Greed & Hate

For Halloween, Q and I dressed up as Jon and Kate.  Here's how our costumes turned out::

We had a lot of fun rocking this look because Jon and Kate are the embodiment of everything we're against:  greed...adultery...child exploitation...bad taste...

When we were shopping for costumes last weekend when I spotted the "Eight is Too Many" wig.  An idea was born.

For Kate's costume I used:
--the stripey, spiky, blond wig with cartoonishly long bangs (we later found out that this wig can be worn backwards as a true mullet.  Next year:  Joe Dirt!)
--hot pink flouncy sleeved top from Old Navy
--long, dangly hoop earrings
--heavy makeup...including frequent reapplications of lip gloss
--white framed plastic sunglasses from Walmart
--rhinestone-studded jeans

I had a lot more fun with Q's outfit.  To recreate Jon's look, I douched him up but good!

Jon's costume consisted of:
--T-shirt with skulls, flames, and other garish crap on it (I found this in a clearance rack at TJ Maxx...Ed Hardy was just too expensive for a shirt he would only wear once).
--Black ballcap worn backwards
--Dark glasses
--3/8" rhinestones glued to his ears
--Jeans with strategically-placed rips and bleach spots
--Three days of stubble growth
--Thick stack of fake $20 bills hanging out of his back pockets
--Padding under his shirt to recreate Jon's big belly.

Crafty!

Today, I was doing some shopping in the Bell Road area of north Glendale.  I let out a loud, jubilant scream when I saw this:

Hobby Lobby is FINALLY coming to our area!  YES!!!!  Currently, the closest location is over 20 miles away in Avondale.  Not exactly convenient. This new location means that I'll no longer be relegated to the mediocre offerings at Michael's and Joann's.

Eighteen

Happy Anniversary, Q!  Has it really been 18 years already?!?!?!?   It sure doesn't seem like it!

Thrilling!

I was at the craft store the other day and spotted this instruction sheet on how to make this "thrilling jacket" out of Duck tape.  Of course, everyone knows that this is supposed to replicate the jacket Michael Jackson wore in the Thriller video.  In my opinion, the cut of the jacket makes it look more like it could be MJ's raincoat.

The sheet also included directions on how to make a Jackson-style black fedora that can be accessorized with the jacket.  I guess this is fine if continuity doesn't matter to the costume wearer.  At no point in Thriller does Michael wear a fedora...or any hat, for that matter.  The werewolf mask at the beginning of the video doesn't count.

Not A Fan

About a month ago, the ceiling fan in our bedroom bit the dust.  Literally.  Dust in and around the fan caused the circuit box to catch fire. 

When it happened, I immediately shut the fan off at the light switch, which extinguished the fire.  Q clasped his hands together and said "well, I guess we're getting a new fan this weekend!"  Until then, we put tape over the light switches so nobody could mistakenly turn them on.

That Saturday, we went to Lowes, where we bought this fan:

I chose this one primarily because I like the modern design.  Also the brushed nickel finished matched the other metal finishes in the bedroom.  And at just over $100, it was very affordable.

Did I say "affordable"?  I meant CHEAP!  Very, very, VERY cheap!!!!!

Once the fan was installed, we turned it on.  There was a very pronounced clicking noise coming from the motor.  This was caused by the fan wobbling slightly.  My attempts to steady it worked temporarily.  The fan is situated right under the HVAC register, so whenever the A/C kicks on, the down-flow of air hits the blades and causes the fan to start wobbling all over again. 

Anyway, that's not the worst of it.  It seems our fan is posessed.  In fact, Kyle is convinced that the bedroom is haunted.  The light has been turning on all by itself.

The first time it happened was at 8:30 on a Saturday morning.  We were still in bed, but already awake so it wasn't a big deal.  We thought it was an odd fluke and dismissed it.

But it happened again.  This time was around 2:30 Wednesday morning.  Now THAT was a rude awakening!  I shut the light off at the remote and went back to sleep--until 3:00 when the light turned itself on again.  This time, I shut it off at the light switch and went back to sleep.

We don't know what's causing our fan to spontaneously illuminate.  Q went up on his ladder and changed the coordinates between the fan and its remote.  We're hoping that solves the problem.  Either way, we don't want to go through the trouble of dismounting the fan, disassembling it, and returning it to the store.  But that may be what happens if this fan only offers us limited usefullness! 

Ceiling fans are very important in Arizona.  Especially in bedrooms, as the air flow makes for more comfortable sleeping.  Our next fan--whether it comes sooner or later--will NOT be the budget model.  We will open the wallet a little wider next time.

Growth Happens

Stoplights are going up at the entrance to our neighborhood.  An interesting fact:  this interection is actually the confluence of four different roads:  67th Ave to the south...Pyramid Peak Parkway to the north...Rowel Road to the east...and Jomax Road to the west.

XL

Happy Birthday, Q!!!!!!!

Having a Moment

Anyone who sends unsolicited paper into my house runs the risk of being SMACKED!

You are single-handedly sabotaging my neverending efforts to keep and maintain organizational harmony on horizontal surfaces scattered throughout the house.

Flyers, circulars, unsolicited magazines, coupon envelopes filled with offers for crap I will never buy, and leaflets will be sent straight to the recycling bin.

The mail order catalogues that used to excite me are no longer welcome here. I do all my remote shopping online.

Same goes with phone books. In recent years, we have been getting new sets of the Greater Phoenix area Yellow and White Pages--3 to 4 books total--every few months. Other than keeping miniaturized copies of the West Valley phone book in the trunk of each car, these are useless to me.

Q and I spent a few hours cleaning out drawers, desktops, shelves, boxes, and other surfaces where clutter gathers. The recycling bin that was emptied on Thursday is now filled beyond capacity.

This is not an appeal to "go green". That's why I chose purple for this font. I'm just trying to reduce clutter and maintain order in the home.