excused absence

Dear Blogger,

Please excuse Denise from her lengthy blogging-world absence. She has been very busy with

and hasn't slept much, due to a lot of late-night

and had to finish the

at the last minute,

all while missing her

very much.

She has had to take a fair bit of

to keep headaches, aches and pains at bay.

She'll resume her (somewhat) regular posting once she finishes the

and gets

and

organized again.

Sincerely,

If the shoe fits, buy it in every color

12 on the 12th (on the 15th)

1. Daily morning dose of vitamins--breakfast of champions
2. Church satellite broadcast/leadership training meeting
3. Snack stash in high school's costume room always includes circus peanuts
4. Rolling z-racks in costume room
5. Double-checking leading lady's costume chart
6. Old Faithful
7. Sewing standbys
8. No explanation needed
9. Yards and yards and yards of fabric
10. Another drink, please
11. How many peasant blouses do we need?
12. BBC's Lark Rise to Candleford, Season 2 (thanks, Michelle, for introducing me to this one!)

And thanks to Charlotte for making my grid!

out with the old, ring in the new

What better way to welcome the new year than by (finally) replacing the leaping elk towel bar?

Happy New Year, all!

Christmas: Black-Eyed Susan style!

15 bolts of satin ribbon: $450

30 boxes of fresh greens for outdoor urns: $1,800

1 tube of heavy-duty hand lotion to soothe hands scratched from endless tree primping: $13

1 scary New York Yankees ornament that had to be worked into an otherwise beautiful tree: $9.95

1 early Christmas present--a warm and very stylish scarf from Paris: undisclosed amount of Euros

Dinner on the run (that's Diet Coke, in case you're wondering): $15

60+ work hours in 4 1/2 days spent with my best sister and friend: Priceless.

Halloween hauntings

I felt somewhat conspicuous last night walking into our ward party dressed in my trusty Cruella DeVille costume. Our missionaries--from Samoa and Mongolia--seemed to get a kick out of my get-up and asked to have their picture taken with me. (Yes, the wig is extremely itchy!)

Upon Emily's suggestion, I tried to convince Mark to go as either Horace or Jasper (Cruella's dimwitted henchmen) but he didn't go for the idea, claiming no one would recognize who he was. I told him that no one recognizes him anyway.

I was pleased that, in addition to using my nearly ten-year-old Cruella costume, I was able to recycle several others as well. Sarah wore a cute witch outfit I made for Emily when she was in about 6th or 7th grade.

This picture was taken at her school class party on Friday:

And this photo was taken with her friends just before they left for an evening of trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. Her other friends went for the scary makeup look. I'm glad that Sarah still likes to be the "pretty" witch.

A really cute little boy in my ward, Hyrum, wore the Batman costume I made for John when he was three years old. I can't believe John was ever that small! (Sorry for the blurry photo--I just wish you could see Hyrum with the Batman satin hood/mask on!)

Another friend in my ward borrowed one of the Elvis costumes I made for a Roadshow many years ago for her sixth-grade son Ramsey. He was a hit in white satin and gold sequins; sadly, I have no photo.

Thankfully I had costumes I could recycle for Halloween this year, as there is no way I could have sewn anything given the sweatshop production line I've got going in the basement. I've now finished 2 1/2 dance tops for Sarah's clogging team.


Only 18 1/2 to go. . . .