Happy Halloween!
Good JuJu
For the October sale at Good Juju, some of us dressed in costume. I’m always excited to have a reason to wear my witchy ball gown.
And to do some face painting.
I hope your Halloween is filled with spooky fun!
October 2023
Return to the night of the Living Dead, the Downtown Lawrence Zombie Parade!
Food and Drink, holiday decor, Ryan, Sugarwings
Over the last decade or so, October has come to be the month when I take a trip.
So, I often miss the downtown Lawrence Zombie parade.
I’ve gotten to go here and there, when the timing is right. And the weather too. Typically, KS can be at its best on a late, October evening. But could also be an onslaught of freezing rain, so you never know.
This year? Perfection! And half the town agreed. The streets were as full of living people as they were of the dead.
We were lucky to find not only a parking spot, but at seat outside at a favorite restaurant so we could eat dinner while enjoying the invasion of corpses.
That’s where our lucky streak stopped dead in it’s tracks.
The line was so long to get a bowl of ramen that we were given a number to be called out when it was our turn to wait to order.
Just about then, the lunch ladies stumbled by, but we stuck with our plan to wait and eat later.
It was too bad we didn’t get to slurp noodles and pretend they were guts, but hey, you can’t win them all.
And it was such a gory, good time. We didn’t mind waiting for dinner.
We sat back in our perfect seats, guessed the back stories of the ghouls as they strolled by, and critiqued the acting.
Some of even the littlest kids were quite committed to their part.
But to me, it seemed like the people who were into it the most were grown men.
Many walkers chatted away with others in their group. Some played the part well, though And this gal was on her phone. Or was she purposely doing that because teenage girls are teenage girls weather zombified or not.
And teens do love their phones. I can imagine that even turning wouldn’t separate a young girl from her device.
When the walk was winding down, we tried to do a call in take out order for food just in case, but the wait was still quite long. And when we spied that the line was dwindling, we checked inside to find out they were out of noodles.
I don’t know how many zombies paraded through Lawrence, but we watched them lurch by for about an hour and a half.
They start at the south end of town, about 11th street, walk up one sidewalk to 6th, then down the other sidewalk back to their crypts, or cars, or wherever they end up.
We noticed that many of them trickled into the downtown bars and restaurants after their hungry march, so the options for takeout just got smaller for us.
As we looked into the windows of restaurants we passed on the way to our car, we saw them full of hungry zombies.
We figured we’d be cooking at home, then noticed there was a lull in the line at Chipotle.
I mentioned that I’d only eaten there once since Ryan died, it had been a favorite of his and held too many memories for me. Back in January, Sugarwings had the idea to eat burritos and watch zombies on tv on Ryan’s birthday, and it had been emotional, but satisfying.
So we thought it was fitting to pick up a bag of food there to take home with us and watch something scary at home while eating in honor of him. We walked right up to the counter, just to see the line immediately fill up behind us as the horde poured in to feed. One more lucky stroke for us, and Sugarwings said Ryan was with us and had guided us that way. He loved zombies and burritos, we would celebrate him with a dinner of Chipotle and more walking dead.
I was so glad that everything about the evening worked out like it did. We almost didn’t go because someone, not naming names here, was late with a bit of schoolwork.
I told them that I really, really wanted to be there on time to get a seat, and reminded the kid of just how much I loved this event. I said, “You know how much you love sea turtles? I feel that way about zombies. They are my favorite animal. I’m sorry there isn’t a sea turtle parade to take you to, but you could finish your homework and take me to the zombie parade .”
Homework was completed, we got seats, parking, and even dinner. (By the way, Sugarwings has some pretty good grades that need to be mentioned, I’m proud of that and they way the homework got finished in time).
It was my idea of a lovely, fall evening.
A visit with Peeps
friends, studio tour 
My friend, Maggie, was visiting from the west coast, so I hosted a craft day with local peeps in her honor.
Everyone brought their own crafts and a side for lunch, I made a meatloaf and bread.
Angie made this lovely trifle with fresh whipped cream, which tasted even better than it looked.
Over the years, I have discovered that sheets of white poster board work best on my craft tables to cover up all of the stains and wear.
Previously, I’d either taped down craft paper, or used throw away table cloths.
To dress up the plain white, I make placemats of scrapbook paper with names.
And some quick little doodles.
Of course, once we get to making things, you don’t even see the table. If you’re doing it right, that is! 
I was working on Xmas goodies. My booth is all set up, ready for the November First Friday weekend, so now I’m making stuff to refill it for December.
It was exhausting to redo the space immediately after the October sale, but there is no way I could comfortably leave on vacation without having it complete before taking off.
After getting my billions of buckets of holiday inventory tagged and arranged, I was finally able to relax and enjoy a sweet day with friends. I was sure ready to sit back, snip and glue while chatting. Just perfect!
And thank you, Angie for the white roses, all wrapped up so special.
Fall at the Cottage
cottage, holiday decor
With this week’s trip to a Florida, I’ll be missing some Halloween time, so I figured that I’d take advantage of friends visiting to spook up my house a bit.
The black and white violins that Guncle Randy and I made on his visit are still on the table, so I used them as part of the decor, added pumpkins, ravens, and then hung the ballerina bats above it all on the chandelier.
And anything looks better under glass. I love to fill my cloches with seasonal things.
The mushrooms have been renamed “poison toadstools” for October.
And OMG, look at the gourd shaped like a swan! It’s a dark, almost black green that I’ll keep for now. Next month, I’ll paint her pearl white and add a crown for winter.
My decorations were pretty easy. I have one drawer that holds my autumn stuff, plus a few pumpkins I also use to give my Good Juju booth some fall flair.
Just enough to give the house a little pick me up. That helps on these days that are getting a little chilly and shorter so that I’m inside more.
Molly goes pumpkin shopping
dogs, Goldendoodle Puppies, Sugarwings
Now that my grand fairies are growing up, I need to treat my dogs more like kiddos. We took Molly to the punkin patch and I let her be my little kid instead.
Ha, not quite true! While the doodle enjoyed our trip, this child (verging on 17-1/2) seems to have inherited my joy in outings that other people might consider “for kids” and had a great time too.
My partner in crime.
No, in adventures. Especially silly adventures.
I hope they never outgrow that. I can see us at 80 and 30, exploring together.
This pumpkin patch has such gorgeous vistas. It feels like you can see forever into the Kansas horizon. Doesn’t the sky look limitless?
Well, it felt even bigger after we claimed our perfect pumpkins and hauled them across numerous fields in a driving wind (with tiny dust tornadoes swirling around us and aiming at my eyes). Somehow, even with the wind, and a couple of too hefty gourds, we had some laughs and enjoyed the walk. We did not linger at the maze or other attractions, though, by the time we left, that blowing dust was making rethink my commitment to contact lenses. And doubt my upper body strength. I should’ve gotten a wagon…
Molly didn’t mind the wind, she met a new buddy who hung out with us for most of our walk.
She met someone who did not want to be her buddy too.
And kept her distance from these potential pals.
We had just picked her up from the groomer before taking her to the driving dust bowl, I mean, pumpkin patch. After her hairstyling and bath, she was given a Nightmare Before Xmas scarf. Sugarwings admired it so much, the groomer gave them one too. 
One of our goals for the day was to find a pumpkin to match Molly’s fur. This was as close as we could get.
Loving Cup makeover
antiques/junking, how-to projects
This summer, I picked up a few trophies at garage sales, then took them apart, salvaging the cups and some marble bases.
Most were dated 20-30 years ago, but I wanted them to look old, and metallic. First step was dark brown chalk paint.
Next I used a flat pewter and shades of metallic paints, including bronze and silver. I applied those in a messy, stippling fashion leaving some of the under color showing through.
They each got simple, rusty embellishments.
The plan was to fill them with trees. But when I did that with the large cups, they didn't look right. The bottle brush trees were too small, the paper ones too streamlined. They looked kind of like bullets.
So I’ve displayed the big cups without trees. I kept one for myself, and brought the rest into Juju for the November sale.
The smaller ones were ideal for my bottle brush trees. And one tall, skinny trophy got covered in old paper on some of it, then I removed the topper and replaced it with a tree. I really like that one.
Actually, I love them all. This was a project that I was very into. I guess you could say, I am loving these cups.
Don’t try this at home-
cottage, how to's
Well, the floor is a bit dirty now, as it seems to typically be. Four dogs with a big yard to run (and dig) in, constantly in and out in all types of weather tends to add a layer of dust and dullness to the wood.
But it looks soooooooooooooooo much better than it did before I did some touch ups to it.
This is what it had become, in many places. Especially in all areas where the dog wrestling matches took place and of course, those were in the most prominent, big, open areas. There were also marks from moving a piece of furniture with a rough spot on its leg that left multiple scratches, wear and tear under the dining table from the chairs, and just plain old tired looking spots.
It hadn’t been all that long since the floor was completely refinished either. The hearth room we’d added is only a few years old, but like I said-
Dogs.
And lots of them.
The kitchen is a mix of many woods, the living room, yellow pine. Both are over 100 years old. The hearth room is pine that my husband and sons put in, then we had all three rooms sanded, stained and sealed to match. Which was a big undertaking and we couldn’t use the house for most of the week. We had been living through construction anyway, and this was the tail end of it, so it didn’t seem too bad at the time.
But the thought of the mess, expense, smell, and time it would take to do it over again was not tempting.
Or in my budget.
Here is the after, while still shiny and new. I love it! But I was so lucky it worked.
As a do-it-yourselfer, I figured I’d handle it. And luckily it all came out okay. It could have very easily gone very, very wrong, because I broke a lot of rules.
After cleaning the floor, and shoving some things out of the way (the floor was fine under most of the furniture, except the dining table, so why redo those places?) I opened all the windows, turned on the fans, expelled the dogs outside to the fence to enjoy a beautiful autumn day, then got to work. Husband was out of town, grandkid was at their mom’s most of the week, nothing to stop me.
I mixed a little bit of Jacobean stain (leftover from the professional’s redo) with a satin poly/stain in espresso, because I wanted the raw scratch marks to be covered well and dark.
Then started right in, dead center, highest visibility spot in the room.
Why? Stupidity.
Seriously, I should’ve tried an inconspicuous corner and waited a couple of days to see if it dried well. Nope, just started brushing on the concoction, and wiping it off with a rag. I feathered and buffed the edges to blend with the existing stain, and redid giant swaths of flooring, not just patches.
About halfway in, I started to wonder how well I’d stirred the poly blend. By then it was too late. But visions of a gummy, never drying floor stayed with me as I worked.
Did I stop working? Nope. In for a penny, in for a pound. I figured I might as well keep it going till the end, because if I’d ruined it, the entire room would have to be redone by a pro, not just my messed up areas.
My home is an old, far from perfect, farmhouse. So I don’t mind if if the wood floors don’t look perfect. Things wear over time and I appreciate that. I just hated the obvious scratches and dog destruction. This was a good solution for that problem and cost me under $10 to do.
Some areas dried faster than others, and I was feeling a little worried about a couple spots, but kept a fan on them and they started to slowly lose their stickiness.
It really could’ve gone either way, this is not how you are supposed to stain a floor. Dumping leftover stain a few years old into a different brand and color of poly/stain, and then trying to remember if I’d stirred the poly up first before mixing? No sanding or tsp, or much prep at all? Rubbing the mixture right over the existing floor as is? Going around furniture still in the room?
Nope, none of it was done correctly. But I am so glad I did it, and love the results!
Pony Creek Market
antiques/junking, friends
One of my friends hosted an antique market, and boy, did she do a good job!
She had invited me to participate and at first I said yes. Then I realized that with Rich’s variable schedule with his consulting type thing he is doing, his truck might not be around when time came to haul stuff. So I had to say no, after all.
It is lucky that I did, because yep, he is working in Nebraska part time. And the show was an hour away, that’s a lot of trips hauling my junk in a RAV4.
I’d have loved to have been a part of it with my buddy, Angie who had a space there. She said it was a good show to set up at. I could tell, the parking lot had plenty of cars, there were happy people milling about with shopping bags, food trucks with lines, and vendors everywhere. All in a beautiful, country setting.
Beth and I shared a ride to go visit and had a delightful day.
Painted and glittered nutcrackers
Good JuJu, holiday decor
This weekend is the First Fridays shopping event in the Old West Bottoms.
While my spot is full on, Halloween/Thanksgiving/ Fall themed, I have to be ready to go for next month’s set up for the sale on 11/3-4 right after this sale.
November will be my winter wonderland and I’ve been so excited about it, I just can’t wait! I get to play with all of my favorite things!
Glitter, trees, Santas, reindeer, sugarplum fairies!
There is a plan I’ve been impatiently waiting to implement that involves a whole Nutcracker/Sugarplum Fairy corner. I had thought about doing a canvas backdrop of nutcrackers, then I saw these wooden cut out guys, and bought three to paint and embellish.
I even splurged and used some of my very, very best vintage trim on this guy.
All of them are painted with metallics, sprinkled with glitter, and trimmed with vintage rhinestones and white mink, but no two are the same.
I will be headed to Florida mid October for a Guncle visit, time with Terry and her baby girl at Disney, then beach time with my sissies and their baby girls, all jammed into one, way too short week.
Speaking of “way too short”, my time for set up at Juju and creating gets shortened by this week away. So I’ll be spinning my wheels to get it all pulled together before the vacation. This is going to be a hectic week, trying to de-black my Halloween booth and transform it into glittering whites.
Yum! My type of challenge! I am going to love every minute of it.
KC Renfest and unique hearts from Ryan
Dew Drop, fairies, family, Ryan, Sugarwings
Renfest season is here! Sugarwings and I snagged a little getaway time and spent a couple of hours wandering around the grounds.
The kiddo isn’t such a kid now (17) but still my partner in adventures.
Both of us are more into exploring the sights than being fairies now.
There are still plenty of laughs and silliness though.
I have always loved the art and architecture that makes this place special.
The details, big and small.
And the characters.
We even saw a couple of the Sanderson Sisters.
It’s the first year that Sugarwings wasn’t into dancing around the maypole with the fairies. Although we did do a dance together along the sidelines.
We were nostalgic, talking about when Kya worked as a henna artist, when Sugarwings’ daddy participated in building the stone castle and sold his art there, when we’d come as a big family group, all fairied up in glitter and wings.
And we talked about the year Ry Guy came along to help me when I was on my own with two tiny grandfairies. He was never a person who did well among hoards of people, but he loved those little princesses and was a trouper that day.
It was extremely crowded, and extra hot that afternoon. The kids were great, we did have fun, but it was past nap time and past Ryan’s crowd quota. So we headed out before we became too overrun with heat and frayed nerves, leaving at just the perfect point, when everyone was still in good moods.
But then, oops.
Where on Middle Earth did we park?
Years ago, I had a car that I simply never recognized. I lost it quite often. Once even getting into the driver’s seat of someone else’s car as they were loading a baby into the back. We both screamed like that scene in ET when Drew Barrymore saw the alien for the first time.
Anyway, my car was lost in the over full, giant parking lot, and we slowly slid past the time when everyone was “still in a good mood.”
After 40 minutes of trudging through heat and dust, pushing a stroller and wanting to leave, we realized we’d walked right on by that car many, many times. Over the years, that became one of those jokes Ryan and I had between ourselves that we would reference and laugh about. Uhm, not that day, though.
Sugarwings didn’t remember that part of it, but we laughed together when I told the story.
Then my little sprite, who is always looking for glimmers from Ryan, pointed out these hearts. My horror story loving boy would have loved those!