Donations Welcome

I'm looking into contacting my bank to see if they offer a low interest loan for parent's of middle schoolers. Mine is bleeding me dry.

Myles has outgrown every piece of clothing from last year including his winter coat. And, to make matters worse, he has decided that Target is not the coolest place to find his winter wardrobe and is demanding name brand clothing. (I knew this day was coming, I have just been trying to delay it as long as possible.)

He wanted to play fall baseball this year and even though it was a HUGE expense, I decided to let him do it. Of course, he loved it. Now, he's planning to play basketball this season and his first team meeting is on Monday. Guess what? He has to have basketball shoes and dress clothes.

This past weekend he was invited to go to a lock-in with a friend of his. That was $35. He had planned to attend the first middle school dance yesterday. Another $5. (He ended up not going. So, quite a hefty savings I got there.) But, he did attend every single home football game and required refreshments from the concession stand, so savings cancelled out.

Now, next weekend, he has been invited to go to a Kansas City Chiefs game with a friend of his. That is going to be super fun for him and I couldn't deny him the opportunity, but more expense.

All of this is coupled with Savannah's elementary school needs like Cheer Night, food drive, classroom parties and activities. And she needed a Halloween costume.

She had initially decided to be an iPod, which was going to be such an easy costume to make, but about 2 weeks ago, she changed her mind and wanted to be a devil. A store bought devil. (Crap)

But, while out searching for her costume, she found this rocker girl costume and liked it even better.

But it cost $35 and was made out of the crappiest costume material available. I thought, we could definitely make this for less than $35. (Of course, I forgot that my free time available for such a project was microscopic.) So, when Savannah's friend's mom sent me a message on Thursday asking if Savannah would like to spend the night at their house on Saturday and then go to the trick or treat event at the zoo on Sunday, I nearly had a panic attack. My main problem was that I couldn't find a jean skirt anywhere in the entire city that would make her costume any less expensive. Plus we were going to be cutting slits in it.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Until I stumbled upon a website with step by step instructions on how to turn a pair of jeans into a jean skirt. It only took me two tries to get it looking right, but I did it. And it really didn't take much time at all.

Then, we hand dyed some gauze, sewed it onto the front of a black tshirt, and cut out the spooky face. We found an old stocking cap, cut it up and stitched it back up with purple stitches. And Voila. A zombie rocker.

And, she's even got the zombie walk mastered.

She has black hairspray and face paint to be added for the full zombie effect, but I'll post the completed look on Halloween.

As for the Middle School Parenting loan, I'll let you know if I find anything out. Or, if you'd like to make a donation to my cause, I can send you my paypal information. :)