Diaries I Read:
This was an interesting weekend. I thought of lots of things I wanted to write about. Let�s see if I can remember any of them.
Halloween was disappointing. I was expecting lots of kids and lots of fun, but overall it was anti-climactic. I think at this point, you have to either party with the big kids or have little kids of your own to have fun with. I thought it would be really fun handing out candy to all the trick-or-treaters who came by, but it was actually kind of boring. And there weren�t that many kids, even. Maybe about 40.
Man, when I was younger, Halloween was a BIG DEAL. We used to have hundreds � literally � of trick-or-treaters come by our house. When you went outside, there were kids EVERYWHERE. All the houses had their porch lights on. Everyone gave out candy. There were some haunted houses with spooky music and everything.
I had the most awesome costumes when I was little. My mom made them all. I think the best one was probably when I was a fairy. I had a pretty, silky blue dress and a wand and everything. But the best part was my wings. My dad put little white Christmas lights all around them and they LIT UP! I had to carry a battery pack around in my plastic pumpkin, and I remember complaining a lot about how heavy it was, but let me tell you, that costume rocked. I think all my friends were jealous.
For my first Halloween, I was a chick coming out of an egg. My mom made me a costume with little yellow feathers all over it, and then they made the two halves of a cracked egg and somehow attached them to my walker. It was cute.
Then, at age 2 I think, I was a carrot and my best friend Anne was a rabbit. The next year she was a rooster and I was a duck. I had this Donald Duck hat with a duck bill on it and it squeaked. Anne has told me in recent years that she wanted to kill me that night because I squeaked the bill incessantly.
I also dressed up as several different kinds of bugs. First, I was a ladybug when I was about four. I wore black tights and a long-sleeved leotard under the costume itself and I had little black gloves and a black hood with gold antennae. I had my face painted red. My mom told me that my face should be black to match the hood (and she was right), but for some reason I wanted a red face, and a red face I had. But of course, my allergies were as bad then as they are now, so the makeup ended up all smeared and smudged.
Sometime late in elementary school, I was a bumblebee. It was basically the same costume as the ladybug costume � I think I even used the same gold antennae � just different in the middle. And bigger. I don�t think I painted my face that year � maybe some freckles. I know bumblebee costumes are a dime a dozen these days, but this one was home-made and it was really cool. My wings were all gauzy and they looked real. Then, I was a spider. Again, this was basically the same pattern as the ladybug and bumblebee, but my mom had to figure out how to give me four extra legs. She put hanger wires inside these padded black legs she made, and I remember that the wires kept poking me in the sides. Still, it was a really cool costume.
Some other costumes I can remember, all of which my mom sewed herself: a court jester (fuchsia and yellow!), Peter Pan, a mouse, and a witch (twice). The only costume my mom didn�t sew was my Annie costume, which she ordered through a catalog. It was a very authentic red dress with an obnoxious red curly wig. I absolutely LOVED Annie, so I was thrilled with that costume.
Are you impressed yet? My mom made THE BEST costumes. And those I just described were just mine � I haven�t even mentioned the ones she made for my brother. Those include a purple dragon and a reindeer (with antlers and all). At first, the reindeer costume was supposed to be Bambi, but she did the colors wrong (light spots on dark, or vice-versa) so she had to talk him into being a reindeer. He ended up being Rudolph. That was the year I was Annie. What a pair. (My brother had other costumes, but I can�t remember them right now.)
I wish I could post pictures on this sight. Maybe one of these days.
I don�t think parents sew their kids� costumes anymore. I can�t say anything since I don�t sew and I don�t imagine I�ll start if and when I have kids. So unless my mom wants to sew her grandchildren�s costumes or they want to wear my old ones (all of which are in my parents� attic), I�m sure they�ll be in the same old crappy store-bought costumes as all the rest of the kids. Boring.
Anyway, on this Halloween night I dressed up like B and he dressed up like me. I was a much more authentic-looking, albeit small, version of him. He just looked like a drag queen with a brown wig. Anyway. I think the kids were a bit confused (frightened) when they came to our door. But the parents thought it was hilarious.
Working at home - Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2004
Toronto - Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2004
On the way to Toronto... - Tuesday, Nov. 09, 2004
A Good Day - Monday, Nov. 08, 2004
Another letter - Thursday, Nov. 04, 2004