Three, Two, One...

AAAAHHHHHH!!! We're at the final days of prep for Halloween. I LOVE this holiday. It's become one of my favorites. Decorating, thinking of crafts, getting creative with costumes, carving pumpkins, reading spooky stories, trick-or-treating, it's all good.

But, of course there's a but, I tend to be a perfectionist. For the anal side of me, there's never enough time to get everything done that MUST be done. And, I over plan and don't spend enough time actually doing things.

Laurel will be Tinkerbell. We bought her dress and shoes/slippers. Easy, right? NOT. I found out on a trial run that the dress is too big and the shoes won't stay on her feet. Taking in the dress is not that big a deal, except that I DO NOT sew. I do not own a sewing machine and refuse to get one. Why? I just don't like to sew. However, I did learn how to hand stitch in a junior high school class, so I dusted off my extremely underused sewing kit and set it out for one of today's tasks.

As for Laurel's slippers, hmmm. Fortunately, there's a bit of gold lace across the top. I bought some elastic gold cord and just sort of weaved it along the edge and thought we'd tie them on her feet. Then a spark of creativity came into play: I weaved gold bells along with the cord. Now when she walks/runs/skips Halloween night, she'll sound like Tinkerbell. Cute, huh?

Now, I'm starting to think about Tinkerbell's hairstyle. Sure, I can do a ponytail on the top of her head and add a little bow. But, oh no, the perfectionist in me nags, "You can do more!" The problem is, I'm not exactly a hairstylist. My idea of fancy IS a ponytail. All last night I tossed and turned thinking about this little detail. I finally decide at five this morning to get up and turn to Google for help (I heart Google). Within minutes I find a site that gives me peace of mind: She Does Hair. The wonderful woman of this blog demonstrates how to achieve the Tink hairstyle step by step with pictures. She explains it so well, I think even I can do it. Today, Laurel and I will do a dry run. I just need to purchase some hairspray and possibly some glittery hair stuff.

As for Ian's costume, um, well, let's just say I've been very busy painting and cutting and Googling (of course), and making many trips to the craft store. I swear the cashier looked at me yesterday and muttered, "What? You, again?"

Yes, me again, I have made about a bizzillion mistakes.

Have I really been to the store that much? Let's just say, Laurel, all of two and a half years old, knows the layout of the store well enough that she can locate the felt and glue sections without blinking an eye. "Over here, Mommy," rings through my ears as she and I trod through aisles of crafty fun.