minute preparations... and sinus headaches. I took Benadryl earlier and it knocked me out. I also had peppermint oil going in the diffuser AND was a couple of hours in on a decongestant. This weather needs to make up its mind because my head needs a break.
I was out in the yard at 5:30 this morning positioning all the lights for tonight. I think we're just about set.
We're stocked up on candy.
Why is it that we pick through it, trying to get the "good stuff" before the trick-or-treaters come? We bought it for the trick-or-treaters. Also, I go to the store several times a week. In one of those trips, I could easily pick up a Kit Kat bar. I'm calling it Halloween Logic... and greed.
Speaking of candy, Lauren said I need this sign hanging in front of one of my spotlights.
I'm waiting for it to dry now. I probably won't put it out until just before the kids start to come because I checked my weather app and it'll probably rain. That SUCKS. If it rains then all of this might just go into a box for next year. I'm also hoping that if it stays dry, that there are enough people out there who aren't baseball fans. Seriously. The Astros only need one win and that game is tonight. That also sucks.
There is some good news though. I got the costumes splattered with blood yesterday and
vampire blood's stain doesn't stick around too long. It's already gone.
Oh, more good news. I stopped by Chicken Express for a $5 kids meal today. My total was $1.24. Also, instead of 1 tender they gave me 3. That's cool but I still couldn't finish one tender. Now I have two left. How's that for some math skills?
Hopefully I'll have more good news tomorrow morning by reporting back that there was no rain, it was a beautiful evening and we scared so many trick-or-treaters.
I'm almost ready. Plan B after the whole blue light discovery is creepy clowns and so far it's all coming together. I went to the Halloween store to pick up a couple of masks and wigs. (I try to do the masks because seriously, trying to scrub off all that makeup at 9:30 when you just want to get in bed isn't any fun... especially for Cosme whose bedtime was an hour earlier.) Anyway, I found a couple of masks and then started to look for Costumes. I found one that was meh. This meh costume (which does come with a mask) was $50. That's more than I wanted to pay, especially since I needed two. I found another clown costume but it was $60. Nope.
Time for arts and crafts. I started thinking. What if I got two of the white painters onesies from Home Depot and just splattered them with fake blood? That was the plan... until I got to HD and realized that if they were suits to repel paint, they'd probably repel fake blood. I was talking to another customer who overheard me asking the paint guy's opinion. This customer said he has a few in his "graveyard" but it wasn't the painter's kind. We looked and couldn't find those so he suggested scuffing them with a steel brush if the blood wouldn't stick. Done. I bought the suits. Afterwards, I decided I'd hot glue felt dots to them for decoration. I bought a few fuzzy things for fake buttons.
I came home and started cutting felt dots. Halfway through I wondered if I would have arthritis or carpal tunnel by the time I was done.
My hand was still hurting yesterday with what felt like a possible blister in the making. After finally finishing the dots, I started gluing.
Just an idea of where it was headed left me feeling pretty good about my crafty clown suit.
The next dilemma was the clown collar. I cut the hoods off the suits but they still needed some kind of flair around the neck, whether it be a ruffled collar or big bow tie. I thought hard and searched and then I saw the tutus in the Halloween store. I felt like one of those girls when I bought this thing, which was totally embarrassing. I just wanted to explain to everyone that I was NOT buying this thing to wear as a tutu.
I made it home. I figured if I couldn't make the costume work with just one tutu, for $12 I'd just go back and get another. Once I opened the package I realized the tutu wasn't $12 but $21. I wasn't about to spend another $20 on these costumes so I started cutting and gluing.
The clown suits are just about done. Here's a preview.
I've already cut the booties off the suits and we'll just wear black boots. I also have white gloves for us. Oh, I also bought one of these from Walmart. (not my video)
Today I'll need to splatter the blood so it can start drying. If it doesn't work well on the suit, that should give me plenty of time to try to wipe it off. I guess the gloves will need blood too. I've never heard of anyone splattered with blood with clean hands. I guess I also need to come up with a box to keep the candy in, something a crazed clown might carry around.
In the end, I saved a little. The store bought suits started at $50, not including masks (except for the one I have pictured) and accessories. My homemade suits ended up costing about $35 each and that includes the package of glue sticks. They could've been cheaper if I'd gone a different route with the tutu. Also, I have enough felt dots for another costume but whatever. I saved and I'm good with that.
I've got to get busy with my to-do list. I volunteered to make rice krispie treats to drop off at the church tomorrow and it's not like those clown suits are going to get themselves bloody.
Scentsy I lost my Scentsy person. I haven't gone out to find anyone else because what does it matter? They discontinue everything I like. I had easy access to the testers when Mom was involved and I liked that. Once my scent of choice was discontinued, I'd go to her testers and find something new. It really seems like so much trouble to do with someone else. One thing I do have to replace are the bulbs. I know I don't have a great history of replacing light bulbs but every once in a while I do replace a Scentsy bulb. Mom had told me that Walmart carries replacement bulbs so I went and found some. I started out in the light bulb section but didn't see anything that looked right. I headed over to the department where they sell their wax warmers and this is what I found.
Cool. I bought a package of two and came home and replaced a bulb.
A few days later Gabi came. I was in the other room working on the mask and she came in, with burned out light bulb in hand, and asked me if I had any light bulbs like that. I figured she was changing a Scentsy warmer's bulb for me. Cool. I had one left in the package. I went to my room where her sister was on the ladder at my ceiling fan. We've been in this house for 12 years. TWELVE YEARS. I had no idea that's what kind of bulb my ceiling fan took. (And yes, it did seem like the light wasn't as bright as it could be.) Who knew? Not me, obviously.
How many Melanies does it take to change a light bulb? None. She just ignores it.
So, the next time I was at Walmart, I went back to the light bulb section and pick up a few packages of bulbs. The same size as my Scentsy warmers but a higher wattage.
Now I guess I should swap out that 25w bulb that's in there now with one of these 60w bulbs. That would be the logical thing to do. Right? Why waste a 25w bulb in my fan when I could use it in another Scentsy warmer? Because I'm me and we all know how I am with light bulbs. It's not like I like it dark. I actually like light. I guess changing a light bulb is just one of those things where not only do I need a ladder to do it (in most cases) but I also need a ladder to reach the freaking bulbs in the cabinet. Why don't I store the bulbs lower? Because it's not something I need on a daily basis. Also, it makes more sense to me to just wait until I can pull the ladder out once to do more. Wait until several bulbs need replacing, and maybe the air filter too. Work smarter, not harder. I do change lower bulbs like our lamps as soon as they go out. But even when the lights go out over the bathroom mirror, I usually wait for another to go out. At that point I'll get a box of bulbs down from the cabinet and walk through the house replacing bulbs.
So no, I probably won't go replace that 25w bulb in the fan (unless the ladder needs to come out for something else) but I can rest easy now because in another 12 years when that bulb gets replaced again, I already have a few in the cabinet.
First up on today's agenda? Not changing light bulbs.
Okay, this post is making me feel totally unproductive now. I need to go do something. I'll go make the bed. Then I'll turn on the overhead light and and admire how nice the made bed looks... now that I can see it.
hard around here. Well, the weather is here but it's hitting me hard. I made soup on Tuesday and yesterday I made a roast and baked Grandma's yeast rolls. Now I'm sitting here thinking about what I can bake next and what's a good dish that'll get us through the chillier weather coming this weekend. Let's get back to those rolls for a minute. I think I might've messed up somewhere. I haven't made these in a while but the dough was stickier than normal. I added a little bit more flour and that was that. I also must have mis-eyeballed when pulling off chunks for rolls because I had leftovers. I remembered frying some up last time so I tested out the dough in the fryer again. You know, to make sure it's still okay as a beignet.
Yep. It was still good as little beignet bites. Maybe I can make another batch of dough this weekend and share my beignets with Cosme. I said maybe.
When I'm not in the kitchen trying to think of what can be made next in my quest to gain 50 pounds by Christmas, I'm out running errands. I went to Lake Jackson a couple of days ago and thought I'd snap a few pictures of the people who annoy me.
This one.
Okay, not terrible. Maybe she was in a hurry? Maybe she was rushing to get to the bathroom?
This one.
Ugh. She clearly values her Dodge more than the rushed lady does her Cadillac. I could say a few ugly things but I won't.
This one though...
She got me all worked up and let me tell you why. This is her truck after she pulled out to straighten up and move more to the right. You see that vehicle parked to her left? I was parked there. She pulled in next to me just after I'd parked but was still in the car on my phone, luckily. I tried to back up and scoot more to the left, having zero faith in this woman's ability to park and/or get out without hitting my car. I eventually got fed up with her determination to stay there. She had absolutely no business driving and parking anything larger than a Smart car. As I drove down the aisle and parked away from the chaos, I saw her maneuvering to scoot to the right. Oh, she scooted... and she still managed to park like crap.
Or I might need a lot. I could do like I've heard of Eric doing and park so they can't get back into their car. But then I'd be the person that gets stuck with one of these cards. It's a lose/lose situation for me. On the bright side, since I moved farther down the aisle and had a longer walk, I worked off some of everything I've baking. That still doesn't get me any less worked up though. Learn to park, people!
the white walker mask under a blue light yesterday. Yeah, that won't work for Halloween. I spent five minutes out in the garage with the blue light on and that made me feel sick. Afterwards I had a headache and was starting to feel sick at my stomach. There's no way I could sit there for three hours. I felt so bad I came inside and stretched out on the couch. I had chicken in the oven and all of a sudden I couldn't even handle the smell. I had to open a window to air it out. I remember as a kid being told not to look at either blue or purple lights or maybe it was both. I decided to google it. It ends up that blue light leads to macular degeneration. Oh, it also causes migraines. I would post the picture here that I put on fb and instagram but it still hurts and gives me flashbacks.
So, no white walker Halloween. It wasn't all for nothing though. When I started feeling bad, I came inside and put the mask down on the first available surface (the washer) on my way to the couch. I forgot about the mask but when Cosme walked in from the garage, I heard a few bad words. I asked what was wrong.
He wasn't expecting that guy's face to be staring him down when he walked into the dark laundry room. So yeah, the mask wasn't a total waste of time. That had me laughing pretty hard.
Now we're moving on to plan B. Scary clowns. I hate clowns. Always have. Always will. The only problem is Cosme won't be able to help me because I'll be too scared if he's walking around in a scary clown mask. Maybe I should come up with a plan C. Plan C might just be turning off the light and going to bed. Halloween is starting to be a lot of work.
what to make for dinner. A cool front blew through a couple of days ago but the afternoons are perfect grilling weather. I have chicken I can grill but then I also have a roast to make. Another front is blowing through in a couple of days so I could wait and make the roast then, when it'll be a little cooler. Or, that chicken I had planned on grilling could just as easily go in the oven. I just can't decide. I grilled yesterday so I could take a break from it today. Yesterday I grilled steaks. Kroger had strip steaks on sale so I bought three. I also bought a bag of potatoes because I planned to bake a couple and the rest could go mashed with the roast I'll make. Knowing Cosme only has half a potato when he does have one, I went ahead and baked two. Any extra could be my lunch or fried for breakfast. I guess the cool weather was playing with my head. I also baked chess squares. I had an idea to pack half the pan up and send them to work with Cosme, hoping Eric would go by and get them. So yeah, I had a lot of kitchen stuff going on.
I had chess squares cooling, potatoes baking, buttered French bread getting toasty and the grill was getting hot.
Archer knows what's coming. Time to be a good boy (he usually is though).
"I'll just sit here and watch so you won't forget about me. I like steak, you know."
The smell was affecting him. Bring on the steak.
"I'm so ready."
I took the lid off and there were happy faces all around. It's like they've done this before.
Yes, that end is pretty charred and I worried that the dogs might be getting more of our meal than us. No biggie though, it was nice and medium rare. Also, remind me not to get those mushrooms from HEB again. They weren't a hit.
I took the steaks off the grill and went inside. I put the mushrooms in the oven to stay warm and was about to cover the meat but then I saw Cosme's car in the driveway. There was another car too and it looked like Eric's. I went outside and sure enough, it was Eric. He was meeting up with some friends and stopped by. So that extra steak I had? That extra baked potato? The extra chess squares that I was going to ask him to go get today? It all worked out. Eric had dinner and came back by on his way home to pick up his plate of chess squares.
I like it when things work out and just fall into place like that. Too bad it doesn't happen all the time. I will take advantage of it right now though. The washer just finished AND I'm ready for cereal, just as I'm coming to a close here. I've even got plenty to share in case anyone decides to show up for breakfast, not that anyone wants a bowl of Lucky Charms... but they might want to fold clothes.
needed a milkshake. We also decided that we are on a mission to figure out who has the best milkshake in the area. Right now, Chick-fil-a is in the lead with McDonalds and Red Top coming in second. McDonalds is good but their vanilla shake has a little something extra added to it. I don't know if it's caramel or what but it's something extra. It's not bad at all but in my book, the added flavor eliminates it as a vanilla shake, even though it is their vanilla shake. In last place we have Jack in the Box. As far as strawberry shakes go, McDonalds is in the lead with Red Top staying close to the bottom. I'm sure as other establishments are added, Red Top will probably stay close to the bottom. I've been fine with it before but this last one just didn't make the cut. Coming soon to Angleton: Dairy Queen. The quest for the perfect milkshake continues.
So we decided we needed that milkshake on Saturday and we also thought it'd be nice to swap cars and take the dogs. We headed off and Maggie took her usual spot, standing in the middle with her front paws on the center console. Archer took his usual spot, under Maggie with his face in the air vent.
When we got to Red Top and were waiting on our shakes, the girl at the window asked if the dogs could have an ice cream cone and we were fine with that. I should mention that neither of the dogs have had ice cream before.
No, Archer. You don't bite it, you lick it.
Yes, like that.
His new favorite.
Archer finished before Maggie and even tried to start eating the cone before it was empty. Once he cleared out the cone, I let him have it to finish it off.
I gave what was left in Maggie's cone to Archer to finish off and then he ate her cone as well. After that we decided to take the long way home because is there a better place than a car to find out if your dogs are lactose intolerant? Lucky for us, they aren't. They loved the ice cream and this is their after picture. For the first time Maggie just sat there in the back seat and chilled... for a few minutes.
Ah, sitting and chilling. I really want to do that right now but I can't. I'm already tired because I had to drive Cosme to Eric's this morning where we left his car yesterday. Now that I'm back, I have to make up for the couple of hours I spent on the road and not starting my day. Not only am I already tired but I'm running behind too. Oh well. Enough procrastinating. Time to TCB.
out yesterday. I don't like going to the fair on free admission night, which was also youth night. I figured since it was a school night, the crowd wouldn't be so bad. I honestly imagined my car as one of the few in the parking lot. I was wrong. It was more like one of the few hundred. We didn't stick around long. I told Cosme I'd rather come back when I have to pay to get in. I think I took one picture with my camera and I'm pretty sure it's garbage. Whatever. I did get one with my phone. We'll call this one "Man Down".
I hope there wasn't a kid on that thing when it decided to take off.
The lines were long and my temper was short. We left and that was that. I won't be going back this weekend because the forecast is rain, rain and more rain. I don't know how long the fair lasts but if this weekend is it, looks like I'll have to wait until next year... when it's NOT free admission night.
In other news, my phone thinks my shower is much worse than it really is. Lauren and I had talked about water stains on the glass and Samsung wanted to take cleaning to a whole new level.
Maybe that is what happened because the glass looked really good.
Now I need to go wash my hair because I've got errands to run today. Maybe a pedicure will make up for my fair photo op fail last night. Maybe.
coming. (hint) Everyone knows I like a themed Halloween with costume and decorated porch to scare everyone. Our big one was The Walking Dead. That one was pretty epic and we even had Eric's friends dressed up and helping. Last year there wasn't really a theme but it was just spooky. I guess the theme would be "spooky". I had clamp lights positioned with red flood lights and my smoke machine. I have an idea for this year but the costume might be a little difficult. Instead of red lights, I want to use blue flood lights with the smoke machine and dress as a white walker. Cosme said he'd participate if he could be The Night King. So far I haven't found the mask. I did start working on my white walker mask yesterday though. If it turns out decent, he might agree to do that with me. The next task would be finding a costume. I have several ideas so we'll see what I can come up with in the next week. I say week because if it's not going well, I'll have to ditch that plan and go with my backup plan of creepy clown. I'll be happy with either.
As for the mask I'm working on, I found an old man mask at Walmart. This is before I got started.
He doesn't really look like a white walker but it's as close as I've found. The nose is bigger than I need but it will be darkish and foggy on the porch. I'm hoping that'll also help hide the mustache, that can't be cut totally off.
I started with greys and black, mainly for a base to cover the flesh color.
I started to add white and kept flipping through my different examples on Pinterest.
His nose was also indented so I stuffed paper towels in there to push it out while the paint dries.
Oh, maybe I'd get a better idea of it if...
I put blue paper in the eye sockets.
I definitely won't have blue contacts in while I'm handing out candy but OH! A NEW IDEA JUST POPPED IN MY HEAD! If I can't come up with a costume, I can chain him up in a chair and maybe put blue Christmas lights in his head for eyes and use our other GoT costumes from a few years ago! AWESOME!!! I could be Sansa or even Jon Snow and Cosme could be ZOMBIE LITTLE FINGER!!! I would probably need to hang a spoiler alert sign on the walkway. This will be awesome. I need more participants now!
Okay, back to the mask. So I added the blue paper and this is where he is now.
Better lighting.
I still need to figure out what to do with the hair. He's got long hair with a long mustache and beard. I have a can of grey hair stuff I can use to touch it up. If I use it on the mustache, it'll hopefully blend in with his face and won't be as noticeable. Also, Cosme used that grey spray for his temples when he dressed as little finger before. See how things just come together? Anyway, looks like the white walker will be getting a trim today and maybe a few touches of grey.
Maybe I'll have a finished white walker mask to post tomorrow. Hopefully I'll have a few extra pics too. I want to go the the fair this evening and walk around. I just read that today is free admission so what better time to go if my only goal is to take pictures and have a funnel cake? Who am I kidding though? I'd pay the admission fee even it was only for a funnel cake.
a few deleted scenes from The Twilight Zone. It was nuts. Some drama started up with one of Eric's teachers. It all started with me answering an unknown Houston number on my cell. I immediately called Eric to find out WTF was going on. After that my phone rang again with a local number. Again, unlike my normal self, I answered.
Guy: I just missed a call from this number. Who is this?
Duh. What's the first rule you learn as a kid when your parents allow you to start answering the phone? Do NOT give your name.
Me: I didn't call anyone.
Guy: Well I have a missed call from you.
Me: Well I haven't used my phone.
Guy: That's fine if you didn't mean to call.
Me: NO. I haven't used my phone.
Guy: I have a missed call from you.
Me: Well that's ODD because I HAVEN'T CALLED ANYONE.
Guy: Okay, well this is [insert name]. Disconnect.
Who was he to tell me I just called him when I KNOW I didn't? I scrolled through my call history to prove to myself I didn't. I almost did a screenshot to text him PROVING I didn't call him.
Second phone rule for myself: continue to NOT answer unknown numbers, local or not.
Speaking of nuts, I don't add any to my banana bread.
I made two regular loaves and 2 tiny loaves yesterday, while chili was in the crockpot and before I made cornbread. Hey, a front blew through and a long-awaited morning in the 50's will do that to anyone. Forget that the high probably got up to the mid 80's, it's the low that matters and is celebrated.
The roofers also came yesterday. They'll come back to finish today. I won't be able to see any change I'm sure but after yesterday's craziness, I just don't care. Just do the unseen work that isn't cheap and let everyone who crosses my path be normal. Please.
an issue on our two-year-old roof. No, the same roofer isn't coming back. When I hang up on you after saying you'll never hear from me again, I mean it. I'm glad to have the roof fixed even though we never knew there was a problem, I just wish it was a fix that when I walked past I could say "that looks so good and that was money well spent". I'm not asking for noticeable problems around the house but take the landscaping for example. When I pay a lot of money, I can walk past and appreciate how pretty that expensive work was. I guess I can walk past and just be thankful I have a roof... and that it wasn't anything even more expensive... and noticeable.
An ad for Behr paint came up on Instagram the other day. This is TOTALLY a Melanie color.
I'm thinking the blue bookcase might get a new look. You know, something inexpensive that everyday when I walk by I can say, "that bookcase looks so pretty and it wasn't expensive at all". Yeah, maybe it'll happen right after that camera outing I keep hoping for.
as planned. When it came down to it, we decided not to go to the Renaissance Festival. We would had to have gotten up really early, made a long drive, dealt with crowds and traffic and who really wants to spend a day off doing that? We decided we didn't want to. Luckily we hadn't purchased tickets yet. Having the day to do other things also means I didn't get any pictures at the TXRenFest. That's a bummer but what's more of a bummer is that I didn't get any pictures anywhere. I talked about us going out to Brazos Bend later in the day but then realized we still had to go to Eric's to pick up the car we'd left there on Friday that was going to get picked up on our way home from the festival. It's fine. We still had a good time. When we got home and I had the bedroom blinds open and saw the sunset though, I was kicking myself for not heading out there as soon as we got back.
I still might make a trip of it one day this week. Monday and Friday are really my only options and considering that it's Monday morning and I need to TCB, it might not happen today. We'll see.
The other day we went to Luby's. It sounded good, sometimes it just does. We don't go all the time but when we do, it's drive-thru. This day we decided to go in and I wasn't staring but I looked several times at the people in front of me who ordered sausage, chicken fried steak and baked chicken. I ordered the same thing I've ordered for as long as I can remember ever going to Lubys, Luann chicken fried steak. The girl replied, "we don't have Luann, it's all buffet today"... it took a minute to register. I was thinking "isn't it always a buffet?" then I realized that no, the word I was looking for was "cafeteria". (Maybe I need to get out more often.) My next thought was along the lines of why would somebody who orders Luann (smaller portions) need a buffet? Then it hit me. ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT MACARONI AND CHEESE, ROLLS AND DESSERT. Score. I got my chicken fried steak with mac & cheese, carrots, a roll and a slice of apple pie. (I must say the dessert selection wasn't great, couldn't find any cheesecake or pecan pie.)
Then I was full and didn't have seconds of anything. No second helping of macaroni and cheese, no second roll and no multiple desserts. I failed the Luby's buffet. Next time I'll know: don't waste my time on carrots (that's not even my usual second side selection). I should've skipped the carrots and grabbed cake. When we left I thought about a trip to Luby's with my great-grandparents and how at the time I thought my great-grandfather was a little crazy (alzheimer's aside) for getting a bowl of gumbo, a bowl of jello and a couple of desserts. Now I get it. Skip the carrots when there is extra dessert to be had. I will do better next time. I owe it to myself. I owe it to the sweet tooth that runs throughout my family. I will be the victor and the Luby's buffet will be my b!tch*. *It's hard to be gangster and pg all at the same time but bless my heart, I try.
Now that I'm on my gangster roll, TCB or camera? I'll decide after I put the clothes in the dryer and start the next load.
camera time. I've been talking to Cosme about us taking a quick trip. I know he'd like some time off. I know I'd love some time with my camera. So, I've thrown a few options out there. We'll see.
We're going to the Renaissance Festival on Sunday. I'm sure there'll be several photo ops there. I'll keep working on a quick trip just in case.
As it is right now, my stomach is up to its old tricks and being difficult. I'm hoping that lack of photo ops will be my biggest issue.
of my phone's suggestions. It started with this one.
That freaked me out. Was my phone trying to send me a warning? I checked the windows and everything was fine.
Then my phone said this.
I let Lauren know.
I wasn't even thinking about Ian Astbury (lead singer of The Cult) and didn't want to jinx us but apparently I'm more important than I thought and have control over Ian Astbury's fate.
Then I decided to see where it would take me.
I went with "letting".
I went with "me know".
Who the heck is Sino??? And how does my phone know him? Is it a message? Is it a warning? I'm going with this... Sino is a crisis actor and he's in on the next plot my phone is trying to warn me about. It's okay, I don't really believe that about Sino but it sounds a lot more comforting than someone sitting there in the NSA's phone tapping spy bunker just playing around and messing with me. It's okay, I don't really believe that either. Yet.
