Could it be the last?

We have a middle schooler.
Dressing in costume to get candy from strangers is no longer acceptable behavior.
But he wanted copious amounts of candy.
So what does any self-respecting middle schooler do?
Well, you wear a costume that only a middle school gamer would love.

Can anyone guess who or what he is?
[crickets chirping]
Well, my uninformed friends and family, he is a Minecraft creeper.
Because I am such a cheapskate I scoured the internet for a like minded mother who blogs and found one.  Mama Needs a Hobby set me up.  That, a free cardboard box and a coworker with an awesome color printer and my middle schooler was ready to pillage the neighborhood.

My second grader had grander plans.
And I loved them.
We had found an gnome costume for Mr. Ollie Wienerkins.  Oh the universal shame for dogs on Halloween.  But we gloriously joined in the night of shame and dressed our dachshund like a gnome.  Anna decided he was Gnomeo to her Juliet.

So I was in charge of making her look like Juliet.  And, to be quite honest, because I am not full of vim and vigor these days, it didn't take too long to put it all together.  Here's the whole gang on Halloween night.



This years Halloween Party brought lots of little ones with their 'rents.  We kept it low key this time and I didn't go crazy on cooking and baking.  Gotta love warehouse shopping in situations such as this.  Plus friends who bring yummy food to share.

Here is my one easy but fun thing I did for food this year thanks to my obsession with Pinterest:



After all, who can resist jack-o-lantern vomit?

That and fake mustaches and you've got yourself a party!
I came across stick-on mustaches somewhere before the party and snatched 'em up! (I love the verb "snatch"...hmmm, but I digress).  And just as I thought, they were a hit at the party.  I love that a picture can tell it better than me.

There were all sorts of secret personalities that came out at the party that night!  Loved it!!

Before all the trick or treaters ran off to pillage we gathered them around the Magnolia tree for the traditonal Halloween picture.


The gaggle of goblins did not disappoint.

And while we out trick or treating we were serenaded by a mad accordianist.

Note: his mustache is real.

We all had a great time and I'm sure next year we'll do it again.  But maybe the creeper will stay home and hand out candy. Who knows...maybe he has another Halloween in him...we can hope.

Until then, here's hoping your Jack-O-Laterns light up the night so you can find your way home.

Epic Bathroom Renovation

It is done.
The bathroom renovation that started in November of 2010 is done.
Collective heavy sigh.
Now, it is not the bathroom I had dreamed of.
It is not the bathroom I had hoped for.
Nor is it the bathroom I had planned on.
But...
it is the bathroom that is completed and much better than I had imagined it could be.

After firing the first contractor in July of 2011, we took a hiatus to recover from the "trauma" of a botched job. We didn't attempt to hire another contractor to finish it until December 2011. He (and I am quoting him) turned chicken shit into chicken salad. God bless him.

You might remember that we started demolition of this bathroom in the fall of 2010. We were sure then if the contractor was up to the job and so we asked him to hold off while we made some design decisions. He returned to begin the work in May of 2011. Have I told you we don't do change well?

So he came and he brought his undisciplined ADHD mind with him. Thank god for our plumber/electrician who was able to ask the right questions to us to help us process what the heck our contractor was doing AND not doing. The final straw came when I came home from work to find he had laid the shower tile in the wrong pattern. Who doesn't know what a subway tile pattern is in the age of subway tile?

It was a xanax kind of moment, my friends. If only I had had one. But I called him and told him he was done and to pick up his tools the next day. I hated doing it but had to do it. Nicest guy you'd ever meet. Just don't have him do detail work if you hire him. Having paid him a good chunk of money we wondered if this was going to be the world's most expensive cheap looking bathroom ever. So for several months we had a bathroom with no working anything while we decided what to do next.

In comes the plumber/electrician who asked all the right questions. Now he's someone I can trust. And he measures twice (maybe even three or four times) and cuts once. He kindly came in and cleaned up someone else's mess.

So without further ado, I give you befores and afters...







Oh and this scary thing...


has been replaced by this...


Some details I like...


Shampoo cubby in the shower



I love the style of this vanity. Where did I get such a gorgeous thing? Costco



Added glass knobs to the vanity. Did you know Hobby Lobby has a ton of unique handles and knobs?


Enamored with my spa hotel light fixture


And the last detail I want to share with you is the shower curtain. I can't tell you how disappointed I was when I came home with the perfect shower curtain only to find it was about 14 inches too short. We needed an 84 inch long curtain. They are generally sold in length of 72 inches. Grrrrrr.

All the extra long shower curtains were tacky, plastic and expensive. So the simplest solution was to add length to a regular shower curtain. I had considered buying regular drapes to use as a shower curtain but I would have had to learn how to do button holes or punch grommets. I wasn't up for that learning curve. But, as luck would have it, I found a table runner at Target on clearance and it was the perfect dimensions for what I needed. Thank you Target for once again coming to my rescue. I sewed that baby on there and, voila, an extra long, one of a kind shower curtain.

And....scene.