For my daughter’s first Halloween costume we thought long and hard about what she should be. I was adamant that I should make the costume, which meant that it would have to be something I could actually do. Happily we saw a video about an artist working with a snow owl on a photoshoot. From there, we quickly decided on a snow owl for our little one. I’d seen other owl costumes, mostly brown and gray owls, so this wouldn’t be too hard to adapt.

First, I purchased a long sleeved onesie, a yard of white felt, white yarn, and a square of yellow and black felt. I cut out feathers from the white felt in rows and sewed them to the bodice of the onesie, then drew and cut out felt wings. I stitched on arm bands then cut out and sewed rows of feathers to the wings. For the head, I crocheted a round hat and chin strap. I think cut out a series of circles and half moons to make big yellow eyes rimmed in black with white half lids over the top and big black pupils gazing out. Setting the eyes just right took some practice. The tilt sets the expression, so it has to be just right. I used fabric glue to put all the pieces together, then I hand stitched it all together while the glue while still wet so I could get the needle through all of the layers easily. I folded a piece of black felt and cut the beak in the shape of the tip of a quill pen, then sewed it in the middle, level between the eyes.

Lastly, we have white tights and yellow socks to complete the outfit. I can’t wait until Halloween to show off our little snow owl. I’m glad I started early enough to have time to pull it all together. Did you know that you can get cash for structured settlement payments? I wouldn’t put that off, if you’re in need of a cash infusion right now. I would sell my annuity and take care of my needs now.

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Last weekend, I was delighted to be invited to participate in a Dia de los Muertos, Day of the Dead, tradition. My friend had made sugar skulls, three-dimensional skulls cast out of sugar and meringue in a two-part mold. She had some the size of a fist and some that were about the size of a biscuit.

Once set up they are hard as a rock and, while made from food, completely inedible. We each brought trinkets for our skulls. Our hostess whipped up royal icing in bright colors. With our icing decorating bags, fake jewels, and shiny bits we transformed our plain sugar skulls into festive decorations! I brought a large flower and hot pink tulle that became a headdress for my skull. I also added rhinestone eyes. The results were pretty fantastic.

Each culture develops its own rituals and traditions to explain and deal with life and death. Through this craft project, I enjoyed spending time with my friends and the activity of making something beautiful, if more than a little morbid. But, I think the point of thinking about death is to remind us to enjoy life. It’s like a reminder that if you have something that you’ve been putting off, you should take care of it now.

If you are thinking about how to sell structured settlements, you should talk to a buyer of structured settlement annuities about how to start the process today.

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Just in case you’ve run out of time and inspiration still hasn’t struck, here are a few simple Halloween costume ideas. They may be silly, but they beat showing up without a costume at all!

1. Partly cloudy. Start with a blue sweat suit, glue big puffs of cotton or cotton balls. There you have it! A blue sky with scattered clouds. Or, what about a gray sweatsuit with lightning painting across it? Pink with puffy cotton balls? Any sky permutation you can think of is open to you.

2. Celebrity. Add big sunglasses to a flashy dress or style yourself after a popular celeb. One year I carried a patch of red carpet around so I could strike a pose. I was going as Nicole Kidman the year that she won the Oscar, so I also carried a torn up picture of Tom Cruise.

3. Occupation. Doctor, nurse, fireman, teacher, any recognizable profession will do. You can borrow duds from a friend in the biz or make your own. Add kitten ears and you’re a cat doctor! Likewise, add zombie makeup and you’re a zombie doctor.

4. Childhood stories. Think about your favorite characters. How can you modernize? A friend of mine went as Little “Red” Riding Hood and carried a copy of Mao’s Red Book in the basket.

5. Be creative! Look around your house, browse the hardware store and the craft store. What do you see that could transform you into someone or something else for a night?

If you’re stuck in a rut with your finances too, you might want to talk to a buyer of structured settlement payments about how to sell annuity payments. It could be much easier than you think! No hot glue required.

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In the process of trying to find just the right costume for our little one, we looked at costume after costume. Apparently you can add a tutu to anything and call it a costume: a bee, a ladybug, a princess, a ballerina, a pumpkin? You can also add “princess” to any costume: princess cat, princess robot, princess ballerina, and princess ladybug.

For both boys and girls superhero capes, masks, and monogrammed tops are popular. Transform your little one into a hero that they can play year-round. There are some particularly clever (or cruel) costumes for tiny babies that involve baby carriers, strollers, or other travel accessories as part of the costume. A crawling or walking baby would never put up with constriction of the mermaid outfit. I guess it’s all about finding the costume that fits your child when the holiday rolls around. Matching the costume to the weather is important too. Plenty of costumes are warm and snuggly in case of a cool October night.

While we spend time thinking, planning, and making a costume for this single night it occurs to me that people should spend at least as much time on their finances. If you’ve neglected your money situation and find yourself in a scary place, you should find out more about how to get cash for structured settlement payments. A structured settlement buyer can take the “boo” out of the process and make sure things go smoothly.

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My project for tonight is to start on a Halloween costume for a baby. It has taken us weeks to narrow down our costume choices. Finally, we made a decision last night. I went to the store today and fired up the sewing machine tonight. It will probably take a few nights to finish it up properly, but I think it will be worth the effort, even though the baby will only wear it once and won’t it even know why this outfit it special.

Growing up, my mother always made our Halloween costumes. As a kid, I assumed it was because we had lots of kids and my parents avoided paying for anything that they didn’t have to. Our costumes were used year round as dress-up clothes. Of the four of us, there were always two of us close together in age and size, my mother would make two identical costumes which we would pass down from the oldest two of us, to the middle set, to the youngest two. After years in the play trunk, the dresses were in shreds—completely worn out. My favorite costumes were the blue satin princess dresses and the faux suede fringed Indian princess dresses.

My husband, on the other hand, wore plastic store-bought costumes for Halloween. In retrospect, I appreciate my mother’s skills and creativity. I hope to provide for my children in the same way. If you’ve bought fabric lately you probably know that it is rarely cheaper to make something compared to buying it off the shelf, but the results can be dramatically different. I’m making good progress on this little costume and I know it will be worth the time and effort.

If you’re making decisions based on money, instead of what you really think is important, you might want to talk to a buyer of structured settlement annuities about how to sell structured settlements. With cash in hand, you can make the kind of choices that reflect your values rather than just your wallet.

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We all make mistakes. Sometimes it’s a miscalculation or an oversight. Sometimes, you can take your eye off the ball for just a moment and bam! It happens. A disaster. Other times, it’s a slow building boil, like a slow-motion train wreck. We’ve all been there—that moment that you realize that something isn’t going to work out the way that you had been hoping, been counting on. That slow sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach just doesn’t go away.

The good news is that we, as human beings, are remarkably resilient. The best part of a disaster is the moment that you can start turning it around. How can you fix it/salvage it/learn from it? At heart, most people are optimists. We’re always looking for the bright side. It’s a great coping mechanism when things are not going their best. There’s always tomorrow!

Well, maybe tomorrow, you’ll decide to find out more about how to sell my annuity? You can sell annuity payments and get a lump sum of cash to start fixing things right away instead of waiting for another day.

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How much is your time worth? If you were asked that question at a job interview would you have a number off the top of your head? What about your volunteer projects? If you think your time should be valued at minimum wage, you are sorely undervaluing yourself and probably struggling to make a living. Most people know that they are worth more than that, but it’s a struggle to find a number that feels right.

Somehow, most people will still undervalue themselves. For some, it is a fear of rejection. You can’t be denied if you constantly undercut yourself. What is difficult to find is that balance: where you get paid what you are worth and are able to work a comfortable number of hours in order to make a living. If your number still means that you have to work night and day, then the amount still isn’t enough. If you think your time if worth more than the market will bear, you find yourself without work at all.

Finding that balance, where your time is worth it to you, takes practice to get it right. If you’ve calculated wrong on either side, you may be in need of a cash infusion to keep things going. Ask about how to sell structured settlements when you talk to a structured settlement buyer. Then, find your number and make sure you get paid what you’re worth.

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Monday I had the pleasure of escorting a friend’s daughter on a field trip. Neither parent was available, so I stepped in as chaperone for a 5 year old. She attends a kindergarten in a science and natural history museum. So, where do you go for a field trip if you attend school in a museum? You go to a farm! We had a great day at a farm about an hour outside of the city. The kids saw lots of animals up close, went on a hay ride, ran sack races, heard stories, went through a maze, played in a pumpkin patch and did much more. Actually, I can’t believe how much we did in just 3 hours.

When needed, I held her hand, helped her stay with the group, and cheered her on. We both had a great time. My friendship with her mother goes back over a dozen years. We’ve been friends, neighbors, co-workers, and partners on various projects. This year, they, the parents, asked us for something more than a field trip–would we be her daughter’s guardians if anything happened to them? As horrifying as it is to even think of anything happening to them, we didn’t hesitate at all. This is the girl we invite over to play for our fun, the one that we buy presents for no reason, and that we attend her birthday parties even though we don’t have a kid with us. Of course, we would be honored to be a part of her life in the event of a tragedy.

This conversation, as morbid as it was, was a good reminder of the kind of thinking one must do in order to really plan for the future. You must be prepared for the worst. Talk to a buyer of structured settlement payments about how to get cash for structured settlements. You may need to cash before you planned on needing on.

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I heard a story in the news today about how Walmart is losing money on its stores in China. The commentator thought that Walmart had made a mistake by not changing their marketing and sales strategy to suit the China market. Just like in the U.S.A., the company was touting low prices and perceived customer value. The only problem is that in China, the local stores are selling the goods for much less. Therefore, why not shift gears and try to aim for the upscale consumer who might see shopping at a Walmart as a status symbol. The stores might have to change what they carry and add more amenities or services, but the point was that they would never win in a war of downward prices.

This seems like a pretty common sense solution to an obvious problem. The corporation wasn’t sensitive to the local market. In order to survive, they will have to make adjustments, whether they pursue this new marketing angle or not. The perceived value that they offer just isn’t good enough.

When you think about your own finances, are you hitting a brick wall too? Do you need to change up your approach and change strategies? You might want to talk to a structured settlement buyer about how to sell annuity payments. With cash in hand, you may have the flexibility to change things up in a good way.

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There’s a piggy bank that sits on my desk. I loved piggy banks as a kid. I loved to drop coins in and hear the clink as they hit the bottom. I loved to put the plastic cap on and grab it with both hands, then shake, shake, shake! I loved to hear the sharp clinking of the metal. If I had any bills in there, they muffled the coins producing a dulled clink. I would dump out my piggy bank and count the coins in the thick carpet in my room, careful not to lose any. I would stack them up in units of $1 after dividing them by coin type.

I was easily entertained and my piggy bank was just another toy. It was related to the allowance I received and the chores that I did. I knew I could spend it, but I was better at saving it. Don’t we all wish that we had that mentality now as adults? If we could maintain that sense of wonder, fascination, and awe that kids have about saving money in a piggy bank what a different place we would be in. According to the latest reports, we’re getting better. Savings rates are up and credit usage is down, but are we too late?

If you’re in need of a fresh start and a cash infusion would do it, you should find out more about how to get cash for structured settlements. A buyer of structured settlement annuity can tell you how it will work for you. Maybe you can recapture the satisfaction of that feeling of counting your coins and hearing those clinks.

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