randomly chaotic and frequently mundane

So, I’ve done some painting of ceramics of late.  Most recently, I’ve been working on Halloween themed items.  I did this very cool stack of skulls and I gotta say I’m so proud of how it came out I’m gonna tell y’all what I did (as well as post some pictures of em).  This was my first attempt at antiquing and I love the effect that it had.

First I painted the whole thing cornsilk yellow (skulls, leaves, everything).  Then I painted the leaves and vines avocado green.  Once that dried I dry brushed rain forest green onto the leaves and some parts of the vines.  Because I wanted to be cute, I gave 2 skulls gold teeth with metallic gold and 1 a black brown tooth.  After all that had plenty of time to dry, I used an antiquing paint (I don’t remember the exact wording of what kind of paint it was… it’s oil based though) — walnut brown.  Brush on, rub off.  The skulls were actually brown when I rubbed off the antiquing stuff, but later I took a slightly damp rag and rubbed it to the color I wanted.  I’m so very happy with how this piece came out.  On Halloween he’ll be outside (in view, but well away from trick or treaters ability to knock over) and lit from inside.  Shall be eerie and creepy and all kinds of groovy.

I thought it was really good.  A great way to spend a few hours the day before Halloween, too.  Actually the movie’s only about an hour and a half, but you get the idea.  Even better, on Tuesday I saw Saw IV for the first time (I know, I was SO behind… it was terrible of me).  Which I also thought was a great movie.  It’s a really good series, I have to admit.  Not many horror series’ have impressed me with every single movie (thus far).  Actually, I don’t think ANY previous series has.  Let’s face it, the orignal Halloween was great, the second was also really good.  And I liked H2O.  The rest of the series was rather so-so to me — and we won’t even speak of that horrid Season of the Witch thing that happened.  Nightmare on Elm Street… some great movies.  And some not-so-great ones.  Same with Friday the 13th.  The Exorcist would have been a great series if the 2nd one hadn’t happened (seriously, what happened there?).  I wasn’t too keen on Scream 3… I mean, that was REALLY stretching things, don’t you think?

 Of course, with all the horror sequels, prequels and remakes… who can keep up?

Ok, I love Halloween with a passion. When I was a kid, I would start contemplating Halloween Costumes as soon as school let out for the summer. No, I’m not joking — just a devoted fan of Halloween. What can I say, there’s such a great spirit (no pun intended) surrounding the holiday. The mystery, the magic, the “hey, who’s that over there dressed up as Captain Kirk?” moments… Oh it’s something special. I could spend hours checking out HalloweenAdventure.com browsing the costumes and it would take me a month to narrow down my choices to just one. Actually, it would probably take longer than that — they’ve got a lot. This year I’m going with a fairly classic Halloween costume, a clown. Mostly because I decided that’s what my son would be, and I opted to wear a matching costume. Please don’t gag on the cuteness.

The Joker was a serious consideration for me this year, especially in light of the new Batman movie. Most people know I love Batman, and the Joker is such a great villian. If my son was going to be Batman this year, I’d have dressed as the Joker. A geisha was also a consideration. I’ve wanted to dress as a geisha for years. Maybe I’ll do that next year. So many different costumes appeal to me on so many different levels. HalloweenAdventure.com makes the choosing easier and harder at the same time. So many costumes, and only one day per year. I don’t think I’ll ever get to wear all of the costumes that I’d really love to wear. But I’m gonna have a great time trying.

Apparently Hasbro has a sub-company (or whatever it is they call it) called Noodleboro.  Noodleboro has 3 board games that I know of.  1 to help teach the importance of listening, 1 on sharing and 1 on manners.  Go Noodleboro.  They were actually brought to my attention the other day when I stopped at Walmart with a friend to pick up some stuff he needed to build new cages for his pet rats.  After we acquired the supplies he needed, I wanted to check out the toys and games to start getting some ideas for Christmas.  I was actually looking at the Memory and Candyland options they had when he pointed out the Noodleboro games.  I’m thinking that Gage will be getting at least one of those board games.  The listening one — not just because listening is part of communication, which is still a big priority for me as far as Gage’s progress (even though he’s making such huge strides), but also because it’s centered around pizza, which never fails to get his attention.  Heck if I can find a deal, he might get all 3.

So we had this thing at work on Saturday.  They were doing a do for the kids and so employees were permitted to wear Halloween costumes to work, provided they were appropriate.  Anyone who dressed up was entered into a drawing for a 10, 25 or 50 dollar gift card (to the store, of course).  So, I took some leftover material from making Gage’s costume (clown), added some additional fabric and made myself a cute little clown costume.  I spent the entire day having customers and co-workers tell me how cute I was.  It was great.  Through the day, I saw 5 other costumes… Sarah Palin, a race car driver, the store owner, reese’s peanut butter cups and (I assume) Hannah Montana or someone like that.  There were many other people “dressed up” though.  They donned their favorite Phillies t-shirts and said “I’m a Phillies fan.”  Um…. WHAT?  No.  Does that mean that next year I can come in wearing my normal clothes and say “I’m a mom.”  Dressing in a costume generally involves dressing something that you actually AREN’T.

If a child came to my door trick or treating just wearing jeans and a sports teams jersey and said “I’m a ______ fan” I’d sayd “go get a real costume and I’ll give you candy.”  Cold?  Yeah, probably.  But that’s not a costume.  You dress in costume and I’ll give you candy, I don’t care how old you are.  But the costume is mandatory.

So… when Gage is asked for mommy and daddy’s names he answers.  Daddy’s name he gets right every time.  Mommy’s name sounds like mac and cheese.  I kid you not.  Maybe it’s the double G in the name that’s got him a little mixed up.  But I’m mac and cheese.  It’s cute though.

So, Gage has been on the patch for about a month now.  Doing really well.  For the past 2 weeks he’s kept the patch on all day when he goes to school.  When he’s home, that’s another story.  He keeps taking it off when he’s home all day (weekends and holidays).  Not entirely sure why, except that when he gets home from school I take the patch off of him.  Maybe he thinks that it’s only a school thing.  Funny thing is, the day that this run of keeping it on started, I told him that if he kept the patch on all day I’d take him to McDonalds for some french fries.  He kept it on and we got in the car and went up to get his fries.  Since then, when he gets home from school he’s hellbent on getting in the car.  I’m guessing that he wants to go get his french fries for wearing the patch all day.  It’s so cute though, cause he takes my hand and starts going toward the front door saying “car please” and “I want car.”

His behavior has been so amazing.  He’s not aggressive like he was.  Some days he gets a little bit aggressive, but most days he’s not at all.  No pushing or hitting at school or at home.  Even when Kalina (his 3 yr old cousin) gets a little aggressive toward him, he just walks away or looks at her like “what’s your problem?”  The past two nights, the two of them have sat at the kitchen counter playing games on my computer.  They alternate… one plays and the other watches.  Usually it’s Gage playing, he’s better with the computer and clicking the mouse buttons and all that.  But when he’s playing, Kalina watches and sometimes “directs” by pointing to the games/activities she wants him to do.  It’s terribly cute.

for the love of god.

SERIOUSLY.

Attn: Sarah Palin

Just because Bush says it wrong doesn’t mean you should.  The word is pronounced nu-CLEE-ar, NOT nu-CYOO-lar.

Thank you, drive thru.