A couple of weeks ago, my friend Laura asked me if I could make something similar to the adorable clouds featured at a party by Little Pear. Lauras daughter loves Peppa Pig so Laura threw her a Peppa Pig/Muddy Puddles themed party and the clouds fit in perfectly.

Not only is Laura a crazy talented photographer, but she puts together the most amazing parties for her kiddos that I have ever seen. She gets all the details perfect and the kids always have a blast. This party was no exception. I mean, look at that dessert setup! So flipping cute!


{Party photos and amazing party styling via Laura Winslow Photography}

 Aside from super cute party decor, I think these cloud mobiles would look adorable in a childs room. I hung this up in Olivers room to take a picture and he was so bummed when I had to take it down.

Anyhow, these were pretty easy to make so of course I had to document the process for you all. 

Tape 4 pieces of paper together and draw a cloud on it. Cut it out. I made 3 clouds for Laura so I made 2 cloud patterns in slightly different sizes. Cut your pattern out.

Fold your fabric or felt in half. Pin the cloud pattern on and cut it out.

Draw your heart or print one off from the internet. Cut it out and trace it on the fabric youll be using for your hearts (make sure to fold your fabric in half first so youll have 2 sides for each heart). I made 3 hearts for my larger clouds and 2 hearts for my smaller cloud.

Cut the hearts out.

Pin the 2 sides of your cloud together and sew about a 1/4" in. Make sure you leave an opening large enough to flip it right side out.

Flip your cloud right side out and use scissors (or chopstick, etc) to push out all the edges.

Stuff your cloud with fiber fill. Youll want it fluffy but not so fluffy that you cant sew the opening closed.

To close up the cloud, fold the edges in a bit and do a simple whip stitch to sew it closed. (If youre wondering what the heck a whip stitch is, click here.)

Youre all finished with the cloud now and ready to start the hearts. Pin the sides of your hearts together and stitch about 1/8" in. Again, be sure to leave an opening large enough to turn them right side out.

Flip your hearts right side out. At this point, I turned the open edges in and ironed the hearts. Stuff with fiberfill.

Using the same whip stitch, stitch your hearts closed. My hearts look a little wonky but I think it adds to the charm.

Now take a length of your monofilament and thread it through a needle. Tie a knot at the end and sew through the top center of your heart.

Now take the needle and sew through the cloud where you want your heart to hang. Knot it. Do this for all of your hearts.

The last step is to thread a long length of the monofilament through the top center of your cloud so youll have something to hang it with. And thats it. Done. 

Let me know if you get stuck! finleyandoliver@gmail.com

I have filed The Texas Chainsaw Massacre away into the pile of films that I dont ever want to think about again. And hey, thats a pretty select few. Maybe thats because I watched it late on a Friday night, when I was practically drunk from sleep-deprivation (yes, Im a teenager). Or maybe because wholey mother of crap, what the hell was going on in this movie.

Chainsaws terrify me.

I mean, I know that Ive been spending this entire series going on about how witches terrify me, and black-and-white terrifies me, and pumpkins terrify me...well, I gotta say, chainsaws take the cake. Honestly, I was terrified of getting my two arm casts off because of the chainsaw they use. And then I saw this movie, and now I cant listen to that grating sound without hearing "death death death".

Honestly, I dont even know what to say about this movie. To be honest, everything in the movie has been clouded over by that end scene. All the screaming. All the blood. All the creepy Leatherface going wild over his chainsaw. 

Thats how you do a horror movie. Seriously.

Im not saying that this is my favourite horror, but I can see where all of todays horrors get their influence from, and how they cant really imitate it all that well. The graininess does it. Everything is low-fi and grainy, which adds this weird kind of atmosphere to it. A sickening kind of atmosphere to it. Oh, and by the way, Tyler, you berated me on Letterboxd for giving it a 7/10 (Seriously? Thats a high rating in my scheme of things). It has kinda upped since then as Ive had time to have nightmares and moments to be scared of chainsaws and such. And yeah, I cant even put this movie into words so I suppose this wasnt a very fruitful review for any first-timers looking to get scared.


Poltergeist is less gory than The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and there may be a reason for that: even though the two were directed by Tobe Hooper, apparently Steven Spielberg (the producer) had a huge influence on the making of Poltergeist. I dont know if thats the plain reason we dont get to see much blood, but youd never be able to tell that they were made by the same person. Poltergeist kinda tells a pretty tame story, of how a families house is haunted and it sucks up their young daughter (Heather ORourke), which means they have to stay in the house until they can get her out. At face value, it isnt all that exciting, but I really enjoyed it. There was just some sort of energy about it, which is a little hard to explain. It all seemed very real, while seeming very unreal at the same time. To be honest, the film kinda lost me when they were trying to "clean" the house and all of this light was flashing around and stuff. It struck me as a little over the top when the rest of the movie was kinda homespun, but then again, Ive never been a fan of these paranormal kinds of offerings.

I think what scared me a little more, though, was this whole Poltergeist curse business. I was pretty shocked to see that Heather ORourke died at such a young age, and to die that way would have been terrible. And then I heard that Dominique Dunne (who played the eldest daughter) was killed by her boyfriend just after she made this movie. Gosh, that is just awful. And then there were some more untimely deaths surrounding the cast of the sequels...wow. Yeah, I dont really like reading into those theories. And guess what? Im terrified of ghosts, too.

Anyway, what did I think about my experience with horror as a whole?
Just to clear things up, I wasnt exactly a newbie to horror. It had just been a while since Id bothered to see any horrors. My Mum literally forced me into watching a whole lot when I was younger (she denies this, but she really was so irresponsible, haha). This time around, I found myself quite disappointed with a few, or unable to really connect with others. But most of the time, Id forget that I was watching horror movies and Id get really surprised when someone died. Oh, and I made a pretty sizeable list of everything Im terrified of.

How would I rank the films Ive seen, from least favourite to favourite?
10. Suspiria (1977) Dir. Dario Argento
9. The Evil Dead (1981) Dir. Sam Raimi
8. Halloween (1978) Dir. John Carpenter
7. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) Dir. Tim Burton
6. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) Dir. Robert Weine
5. Poltergeist (1982) Dir. Tobe Hooper
4. The Cabin in the Woods (2011) Dir. Drew Godard
3. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) Dir. Tobe Hooper
2. Scream (1996) Dir. Wes Craven
1. The Blair Witch Project (1999) Dir. Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sanchez

What will I be "Dipping My Toes" in next month?
I wont be doing any toe-dipping per se, but I will be doing another two-a-week marathon challenge. Every Wednesday next month, I will be bringing you Nic November. Yes, I will be wading through eight Nicolas Cage films just for fun, and I will bring you my coverage of them. As you may know, I love to make fun of the guy, but maybe I should watch a few more of his films. Be ready with some recommendations next week! For now, what do you think of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and/or Poltergeist, and horror in general?

All of you overwhelmed me today. No, you really did. I posted this picture last night and wanted to write the post too. However, I hardly managed to think straight with that sleepy head of mine, let alone writing a full post. So, I said Let me just publish a teaser and see what happens. And what do I get today in the morning? 12 comments! Not one or two, but one dozen! And almost all of you have guessed it right. Well done, Friends. You are smart and you are quick. If you ever entered a quiz contest, and if there were a Buzzer Round in it, you would surely win it. I assure you. So, this post is dedicated to Shilpa, Revathi, Nabeela, KrishnaArjuna, Nandita, Perspective, Faffer, (phew...another five to go) Suhaag, Nandan, Anon, Sumitha, Zoya...and many more who have guessed it right, but have not left a comment.

As Zoya has mentioned, this bean is called Chawlichi Sheng in Marathi. Until I got married, it was never a part of my diet, but very much a part of my vocabulary. That too in the figurative sense. Ok, let me explain it. A slender and tall woman is called Chawlichi Sheng in Marathi. For example, Anna Kournikova can be called a CS, or maybe Malaika Arora, or perhaps Halle Berry (basically all those women who I envy appreciate for their fitness).

Coming back to the long beans, I was saying that I had never eaten or cooked them before marriage, because its not a part of the diet in my parents families. However, after I got married and became a part of a Konkani family, I got to know/eat this vegetable. It makes a regular appearance on my mother-in-laws table. Maybe because I ate it at her place for the first time, I always prepare it the way my MIL does, although it can be cooked the Maharashtrian way too. Heres the way she prepares it.

Recipe for Alsande Upkari (Steam-cooked long beans)

Ingredients:

approx. ¼ kg. Long / cow-pea beans
1 medium sized boiled potato
a generous pinch asafoetida powder
salt to taste

1 tsp oil
½ tsp mustard seeds
3-4 dried red chillis, broken into two-three pieces each

2 tbsp gated coconut for garnishing (optional; I haven’t used)

Method:

1. Wash and top & tail the beans. Cut them in 1 inch long pieces.

2. Cut the potato in cubes. (The size does not really matter here, because the potato is boiled and hence the question of it taking less/more time to cook does not arise.)

3. Heat the oil in a pan. Once it is fairly hot, add the mustard seeds and let them splutter.

4. Add the broken red chillis. After a second or two, add the beans.

5. Sprinkle some water (about two tablespoons for non-stick and ¼ cup for regular pans). Add salt to taste. Stir the beans well and cover the pan with a lid.

6. Open the lid after three-four minutes. Some steam should be gathered inside now. Add the potato pieces.

7. Stir the beans again and let them cook until soft yet crunchy. (Can the beans then be called al dente?)

8. Just before turning the heat off, open the pan and add the asafoetida powder. Stir the Upkari well, put the lid back and turn the heat off. (I know, this is different from the usual hing in the tadka/asafoetida in the hot oil routine, but believe me, it tastes great like this.)

9. Serve after about 1o minutes, so that all the flavours get time to blend well with each other. Garnish it with grated coconut, if you like, before serving.

Características:

• Único surreal e artística jogo Universo: Um universo de sonho estranho mas bonito que mistura elementos do mundo real eo mundo dos sonhos para criar algo único, surreal e às vezes um pouco assustador.
• Níveis de quebra-cabeça isométricos: Navegue puzzles 3D detalhados que desafiam as leis da física, em que o jogador deve manipular o ambiente estranho para criar um caminho seguro Bob e evitar os perigos do quebra-cabeça.
• Dois personagens como um: Jogue como o subconsciente encarnado, na forma de uma pequena criatura guardiã, tentando salvar o seu próprio corpo sonambulismo dos perigos do mundo dos sonhos.
• Estilo visual pitoresco: Descubra a sensação de jogar em um pedaço de conjunto de arte em uma moldura digital. Um estilo visual inspirado em técnicas de pintados à mão, arte surreal e formas impossíveis.
• Modo Nightmare: Desbloquear uma versão mais desafiador do jogo, feito para aqueles que realmente querem testar seu quebra-cabeças habilidades e desfrutar de pensar muitos passos à frente, ou que são teimosos demais para desistir.
• MOGA-support: Desfrute Voltar para a cama com os controladores de Moga.

Only one man (Allu Arjun) can stop a villain (Aadhi) who, backed by his father, brutally murders anyone who gets in the way of his unscrupulous real estate deals.