Halloweekend 2008

What would people do on Facebook if Halloween didn't exist? Man, it just gives the ol' social networking site a giant kick in the pants as we head into the holiday season.

I was on the fence about doing Halloween this year, but once I heard there was a party a block from my house I was sold and couldn't wait for the night to start. We started out at Habitat and then headed over to the weird "mansion" party later in the night. It was a seriously fun, silly, hilarious night. I think the photos speak for themselves.

Halloweekend at Bernie's II

Undercover Housewife

Everyone wanted to pose with Bern.

And then on Saturday I went over Preeya and Dave's house for Halloween Part II. I decided to get artsy and use the sepia function on my camera.

Junior came as "4 Piece Chicken McNuggets". Real original, Junior. Reallll original.

The best part about hanging out with a bunch of musicians? Singing oldies with Freddie Mercury!

I went as Dave's college friend, Ivan Phisher. This wig/beard combo is getting a lot of action.

What Halloween party is complete without pigs in a blanket?!

Shrink-wrapped brains

Preeya and Dave have a little mouse problem, but Joe doesn't mind sharing.


Awww yeahhhh.

VOTE!

My friend Kenny over at Nude Celebrity Death SUV just found this video. It's pretty darn awesome. Everyone has their opinion on who should be our next President, but there's one thing we can't fight about - we are lucky to have the power to vote.

VOTE next TUESDAY!!!!

Happy Halloween!

I made a big tin of these for Halloween, but I forgot to take a picture before I put them out for the office...

Finger-licking Good Cookies

I saw a picture of these on a blog somewhere, but I can't remember where. From the picture I guessed that they could be make from a shortbread cookie recipe. I tried making it and it was too crumbly to mold so I added an egg and that did the trick.

3/4 c. butter, softened
1/4 c. sugar
2 c. flour
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1 egg
Raspberry jam
Almond slices

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugar, work in flour. If dough is crumbly, mix in 1 or 2 tablespoons soft butter.

Form the "fingers" and press a dent with your own finger to make the nail bed. Add a drop of raspberry jam to the "nail bed" and then place one almond slice in the jam to look like a finger nail. Add a little bit of jam to the opposite end of the finger to make it look like it was ripped off the hand.

Bake 20 minutes or until set. Remove from sheet immediately. Makes about 2
dozen.

Gone Trappin'

Last night I had some people from Neighborhood Cats come over to trap the cats in my backyard. They will be checked out by a vet, neutered/spayed, have a supervised recovery, and then will be released back into the yard once they are recovered.

They brought 5 traps. Looks scary, but they were actually very safe spaces for the angry cats.

I have to tell you that I really don't feel 100% okay with the trapping. I felt terrible for scaring the poor little guys, and I am not totally sure if it is okay for people to control animal populations. I know there are good sides to it - after all, it is very sad to see animals struggling and know many of them will die and grow up with diseases and have short lives. I mean, I just saw a little kitten pass away from disease and it broke my heart. But on the other had, I kind of feel like they are wild animals and you should let them go through their natural cycle....but I guess their lives are already being interfered with because people feed them.

At any rate, I'm in the mix and the organization is coming back to do more trapping this weekend. They are a great group of people that really do care about the cats and will put kittens up for adoption if they are young enough to be socialized. Sick cats are tended to by vets and the volunteers pay out of pocket for these services. The people really do go out of their way to care for these animals.

The kitten I have been feeding was captured last night (I started crying - he was so scared) and will be neutered this weekend and released next week. I can not take him in, but I believe he could definitely be socialized if someone was willing to adopt him and put in the time.

If you would like to adopt an adorable little kitten please let me know. I think he could warm up to being an indoor cat pretty quickly. I would love to find him a loving home.

The line up. We caught Kitten, Papa Duke, and Mama Bette. Papa Duke was seriously the size of a bob cat. The thing was GIGANTIC.

If you have feral cats in your neighborhood, or would like to help out with Neighborhood Cats (the training program only takes a couple hours) please see here for more info: Neighborhood Cats Info Center

Or sign up for the next training program:

http://www.neighborhoodcats.org/events/index.htm

Craft: Vintage Skirt is now a Pillow

When my grandparents died the family had the daunting task of cleaning out their house. I definitely take after my grandmother and my grandmother saved everything from furniture to tin foil - and it was all super organized and in great condition. My grandfather wasn't much better. I remember my grandmother and I getting on his case to go through 60 years of bank statements he had stored in the basement.

One day I was cleaning my grandmother's closet and I found this super cute jacket/skirt combo. My grandmother was super tiny when she was my age so the skirt had like 10" waist and could not be zipped up around my "I eat Peanut M&M's for breakfast" stomach. However, the jacket fit great and was still in perfect condition.

Faux-suede buttons on the jacket.

Paws thinks I'm ridiculous.

I already mentioned I save everything just like Grammy so of course tossing the skirt was out of the question. I could have given it away to the Salvation Army, but the edges were worn and frayed and frankly, I didn't want to give it up. So instead I decided to chop up the skirt and use the material for a pillow!

For the front of the pillow I used Italian wool that my ex-roommate got as a sample (she is knitwear designer for Express). I've been saving it for like 4 years.

I used gold ink to print Paws on the front because I thought it would make it a little classier, but now I kind of wish I did it in black. I might try a second version this weekend.