Halloween Eve, and we had
not gotten the traditional pumpkins.  I
could have easily gotten some at the grocery store, but the girls and I decided
to drive to Lendt’s Pumpkin farm.  We had
been there several times before, and though it was getting late, I figured we
would have enough time to look around a bit, haul the wagon out to the field,
and pick our pumpkins before they closed. 
It might even be kind of fun if it was getting dark.

We got there, and of course, we
didn’t see many pumpkins.  We wandered
around the wooden Halloween cut-outs, and took pictures by the “How Tall Are
You This Year” sign.  The kids had fun,
but it made me a bit melancholy.  The big
Charlie Brown now looked like Kilroy. 

As we headed out to the field, the
proprietor came up to us and asked, “Are you here for pumpkins?”  I replied, “Well, yeah…” 

 “We don’t have any more pumpkins
left,” she said.  “The ones in the field
are all rubbish.”  She told us that if we
hurried, we had about 15 minutes to get to Pinehaven, a petting zoo/pumpkin/Christmas
tree farm that featured haunted hayrides. 
We got over there with 10 minutes to spare, picked out our pumpkins,
paid our $20 and headed home.

I’m usually pretty good at making special moments, but not always so good at remembering to be in them.

“We can only be
said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our
treasures.”
Thornton
Wilder

I just found out about a recall of plastic “Ugly Teeth.” because According to a CBS news report, “paint on the teeth contained 100 times the allowable level of lead.”

I told zisixi about it, and he said that he just gave some of those (along with vampire teeth) to some people at work. 

An article from the  New York Times (9/1/07) states that though 20 percent of the consumer products for sale in the US are Chinese made, safety standards are voluntary, and are not mandatory until the voluntary measures have failed.

“Time and again,
through the translators, they made clear they did not understand this
concept,” said Nick Marchica, an engineer and former agency senior
aide. “What they told us was, ‘As far as we are concerned, voluntary
means we don’t have to.’ ”

Mr. Marchica said some Chinese
products, like electrical extension cords or children’s jewelry,
frequently violate the standards. But the consumer agency is
handicapped in finding those goods or blocking them from reaching
American buyers. The commission has no inspectors at factories
overseas. And at ports in the United States, the agency is overwhelmed.

In Los Angeles area ports, through which 15 million truck-size
containers move a year, a single agency inspector, working two or three
days a week, spot-checks incoming shipments. Agency officials would not
permit the inspector to speak with a reporter, but colleagues said her
assignment was all but hopeless. “It is completely ineffective,” one
agency official said.”

I am not an organized person in the best of times, and holidays stress my abilities

Final costume decisions: 
Daughter1 – zombie
Daughter2 – Luna Lovegood (from Harry Potter.  I had to warn her that if people hadn’t read Harry Potter, or seen the movie, they would not know what she was.  Luckily, she was ok with that.)
Daughter3 – cute cowgirl

We had a homeschool party, so Daughters2 and 3 got to do a trial run on their costumes.  One of the older boys helped Daughter2 with her tie – I had printed out instructions (you can actually purchase a “how-to-tie-a-tie” video for $13.95) but I couldn’t really figure it out.

I was running late, so I threw some chips and salsa into a paper bag, along with my quarterly 941 payroll taxes. I didn’t have a stamp, so I planned to stop by the post office later. 

The hosts of the party have a huge pole barn – they own a tree-trimming business, so its big enough to hold lots of equipment.
Years ago, a friend of theirs made dozens of chain-saw sculptures from trees that they had cut down.  The sculpture range from cute (animals) to kind of creepy (skulls).

The kids had a great time jumping on the trampoline, playing foosball and pool, and just running around.  I had a good time talking to the other parents, and suddenly I realized that I had only 20 minutes to get to my oldest daughter’s school, and it would take me 30 minutes to get there.  I couldn’t find the paper bag I had brought, so I just grabbed the costumes and other stuff I had brought, rounded up the kids, and took off.

Once we got on the road, I called Daughter1′s school to let them know that I was running late.  When I was about half-way there, I realized that I had left my taxes in the paper bag. I called the hostess, and left a message with her son to please look for the bag.  After I picked up Daughter1, I realized that I would not be able to make it back to the party to look for my taxes, so I called the accountant and asked them to print out another copy for me. 

I stopped at the accountants at around 4:30.  I had the tax form and an addressed envelope in my hand by 4:35.  It took me about 15 minutes to get to the post office.  I got the taxes mailed off (certified to prove that they were actually sent on the 31st,) at around 4:50.

Then I had to get home, feed the kids, and put the last minute touches on costumes.  My sister and mom came over, we ate dinner, and went out trick-or-treating around 7:00.

I found this picture on the Make.com website:

HR Puffnstuff!

Forget pixies and fairies – next year Daughter2 can dress up as a Bugaloo!

Mom, the Raisin Bran box says, “OMG! Cholesterol!”

For Halloween, last year, my eldest was Goth.  She wanted to dye her hair black.  First, we tried a semi-permanent dye that was supposed to eventually wash out.  Unfortunately, that turned her hair a grayish purple.  We went out and got some permanent dye.  Zisixi dyed her hair for her.  She liked it, and it looked good (for several months, until the blond roots started to grow out).  We still have some spots in the carpet and on the walls from the dye.

Middle child was a garden pixie.  She was upset that people kept thinking she was a fairy.  According to her definition:  “Fairies live in the imaginary realm, like unicorns.  Pixies interact with humans, like in Peter Pan.”  (I think she was just grumpy that the black widow was getting so much attention.)

Youngest was a Black Widow spider.  When people would tell her she looked scary, she would reply,
“Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. I’m a vegetarian.”
 

Last year, our youngest wanted to be a Black Widow Spider.  She wore a black sweat suit (with several layers of warmer clothes underneath.) 

It was a lot of work, but we had fun making the costume.  (zisixi, my sister and I all worked on it.)

Directions:

1.  Sew black feather boas onto the arms and legs of the sweat suit to make them look hairy. 
2.  Cut the legs off of two pairs of black nylons, stuff them with batting, and sew boas onto each “leg.”
3.  Sew two legs under arms on each side of sweatshirt.
4.  Use fishing line to attach bottom “leg” on sweatshirt to  the arm of the sweatshirt.
5.  Cut a shiny piece of red fabric in an hourglass shape.  Attach to sweatshirt.

Mask

1.  Cut 4 ping pong balls in half, and paint black. 
2.  Attach ping pong balls above eyes on the face mask.
3.  Cut a styrofoam ring in 1/4s.  Attach 2 of the 1/4s under the mouth to make the chalicerae (fangs.)
4.  Put black makeup around eyes.

I just answered this Featured Question, you can answer it too!

There is actually a patent for the cold weather Halloween costume. 

I found two other interesting Halloween related patents: 

What is a flexible or light emitting member?

A chemiluminescent reagent sounds truly frightening.  I’m guessing its like a glow stick.  And that picture of the little girl…now that’s scary.

Illumination and Halloween costume
 
…”A light
emitting member having an appearance which creates, in the mind of an
individual viewing the light emitting member, an associated image
associated with the image of a person, animal, character or thing
completes the inventive costume.”

CHEMILUMINESCENTLY ILLUMINATED COSTUME SAFETY MASK

A costume
safety mask housing chemiluminescent reagents. Upon activation, the
reagents illuminate the mask or features thereon for purposes of
novelty illumination and safety of the wearer. The mask may include
liquid, viscous liquid, or solid chemiluminescent reagents that are
held in cavities. Liquid components of the instant invention may be
transported through passageways in the mask to provide a flowing
appearance.

[0066] FIG. 6 depicts a mask 100 that simulates a young girl
wherein the liquid-liquid chemiluminescent reagents or liquid-dry
chemiluminescent reagents can be used to highlight aspects of the mask.
The safety mask may include cavities to highlight the cheek 102, chin
104, forehead 106, eyebrow 108, lip 110, eyeball 112, nose 114, hair
116 and so forth. The mask can be rotatably attached to a human head by
the use of a hook and loop (VELCRO) strap and rotated so that the
representation of the mask would change, for example, to that of an
elderly woman, as shown in FIG. 7. Portions of the mask may be opaque
to conceal fluids and other fluids may relocate to cause enhanced aged
features. For example, the chin 124 may contain fluid that flowed from
the young girl’s hair 116. The eyeball 112 fluid may flow to the
eyeball socket 126. The lips 110 having a concentrated fluid may flow
to the general forehead area 128, and so forth. The result is a dual
function mask having illumination for novelty as well as safety
purposes.

Two different “collectible” covers for Martha Stewart’s Halloween magazine:

“Glampire” Martha

“Goddess Martha”

Last year, I went to see Amy Sedaris at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul.  Amy was there promoting her book, I Like You, on  The Current Fakebook.  When Mary Lucia asked her about her appearance on the Martha Stewart show, Amy replied, “we’re just different energies.”

Video:   Amy Sedaris making a Lady Baltimore cake on the Martha Stewart show:

Martha told Amy “In my book I try to make things look like they should. In your book you make things look like they are.”  

I think making things look like they are instead of how the should be is ‘good thing’.  

Ah, that time of year again.  Time to figure out what the kids want to be for Halloween, and buy/make costumes.  Just narrowing down the choice is stressful enough.  The kids usually change their mind at least 4 times before actually deciding what they want to be. 

When they were little it was easy – I usually got something for a couple of bucks at a garage sale; a lamb, a bunny, a pumpkin.   A couple of years ago, we got costumes at one of those stores that is just open for Halloween.  We hadn’t found anything at the thrift store, and I didn’t have time to make anything. I was really not happy about it; the costumes they sell are flimsy, way overpriced, and not at all suited for trick-or-treating in Minnesota. 

Boughten (that doesn’t even sound like a real word, but it is) costumes just don’t suffice for Minnesota Halloweens.  Remember the Halloween Blizzard of 1991?  (Actually, I was living in Hawaii at the time, but it could happen again!)  Even Minnesota-based Target stores only sell the light-weight sleeveless costumes.  You would think at least they could sell some that are made of microfleece.

As a kid, I remember crying and/or pouting about having to wear a coat over my costume. “Really, I’ll be fine.  I’ll be running around so much, I won’t get cold.  Nobody will be able to see my costume!”  Usually I did get cold, even with the coat.

I wonder what subarcticsuburbia does for Halloween in Alaska?