Halloween: Part Two

The trick-or-treaters started EARLY. Like 5:20 early. They heard it was supposed to pour later so they wanted to get going. It was non-stop getting up and down to get the door and eating dinner took an hour to do. Some of the good costumes this year were a milk carton (BIG!), credit cards (one had aeroplan miles, LOL!), chickens, pumpkins, and one little girl that announced that she was a 'forest fairy!', not to be confused with the run of the mill garden fairy, or bog fairy, LOL. Oh and one kid was a toilet...kind of ironic there, but more on that in a bit.

So at 8:30 pm now, we've had 146 kids. Our candy is starting to run on short supply now, so whoever rings next might just get the rest of it. Lots of people have liked the decorations (and here's me thinking I didn't go as all out as I could have this year!) and lots of kids have said it was scary (some little girls even screamed - but not in a scarred-for-the-rest-of-your-life way).

One kid pointed at the spider on my head and said to her dad, 'Mommy! She has a 'pider on her head!' to which her dad said, 'Yes she does! But I'm your daddy not your mommy!' and I laughed and said, 'And you're not even in a costume!'. Ahahahahaa....funny at the time, doesn't translate so well to blog-speak. There was another kid (about 10 years old) who asked me, 'why do you have a spider on your head?' and I replied, 'why do you have a bandana on yours?'. Take that silly question! (I almost wanted to reply with a 'because it's a costume retard!' but I didn't go there, might have had a smackdown with a parent there...)

Here are the photos of the spooooooooky house!
This is the MarthaMartha spider egg area, not too bad looking for all the effort I might say.This is my BOO! Pumpkin. The little skull on the exclamation point looks more like a tooth for some reason.This is Trevor's skull pumpkin. I love it!This is my gimpy spider one...some of those legs got a little skinny!This is the 'clockwork pumpkin'. Originally a skull that Trevor did gone wrong. Creepy.And this is my favorite photo, the front of the house!

Getting back to the toilet business now. We had a nice little trick instead of a treat today. Trevor says that he's a crap monster for halloween because the toilet decided to leak and he was the one who got to examine it. Well, after it leaking on to the ceiling in the living room this morning, we've discovered that the dimwitted little plumber who put the toilet in didn't get the wax ring to seal properly. It's been slowly leaking for who knows how long. The subfloor is all soaked and swollen, which might need to be ripped up and replaced, and of course, we have no ensuite toilet now! Hurrah! Add this to the mantle coming off the wall and all the other reno's and storage locker decor we have in this house it really feels like everything is starting to fall apart. We know these things come in 3's so we're waiting to see what's going to go next. My bets are on an appliance.

Halloween: Part One

Well the prep is done. We were a lot slower at getting things in gear (decor-wise) this year, doesn't help when your house is in shambles. But the outside is finished:
The candy bowl is full (and I mean FULL):
And yours truly is decked out to scare the kiddies. Spider Queen here we come:

I'm going to be an auntie!!!

Meet my little nephew, he's 19 weeks old! My sister is having a BABY!!! We'll call him 'Little Man' for now.
Uncle Trevor and I can't wait to meet you in March (or April if you're late)! We'll do crafts (not explosive ones), learn photoshop, play with the kitties, and draw funny pictures of your daddy with a big goatee. I think you'll have a LOT of dark hair and maybe some blue eyes (and have some longgggg legs!).

Martha gets ugly

Friday night was designated as 'crafty fun night' here, as I had watched a MarthaMartha episode showing one of the coolest Halloween decorations...a glowing spider egg! Here's what it was SUPPOSED to look like:

And here's what really happened:
Two eggs did work out, many did not. And one exploded all over the place. In my eyes, on my clothes, in my hair, on the ceiling, on the blinds, on the cat, on Trevor (shirt, back of head), on chairs, on the couch, on my computer, on the printer, on the table, on the chairs, on the cupboards, on a basket, on boxes, on the floor, on the walls, on picture frames, on books, on containers, on lights, on faucets, on the counter, on the paper shredder, on cords, on plants... And I'm still finding places where it's gone. What a mess. But I didn't learn. On Sunday I really wanted at least one more egg that would work, and it happened AGAIN. And again with the clothes (but I wore an apron, smart!), walls, table, computer, cupboards... Then I gave up. There will only be two eggs this year.

I still need to whip up the decor outside as well. I think I might do that later today. I've got some lights and spiders to put up and the pumpkins will be carved tomorrow night. We're still working on clearing a path from the front door to the living room, and clearing stuff around the door so we can open it (big task).

Woe is mantle.

Yes, I know there hasn't been a blog update in a few days. Blame Telus. A port in Fort Langley went down for almost three days, leaving me in an internet-less void for a while, which was a pain. But, I'm back up and running, and why yes, here are some juicy updates:
Our mantle is gone. Gone gone. (For Trevor specifically: 'gone gone gone she's been gone so long she's been gone gone gone so long' - bonus points for anyone who can identify who sings that line.) It's a sad state of affairs around this house now, with the clutter and the reno dust still swirling around...and now this. The mantle had been sagging for a year or so, with Trevor sometimes cocking (yes, I just wrote that...MUAHAHAHAHA) his head and checking on it with a 'yup, it's moving' declaration. Well two days ago it really moved, enough that there were worries of it falling off and taking out whatever it landed on below. And we don't want any squashed or maimed kitties in this house (ditto for dvds, tvs, tables, etc.). So we sadly snapped it off the wall. It was only attached with a few blobs of glue and TWO nails. TWO! Retards who put that up need a smack up the side of the head (which I will volunteer to administer). *sigh* So yet another thing gets added to the list. This is one thing that has me really miffed, so much so that I want it fixed, and fixed soon.

I also got all 'culinary goddess' in the kitchen today and made creme caramel from scratch for dessert tonight, which turned out well...but not so well for the glass ramekins. I put them in a metal water-filled pan when I cooked them (should have been glass, perhaps?), which caused every single one to crack on the bottom. So bye bye six ramekins. Tasty dessert = all new kitchen wares. Whoops!
And why not throw in a thumb update? You'll all be glad to know that I'm going naked with it every day now. Except at night, I have a phobia about catching it on a blanket in my sleep so I wrap it up and polysporin the crap out of it. It doesn't hurt any more, but it sure isn't pretty to look at. It looks all gimped to me and I wish I had my normal pretty thumb back. One of the really weird feelings I have with it is from the nerve damage, and I either can't feel parts of it, or it feels pin-prickly. Plus it's shedding a lot of skin (yes, I know, too much information), and still doesn't bend right. But I'm slowly trying to use it a little more every day and make sure it heals fast.

A potpourri of sentences.

There's not much new here, it's been a busy week with work and installing our projects at Surrey high schools. We went on a Pro-D day so we didn't have to be in the way of teachers and students (believe me, it's a hassle to install stuff with everyone around, and the questions and comments). It's not a fun part of the job, but boy does it feel good when it's over...which it's not. With the house in such disarray we managed to misplace two items: a set of keys and some window vinyl. So I'm back over to the schools on Monday to drop off keys to one and install some vinyl in the other. Fingers crossed that the teacher chefs don't use that opportunity to complain about something, I just want to be in and out.

This weekend is going to be spent (well, what's left of it) trying to make some sense and room in this house. It's very out of control at the moment and needs a good clean, purge and sort. I think we'll make some good progress tomorrow. Trevor wants to see if he can start to move my office downstairs by Monday, and it might just happen! Buh bye kitchen table!

We also picked up our pumpkins today and bought these 'ghost' pumpkins that are white! Cool! So we've got four in total, two white and two orange. I want to do a spider theme this year as well, but we'll see how crafty I get.

Coughing, cleaning, working, burning

This sums up the weekend quite nicely. I've got bronchitis (annoying coughing, all the time) which slowed me down on the weekend. I was tired a lot, but coughed my way through it. I've told Trevor I'm going to have an 8-pack stomach by the time I'm finished coughing. I'll be able to crush cans with that stomach. LOL!

We worked on our upcoming install at two Surrey high schools this Friday for their cafeterias, so it was a lot of hands-on labour in the garage, me laminating graphics while Trevor did all the cutting and assembly for signage and locked notice boards. We make everything inhouse, so it's a lot of work to put all of the materials together. We'll be glad when we're done.

The garden was prepared for winter as well. We did some overall cleanup and pruned and trimmed back things. I put in some winter pansies and bulbs for the spring (fancy tulips!). I mowed the lawn...well, more like cursed and yelled at our lame lawnmower. It is time for a new one. The one we have is an electric model (probably circa 1985), is an ugly orange colour and can't suck up grass trimmings if it's life depended on it. I think I could do a better job getting down on all fours and chomping at the grass myself. It has a hard time going through thicker parts of grass (it gets stuck completely and you just hear it whirring down and then CLUNK, doesn't go at all), and when you get to either a sidewalk or flatter area of grass it makes this coughing noise and spits out all the grass that it didn't suck into it's bag (which is all of it). I did our backyard grass, our front lawn, and our neighbour's lawn (although they probably wish I didn't) and the bag was 1/8th full. Trevor says it has a 'mulching' feature, which I say is BS, we need a new lawnmower. Most of the time it's a gong show when I mow the lawn anyways, tripping over the cord, smashing into things, swearing...you get the picture. I'm probably the neighbourhood entertainment.

But, my crappy mowing was one-uppped by Trevor, who did the winter fertilizer, AND who probably burned all of our backyard grass in the process. There are little white mountains out there right now, and if you close your eyes and listen you can hear the slow sizzle of grass. At least the front yard will be okay, it's only got 1/4 of the bag on it. (It's quite funny because it's usually me who messes up the grass and burns it. ha haaaaaa!)

TV moving and other confrontations

Well, we moved and mounted the giganto tv to the wall a night ago. What a big job. (And for only two people.) Me with my nine fingers and Trevor with his 'moving theories' (ie. "lift it like this!", "turn at this point", "easyyyyy, easyyyyyy"). It was an awkward thing to lift and take down two flights of stairs between two people with a 6" (or more) height difference, which translates into arm and finger length differences. Which means that I like to do things my way (or the 'shortie' way) and Trevor likes to do things his way ('bossy-tallie' way). Wait...did I put 'bossy' in there...whoops!

In most moving situations we know that we move things together horribly. He gives me instructions that I interpret differently than what he means. This either results in a tiff between the two of us, or most times, hysterical and uncontrollable laughing. One move comes to mind with the latter, when we moved a loveseat upstairs and had to lift it high enough to clear the hand rail and half wall. Throw in uncontrollable laughing and an 80lb couch on two arms above your head and you have a long move ahead of you.

With the mega TV, there was the added pressure of this thing being expensive, and if we dropped it, it would be very, very bad. So with that in mind, Trevor went into über moving commander, and me into noble hero soldier mode (of course, this is MY blog and I can make this story whatever I want, ha ha!). But, I'm not the best at taking orders most of the time, so I felt like I was being bossed around, and that my concerns (ie. short arms, short fingers, thumb out of comission) we not being addressed. I was trying to do things that worked for me, but didn't work for him. You can see the dilemma.

But after much huffing and puffing the TV made it downstairs and on the wall. And at the end of it we made peace by watching 30 minutes of a movie and oooo-ing and ahhh-ing at the tv. Although, I still have fears of hearing the mega TV snap off it's wall mount and crash to the floor. For some reason I can't believe that a metal bracket it holding that thing up.

Le sectional

Here's a photo of the sectional (well, couch version in the photo) that should arrive before Christmas. Many movie nights will be spent here!

Merry Thumbsgiving!

First, a weekend review, and then on to the thumb photo op (beware those who are easily creeped out). The long weekend was good, Trevor got tons of flooring done and I believe we're about 2 feet away from finishing the main floor area (stairs may be a bit longer). It's starting to look livable down there now, and I'm starting to get excited about the 'decor' part of it all. I've had some new thoughts on the furniture I want in my office and I'm scouring ebay for some good buys. It's almost like a sport! I think once the moulding gets put in and the low voltage stuff is finished I'll be moving my office down there. For now it's still kitchen table central.

We also did some cleaning up around here this weekend, for our sanity and to make room for the tv delivery that comes today. There was also a Home Depot trip as well, for some gloves, which ended up turning into gloves, low voltage supplies, winter pansies (necessity!), a window washing kit (which is more of a necessity...even when the sun shines in here it's like it's overcast outside), bone meal (planting bulbs!) and winter fertilizer. Home Depot is a dangerous place.

And now for the thumb update (cue that music that Kermit the Frog has when he's reporting on Sesame Street!):
Here's the day 17 picture - scroll down!

































I'm getting tired of the giant thumb bandage, but I'm having a hard time figuring out what I'm supposed to replace it with. I can't find a band-aid big enough, and if I just do some tape and a pad it will catch on things and fall off. I need something that won't get it dirty, and will have enough padding that if I smack into something it won't catch, rip off or hurt. Hmmm, dilemma. So until I figure it out, the giant tampon stays. But it's starting to look better. Still creepy, but it doesn't hurt anywhere near as much as it used to. Update over!!!

The Trevorlossus will be open for business soon...

Last night we went and looked at Visions for a tv again, and they were having a sale. This time around, we sucked it up and actually bought one. We're pretty excited about it, it's a 52" LCD (52"!!! Go big or go home!). I think it's going to be fab for movies, and the guy at the store showed us how you can put a flash drive in the side and see your photos and listen to music right on the tv, very cool! Talk about some motivation to get the flooring done -- it's being delivered on Tuesday. Movie night anyone?

Wait, scratch that. Unless you want to watch movies on a bare laminate floor. We looked into ordering a couch for downstairs and were told that we needed to order it by October 12 to get it by Christmas. CHRISTMAS!!! We might be snuggling up on the floor with some pillows and blankets for a while. BYOP or BYOB (pillow, blanket).

Starting early on my halloween costume.

So cleaning and wrapping the frankenthumb last night went okay. Gentle...veryyy gentle. And using q-tips dipped in lukewarm salt water (thanks mom!), and lots of polysporin. (Which at one point, don't ask me why, I was questioning if I had bought the right stuff and not the type of cream you put on hemorrhoids, but that's preparation H.) I also wish I had the same tool that the hospital has for putting gauze on because I've managed to make my thumb bigger, not smaller. At least I'll have a lot of time to perfect my wrapping technique, and perhaps look the part for Halloween.

Speaking of which, we went to Costco last night and Trevor got his passport photo done (oh I could have taken the high road but I chose not too!!!). Let's put it this way, does anyone know the Talking Heads song that has the line: 'Psycho killer, que'st que c'est...', well that's what came to mind when I saw his photo. We also looked at Halloween candy, debating the cost per piece and what to give out this year. On average, we get 130-180 trick-or-treaters and we usually just load up on bags of candy and hope we don't run out. Seeing as we usually do an eyeball test of having enough candy to make it through the night (we have a giant bowl, and if it's not at a certain level, we know we're not going to make it), but this year I want to go at it a little more mathmatically.

For example, in previous years we've had to buy 10 bags of chocolate candy (say 20 pieces a bag at $3 each) and another 3 bags of gum, suckers and other hard candies (maybe 50 pieces at $5 a bag), which averages out, with 150 kids on that night, to almost 2-3 pieces of candy per kid. And costing just over $50 for the night (with tax), and that's being conservative. $50 is a nice dinner and a movie, 3-4 bags of groceries, a hydro bill, two dvd movies...you see my point. I'm not out to be the crappy house on the block that gives out raisins, but I'd like to trim those costs and still give out good candy.

So getting back to Costco, we were able to find things in the regular candy aisle that are individually wrapped, and are cool! Things like candy necklaces (.10 each), gummy foods (pizzas, fries, burgers, .06 each), mini sour skittles (.05 each!) were some of the highlights. And they come in mega-huge packages for $6-7 each with 100-200 pieces in each one. So we're going to treat smarter this year and keep some of our hard-earned cash (thumb gauze doesn't grow on trees)! I'll update closer to Halloween so you can see how we did.

WARNING: If you don't want to see what a finger plus exacto blade equals, then don't scroll down to the picture!

So I took the gauze off for the first time at home to clean the frankenthumb up a bit and change the gauze. Not nice and not pretty. If you're not good with gory things, then really, don't scroll down.


























Seriously now! Turn back!









































Well, there it is. I had a hard time looking at it to begin with, it was really upsetting, but I have to realize that I'm the one in charge of this frankenthumb and making it better. Wow, are gauze and band-aids going to be on this thing forever or what?

Who wants to join the pity party?

Here's a few updates:

Thumb update: Still sucking. It's all sore and stabby feeling today. Motrin super strength count is at 1 so far. I have to change the gauze and all that loveliness tonight and I really don't want to look at it. Trevor? Help? (LOL!!! Maybe if I want him to puke.)

House update: Cluttered. Dirty. A mess. Although Trevor broke down some boxes this morning before work and suddenly the family room has two extra square feet of carpet. Wait...there were tools underneath those boxes. Scratch that, one square foot.

Reno update: Ongoing. Laminate flooring is going down (pretty!). Trevor has almost finished my whole office/closet area and will soon be trekking on to the hallway. We have positive thinking that the flooring will be done this weekend. (Except the bathroom.) We're going to take one night this week to go to Home Depot to order doors (and avoid going there on the weekend when all the DIY 'tards come out).

Garden update: Soaked. Overgrown. I have bulbs I need to plant and have to figure out how to do it with one hand, and the other in a plastic bag. In the front yard.

I found this picture of a crazy cake that I think symbolizes everything that's going on here at the moment and would be perfect for the pity party:It kind of looks freaky-deaky-licious.

Today sucked and sucked hard.

Well, the stitches are out. There was one that was put in a bit tight and it really hurt when the nurse managed to snip it out (took a few minutes too). Having that sort of sharp pain in the same area really brought back some not so good memories, and I think that didn't help. At one point my hand was shaking and I guess I wasn't looking so hot, the nurse asked if I needed to put my head down. I also didn't like what I saw when it was unwrapped. I have half a nail left (diagonal, how chic) and it looks horrible. And there's no feeling in the thumb tip where I sliced it, which was really creepy and not so nice.

The other annoying thing is that I still have a tampon thumb! For some reason I figured I would have something much more streamlined and small to deal with. So I'm still not able to get it wet, or really use it so I'm plastic bagging it in the shower still. I hate that. And I have to change the gauze every two days so I get to look at (and clean up, blegh!) my gross thumb.

So seeing as I felt sorry for myself most of the morning, I did some errands afterwards and picked up a few things.
I found some lovelyyy lemon cream lotion (for the hand of course). It smells like you're putting lemon glaze on yourself. mmmm...Oh and I saw this as well, for the hand again.
And then I bought out most of the gauze section. (I realize now that I've forgotten absorbent pads. SIGH.)