Let The Festivities Commence

6 PM on Halloween and the sugarfest, it has begun...

Halloween fairy wings?  Made, thanks to all you lovely commenters out there.  Although, when I showed them to Anna, she started laughing.  I'm happy to see this particular teenage girl regaining her sense of humor, even if it does tend to be at my expense.

No matter, Rachel likes them.  And, fortunately, Larry is the one stuck with the job of affixing said wings to the girls' backs.  He's not a happy camper right now.  I just caught him muttering something about staples.

David is working frantically to put the finishing touches on the IPhone costume he is creating for Brian.  It comes complete with Halloween-themed apps.  David is going as Steve Jobs, which would have been the easiest costume ever if Target or Kohl's had seen fit to stock black mock turtlenecks this fall.  As it is, I've been running all over town in search of this particular piece of wardrobe holy grail.

And now?  It is time to roll up our sleeves and start sampling Snickers.  Yes, we can...

Sanity Break

Hangin' with the cool kids this weekend...

Parental Trickery

Jillybean commented on the failed-kale post  2 days ago that I should make the kids cook.  That way, they wouldn't be so critical of my cooking.

What she doesn't realize is that my teaching them to help in the kitchen is precisely the reason David was weighing in with his seasoned (no pun intended) opinions on how to improve my kale cookery.  That particular young lad can cook pizza, lasagna, szechuan broccoli, and quesadillas with the best of them. 

No meat, though - he's an ardent vegetarian.  And therein, my friends, lies my secret to getting him to help out in the meal-preparation department:

Me: (loudly) Gee, I wonder what I should make for dinner tonight?  (Opening fridge) Hmmm, there's some ground beef - I'll throw together some sloppy joes.

David:  Let me cook!

It's that simple.  



[image credit: Groovy Layouts]

The Wind Beneath My Wings...

....Halloween fairy wings, that is. 

You see, over a month ago, I had what seemed like a fantastic idea.  I spotted these sparkly orange tutus in Target and told the girls, "Hey! You can be Halloween fairies!  We'll put these with a black shirt and black leggings and you're good to go!"

"A wand," Rachel reminded me.  "We need wands."

"You can make those - that's easy!"

"And wings, Mommy - we have to have wings."

"Yes, yes," I said, too busy paying the Target cashier to really think about what I was saying.  "I'll think of something for that, too.  Don't worry."

I'll think of something. 

Don't worry.

Oh, what a fool I was.  Here we are, T minus 4 days and counting, and I have most certainly NOT thought of something.  Please, someone - anyone - out there, tell me how to create 2 simple pairs of fairy wings.  I am beyond desperate.

Kale Safe

Having had Mrs. Ohtobe throw down the gauntlet, as it were, by saying that she was looking forward to seeing that bag of kale again on my next fridge clean-out day, I thought, "I'll show her!  I'll cook the darn thing and feed it to my unsuspecting family."  Forgetting, of course, what I always tell my children: never take a dare.

"YOU FAILED KALE!"

Folks, that stuff was so bad, the children didn't even cry.  They just sort of sat there, puzzled.  I made a game attempt to eat my portion, but it took me forever to finish the first mouthful. 

Chewy.  Limp, but chewy. 

I tried a second forkful and started to gag. 

"Maybe you should have cooked it some more," suggested David.

"It looks cooked..." I defended myself.  Sheesh, everyone's a critic...

"More garlic would be a good idea, too," he said.  "And add it at the end, so you can really taste it.  What sort of oil did you use, anyway?"

Who does that kid think he is, Emeril? 

[Emeril photo credit: VittlesVamp]