post off: what’s your costume plan for halloween?
Have we told how excited we are for Halloween this year? Our three-old daughter is combating the princess storm by dressing as the ONLY female Disney character with a job: Mary Poppins! It’s all about the accessories: hat, umbrella, carpet bag. Not easy, but the payoff will be worth it. Her dad and I will dress as obligatory chimney sweeps and allow her to steal the spotlight. After showing off our duds in the neighborhood parade, we’ll lure trick-or-treaters into a makeshift porchside photo studio to capture their portraits. Last year, Batman fell into our lair. Can’t wait to see who will stumble by this year. What will you be dressed as? — Angela M.
Photo by Chad Hunt
More Halloween costume posts:
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halloween crafts! a pricey d.i.y wreath + free (almost) window decals
When I saw the glowing eyeball wreath in this month’s “Country Living,” my heart skipped a beat. Then I did the math — eight dozen glowing eye balls at $7.99/dozen — and my heart did something else. Since I made Martha’s slithering wreath last year, I couldn’t justify the cost of making a new one, but I did file away the idea. Luckily, there were a lot of other great ideas, including creepy crow window decals, in this month’s Country Living. You can download the illustrations free from the magazine’s site. Then all you need is an inkjet printer and window decal sheets. I found them on Amazon for $7.49/pack. There are three sheets included, so I flipped the image horizontally after I printed the first two sheets. Total cost? Eighty-three cents a decal. Unfortunately, making the decals was a lot easier than getting a decent picture. You’ll find better images on the magazine’s website, along with a lot more fun ideas. — Sarah L.
help! suggestions for a shag rug alternative?
Our cheap Ikea shag rug met its demise a few weeks ago (the tale is too sad to share, but lets just say it involved an incredibly sick kitty), and I am determined to replace it before the weather gets a chill a in the air. Perhaps it’s time for an upgrade and something a little different. Shag rugs seem so…. 2004. I’d love to find an alternative, but one that is still soft under the feet and relatively easy to clean up spills. There are a couple at West Elm I am eying (the pebble rug or the sweater rug) but I’d like to visit them in person before ordering. Why don’t catalogs offer rug swatches? Does anyone else have suggestions? Remember we have a toddler in the house and — shhhh — there’s talk of a puppy in our future. Thanks for your help! — Angela M.
end of summer craft ideas: what to do with popsicle sticks?
As you know from previous posts, it’s been a summer filled with popsicles. And as the last long weekend approaches, I feel the need to suck every sweet drop from the end of the popsicle stick. Then, I’m gonna take a pile of those popsicle sticks and do something crafty with them and a bottle of glue. Of course, Martha Stewart has some serious suggestions. I love the little house, above, from their site, and suspect our daughter will, too. But there are some grown up ideas out there as well (after all, not just the little ones like popsicles). On Etsy, I spotted this adorable cutlery holder. (The lazy can buy one for $10.) And Reader’s Digest offers these ingenious uses for popsicle sticks. Be warned though. There are some heated debates on gardening forums about how using the leftover wooden planks for plant labels is a bad idea. Apparently, they get moldy? Yuck.
What about you? Got any fun projects to keep us busy over the long weekend? I sense rain in the forecast. — Angela M.
neighborhood fun: sidewalk swings for summer
One of the things that stood out to me when we moved to Portland was how, besides all the chicken coops,  all the neighborhoods had one common element: sidewalk tree swings. After growing up in New Jersey, and then living in DC and Denver as an adult, I have never seen the “median†space between the sidewalk and street used in such a playful way. Even our neighbors, who have no small children of their own, put up a tire swing and tether ball for the neighborhood kids to use. Sadly, we don’t have a tree out front to install our own swing. But if you do, here are a few easy-to-hang options:
• Disc swing from Wood Tree Swings, $55, includes a hanging kit that prevents rope from cutting into tree limbs and makes set-up a breeze.
• Sassaras Ladybug Rope Swing, $25.
• IKEA EKORRE hand rings, $10. Nope, not a swing. But the neighbor two doors down from us put this up, and it’s a magnet for older kids.
• And then there’s always the classic: a swing made from an old tire sitting in your garage.
Are sidewalk swings and play things a typical neighborhood feature where you live, or are we a bit of an anomaly out here in the Pacific Northwest? –Ginny F.
Yellow swing image by Flickr user Yume Photo
