Tinkerbell + Peter Pan.

Happy Halloween. 

I knew I wanted to make Tate’s costume this year… I’ll take it while she’s letting me.  She was mildly obsessed with Tinkerbell for months so it was a great choice.  Finn had originally chosen Captain America, but at the last minute when we were joking around about Peter Pan and Tink being a fun costume combination, he asked if I would make him one.  I kind of feel like he is the best big brother in the entire universe to do this just because Tate was excited about it.  We still have his {store-bought} Captain costume, I figured he’d wear that one to school and Peter Pan for trick or treating with Tate, but it turns out, he’s loving it.  

Both were really really easy to do, but they look a lot harder than they are.  You can easily purchase the hat for Peter Pan if you don’t sew {or have a patient mother in law who does!} and the little capelet can just be cut out raw fleece.  The kids LOVE the costumes and I can see them being used in the dress up box for ages after Halloween.  I am completely in love with how they turned out.  Everywhere they’ve worn them, people have told us how much they like them.

 

 

For Finn’s DIY Peter Pan costume:

• t-shirt that was two sizes larger than his normal dyed with apple green RIT, cut one line down at the neck to make the V-neck, then V’s out of the bottom and the arms
• a long sleeved brown t-shirt underneath 
• brown belt
• light grey skinny jeans dyed with apple green RIT
• brown boots
• green hat made from fleece with a red felt feather

For Tate’s DIY Tinkerbell costume:

• capelet made out of green fleece with the edges scalloped a bit to look like a leaf, slit cut in the back to make room for the Tinkerbell wings
• head piece was just two leaves cut out of green fleece and sewn together, it has velcro to close around Tink’s famous topknot hairstyle
• fairy wings found at Target for $2 in the kids party section
• white tank dress from Hobby Lobby dyed RIT kelly green
• yellow leggings dyed kelly green
• white shoes from Hobby Lobby dyed RIT kelly green, topped with 3” white puffs found in the kid’s crafts

  

 

 

Meme’s Sloppy Joes.

My grandma Meme has a few dishes that over the last 89 years she has perfected.  No one can do them like she does and she doesn’t have a recipe for any of them.  I have called her often and to ask for the recipe for her Beef Stew and her Lasagna.  I’ve watched her do the Thanksgiving stuffing for the last four years and I still manage to screw it up.  I can usually keep up with her pinches of this's and handful of that’s but it makes my cousin’s wife and my sister crazy because they are recipe followers. 

I always forget about the Sloppy Joes because she still makes them often enough herself that I rarely need to.  It’s so easy to throw them in a crockpot to cook half a day so people can eat when they’re around… a must in a family with six children, six grand children, and six great-grand children, and that isn’t counting spouses.  I’ve made them for parties, they’re great for college football Saturdays, and it’s a great main dish recipe for those pot-luck functions.  They are fantastic for leftovers the next day and you can also freeze them if you are so inclined, go ahead and make a double batch. 

Dave asked me to make them this weekend so I did, and I took dinner over to Meme too.  A little payback for all of those years of her making them for us.  A couple months ago, I also painstakingly tasted and tested the right amount of ingredients to have a written recipe for my sister and Amanda so they can make them too.  Now, we enjoy them without any onions or peppers in them, but if you’re so inclined, you could throw in 1/4 - 1/2 cup or so of each, just sauté them after you sauté the ground beef.  Our family will tell you that they’re perfect as they are, but to each their own.

Meme’s Sloppy Joes Recipe

• 1 lb ground beef
• 15 oz can tomato sauce
• 3 TB brown sugar
• 1 Tb Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1 TB balsamic vinegar
• Seasoning: garlic powder, onion powder, seasoned salt

First, you will sauté the ground beef, seasoning with garlic powder, onion powder, and seasoned salt.  {You could also just use black pepper and salt if that is what you have on hand.}  Break it apart as it’s cooking with the side of the spatula so it makes smaller crumbles.  I usually use a lower fat beef so I don’t have to drain it, but if you use a higher fat content, drain off any excess fat.  If you are making these in the crock pot, turn it on low, you can put the ground beef in after it is thoroughly cooked.  You can also just leave it in the sauté pan if you don’t want to mess with the crock pot.  If you do that, turn the burner to low.

While the ground beef is cooking, throw a can of tomato sauce, 3 tablespoons of brown sugar, 1 tablespoon each of Worcestershire sauce and balsamic vinegar, and a quarter cup of ketchup into a sauce pan and heat, stirring until everything is blended together and the sugar has melted completely into the sauce.  Allow to simmer for about five minutes and then pour it over the cooked ground beef. 

Let it simmer on the stove or in the crockpot for 10 – 20 minutes and serve.  You can also leave them for hours warming on low in the crockpot, you really can’t mess these up and I think they taste fantastic with a little more time cooking.  Coleslaw and potato chips make super easy side dishes!

I’ll Be The Squeaky Wheel.

My first grader, he likes to fit in.  He is very bright and typically well mannered, he has a cute sense of humor, an older soul than his six years, and is a very people pleasing kid.  Instead of feeling slighted, he is the first to say, “that’s OK,” when something doesn’t go his way… except with his sister, of course.

I, at thirty-seven, on the other hand, am at peace with not being liked by everyone.  Do I like it when someone can’t stand me, or want to be disliked?  Uh, no.  But let’s face it, sometimes it happens.  I realize that life is way too short to spend much time worried about someone not liking me, there are people who just won’t.  I pretty much say what is on my mind whether that makes me popular or not.  If you’ve been reading So Wonderful, So Marvelous for any length of time, you probably already know this.  My outspoken self is probably a direct result of being raised by someone who has always taught her daughters to be themselves and to open your mouth when something isn’t right. 

You don’t participate in something that you think is wrong, whatever ‘right or wrong’ might be in your eyes.  You don’t sit idly by and let someone get belittled or harmed.  You stick up for yourself and for others.  You open your mouth and say that it’s not alright to make racist, misogynistic, or bigoted comments or to put someone down when it happens in front of you.  You say out loud when something is hurtful or just bullshit.

Even when it seems like everyone else thinks it’s fine.

I would venture a guess that a lot of people struggle with times when their moral compass is facing a different direction than others.  It’s hard to do sometimes.  You are afraid of repercussion, of retaliation, of being the oddball, of being disliked, of being the pejorative complainer.

So instead, you shut up.  You go ahead and ignore that knot in your stomach signaling that maybe something isn’t OK.  Maybe you kick yourself later, wishing you had said something.

I get it because I’ve done it. 

It is sometimes harder for me to be the outspoken one as a parent.  I find myself checking my comments when I think someone is behaving like an idiot.  I put little things aside because in the grand scheme, they aren’t worth rocking the boat.  I weigh the fallout on my kids for voicing my opinion.  But I also know in my head where that limit is.  Some things are just not OK, even if it seems like everyone else is going along with it. 

And then you have to explain to them that, yes, Johnny’s parents think it’s ok to do that and it’s their prerogative for their family, but no, your mom and dad don’t think it is ok.  You have to teach them because you are the parent, it’s your job. 

I have no doubt that this is only going to get harder as they get older.

My friend just did this when two of her boys were asked to play in an exhibition football game at an NFL stadium.  It was a special thing, their teammates were excited and she wanted to say yes.  The only caveat, she and her husband decided a long time ago as a family there are no sports, work, or other activities on Sunday.  For them, it’s church time and a family day with no exception.  When we were talking a little later, she said that sometimes it’s hard feeling like the weird ones for sticking with it, but that she knows it’s the right decision for their family.  She doesn’t at all feel like other families are wrong for choosing something different, yet it’s still difficult when other people don’t afford them the same understanding. 

She and I are very different, yet as parents, we both identify with what that moment is like to be the dissenting opinion and do what you think is best for your child.

Last year, they announced that if the school met their fundraising goal, the top fundraiser in each class would be able to silly string some administrators.  Administrators who would be duct taped to the flagpole in front of the school.   Which?  Was NOT at all ok with Dave or with me.  Finn was the third highest fundraiser in the school, so he was picked for his class.  The silly string was fine, the ushering of an entire school outside to crowd around to watch two people get duct taped to a flagpole while the kids took turns with the silly string, wasn’t.  Not even a little bit.  It didn’t matter that they were adults or that they were doing it willingly.  It didn’t matter that other parents had come up with this reward and thought it was fun.  So, as a very new kindergarten parent, I marched my happy ass into the school and talked to someone about it.   I was told that they would just ‘downplay’ the duct taping by using brightly colored tape, but that they wouldn’t take it out completely.  “It’s fun because it’s pink!”  At that moment, my head wanted to explode and I even contemplated pulling those funds he had raised until someone gently reminded me about what a difference that money makes for the kids at his school.  Instead, with his teacher and his principal’s ok, I picked him up early.   I also got the added bonus of explaining to my five year old why it is never ok to use duct tape on another human being EVER and why his mom and dad did not want him to participate.

Hey guess what?  I’m also the parent that thinks these dumbasses who duct tape a kid and post it on Facebook in the name of a joke should be in trouble.  I’ll just be the person over here thinking you all have lost your damn minds and you can think I’m over-reacting.  I’m good with that.

Recently, we had something else come up that Dave and I both felt as strongly about.  He is my measure, that husband of mine, his calm balances my loudness and liberal compulsion to right the world’s injustices.  We talked about how to handle it, I talked to other parents who were also understandably upset, some who felt that there would likely be problems if they said something, and decided that ultimately this was one of those cases that fell under the ‘this is really not OK’ umbrella.  The situation was clarified and taken care of, but I’m sure the person involved is pissed that we said anything at all.  I have to be alright with that and so does our son, whether he completely understands why or not.

Until he does, I’ll be his squeaky wheel.

Halloween Crafts: DIY Eyeball Lights.

Homemade Halloween decorations are the best, bonus points if they are easy and they look great.  These DIY Halloween eyeball lights are just that, you can make these as scary or as silly as you want.  It’s such a simple project that even non-crafty people can do.  I made these for our Hotel Transylvania outdoor movie night, but they would be perfect for a party for Halloween.  The best part, when Halloween is over, just gently pull them off the string of lights and save them to re-use next year.    

All you need:

• A string of lights.  {I used icicle Christmas lights because we had them, but any strand of lights will do.}
• Sharpie markers.  {Red, black, + any other colors you like for the eyeballs.}
• Plain white ping pong balls.  {As many as you’d like to make, we used about 20 for ours.}
• X-acto knife.

I spent probably an hour and a half drawing the eyeballs on the ping pong balls.  Try to use vibrant colors, so they show up well.  The metallic color Sharpies also turned out really fun on these. 

 

Once you get your eyeballs done, you’ll use your x-acto to cut an X into the back of the ping pong ball.  Then, gently push the light on to the ping pong ball.