Monday, October 29, 2007

Confessions from Halloween

Remember the fire in the backyard at Sweet Son and Darling Daughter-in-Law's house? The grandchildren were afraid of the burned-out parts of the yard until their mom spruced up the remains of the juniper bush for Halloween. Cool, huh?
Now, on to my confessions. What is it about people who toil in offices that makes them dress up like kids on Halloween and go to work? It's a tradition at my home away from home. One year I was a lion tamer, and not a very good one, as evidenced by the bloody scratches on my face. When you pressed a spot on their paws, the lion and tiger growled and their eyes glowed green. These scared the grandchildren.
Another time, I went as Sacajawea. Bird Woman, get it? I carried that damned bird around all day.
It was more fun being a cowgirl. My stick horse whinnied and moved his head up and down to the theme for The Lone Ranger. Never thought I'd get sick of hearing the William Tell Overture.
The Gypsy fortune-teller did a lot of business another year. My "crystal ball", when rapped smartly, made eerie noises, glowed, and gave answers to questions.
My farm wife costume featured a clucking chicken in a basket. When set on the floor, and a button was pressed, she made agonizing clucking sounds, and laid eggs. The grandchildren love this toy. Oh, I had my gardening clogs on.
I found a Chinese coolie hat at a garage sale so I had to play the part. The hat was really hard to keep on my head, and it kept landing on my computer keyboard.
Last year I was just about out of ideas so I came as a tourist just off the plane in Hawaii. I actually own those glasses and use them occasionally. I told you these were confessions.
And what's on for this year? It has something to do with a Mary Queen of Scots costume, a small stuffed dog, and some fake blood. Remember, she was beheaded. I may not post a picture of that one or visit the grandchildren on my way home. Happy Halloween!




28 comments:

kate said...

Wow! I'm impressed by all of your costumes ... the cowgirl one had me laughing with the stick horse. You make a great Gypsy fortune teller. I love that costume.

I am curious to see what your costume looks like this year. It must be fun at work on Hallowe'en!

The burnt-out back garden looks great with the Hallowe'en decorations.

Carol Michel said...

Lost Roses you crack me up. I could never come up with costume ideas like those. All very creative and funny, too. I especially like the farm girl costume because you got to wear your gardening clogs!

Carol at May Dreams Gardens

Jocelyn H. Chilvers said...

What a hoot! Thanks for brightening my day---and happy halloween!

Mary C said...

Such neat costumes, Lost Roses. The hospital where I work also has a traditional Halloween (department) decorating contest along with a costume contest each year. Everyone who participates (including a bunch of our doctors) enjoys doing it. As for me, I'm really not into it, but I enjoy seeing everyone's costumes and the department decorating. I love what your DIL did to cover up the area that frightens her children. Another creative person in your family!

Annie in Austin said...

It's apparently all about the props! You found some great stuff to make those costumes pop, LostRoses...what a fun post! Do your coworkers all dress up, too, or are they counting on you to liven up the whole office?

Happy Halloween!

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

Yolanda Elizabet Heuzen said...

What a fun post! Great costumes too and pretty special props as well. That clucking chicken sounds great! Where do you get stuff like that?

Seeing you in all your fun costumes I wish that we had Halloween here too.

Happy Halloween!

Lisa at Greenbow said...

What a HOOT. You looked great all dressed up.

KGMom said...

The decorated burned out yard is wonderful--the decor, that is.
And you really get all costumed up, don't you? Very creative! Thanks for letting us see your creativity.

LostRoses said...

Kate, I loved that stick horse. I gave it to the grandchildren but their father gave it back to me. Too noisy! Let's see, it's Halloween Eve and I'm curious to see what my costume looks like too. I'll know in the morning when I put it on!

Carol, I thought you'd like those gardening clogs. As for the rest of the costumes, I find stuff at garage sales and build around that. But as I said, I'm pretty much out of ideas.

Jocelyn, you said "hoot" - maybe I can be an owl next year! Happy Halloween to you too!

Mary, I'm glad we're not the only place that dresses up for Halloween. How funny it must be to see the doctors and nurses in costume! Sometimes I wish I could just wear a t-shirt that says "Boo!" and be done with it, but as the supervisor of my department it would be mean of me not to participate!

Annie, yep, it's all about the props. Oh yes, everyone joins in, from the director to the drivers. If they counted on me to liven up the whole office, they'd be sadly disappointed!

Yolanda, I find props at garage sales and build the costumes around them. I've also been known to scour eBay for the right thing, but I think the chicken came from a toy store years ago! I wish you had Halloween too, when else can you dress up like that? (Except when you're six years old).

Lisa, there's that hoot again. Yeah, I'm thinking owl next year!

KGmom, I think my daughter-in-law was very creative, and the kids think it's pretty cool too. As for the costumes, I had to post something and there's not much going out in the garden!

Anonymous said...

You have a creative bone, Lost Roses. Maybe a whole skeleton of them. What a series of fun costumes. Even if you don't show your grandchildren this year's costume, I hope you'll post a photo for your loyal readers.

Diana LaMarre said...

OH, what fun! I loved seeing all the costumes. That clucking chicken is so cute, though I can imagine people got pretty tired of hearing the old bird cluck.

I want to see this year's costume!

Phillip Oliver said...

Very creative costumes! I hope you won't hate me for this, but you kind of resemble Martha Stewart in the chinese hat photo. :)

Bob said...

what a great post. I really got me smiling. Happy Halloween, Bob

LostRoses said...

Pam, I did go to the grandchildren's after all. The 1-year-old twins wouldn't have anything to do with me. Small wonder! I did come home from work with Best Costume this year. Yes, picture to follow!

Zoey, I think it's my duty to be obnoxious on Halloween with funny props! I still like that clucking chicken but some people got annoyed. I don't get that! I promise I'll do a photo.

Ha ha Phillip! No offense taken. She and I are of the same era (she's older of course!)and we both have that generic blond haircut common to women of a certain age. She long ago stole my favorite phrase "It's a good thing", and I haven't been able to utter it since!

Bob, glad you got a chuckle out of it! Happy Halloween!

Anonymous said...

Great costumes! Very creative, I'm impressed! ~A :-)

Anonymous said...

What clever costumes! Did you get the props first and work around them? I can't wait to see what you came up with this year.

KC MO Garden Guy said...

You look marvelous in your costumes. I don’t have that much imagination when it comes to costumes so I find a way out of it if possible. Thanks for sharing!!

Unknown said...

These are so clever and fun, and you're obviously having such a great time in all the photos. I can't remember the last time I dressed up, but it was probably when my son was still trick-or-treating--and he's 21 now. Where DOES our sense of play get to???

LostRoses said...

Angela, desperation is the mother of invention!

Dianne, it works both ways. Sometimes I find the prop first and that inspires me. I've sworn off big-time garage sale shopping, so that's slowed me down a bit!

Cliff, I don't blame you for opting out. But hey, you could always go as a gardener! Bet you have the props for that.

Jodi, I've said before that a big office with staff in cubicles is a lot like a kindergarten (but without the naps), so sometimes we have to act like kids too!

MrBrownThumb said...

What a riot!

Thanks for sharing the pics. My favorite has to be the lion tamer because of the tiny chair.

LOL!

Anonymous said...

So many great costumes for Halloween! Happy Halloween my friend!

Mary said...

Oh, Mary. You are a beautiful lady :o)

I think everyone should arrive at work dressed for Halloween and the fun of it all! My office doesn't even mention it, nor do they bring in candy like I do.

My favorite year was the time I dressed as Mimi, Drew Carey's itch. Everyone at the office came to hear me call them "pig".

I just loved this post!

LostRoses said...

mrbrownthumb, THANK YOU! Hardly anyone at work understood the chair. They must not use them nowadays in lion acts!

Mon@rch, I still remember the funny pic of you chained to your computer!

Mary, I can't quite see you as Mimi, but what fun to be able to amuse your co-workers by calling them "pig"! Well, at least you keep up the Halloween spirit by bringing in the candy. Someone's got to do it! Thanks for your nice comments.

Rosemarie said...

I love adults who love Halloween just as much as the kids do! Keep it going!

Bev said...

Finally having a few minutes to catch up on my favorite blogs, I certainly had a treat looking at yours! Lost Roses, you are just TOO funny and TOO creative! I really needed a laugh today and thank you very much.

LostRoses said...

Rosemarie, someone has to do it!

Bev, glad you got a laugh when you needed it. I aim to please!

Kerri said...

You're just a big kid at heart, aren't you? And a very creative one! I love all these costumes!! Your latest one is scary Mary :) I hope you didn't scare the dear grandchildren.
BTW, I love that picture of your grandson. What a cutie!

LostRoses said...

Kerri, the older grandchildren looked at me as though I'd lost my mind (instead of my head) and the twin 1-year-olds would have nothing to do with me. Can't say as I blame them! That's grandson number 2 in the photo, he is a real darling at three years old.