top opening for the bag. Flip this bag inside out and set aside.
(This is where I should have sewn the face on. Do it now.) Sew the other two pieces together the same way in order to make the outside of the bag.
Create a pattern for the legs. I drew out an "L" shaped pattern on a piece of index card and cut this out. Using this pattern, cut out four leg shapes. Separate into pairs and sew together. Flip these tubes inside out and stuff with batting (if you don't have batting you can use cotton balls or other fabric). Sew the tops shut.
Take the pattern for the legs and cut it off diagonally at the ankle. This will make the pattern for your ears and arms. Yes, I could have created a new pattern, but this kept everything proportional. You'll need to cut out eight of this new shape. Proceed the same way you did with the legs. Flip them inside out so that the seams are on the inside, stuff and sew shut.
Now it's time to attach the appendages. Similar to in both the backpack and the hat, cut slits at the seams in the locations for the feet, arms and ears. I cut my feet to the back of the main seam and my arms and ears to the fronts of the side seams to give him a little depth. You could probably put them all on one side or another, but make sure that you are consistent. You don't want one leg on the back and one on the front.
Push the sewn appendage pieces through the holes you've created. Flip the whole bag inside out and sew the appendages into the seams. Based on your sewing machine, you may have to sew these by hand. I was lucky...my sewing machine is the bomb.
This is the time that I chose to make my face. Again, I repeat, I am an idiot. Don't make the mistake I did. Cut these out and sew them on BEFORE you sew the outside bag together.
Take the black felt and cut out two circles and one oval. I used a 3" diameter for the circles and my oval was 1.5 x 2.5". These will be the outsides of Jake's eyes and his nose.
Take the white felt and cut out two 2 1/4" diameter circles. These will be the inside eyeballs.
Then cut out the muzzle. This was a pain in the butt...I'll be perfectly honest. I drew a pattern freehand, using an online picture of Jake as a guide. My piece ended up being 9" wide and 9" tall at the widest parts. Using the pattern I had made for the black piece, I took the edges in by 1/2" all the way around and used this as the pattern for my orange piece. To create his little, what I'm going to call moustache, I cut 1/2" slices out of the orange fabric at the corners of the mouth.
I pinned all of the pieces onto the front of the bag and then sewed the edges down. Make sure you are switching your thread colors for the individual pieces so that you can hide your seams as much as possible. Oh, and make sure you're only sewing on to the front of the outside bag. If you screwed up and made the bag before you put the face on (would you PLEASE take a hint) then you don't want to sew the front and back of the bag together by accident. This would really suck. (I'm proud to say that despite my other failures in this process I did NOT sew the front and back together. Go me.)
Once I had this done - after a lot of cursing for being so dumb and having to arm wrestle my sewing machine to get the face fully finished - I sewed in the lining. By this point I think I was pretty fried thanks to the face debacle so it took me a bit to figure it out. The lining is WAY easy. Turn the outside bag inside out. Leave the lining right side out. Line up the edges and pin. (It won't matter which side of the outside bag you lay the lining onto.) Sew the edges (don't sew the top seam) and flip inside out so that the outside bag now contains the inside lining. Now turn the WHOLE thing inside out so that you're looking at the right side of the inside lining. Flip the top edge over by about 1/2", pin and sew around. Cut the remaining seams to make the top edge look pretty.
Lastly, it's time to do the straps. Cut out four 2"x10" strips of the yellow-orange fabric. Separate these into pairs and sew the two side seams together. Flip the tubes inside out and sew the remaining edges. I recommend ironing these two tubes before you attach them to the bag.
Line each strap up 1" from the outside edges and pin. Sew the handle edges from the inside of the bag. Cut the seams to make them look pretty and you're done.
Tada! Jake bag.
Things I would change about this process? Other than the obvious face malfunction everything went pretty smoothly. I think this finished product should be pretty durable. We'll find out for sure when Dar uses it as his candy bag on Halloween night.
So there you go. All three pieces. Total cutting and sewing time for the entire project? About ten hours all together. The Jake bag took the longest out of everything and cutting the face pieces took the longest on the Jake bag.
And now we have a pint-sized live model of Finn with his very own Jake.
So I forgot all about it in yesterday's post, but I meant to talk about next year's book plan. I've really enjoyed this challenge so I'm going to renew it for next year, upping the number of books for the goal and building a true bracket (no more groups of five). I'll be posting each book individually with a synopsis and a review. Also, Darian has decided to join in on the challenge. He's going to set a book goal for himself (we're thinking we'll have him aim for about 32 books in the year) and then he'll review his own books as guest posts and do his own bracket. These posts will be paired with my book posts whenever possible. At 9 years old he's started to get really excited about reading so it will be a good challenge for him. Plus, I guarantee you there will be some entertaining reviews.
Now on with the show. I promised you a surprise and I'm definitely going to deliver. I mentioned a few days ago on my Twitter feed that I ate Poptarts for breakfast and "tipped my hat to Nyan Cat". My brother replied to this with the statement that I needed to dress one of the cats as Nyan Cat for Halloween. This was a demand, not a request. Well...I figured why not...here's the result.
I picked Jasper because frankly he's the only one that would tolerate this kind of crap. As I sit writing this post he's laying next to the chair with his costume on. He's totally unfazed. This cat is awesome.
And for those of you not familiar with Nyan Cat, a little video education:
A bit of a late post due to issues with my blog layout, but a post nonetheless...
It's been a busy couple of weeks and projects have taken up some of my reading time. But I'm still hanging in there! I am currently 2 books behind for my goal of 52 books in the year and am currently reading book #41, Mercy by Jodi Picoult. I think I'll have it finished by tomorrow night.
The 4th spot in the bracket is up for grabs today so let's get started and see what fun stuff I read in the spring...
Today's books are :
1. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
2. Mary: Queen of Scotland and the Isles by Margaret George
3. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
4. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
5. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
1. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Finished : May 29 Rating : 3 out of 5 stars Award: Most Dysfunctional Family
The Poisonwood Bible follows the Price family as they serve as missionaries in the Belgian Congo in the midst of political upheaval. Nathan Price is a hard headed and stern man who unequivocally rules his family. He is obstinate and unwavering. Though he meets opposition from the members of the tribe where they are staying, he continues to push baptism and conversion without any attempt to understand their culture. They resist his preaching due to some circumstances that could have been avoided by Nathan having simply conversed properly with the people to determine why they felt uneasy. However, he continuously sees himself as better than the natives and refuses to back down on his own ways of doing things. Nathan was a character that I found it very easy to hate.
His wife, Orleanna is meek and obedient to her husband, though within her lies a desire to be free of him. Orleanna is increasingly uncomfortable as the story goes on and begins to develop a bit of individualism and forthrightness. She is constantly oppressed by Nathan's control and household power. She is still very much the obedient housewife, catering to her husband's every whim, but a small glimmer of spunk lies beneath the surface.
His daughters, Rachel, Leah, Adah and Ruth May each take turns narrating the story along with their mother. Each has their own point of view regarding the situation they are in.
Rachel is very vain and self-centered, working only with a purpose that will serve herself. She is a pretty girl, but lets that beauty go to her head and misses out on many opportunites due to her stubbornness and conceit.
Leah is very open minded, reaching out to the natives with little prejudice and a desire to truly know them. Leah was my favorite character of the book. She is friendly and outgoing and does her best to attempt to blend with the community. She tries to make friends and to get to know the villagers for who they are rather for who her father wishes them to be.
Adah, who is Leah's twin, is about as far from Leah as you can get. Adah is a loner and very cynical about most things. She is highly intelligent, but has hidden this from her family as she is perceived to be mentally handicapped due to a birth defect that left her with a limp. Oddly, it seems that her family never made an effort to test the theory. Adah is very quirky, obsessed with backwards reading and writing, showing some signs of brilliance along with her eccentricity.
Ruth May is the baby of the family. Ruth May is a sweet and innocent youth who is full of energy and curiosity about the world around her. The chapters narrated by Ruth May are very childlike and innocent, full of wonder of her surroundings.
The family is terribly unprepared for the living conditions they find themselves in. The Prices appear to be typical Americans (spoiled by convenience) and they have not appeared to have considered the climate or the economic state of the area they were travelling to. Their preparations have been minimal, pushed only by Nathan's strong desire to preach the word of God.
This book was very much a mixed bag for me. I had absolutely no knowledge of the history of the Congo prior to reading this book. Learning about the historical events (though somewhat altered in order to adhere to a fictional story) was quite intriguing for me.
As far as the reading goes, it took me a little work to get into the story. I found it especially hard to read the chapters written by Adah as she frequently writes in mirror. This tendency lead to a frequent loss of focus and I found that chapters narrated by Adah were often the places where I put the book down for a while.
Once I was able to get into the story (and somewhat ignore Adah's odd writing) the pages went fairly quickly and I was able to form an attachment to some of the characters.
2. Mary: Queen of Scotland and the Isles by Margaret George
Finished : May 29 Rating : 3 out of 5 stars Award : Most Long-Winded.
Margaret George has written a thorough and very lengthy account of the life of Mary Stuart. The story follows Mary throughout her lifetime. She is crowned as queen of Scotland at the age of nine months. She is then sent to France at the age of seven to be betrothed to a French prince at age sixteen. After the death of her husband, Mary returns home as the dowager queen of France and the acting queen of Scotland. But some of her citizens do not wish to see her on the throne and don't view her as a true citizen of Scotland as she has been away in France for so long. They feel she has lost touch with her Scottish heritage. There is both political and religious unrest at work in the country and the turmoil eventually leads to a civil war and Mary's exile to England as her country is overthrown. She is betrayed by her countrymen on numerous occasions and yet continues to pursue the right to the crown she sees to be hers.
I truly do enjoy historical fiction, but I admit that I had some difficulty with this book. While the story is good and the historical details are well written, I kept myself from giving this book four stars simply because of the length. While there was quite a bit of time to cover during the duration of Queen Mary's life, there were sections that were highly superfluous and added nothing to the story. Had they been pertinent issues then I don't think the length would have been a problem. The book could definitely have done with a bit more editing. Out of the over 800 pages, I would dare say that at least 100 of them could have been eliminated without having any effect on the book as a whole. That being said, the writing is very easy to read and the story does flow well. It did, for the most part, retain my attention. I would definitely read other books by this author...I'm just hoping that her other novels show more restraint in timeline detail.
3. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Finished : July 17. Rating : 3 out of 5 stars. Award : Most Distracted Plot
Les Miserables tells the tale of Jean Valjean, a French peasant who is arrested for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his starving nieces and nephews only to be thrown in jail for an extraordinarily long sentence (nineteen years!!). Upon his release he finds little acceptance within revolutionary France and he is often cast out due to his criminal past.
As he travels, he makes amends to live a life without crime, yet he steals a 40 sous coin from a boy without realizing until later what he has done. He attempts to return the money to the child, but the damage has already been done -- Jean Valjean is on the run again.
He changes his name to Monsieur Madeleine and becomes a wealthy factory owner. He employs a young woman named Fantine, who has left her child Cosette in the care of a the family Thenardier as she is unable to support the child on her own. The Thenardiers are owners of an inn and they are terribly corrupt and cruel. They use the money provided to them by Fantine for their own purposes and treat Cosette as a slave.
Cosette's status as a child out of wedlock is discovered and Fantine is fired from her job at the factory. Unable to find appropriate work, Fantine turns to prostitution and eventually finds herself so terribly in debt that she sells off everything she has, including her two front teeth, in order to provide the money that the Thenardiers demand for Cosette's care.
Paths cross and Jean Valjean ultimately feels himself responsible for Cosette following Fantine's death. He seeks out the little girl and attempts to avoid the detection of his own identity. He is followed relentlessly by Javert, an officer from the town where Jean Vajean posed as Monsieur Madeleine. Javert is suspicious of Monsieur Madeleine and seeks to prove that his is a criminal as well as to bring him to justice for his crimes.
I have been in love with this story forever, as I had been previously exposed to the musical version of the book. I decided I should give the real thing a try. Unfortunately, this book took me FOREVER to read. I loved the story, but it frequently felt as though I were reading two separate books. Mr. Hugo has a tendency to think that the reader needs to understand the entire history of France in order to follow the plot of his novel. I assure you that this is not so. While I'm sure the history of France is an interesting subject, it was not the topic I was looking for. If I wished to understand the entire history of France then I would have read a book on the history of France. I found his side trips to be distracting to the story and frustrating to me as a reader.
Honestly, I started to skip pages in these sections because they had little to no effect on my understanding or appreciation of the novel. Had these portions not been present, I honestly would've probably given the book five stars. Victor Hugo is an excellent writer. I love his attention to detail and his development of the character of Jean Valjean. Despite the constant diversion from the topic at hand, I still found this book to be a good read.
4. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Finished : July 20 Rating : 3 out of 5 stars. Award : Most Undeserving Classic
Holden Caulfield is a sixteen year old boy in New York City. He is a troubled youth and leaves his prep school in Pennsylvania after being dismissed for poor academic performance. He doesn't wish to alarm his family regarding his expulsion and so, instead of going home, decides to return only when he would normally have been released for break and chooses instead to run rampant in the New York underground for three days.
His is a typical story of teenage angst, the desire to be an individual and not having to conform while still remaining a desirable individual within society. Holden feels terribly out of place and frustrated with those around him for being what he considers to be "phony". His relationship with his family is an awkward one, disrupted primarily by the death of his brother, Allie. While he is unable to connect to his parents, he feels a strong level of devotion to his younger sister, Phoebe who has great admiration for Holden and sees him as a role model.
I will give it this...this book is an easy read. But I have to admit, I'm still trying to figure out why it is considered such a classic. It's not a bad book, I just didn't necessarily find it riveting. I finished it in two days and actually had to check online at SparkNotes to make sure I didn't miss something, as I was slightly dumbfounded when I was done. Turns out that I followed the plot just fine and understood everything that was going on. Maybe I'm just a simpleton or maybe I set my standards too high, but I left this book feeling rather unimpressed for the hype it has received. I question whether this is purely because the subject material has become so commonplace in today's society. Teenage rebellion and wanderlust are frequently discussed topics in mainstream media. Perhaps that wasn't nearly the case at the time this book was originally released.
5. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Finished : July 25. Rating : 4 out of 5 stars. Award : Easiest Read
Nick Carraway finds himself living next door to Jay Gatsby for a summer. Gatsby is known widely for his continuous and impressive parties. His parties are the place to be. But Gatsby himself is unhappy with his situation. His only desire is the love of Daisy Buchanan, Nick's cousin and - to Gatsby - the girl who got away. Gatsby and Daisy were together once as a couple, but Gatsby went off to war and while he is away, Daisy is married to the hot-headed Tom Buchanan.
Gatsby has purchased his home in West Egg simply because it stands across the water from where Daisy resides with her husband Tom in East Egg. He is determined to win her back through displays of his wealth and affection - with the assistance of Nick.
I had actually read this book once before...WAY back in high school. But I had forgotten the whole story and decided to read it again. I admit that I like how easy this book is to read. It starts off feeling like it is going to be superficial and boring - just a journal of the neighbor's raucous parties. However, the characters quickly begin to mesh and the story starts to flow nice and easy. The pace was comforting without being boring and it was descriptive without being overly assaulting.
...and the winner is...
Well, with ratings like that I guess this one won't be much of a surprise. The Great Gatsby will take the next slot in the bracket.
And I'm off to read more of Mercy. Though there are no photo updates of the Halloween projects I was able to nearly complete the Jake bag today and I will have a surprise for you in tomorrow's post. It's fabulous! Plus it comes with a video, so that's always fun!
The cold weather is starting to arrive and all of the leaves are beginning to change. I love fall. It's my favorite time of year. We're also getting dangerously close to Halloween - my favorite holiday of the year as well as our anniversary.
One of my favorite things about fall is that it signifies the time when I start feeling like it's "soup weather" again. I love soup weather! We have a small arsenal of soups and chilis that I make through the fall and winter months. This weekend we inaugurated the season by making my personal favorite, jambalaya.
I can't tell you where I got this recipe. I'd like to say because it's a closely guarded secret, but the real reason is that my memory is crap. I have been making it for nearly ten years now. As with the majority of the recipes in our household, I have tweaked it slightly from its original version over the years in order to suit my family's tastes.
With Collin working shifts and teaching late classes this week, I made a double batch so that he would have plenty to grab off of for quick lunches or late dinners. The recipe I'm supplying is for a single batch, which usually serves about six people, but it will look like a LOT in the pictures.
Here's what you'll need :
2 tbsp. butter or margarine
1 c. rice, uncooked
1 (1-lb.) pkg. Hillshire Farm smoked sausage
1/2 lb. precooked cocktail shrimp
2 c. chicken broth
1 can (14 1/2 oz.) diced tomatoes
1 can (4 oz.) diced green chilies
1 medium onion, chopped (I substitute 3 tbsp. dried minced onion)
2 cloves garlic, minced (I substitute 2 tsp. garlic powder)
1 green bell pepper, chopped
3 tbsp. Tabasco green pepper sauce
1/8 tsp. cajun seasoning
Sour cream
Of course since I was making this as a post this time the process was a bit of a comedy of errors. There were some pretty stupid mistakes, but I will tell you...it still turned out delicious.
First prep your meat and vegetables. I cut the sausage into sections and then down the middle so I end up having little crescent shaped pieces that are small enough for Dar to chew. Defrost shrimp and drain off the water. Slice up pepper and onion. (Since I doubled the recipe and had a red pepper that needed to be used, I went ahead and did one green and one red pepper. I also managed to forget to slice the pepper first, which is why it doesn't appear in a cutting board shot. Oops.)
Melt butter in a medium to large stew pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion, peppers, garlic, sausage and shrimp. If you're allergic to shrimp (Owen) you can substitute one can of shredded chicken. I've done this before and it still turned out good. Cook the meat and veggies for 5 minutes or until the vegetables are tender, stirring often.
Stir in the remaining ingredients. I usually use sticky rice (I like the Nashiki brand), but I screwed up this time and grabbed the Minute Rice. It doesn't really matter though, any type of uncooked rice will work. I also managed to grab the whole stewed tomatoes instead of diced tomatoes so I had to fish them out, chop them and throw them back in. I'm telling you, it was a pretty good mess.
Mix the contents well and bring them to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 25 minutes or until the rice is tender (brown rice tends to take about 10 minutes longer). Make sure to stir the pot frequently so that the rice doesn't end up sticking to the bottom.
Remove from the heat and let it sit for 5 minutes longer before serving. Add a dollop of sour cream to each bowl. (Darian prefers his without, but he's a boob.)
And as promised...here's a sneak peek of what I completed last night for our Halloween display. I have to complete a batch of twelve arms so I'm not quite done, but this was all my poor little hands could handle yesterday. Bending wire hangers isn't always easy. Also, a big thanks to my dry cleaning company. Typically I grump about all the stupid hangers that I end up amassing in my closet, but for this project they totally paid off.
Step 2
Step 1
Step 3
Finished arms.
And that's it until tomorrow! Tomorrow I'll be adding more to the book bracket as well as introducing next year's book plan. I'm hoping to work on Darian's Jake bag tonight and have it done in time to do the tutorial post for his costume on Thursday. And...if I have enough time and manage to figure it out, I may have another costume surprise for Wednesday's post. Don't worry...even if I fail miserably I'll still let you know what I was attempting to do.
It's getting closer to Halloween and we're getting all prepared at our house. We've spent the last few days getting things ready to go. Darian has finally decided what he wants to be so I spent Friday and Saturday sewing part of his costume. I still have one element left. What has he chosen to be? Finn (with Jake as his trick or treat bag) from Adventure Time. Algebraic!!
So far I have his hat and backpack complete. We had to pick up fabric for Jake last night so I'll be working on him during the upcoming week. (I'll be sharing some tutorials for the costume elements in the next couple of weeks.)
But that's not all we'll be working on next week...we're also getting ready to start assembling our yard decorations. We went out today and spent our set aside "pumpkin cash" in preparation for the event. I still have to go pick up the needed mini-pumpkins, but today we got our twenty, yup...twenty regular sized pumpkins. It's going to be magnificent. I'd tell you the plan, but that would wreck the reveal. I'll share some pics during the week as things move forward. There is a LOT of carving to do. Tonight I will be wrestling with wire hangers, needle nosed pliers and crepe paper...I'll share those results tomorrow. And don't worry...those pumpkins won't go to waste. I will be keeping the seeds for roasting and the uncarved pumpkins will be broken down for future pies, cookies and bread.
Here's what else I've been doing this week :
Recipes I Used: Tonight's meal is my jambalaya - one of my absolute favorites. I'll be sharing it as it's own post for you tomorrow. This week I was fairly lazy and we did a lot of leftovers and lazy meals (like the makeshift nachos I made a couple of days ago). On Tuesday we continued to break down the leftovers in order to return my stew pots to rotation. I finished off our Peanut Sesame Noodles, a really easy delicious recipe that can be eaten cold or hot. (I found this one on Spark Recipes about six months ago.)
Ingredients :
2 cups cooked spaghetti
1 tbsp. sesame oil
3 tbsp. smooth peanut butter
1 tbsp. fresh ginger (I use 1 tsp. ground ginger)
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
3 tbsp. hot water
1 garlic clove, chopped (I use 1 tsp. garlic powder)
2 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 tbsp. toasted sesame seeds
Cook spaghetti according to package instructions. In a separate bowl, combine all remaining ingredients - except sesame seeds. Mix until peanut butter is fully dissolved. Blend spaghetti and sauce until noodles are coated. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
I more or less tripled this recipe when I made it last week. That used up a full box of noodles so that I didn't have open ones hanging around. It also provided us with two dinners and two lunches.
Books I Finished: I finished reading Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger. It was fantastic! I read it really quickly and it should do well in the brackets. Speaking of which...the next round will be up this week. I started reading Mercy by Jodi Picoult - so far also good.
Projects I Finished: We completed couponing in preparation for November. Our local store was having their "anniversary sale" so there were some really low cost items that made me go out for groceries a couple of weeks early. Collin was busy working so Darian helped me. We did really great and ended up with about a 35% savings margin.
I finished sewing Darian's hat and backpack for his Halloween costume.We also picked up some other craft supplies for five other projects that are on the burner. I am proud to say that I did manage to save 50% on everything purchased thanks to my sale/coupon shopping savvy. In the end, Darian's costume will end up costing me less than $15. Each of the other crafts will work out to about $5 each.
Posts I Posted: We completed two phases of Frugal Meal Planning, including how I lazily clip my coupons. I showed you how Bailey prefers to spend his evenings and I told a tale of home auto repair by Crazy Neighboronly to discover that you all apparently only enjoy Crazy Neighbor when he has the potential to kill someone in the process of his neuroses. (You're all demented and very sick puppies...I respect your dedication to high expectations.)
Favorite Post of the Week: A post from my favorite blogger of all, The Bloggess involving this :
(Tell me you haven't already laughed.)
The Best Thing I Found on the Interwebs: Thanks to my brother Tyler I was introduced to Chuck Testa.
I'm feeling a little wiped out and drained tonight after a day of fighting of a cold with a ridiculous dry cough. So...I've decided to keep it light and bring you all another tale of Crazy Neighbor.
I've been thinking about Crazy Neighbor a little bit lately. He is currently missing. Not missing in the sense that there is a search party and the potential for imminent danger - though that would be exciting. He has been mysteriously absent for about two weeks now. It's been magically quiet in our neighborhood, with the exception of the short period last week when our other neighbors were out of town and their poor dog decided he missed them. (Sadie kept sitting by our back fence worried about his cries from the other side.)
We know that it's not an unexpected absence...his daughter has been over at least once each week pulling weeds and trimming trees. So I've began to contemplate the possibilities this morning. (Yes. I was that bored.) I think I may have figured it out, but if I'm right then there is the potential for some very frightening tales. I'll keep my eyes open for him coming back and I'll keep you posted.
So we've already spoken about CN's issues with an ATV and watercraft...today we're going to speak of the basic automobile. (I'm telling you...there is no end to this fun.)
Don't let her fool you. She's an evil minx.
I came home from work this past spring to see CN out in his driveway with his garage doors open. He was pacing around in a circle with his hands up akimbo to his head like a sprinter trying to walk off the exertion of a 50m dash. That's all it took. I was curious. I pulled into my garage and (after a quick trip to the bathroom) went to the other side of the house. As soon as I got into my bedroom I heard the cursing begin.
There were words uttered by that man that I'm not sure I had ever heard spoken before. It was epic. Strings of profanity exclaimed at volume levels that may very well have broken the sound barrier. Keep in mind that this was in the early evening of a weekday and there are small, impressionable children in our neighborhood who were out playing.
He may have memorized this.
He had stomped back inside the garage. I quickly gathered that he was angry at the car. He shouted and pointed his finger angrily at the poor sedan calling it a whore and other colorful euphemisms. Had I not had visual I would've assumed that he was having an argument with the girlfriend. He was brutal and ruthless. I could hardly contain my laughter. I texted Collin immediately and told him to hurry home from work - he was missing the show.
The anger escalated. He was underneath the car at the trunk one second and then standing next the the car kicking it violently the next. I was confused to say the least. I looked hard at the car to see if I could figure it out. From what I could see from my vantage point, it would appear that someone (although the girlfriend was a likely candidate I'm going to go with good ol' CN himself) had run over something and bent the exhaust system under the car as well as the passenger side fender.
At this point you might think to yourself, wouldn't it be best for him just to take it to a body shop. This was a new car (I would say less than a year old). Well of course it would, but don't be silly, this is CN we're talking about. He can fix anything. Don't believe me? Just ask him. Apparently though, this one had him flummoxed. No amount of revving would help mend the twisted mess of metal under that car.
I turned away for a moment to answer my phone. I giggled like a Japanese anime girl while I explained the situation to Collin. He was stuck at work and totally devastated to know what he was missing. After finishing the call I looked back out the window. Oh holy night, the scene I landed on. It was magical!
The perfect solution to a bent tailpipe. It is a PIPE wrench after all.
Perhaps you are familiar with a pipe wrench? Ya...I'm talking the tool the Mario Brothers use. You know, the one that's longer than half of their bodies? CN had busted this out and jammed it into the exhaust pipe. Yup...apparently he was going to fix this bastard with a steel enema. The cursing got intermingled with grunting as I watched him try and bend the metal with the handle of the pipe wrench, pulling with all his might and turning a rather impressive shade of red.
Minus moustache, plus obscenities.
Thank goodness I had just used the bathroom or I'm pretty sure my laughter would've caused a small leakage problem. It was like a monkey with a shoehorn. This went on for about five minutes - I'm not kidding you...five SOLID minutes - before he gave up. But...before he went inside he got in one more jab. He swung the pipe wrench and smacked the side of the exhaust pipe. Well...that'll teach it. He then threw the pipe wrench across the garage and kicked the car in the fender for good measure. Hysterical.
This is where he finally gave up. He walked into the house and slammed the door still loudly yelling obscenities as the garage door closed. It was like watching the curtain drop on a Broadway play. It truly deserved a standing ovation.
So...with gems like this you can now understand why I find myself itching to know where he has gone. I'm so excited to see if my guess is correct. If so...the potential for a GLORIOUS blog post awaits. Until next time everyone!!
The thing that started all of my food budgeting was hearing about couponing. This was just before the whole thing exploded and crazy couponers became regular conversation, news and a series on TLC. I was a pioneer people...ish.
The first thing I did was sign up for our store's customer rewards program (we use Fred Meyer). By having their customer card we get weekly special deals and we get a percent back each quarter that goes towards future purchases. We save about $12-25 on each trip in store deals and we have been getting another $15-20 in quarterly rewards. That comes out to around $300 so far this year! Some people are worried about the stores using these cards for customer profiling, but I honestly don't care. If they want to know that my family likes Tillamook cheese or Kettle Brand chips, then more power to them.
My second step was obtaining a subscription for our local paper. I'm pretty cheap and we really don't read the paper (we're online news people) so I didn't want to make it a big investment. We happened to be at the store on our very first meal plan trip when the local newspaper had a kiosk recruiting subscribers. We ended up getting a year's subscription of Sundays and holidays for $52. That's $1 per week. Not too shabby. I told Collin that we'd see if this investment paid off. It ended up being worth it. The first week we got the paper I cut out $12 in coupons that we used on our next trip. The subscription paid for itself before the end of the first month. After taking out the amount we spent on the subscription, we've probably saved at least another $200 on our newspaper coupons. If you're keeping track, that's $500 in coupon savings so far.
A lot of couponers will cut coupons weekly (or even daily) and gather extras from neighbors. Some are even die hard enough to go dumpster diving for their coupons. I warned you...I am a lazy couponer. I don't do anything that requires too much extra effort. I don't gather up extra coupons and I don't cut my coupons every week. I pull apart the Sunday paper and stack the coupon flyers plus the ad for Fred Meyer on the kitchen counter. I check the weekly coupons for the local store, but then leave the rest for later. I don't deal with them again until I'm getting ready to plan my trip to the store.
I also get extra coupons online. There are multiple sites that host coupons for printing. These rotate on a regular basis (each site has a different rotation pattern, but checking every two weeks will typically catch the majority of coupons offered). I primarily use Coupons.com and Smart Source. These are both free sources. There are other sites out there that offer coupons via mail for a fee as well as services that will create a list of the week's deals and coupon coordinations. I figure I'm trying to save money, not spend more and I really don't want to spend a bunch of extra time dealing with it. I also don't like having to download a bunch of crap onto my computer in order to operate the various websites. These two sites are simple enough for me and still save me a good amount of money. I print multiples of the coupons that I know I will use. The sites will typically let you "start over" and print additional copies 2-5 times depending on the item. These coupons get me another $20 or so in savings each trip. Figuring twice a month this adds up to $360 this year to date. Total couponing savings this year based on these estimates: $860. Wow.
So every other week (more or less) I sit down and clip out the coupons. I typically do this while I'm watching TV - making use of otherwise nonproductive time.
I first sort the coupon flyers. I put the ones I am going to use in one pile and discard the rest in the garbage. That's right. I throw away coupons. No way I'm wasting my time to clip a coupon for some item I know we'll never use...like say dryer sheets. I'm allergic to them. They're useless to our family so spending time cutting those coupons out would just be dumb.
I most often cut the computer printed coupons using my scrapbook paper cutter and the flyer coupons with my scissors. I've also recruited Collin to help me clip in the past. (FYI...I'm still missing the cover to my Tim Holtz scissors if anyone is wondering. I have NO idea what I did with the darned thing. However, I have been able to avoid skewering myself with them again. Small victories.)
After all the coupons are cut I sort them into piles by category. You'll want to create your own categories based on your store's layout, but I will share mine with you when I talk to you more about my coupon binder.
Once they're categorized I then sort my coupons into my coupon binder. I have adhered little poly pockets to each section's page to keep things contained. More on this next time. I'm so excited! Crafting!!!
This amount of time this process takes depends on how long it's been since my last trip. Typically it takes me about twenty minutes to print the coupons, ten to sort the flyers and thirty to cut and sort. That's at least thirty minutes of perfectly good How I Met Your Mother time.
Now you know all you need to know about uber lazy coupon clipping. Yahoo! See...not that daunting right?
Next time we get to my favorite part...the binder! My binder is my pride and joy. It's been through a few revisions, but I think it's a pretty smart arrangement. Maybe you won't be as impressed as I am. I don't care. I'm still giddy. I might go hug it for a while now.
Ok...so I misspoke in my last food budgeting post and told you that the next step would be the coupon binder. Well, I got so excited about showing the crafty part that I completely skipped two steps. Oops. Hopefully you won't be too disappointed to know that today we get to go over meal planning instead.
Meal planning sounds all super organized and time consuming, but it's really not as tough as it sounds and it's a huge help in freeing up both time and money.
Prior to embracing this whole process I spent time every night figuring out what we were going to eat before I started fixing it. I hated this. Coming home after a long day at work, having to figure out a meal and then verifying that all of the ingredients actually exist in the house? Sucky. It frustrated the crap out of me. Not to mention the fact that my dinners were often delayed by up to thirty minutes while I made a decision and then had to defrost meat.
I have multiple sources that I use for my meals. I have a pile of "old standby" recipes that I've gathered over the years. My family has their favorites so we have a few that always make the rotation (e.g. breakfast for dinner, meatloaf). Added to that are recipes from the family cookbook I made for my mom for Mother's Day a few years back (don't worry...I'll share this project at a later date), recipes that I've gotten from friends, magazines and - of course - Pinterest.
In the mix I also always add a few special occasions. Collin & I try to have a date night at least once a month and we also try to always have Family Movie Night. Family Movie Night is when we watch a movie together while eating either takeout or finger foods like mozzarella sticks, pizza bites and jalapeno poppers. Fun and easy.
My first step is to figure out a list of recipes to make. I build this using the inventory that I've created for the month. I determine what recipes will best use up any remaining meat and vegetables first. After that I look at large stock items. This way I keep a regular rotation of the items I have a lot of. I then I dig through the new recipes I want to try during the month and maybe pull out a few meals that we haven't had in a while. For example, this month I added my jambalaya to the mix. My family loves it, but it's not the best recipe for summer. Now that it's getting cooler around here it's just the right time. If I still have open slots I badger Collin into giving me some ideas.
While I'm adding recipes to the list I note the ingredients on the inventory. I just put a little check mark next to the item each time I need it. So by the end if I have five check marks next to green bell peppers and my inventory shows that I have two already in the fridge, then I know that I need to plan on three for my shopping list.
My recipe list isn't pretty. I just use a piece of scratch paper. Here's this month's list.
I always make sure to include a mix of easy meals with the meals that actually take preparation. No way I'm spending hours in the kitchen each night. I have things to do. I also don't worry too much about the side dishes to start with. I always have plenty of stuff to fill the gaps.
Once I have my main dishes, I pair them with appropriate sides. I learned from my mother. She always did a really good job giving us balanced meals as kids, so I try and do the same. I make sure we hit the major food groups as well as possible. Meat, veggies, bread & dairy. Most often our dairy is actually the glass of milk that we drink with dinner. Everyone in the family loves milk.
With each meal coordinated, I bust out the glass calendar that hangs on our hallway wall. I bought it a few years ago (ya ya, I probably could have made it) and I love it. We use it to track meals as well as where we are all supposed to be during the month. Collin's schedule has proven rather tricky this month. I use chalk markers and keep everyone color coded. Black is meals and holidays, green is Collin, blue is Darian and I'm white (Huh. Never realized how appropriate that is...I'm just this side of mayonaise.)
There is also a method to how things land on the calendar. I don't just walk down the list and plug things in one day after another. I try to keep things mixed so we don't eat similar items multiple days in a row. (Burritos followed by tacos followed by nachos? Pretty sure all the pepto would be gone and I'd be getting the evil eye from Collin...along with anyone who has to work with him.) I also arrange it based on my work schedule. Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays I typically work full days so I don't want to work that hard when I get home. The other days are a little more open so I book those with the newer recipes I haven't tried yet and ones that I know will take me more time.
Here's a blow up of the calendar...a three week spread of Sunday through Wednesday. Notice that the Sundays are more involved meals that take longer to prepare and/or cook. The rest are straight forward. Nothing in the Monday-Wednesdays shown takes me longer than about 20 minutes. Awesome.
Once it's all in the calendar I return to the inventory list. I take those items and add them to the ones that we've jotted down on the grocery list over the month. (I'm hoping that posting the inventory in the kitchen will help me eliminate the grocery list and just keep everything together.) I pick a day during the month when I will most likely be going back for the second half of produce (usually the 2nd Thursday or Friday of the month) and keep those items on a list for later. This way I minimize what might go bad.
The grocery list. This item will be back during a later step.;
Keep in mind, the calendar is still somewhat of a loose guideline. Sometimes things change during the month and I have to shuffle recipes. Like last week...we ended up with a few recipes where I had a large amount of leftovers. So...we had leftovers a couple of nights and those recipes got bumped. Nothing in those meals had a risk of spoiling so I was fine. If I had something planned with veggies that were perishable, then I would plug it in this week in place of a nonperishable recipe. It's a bit of a juggling act, but it still works pretty well. Plus...at the end of the month, I take any recipes that weren't used and just plug them into the next month. Haha!! Saving more money!
So that's it for meal planning. Hopefully this made sense. I admit that I was somewhat distracted by The Sing-Off (it's a guilty pleasure). And this time I'm going to get the follow up post correct. The next in the series is coupon clipping.
