The Derek Forbes Blog

I've been a fan of Simple Minds for years--since high school when "Once Upon a Time" came out. Anyway, the main bass player from Simple Minds has his own blog here on Blogspot, and it is aptly named, The Derek Forbes Blog. Seems he's got himself a new band named A Few Good Men and they're touring in the UK. As a side note, Mel Gaynor is their drummer, and Mick MacNeil is their keyboardist: they were both part of Simple Minds, too.

Mississippi Trip

I took a short trip to Ocean Springs, Mississippi, this past weekend. I'm part of the worship team at my church's contemporary service, and since it was Youth Sunday back at the church, we drove down to St. Paul's United Methodist Church to perform for them. I was thinking that it was going to be a bigger event than it turned out to be, but by the comments that were made to us after the performance Saturday night it sounded like we were greatly appreciated! As far as I know, the show was not recorded so you can't hear just how awesome we were (and me, particularly)! :-)

Halloween Costumes

OK, so in this picture there are two home made costumes and one store bought costume. Ella's costume was lovingly made by my mother--several years ago for Madeline. It has been used almost every year since on each of the girls (which ever one would fit it). Madeline's witch costume was purchased. Emmie's costume (Jasmine) was made by me. Well, mostly... Melissa told me what she wanted, and I sat down at the sewing machine--the same one that I watched my mom sew on back in Junior High and High School--and sewed it. I started with a pair of sweat pants (it was a cool evening) and cut some shiny fabric out in the same shape as the legs, only bigger (I was going for the "poofy" effect, but didn't quite attain it). Then I sewed one leg, then the other, then sewed them together. Next I sewed them at the ankles, adding the bling (the shiny medallions hanging down), then I sewed them at the waist. Next I cut a waist band, sewed it into a sock, and then sewed it onto the waist (again, adding the bling--you can never have too much bling if you're a 3-year-old!). It turned out really cute, I though (and not a bad freshman effort, IMHO). When we returned from trick or treating, the crotch had split--I guess I didn't add enough wiggle room! 

So Melissa went out and bought new pumpkin carving tools, and they were the fancy kind--the kind that comes with a book of patterns. And then I asked Madeline to pick out a pattern that she liked. She had to pick out the most difficult one! I don't think I've ever taken so long to carve a pumpkin before, but you can see the result above. I thought it was pretty cool, though if you look closely you can see parts breaking off...I didn't even notice until I took a look at the picture. I made a copy of the book's pattern before carving the pumpkin so that it can be reused in the future. However, I think I'll steer Madeline (or Emmie or Ella) away from the most difficult ones next year!