Happy Halloween from Us and Lars

Happy Halloween!  We had such a great Halloween weekend and we hope you did too.

There was a lot of pressure to really do something that would top last year's costumes, both ours and Lars'.  It took us a long while, but we finally figured out on Saturday morning what we wanted to be for Halloween.

Notice that Lee has duct taped his keys to his costume because he didn't have any pockets.

Um...what the heck are we?

We're Super Duct Tape Man and Super Duct Tape Woman!  Yup, it's all duct tape (and a few other things). My best friend did something similar to this in high school and it's been a good back-up costume idea.

Check out Lee's 8-pack!  He had to do so many sit-ups for those abs!

Some facts that might be helpful if you want to make your own Super Hero Duct Tape costume:

• It took 2 1/2 rolls of duct tape (about 120 yards) and close to 4 hours to put both costumes together. 
• Get old clothes and cut them to the style you want.  I wanted pointy shoulders, so I cut the shirt that way.  Lee used a pair of old basketball shorts that were way too big for him.
• I made my "skirt" out of a strip of cloth and duct taped it together over a pair of gray shorts.  
• The capes are just pieces of cloth covered in duct tape.
• Lee's sandals are made of cardboard and duct tape.  I covered an old pair of flats that were trashed. 
• I kept a roll of duct tape at my side just in case--it looked like a lasso!
• We duct taped a couple of masks that we bought at Michael's for $2 each. You can cut the eye holes wider if necessary.
• Because there is no give in duct tape, it will be awfully hard to get your head through that tiny neck hole.  We cut a slit up the backs of our shirts, put them on, then taped ourselves in. The capes cover up the slits rather nicely. 
• Tights are always a nice touch for a super hero.  I used some hounds tooth tights I bought last year, and Lee used some long thermal underwear.
• Duct tape is not breathable--expect to be warm!

And this is Lars costume:

All wrapped up--Lars, the garden gnome

Some of you readers guessed his costume correctly--a mummy!  He's so cute!

Lars' cute face peaking out

A few facts about Lars' costume if you wanted to dress up your garden gnome as a mummy:

• We bought less than a yard of really cheap muslin at Joann's.
• Tear off strips of fabric--it makes it look more authentic.
• Start wrapping!  Then tie off and tuck the ends wherever you can.

We'll continue to do remont with some paint and sealant so Lars is as-good-as-new and weather-proof!

Have fun and be a safe!  Happy Halloween!

Part 2: "Remont"

This is a continuation of our story started at Part 1: A Summertime Accident.

Poor Lars. What will we do with you?

Well, I'll tell you what we decided to do.

We decided to do "remont" on Lars. 

Remont is a Russian word (pronounced "ree-mont"). As some of you know, Lee and I lived in Russia for a time, and we both love this word.

It roughly translates to "remodel" or "repair".  But you can use it in so many different contexts. 

Obviously, you can do remont on your home or on a building.

You can remont your clothes if you've torn something.

Did you know you can even remont your nose if it happens to be crooked?

It's so versatile!

I envisioned that we'd wrap up Lars' hat and cover his gaping head wound with Plaster of Paris, so that it's be a little flat stump on top. I also figured that maybe we could just break off the bits around his feet that were making him lean and maybe fashion something for his base.

Lee envisioned just putting Lars back together. Like a puzzle.

Which is what he did.

With our handy-dandy hot glue gun.

This was done, of course, after we argued for a minute about how it should be done.

Lee was right. Lars could be put back together again!  (Well, mostly--his hat was missing a few bits.)

And Lee let me do my Plaster of Paris thing too.

So that Lars would be more stable.

Look--he doesn't have a stump of a hat! 

He looks pretty good!  I think Lee and I could become Plaster of Paris surgeons!

So, now that Lars is whole, guess what we're going to dress him up as for Halloween?

Look out for Part 3: Lars' Halloween Costume '11 soon!

Part 1: A Summertime Accident

Update:  Thanks to everyone who voted for us in the Claussen Pickles "Conquer the Cold" contest. We still don't know if we've won or not, but we'll keep you updated.  Now back to our regularly scheduled program...

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Gosh, it was chilly this morning, wasn't it?  But I'm glad it's fall--I tend to like the "transition" seasons. 

I generally do not like the summer time.  Weird, huh?  A lot has to do with how busy summer is.  I always think that summer should be relaxing and chill, but it never turns out that way. 

This summer was particularly rough for a few reasons.

Remember this guy?  It's Lars--our garden gnome.

Lars in profile--so distinguished!

There was an accident this summer.

This summer, we arrived home from work and noticed that Lars was tipped over in our garden. Then we noticed he was broken on both ends.

Just look at his base--he can't stand up straight!

I lean, says Lars.

And his red hat...smashed!

Look at the size of that hole--I could plant a flower in his head!

Rewind to two and a half years ago:  I was delighted when Lee had given me Lars as a Mother's Day gift.  Lars quickly became a part of our family.  We made him a costume for Halloween last year. We helped him through a tough time earlier this year.  Heck, our friends would ask us how Lars was doing!

And here he was in our garden--toppled, broken, smashed! Just like my sentimental heart!

How could this happen?  Who did this? Why would anyone do something this mean to an innocent garden gnome? we asked ourselves.  

Broken Lars

I couldn't quite figure out how Lars was broken on both sides--did Lars get body slammed? Was Lars dropped on his head, THEN dropped on his stump? Did they try to quarter him?!?

We gathered up Lars and his broken bits and opened our screen door.  This was taped to our front door.

The confession note

One of the kids in our neighborhood had written the note. 

Because the note was signed by the culprit and included her dad's name and phone number, we decided to chat with them and walked over to their place around the corner. The dad called his daughter to the door and together we figured out payment for the damage done to our garden gnome.  Despite being way bummed, I was grateful that this dad was showing his daughter how to be responsible for one's actions.

So, Lars sat indoors for a long time, because we didn't know what to do with him.

We just couldn't go and replace him--he's irreplaceable! Plus, there are some scary/goofy/dumb-looking garden gnomes in stores nowadays. 

But he was pretty busted up.  We didn't know what to do...

Sad Lars, our broken garden gnome

...until we started thinking about how we dressed him up last year for Halloween.  That's Part 2 of our story!

Tune in tomorrow, folks!

Help! We're so close to Iceland!

You know the Claussen Pickles "Conquer the Cold" photography contest we entered not too long ago? (If you don't remember, go here to read all about it.)

Well, we'd like to announce that both Lee and I ended up being chosen as finalists!

Woot woot!

That means we're competing against 8 other people to win that trip to Iceland on Facebook.

We need your help now...and for the next 2 weeks!

Starting October 10 till October 24, you can vote once a day for one of our pictures.

Here are our finalist pictures.

Lee is rocking the muskrat hat (note: vote for this picture):

And somehow, this picture of me with snowshoes got in over the bear pelt pics (don't vote for this pic):

Anyway, because we're trying to pool our once-daily votes, please ONLY vote for Lee's picture of the saluting bearded Russian.  DO NOT vote for my picture!

You can vote here once a day till October 24.

We ask you to help send us to Iceland!

Thank you in advance!

UPDATE:

Please go here to sign up and vote!

http://apps.facebook.com/claussjourn/splash.do

Dashing and Dining!

Guess where we were this weekend?  More to come!