HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Pre-Halloween ghoulish delights

The P family just loves Halloween!  It's a family affair and we go all out. Each year we have a pre-Halloween feast of GHOUL-ash the night before Halloween. {We order pizza the night of Halloween - it's quicker and easiery prior to putting on costumes and going trick-or-treating!} 

The table was set, the lights low, and ghoulish music was playing in the background. Yes, that's a severed hand.

Each P family member had name tags by their place. Lydia's said "Lydia from the Lagoon" and we had "Absolutely Freaky Arlene" and "Wicked Witch Wendy" and "Monsterly Mike." Bwah hah hahhhh! Don't you like the green glasses? They are apothacary jars.

The bow tie GHOULash looked sorta brainy, we thought. Mmmm, brains!

My minions, happily enjoying their pre-Halloween feast.

Tonight is trick-or-treating!  We bought a metric TON of candy. Our neighborhood is huge with lots of little kiddies and we've heard rumor that trick-or-treating is quote "insane" - we are ready and we are EXCITED!

A fair warning about a lot of rambling to come

I've been in a bit of a funk about this here blog. Well, I wouldn't necessarily say a funk, because it's not a bad feeling I have about A Couple More Hours, it's just, well, I've been ignoring this blog lately. I haven't been posting as much lately and when I do post I just don't think my posts are that noteworthy or great. Dull. Boring. Ho hum.

Last year, I participated in NaBloPoMo, which is a really fancy pants way of saying that I wrote a blog post every day during the month of November. {It stands for National Blog Posting Month and lots of bloggers participate.} There's a web site here. I really enjoyed last November. A lot of my friends participated too and I felt a sense of community through our blogs, a sense of connectedness. It was nice.

So I'm diving into it again this year. I'm going to write one post each day in November. Even weekends! And what can you expect from A Couple More Hours this NaBloPoMo?  How's about some stories and photos of our new house? I've been decorating it and it's lookin' gooood. How's about some stories about the girls?  Raising twin 7 year olds is a trip, I tell ya. How about some stories as a working mom?  Not the hot-button type of story debating who has it worse, moms working out of the house or in the house - I'm talking about just a story about how sometimes it's just draining being a mom, plain and simple. How's about some stories about family drama, about family members who cause troubles but think they do no wrong?  No?  You don't want to read about that?  Sure you do. I know you do. Well, I can't say for certain that I will write about that, but I want to. I want to dive into the depths and write about family member drama and how it affects me. Perhaps I will. You'll just have to wait and see. I plan on unpacking and setting up my craft room in November, so I'll be sharing with you that process. And I plan on making stuff in November, of getting back into the swing of things on the 'ol crafty bandwagon. I'll share my projects. I'll interview my kids or maybe even have them write their own blog post. They type stories onto the computer at school so they're up for the task. I'll interview my husband again. I did that last year and I got a chuckle out of it. I've been cooking a lot, which, to anyone that knows me, knows this is a S-H-O-C-K. I'm not a cooker. Not in the least. But, my new kitchen kicks ass and I loooove it. It inspires me to cook!  I hardly won't even let my husband cook anymore. And I surely won't let him unload the dishwasher; he puts things away wrong! How's about some stories about my job? Not specifics, because I don't talk about my job in specifics here, but how's about some stories about how my job inspires me? How it makes me happy and sometimes sad? How's about some stories about body image - about how I'm struggling with being happy with myself and projecting good body image thoughts onto the girls? That's the one thing that scares me the most about raising girls. We will discuss.

Yes, let's do this!  I'm ready. And you've been warned. My brother jokes with me that I go on and on and on and on and on sometimes with my blog posts. I admit, I do. I'm a bit of a rambler. But that's just how I write. A lot of it is stream of conscience. I've tried to keep this blog light and airy but there are topics I want to write about that are somewhat heavy and really honest, and, I want to write about them. I'm nervous to write about some stuff because I don't ever know who is ready this blog any given day, but I've decided that I don't care. You've been forewarned.

I also implore my readers to comment, if you agree or disagree with me or if you just want to say hi or whatever. In the hopes that more people will comment, I have disabled my old commenting system called 'Intense Debate' and I've reinstalled the Blogger commenting system. I think the Intense Debate system was a little cumbersome to some people. Doing so deleted all of my past comments. Bummer. But, oh well. Now, moving forward, you can comment at will, comment anonymously, whatever.

So. There. 30 posts in 30 days. Starts Tuesday, November 1. 

{If you're a blogger and you're also doing NaBloPoMo, please let me know. I am going to compile of list.}

Etsy Favorites Wednesday - Halloween, last one!

This week's Etsy Favorites Wednesday list is all Halloween-ish stuff. It's the last Halloweenie list of the year!

Zombie Gnome - hahahahaaaa! Check out the artist's other gnomes too!

Shoe wings!

Sugar skull coloring sheets

Pumpkin pattern - I'm making a few of these next year for sure.

Zombie magnets!

The most awesomely awesome Halloween house EVER

A friend of mine sent me the link to this video - it's been circulating through the internets because it's just so dang awesome. I about peed my pants at the 1:10 mark. I want to construct a talking pumpkin onto my house for next year!

Zombie Daddy and his undead girls

Zombie Daddy had a birthday this weekend and we went to a Halloween party.

Zombie Daddy is a distinguished zombie with his moustache!

Zombie Daddy and his undead girls.

Zombie daughter #1, Draculaura, daughter of Dracula, from Monster High

Zombie daughter #2, Frankie Stein, the daughter of Franken (also from Monster High)

Kiddies, be scared!  Zombie Daddy is going to get you!

Run, run!  He want to eat your brains!

Zombie Daddy had as much, if not more, fun than the kiddies dressing up!

Shop name/address brand awareness

My Etsy shop is called Two Stars and has been called Two Stars since I opened it in 2007. Until very recently, Etsy had a rule that your shop address had to be the same as your sign in name. When I signed up for Etsy I didn't know I'd have a shop called Two Stars, so my sign in name was "wendykayp" ... when I later opened my shop, my shop's address was/is "wendykayp." So, my shop's address is www.etsy.com/wendykayp/ or http://www.wendykayp.etsy.com/.

Well, now Etsy has changed the rules - you can change your shop's address to whatever you'd like, as long as the name isn't already taken. I'm not wanting to change my shop name, since it is and always has been Two Stars, I am just considering changing its web address.

I wanted to change it to 'twostars' but it's taken, of course. Wouldn't it have been cool to have http://www.twostars.etsy.com/ as my shop address?  Yes. {The person that has 'twostars' doesn't even have anything in their shop! Draaaaat!}

My branding of Two Stars as my shop is a work in progress. The tags I put on the back sides of my dolls have 'Two Stars' on them: 

My business cards also say Two Stars on them and have my shop address as 'wendykayp.'

If I change the shop address I can get new tags and new business cards. Not a big deal.

I want to create more sense of cohesion with my brand and my name ... but I don't know if it's entirely that big of a deal and/or if it would just cause confusion if I change my shop address?

I have a couple options and I'm looking for your opinion. These names are a variation of 'twostars' and are currently available:

• 2stars
• wendystwostars
• starstwo
• twinstars

Do you like any of those?  Should I change my address to one of those, or just keep it as it is? 

Etsy Favorite Wednesday - BOO

Hello readers. This is not Wendy because Wendy is not here. I am from the nether regions, the after life! Yes indeedy. Wendy is otherwise ... ummmm, detained. But I am here to deliver to you this week's Etsy Favorites Wednesday list. Joy.

Self portrait. Better keep your lights on tonight kiddies! But I will turn them off once you're asleep.

Wendy wants me to tell you that she really likes this doll. I don't care.I think it's ugly.

Another cutesy cute happy little ghost! Stupid.

Ghostly portrait. Ha ha yeah right. Fake.

Yes, you will have nightmares. You're welcome.

And as my parting gift to you, this:

Announcing the give-a-way winner!

Eight lovely ladies entered my give-a-way! 

I used the Random Generator and it picked ...

And the winner is .... 6!  Sarah! Who writes the blog A Random Sampling!  Congratulations Sarah!  Send me your address and my little housey-house is going to make its way up north to your house! 

Thank you to everyone who entered!

NaBloPoMo bloggers

Who's in?  Who's posting every day in November? These delightful bloggers are. Read them!

Grumbles and Grunts
Happy Hopefulls
Write Here Write Now
Athena Bees
Life with Ladies

My Etsy shop is open - and a GIVE-A-WAY!

My Etsy shop is FINALLY back open! 

I had closed it earlier this year while we were moving house. But now it's open, yay!! I've got dolls for sale, house pillows, stuffed bunnies, a stuffed fox and camper pillows. Lots of lovelies! I'll be adding more stock soon, once I get the rest of my craft room unpacked.

To celebrate the grand opening of my shop, I'm doing a give-a-way!  I'm giving away one of my handmade house pillows!

The house was made from a hand-carved linocut block. I stamped it onto fabric with heat-set permanent textile paint. I embellished it with little embroidered flowers.

It can be used for a pillow or as a decoration. It measures 12.5 inches by 6.5 inches and has a black spiral fabric on the back.

How to enter:

Leave a comment here on my blog. If I don't know you, be sure to leave your email address, or a link to your blog (or other online profile) where I can find your email address.

How you can get extra entries:

One additional entry:  link to my give-a-way from your Facebook page.

One additional entry: like my shop's Facebook page.

One additional entry: write a tweet about my contest with a link to this post.

{If you do any of the extras, be sure to let me know in your comment so that I can record it!}

Give-a-way contest ends Monday, October 17 at 7 p.m. when I will draw a winner randomly!

Don't forget to shop at the Two Stars Etsy Shop and good luck!

Etsy Favorites Wednesday - Halloween, again (duh)

Another Halloween Etsy Favorites Wednesday list - of course! I just love Halloween! AND I haven't told you that our neighborhood is THE MECCA of Halloween decorations! People are out-doing us - and we put up a lot of decorations!  We are actually going to go buy more. We cannot be outdone, no siree!  Anyway ... this week's list!!

Moustache on a stick - moustache and vampire teeth: win win.

HP tea cup - the grim!

Skull earrings - I'm digging the colors of these skulls.

Zombie - brains!

Skeleton clutch - I really love this.

My two dearest stars

A letter to my two dearest stars, my twins, Arlene and Lydia,

I cannot believe that you are seven years old. I mean really, stop growing up already! You're getting too old, you don't need me much anymore, sniff sniff!  Each year on your birthday I've written you a little letter and posted it upon this here blog. I'll probably stop doing so eventually, because at some point you'll probably ask me to stop writing about you on my blog. But, you haven't asked me to stop yet. This year, I'm really late with my letter - a whole week late! But, life's been pretty busy lately, and I wanted to have time to sit down and write you a letter that somewhat expresses my thoughts in a complete way. I didn't want to rush it.

First, in alphabetical order, my dearest Arlene,

You, my little one, are hilarious. Always the happy one, always the care fee one. You're a delightful little spirit, you are. I find your humor both hilarious and also a little maddening. You make people laugh at your no-nonsense take on things. For example, when we were moving into our new house, Daddy and Papa were moving in Daddy's big huge desk into his study. They were trying really hard not to scuff up our new floors, so they kept putting pieces of cardboard down where they'd be walking. They had to cut a couple pieces to fit into some spaces. After the desk was moved in the cardboard was going to be thrown away. You walked into the room, holding up a piece of cardboard and asked if you could have it. It was an oval shape. Papa asked you what you were going to make out of it, and you said, quite simply, "A taco." And we all howled with laughter. That's about the last thing we all expected you to say. Sure enough, you folded that oval in half and colored a taco, complete with meat, lettuce, cheese, tomatoes and sour cream. You're so creative. Your humor is also a big maddening at times, because you tend to be loose with your bodily functions, much to the laughter of your Daddy, much to the annoyance of me. Kid, you can fart on command. You've been able to do it since you were four years old. Your Daddy is so proud. You're momma's embarrassed. So you're sister, for the record. Your sense of style is quite catching for a seven year old. I like to take you shopping with me because you actually pick out some really good stuff, and if something doesn't look right, you tell me. When you and I were furniture shopping a couple weeks ago, we were looking for fabric to cover a chair. I was looking through one book of fabric, you were looking through another, and I and getting frustrated because I couldn't find anything I liked. You told me that you found a good fabric in your book, and my goodness, you did!  You found the most perfectly perfect fabric. We went ahead and purchased that fabric to cover our chair. Good choice!  You, my dear, are a little social butterfly. You talk all the time about your friends at school and we think you may be a bit of a ring leader. But what's awesome is that you have a good mix of shyness and leadership. You're not overbearing, you're just right. You step up when you want to, lead other kids in a fun game, and also play along with other's games. You're so full of energy. At least 30 million times a day I tell you to calm down because you're like a pinball, bouncing from one thing to the next, jumping up and down, feet in the air, hands in the air crazy pants dancing running running. Your energy is refreshing and also exhausting! You are a sweet, sweet soul and I'm so proud of you and so happy that you're my daughter. You're becoming a grown up little girl, full of ideas, full of your own style. Your a little cutie-patootie with your cool little glasses and your sassy little smile. Your creativity makes me so proud. I love you.

My dearest sweetheart Lydia,

You are the sweetest of girls, Lydia May. You are the happiest of happy, the sweetest of sweet, and nothing pleases me more than to see you open up presents. It's just awesome. At your birthday party, you'd start to rip open a gift, peek to see what it was, get a big huge grin on your face, run up to the person who got it for you, give them a big 'ol hug, then go back to the gift, open it all the way, exclaim how it was JUST WHAT YOU WANTED!! and then give the gift-giver another hug and a kiss too. You're so sweet and kind. You make people happy because you show genuine emotion. You give hugs like nobody's business and your favorite thing is to snuggle. You crawl up on your Grandma's lap and settle down for a good snuggle and we joke that you'll be trying to do that when you're 16 too! Your legs are so long you no longer fit on our laps but we make you fit because we all just love some Lydia snuggle time. You've got such a kind big heart, my child. You take great care of your sister and you look out for other people too. You love animals so, so much and I'm sorry that I won't let you get a dog. I know you'd be a great animal caretaker. Someday, I promise. For now you can surround yourself with all of your many stuffed animals and you can pet our neighbors' dogs to your little heart's content. You have such a carefree, easy going attitude. But it's not so carefree that you won't assert yourself. We love that. Pretty much all the time you'll go with the flow, go along with what we're doing, but if you don't want to do something, or don't want to eat something, you let us know in no uncertain terms, and we just have to let you have your way, well, because you're so emphatic and because you usually DO just go with the flow. When we were buying stuff for your room you wanted a owl pattern from Target and the rest was up to me. While your sister (ahem!) was quite insistent about having certain things and certain colors in her room, you told me all the time, "I don't care what you do Mommy!" and we went with it. Together we put together your room and it turned out so sweet, just like you. Your room is a mix of florals, a mix of pinks and oranges, owls, hearts, stuffed dogs and kitties, and an antique shelf full of stuff from my childhood, your grandma and great-grandma. Sometimes I think you're an old soul inside a little kid body, my little Lydia. Your Daddy and I trust you quite a bit - we always have. If there's something we want help with, you're the first person we call. And you help us with a smile, which is always nice. You're only one minute older than your sister but you're wiser and older acting, not in a boastful way, but in a good, older sister type of way. You take care of Arlene and you always will. You are a sweet, loving kid and I'm so proud of you and so happy that you're my daughter. I love you, Lydia.

Both of you are such treasures, such good little kids. You're polite and patient and kind. We've had quite a busy year, but you've gone with the flow, done what needed to be done, all with your smiling, happy happy happiness that just swells up our hearts. We moved out of our old house and into an apartment and you got to share a room with a bathroom attached and you thought that was just the coolest thing ever. You loved your room in that apartment. When we moved in with your Grandma you loved that too, all of that extra attention. You have positively flourished in the short time we've lived in our brand new house. You each have your own room! We weren't sure how that would go - but you both have embraced your rooms as your own, and you enjoy finally having your own space. You kiss each other goodnight each night and after we put you to bed and we retire to the family room downstairs, we can hear the pitter patter of your feet going back and forth from each other's rooms. You've made friends in the neighborhood - you're not shy to scooter down the street or drive your little Barbie car. You're just so stinking resilient! It's been so great, and very easy on your Daddy and I. We were worried about you starting a new school, learning a new routine. Silly us. You're old pros at it all! 

You are the greatest things to ever happen to your Daddy and I and each and every day we love you more and more. Keep growing, keep learning, keep loving and keep up the greatness that is you.

You're loved so very much!

If I had a couple more hours

If I had a couple more hours in my day, then I'd be able to soak in the tub under candlelight, reflect upon my day, and relax. Instead, I hastily wash my face right before bed, take a deep breath, and call that good enough. If I had even 15 more minutes in my day, then I'd be able to read more than 20 words of my Harry Potter book, taking in the story and immersing myself in the land of Hogwarts. Instead, I read 19 words, eyes half open, drifting asleep. I've had to re-read the last page of my book for five nights straight because what I am reading isn't really sinking in.

If I had a couple more hours in my day, when I sat down to do homework with the girls, I'd have patience. I'd patiently sit and listen to them sound out words in their books, finger pointing at each word, little brains running quickly on trying to figure out what sound 'ow' makes and learning words like 'skate' and 'evening' and 'behind', instead, I only half listen to what they are reading, my mind racing, thinking of the million other things I should be doing at that particular moment.

If I had a couple more hours in my day, I'd be able to finish settin' up the house. While I want to be finished right now at the same time I also want to take my time. I want to take my time and put things up on the walls exactly where they should go, exactly where I'd want to look at them for years to come.

If I had a couple more hours in my day, I'd utilize my brand spankin' new kitchen to its fullest, bringing out the Betty Crocker cookbook, finding the perfectly complex recipe to figure out how to make for dinner. And dinner would be served not in haste, but in three-course fashion, complete with the fancy paper napkins and the nice silverware. Instead, we've eaten out two times this week so far and had hotdogs on paper plates the night we were home. If I had a couple more hours in my day I'd have time to sit down, make some popcorn in my new air popper, and enjoy some moments of complete mind-is-blank-let's-enjoy-the-show movie time with my husband. Instead, we watch about 20 minutes of TV before becoming too tired to even keep our eyes open.

If I had a couple more hours in my day, then I'd be able to write a blog post about my girls turning seven. Problem is, I want to get photos of them to accompany that post, and I haven't even had a chance to snap any photos of them, so I'm waiting. The post will come soon. Until then, I'll write this post about how crazy life's been.

If I had a couple more hours in my day then I'd be able to find our winter coats, which are hidden in one of the 1,857,343 boxes in our basement. I packed our house and apartment in such gleeful haste that I didn't label any of the boxes. At the time I was just shoving things in to the brim, taping it shut, and off it went to storage. Well, now it's kinda hard to figure out what is what. There's a few mysterious things missing ... our coats and also I know I have a box of sweaters somewhere, and a box of scarves, not winter scarves but fancy scarves that I can wear on crispy fall days. I'm also missing a bunch of bathroom stuff, the stuff I know I packed away thinking I wouldn't need for awhile, but now I'm wanting that light purple eye shadow and can't find it. Soon, soon. I'll have time to go into the basement and open up all of the boxes, figure out what is what, and label.

If I had a couple more hours in my day then I'd be able to force my kids to relax, to take a breather, to watch My Little Pony, cozy on the couch in PJs with their woobies. My kids haven't watched TV in the longest time! They need relaxation time. They're tired and while they're trying very hard not to be crabby, they're getting crabby, and our patience is thin and therefore we are all snapping at one another and throwing each other glares. Everyone could use a good, long nap.

If I had a couple more hours in my day then I'd go to Home Depot like I've been meaning to for the last two weeks and buy one of the big huge orange mums they have out in front of their store, and I'd plop that mum on my front porch, then take pictures of it because I know it'd be just the prettiest fall picture.

* * *

I don't have a couple more hours in my day. And while it's tiring, while it's exhausting, I wouldn't change a thing. I know relaxation time will come soon enough. I know this flow will soon be replaced by an ebb and I'll be wishing the days would go by quicker. I'll be bored, wishing for something to do. I know we'll settle down soon, the kids will be fully rested, we'll catch up on reading and movies. We'll eat bigger and better meals.

We absolutely and completely love our new house and while the last two weeks of unpacking and settling in have been super crazy, they've also been the happiest in our lives. I still cannot believe that we are in our new house, that the house is ours, that we've got our own place, a place to call our home. I still cannot believe that we made it home.

So, life's nuts right now. But, life is life and life is full. Life is grand and life is flowing full force but will soon settle back down to the lazy, comfy routines that we're used to.

Etsy Favorites Wednesday - it's October!!!

It's October! It's October! It's October! 

I love October.

I love Halloween.

Here are this week's Etsy picks!

Metal Bat - my porch needs to be adored with this bat. 

Jack postcard - Eeeee! I SO BADLY want to get out my lino blocks and MAKE STUFF!

Spider doily - I have commissioned my mom to crochet up a similar spidery doily for me.

Pumpkin wall stickers - Would look lovely in my home!

Halloween Owl - this little guy is precious!