Thank Goodness it's October 31st!

And I can say good bye to this looooooooooong month.

Oh, and Happy Halloween, everyone!

Want to see Abby's costume?

I thought you might.

And then I can continue with my gripe-fest.

Abby decided she wanted to be a princess this year. Not sure where that idea came from considering she's not too much of a girly-girl and that she's not at all interested in "Disney princesses." But, hey, if she wanted to be a princess, we were ok with that.

So I started hunting around for patterns or costumes that might make for a cheap get up. But, everything she and I were interested in either involved a lot of time or a lot of money. I was leaning towards a pattern, and thus a lot of my time, when we got some terrible news. A family member in Idaho was frightfully sick. We decided we had to visit. And our trip would fall the week before Halloween. That's right folks: less than two weeks after Abby's birthday party. Oh, and did I mention I needed to attend a one week training course in San Jose?! Egads, bye bye time.

So, I started to hunt around for other alternatives. Someone suggested I check out a local thrift store. Now, I've always been a little leery of thrift stores. I can't help but think dirty + unknown = yucky. But a lot of bloggers out there say to give it a try. It's amazing what I've seen them do with a piece of you-know-what chair that they clean up, paint, and reupholster. Or a statue, or a lamp, or an end table, or even framed art that is U-G-L-Y. The trick, they say, is to see the value of what's still there and build off it. Hmmm, those sound like words of wisdom right there...

Anyway, I've been giving thrift stores more than a passing glance lately, and I've been pretty pleased with my finds. I think that to save the most money, you also gotta work with what you already have too. For example, here's one of my latest Halloween creations (the idea came from one of those fellow bloggers out there).

My ghost:



All it took was a styrofoam head and some white scrim I had left over from our wedding. I've slowly been using up the stuff, and I think I'm finally down to - 'o, maybe like - 32 yards! Anyhoo, you simply glue the fabric down around the face only and then drape the rest over the head. You end up with a diaphanous white shape that has an eerily detailed face peering out. I was most pleased with the result. I bought the head at a thrift store. Total cost = $3.50.





I know, I know. A thrift store styrofoam head is totally different than thrift store clothes. Right? Well, sheesh, my brain kept telling me that clothes, or in Abby's case, a costume, would just be thrown in the washer and washed clean like any other clothes. Right? I mean, dirty (in the store) + unknown = yucky doesn't equate to clean + at home = clean? Right? Hmmm, I think I just needed to find the right costume.

And then I found it. A beautiful dress with no "weird" stains or missing buttons or funky hems. Nope. This dress was pretty. And it was half off at the thrift store. That meant it cost a whopping total of $2.15. Could I possibly beat that? Ummm, no, I couldn't.

So I bought it.

And took it home and gently cleaned it in the bath tub and let it soak.

And soak.

And soak some more, just for good luck, until I was sure that there was no dirty and no unknown and no yucky anymore.

Then, playing off the costume jewelry (plus tiara, scepter, and purse) Abby had gotten for Christmas long ago, I bought a purple boa and pinned it to the dress scarf. The boa cost $5.00.

So, for a grand total of $7.15, and with only soaking supervision time on my end, we got one happy little princess for Halloween! Yay!









HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

...More about this crazy month to come... Dun dun dummmmmm....