Notes

On the main screen of my cell phone, there's a notebook ap. It came with the phone. For the most part, I use this to store shopping lists, random thoughts, quotes, observations, and blog ideas. Once those thoughts are typed into the notebook, I almost never remember to go back and look at them again. But last night, I thought I'd scroll through and see if there was anything useful I should remember.

There wasn't.

But there were a lot of gems that I thought I'd share with you. Some of you might remember the last time I revealed the inner workings of my mind as manifested in a "Reminders" ap on my phone (link). These are almost as ridiculous.

1. A list of words that I think sound like their meaning. If I recall correctly, I couldn't sleep the night I made this list (the time stamp confirms this). I can't take full responsibility for my thoughts at 12:48AM. What words would you add?

2. I don't know what this list is about. I do know that I spelled poor Thaddeus McCotter's name horribly wrong. This list makes no sense whatsoever and I can not for the life of me remember how these things relate to each other. But the fact that it was made at 2:15 AM helps explain that.

3. I used to listen to A Prairie Home Companion on my way to church every Sunday (And I still would except church starts at a different time now). Apparently I thought these lines were hilarious in one particular show, so I typed them out to laugh about later. I must admit, I laughed last night upon finding this note.

"She gave new meaning to the word Caucasian" - ha!

4. This note is from when I came up with a BRILLIANT name for a plant store. Sadly, when I googled it later, I saw that it was already taken. I wasn't actually planning on opening a store for selling plants (I believe those are called nurseries?) but once I came up with the name, it became a real possibility.

5. I'm actually really, really surprised I stored this "joke" considering how un-funny I typically find sexist jokes. But for whatever reason, I thought this was worth remembering. It's a joke one of my uncles told at a family party. It was received with a lot of groans.

I'm still groaning and shaking my head, two years later.

Other notes simply said things like "egg white powder," "94," Cs3," my password to the Harry Potter website "Pottermore" (I'm in the Ravenclaw house), the name of the Family Ties episode in which I saw that the Keaton's and I have the same jello mold, and so on and so forth. Like I said, gems.

One thing I learned from this: I need to start deleting these notes way more often. Or start taking more notes. I can't decide.

Guest Post!

I wrote a guest post for one of my favorite blogs today! The blog belongs to my friend Brooke, and features fun things to do in Michigan! I wrote about ideas for a fun fall day. Check it out here!

source

(the gif is unrelated but is my gift to you today.)

Wednesday Thoughts

Crud. I wrote an entire Wednesday Thoughts earlier today and it's gone! I have no idea where it went. And now it's late and I honestly can't remember what I wrote. I know it was some of my best material ever though. That much I can pretty much guarantee.

So now I'll basically have to go with my B material.

I do remember that I shared some fall themed instagrams I have taken this week, so I'll share some of those with you now!

Fall is pretty.

Oh my gosh, it's 11:53. I only have six minutes to finish this before midnight.

If there's one thing I know about you guys, it's that you're sticklers for deadlines. If I get Wednesday Thoughts in even one minute after midnight, there will be heck to pay.

Have you guys seen this video? In the spirit of October and Halloween, here's a little scare for you. How do you think you would react?



Happy Wednesday!

PS, I just saw a commercial for Poo pourri. Seriously can't believe that's real. Would you guys try it??

(This commercial is somewhat gross - don't say I didn't warn you!)

Halloween Crafting II

Sorry non-crafting friends, but I have to post again about crafting! Whenever the weather starts to cool off, I get into crafting mode. Ok, that's not true - I'm always in crafting mode. But I'm even more into crafting in the fall and winter.

Ok, anyway. Onto the crafts! The first two crafts were inspired by projects I found on various blogs. The first comes from one of my favorite blogs, The Art of Doing stuff. The second one comes from somewhere on the internet. I seriously can't remember where. But it's out there. It's a super easy project! But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Project #1: Pumpkin Diorama

This pumpkin diorama is made by cutting a circle into a hollow craft pumpkin. Joann's has these paper mache pumpkins for 50% off right now. This one cost me $5. I just had to buy some craft paint for $1 to paint it. They also sell hollow craft pumpkins that I believe are made of foam, and those are also 50%,  but they are still kind of expensive.

Once you cut a hole, you just build a diorama inside! I bought a creepy light to put in mine, but it didn't work, so I don't have a shot of that yet. I got all the interior supplies (and the crow) from the dollar store. I think the total cost for this project was $10-$12! Not bad, huh?

I used an exacto knife to cut it open, but I kinda stabbed myself in the process so be careful! (A little blood on the pumpkin only adds to the spookiness though, so it's up to you and your level of dedication.) I cut the pumpkin before I painted it, and I painted the inside white. I left it looking crackled on the inside though cause it's spookier.

I'll post another picture when I get a new light for the inside. You'll be able to see the interior details better that way.

Project #2: Faux gumball machine

For the second project you will need: a clay flower pot and base, a wooden craft ball (JoAnn's), paint, a hot glue gun, ribbon, and a glass bowl.

You can see I'm not a craft blogger by the fact that I left it on the paper towel for the picture. I was afraid some of the interior paint might still be slightly wet and would drip through. Anyway, I think this project is pretty self explanatory! Just assemble as pictured. Plus, this one involves candy. SCORE.

Project #3: Gourd decorating

This project is a family tradition started by my aunt and uncle. We've been doing this for years! Every fall, on the weekend of General Conference (a semiannual church broadcast), we get together on Sunday to watch it together and paint gourds. My uncle is a teacher, and he gives most of these away to his teacher friends.

Supplies needed: gourds (duh), craft markers or paint, hot glue gun, and any craft items you want! Pipe cleaners, feathers, felt, doll hair, googly eyes, etc.

It's a super easy, family friendly project!

I hope you are all enjoying this season as much as I am! 

Halloween crafting

Crafting.

If there's a word that screams "sexy" or "hip" or "trendy," it would have to be crafting, am I right? I mean, if Miley Cyrus isn't twerking and sticking her tongue out, she's sorting out her glitter by shade. If Justin Beiber isn't peeing in a bucket in a restaurant kitchen, he's warming up his hot glue gun. If John Boehner isn't shutting down the government, he's at JoAnn's, using his 40% off coupon in the yarn aisle.

Did it work? Did I make crafting sound cool? I lost you at John Boehner, didn't I?

Oh well. I love crafting. I've been advised to not blog about crafting because I could lose my male readers, so I'll include something in this post for them. It's a list of things men like. Some of them might be wrong, and some might be suggestions. I'm not going to tell you which though.

Ok, for the rest of you, I had a super fun craft night last night with my good friend, Holly. She is a crafting queen, and is so skilled. She taught me how to make a decorative witch last night - a project I couldn't have been more excited about. She made one for herself a couple years ago and I have been coveting it ever since. I am suuuper excited to have my own!

Here are a few pictures of the process. We started with basic dress doll forms,  painted the bases, then started covering them with fabric:

We made the hats (Holly made one too) out of fabric and cardboard and stuck them into the form with a tall nail and hot glue. The broom is made out of cuttings from an actual broom, a stick, twine, and hot glue. The shawl is made from painted lace which stiffens when it dries.

Here is the final result:

I am crazy in love with it. In fact, Beyonce wrote her song "Crazy in Love" about how I feel about this witch.

While we were crafting, we talked about everything in our lives, laughed a lot, made a McDonald's run, etc. But at one point, since we were making a Halloween craft, I started thinking about scary movies and stories. I confessed to Holly that two things have always scared the crud out of me (pardon my French):

1. The story of Lizzie Borden.  Why did you do what you did, Lizzie!? Why!? That story scares me so much. I know she was acquitted, and the glove didn't fit and all that, but I still get scared whenever I think about her.

2. Karen Carpenter - when I was a kid my mom told me about how Karen Carpenter died of anorexia. I saw a picture of her when she was really skinny, right before she died, and it scared me so bad. Sometimes when I'd be laying in bed at night feeling scared, I'd picture the ghost of Karen Carpenter floating into my room and I'd have to close my eyes tight, and get under the blankets for safety.

What was the one thing (or two things*) that scared you the most when you were a kid?

*or three things.

Wednesday Thoughts

About a month ago, I started a new medication for a routine problem (I turn into a donkey if I don't take the pills). Out of curiosity, I thought I'd scan the new bottle for the possible side effects. Normally I don't like to do that for the same reason I don't like to read jacket covers on a new book. I like to be surprised. My doctor gives me a new medicine, and I run out the door yelling, "no spoilers!"

Anyway, I checked out the bottle and saw one of the weirdest possible side effects: fear. "Can cause feelings of fear." My first thought was, "Oh great, right before Halloween."

The good news is that side effect hasn't manifested itself.... yet. I'm worried though that it could happen at the worst time. Like, what if I watch Hocus Pocus and have to cover my eyes? What if "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" gives me nightmares? What if I have to sleep with the lights on after watching Mr. Boogedy?

source

I started looking through my scary movies the other day, in preparation for the season. I can't wait to start watching them. I only like to get mildly scared though - I like a good PG-13 scare. I'm not cool with being really scared and/or grossed out.

Here's a short list of "scary" things I do not think are scary:

Aliens
Zombies
Ghouls (no one even knows what those are)
Mr. Boogedy
Vampires
Werewolves
Basically any monster
Witches, 50% of the time

Here's another list of things I do think are scary:

Ghosts
Intruders
Witches, 50% of the time

I am NOT cool with ghosts or intruders.

I think the movie that scares me the most of any I've seen is The Grudge. I hate that movie. The Grudge (I refer to the ghost in the movie as The Grudge) breaks all the ghost rules. You hide under your covers? She shows up. I thought we had an agreement with ghosts - they can NOT go under covers. You know what, I'm not going to get into the other stuff the Grudge does, because I just can't. She's too much. I can't go there...

I think my medicine's kicking in.

What's your favorite kind of Halloween/scary movie?

Happy Wednesday!

The government shut down and all I got was this lousy t-shirt

Welp, our government shut down. It's complicated but I think what went down is basically something like this:

The only thing about the shutdown that actually makes me happy is the tweets. I want to share with you some of the tweets that made me laugh the most since last night:

"Weight watchers points are irrelevant during a government shutdown." - @LouisPeitzman

"I'm kind of embarrassed the government thought to shut down the government before the rest of us did." - @joshgondelman

"I'm just sticking flags in random pieces of land and claiming 'em. It rules." - @Mikescollins

"The big 'Years Without a Government Shutdown' sign on the Hoover Dam flips from '17' to '0.' The lights flicker once and then go out." - @KenJennings

"No budget for old men." - @samir

"So, we have to reset the government every 108 minutes now?" - @thejakeshenry

"Well, time to loot the Smithsonian. I choose to walk towards an uncertain future wearing Lincoln's hat and Fonzie's jacket." - @badbanana

"Okay, so a government shutdown DOESN'T mean I can release thousands of hamsters into Times Square. Live and learn. Also I need bail money." - @brendohare

"It's like, govern much?" - @Psquatch

source