Halloween!

I absolutely love this time of year. There's snow on the mountains, there's a chill in the air, the leaves are falling, it's hunting season, and it's time for Halloween! And for the first time, I actually get to host a Halloween costume party. I'm so excited! The party is this Saturday night and there's SO much to do between now and then!

Thanks to Martha Stewart's website, I've found a bunch of great ideas for decorations, snacks, and drinks. I don't necessarily like the lady, but you've got to hand it to her, she's pretty crafty. Some of her stuff takes a rediculous amount of time, energy, and resources that I simply don't have, but once you sift through the fancy stuff, you can find some easy and cheap goodies.

Here's some of the ideas I've found:

• Print out back images of rats, cut them out, and tape them on the walls where they meet the floors to look like rats are running through the house. (templates courtesy of Martha Stewart)
• Print out mini black images of bats, cut them out, tape them to the inside of a lamp shade.
• Carmel apples
• Freeze water in a surgical glove and use that as the ice in the punch
• Cut the tops off of small pumpkins, clean them out, put candles in them and place them on the front steps of the house as lanterns.
• Shred cheese cloth and hang it from the windows to look like old curtains.
• Cover all the furnature with white sheets to make the house look abandoned.

Those that know me best know that I am kind of obsessive about making lists. Before starting any project, I always list out the things that I need to do (clean the house, mop the floor, wash the dog, dust, do dishes, etc). I absolutely love being able to cross things off the list as I get them done. Then, if I have accomplished things on my list and am going to be leaving the list for a while, I re-write the list out, sans the things I've already done, so I have a neat and tidy list to come back to. Yeah, it's weird, I know. But it's the ONLY way I remember the zillions of things I need to get done.

Needless to say, I have a big ol' list of things I need to acquire/accomplish before the party. Thankfully, I have a couple of friends who have graciously volunteered to help decorate on Saturday before the party, since Nathan is unfortunately going to be at a Beav's game in Corvallis with his dad for the weekend. I'm already starting to whittle away at my list as much as possible. Tomorrow, Dana and I are heading to Boise to get our costumes, since Baker is woefully devoid of Halloween costumes. I'm planning on being Marilyn Monroe ala "Some Like It Hot". The blonde hair, the white dress, the red lips, the works. Dana hasn't quite decided what she wants to be yet, so it will be fun to help her pick out some costumes to try on!

I'm super excited about having this party at our house. It's the first actual theme party that we've had since our Housewarming Party in March, and I absolutely LOVE finding excuses to host big parties. I think I get it from my parents...I know for a fact that I got my "the more the merrier" mentality from them. And I just happened to have the weekend before Halloween off.

On top of the having the party, I'm also thoroughly tickled about having all weekend (Fri-Sun) off without having to travel anywhere. I have every other weekend off, and for the past 3 months or so, I have been traveling every single weekend I've had off. I've missed being able to go to the high school football games, hang out with my friends, spend time with my husband, etc. Even more exciting is the fact that the only time I plan on traveling in the next few months is the night before and day of Thanksgiving. Yay for staying home!

Oh, and I just have to say again how excited and thankful I am for the blessing of Carly and Shem's new daughter, Stella. It was a hard labor followed by a c section, but both Mama and baby are healthy and beautiful!

That's about it for now.