Halloween

I never understood those women who say that being a stay-at-home Mom is boring. I mean, sure the housework is boring and occasionally being around nothing but kids can get tiresome. I’m sure no one loves every single minute. But the reality is that being a stay-at-home Mom is the most flexible job I’ve ever had. When you think about it, a stay-at-home Mom has as many bosses as she has children, but she’s allowed (encouraged!) to tell them to calm down, mind their own business and say “please”. How many people can say that to their boss?

Recently, my usual boss and I came to the realization that Halloween was quickly approaching (like, within 24 hours) and we were seriously lacking in the costume department. For once, this crisis was not brought on by procrastination or forgetfulness. We really tried! We went all over God’s green earth looking for an adequate and appropriate Snow White costume.

Is it just me, or are there only two categories of Halloween costume these days: toddler and stripper? And they’re the same size.

So while HC went to school on Friday morning, sadly assuming that she would have to wear something fashioned out of an old white bedsheet, I made one last venture out.

We used to have a sewing store out here, but it closed about a year ago and my options are now limited to Walmart, which, by the way, was a TOTAL MADHOUSE. Since when does Halloween get its own shopping surge?

The week before Christmas, sure. The grocery store on the day before Thanksgiving, absolutely. But the day before Halloween?! All you need is a costume and some candy! There is no excuse for so many people to be shopping at one time.

Usually though, even when the rest of the store is packed, the sewing department is tumbleweededly empty. This time, not so.

I squeezed past several desperate looking mothers in order to get a better view of the Halloween sewing patterns. It was mostly witches and pirates, with a few princesses and zoo animals thrown in.

Slim pickin’s.

I reluctantly picked up a boring adult pattern for what was supposed to be Snow White, I guess. I recognized the puffy sleeves and blue vest, but was puzzled by the checked skirt and red hearts decorating her bosoms. Perhaps I can just leave those out, I thought and dejectedly made my way to the never-ending line to cut the fabric.

Wondering how in the world I was going to convince HC that this was indeed the costume of her dreams, I flipped through a McCall’s book and waited for the line to move. Suddenly, there is was:

Hallelujah! I celebrated my find all the way down the checkout line (and let me tell you, that was like half and hour).

Nevermind that my sewing machine hiccoughed halfway through the vest, or that in the process of fixing it I replaced the needle with another needle of the wrong type, and so then the machine malfunctioned and I thought it had bitten the dust, so I went on a three hour tour trying to find the broken part, only to discover that the needle was not the wrong type but just facing the wrong way and could have been fixed in two second instead of three hours. And nevermind that I didn’t have enough bobbins to handle the several colors of thread I needed so I had to load one up, use it, and then unspool it all again so as to be able to change the color, and then repeat. And nevermind that I was supposed to drive into the city that night but instead stayed up until one in the morning pricking myself and cursing the tissue paper instructions without any dinner. And nevermind that…oh, nevermind.

The point is, I finished. And it looked awesome. And HC was delighted.

She even dragged A out to help her trick-or-treat and managed to get him to don a cowboy costume to boot.

(Get it? Boot?)

Happy Halloween.