Starburst Stuff!

I finished Rhi's Starburst bracelet (the link is here for anyone else who wants to make one) & went out & bought more candy so I could make some more. I just think they're so cute & colorful, you know? I wish I could get a hold of all of the colors of the wrappers, it would be fun to make them for all of my friends in their favorite combinations. So, I've been keeping my eyes open for bags of them in different flavors than I already have. I know, this seems like something that would be more appropriate for an acne-troubled teen, but I love doing things with unusualitems, and always loved making gum wrapper chains as a child, so this is perfect for me.

I sit here & fold the wrappers while I'm watching TV or talking, so that when I'm ready to put them together, the links are all ready & I don't have to fold while I'm assembling. It makes the actual jewelry assembly a lot faster & more fun for me, too. Anyway, that's this week's crafting obsession!

Blech.

I'm so tired of feeling sick. My head hurts all the time, my nose is stuffed up, my throat is sore & my eyes are watering like a pair of Kohler faucets. I'm wondering what winter is going to be like if I'm already feeling this bad & it's only fall. Maybe I'll just stay in bed all winter, only appearing on the holidays or when I desperately need food or a shower. That wouldn't keep me from getting any sicker, I know, but at least I'd be getting enough rest & wouldn't be out here whining at everyone because I feel like crap.

I just haven't had any motivation to get anything done lately. I need to be cleaning every day, if I don't, the housefalls apart. I have four books that need to be bound & they're just sitting there on the shelf mocking me. I need to get my bedroom cleaned & nice so I can put my new comforter set on the bed & have a nice retreat for Troyu & I.. somany things, so little want to do any of them. Blech.

Trash Crafts?

Did you ever make gum wrapper chains when you were a kid? We did. I remember walking up to the store with my brothers, buying a pack of Wrigley's & saving each piece of foil to add to our neverending chain. I think our mom taught us how to make them when we were on a trip to see our grandparents in California, but I can't be sure of that. Anyway, I was reminded of all of that because Rhi was saving Starburst wrappers the other day because she wanted a bracelet made out of them. I told her I'd find the directions & make it for her if she wanted me to, so I've been sitting here, checking email & so on while I make a Starburst chain for her. I often wonder what other wrappers people use for this kind of thing, or what other crafts can be made with trash like candy wrappers. Maybe I'll have to look it up & see what I can find.

Halloween Party

We're in the planning stages of our annual Halloween party & I can't seem to figure out what I want to cook for the disgusting food contest this year. I've done chicken wings that look like bat wings in the past, kitty litter cake & potty chair Jello. There have been other entries, some years I make things & didn't compete, but I'm starting to feel like I've run out of ideas. I need to start scouring the recipe sites for appetizers or desserts & see if there's a way I can turn a normal recipe into something suitable for the contest.

I  also haven't figured out a costume for Halloween or for the party. Our Troth is getting together & taking all of the little kids in our group out on Halloween for trick-or-treating and then we'll meet back at our gathering spot for our Samhain ritual. The next night, we plan to have our party, so it'll be a pretty full weekend.

Hmmm

I'm sitting here watching a movie that I don't think I've ever heard of. It's called "Mee-Shee: The Water Giant" and was made in 2005. If I've heard of it, I don't remember anything about it at all. I'm enjoying it so far, although I'm kind of wondering why everyone in the movie, which is based in the "Canadian Wilds" has an English accent, except for the characters that are supposed to be American.

I love having all of the movie channels in my cable package, there always seems to be something to watch that interests me. I'd probably love it more if we had a nice home theater, or even our new flat screen TV, but since we don't, I can't really complain about it. Even when there aren't anyh movies to watch, I can always find something, somedays I think I watch TV too much, but then there are days, like yesterday, that I don'teven tuen it on.

Well, I guess I ought to get the dishes started, they aren't going to wash themselves & I'll needthe counter space later, if the siphon comes & we can bottle.

Not What I Expected

I just finished watching The Bridge to Terabithia & I have to say that it really wasn't what I expected it to be. I liked the movie, don't get me wrong, it just wasn't what I had thought it was. Maybe I should have read the book at some point in my life, or something. It was a heartwarming & yes, sad, story. It kept me engaged & interested throughout the movie, which isn't always true for me. I loved the Leslie Burke character, she reminded me of Rhi in her younger years, when she was so ddifferent from the other kids & it was so hard for her to make friends with people.

Anyhow, I'm exhausted today, even though I got plenty of sleep. I'm stuffed up again & my head is killing me. It could be stress or worry, I don't know. Rhi is having an off couple of days & I'm worried that her medicine isn't working now. I have a friend who's going through a tough time right now, too & I'm worried about her. I'm also anticipating being able to bottle our mead today, so hopefully our siphon will get here in the mail this afternoon. I'm excited to see what it tastes like & if it's ready to drink or needs more time to mellow out.

Smalltowns

I love living in a small town, for the most part. There are things that really are aggravating, though, like the smalltown attitude, thing & the fact that it's smalltown Utah & things are sometimes very 19th century. It's hard to find all of the cool things everyone seems to have in the stores, too. Troy uses Micro SD cards in his pocket PC, and we've been able to find exactly one card in the months that he's been looking. I use XD cards in my camera, and I've never been able to find one here, yet.

For my size & budget, there are two places for me to shop for clothing here in town. One of them I can really only afford if they're having a sale, and since I don't want to wear what everyone else is wearing, I either go to St. George or shop online. I'd rather shop in St. George, that way I can see the clothing & check the length on pants and such to make sure they're long enough for me.

I love that we have clean air & water and that it's quiet & beautiful here. I also love the low crime rate & extremely low rates for violent crime, so I guess it was a trade off & really, in my opinion, it was all worth it.

A Costume Contest?

My daughter, Rhi designed and handmade (she even sewed most of it without a machine) this wolf costume a couple of years ago. She managed to completely freak the dog out with it, too!!


Mrs. B over at Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom, is having a 31Days of Halloween Giveaway, where she gives a bunch of cool things away every day, and for one of them today you need to post a pic of you, your husband or your child ion a costume & she'll decide which one is the most original & they get a cool basketful of goodies.

Technology Rocks

One thing that I noticed when we were helping Morgan & Roger shop for strollers, was how far they've come since the last time I bought one. Not only are they made for more than one purpose these days, they're so much safer than they were when my kids were little. I love the ones that have the infant car seat attached to them, so you can take it off, put the stroller away & either put the baby in the car or take them inside. Those are designed to change to a regular stroller when the baby gets too big for the infant car seat. There's a normal, standard stroller seat under it, so you never really have the issue of the baby outgrowing the stroller.

There are even models now that allow your older child to stand behind the seat and safely ride that way, some even have a little seat forthem to sit on if they get tired of standing. That really would have come inhandy when mine were little, poor Erin would get so tired at times & we'd have to carry him or sit down & rest awhile with him. We've really come a long way regarding safety & our children in the past 20 years or so, you know?

I Might Be Giving Up

I remember a time when my brother liked to get out & do things. He always wanted to go hiking or camping. It seemed to be him that came up with all of the ideas for weekend excursions to this place or that, to look for artifacts from an old mine or arrowheads in the desert. That was after he'd finished drug rehab and moved here, to Utah, before he met his current wife. For awhile, even after they got married, we still had our annual family camping trip, which we did near the 4th of July, so that we could celebrate that holiday together.

I remember the last camping trip we took together. His wife started complaining after the first day that she was missing out on her soaps and by the afternoon of the 2nd day, they were griping to go home immediately. She made it sound like it was because she was going to miss all of that TV & she couldn't survive without knowing what was going on in her little fantasy world on whatever soap opera she was addicted to at the time. What it really was, was that they had run out of beer that morning.

Their marriage revolves around the drinking. It's the only thing they really seem to do anymore. They have an 11 year old daughter that has no concept of who her daddy really is, because I doubt she's ever seen him truly sober & I know her mother isn't ever sober, especially since she starts her mornings off with the beer that was left when they went to bed the night before. They come to family holiday meals, most of the time they bring their beer with them, they drink it all & then it's time to go home and yes, they drive after they've been drinking, with my niece in the car.

I'm starting to feel like I want to give up on him, especially since he isn't willing to go through alcohol rehab of any type. It breaks my heart to see him this way. It hurts my kids to remember their uncle, and the way he cared about them & played with them when they were really little, before they started calling him their "Drunkle." I keep caring because I love my niece & she needs someone, but I have started distancing myself from my brother & sister-in-law & I'll probably continue to. I can't watch him killing himself anymore. I just can't.