Cosplay, Crafty, Geeky Stuff and Life as a first time Mom
Author: Candy Keane
Crafty, Geeky, Cosplayer and Mom who makes stuff. Usually costume stuff. I blog about costumes, conventions, geeky things, mom stuff and my life with a toddler.
My toddler has a pretty big vocabulary. He has a name for everything, and often I think his names are way better. I know you’re supposed to teach them the right words and correct them, but sometimes their words are just more fun!
My son calls motorcycles “mogatoos.” So everytime I see one I want to shout “Mogatoo!” It’s more fun to say, so I find it hard to correct him. But I don’t want him to show up the first day of kindergarten and tell everyone he wants to ride a mogatoo. That’s probably a parenting fail.
Strawberries are straw babies. He also likes blue babies and cran babies.
His sippy cup is a Z cup.
See? More fun.
I will do my job and eventually correct him. But I think I’ll keep mogatoo for a little while longer. 😁
So, what unique words has your toddler come up with?
I hate spending hours perfecting the look of my costume and then have to carry a purse, but most of the time a bag is a necessity. I did a Facebook Live post where I showed how to make a simple little drawstring bag. It takes less than 5 minutes and even a beginner can do it. I tried to cut it down to just the important parts because we were chatting with people as they commented on the broadcast. If you want to fast forward through the intro chatter, the sewing action starts at 00:58.
I grew up in Florida, and when I was too little to care about anything except a day off from school, hurricanes were always fun and exciting. Now that I have a house, 2 cats, 2 dogs, 1 kid and 23 fish to keep safe, it’s a little more stressful.
As I type this, my husband is outside drilling holes into our freshly painted house to put plywood over the windows we just had installed last month. We finally fulfilled our dream of buying a house at the beach and have been working hard to renovate it since December. We bought what you might call “the neighborhood eyesore” so it has required extensive work. Now I’m hoping and praying that this storm passes through without damaging the house.
Since we live on a barrier island, we are evacuating tomorrow to a safer place inland. This is my first time in 40 years of living in Florida that I have ever evacuated! It’s pretty crazy, but this hurricane looks like it is no joke.
Of course, I made a joke about it:
So take care everyone, watch out for this crazy storm! I’ll let you guys know if our house is still standing, lol. #irmagerd
Since I’ve been blogging, I have ‘met’ so many mamas that are super cool chicas. MAMAS TODAY ARE LIT, Y’ALL. I don’t know what they told ya.
I want to introduce all of these amazing mamas to you. Every other Monday will be dedicated to featuring other people. I go on and on and on about myself quite enough and I really need to STFU already. These people are WAY more interesting than me.
But three questions only because no one (them, me, YOU) has time for more than that.
Candy Keane is perfect for our inaugural Monday’s Mama post. This lady is FREAKING AWESOME.Candy Keane is a costumer, maker of geeky things, Army wife, and mom to one energetic toddler named Keelan.Candy is internationally known for her cosplay and costume design, and more locally known for the Three Muses costume boutique she owned…
Cosplay defined: a contraction of the words costume and play, cosplay is a hobby in which participants make and wear costumes to represent a specific character. The broader use of the term “cosplay” applies to any costuming in venues apart from the stage or Halloween.
So now that we got that out of the way…
I was half-watching Deadpool last night while making dinner and the part where he makes his costume got my attention. I love watching costume progressions. One of my favorite parts of superhero movies is finding out how they got their outfit. Did they assemble the parts? Sew it themselves? Find it waiting for them like the latest Wonder Woman?
I am often asked how I got into costuming or why I cosplay. It’s a tough question for me because it’s just always been a part of who I am. I just love costumes and costumey things. I love playing dress up, and I love making things. I was doing this WAY before it was ever called cosplay and I will be doing it long after the fad has peaked and popular interest wanes. I can’t watch a movie without looking at every costume detail and thinking about how I would make it.
I still remember watching Michelle Pfeiffer as Selena Kyle frantically stitching together her vinyl catsuit in Batman Returns. It was the moment she transformed into Catwoman. That is one costume I have always wanted to make! Just watching her obsessively assemble those vinyl pieces made me want to run for the sewing machine.
A fairly accurate representation of what I look like when inspiration strikes
So I think That is the kernel of a true costumer/cosplayer. It’s just something in your blood. You don’t have to try and think about it, you see costumes and things to create everywhere. You get this excited feeling about bringing these things to life. You can’t “quit cosplay” as I see so many people post from time to time. It would be like losing a part of yourself. And for me, it would be a loss of creativity, inspiration and a source of happiness.
So even though I don’t dress up every weekend, attend every con or make costumes as my job anymore, it’s still a part of me and always will be.
My toddler has a pretty big vocabulary. He has a name for everything, and often I think his names are way better. I know you’re supposed to teach them the right words and correct them, but sometimes their words are just more fun!
