Halloween Costumes

So, first holiday hurdle--costumes for Halloween. Thankfully, both children decided to be something similar to characters they've chosen in the past.

Last year Bella chose to be a racoon. We bought a cat suit at Target (masks and tails sold separately) and ears and a coonskin hat at party city. So, we have ears, and costume, but wrong tail.

I creatively e-mailed and posted on Facebook, looking for a cat tail to borrow. I received two offers, and an idea to stuff a sock or knee-hi, and make one (great idea).

This morning, a friend dropped by with not one, but two choices. One of the tails she was offering was a little boa made of goose or ostrich feathers. Unusual for a cat tail...

Perfect for Bella's costume, which has feathers around the neckline, and all four limbs. Perfect. Better than I could have done myself. Probably couldn't have found it if I had gone looking (and I didn't even think of it!).

Now, if I can just find some hay or rafia, Tristan's Pitchfork costume for the school Harvest theme will be taken care of. Maybe the 2nd graders have some hay laying around for their guinea pigs...

What does it look like?

I think anyone could do it, really. Right now we have agreed to buy food and things like shampoo that run out (we’ll also go to the movies and spend money on activities). We’ll buy necessities, and replace things that we use/rely on that break. So I can’t buy a bigger food processor, but if the small chopper one I’m using breaks…, I have to put new boots off for another year, and I have to live with the paint colors I already have unless I find some free paint and supplies (I’ve never painted my basement). AND we’ll look for free decking on Craig’s list to rebuild our rotting deck. If the kids need sporting equipment, we’ll try to borrow it before we buy.

That being said, this is really a valuable time to do this in my kids lives. They’ve been getting allowance for a few years, and they are pretty tuned in to the Media telling them what they need. As soon as they get their funds, they want me to take them to Target to "buy something".

For everything we spend money on, we’ll be asking if we really need it, or if we can re purpose something else, or be creative in solving the problem, rather than running to the store. Last night I bought hand soap and paper towels. Writing this has got me thinking…I purchased microfiber towels and I have rags, do I really need paper towels?

Family Project

Our family has recently decided to embark on a project: We aren’t going to buy any “stuff” for one year. I’m wondering what the many blessings of that will be, but my hope is that contentment is one of them. We are taking a break from consumerism for just one year! I have a suspicion that we will find God providing our wants many times and Bella has already experienced that.

She was having a hard time accepting that she had some money and couldn’t spend it. She asked if she could just buy one more, and then be done. I’d been holding out, even though our official start day is Thanksgiving (we plan to reward ourselves with a family trip to Disneyland the week after Thanksgiving next year). She wanted to buy a new Webkinz (she has about 5).

My girlfriend treated us to bowling Friday night, and Bella’s big brother, Matt, noticed there was something sticking out of the 50 cent toy machine (the claw). He pointed it out to her and she retrieved it. It was a silly duck that quacks “do dah” and squawks when you grab it’s neck. I haven’t heard about buying anything since. I had the awesome opportunity to point out that God gives good gifts to his children, and wants to give us the desire of our hearts.

Anyway, thanks for reading my story. It is too good to be true to believe that God wants to bring us joy this way in our daily lives, but I’m beginning to believe it!