All Hallows Eve

Yes, Hallowe'en has come around again, bringing with it much sewing and candy buying on my part, and much anticipation and "Mom, is it done yet?" on the boys' part. I am now the proud parent of Superman, Luke Skywalker, and Darth Vader. *sigh* Pictures to follow tomorrow!

Hallowe'en is such a touchy subject around Christians. Personally, I enjoy it. Not so much the macabre, but costumes are a fun thing. As a kid, I loved the idea of dressing up and becoming whatever I wanted. I remember quite a few of the getups: gypsy, construction worker, bunny, Pippi Longstockings, mechanic ... as you can see, nothing too scary! I don't let the kids delve into the icky stuff either. The one vampire request I recieved was turned down this year.

Titus has been sick these last few days. Monday night we pulled his mattress into our room because he had such a croupy cough. Luckily his breathing didn't worsen, but it was still a little scary. Luke and I didn't get a real good sleep. He did much better last night, but didn't want to go to preschool today. Truthfully, neither did I. His being sick couldn't have come at a better time, since his preschool is having a Hallowe'en potluck (I know - crazy!) and we were all supposed to dress like our ancestors. Man, I did not want to go and spend three hours with a 20+ preschoolers who were hopped up on sugar and excitement, not to mention having to get two extra costumes together just for a party. If we had gone, I was planning on telling the teacher that my real name was Lois Lane and that Titus was dressed up like his only earthly ancestor. There was no way I was making him dress up like a Mennonite. What fun is that? Dark pants with suspenders, a dress shirt, and a dark hat. There is just no way it can compete with a bodysuit and a red cape.

You can see we have our pumpkin cut and ready for tonight. Luke and the boys were working hard at it last night while I had the sewing machine zipping things up. I think it looks great! Luke got the template off the internet. The kids were so excited. Now if it will just stand the test of heat and time on our front porch! Have a happy All Hallows Eve, everyone!

A Prayer

Bedtime prayer:
By Titus Willms

Dear Jesus,
Help me I had a good day;
Help me I went to McDonald's;
Help me I went on the rides;
Help me I have no bad dreams;
Help me I went to hockey;
Help me I went to Burger King;
Help me I got a new shirt.
Amen.


*"Help me" also stands in as "thank you," the rides were from this summer, we don't actually go to McDonald's and Burger King everyday, and a shirt can be new for approximately three months.

Toronto's Smallest House

This cracks me up! If you want to buy Toronto's smallest house (or just look at it) click here. Ain't it cute?

Book review: Jasper Fforde

Jasper Fforde is a funny, clever writer! He is a true bibliophile's dream. His books are laced with references to other books and his plots twist and turn from the unreal to the very imaginative. You're never sure where you are going next because it is always somewhere you would never have thought of. I read this book years back and have been following the Tuesday Next series ever since. There are five books in total. The Eyre Affair introduces us to Tuesday Next, a LiteraTec detective investigating all crimes against literature. In Lost In A Good Book, Tuesday dives into the world of books to find her husband. The Well of Lost Plots, Something Rotten, and First Among Sequels continue in the same vein. His other series about the Nursery Crime Division is equally as entertaining. The Big Over Easy takes on the case of Humpty Dumpty's murder, and The Fourth Bear highlights Goldy's disappearance. If you enjoy reading, have done a lot of it, and love some comedy/mystery/sci-fi, you oughtta try this author. Warning: read the books in the series in order, or you will never understand what is happening!

A new quilt (finally)

I've been working on a quilt since May for my grandma. It was her birthday on Saturday, and I finished it an hour before her party! Talk about cutting it close! It's kind of a family tree/memory quilt, so I put pictures of each person on it. Of course, on Friday the black ink in my printer ran out; yes, I panicked. I had cut just enough fabric for the pictures I had left, and managed to wreck one sheet. I was filled with visions of being up until the wee hours of the morning - first, washing and drying new fabric, putting the printer solution on it and letting it hang dry, then printing, then waiting the appropriate amount of time before hand washing it and laying it out to dry. Wouldn't you know it, after I had used the last sheet of printable fabric, I glanced toward my paper stacked chair-by-the-computer and spotted a sheet that had been left over from the last batch of pictures I had done. A big rush of relief! Many "Thank you, God" prayers later and I was done (with the printing, anyway)! So, here it is.

The bee hives came first. An integral part of the quilt! Grandma's CB handle was Queen Bee (Grandpa was Bee Keeper). They were beekeepers for many years, and I remember going into the honey house at harvest time - that was the best smell in the world.

Next came the stems and leaves. Gotta say, silk ribbon isn't exactly easy to find here. I bought some from a limited stock at Michael's, and when I ran out I found that they had discontinued ordering it. I was forced to use all the little scraps I had left!

Then the roses. Yes, three-dimensional. A lot of fun to do!

Of course, the centerpiece needed their wedding picture. They look like young crazy kids!

The final product with everyone's pictures. I did b&w so none of the colours would be too clashy with the final product. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. There are still a few things that need to be done - a hanging sleeve (which my auntie will help out with since I'm clueless in that area) and tacking the pictures on more securely. The photos are replaceable since people keep having babies. Or get married. Or grow up. Or get hair that turns greyer, or shorter, or nonexistent (sorry brothers, just had to throw that in!).

*the pattern I used was Beekeeper's Garden by The City Stitcher.

Yummy treats

I was the recipient of a funky little internet treat going around the blog world. Thanks Celtic Sister! Candied apples! Well, to be a bit more accurate, a lovely picture of some candied apples. The stipulation, once the gift is received, is to randomly pass it on to someone you don't know. In the spirit of the game, I started hitting the "Next blog" button at the top of every blogger page until I ran into a blog named pneuma. We seem to have similar interests, so I am gifting this to her. Hope you have fun with it!

*If you want to find out how this originated, go to Hootin' Anni.

Life as I know it

I really wanted to put some photos up on my blog, but I can't seem to find my plug-in thingie for the camera. I wish I could say this was a rare occurrence, but things tend to get lost in this house. I usually have a general idea, but ... let's just say my junk drawer in the kitchen has gotten a wee bit out of control! Organization is definitely not a gift of mine. I try to blame it on being artistic, but that is a rather lame excuse.

Well, life has been a bit busy around here. Luke has been gone for most of October. First, to get a car from the States with a side trip to visit his family in Manitoba, and then to go hunting in the great white north with his Rainbow Lake buddies. He's coming home today (yeah!) but will be off again on Friday for the Promise Keepers convention in Calgary. It wouldn't have been so bad if Thanksgiving hadn't been last weekend! As it ended up, the boys and I got our fill of turkey at the church supper. You can always count on Mennonites and their converts to have a gourmet feast on all the good holidays!

Hockey season is here again (it kinda feels like it never left!) and all three boys have joined up. Yes, I said three. Titus has taken to his skates this year, and I have apparently become the one hockey mom who needs to go out on the ice with her child. Thankfully Luke will be there on Thursday! In the dressing room, all is good. Titus wants to get out there and do his thing. However, the minute we get on the ice, the waterworks and whining start. We go off the ice for a break - happy. Back on the ice - sad. Despite everything, he can now skate without a chair and get up by himself. Go figure! Caleb and Ethan are on the same team this year, which is nice. Their practices are so organized and chaos-free. They can even get most of their equipment on by themselves. Hooray for growing up!

As for me, I'm doing my thing. Last Saturday, I decided that a new fallsy dress for Thanksgiving was in order. I found a tutorial and whipped it up that evening with some fabric that I had in my stash. Unfortunately, it didn't look that great on me. At all. I'm to short and "voluptuous," as my mom likes to say! Oh well, it was nice to actually make something clotheswise for a change. Another thing I've been working on for the past four or five months is a memory quilt for my Grandma's birthday on Saturday. A lot of work, but lots of fun! There was quite a bit of hand work, which always prolongs the process, but I'm at the point now where I just need to put pictures on fabric and tie them on the quilt. I'd show you a picture, but ... ! I'm also doing a little bit of volunteering over at the boys' school while Titus is in preschool. Yesterday I spent all morning with a couple of kids from Ethan's class making apple dolls. Those things are so utterly cool! I may have to make one of my own!

So, that's the Willms update. Sans pictures. You'll just have to use that imagination. Especially for me on the ice with Titus. In a black winter jacket. That someone managed to dust with Dr. Scholl's foot powder. Which I had no idea about 'till I got home. 'Nuff said.