Samhain 2009: The Fellowship of the Ring!

(Alternate title: Lord of the Rings Geekery, The Next Generation)

Here I sit, in peace and quiet, sipping coffee and goofing off on the computer. Aaah: a vacation!! It's been a whirlwind getting the boys ready for Halloween tonight, but I've finally gotten them all decked out and sent off for a day of fun with Daddy.

Courtesy of Billy's iphone, I have some pictures for you. I present to you. . . the Fellowship of the Ring!

(photo by Billy)

The Halloween costumes this year have been an adventure of sorts. It all started last Spring, when Littleman apparently decided that he was going to be Gandalf for Halloween this year. (Have you EVER known a kid to plan that far ahead, and then stick with it?!?)

I vaguely remember a conversation:
Littleman: Mommy, can you make me a costume?
Me: I probably can, as long as it doesn't need much sewing. I've never learned how to use a sewing machine.
Littleman: Do we know someone who uses a sewing machine?
Me: Oh, sure- several people! [Here I name a few folks, including my Grandmother.] Grandmother's really good at it, in fact. She used to make all sorts of clothes and stuff.
Littleman: Hmm. OK.
And thus, I thought, ended that conversation. However Littleman remembered what I'd said until the next visit with Grandmother. Unbeknownst to me, he asked her to make him a Gandalf costume for Halloween. She said she'd try. The first I heard of all this was a couple months ago, when she called me to schedule a time for Littleman to try his costume on.

Upon seeing Littleman's cool costume, The Pirate promptly decided that he would be Legolas. Then just as promptly he changed his mind, deciding he'd rather be Spiderman again like last year.

(photo by Billy)
Over the last few weeks, I've checked with him several times- letting him know that he could choose either costume, but if he wanted to be Legolas then I needed him to let me know ahead of time so I'd be able to make the costume. Long story short, he changed his mind at the last minute and on Thursday morning he just HAD to be Legolas for Halloween. Luckily I'd already researched some possible ways to pull that off (just in case), and made a quick trip to the craft store. Yesterday after Littleman's birthday lunch, I got started. Just a few finishing touches this morning, and I was done!

(Last night as I was working on this, he told me he'd rather be Spiderman after all. I decided to forge ahead, trusting that the finished costume would be cool enough to entice him. Luckily, he decided it is.)


We have a cute dog costume that we've used for the boys when they were very small. However, we weren't sure if that was going to work for Babyman because he wanted nothing to do with the thing. Yesterday Billy and I were wondering what costume we could get Babyman to wear, when the obvious occurred to us: he could be a hobbit! He was already short and had the curly hair. I felt sure I could find a ring on a chain and some hobbit-like clothes for him. After a little digging about this morning, here's what I came up with:

He wasn't too thrilled with the picture-taking, but he seems to like his "costume"!


Hee hee. I admit I'm a little proud of Grandmother and myself. Too bad it's too cold and wet tonight for Babyman to trick-or-treat barefoot! But he still looks hobbit-like enough that I think anyone who's seen the Lord of the Rings films will recognize this miniature version of the Fellowship of the Ring. And these fans (Mommy included) are more than a little thrilled with the result. :)

(photo by Billy)

Unlocking Words

Blessed Samhain/Happy Halloween to you!
Have fun this evening, take care and take a moment to remember your loved ones who have already crossed the veil.

Most years Billy takes the boys trick-or-treating, while I (with any littleuns too young) stay home and pass candy to the ghosts and ghoulies who come knocking. I love passing out candy in my neighborhood- in some ways, it seems like trick-or-treating is a dying practice, and it makes me feel good too keep it alive. Plus, I feel neighborly.

This year however, I will be leaving the lame bowl of candy on the front porch, because Billy and the boys will be trick-or-treating with their cousins, while I drive to a friend's for some Samhain celebration with only ONE child to be responsible for. Hopefully I'll get some relatively uninterrupted adult conversation, and actually be able to reflect on the turning of the year as it draws to a close, and we enter the fallow time.

* * *

Meanwhile, (perhaps suitably, for this time of year) I have put down the enlightening non-fiction book I've been slogging through, and instead picked up The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice.

Surprisingly, I've never read any of Anne Rice's books before. So far, I am really enjoying this story. It is drawing me in, and opening windows in my brain that I hadn't noticed had shut.

You see, it's been quite awhile since I read a fiction book for pleasure, and I'd not realized how much I depend on it to keep a creative spark alive inside my head. I'm already aware that I need to write regularly to keep certain neurons firing, to make those verbal connections that give shape and form to the tides of my experience. But until recently, I hadn't really understood how very much reading for pleasure can have the same effect. In fact, I'm beginning to understand that neither can work effectively alone- I need to both immerse myself in the words of others, AND consciously create my own, if I wish to call the muse.

Since delving into Interview With the Vampire I've gradually noticed words coming to me unbidden, causing reflection. . . The words have nothing to do with vampires; they are merely subconscious thoughts and feelings that through words, are given the gift of life. Words give them substance and allow me to recognize them from the formless void within.

One thought that surfaced was a better understanding of my oddly polar existence as a mother: I am nothing before my children- a vast gulf of emptiness, their life force driving away my Self. Yet at the very same time I am everything, the whole universe to them, there is no one more important than I. I am a mote of dust in a forgotten corner; I am omniscient Goddess. All and nothing. It's a condition not unique to motherhood; indeed we are all a mysterious composite of dirt and divinity- but the utter surrender of motherhood has brought a deeper understanding to my contradictory position.

Or words unbidden in reaction as I step outside on a cool clear evening: reflections on the brittle beauty of crystal clear night air, a velvet dark sky and shining stars. What is it about a clear autumn night that calls to me, coaxes me like a lover, excites my senses? How can something so dark and cold stoke such fires in my soul?

Words, words, words. What would I do without them? How could I understand my own urgings? I'd be a painter without paint, a baker with no flour. A sunset void of colors. Tonight I am grateful for inspired words, unbidden.

Update- all's well.

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Update- all’s well. Current mood: sore Well, Billy and I got to bed shortly after 4 am last night. Our friends were fantastic, playing with the boys, putting them to bed and staying until we got home. THANK YOU!! By the time Billy and I were heading for the hospital, I was reasonably sure (after a discussion with my midwife) that my pain was due to wrenching/straining the round ligament on my left side. However they really wanted to have me undergo some tests, just to be sure the baby was OK. So, in we went. I was hooked up to monitors, gave blood for a test, had vitals taken, etc. None of that took too long. The nurse let us know that if the blood test showed everything was OK, we could go on home. Then we waited. And waited. And waited. . . This always seems to happen at the hospital, where there's some point that you really start to wonder if they forgot about you, or if they're not telling you everything you need to know. . . Finally I learned from the other nurse that the blood test takes 4 to 6 hours. WELL. Nice of y'all to tell us that to start with! But anyway, the long and short of it is that babyman seems to be fine, I am in pain but it's not serious and it should resolve itself, and we got to come back home so I could sleep. So, all in all that's very good. Now I'm wincing my way around the house, trying to get a few things done before taking Littleman to his gym class. (I didn't even bother with Sweetcheeks' montessori this morning, being that we were all up so late). As a side note, the monitors last night revealed that I was having regular contractions 3 minutes apart. I knew somehow that it wasn't true labor, despite them being so close and regular. I tend to have loads of contractions for days or even weeks before actually going into labor. I was worried that they'd make me stay, and I'd be stuck there for hours and hours, possibly leading to complications (such as them recommending inducement, or who knows what else). Luckily however, they checked my cervix and since it was not any more dilated or effaced since my morning (routine) appointment, they deemed the contractions "false labor" and decided I was just a bit dehydrated. So I got an IV of fluids, and they didn't worry about it after that. Thank goodness. And, sure enough, I've had very few contractions so far today. He's not QUITE ready. (But obviously, we are getting close). * * * Oh, and the boys had a BLAST trick-or-treating! What on Earth am I going to do with all this CANDY?? Littleman was a ghost- I'd made him a white poncho-like costume, with the word "BOO!" on the front, and I painted his face white with dark circles around his eyes. He was pleased, and looked very cute. Sweetcheeks refused to have anything to do with the dog costume I'd thought he'd wear, and said he was a pirate. We didn't have suitable clothes for that, but we tied a scarf on his head like a pirate and figured that would do. Even the scarf was rejected after a few minutes though, so Sweetcheeks went trick-or-treating as a 2 year old. Which, of course, was fine. Everyone had fun.

ouch

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

ouch Current mood: grumpy Blessed Samhain/ Happy Halloween! I am sitting in my living room, goofing off on the computer and periodically getting up to distribute candy. I have an herbal heat pack on the underside of my belly, because I am in pain. No, I'm not in active labor. I'm not sure what this is, and if it doesn't go away I am supposed to go to the hospital to have it checked out. In the meantime, it's alright when I am still, but as soon as I move about much or walk/climb stairs, it HURTS. I had planned to be doing dishes and laundry right now (and boy does this house need it) but there's just no way. Sigh. At least it's not an immediate emergency, so Billy was able to take the boys out trick-or-treating on the neighborhood hayride. Some friends of ours are along too, so if we need a sitter for awhile that should work out. I really wish this would just calm down, though, so we didn't have to fool with all that. The good thing is that new little babyman has been moving about normally all along, so he's probably just fine. But this is not a good pain- something is wrong. The only question is, is it a minor wrong or an important one? I wouldn't feel so grumpy about it if I were in labor. That's supposed to happen; it's normal pain with a concrete, positive outcome. And I expect it sometime soon. This however, is a worry and an inconvenience. Grr, grump grump. So, I sit here, thinking of a million things that need doing, but not wanting to aggravate the pain further. So I sit. Guess I'll just keep you posted!

Halloween and good night

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Halloween, and good night Current mood: tired (nak) Blessed Samhain to you! We had a dozen or so trick-or-treaters tonight, which isn't too bad. Not at all like when I was a kid, though! Our neighborhood would be teeming with roving gangs of costumed kids young and not-so-young, running and yelling and dragging pillowcases overflowing with candy. It went on well into the night, and pranks were pretty common, too. It was spooky, sugar-laden pandemonium. I am looking forward to going to bed as soon as I can, here. Baby Griff was up frequently last night, and even Littleman needed help settling down a couple of times. I had shallow sleep at best, and for all intents and purposes I was up for the day at 4am. (I tried for a semblance of sleep until 9 or 10am, but never managed it because Griff was so restless. I sure hope he sleeps better tonight! I am really feeling the lack. Alright, he's done nursing for now. Hopefully I can go to bed!