Fall Break

 

Today we're taking a break from 31 Days of Fall to enjoy the season.

See you tomorrow!

 

What fall activities are your favorite? Do you make time to spend with family for special autumn fun?

 

Being a Witch

The Wizard of Oz is a beautiful movie. Remember seeing the Land of Oz for the first time... with all that glorious Techi-color? Remember hearing the giggles of the munchkins? Do you remember the first time you saw it-- the giddiness of it?


Image Credit: Sam Howzit via Flickr

Were you afraid of the witch? Did you think she was terrible? Did you think she was mean and evil?

I was the witch.

Being an only child, with only books and my imagination as playmates, I played oddly. I pretended to be the witch. I collected flower pots and bowls and crushed up polk berries into magical potions. I lived in the great castle and had flying monkeys. I rode a toy mop, because my mother wouldn't let me ride the broom. (P rides the same mop today... I think it's a horse now.)

I don't know why I wasn't Dorothy-- although I envied her crisp, blue gingham and auburn hair. I don't know why I wasn't Glenda, the Good Witch arriving in a soft pink bubble, probably smelling ever so faintly of strawberries and champagne. It never occurred to me to be the Wizard, the Scarecrow, or the Tin Man.

But now, I think about being the witch. I believe, even in my child-like mind, I recognized that she was misunderstood. After all, Dorothy's house did kill her sister, and when she arrived at the funeral it was more of block party.

The woman I want to be has a lot of the witch about her:
1) Her house was old and mysterious, and full of interesting things... it looked like her.
2) She was not going to stop until she had her hands on those ruby slippers.
3) She made dramatic entrances and left in clouds of smoke.
4) She was green, but really quite comfortable in her skin.
5) She chose poppies. (No heroin reference here-- just that poppies are cool.)
6) In the end, neatly dissolving away, her last words were "What a world, what a world."

She's got some redeeming qualities, that witch.

This is part of our 31 Days of Fall series from October 2013.

Disdain for Halloween

Image credit: Halloween by Miala via Flickr

Knock, knock.

Who's there?

Knock, knock

Who cares?

 

One ghoul

One witch

One dragon

So which?

 

A mask

A cape

A masquerade

Too many choices

Just homemade

 

Clowns, gowns,

frowns, sounds

Candy fuelled up-side-downs

 

M&Ms and Musketeers

Decorations disappear

Toilet tissue in our trees

End of October, 90 degrees

 

Boo! and Gasp!

Shriek! and fall

Why must we do this holiday at all?


See all 31 Days of Fall posts here.

 

5 (Truly) Last Minute Halloween Costumes

Holidays slip up on everyone. Here are 5 truly last minute Halloween costumes:

1. Make a snout out of pink construction paper and wrap yourself in a blanket. This is self-explanatory.
2. Go as a sheet ghost. Pretend you love classic costumes.
3. Wear khakis with a tan shirt and a witch hat. Go as witch hazel.
4. Paint an X on a T-shirt. Go as "Spot."
5. Tape crepe paper to yourself and throw candy at people. Go as a piñata.

For similar advice, see out list of Truly Last Minute Mother's Day Gifts.

This post is part of our 31 Days of Fall from October 2013. Read all 31 posts here!

Crockpot Mulled Apple Cider

Food is celebrated in my family, and recipes are metaphors.

Collected from my Mawmaw (my father's grandmother), this has become my mother's favorite holiday recipe. It's my reminder that good things come out of all families.

 



Image derived from Apples! by Cale Bruckner via Flickr



Crockpot Mulled Apple Cider

Ingredients:
1/2 gallon apple cider
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup pineapple juice
1 cup orange juice

1 t whole allspice
1 t whole cloves

8 oz. cinnamon red-hot candies


Place whole allspice and whole cloves in a cheesecloth or tea ball. Place in crockpot with apple cider and fruit juices. Simmer for 2 hours on Low. Remove spices. Stir in red-hot candies. Simmer 20-30 minutes, or until candies melt. Serve hot!

Click here for printable recipe.

Shared with Growing Home

DIY Reusable Chalkboard Banner

Hello awesome people!

 

As you can see in this post,  I was honored to host a woodland-themed baby shower at my home for my super-cool cousin, K.

 

I used some items that were in my craft closet and made this customizable banner.

 

 

This is quite quick & easy, and the best part: it's reusable.

 

Tutorial Starts Here

The items you'll need:

--8 inch cake circles

--chalkboard paint

--paint brush (sponge type works best)

--twine

--scotch tape

--chalk

 

Step 1: Paint one side of each cake circle with blackboard paint. Make sure to get the edges.

Don't be afraid to put a thick coat; blackboard paint works better in thick layers.

 

 

Step 2: Let paint dry. If needed, put on a second coat to cover thin spots or smooth ridges.

 

Step 3: Pull out about 18 inches of twine, to allow for plenty of room when hanging your banner. Don't start too close to the end of the twine.

By Emilian Robert Vicol (Flickr: Ball-of-Hemp-Twine_31614-480x360) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

  Step 4: Position twine on the back side of one cake circle about 2 inches from the top. Secure with 2-3 pieces of scotch tape.

 

Step 5: Repeat with each cake circle, spacing equally as you go.

 

Step 6: Allow another 18 inches of twine at the end, and cut twine from spool.

 

Step 7: Decorate each cake circle with chalk-- your child's sidewalk chalk will make some pretty letters and pictures.

If you goof up, just erase gently with a damp paper towel and wait until completely dry before trying again.

 

 

 

Hang and smile!

 

Share your chalkboard crafts with me in comments.

Shared with The 36th Avenue.

 



Ring for yourself

Happy Independence Day! Today, Americans commemorate our freedom from Great Britain. And it's sort of morphed into a day for recognizing all of the major freedoms that we enjoy in this country.

 

The 4th of July, as we lovingly refer to it, is probably the best preserved of our national holidays. Even young children know why we mark this day--or, at the very least,  they know it has something to do with America.

 

It's still pure in its form. It has one sustaining color scheme. It has no widely-used mascot. It hasn't become convoluted by propaganda or excessive consumerism. It holds true.

 

And even in this age when it's popular to produce trashy parody Christmas carols about beer, or farting Easter bunny gag gifts, or (quite funnily) turn Thanksgiving into Slapsgiving, the 4th of July stands alone.

 

It seems to be off limits; poking fun at Independence Day is refreshingly still taboo. It's standing the test of time.

 

But what this day represents, our rights and freedoms, are not.

 

Yes, we still enjoy more individual freedoms in the US than perhaps any other country in the world. But these rights are not guaranteed, regardless of what we would learn in history or government class. The rights we enjoy right now may be gone tomorrow.

 

Our government, or some foreign government or group, may decide to violate our rights, or to end them altogether.

 

The Declaration of Independence mentions "unalienable rights", i.e., "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." These are beautifully poetic and idyllic, and I'm proud that the forefathers of our nation were the authors of such a document, and had the faith and courage to believe the words they penned.

 

But if I am wrongfully killed tomorrow, my right to life is for naught. If some government were to decide that Christians or females or white people should be held in prison camps, my right to liberty is just words on paper.

 

So right now, today, while I have these rights and am able to exercise them, I'm going to do just that.

 

I'm going to wear comfortable clothes. I'm going to attend worship. I'm going to write. I'm going to spend time outdoors and breathe fresh air. I'm going to stop looking at the boards and notebooks and lists of things I'll do someday, and I'm doing them now.

 

Some may say that in reducing these awesome freedoms to such simple things is disrespectful to those who fight for our freedoms-- that I should use my freedom to protest in the streets or boycott or run for office. But I argue that in remembering that even our smallest freedoms-- the flip of a light switch or the taking out of a library book-- are not guaranteed, but fought for and defended.

 

Let's not take what we have been granted for granted.

Truly Last Minute Mother's Day Ideas

Happy Mother's Day!

8 truly last minute Mother's Day gift ideas:

1) Take a picture of yourself, or your child, or both. Print it in black & white on your printer. Put it in a frame you already have in your house.

2) Bake a cake, cookies, etc. Put in something you have already (a tin, a jar, on a platter).

3) Pick some flowers/limbs/sticks/grass/whatever grows in your yard. Put it in a vase. Tie a ribbon around it.

4) Dig up one of your plants. Put in a flower pot, or line a basket with plastic bags and put it in that.

5) Finger paint. Pretend your child did it. Put it in one of your own frames.

6) Put some moss and a rock on top of some sand in a jar. Call it a terrarium.

7) Gift wrap an empty box. When she opens it, act mad, and blame it on the gift wrap counter at the department store.

8) Move like a tree. Pretend to have taken up interpretive dance.

Start earlier next year.