Halloween!

Well I finished her peacock costume. She was adorable of course and more than one person told her that she was getting extra candy because she was just so cute. She got the hang of it very quickly, started knocking on doors and waiting, but if she felt they took too long, she'd walk away. She really wanted to just run around.

Here is the costume in progress: (You've seen the skirt and the onesie, but I'll put them all together as a reminder.)

The onesie I decided to use.

Close up of the skirt.

Supplies for the tights.

This is what it looks like right at the start, very foamy.

During the rinse cycle.

All done.

 Ta da! Front and back are basically the same.

So cute!

Golly gee I love her!

Knock knock! Ha ha!

Dirty Dishes

We live in a townhome that really isn't that great, hence we are breaking our lease and will be out in a week, but after all this time I finally figured out how to get our dishes clean in our 30 year old dishwasher.

In Maryland (at least here) you can't have the sprayer on your sink as the dishwasher back flows into the sink and overflows there if the sink is clogged (like ours was with tree roots a few months ago) so that the dirty water doesn't go back on the dishes.

No matter how much rinsing we'd do ahead of time, no matter how it was run, no matter that the sink was clean and the disposal run, the dishes would still come out dirty, or with this film of dust all over them.

Then I decided to clean out my disposal with baking soda and vinegar, then I ran the dishes, spotless.

I did it again, just to be sure, this time not rinsing the baking soda and vinegar down, just letting it sit until the dishwasher took over, even cleaner.

Regardless of what the code is here (I'm sure this isn't up to code anyway) the dirty water goes back onto the dishes. The only way to get clean ones (after 9 months of hit and miss) is by doing this first.

Sucks to "waste" that much baking soda and vinegar, but it's only a few more days, and at least I'll have clean dishes without a ton of extra work finally.

Cake Mix Cookies

I had a problem making cookies for fall the other day. I tried this recipe and it positively sucked. They were too sticky for anything, even with added flour and they really didn't taste that good. I followed the recipe exactly too, which is rare for me. So they just suck.

So instead, I made cake mix cookies! Most recipes use light mix, vanilla or whatever. We only keep chocolate in the house and so that is what I used. They are divine. I even had Chris take some to work. I made the first batch and they were so good I knew I'd need more, so I made more.

The smaller lighter ones are the first batch and they are Pillsbury Devil's Food. The darker ones are Betty Crocker Dark Chocolate Fudge.

I added pecans and chocolate chips to the Devils Food and Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chips to the Dark Chocolate Fudge.

I had one pan of fudge randomly burn, so ended up with less than I wanted. I say randomly because all the others in the oven at the same time were fine. 

Recipe is the same for both except the additions and I added bit of water in the Devil's food as it was too dry and crumbly to work at first.

1 tsp. baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 box cake mix

Plus whatever you wanna add

Pumpkin Art

It took Mady forever to pick out the pumpkin she wanted. She kept pushing potential choices away saying, "no, no". She chose a small one that my husband didn't want to carve since its a pain in the butt, so today I took a sharpy and drew Mickey on for her. He turned out really well and I hope he stays. I only had a sharpy, as kids we used paint markers, but I don't have any right now.

My good sharpy started to run out so his ears are done with a generic one, which I'm less sure will stay once he is outside.

Art by Mady

I got this idea off pinterest of course. You put the paper, paint and whatever else inside a ziplock bag and tape it down on the table so the child can paint all day without making a mess and without it drying out.

Next time I will use a two gallon bag as it was hard to get the paper in, but then it was even harder to get it out. The paper is weakened by the paint and wants to rip and since it sticks I had to put my fingers on it to get it out.

All ready to go. I added doilies for interest. 

Taped down to her table as a surprise after her nap.

I showed her how to use keys and other things to make different lines.

All done hanging on the fridge. 

PS I think in an earlier post about bath paints I said I was going to try a different recipe? I did, and they were terrible. The first one, shaving cream and food coloring was great. The second one baby shampoo, corn starch and food coloring was no good. They didn't cover as well and they made the tub so slippery that she almost did a face first fall onto the edge of the tub. Never again.

They do have a consistency that is interesting floating in the water. That can be a tabletop science project later on.

Halloween Cards

I quick drew these out and I mean quick as Mady was trying to get them from me, and coloring over me and my pen was dying. Then Mady with orange and green crayons colored them for me. She didn't have a huge interest after she actually had permission, so they aren't as colored as I was hoping, but still cute.

We will send some to family and friends and probably one with an overseas care package.

Tie dyed Onesies

I needed to dye a onesie to go with Mady's peacock tutu for Halloween, but you get so much dye and I didn't want to waste it that I colored a few extras, some too small for her. 

Here is a solid navy blue one. I wish I'd done this in the teal, rather than the one that is too small for her.  I think I might add a "pearl" necklace to it.

One of the choices for the costume.

I think this is the one though cause of more teal.

These are all too small for her, but who knows maybe we will have another kid.

Close up of the tutu with the felt feathers.