Handmade Halloween - the squid edition

**Updated! My son's costume won a dubious (yet loving) award at SFGate's The Poop. Check it out!

Halloween is my holiday. I can do without the hard boiled eggs at Easter, the roasted turkey at Thanksgiving and the figgy pudding at Christmas... but give me orange and black and pumpkin decorations and I am a happy girl. From October 1 -31 I am in a mad dash to get it all in - the pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin waffles, pumpkin patches, fall festivals, apple picking... the whole thing. It is like I am a manic fall freak for 31 days a year and then I calm down and go back to normal.

This year my son wanted to be a red squid. He decided on this after taking this picture of one at the California Academy of Sciences.

I loved the idea of making this costume and my head was spinning with ideas. I could have gone the whole "cut up a sweatshirt" route, but I knew I could do better than that. So I started searching around on flickr and came across this amazing costume.

                                                    (Photo courtesy of Lucy Lou via flickr)

My son took one look at this and said, "That's it!" Great! (Pause) Now how do I make it?

I searched around and found the original creator's blog and posted a comment about what an amazing costume it was and did she have any advice on how to recreate it? She never replied and maybe that was for the best because I was left to figure it out on my own. Sometimes the best results come from just winging it. By studying the photos on flickr, I could see the construction of the costume and went to work. I drew my pattern pieces on brown paper grocery bags and tinkered with the size of the squid head. I made a mock up with some leftover red felt that was passed on to me from a friend. After sewing it together, I kept thinking it looked sort of off, maybe a little strange. I took a few steps back from the table and it hit me, my squid head looked  phallic. Oh dear. So I ripped it all out and tried it again two more times and on the third try I hit pay dirt and stuffed that squid head with batting.

Knowing my son wouldn't wear it if it were made out of scratchy felt I ordered soft pink and red fleece online. I attached the head to the the rest of the body of the squid which was made by tracing one of his hoody sweatshirts onto the fleece fabric for the arms and body. I then then lined the inside of the tentacles and arms with pink fleece and sewed it together like a traditional shirt. And a Halloween costume would not be complete without the use of a glue gun so I attached the suction cups onto the tentacles and viola...a squid was born.

In honor of Lucy and Nora (the squid creator extraordinaire), my son happily posed just like Lucy did in her squid costume. Thank you to the both of you for such great inspiration. We will likely never meet in person, but you inspired us and we thank you for it.

SAHM Chronicles: Mommy's Little Helper

I wish I could say that mommy's little helper was an episode of Caillou or a cold glass of Contadino sparkling Pinot Grigio (side note, if you have not tried this delight in a bottle, get thee to Trader Joe's right away!). But sadly the item that gets the most play in my dinners is this

I buy it at Costco and without a doubt it is the most used condiment in my everyday cooking. There are so many great things about this bouillon - it's organic, it comes in a tidy glass jar that can be recycled as opposed to boxes of stock that cannot, and best of all?  You measure out one teaspoon per one cup of water which means that my 16 oz jar yields 96 cups worth of stock. I mean what is not to love*?

*This post was not paid for by the Better than Bouillon folks. Just raving is all I am doing.

SAHM Chronicles: Babysitting swap

It took my friend about four hours to process that I was going to be home for the next 6 - 8 weeks before she suggested a weekly babysitting swap. We did our first swap today where she took my daughter for three hours while I went to the paint store (lofty plans to paint the interior trim of our house while I am on leave) and did a few other errands that are tough to do with a two year old in tow. But the most indulgent part of those three hours? Buying these two magazines

SAHM Chronicles: Home again, Home again jiggety jog

Last week my day job disappeared in an instant. My mother in law, our primary caregiver for our children, broke her leg and was unable to care for the kids. After a quick discussion with the spouse, I signed up for emergency family medical leave with my work and am now a full time mom for the next six to eight weeks while she recuperates. At first I had reservations about this designation and was apprehensive about how it would all play out. But after spending my first work free day with my daughter while my son is at school, I am hooked. We walked around the Academy of Sciences (waving hello to their infamous brownies), shared carrots and edamame, watched the jellyfish and inspected some plants on our way out of there. I had time to really *be* with her and it was an eye opener how much little time I get with my kids on the weekends.

I know everyday won't be all sunshine and rainbows with her, but today I fell in love with my children all over again. Color me smitten. Hopefully this blog will get some much needed attention, too! Because you know I'll have all this free time now. ;)