[150] A Week (more like two) In Review

On Labor Day, I rode up to DFW with my dad and baby sister. We were meeting up with my sister (and her little family) to pick up our mom from the airport. She's been in the Philippines for the last three months and was on her way home. We arrived at the airport an hour before her flight was scheduled to land. Three and a half hours later... we find out she had a 15 hour layover in Tokyo and wouldn't be in until Tuesday morning. I made the mistake of staying up ALL NIGHT LONG so I could nap to and from DFW. (Bad idea!) To cure all the crankiness, we stopped for lunch at Chili's before heading back to Wichita Falls.

Later in the week, a friend of mine sent me this with the message, "Quick! Before your mother finds you a zombie!" Hahaha! I'm about 102% sure I have found a non-serial killer. Success!

A cold front rolled in... rolled out... then rolled back in and brought some rain.

With the rain, came a few wrecks. As I was coming home from my parents house, I noticed a bunch of sheriff's were pulling onto my street. I took the other entrance to my street only to find this car parked in our driveway. After a few mumbles and grumbles I decided to carefully pull into my driveway (by jumping the curb).

While staring at the unfortunate accident of this Sheriff's vehicle (who happens to work with a friend of mine... small town!)... Mackenzey and I hear the impact of two vehicles. Unsure of what caused this particular wreck, I decided to go take a look. Their airbags had deployed and it was obvious their car was totaled. All we could do was look and think to ourselves, what sort of distraction caused this wreck? It's unfortunate that this happened on such a bad weather day, but it seems as if they made it out okay. Possibly a little upset at the situation but they're both alive.

Everything was cleared out before I had to be at work at 3pm, but it certainly is entertaining living on right off of a very busy street.

[149] Crafts: Handmade Halloween Accessories

Halloween is creeping up! I'm looking forward to browsing through all the decorations popping up in stores all over town. AND throwing a Halloween party at some point. I shared this on another blog last year and figured it was time to share it again for any crafty readers out there. ;)

Do you dress up for Halloween? What will you dress up as this year?!
I'm planning on being Robin Hood. :)

Homemade Halloween costume hair clips: Pichu Ears

If you're on a budget around Halloween (whether you're saving up for Christmas time or you just flat out don't have the income to throw money at a full costume) making homemade costume pieces is a budget friendly way to celebrate without setting yourself back $50.

Want to know how to make your own Halloween accessory hair clips?

Materials Needed:

• Printed image for reference (optional)
• Scissors
• Ultra Fine Point Sharpie
• Ruler
• Craft felt: 1 sheet in black and yellow is more than enough.
• Needle
• Yellow (or white) thread
• Cotton balls
• Hair clips (These no-slip grip clips are nice and sturdy.)

Start out by sketching the shape of Pichu's ears.

The black felt ears measures:

• 2.5" from the top point to the bottom edge
• 2" wide (point to point)
• 2" from top point to side point
• 1" from side point to bottom edge

The yellow felt ears measures:

• 1.5" from the top points to the bottom edge
• 1¾" wide (point to point)
• 1¼" from top point to side point
• ¾" from side point to bottom edge

Begin assembling your ears. Layer, yellow-black-yellow, and sew them together, leaving the bottom edge open for cotton stuffing. You should be able to fit 1 jumbo cotton ball in each ear. The extra piece of yellow felt will be used to close up the bottom while also providing a flat surface for the hair clip to be sewn to.

When choosing a pair of hair clips to sew your ears to, try to match your hair color as close as possible. And you're done! You can use this tutorial to make a variety of different creature ears.

[148] Moving on up!

I moved out of my parents house! I have been on the hunt for a place to live for the entire summer (since becoming employed). The one thing that kept me from moving into an apartment was the mere fact that I'd be paying $550-700 for a one bedroom. (That would leave me with very little money every month.) I really got lucky with this. I'm living with two girls. They're sisters and we grew up in the same neighborhood just a few streets away from each other. A couple of lovely ladies, if I do say so myself.

Plenty of PROS with moving. I went from driving 11 miles to work, down to 1 mile to work. (Gas prices have gone back to being outrageous!) I used to live on the north side of the city, away from every thing. Now I'll be closer to plenty of the places I visit on a regular basis. Not to mention, being able to sleep in a little bit longer and only having to leave 10 minutes before work instead of 20-30 minutes. I'm living with the one person that has been the only 'constant' in my life since moving back home. I truly love that.

Moving back home is hard. You grow apart from people, whether you like it or not. You can make comments here and there on social networks, but the truth is that people become distant. I'm in better contact with people I met playing World of Warcraft than I am with people I've known my entire life! It's sad, sure! But hey! People go through changes and that's just how life is. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I'm just pointing a few things out. Just call me Madam Observant.

Anyway. I'm back to unpacking boxes once again, and I'm excited to decorate another living space. (With tons of natural light pouring in my windows!)

I'm going to enjoy this entire experience the best I absolutely can. :)