We started with pumpkin pancakes last night. This morning I whipped together my wolfy ears and tail while Adam carved our pumpkin. The most memorable jack-o-lantern from my childhood was one that my mother use the eye-cut outs to make ears and created a cat. I knew Lucy would love it too, and she does. We’ll roast our seeds later. Adam and Spencer are currently having their own pumpkin carving contest with two pumpkins they bought today.

In the afternoon we went to the mall trick-or-treat. It’s nice for little kids like Lucy because you don’t have to walk far and you don’t have to worry about the weather. I don’t think everyone caught on to our group theme. But we enjoyed ourselves. And we got Cold Stone coupons so I am a very happy woman.

Adam’s costume was a laugh. He kept complaining about how uncomfortable it is to wear a bra. I just kept thinking “you don’t have to tell me, bro!”

Lucy got a big kick out of my wolf costume. It’s super cute when she howls:

 

Actually, I’m quite pleased with it. Not bad for something I whipped up in a half hour

    

We stopped by a local, free haunted house after trick-or-treat. But were not impressed. We finished up the day with grilled cheese and spider web soup {and a pumpkin beer for me, yum}!

We also had a visit from “The Great Pumpkin.” He exchanged books for all of us in trade for Lucy’s candy. Adam got Under the Dome: A Novel by Stephen King. I got a book called Shiver (Wolves of Mercy Falls) . Spencer got a Dr. Horrible comic. And Lucy, who adores pumpkins, got Duck & Goose Find a Pumpkin .* It’s a tradition we’ve started based on Neil Gaiman’s suggestion, the common practice of having a candy exchange so kiddos don’t get too much sugar, and, of course, the Charlie Brown special.

Now we’re watching the Vincent Price classic, The Tingler {we’ve been watching scary movies all week}. We’ll watch Fire in the Sky after Lucy goes to sleep. All in all, it was a good day. How was your Halloween? What did you do?

*Those links take you to the product pages via my Amazon store. Just thought I’d say so in the interest of full disclosure.

Isn’t she cute? I made this costume myself {except the shirt, shoes, and tights}. And I think I’ll put her in a white shirt tomorrow {I didn’t have a white one for her until after these pictures were taken, at Madchen Studios of course}. Adam’s costume is ready except for one cosmetic product we still need to purchase. It’s possible that I have not yet started my costume. But I’m not telling.

 

Have I mentioned that I absolutely adore this kid? Because I do. Oh, I do!

What are your kids going as for Halloween?

I made you a gift {and by “you” I mean “fellow Nanowrimo participants}.

It’s 1280 x 800. Use it as your background. It’s awesome. Unless your desktop is littered with icons you don’t use but have been too lazy to delete.

But I wouldn’t know anything about that.

Enjoy!

{click to open full-size, then just right click and “save as”}

Starting Monday, November 1st Domestic Dork is celebrating “Bad Blogger Week” {which is something I totally just made up}. Bad Blogger Week is a week for me to catch up on long overdue reviews/giveaways. Sometimes life just slows me down…and then I feel embarrassed that I didn’t do what I mean to do earlier so I procrastinate a little more…and then it’s been so long that it’s just shameful, but not as shameful as not keeping my word. So, in the spirit of “better late than never” I will be cranking out posts this week.

Enjoy!

If you've been previously unable to access the voting for Lucy you can now message the contest host and tell her you'd like to vote for #44!

Thanks, Loree!

Lucy needs 110 votes to tie for first. Voting ends Sunday night at the stroke of twelve {Mountain time}. If you haven’t voted yet, please take a minute to do so. It’d mean a lot to me.

Instructions are here.

Facebook gave some people some trouble a while back, but hopefully it should be all good now.

So please help us out if you can! 110+ votes is totally doable! If my dorky, dust bunny army comes together Lucy could win this thing in a land slide. And hey, it’s way easier than driving to a polling place, waiting in line, and doing the usual sort of voting {though you won’t get an “I VOTED” sticker-sorry}.

 

Sorry it took so long to make good on my promise to show you my decorations. Man, being an adult requires errands, and work, and other busy-keeping stuff.

Did you deck your halls for Halloween?

PS: I'll add links to the tutorials I used to make my decorations later. I don't have time this morning.

EDITED TO ADD:

Ghost tutorial from Everyday is a Crafting Day

Banner tutorial and template is from Finding My Aloha {mine is paper instead of felt}.

My offspring is cute, super cute, especially in her Little Red Riding Hood costume {made by yours truly}. Check her out {as photographed by Madchen Studios}! She’s the last picture. And now, I apologize, but I gotta run because we have company over. I just wanted to share that link ASAP.

And after Halloween I’ll be sure to post more pictures of all of us in our costumes {me as the wolf, Uncle Spencer as the woodsman, and Adam as Granny}. It’s gonna be awesome.

Happy Thanksgiving…or Columbus’ Day to my State-side friends. :)

We had our big dinner yesterday and it was delicious. Lucy had her first taste of cheesecake {pumpkin flavored} and judging by the enthusiasm with which she requested more “cake! cake! cake! cake!” I think she liked it. I know I did. I also enjoyed the turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, mashed potatoes, asparagus, and rolls. Yum yum! The nice thing about being from the US and living in Canada is knowing I get to have Thanksgiving twice…what? You didn’t think I’d skip American Thanksgiving did you? Besides, 14 pounds of turkey {the smallest we could find} for 3.5 people {Adam, Spencer, myself, and Lucy} is way, WAY more than we can eat. So half that bird will be going straight into the freezer for November.

Today Adam is working on a project for his genetics class, and studying calculus {oh joy}. I’m going to see if I can’t finish Lucy’s Halloween costume. Like last year, we’ll be doing a family theme. But it’s a surprise until I’m ready to show you pictures.

Nanowrimo is fast approaching! I’ve got some basic ideas for my novel, and this year I’ve got a plan to make sure I’m able to finish. I’ve started getting up at 6:30 so I have time to get work done before Lucy wakes up. Right now I use that time for crafting, blogging, or whatnot…but it’s just practice for November. I didn’t want to be adjusting to a new routine during Nanowrimo so I decided to get a head start on my early mornings. After November I’m planning on sticking with the new wake-up time so I can continue to be more productive. If nothing else, it’s a chance to read uninterrupted.

And, just in case some of you are interested…

…I am halfway to my weight loss goal! Hooray! Only 15 more pounds to go. Believe it or not…by limiting my portions I even managed to come in on target with my calories yesterday. Spark People is really proving to be an invaluable resource {and it’s free}! The only downside is that none of my clothes fit anymore. I’m going to try taking them to a tailor to see what she can do for me. I’d like to avoid having to buy new clothes until I’m sure they won’t be too big a month later.

So that’s an update on what’s going on in the dorky household. And, just because I hate to do posts without pictures…here’s a random picture of Lucy:

Hope you all have been enjoying your holiday weekend!

I’ve been continuing to get a lot of comments from people who have trouble with the many different links I’ve tried posting.  I’m really sorry guys. This is Facebook’s fault, not yours, not mine. Facebook is just full of suck and fail. I’m really frustrated. Lucy winning this thing would be awesome, especially because the prize would more than pay for her birthday and Christmas presents. But the current lead baby has 68 votes followed closely by several babies with votes totalling 50+.

Lucy has 14 votes.

Boo to you, Facebook. <insert angry glare here>

If you wanna please help us out, and get Lucy to the lead before the month ends here’s the less convenient, but hopefully Facebook-being-crappy-proof way to do it:

1. Log into your Facebook account.
2. Search for “Special Deliveries Doula Services Medicine Hat, Alberta” in the search bar at the top of your home page.
3. Select the search result with the black and white photo of a newborn baby suspended in a sheer white fabric.
4. Like the group.
5. Go to the discussions tab and find “Cutest Baby #44” {because Lucy is losing she’s been bumped to the second page so you might have to click “see all topics” and navigate to page 2 to find her…unless someone else votes shortly before you do and moves her back to page 1}.
6. Stick around in the group at least until November 1st so your vote doesn’t get deleted.
7. Spread the word if you’d like to {retweeting this post would be awesome}.

Anyhow…a big THANK YOU to all of you who have tried, especially those of you who have tried again and again and again. I appreciate that you would go to that much trouble for me and my progeny.

Facebook | Special Deliveries Doula Service - Medicine Hat, Alberta

I've had a few people complain that the link in my previous post about voting for Lucy won't work {I suspect this is Facebook's fault...no surprises there}. If this describes you try the link above, perhaps it will work better.

Also, Lucy's dental work went well. Her teeth look beautiful and she's doing fine. We're going to have a low-key day of rest and relaxation today before we get back to the normal routine tomorrow. Thank you for your well wishes.

When I saw Jessica’s {from Craftily Ever After} Halloween version of the “Keep Calm and Carry On” poster I fell in love.  But…I wanted two {to go on either side of a mirror which I will show you later}. And I wanted the image to be slightly different. And I wanted one with the phrase her hubby had suggested. So I made these with some of the free stencils from Martha Stewart’s website:

Hopefully she doesn’t mind that I appropriated her genius idea. If you like these versions you can get the 8x10 versions for yourself below. And if you enjoy the download please consider taking a moment to vote for Lucy. She’s way, way behind. If the link doesn’t work for you let me know and I’ll tweet or e-mail you another. Also, if you like these be sure to check out and follow Jessica's blog since she's the one who inspired them.
To download images click the link, then right click image and “save as.”
I *think* I’m done decorating for Halloween {unless I decide I want to make any other last minute decor}. I’ll try to do a photo post or maybe a VLOG soon. But tomorrow my little girl is being put under general anaesthesia so she can have dental work done {apparently her teeth didn’t develop correctly and that’s why she has so many cavities}. I’m worried for her and trying not to think about it. Wish her luck!

I just wanted to show you all a little bit of what I’ve been working on {digitally at least, I don’t have pictures yet of my latest craft projects}:

 

Cute, no? It was made with a paid-for template from Free Digital Scrapbooking and a free fall kit from Shabby Princess. Last night I stocked up on some other digital goodies…I’m hoping to make some calendars so I got a few kits for putting them together. Here’s my test run:

It was made with a Christmas pack from Free Digital Scrapbooking and a calendar kit from Cottage Arts. The pictures are last year’s portraits from Madchen Studios. We’re getting new family pictures this month, so I’m totally stoked!

Finally is this work-in-progress {I’m waiting until Halloween to take pictures for it} made from another kit from Free Digital Scrapbooking and some other elements from elsewhere.

I like digital scrapbooking because I can do it even when Lucy sits in my lap…and because it’s about a zillion times cheaper than regular scrapping. I’ve used some purchased items here…but you can do a lot with just free downloads as well.

Do you scrap? Do you do the regular paper and glue style or digital or a mix of both?

Adam knows how to plan a fun surprise. Our super secret date was the Medicine Hat Beer Fest {something I wasn’t even aware existed}. It was super fun. We even lucked out and got extra tasting tickets when we were given our tasting mugs. We ended up buying 5 more towards the end of the night so we were able to sample 20 different beers:

• Alley Kat Brewery: Aprikat
• Artisan Ales: Charlevoix Vache Folle Imperial Stout
• Delancey Direct: Samuel Smith Organic Strawberry
• Epoch Imports: Nelson After Dark and Nelson Wild Honey
• Half Pints Brewing Company: Little Scrapper IPA
• McClelland Premium Imports: Stiegl Lager and Erdinger Weiss
• Molson: Granville Island Maple Cream
• Peter Mielzynski Agency: Innis and Gunn Highland Cask
• Premier Brands: Warsteiner Dunkel
• Pure Global Imports: St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout
• Purple Valley Imports: 1488 Blonde Ale {a whisky ale}
• River Valley Beverage Group: Witches’ Brew Golden Ale and Mississippi Mud
• Spider Beverage: Crabbies Ginger Beer and Banana Bread Beer
• Tree Brewing: Thirsty Beaver
• Yukon Brewers: Yukon Red and Discovery Ale

My favorites of the night were the Innis and Gunn Highland Cask {which is made in 21 year old oak scotch barrels, and had a caramel flavor}, the Witches’ Brew Golden Ale {which almost tasted like hard apple cider}, the Banana Bread Beer {which is made with a species of hops that taste like banana, rather than actual bananas}, and my number one pick {Adam’s too} was the Crabbies Ginger Beer. Holy hops, Batman! That was one yummy beer!

The good news is that all of the beers at the tasting are available at one of our favorite liquor stores here in town. We’ll definitely be buying some of that ginger beer {since we weren’t lucky enough to win the year worth of beer}. We also got some neat SWAG including playing cards and a bottle uncapper {which is somewhat different than a bottle opener} from one of our favorite brewing companies, Big Rock {local to Calgary}. We didn’t actually sample anything at their table last night because we had already tried all the flavors they had available. We also got a beer can chicken roaster from Rickard’s {another company whose beer we enjoy} that allows you to make beer can chicken without having to use canned beer. That’s good, because we don’t drink much canned beer. Oh, and we each got a cute little tasting mug of course.

Now, I didn’t know until right before we left where we were going. I just knew it was going to involve a lot of calories. So I had made sure to have a very light breakfast and a very light lunch. I was quite hungry by the time we left. And even though our 20 samples only added up to about 2 beers worth of alcohol, having such an empty stomach, and being such a light weight {apparently} I got a bit tipsy. I didn’t mind, as it was a mild buzz…but I did end up having to sit down and rest. The problem was that they didn’t make the food {appetizers really} available from the start, so I wasn’t able to eat while sampling. We ended up ducking out after having some appetizers and going to one of the eateries in the hotel {the tasting was held at the Medicine Hat Lodge} and splitting a sandwich. Then we tasted our last five beers. Uncle Spencer picked us up, as planned, just to be safe. We don’t take any chances with drinking and driving folks.

And that was the secrety secret of secretfullness. It was 100% pure brewed awesome.

Just a reminder that Lucy needs your votes. She’s falling way, way behind! But I just know that if my bloggy friends and followers take a minute to leave a vote for her she can take it in a landslide!

For weeks now, Adam has been plotting a secret date. I don’t know what it is. I just know it’s tonight, involves food, and that Uncle Spencer is going to babysit the kiddo. Speaking of the kiddo, please help me out and vote for Lucy in the cutest baby contest. She’s already falling behind. I’d appreciate it very much.

And now, gratuitous pictures because it’s Friday, and why not?

 

And the same picture with a more colourful, dreamy look. I’m not sure but I think I like this version better.

Happy October everybody! Have a great weekend!