Weiner dogs on Wednesday, Halloween edition!

Happy Halloween from Whem and Osc!!

This is a pic from 2 years ago, the only year I ever successfully had Oscar in a costume. He usually snarls and adamantly refuses!

I look like I got hit with the ugly stick...but I love my little Jager bomb :)

Happy Halloween from the proud sister of an Aspie!

My sister has Asperger's syndrome (an Autism spectrum disorder,) and for that reason, this melted my heart...particularly the part about not wearing a costume. She has always had an issue with texture, and Halloween costumes are not always the best material and don't feel great on your skin, I can remember this being an issue as a kid.

Tomorrow, a lot of creatures will visit your door. Be open minded. The child who is grabbing more than one piece of candy might have poor fine motor skills. The child who takes forever to pick out one piece of candy might have motor planning issues. The child who does not say "trick or treat" or "thank you" might be painfully shy, non-verbal, or selectively mute. If you cannot understand their words, they may struggle with developmental apraxia of speech. They are thankful in their hearts and minds. The child who looks disappointed when he sees your bowl might have a life-threatening allergy. The child who isn't wearing a costume at all might have SPD or autism. Be kind, be patient, smile, pretend you understand. It's everyone's Halloween.

Haunted Hallow

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been working a second job the entire month of October.  Haunted Hallow is a 25 minute haunted walk through an old farm, including four terrifying barns and lots of scary creatures lurking in between barns as you walk through.

My sister, Erin, has been doing makeup at Haunted Hallow for a few years and loves it. When I moved back home, she casually mentioned something about coming to work there this year, and I was all "sure, whatever."

When September rolled around, it was time to actually go to the meeting and sign up for this place. Hannah and I were still in "whatever," mode...I could certainly manage 11 nights of work for the extra cash.

 Hannah and I both absolutely refused to put costumes on, wear makeup, or do any scaring though...we signed up to sell tickets or concessions, help with makeup and costumes...anything but scaring. No way Jose.

Well...by the second night, I was totally hyped. I LOVE Halloween anyway, and the owners of this place obviously do too. The farm has something special about it that just made me smile and have a good time, and I couldn't ask for better co workers! From the 18 year old kids to the guy that works with my dad at the funeral home, we all just LOVE Halloween and wanted to have a good time scaring the crap out of people. Hearing people scream made me laugh, because that meant we were doing a damn good job! This place is mad scary...I KNOW where all the actors are, and I still got scared, 4 weeks into it!

Night two...I was in full zombie makeup =)

 

Night four, I had a permanent position on the trail. A full time ghoul, with a new costume. Say hello to your new nurse...

  

I couldn't have picked a more perfect job for myself...I got to scare people a bit, but also help and comfort those who were a little TOO scared. I would turn on my flash light and show them that I was just a regular person that likes Halloween, give them a pep talk, and send them on down the trail...to the zombies.

This job was exactly what I needed in the midst of my divorce, financial issues and general craziness in life. I had been feeling pretty low about a lot of things...but having a "fun" job to go to and not have to think was amazing.  Plus, did I mention that I LOVE Halloween??

I feel blessed to have met some amazing people while working at Haunted Hallow, people from all walks of life whom I would otherwise never have spoken with.

If my "real" job made me stay up until 1am, stand outside in my scrubs and freeze, yell until I lost my voice, run up and down hills and fields until my back and legs were screaming or put blood all over my face...I'd be looking for a new job ASAP, but I LOVE me some Haunted Hallow!!! I've never been more exhausted, but it was SO worth it!

Our season has come to an end now, one day early thanks to Hurricane Sandy....but check out the website and come see us in 2013. I will definitely be there again!

www.HauntedHallowVA.com

Oh, and PS...The money that I made at Haunted Hallow is exactly what I need for my divorce! Come on February!!!

Yard sale detail...

It's been a couple weeks...I had to skip yard saleing for two Saturdays IN A ROW due to working a second job for the month of October that kept me out until midnight or later, and then having to go back to work later on Saturday. (More on the second job and all of its awesomeness later!)

If you missed my first Yard sale detail post, you can read it here

But I'm back and ready to roll! Here are my treasures from a girls morning with Gioia and Tina, as well as a few online yard sale finds.

I'm in LOVE with this new bag...the color is perfect for fall and the leather is SO soft! That's right...leather. Real leather and only $8.

Cat's meow...have you ever seen these? They sit on top of the molding in doorways and what not. They used to be more popular. You can get them of pretty much any city in the world. My Ma had tons of them from England.

I have a few, one from Ernest Hemingway's home in Key West, one of my firehouse...well this one is Fauquier High school, where I graduated from. It will NEVER look like this again because they are putting on this monstrous addition, which is hideous by the way. $10...a little more than I usually pay for yard sale stuff, but it had sentimental value :)

Wooden pineapple bowl, going to paint and seal it to make a cute spoon rest by the stove! I'm going to go ahead and admit that I pretty much snatched this out of Tina's hand. My bad. 50 cents.

You can't beat free...or ten cents for that matter! Fiskars scissors sharpener...costs around $10 new, always wanted one, but couldn't justify spending then money.

Two little owls. Need to be spray painted  and sealed because they are chipping in places...and their eyes freak me out. May add some fabric flowers or lace around the bottoms and sell them on etsy as wedding cake toppers :)

If you remember from my first yard sale detail post, I bought a large owl to paint and seal. And I also wrote about my new "whoot," scentsy warmer...which is a big white owl. I dig owls...and spray paint.

This is a VERY heavy little piece. You screw it into the wall with the holes in his ears and bow tie. The upper teeth stick out and it is used as a bottle opener. I got this for my cousin, Brian. He is a tattoo artist near Richmond, and collects all kinds of cool stuff and I thought this would go nicely in his "office." I paid $1 for this weird little guy, but I told Brian that it fell out of my box of Cheerios.

Black and white fabric...50 cents. Can never have too much fabric, right? My mom would agree...my dad would ultimately disagree.

Twilight tote for my sister, Erin. 50 cents. She loves her some twilight. I love totes this size, they are good for taking lunch to work or running errands, or carrying gym shoes, or whatever!!

First of all, I need to manage all that crap in my room...yikes! I paid $5 for this mirror and the two little white owls above.

This mirror is pretty awesome. The frame is plastic, but its pretty sturdy. It will be a re-do and sell piece. I'm thinking black frame with black and white fabric flowers made out of the fabric pictured above. As an accent color I tend to ALWAYS use turquoise, so I'm going to try and use purple or something else this time!

So what have you found lately? An $8 genuine leather bag? Some Christmas gifts? I'm excited to see!!

Weiner dogs on Wednesday

My boy loves pumpkin...unfortunately when you are trying to decorate, he wants to eat those too...

(This pic is obviously from last year...I wouldn't torment myself by putting out my "Oscar and Lyla spook here" signs...missin' my girl, but SO happy to have my Osc!)

Pinterest motivational challenge 3

I can't believe I've actually followed through with 3 projects! Michelle is SO proud of me :)

You can see our other projects here:
Pinterest motivational challenge 1

and

Pinterest motivational challenge 2

Our 3rd challenge had to involve the use of #1. Paper and #2. A circle punch. Seems easy enough. There were some kick-ass versions on Pinterest to drool over to get started...here are a few of my favorites:












Super cute!




Love these!! So Again, the way that our challenge works, is that we set the ground rules, and both Michelle and I set to work on our project...Her in Wisconsin, and me in Virginia. One week later we post the results and see how different and beautiful (sometimes not so much!) they are!!

So...Here is Michelle's AWESOME version with the awesome Baby Jack, as a model! I love it! I suggested that she do one for all 4 of her rescued dachshunds!

   

She used blue and green 2 inch circles, and and a 1 inch circle punch to cut out copies of a favorite photo of sweet baby Jack!. The background paper is brown Kraft paper, which is a personal favorite of mine! The frame is from the dollar store. I'm in love with the idea of displaying photos this way! So cute and non-traditional!

And here is mine. As usual, I went a totally different direction =)

I started with a 97 cent pizza pan from Wal-Mart. I liked that it was cheap (I was going to use a canvas, so this was WAY cheaper than that!!) and round like my circles. I used the same size circle punch (1.5inches,) for my whole project. I used turquoise, purple, white, and threw in a few shiny zebra circles for fun and just started gluing away in concentric circles until the pan was covered.

So, there is out #3 challenge...onto #4, which will involve pumpkins!! Don't forget to check back next week to see them!

Scentsy Party!!

I know that I mentioned in my hot scented wax...really? post how skeptical of Scentsy I was, and how much I now liked it...well now my sister Hannah is having an online/book party...so please, take a chance on some hot scented wax and try a warmer or a plug in! Believe me, you will not be disappointed!
Just hit the link below, and on the left side you will see "buy from" and you click on Hannah Briner :)
https://christiescandles.scentsy.us/Scentsy/Home

Here are some of my favorites!


These are all my own opinions, Scentsy has not given me anything to act or say anything in their behalf. All of these photos are from the Scentsy website, and I do not claim to have taken them.