Author: Tanie

Remember back in February when I put a streak of blue, purple, and pink in my hair? I retouched that streak a couple of times, but after nine months the colours had mostly been washed/highlighted out, except for one little streak of blue that had faded to a light turquoise. Which I loved. Loooooooooved.

For the past few weeks I’d been thinking I should re-dye the blue, or maybe add a few more streaks, or maybe get some new dye and do turquoise instead. Or maybe…

YEP. What you see here is a mix of three different colours.

My hair was already (mostly) blonde, and I didn’t want to have to bleach it (too much work & I still want to grow out my grey roots, idk I’m weird), so I decided to just put blue over it. I figured that blonde + blue would turn out turquoise, which it did. For the bottom layers I used a mix of the green with both blues, and for the top layers I used just the blues.

Basically I love it, but it’s funny- having an unnatural hair colour has caused me to partially regress back into my former goth state. I just wanna wear black clothes and black eyeliner all the time now. I actually tried to find a vintage picture to show you, me circa 2002 with bright blue hair wearing a ludicrous black vinyl outfit, but they have all mysteriously disappeared. PROBABLY FOR THE BEST.

What’s up, internet? I don’t know if anyone has noticed, but I haven’t really been making with the blog posts recently. Like, only two or three posts a week? WHO AM I???

The reason for this is because I have been in a Grade A Funk. Mad and sad and feeling bad, and all I want to do is eat a billion cookies and watch tv. Last year this happened right before Halloween; this year I was so busy at the end of October that it waited for November. I guess the key is to constantly be doing things so that I don’t have time to start feeling miserable.

The perfect thing to brighten my mood right now would be to get going on some serious Christmas crafting, but I have a little problem with that: my craft desk. It looks like this right now.

FUN FACT my computer desk ALSO looks like that. Two desks, piled high with mess. The best part is I always always ALWAYS get on Sym’s case to keep her desk clean so she has somewhere to do her work. I think it’s time I start practicing what I preach, I mean MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY HOLIDAYS glitter banners aren’t going to hand-cut their own letters.

Speaking off, check out this sip & see featuring a fancy banner by yours truly! tbh I wasn’t entirely sure what a sip & see was when I made the sign, but I guess it’s a chance for parents to introduce their baby to everyone at once instead of people dropping by constantly when you are all sleep-deprived and unshowered with a messy house. Huh. I wish I’d known about these ten years ago!

Some pictures from Sym’s birthday dance party on Friday!

I bought disco lights and hung gold glitter fringe all over the living room. I closed most of the blinds and turned off lights to make it more of a dance party atmosphere since it was the middle of the afternoon.

I put a white plastic table-cloth over the kitchen island, liberally sprinkled it with silver glitter and stars and then covered it with a clear vinyl table-cloth.

I wanted the kids to have lots of water since they were dancing up a storm. I originally planned on putting lemon slices in the water but I wanted Taylor to be able to drink it so I made cucumber water instead, which weirded everyone out. Clearly they’ve never been to a spa! I also bought fruit sodas made with real juice since I figured they’d be marginally healthier than regular pop, and the kids put Pixi Stix in them. OOPS.

I know this looks like the candles say “01” but that’s because Taylor took a picture of the back of the cake!

Sym opened the presents from her friends first, and then the one from Taylor and me: Dance Central 2! It was perfect: the present WAS the party, and everyone got into it. We have two rules for Dance Central at our house: everybody plays, and no one makes fun of you if you suck.

Even Sym’s dad got into it! At first he was like “nope, no way, I’m not playing,” and when his wife arrived she said the same thing. Six songs later they were both drenched in sweat and she was trying to calculate how much it would cost for an Xbox, Kinect and the game.

This cake looked like an ordinary, poorly decorated cake from the outside (I’m really bad at icing cakes so I just like, PAVED it in silver jimmies), but inside it had a secret.

Chocolate donuts baked into the layers! I was worried this wouldn’t turn out- I had planned on baking a practice cake during the week but with Halloween on Monday and the party on Friday time just got away from me. Luckily it turned out DELICIOUS and was well received by all the guests.

Once all the kids were picked up Sym opened the rest of her presents (from family and pets, haha). She got tons of great stuff, books and Playmobils, Hello Kittys and Monster High Dolls, all her favorite stuff. Her paternal grandparents got her an authentic kimono from Japan and I got to spend Saturday afternoon trying to figure out how to tie it properly. Thank god for instructional youtube videos! It’s a bit big on her but I think my efforts turned out all right.

Saturday was her actual birthday, and she requested pancakes for breakfast and for me to play Playmobils with her.

I was able to comply on the first part, but I had some serious back pain and a killer migraine, so I ended up having to go to bed in the afternoon. It sucked and I was disappointed that I couldn’t spend more time with her on her birthday, but at least I threw her a killer party!

… I had purple hair and a brand-new purple baby. Now I have a giant tween who is playing Wii Sports Resort and yelling “I’M NAILING THIS, SUCKAAAAAAAS!”

Her birthday party was yesterday after school and was UH MAY ZING, I’ll do a proper post about it soon but right now the birthday girl demands pancakes.

Yesterday was so much fun! I dressed up all day and Sym wore her costume to school. I spent my break (the daycare kids’ naptime) putting up decorations outside because I figured I wouldn’t have time after work, and I was right! The first trick-or-treaters came at around 5:20 and it built steadily all evening- we ran out of candy by 7:30 and I spoke to a woman up the block who had over five hundred kids come by before 8:30! This is really the neighborhood to be in Vancouver’s West End on Halloween night!

Anyway. Pictures!

Sym as an Evil Doll.

Me as a strawberry with a little Sleeping Beauty (this is the only full length I got of my costume).

The dogs were not exempt from dressing up.

Georgie wore her ghost shirt and was miserable about it. Kichou wire his Aloha shirt and I made him a tiny Detroit Tigers hat so he could be Dognum, P.I.

Taylor was an eggplant and was very gracious about wearing a purple track suit and silly hat. I’m actually wearing the purple pants right now and they are really comfortable so I guess it wasn’t all bad. This was taken when we were outside giving out candy, I didn’t want to have to keep opening the door every time kids came down the stairs and have the dogs freak out and try to escape so I set out a little outdoor area for use to sit in, with lots of decorations and my iPod stereo blasting my ultimate Halloween party playlist.

I had my coat on because it was cold and people kept asking if I was a pumpkin. PUMPKINS ARE ORANGE MY COAT IS YELLOW. To my left is this great decoration I made by stuffing some green twinkle lights in a cracked jar (it was the one from my terrarium, which I killed by forgetting to water it, OOPS) and hiding it in the ferns and ivy.

Because the trick-or-treaters started coming so early I didn’t have time to take pictures of all my decorations last night. Most of them are still up so I went out and got some this morning instead. First is the stairs outside my apartment.

I wrapped this whole hedge in cobwebs and foil spiders.

Some glittery skeletons on the fence.

Most of these decorations were up in the house all week- Sym’s flying pumpkins, my Trick or Treat glitter banner, and the hanging foil decorations. I also put some of those in the trees in the backyard but they are hard to see.

A few years ago it was wet on Halloween night and the whole backyard was churned into a muddy mess. The grass still hasn’t fully recovered so every year I put a fence of bamboo sticks and caution tape around the lawn to keep people off of it.

I made the “Beware” and “Just Leave” signs using the wire frames from some election signs I found vandalized on the side of the road, garbage bags and Sharpie markers. I traced Sym’s and my hands for the bloody handprints on the “Beware” sign, and the “Just Leave” was inspired by the classic Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace

Since all the pumpkins from my carving party had turned to mush already, I quickly carved this toothsome jack-o-lantern and some more little vampires in the afternoon.

Of course, now I have to take it all down so I can start decorating for Sym’s birthday party on Friday, and then next week, for CHRISTMAS!!! Just kidding. Sort of.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Red Said Red, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Mellow Yellow
I was going to put leafy tops on these nails but by the time I was done the dots it was 10pm and I was OVER. IT.

Sorry for the photobooth pic but I have too much important stuff to do and no time for real pictures! Stuff like carving a new pumpkin, putting up decorations outside, and sewing a tiny little Detroit Tigers cap so I can dress my husband’s dog as Magnum, P.I. for Halloween!

Ready when you are, Halloween!

How Taylor and I spent our Sunday.

For more hot dog action check out Taylor’s flickr.

This past weekend I took Claire to the vet for her monthly $80 fructosamine test (that’s blood sugar for you non-diabetic pet owners) and in a shocking turn of events, her levels are actually within the normal range! In the last six months we’ve quadrupled her insulin dosage and her diabetes is finally under control. The extra bonus to this is I don’t have to take her in again for six months. SCORE!

Friday night was my Second Annual Pumpkin Carving, Hocus Pocus Watching Party.

In the morning Sym and Taylor helped me scoop the goop out of all the pumpkins. I was really dreading this part because I haaaaaaaaaate pumpkin guts but it was quite easy.

Fun fact: the pumpkin guts peeled all the dead/dry skin off Sym’s hands.

I’d been putting up decorations all week. I used my Halloween glitter banners, some store-bought things and some crafts by Sym and myself.

Sym made these craft foam jack-o’-lanterns last year, we added wings and feet to make the bat-o’-lanterns!

This skull chandelier is hanging over the kids’ table. Kids love skulls.

This treat bag made a great impromptu light shade!

I’ve turned into the sort of person who makes gift bags for all my guests.

It’s really Taylor’s fault; when he went to the liquor store for beer he also came back with a mini-bottle of Crystal Head Vodka. OBVIOUSLY I had to go out and get more to share with everybody! I also included a cute mini-pumpkin and a cellophane bag of candy corn and Halloween chocolates.

Sym really wanted me to make the cursed donuts from last year, although I managed to avoid any major baking mishaps. These are just made using brownie mix and black food colouring.

I put Sym in charge of decorating them with white, green, and orange glaze, and white bone & skull, black spider & skull, and green spider sprinkles.

The fruits of everyone’s carving labours:

top row, l-r: a small Totoro + some susuwatari by Sym and her dad; a cemetery by Sym’s stepmom
bottom row l-r: Sailor Moon & a little vampire by me; a toothy grinning face by Taylor, a fangy grinning face by Katrina, and a hammer & sickle by Varia. My friend Bonnie & her son also carved one but they left early.

This was my attempt at one of the Martha Stewart fanged pumpkins that are all over tumblr/pinterest this year. Mine came out looking mentally subnormal. I think it’s the jewelled picks I used for the eyes.

Taylor spent HOURS carving the teeth on his pumpkin, trying to get them thin enough to let light through. Clearly it was worth it though!

I only had half a dozen people over, but last year there were only two, so I basically tripled my turnout. Next year: EIGHTEEN.

Not particularly Halloween-related, but before people arrived I had all three dogs sitting in the beanbag chairs, even Dougal.

AMAZING.