The 'Ween

I am not good at Halloween. This is not news to some of you--I said it last year, and I'll say it again: costuming is not my métier. Because I think there are three directions a person could take Halloween, and only one of them ends in unequivocal success:

1. One could plan one's costume several months in advance and gather little bits and pieces of it until one has assembled the perfect ensemble. This person will look awesome.

2. One can ignore the approach of Halloween until it is upon one, but then one can dress up anyway. There is an 82% chance this person will look idiotic.

3. One can, like me, eschew Halloween with a firm hand. This person will seem really lame on Halloween itself, but on November 1st, will go back to seeming exactly as cool as that person seemed on October 30th. A small price to pay, considering that it is very difficult to unsee that which has been seen. Please refer to 2002, when I went to a Halloween party dressed as a slovenly Promise Keeper from Outerspace. Let's just say I wasn't easy on the eyes.

Anyway, I thought super hard about a costume this year...at about 1 PM on October 31st. And I came up with something I REALLY wanted to be:

Yep...That. And yet totally awesome, no?

So, I called Audrey and was like "I want to be the demented back yard fairy from that Fever Ray video," and Audrey was like "Honey, isn't she naked or something?" and I'm all "No, she's wearing Keds and socks and some first aid tape and...something else. Fur wrist warmers? Feathers? Whatever--I'll wear leggings."

So, that was the end of that.

However, don't let it be said that I passed my bah humbug on to my progeny:

Technically, she was a baby exotic bird for Halloween. But most people thought she was Gypsy Lee Rose, The Early Years. The important thing is that the whole thing took me exactly 24 minutes from conception to completion. And cost $0! HGTV should totally hire me.

And finally, in unrelated news, we ended up putting sweet Ruby Bear to sleep last weekend. It was a sad day. Thanks to everyone who has sent kind words and condolences. She was such a good girl and we miss her.

On an also unrelated, but perhaps more related--and also happier--note, the song in the feral diving board fairy video is actually really beautiful if you couldn't tell. There's a version by a sweet sister duo from Sweden that I especially like:

That is all.