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Purging and Costumes

May 8th, 2013 at 05:36 pm

**First off, the 4th graders are doing a Pinoeer day this month. Send me your frugal, "make do with what you have" costume ideas, PLEASE! Big Grin I saw a local rental place for $15, but I decided that is ridiculous. I am sure worst case I can put something together for $15 (that younger child can eventually use). But I doubt we need to spend that much.

This is the year of costume. I already bought a beret earlier in the year for my little "Picasso."

**Around the same time, LM has to be a little pig. (I swear, we have never been asked to bring a costume for anything before - good grief).

Supposedly I am a very creative person (the tests say so), but it doesn't come out in an artistic creative way. I just feel so "DUH..." But I perused very briefly online and quickly came up with very many ideas. How did we survive before the internet?

Anyway, how cute is this?!?



I am so NOT artistic, but I think I can figure it out. & if not, dh can. {It just looks so simple, but so cute}.

I also stumbled onto hot pink construction paper in my decluttering efforts, and LM approved.

I had no idea I had any construction paper, so am making a mental note that we need to find a place to store all things craft for when things like this come up.

**The theme is definitely "costume." A local family is collecting Halloween costumes for homeless children. I am sometimes skeptical of these efforts, and since it is only May I am definitely skeptical. BUT, we have a couple of costumes we keep forgetting to sell at ideal time, and I am in purge mode, so consider it done. I asked dh to drop them off this week. {& yes, it would be awesome if these costumes actually ended up with homeless youth}.

We had: One Nemo costume, a Spiderman costume, Winnie the Pooh, and a karate uniform and a baseball uniform. The karate and baseball were not initially Halloween costumes, but they are long outgrown so I figured what the heck.

**That reminds me, my initial reaction was to keep the Karate uniform. Then I thought, "Wait, when was this last worn? Age 5!?!" Kind of my doh moment that my baby (& his little brother) are not 5 any more. In fact, the eldest is almost as tall as I.

**I don't know how dh lucked into this focus group, but he did one yesterday for Sony streaming products. Boy was he in his element. !! They were trying to get some feedback on a movie/music/game streaming service. Dh's input was, "Stick to the games." They want to jump into the streaming game, understandably, buy it's not like they can really compete with the likes of netflix. & as dh pointed out, he uses the Playstation network and is happy with it, but he is not buying a Playstation for every TV in his house (& obviously competing TV manufacturers will not put the Sony network on their TVs). So they have a lot of logistics to sort out.

$120... Which brings his focus group earnings to almost $500 for the month. He is probably disqualified from doing any more for a year. I think he was able to do this one because last one wasn't really a traditional focus group. They like you to do no more than one per year (though sometimes they fudge when they are desparate for participants).

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Oh, and a few things on the medical front:

1 - Dh had his annual MRI over the weekend. Holding our breaths (though at this point, no new is probably good news).

2 - A family friend is having facial nerve issues (the same nerves that my dh's brain tumor affected - face and ear). So, we are worried about him. He is unemployed, broke and has no (or crappy) health insurance. What a mess. {His net worth is probably negative, though he is in his 60s}.

3 - My mom got her first good blood test results since the flu I gave her in JANUARY. Her doctor was getting concerned about cancer and wanted her to get a CAT Scan. She was stubborn and refused, which I have very mixed feelings about. (CAT scan could have been overkill and I know there are radiation concerns with certain cancers, but I think she could have asked more about alternative tests. & lord knows when my dh's brain tumor ever would have been diagnosed without the hunch of his non-nuerologist Doctor - after two neurologists said he was 100% fine and needed no brain scan - so I really believe in Doctors' gut feelings and sometimes non-logical judgement). But since everything is back to normal, I don't think he is concerned about cancer now. Phew!!

6 Responses to “Purging and Costumes”

  1. Joan.of.the.Arch Says:
    1368037020

    Pioneer, as in Europeans in California? That sure makes me think of Levis! At least that is something we learned in grade school history. Maybe jeans, and a pie pan standing in for a gold-pan? Or think of the earlier arrivals by way of Spain and Mexico?

  2. MonkeyMama Says:
    1368039359

    @Joan - I don't even know - but yes, probably. I think the kids used to go to Sutters Fort (4th grade, every year), and it just hit me they are probably trying to re-create that at school.

    I was thinking jeans, suspenders, flannel/plaid shirt. Ooooh - the pie tin would be a nice touch (I do have some). Gold panning is a theme they are doing. I was thinking he should just wear the beret and be a Eurpoean pioneer. Big Grin
    This is the guidance I got so far: "Wear a pioneer uniform." But I just googled Sutters Fort and see lots of blue jeans and plaid and suspenders, so maybe that will work.

  3. pretty cheap jewelry Says:
    1368040125

    Big buckles made from foil for the shoes;
    Long skirts for the girls (raid mom's closet);
    BB gun (probably not allowed though at school);
    make a quill pen with a feather attached to a bic;
    make a scroll parchment from a paper tied with ribbon;
    make a tapered candle holder (the kind they would walk around going up to bed at night) from some foil covered paper plate (cut into a smaller circle) form and glue a foil candle sized 'cup' in the middle and add some sort of little side handle.

  4. snafu Says:
    1368042788

    The guys all wore some kind of cowboy hat, woven or felt looking & neckerchief

  5. Looking Forward Says:
    1368046733

    The pig mask is so cute and looks simple too.

    I think jeans, button shirt (plaid or otherwise), suspenders and/or hat would be a good touch, bandana, metal pie tin.

    Good news on your mom. Smile

  6. LuckyRobin Says:
    1368165562

    Overalls, a long-sleeved plain colored shirt, work boots and a wide-brimmed hat. Not all that different from the modern day farmer, really.

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