If you need any Halloween costumes...

http://anothertiredmommy.blogspot.com/2011/11/i-love-to-get-deal.html

"Prewarding:" The Newest Thing at Our House

So I told you already that Ryan wanted to go as "fun" for Halloween, but "fun" changed each time we went somewhere.After she was "fun," she was (what she refferred to as) a "ghost bride." She wore a green and pink (BRIGHT green and BRIGHT pink) striped shirt, a pair of Addison's jeans (ie-two sizes too small) and an old sleeveless bridal costume that she got for her birthday two years ago. I seriously need to learn how to post pictures so you can witness her wardrobe! I also need to post their Halloween...creations...so that you can witness for yourself Addison's Batman/Snow White masterpiece or Brayden's Spiderman/Cinderella debacle. At least they are creative... We were pretty booked last weekend, which I liked. I love taking my kids AWAY from my house. Maybe it's because they fight at home. Maybe it's because they make messes. Maybe it's because I see ELEVEN loads of laundry and a food-covered floor that I simply refuse to clean staring back at me. Whatever the reason, my kids go out--A LOT! The Saturday before Halloween was a prime example. Addison's very best friend from school (and her mom) told us that our mall was having trick or treating on Saturday morning and a local glass-blowing museum (which is set up like the most adorable small town) was doing the same on Sunday. "Fun," 'Beauty" and Karate Guy ( before they "created" costumes, they decided to wear the costumes as they were intended--except for Ryan (who was "Fun"). Addison wore an old Belle costume and Brayden wore his Gi (Karate robe), tied a red rope around his head and called himself a ninja.) decked themselves out in their costume--ON THEIR OWN I might add-- to head out in the freezing monsoon that enveloped our town. I shouldn't complain about the weather--everyone else seemed to be fighting "Snowtoberfest--" we were lucky by comparison! We rushed from the mall to basketball practice with a pit-stop home to "lose" "Fun" and "Beauty." While at basketball, another friend called to remind me that her church was having a Halloween party-trunk-or-treat chili cookoff and they would love for us to come. VERY exciting. THEN ANOTHER friend (this story is making me look MUCH more popular than I am...) called to see if we wanted to go trick-or-treating with them at Walmart at four. Hmmm. As I was trying to figure out the logisitics, Brayden and I stopped at Shop Rite to find pumpkins. They were out, but luckily THEY were having trick or treating, so thirty dollars (and one excited boy with his own bag of candy that his sisters did not get) later (cider, donuts, pretzels, chicken...) we headed to a different store. I already complained about the price of the pumpkins in one of my last posts, so let's move ahead to when we got home. The girls were "counting" all of their candy from the mall. Brayden joined them and I attempted to fill my husband in on all of the events we may or may not be attending. Unfortunately, my children cannot be alone together for more than five minutes without fighting. As the arguments ensued, I found myself saying to my husband (seconds after I decided Walmart would be too much), "Maybe we SHOULD go to Walmart. If we stay here they are probably going to get in trouble and we may not even BE ABLE to go to the church party tonight..." I was lost in the thought when I noticed the look on my husband's face. "What?" "WHAT?! We are going to "preward" them now? Let them do something fun BECAUSE they are children who get in trouble so to prevent them from misbehaving we are going to take them somewhere fun?!" "When you put it THAT way..." I laughed. "And really," he continued, "how many times are they going trick-or-treating? WE went trick or treating ONE TIME when we were kids. Once. Brayden has already been TWICE, they all are going tonight AND tomorrow, AND IT ISN'T EVEN HALLOWEEN YET!" He makes a valid (if not uncharacteristically LOUD) point. When did this happen to me?

WHAT a Bargain!

I LOVE to get a deal. I am one of those people who will spend HUNDREDS to say that she SAVED hundreds (or even fifty!). Back when I used to buy clothes for myself that A. didn't have an elastic waist or B. weren't made of old sweat pants, I can remember returning home with my purchases and leading with, "Guess how much I SAVED today..." My husband--who would pay double for YOUR old sweat pants if it meant saving HIM a trip to the store--would just assume we not buy anything. EVER.

Since that simply isn't reasonable, I try to get as many things on sale as possible and to make my purchases serve at least two purposes. For example, my daughter's birthday is in July...we need new pool toys and the first day of school is coming. She gets a raft, a dolphin water- basketball game, some diving rings, crayons, pencils, notebooks, glue and paint. The school supplies were purchased at the beginning of the LAST school year and the pool toys have been hiding since last Christmas. I also have a Christmas Barbie that has been hiding since last year's sale She is THRILLED. So am I. My husband? Not so much, but that man won't be happy until we operate on a barter system, so it's fine.

I stopped by Target yesterday to pick up...huh. I don't even REMEMBER what I intended to pick up at Target yesterday because I was pulled in by the 50% off sign on the Halloween stuff. I have a theory that all holidays need to be celebrated the week AFTER the holiday. I'm not saying we should ignore it [the holiday] completely, but the exchanging of the gifts and maybe even some of the decorating can wait. Nothing sickens me more (yes, I'm sure you can think of SOMETHING that would sicken me MORE, but don't) than seeing something I paid good money for on the clearance rack for pennies. That is why I try not to purchase anything just before a holiday...I either buy it months (maybe weeks) in advance, or (preferably) after the holiday.

Take Halloween for instance. When my children were younger (I know--at almost 5, 6 and 7, they are STILL young!), my mother decided that SHE wanted to but their Halloween costumes each year. Of course, that was when I only had ONE and that lasted...two years. I think it was an unfair situation--we were shopping together and saw the cutest monkey costume at Old Navy. I'm of the mind that if a costume is over $10, I don't want it. It's simply the principle that annoys me. My mother on the other hand felt that my son HAD to have the costume. We almost threw down at Old Navy, when she took it to the register and paid for it. In retrospect, I am SO glad that she did. All three children have worn the monkey suit and my son's nickname was monkey, so it fit (so to speak). Even when it didn't... My daughter was a chick another year and she was precious! The only problem was that the costume was so soft--SO SOFT that everyone would touch her. She wasn't the biggest fan of THAT. My neighbor gave us the most adorable witch costume the following year and there was a ladybug from my parents in there somewhere...These costumes served us well from Virginia to Montana--and my children never minded sharing or being the same thing two years in a row. They did, however, grow, so we needed to pass on our goods to others who would appreciate them.

I was in Walgreen's a few days after Halloween about three years ago and I saw that their costumes were 75% off the last sale price. SEVENTY-FIVE PERCENT OFF. I couldn't BELIEVE it and I couldn't resist. A previously marked down Batman costume (a REALLY nice costume) which was originally SIXTY DOLLARS (who pays that really?!), I bought for almost ten. A flower child costume, I got for a dollar fifty. A vampire? five dollars. I wasn't sure how I was going to justify buying all of these costumes when my husband saw them, but I kept stocking up on them. Mermaid? Three fifty. Princess? A buck and a quarter.

As I was ferociously searching through these costumes, I realized how perfect this was. My children LOVE to dress up. EVERY DAY. Why wouldn't I buy them costumes AFTER Halloween? They get a ton of costumes and I am all set for next year. THEN an even BETTER idea came to me. WE celebrate St. Nicholas's Day, (December...5th?! 4th?!) and the Feast of the Three Kings (January 5th?! 6th?!) and St. Nicholas usually leaves fruit, candy (usually left over Halloween candy!) [sometimes] nuts and a little present for each child and the kings usually leave gifts. THIS year, St. Nicholas would be bringing them each a costume! THEN on Christmas, he (this time as Santa!) will bring them ANOTHER costume and the three kings will bring another. THEN (if I can wait that long!) the Easter Bunny will get on board with this whole costume thing, too!

 That plan worked for that year--and my kids LOVED it! The following year, I waited too long to get to the stores. I was there at 50%, but decided to hold out for 75. Too greedy. By the time I went back, everything was gone. I would NOT make the same mistake THIS year! When I saw the 50% off signs, I was like a madwoman. I must have had fifty costumes at one point and even I saw the absurdity of THAT. Not for FIFTY percent off. Seventy-five, maybe...

 We now have a fire fighter, Iron Man, two Transformers, Frankenstein, The mushroom-top guy from Mario Kart, a Storm trooper (or something new that may not actually BE a Storm Trooper), three light sabres (ALSO fifty percent off!)--I couldn't let only one child have one, a "midnight" fairy, a cheerleader, a cowgirl, an Eskimo girl, a little devil, a princess, a butterfly, a purple wig and a pink wig with leotards that match--all for $100. Why WOULDN'T I buy them?! (My HUSBAND--I know!)















THIS Halloween, my children wore costumes that they already had. They went trick-or-treating THREE times (four if you count Brayden's trip with me to Shop Rite) and wore a different costume to each event. I was not able to do my costume thing last year, so these were costumes that were either given to them by others or were worn by them for other things (dance recitals, karate, etc) and I am very impressed with what they did with them. If I had purchased a costume for each of them at the regular price, I would have spent at least sixty dollars. Now for a hundred, I have costumes done and gifts ready. You may even get one for your child on his birthday--be careful what you say! THIS makes me very happy. My husband? Let's just say that THIS makes ME very happy...

Trick or Treat...

Halloween. I know that some people wait for it all year and decorate their homes like the seasonal aisle at Walmart and I LOVE participating in their fun--I do. I love going to OTHER people's houses to look at their decorations and even to help if they need me to. For us, the only decorations we've been known to have are the overgrown weeds in our garden and the white-trash trash that accrues in our yard (TOASTER OVENS, for example...). We usually carve a few pumpkins, though this year we almost missed THAT. Luckily, there was a place that still had them--ONE place that still had them--and THEY were only charging six bucks a pumpkin. SIX BUCKS A PUMPKIN. Eighteen dollars later, I head home, knowing there is NO WAY we will be carving them until mid-November. They are FROZEN. We probably won't even carve them at all--goodbye eighteen dollars. My Halloween moms are cringing right now. How could I wait so long for the Halloween experience? My friend Laura starts getting ready in August. How COOL for her kids! I LOVE looking at the photos of all the fun she and her friends have getting ready for and enjoying Halloween. My friend Marcia always gets a pumpkin the size of Texas and generally hands out beer and hot dogs along with the sweet treats. THAT is something I can get on board with--SOMEONE ELSE providing the fun FOR my family. My friend Cathy seriously owns enough Halloween stuff to open up her own Spirit of Halloween store. I'm serious--if they made it, she has it and no words can really describe her Halloween...menagerie...? Their houses are like Halloween wonderlands and I love driving by with my kids or bringing up facebook photos to show them. Only now they say, "Why don't WE ever have fun things like that at OUR house?!" Because YOUR mommy is lazy--shut up, kid! I feel like I should adopt my children out during this time of year--just so they can have the experience of living with someone fun and organized for an amazing and exciting Halloween experience. You know--someone who actually DECORATES, does gift bags, makes orange and black baked goods, serves eyeballs and worms...someone who is not me. I don't know what my problem is really. I seem to be able to make an effort for Christmas, but that's all I have in me. One holiday. I would claim Easter as well, but I'm lucky if I throw a bunny or an egg on the window and we tend to use our palms from Palm Sunday to decorate. And by decorate, I mean throw strips of pulled-apart palm leaves around the floor. Happy Easter! Currently, my children can be distracted by and are mainly concerned with the candy of course, but that is because they don't know what they are missing. Eventually they will find out that I am a dud. Eventually they will learn that they can have candy AND fun. Hopefully by then they will be old enough to run it for me.

I KNOW what fun is!

Well, I started a different blog about my mother and her disdain for my recent topics (it seems she DOESN'T want me to discuss my family drama with all of her friends she so kindly asked to view my blog (SO NICE of her, I know!). Who knew that the big "D" was so upsetting to so many people? Okay...I did. Though I was trying to help myself and others--I swear!

Anyway...I will post THAT later. My daughter Ryan just came downstairs with her Halloween costume on--she created it herself and she is QUITE pleased.
 "I'm going as "fun" for Halloween!" she boasted, wearing red and purple flowered stretch pants (that end at her knee), a black and orange jack-o-lantern tutu and a black, gray and pink shirt with an enormous pink, purple,teal-colored butterfly-eagle that has the word "Fubu" worked into the design with a layer of gray tutu and a layer of pink tutu at the bottom (though the sleeves reach just past her elbow, which leads me to believe the pants and shirt belong to Addison).
 "What?"
"Fun. Don't you know what "FUN" is? I guess not," she snidely remarked.
Nice.