you are all so kind

In the last few weeks I have heard from many of you inquiring about my where abouts and just sending your love.  I can't tell you how much your thoughtfulness has meant.  


By way of an update...


I have been battling insomnia for 5 months now.  Due to the lack of sleep I am experiencing other health problems as well.  It is a vicious cycle of trying to decide what to tackle first - the sleep or the various other health issues. There are lots of talks with the doctor, new medications to try, and experimenting with various tricks and ideas all in an effort to get myself back to feeling normal.  I plug along each day trying to get the basics done and am managing because of my beyond wonderful husband and my equally amazing kids.  They have all been troopers helping me deal with everything.  


Unfortunately, party ideas and actual parties have taken a back seat.  I was going to say that you can't imagine how this kills me but I am sure many of you can imagine how sad it makes me feel.  I just truly don't have the energy or the health to do it.  


I make attempts.  In my head I have been planning a Harry Potter movie release party for the past few months  but here I am a couple weeks before the said party should take place with nothing done.  Part of me says "Don't do it Denise, just concentrate on getting healthy." Then the guilt steps in..."Your teenage daughters and their friends love your parties and will be super disappointed."  Then my party girl mentality steps in..."Denise, you know if the movie comes and goes and you do nothing to celebrate it you will be so bummed.  Think about how much fun it will be to creative a potions class or to make 50 wands!"  Does anyone else have these internal arguments or am I sicker than I thought :)


We'll see how it plays out.  Maybe you'll see a Harry Potter post from me in a couple weeks.  If you don't you'll know I'm trying to be good and get myself back to a healthy state.  Who will win...practicality or party girl?

I did muster up enough strength to get 4 Halloween costumes done for my kids.  It was my attempt to make up for my seriously lacking mothering efforts since the insomnia hit.  Here are my kids as Robin Hood, Circus Ringmaster, The Mad Hatter and Dracula.  Oh, and the incredibly attractive man that jumped into the second picture is my husband - he makes me proud!  And just so there is no question...he is in a costume complete with mullet wig and Billy Bob hillbilly teeth.

My cute little Dracula and Ringmaster were the easiest with most of the costume coming from our own closets or costume boxes.


Umm, Robin Hood and Mad Hatter...not as easy.  At times while sewing, attaching, dying fabric, gluing, etc. I questioned my sanity at attempting costumes this year.  However, now that its all done and past I'm glad I did it - I love how the costumes turned out.  I also had lots of help from my husband so I didn't do it all on my own.  My 16 year old also stepped in and did the Mad Hatters amazing make-up.  It's no easy feat getting an 11 yr old boy to wear so much make-up.


Anyway...again, thank you for all the thoughtful emails.  I appreciate being thought of and missed.  I'm hoping I can be back soon sharing ideas and throwing parties - I miss it!!

jane how-to

There have been some questions about my daughter's Jane (Volturi) costume. Here's how to get the Volturi vampire look that we got here.

I used this Simplicity pattern, view A. I shortened the length of the cloak, made the arm width much skinnier and did not use the frog closure that was suggested - I used a length of fabric so that the cloak could be tied up with a bow.

The contacts are from Wild Eyes and the color/style is Red Hot. We ordered them through our optometrist and got them in my daughters prescription.

We also stopped by Hot Topic and picked up the Volturi Crest necklace.

We finished off the costume with white tights, some Mary Janes picked up inexpensively at Ross and make-up -pale skin, dark eyes.

the volturi have arrived - new moon jane costume

Any New Moon fans out there? If so, you may recognize this pint sized vampire who is here visiting from Italy.

My daughter decided to be Jane, the Volturi guards silent secret weapon, for Halloween this year. The costume is not quite done but she was off to a Halloween party tonight so she had to wear it as is.

The sleeves aren't hemmed yet - they're just folded up underneath the sleeve, hence the discrepancy in lengths (that will be fixed before Halloween) I also need to clean up some raw edges around the neckline before the big candy coma induced night.

Most of it's done though and both she and I are pleased with the almost finished product. The eye color makes this costume - I was thrilled we got our hands on some contacts in a short amount of time. I called the optometrist on Monday and we had the contacts on Tuesday so she would have them to wear tonight.
She has plans to get multiple uses out of this costume - she wants to wear it to the theater for the midnight release of New Moon and just stare people down while quietly telling them "this may hurt just a little" Check out the trailer here to see Jane, played by Dakota Fanning, say that line - she's an evil little blood sucker.

Hope every one's Halloween party plans are on track and that you are getting your costumes taken care of as well. I always love to see Halloween parties and costumes so send pictures my way of any of your holiday happenings.