Computers - Ah the joy & disappointment

I love my laptop, the best purchase ever. Portable, lightweight, and holds all my fave sites and info. But in 3 years it has had to be fixed 3x. My poor baby is in the shop again, the geek squad shop(3 weeks-ahhh) and I am lost without it. I write here from an old computer, the keyboard is a loud annoying monster and all of my fave sites and info are a million miles away. I should have backed up my info on a thingy(not sure what it's called) but I never did. I have been wandering, stranded, slowly finding my way back. Advice - back up your info and have a spare computer on-hand at all times.

Plans go ADD

Even the best of plans go ADD! I'm sure many of us do this but maybe there is advice out there that could help. I make many plans for projects from this to that and then something better comes along and I'm onto the new project before I even begin the old.

Halloween is soon to be here, my project list has grown ten-fold but the thrift shops and my fave blogs provide me with other temptations. Like the black lampshade that needs just a bit of embellishment. Or all of the transformation entrys and DIY entries. Which got me thinking, dangerous you know.

I especially loved the post on http://southernhospitalityblog.com/my-house/ about her office nook,  so what did I do? You know it, I just had to have an office nook too. So the work began yesterday.

From the beginning;
When I began working from home I worked from my husband's office upstairs. Shared desk, storage, computer, etc. Well that was a disaster! So, I moved to our dining room. No more dining just shelves of supplies and a couple of desks. Well when the holidays arrived it was a nightmare to move everything so we could have a nice family celebration. Moving everything back was ridiculous so my husband converted 3/4 of the garage to my new space, perfect for storage but not a desk. So my desk is the dining room table with a printer in the kitchen and files/papers/books/mags in random places. This is fine however sometimes I just want/need to shut the door, get me?

So yesterday I removed storage boxes of holiday decor from an upstairs smalllllll room, now stored in under the stairs closet(boy I have wayyyy tooo much stuff) and I removed plywood shelving, my arms hurt. I only broke on hammer. Next will be drywall patching, husband needs to help, and carpet removal. My hope is to be finished by next week, I can dream. Still thinking of a paint color, should I copy the green from Southern Hospitality?

On a good note I did manage to bring all the halloween decor downstairs.

Getting Lost in Blog World

I've become totally engrossed in blogworld, spending much too much time blog to blog to blog. I'm not complaining as I love all of the sites I have been lucky to find, as if they were lost. Who knew there was a gazillion fabulous crafters out there. I'm trying to stay focused on Halloween,  finding this task harder than you can imagine. But my halloween party decor will not appear itself. Fabulous halloween sites for inspiraton http://spookytimejingles.blogspot.com/ and http://www.ehagart.blogspot.com/, both sites list amazing artists who love Halloween. Wishing I could attend the Halloween and Vine in CA.

This past weekend, the Yardley Friends annual flea market, provided many items to my delight; blue cat statue, metal hanging cross, candle holder, star & moon earrings. Spray painting all the items black except for the earrings. Key for great bargains, wait till 2pm and hit the meeting hall for 1/2 price items.

Getting ready for the Hulmeville Flea Market on Saturday, my house looks like a tornado hit it. Not selling any halloween craft items, though thinking maybe something to plan next year. Selling some costumes and chachie stuff.

Thrift Shop = Halloween Happiness

Found wonderful things at the thrift shops today, so happy!

• Ceramic pumpkins - muted orange color, very nice buy $4
• Light up pumpkin - stretchy material, will add nice lighting - most important for halloween parties - the lighting!
• Black lace pieces - not sure what they are meant for but I'll be using them! $.50 each
• Small scarecrown - half stuffed/part ceramic, cute but scary funny looking love it on my new black shelf - $1
• Old fashioned wedding hat with lace - will be dying black for my gypsy costume $1.50
• Kids bowling set - painting white for ghost bowling $2, the price of gauze is too high to wrap each pin for mummy bowling

If you know of any good thrift shops in the Bucks County area please drop me a line.

Survivor Party - Success & Halloween Planning Begins

Our Survivor Theme Party was a huge success! The best activity according to the youngsters was the worm dig challenge(real worms-yuck). Though we had a constant drizzle of rain it did not hold us from doing some activities outside - it is survivor - right.  Did not complete all of the planned activities.
 The invitations were computer designed utilizing the survivor emblem. We altered it and added my son's name and party details. Everybody who was invited said yes and more kids wanted to come that heard about the party.
The kids were divided into 2 tribes and competed in various challenges. Each tribe member received a bandana and water bottle. The first activity was to design a team banner with their tribe name. Next was to find supplies to make a fire and boil rice, hidden outside on the playground were sticks, rocks, pots, gallons of water and bags of rice. They had to build a fake fire and put on their pot with rice. We played for bragging rights. Next we had a water relay with small cups with a hole, where they had to race to fill a bigger container. Due to our own rain delay we moved inside for a How well do you know Survivor Parker(my son). Each team received questions and a booklet to complete. Outside again for the worm dig challenge, real worms were key. First time I was ever in a bait shop and I just bought the least expensive worms(honestly who knew there were varieties). Next we did a tricycle race to a clue stand. Each tribe member had to remember something and put a puzzle piece where it belonged. Onto cake and snacks, we had lots of gummy worms. For the final event and double as a favor, we played the auction game. On Survivor they play for food, we changed it to be wrapped gifts. Each child was given play money to use. At the end all tribe members were very happy. Two hours went be very quickly but I would do it again and plan another 1/2 hour or hour.

Next up Halloween Party - many many ideas flowing thru my crazy brain - I am definitely addicted to this strange holiday. I have started searching the local thrift shops for the perfect additions at the right price but much to my shock and udder disbelief - some stores do not even have their displays started. I have stopped by one shop at least 3x and nothing halloween though I will be using some black spray paint on a couple of items to turn them to the dark side:) For those in the Bucks County area, here are the shops I frequent;

• Association for the Blind in Newtown - does not have halloween decor yet (and they will be expanding soon, thank goodness because there were way too many bulls in the china shop today)
• St Mary Thrift Shop in Langhorne - has a very small display near the register. Has more christmas decor available than halloween, so did not make me a happy shopper but I managed to pick up a few items and prices were excellent.
• Goodwill in Penndel - has a small display on tables in housewares, not much but prices here are cheap.
• Salvation Army in Fairless Hills - does not have halloween decor yet and not much of anything to convert.

On my shopping list black frames, owls, spider webs, scary mask, bell jars & tiny mini halloween items.

New Season of Survivor airs this Thursday 9/17 - Yeah!

Some of our Survivor Party photos

Surviving the economy with a Survivor Party

The downward economy has hit the party biz:( Biz has slowed a bit so I should have had more time to blog, I just plain forget and really don't know what to say.
When do parents put a kaboosh on kids parties? should it be when they hit double digits? is a family party enough? my son has no siblings and very few extended family, so a kids party provides the FUN group feeling of speciality. Is it ok to wait a few months and host a b-day party late? I've debated this in my head and I know friends who feel it is a definite NO-NO. But I leaned towards a go-ahead and do it as we only live once and who knows what will happen next.

We're hosting a Survivor theme party and we waited 3 months for good weather as it must be held outside otherwise it just wouldn't be Survivor.

• Invitations will be ??? not sure yet, thinking of rolled up in a bottle or a buff with info attached.
• Two tribes - colored buffs for each - will be pre-selected as son wants BF on his tribe, thinking how to best divide tribes
• Time - debating on late afternoon or early evening. Like to use torch lamps but it does not get dark now till 7ish
• Props will be island luau like but with more of an animal safari look - thinking how to create a fake fire or maybe use firepit but worried for safety with 16 kids, tent or two tents, tribal council sign, tribe flags
• Food - hoping to just do snacks & cake - not sure yet how to theme it up and a candy bar, I love them, and maybe the chocolate fountain.
• Activities will be the best! so excited for all these cool games; scavenger hunt, holey water, survivor knows best, snake challenge, obstacle course, target challenge, mystery food challenge, square challenge. I want to have tree mail but not sure and a team merge - we're still thinking on it. Planning time wise is the most difficult, games could be real short or longer than anticipated.
• Party favors - even as a party planner I am not a huge fan of favors, I do not understand why they exist??? to me being invited should be enough but everyone expects them, arghhhh! I'm thinking canvas sling back bags, as they can be used during the party and useful at home.

Your comments and suggestions are most welcome, must pick a date now.