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Where the Hell is Matt?

November 5th, 2008 · dave, random

Allright, before anybody goes postal at the title of this post, you’ve gotta realize this is Dave. This isn’t one of Dave’s cool video game posts. Even the ladies will like this video…

First, you should read who Matt is from his own website (www.wherethehellismatt.com):

Matt is a 32-year-old deadbeat from Connecticut who used to think that all he ever wanted to do in life was make and play videogames. Matt achieved this goal pretty early and enjoyed it for a while, but eventually realized there might be other stuff he was missing out on. In February of 2003, he quit his job in Brisbane, Australia and used the money he’d saved to wander around Asia until it ran out. He made this site so he could keep his family and friends updated about where he is.

A few months into his trip, a travel buddy gave Matt an idea. They were standing around taking pictures in Hanoi, and his friend said “Hey, why don’t you stand over there and do that dance. I’ll record it.” He was referring to a particular dance Matt does. It’s actually the only dance Matt does. He does it badly. Anyway, this turned out to be a very good idea.

A couple years later, someone found the video online and passed it to someone else, who passed it to someone else, and so on. Now Matt is quasi-famous as “That guy who dances on the internet. No, not that guy. The other one. No, not him either. I’ll send you the link. It’s funny.”

The response to the first video brought Matt to the attention of the nice people at Stride gum. They asked Matt if he’d be interested in taking another trip around the world to make a new video. Matt asked if they’d be paying for it. They said yes. Matt thought this sounded like another very good idea.

For your viewing pleasure, I give you Matt…

Where the Hell is Matt?

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008)

Where the Hell are Matt’s Outtakes

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Costume Voting

November 4th, 2008 · a day in the life, random

Well, the voting for the costume contest has ended.

I am tied with 5 others for first place, with an average score of 9.5… meaning that the winner will be selected by a panel of judges and announced sometime tomorrow. Thanks everyone for your votes!

Keeping my fingers crossed,

-Tina

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Costumes: A breakdown of costs and materials

November 4th, 2008 · a day in the life, bridget, dave, family, random, tina

A lot of people have asked me how much it cost me to make these costumes. And honestly, I hadn’t kept very good track. I went into the project estimating that it’d cost me between $300 and $400, and planning to enter as many costume contests as I could to hopefully recoup the amount I’d spend.

Such was the plan from the beginning. Such is still the plan.
As luck (and last minute timing) would have it, I wasn’t finished in time to enter 2 of the costume contests I’d hoped. Both with $500 prizes. Those will have to wait for next year. Alas!

At any rate, since the inquiries were coming, I thought I’d look at my bank statements for the last 3 months and figure out just how much I did spent. The figure was a little bit shocking, even for me…

Here is the breakdown. Each entry represents one trip to the store (in person or online). Listed are the store name, the amount spent, and as estimated list of items purchased in that trip. I may have overlooked some smaller items in my listings, and I may have mixed up some of my Wal-Mart shopping trips – please forgive me.

STORE AMT SPENT..
 FOR WHAT?
Smith/Edwards $83.54 Foam
ZIMS $15.38 FUR (SALE: 2 yards, blue)
JoAnn’s $18.40 Green Fleece
Shopko $19.09 Exercise Ball
Wal-Mart $15.47 Brushes, Contact Cement, corn starch
Kmart $6.37 Hula Hoops (never used them)
Wal-Mart $8.63 Acrylic paint
JoAnn’s $15.96 Felt, Vinyl
Wal-Mart $43.95 Purple fabric, black fur, acrylics, foam balls
Wal-Mart $22.05 Acrylic paint, thread, velcro, yarn, needles
JoAnn’s $13.57 Foam balls, white fabric (Boo’s arms)
Mendel’s $125.66 FUR (blue/purple)
Lowes $6.90 Toilet hoses (Boo’s eyes)
Home Depot $10.02 Hard Hat, spray paint
Lowes $38.83 Green Paint, Roofing sealant, brushes
Wal-Mart $1.96 Brushes
Wal-Mart $16.57 Elastic, paint, thread
JoAnn’s $38.67 Fabric Paint, Batting, Pillow forms
Kmart $18.50 Ball (Mikes Eye)
We Love Colors.. $49.00 Tights
Lowes $5.19 Brushes
TOTAL $573.71

If the word “Ouch” comes to mind, I completely understand. I knew that the foam and the fur were pretty expensive, but its amazing how all of the other smaller purchases worked together to add up to so much. *Sigh*

Maybe I shouldn’t have looked up the total. Ha. At any rate, if I banter you all for votes on costume contests, please understand. I’ll have to win quite a few of these things before I’d be MAKING any money. So, I do appreciate your assistance in that regard.

As a reminder for the contest that I mentioned before, http://www.sugarloot.com/entry/953760721, voting ends today at 12:00 p.m. Eastern. So please vote if you haven’t. Also, a second contest begins voting on the 10th of this month. If I am among the finalists for that contest I’ll probably be hitting you up for more votes…. sorry, and thanks in advance.

NEXT… materials.
In addition to asking how much these costumes cost, I’ve had a lot of people ask HOW I made them. Since I was flying by the seat of my pants most of the time and since aside of the massive number of pictures you’ve seen I didn’t document anything, and since there are DEFINITELY things I’d change/do differently should I do this again… the “how” of the whole process is a bit vague.

But I can tell you WHAT I used. (Note: This list is only mostly comprehensive, I reserve the right to forget something)
Boo Costume

  • Foam Rubber
  • Contact Cement
  • Chip brushes
  • Purple Fabric
  • Spray Adhesive
  • White blanket fabric with raised dots on it
  • Hot Glue
  • Black Duct Tape
  • Popsicle sticks
  • 2 toilet hoses, 6 inches in length
  • 2 3″ foam balls
  • Paper mache (water and corn starch)
  • Newspaper
  • Acrylic paint (White and black)
  • Purple yarn
  • Elastic
  • Velcro
  • Suspenders
  • 2 dollar store mops
  • Black permanent marker
  • Tacky Glue

Mike Wasowski Costume

  • Foam Rubber
  • Contact Cement
  • Elastomeric Roofing Sealant
  • Chip brushes
  • Paper mache (water and corn starch)
  • Newspaper
  • Green latex paint
  • Exercise ball
  • Kids bouncy ball (approx 12″)
  • Spray paint (white, black, blue)
  • Primer
  • Lime Green Fleece
  • White felt
  • Acrylic paints (lime green, white, black, blue, dark green, toffee, turquoise, yellow)
  • Elastic
  • Velcro
  • Neon Green opaque tights (2 pair)
  • Hot Glue
  • Super Glue
  • Spray Adhesive
  • Black Duct Tape
  • Aluminum screening
  • Nylon rope
  • Black pantyhose, leotard

Sulley Costume

  • Balloons
  • Paper mache (water and corn starch)
  • Newspaper
  • Spray adhesive
  • Foam Rubber
  • Contact Cement
  • Chip brushes
  • Turquoise Shag Fur, 1″
  • Purple Shag Fur, 1″
  • Black Fur, low pile
  • Masking Tape
  • Black Duct Tape
  • Acrylic Paints (Turquoise, white, black, dark blue, sky blue, yellow)
  • Dark Brown shoe polish
  • Brown felt
  • Fiber-Fill batting
  • Aluminum screening
  • Pillow forms
  • Elastic
  • Velcro
  • Vinyl
  • Blue t-shirt
  • Pillowcase
  • Standard size pillow (approx. 20×26″)
  • 3″ foam ball, cut in half

Of course all of them required the use of a sewing machine, scissors, electric knife, needles, etc… The items listed above are all consumables.

I started building these costumes on Labor Day, with the help of my sweet father. We spent 9 hours that day alone. Through most of September I only worked a few hours a couple of days a week. By October I knew I wouldn’t make it if I didn’t pick up the pace. So it was 2-3 hours daily through the beginning of October… then 3-6 hours a day… By the week before Halloween I was easily spending 8-10 hours a day.

That week was sheer chaos, and I owe a lot of people a huge debt of gratitude.THANK YOU!!! Thanks Michelle for taking my daughter more than once and for helping with the paper mache. Thanks Sandra, Emily, and Andrea for letting my girl come play so I could get stuff done. Thanks Dave, Alice, and Chris for letting me put you to work on various parts of the project. Thanks Dad, and thanks Dixie for coming up to help me. And thanks to everyone else who put up with me, my lack of blogging, and my over abundance of stress.

My house is almost put back together again… we are almost back to normal life around here (if we ever were normal that is). So plan on hearing from me soon on other blog-worthy topics that have otherwise been pushed aside in all the mayhem.

Until then here are more costume/Halloween related pictures.

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More costumes…

October 31st, 2008 · a day in the life, bridget, dave, domestic attempts, family, random, tina

UPDATE:
I entered a costume contest online. PLEASE click on the link and vote for us! Thanks!!
http://www.sugarloot.com/entry/953760721
Please also pass on the link. The more the merrier! We need all the votes we can get. Voting ends November 4th. THANKS!!

Well, the costumes are finished. Or at least mostly finished. Dave and I were up really late last night and I was still sewing at 3:30 this afternoon… BUT, they are done and we wore them.Things didn’t turn out as perfectly in some areas as I’d like, but I was running out of time. There are a few things I’d like to change/fix before next year. But, all in all, I am pretty pleased with the results. I’ll report on the events of Halloween day soon, but in the meantime here is the final costume progress report!

First, The finished costumes:

And the process…

Mike…

Trying things on. We decided to make the visible location be just under the hat. We installed a grill there to mask my face.

Painting the body green.

Yup, its green.

Hands…

Coating foam cutouts of teeth, lips, and eyebrows with a roofing sealant (to seal the pours and prevent the paint from absorbing into the foam). The main portion of the body was also cover with this prior to painting.

The eyeball. Phase I.

Hat and eyeball painted.

Lips and eyelids attached and painted. Negative space in the mouth painted black.

The feet…

Trying things on again. Imagine green tights, arms, feet, and hands.

Nylon head. I used black pantyhose to hold my hair back so it didn’t poke out the top all over.

Sulley…

Revisiting the eyes and teeth. I repainted the eyes, they just didn’t look right. And rounded and yellowed the teeth, just a bit.

Using scrap foam to build up shoulder pads. We were out of big pieces.

Shoulder pads with the head. Getting there…

Cutting the legs. It was SCARY to cut this fur… I had to order online from a place in San Francisco at $25/yard. So its expensive, and I can’t replace it locally. Oh, and no pattern. Very intimidating.

Back panels sewn together, adding spikes and the tail.

Trying things on. Legs sewn in, sides still need stitching…

Halloween morning… Really, REALLY early.
12:55 a.m. : Sewing up the shoulders and adding the neck hole.

1:12 a.m. : Trying it on with the shoulder pads.

We stayed up until 3:00 a.m. And then I got up at 7:00 to finish the arms.
This was taken at 8:20 a.m. this morning when Bridget woke up.

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Report: This weekend’s costume progress

October 27th, 2008 · a day in the life, bridget, dave, domestic attempts, random, tina

Just thought I’d share what I got done on the costumes this weekend…

Sulley…
Cutting and pinning the tail. Just prior to sewing time.

Bridget helping me stuff the sewn tail with batting.

The tail. All done and ready to attach to the body.

Dave trying things on. We also measured him for shoulder padding and padding inside the head. SOME of the padding was added and glued together.

Sulley so far. I don’t know if you can tell, but I revisited the hands… added nails and painted the vinyl turquoise to more closely match the fur. I also rounded out the teeth a little.

Shoe covers, stage I.

Mike…
Dave helping me to shape the foam around the paper mache globe. Making it rounded is harder than it looks. Thank goodness for a talented engineering-minded husband!

Shaping and gluing the seams.

Projecting the face onto the foam shape so I can outline the location of the mouth and eye.

Traced. Also looking at the hard hat idea… perhaps a traditional sized hard hat is too small for his head though. SIGH!

I am still a bit behind though. I had hoped to get Sulley’s feet completely finished, and to touch up the paint job on his face… also this weekend. Still holding my breath that I’ll get done by Halloween.

THANKS though to Emily who took Bridget to the Pumpkin Walk on Friday, so I could get stuff done. I owe you big time!

I may try to update my progress once more before Halloween… we’ll see how it goes. Otherwise, hopefully all will get finished and you guys will be able to see the finished product soon!!

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Costumes

October 24th, 2008 · a day in the life, bridget, dave, domestic attempts, family, random, tina

As some of you may know, we decided to be Monsters Inc. characters for Halloween this year.

For more than a year now people have told us that Bridget looks like Boo from Monsters Inc., so we thought it would be a fun thing to do.
You may remember my previous post, and the call for help from Fabric people.

Well, things are moving along.

But I am WAY BEHIND.
With a week left to Halloween, I don’ know if I’ll make it.

Anyway, I thought I would show you my progress so far…

Boo – Bridget’s costume
This one is basically done. If I have time there are a couple of things I’d like to fix/adjust on it. Otherwise, totally wearable!

Foam cylinders with arm holes…

The head is scored, so the top can be rounded.

Body. Cut and covered in purple material, then reassembled.

The head… 2 dollar store mops, 2 sink hoses from Lowes, and 2 four-inch Styrofoam balls

Body assembled, and arms added.

First wear with arms…

Teeth added, and feet covers…

Mike – Tina’s costume
This one still has A LONG WAY TO GO. I’ve barely started it… Sigh!

Foam shaped around a large exercise ball.

Exercise ball, paper machae-d. Intended to be placed in the foam to help hold its shape.

Sully – Dave’s costume
I think I can, I think I can… chugging along on this one. Lots of progress, but still lots to do. Haven’t started sewing the body suit yet.

I know… this one looks kind of alien-ish. Lol. It was hard for me to envision the finished head at this stage.

Um… did we just make a clown?!?!

Teeth…

More teeth, and hollowing out the eye sockets…

This one will give me nightmares…. Scary!

Getting there… Notice all the fur stuck to my shirt. The stuff was EVERYWHERE.

This is what happens when spray adhesive meets shag fur. It was a pain to work with at times.

Ta Da! Still needs some finishing touches, but the head is just about done! Hooray!
(Dave will be looking out the mouth. His face will be concealed with black metal screening)

The back…

Side view…

The hands (gloves), Part I

Hands, Part II

As you can see much has been done, but much work is still needed. I feel like the little engine that could… “I think I can, I think I can…”

I find that I spend between 3 and 6 hours a day on these things lately. My dining room regularly looks like this:

And my poor family eats many of their meals on a corner of the table while being starred down by a giant paper-mache head (among other things). Everyone is anxious to have the kitchen/dining room back, and to have a less frazzled wife/mother. Ha! …why do I do these things to myself.

Anyway, not only have these things consumed my time and my dining room, but they are costing quite a bit. I will say that I did expect the price tag, but still… Anyway, I figure I’ll enter every costume contest I can find and see if I can’t earn back everything I’ve spent. Wish me luck! (And feel free to send me any contest links you know of).

Oh… and if anyone wants to play with a two-year old… I’m sure she’d much rather visit her friends than watch me neglect her for these costumes. Or… if anyone is feeling especially crafty or bored, and wants to help… Haha. Um… Seriously.

I better stop there. Costumes to make. Messes to make.
“I think I can… I think I can…”

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Caramel Apples

October 20th, 2008 · a day in the life, bridget, food, tina

Last week Bridget and I made caramel apples.

She helped me melt the caramel in the pan, and we dipped them in and drizzled some chocolate, or rolled them in nuts.

And after we finished…
We dipped our fingers in the leftover melted chocolate and then in the nuts. And we licked the caramel spoon clean.

Yum. Yum.

We made a sticky mess of ourselves and probably had way too much junk food, but it was great fun!


The caramel apples turned out good too!!

Is it obvious that we enjoyed ourselves? ‘Tis the season, right!

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10,000 Words

October 17th, 2008 · a day in the life, bridget, family, random

I haven’t done a post like this for awhile. Since I have far more pictures than I have time to write about them, I thought it would be a great opportunity.

They say a picture is worth 1,000 words. Here are ten.
I added captions… but what do they say to you???

“I can do it myself”

“School is in session”
Bridget setup school for her PEZ dispensers. Notice the teachers… Ariel and Eric (not PEZ). LOL!

“Flag Day”

“Rub-A-Dub-Dub”
Bridget wanted to help clean the tub.

“Concentration”
 This is Daddy’s ‘train game’ – its a mind/puzzle type game where you have to figure out how to get the red engine out. We set up some pretty easy ones for Bridget. She loves it!

“Mad Lacing Skills”

“Our Family”

“Puppy Love” or “Lucy is my brother”

“Conference Sunday Nap”
Yes, we really fell asleep this way. One minute we were reading books, the next… Dave came and took our picture.

“Trains and PEZ”
I guess PEZ dispensers really like trains… or so I’ve been told.

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Thanksgiving

October 13th, 2008 · a day in the life, domestic attempts, family, food, random

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving Everyone!!

In Canada Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October (today). Since my husband served his mission in British Columbia we decided it would be a fun tradition to celebrate the holiday.

Dave’s parents came up last night and we had a mini Thanksgiving feast! I spent the morning making turkey, pumpkin pie, pumpkin roll, candied yams, mashed potatoes, and gravy. We also had corn & broccoli, and Yorkshire Puddings (a required addition to any Canadian feast). Dave’s parents brought up a green bean casserole and some rolls. We ate ourselves silly. It was tons of fun.

I forgot to take pictures tough. You’ll just have to imagine it.

….

As for my lack of posts recently… I am sorry.
I’ve been moonlighting as a costume designer and not much else has happened around here the past couple of weeks.

Please forgive me. And plan on seeing a post with the costumes (as they are so far) coming soon!

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High School Tag & Quirky Tag

October 8th, 2008 · high school, random, tina

High School Tag
I saw this on Amber’s blog and thought it might be fun. If any of the rest of you feel like remembering a bit of your High School days, feel free to do this too!

1. Did you date someone from your High School? I dated a boy from my High School a bit during my senior year. My husband also attended my High School – I didn’t date him back then though. But I did marry him later.

2. What kind of car did you drive? During my junior year I purchased a Dodge Omni. I named it Diane (because the previous owner, Diane, had a dashboard mat made for the car with her name stitched in – so that became my car’s name.)

3. Did you pass your Driver’s License test on the first try? Nope. I failed twice before passing. The first time I drove over the painted train track lines on the driving range (at my High School) without stopping. The second time I was at the DMV on their driving range, can’t remember what I did that time. I eventually got my license though. lol!

4. Were you a Party Animal? Not really. I was a bit on the nerdy side, so the only “parties” I attended were things like cast parties… yes, I was in theater.

5. Were you a flirt? Maybe on occasion. With some people maybe. Not overly flirty though.

6. Were you in Band, Orchestra or Choir? No. No. No. I took band in Junior High, but didn’t in High School. Kinda wish I’d stuck with it.

7. Were you a nerd? Yes. And No. There were others nerdier than I, but… okay, yes I probably was. Ha! I hung out with a lot of nerds too.

8. Were you on any Varsity Teams? Hahahahaaa.. Um, no.

9. Did you get Suspended or Expelled? Nope.

10. Can you still sing the Fight Song? The first verse. I think my husband can remember the whole thing though.

11. Who were your favorite teachers? My AP English teacher, my theater teacher, and my debate coach were among some of my favorites. I think I more or less got along well with all of them though.

12. Where did you sit during Lunch? I don’t remember having any special place. Just in the lunch room. I do remember eating bagged lunch in the hall with Michelle and Jenny when the lunch room was being remodeled.

13. What was the name of your school? Clearfield High

14. What was the mascot and school colors? Falcon, Green and White.

15. Did you go to Homecoming? I don’t think I went my sophomore year. But I did Junior and Senior.

16. If you could go back and do it all over again, would you? I might. I don’t think I’d change anything though. Just relive it a little.

17. What do you remember most about Graduation? The after party… a friend of mine had a seisure or something, and a few of us spent a good portion of the night in the corner with her trying to bring her around. Eventually an ambulance came.

18. Where did you go on your Senior Skip day? Lagoon. I don’t know if it was really a “skip day” though. It seems like it was sponsored.

19. Were you in any Clubs? Drama, FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America), Writing (I think that’s what it was called), Debate, and… seems like there was one more. My yearbooks are all packed up somewhere or I’d look it up.

20. Have you gained some weight since then? Um. Yea.

21. Who was your Prom Date? We didn’t have “Prom” ours was called Cotillion. I went with the boy I was dating/”in to” at the time, Derrick.

22. Are you planning to go to your 10 year reunion? Yep! I look forward to seeing everyone again.

23. Did you have a job while in High School? I worked at Playtown, Macey’s, and seasonally at a Christmas tree lot. Not all at the same time, just over the course of my High School years.

Quirky Tag
My friend, Michelle, tagged me for this one last week.The rules: Tell about 6 quirks of yours. Tag a few of your fellow bloggers to do the same.
.

  1. I have to have the sheets straightened when I go to bed. If the bed didn’t get made during the day, I have to fix the sheets/blankets before I climb in or I can’t sleep. It drives my husband nuts.
  2. I hate being interrupted in the kitchen. If I’m cooking and trying to multi task in there it drives me nuts to have someone in my path.
  3. The toilet paper roll must roll from the top.
  4. I always put my wedding ring in its jewelry box before I climb in bed.
  5. I can’t leave the dishes for the next day. If the dishwasher hasn’t been started (and it needs to be) then I can’t sleep.
  6. I can’t drink milk that is past the date, even by one day. I have similar issues with bread.

I tag the first 5 people to read this post! Do both, or pick one.

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