A Mom's Spare Time: Harry Potter and a Whole Lot More!

Ohmigosh my feet hurt. Like, really, really hurt. WHY do women wear heels? Really, why??? Ow, ow,

OW!

Needless to say, I never wear heels. But, I couldn't really be Bellatrix Lestrange in sensible flats, could I?

Let me start over. If you are at all in tune with the Harry Potter world, you know that a much-anticipated eighth book is set to come out July 31 - the script of the play set to open July 30, featuring Harry and Ginny's son. To those like my husband who say, "Ginny who?": this is a huge deal, trust me. So huge, library staff took approximately 2.3 seconds to decide we need to do something major on July 30 to celebrate it.

To help us plan it, we asked around about local cosplayers, and were immediately given one name: Jana. We met with her to brainstorm, and her first suggestion was that we have a booth at the 2nd Annual Alamogordo Aeon Adventure, which she was organizing, to advertise and raise money. I should note, at no point did she suggest I wear heels, so I can't blame that part on her. Our FOL spotted us the money for some raffle items, and we started planning our costumes. Getting paid to dress up? Heck, yeah!

Yesterday was the day, and I arrived bright and early with my van loaded down. We had free bookmarks kids could make, and some of last year's SRP shirts (hoping to unload a few on superhero fans!)

And, of course, the raffle items. We have ten in all, from a golden snitch necklace I really want, to a Triwizard Cup, to a copy of the first book with a hand-tooled leather cover - created by the multi-talented Jana (who also made many of the costumes you will see in a bit).

We also revived an old "Plinko" board, with Mad-Eyed Moody's eyeball as the ball.

Hermione (in her summer wardrobe) was my partner for the day, and even though I was dressed as Bellatrix, we got along all right for the day. Filthy mudblood.

She tried conducting our young assistant in his first kazoo recital,

but I don't think they are ready for public performances just yet.

There was, however, plenty of live entertainment right next to us most of the day, from belly dancing,

to medieval fighting and dancing,

even a demonstration of how medieval Irish wolfhounds would rip a man's throat out.

Well, okay, Maggie here is only a puppy, so she doesn't quite have the ripping-out-your-throat thing down. But, she sure did try to snuffle off all my makeup! Vicious beast.

Then there was this guy, who fortunately started flinging fire around AFTER my kids left.

That was pretty much the last picture I took, because this was when a gust of wind suddenly took our canopy - cinder blocks and all - and sent it into the next space, sending everything on the tables flying. While this guy with the fire didn't get much more than a breeze. Gotta love New Mexico.

I did, however, get some pictures of some of the many great costumes, so I'll leave you with those. The day was a lot of fun, and our raffle is off to a great start! We will sell tickets until our event July 30, so if you are local, there is still time to get some at the library!

This young lady really is Wonder Woman! I met her last month when I was judging the city science fair. Still in high school herself, she was our section's head judge, and showed some amazing leadership skills and maturity beyond her age. At the Aeon event she was helping with the Student Council's booth, and when our canopy went flying she jumped up to help gather everything back up, then duct-taped our poles to the cinder blocks. If I remember correctly, she plans to go into nursing - I would not be surprised to walk into the hospital in a few years and find her the head of the entire nursing staff!

Power and cuteness all in one! This lady runs one of the downtown businesses, a thrift shop that benefits Kitty City, local feline rescue. This particular kitty just turned 8 weeks old, and was enjoying his first trip outdoors (I would love to know what was going on in his mind!)

Especially when he saw...

What the...

Holy. Cow. Er, mantis. This guy was AMAZING. He just strode up and down the street like it was nothing. Do you have any idea how many small children I would have taken out in the first five minutes (assuming I stayed up that long?)

And, Jana made that costume, too!

Oh, and here's Jana:

I should have made her smile, but you can see how lovely she is! During set-up, she was in "normal human" clothes, and she said people did a double take when they heard her voice - they are too used to seeing her in various costumes!

That was an amusing part of the day for me - waving to people I know, mostly library patrons, who would frown a little and wave back with a look of, "Why is this person...OH MISS AMI!"

Name this Game of Thrones character:

The anonymity of costumes means hugging random people who would otherwise find that rather weird.

And check out his sidearm!

I found Waldo! Carmen Sandiego was with him, but I didn't get her picture. I did tell him that we have all his books at the library, and we love his work.

Check out those stilts - they are curved, and they bounce! I saw him dancing with people quite a bit, he was obviously having a ball. I probably shouldn't complain about my heels any more.

Another Wonder Woman, and another costume by Jana!

I choose you!

"And on your way back from the battle, don't forget to pick up some eggs."

Lots of younger cutie patooties:

And some not-so-younger.

Above is one of my former students!

These guys were dressed as security guards. Pretty convincing, too.

The gentleman above had very gallant manners to go with his costume.

This group was fun:

View of the shield:

Okay, I REALLY can't complain about my heels, check out these shoes:

And, of course, there were some fellow Hogwarts students! I completely missed photographing the Luna at the next booth, but these ladies were brilliant: