Only 12 Days Left

The Favorite Things Guy wrote a post about getting funny looks for being an adult and wearing a Halloween t-shirt: the favorite things guy

Heck, people think I'm nuts no matter what I wear, so I wear what I like, which means a full month of nothing but Halloween t-shirts for the entire month. So my husband is going to take pics of me everyday until I go through my entire collection. I haven't counted them, but I think I have 9 or 10. Here's the first:

It's sad that the stores are already having clearance sales on Halloween decor to make room for Christmas merchandise. No fair. The Christmas people get to see their stuff for twice as long, plus they have about 100 times the selection. Even the thrift stores are down to the bare bones, but I found these two little items at the Salvation Army store that wanted to come home with me:

After the thrift store, I went to See's Candy to use a couple of gift certificates that Rob got from his customers last Christmas:

Mmmm, good chocolate! Unlike the items on my mantelpiece that I bought for their looks alone and probably taste like crap, these will most definitely be eaten.

One last picture to round out the post. This is a stocking mask that is meant to be worn as a costume, but I think it looks pretty cool wrapped around a jar of my zucchini chips:

Have you figured out the theme for the month?

Hope you're not sick of looking at my Halloween decorations, because I'm probably not done yet.

The Decorating Continues

I add to my Halloween decor every year. This year I decided that what I really needed was a murder of crows. (Yes, that is the actual collective term.)

I also like to arrange my old stuff in a different way, just to keep things fresh. This time I'm clumping all my "witch" items on the fireplace mantel. I had no idea I had this many witches.

Rob got me some chocolate monsters I had seen at World Market, and I needed a way to display them. So I took some old cardboard castle blocks and Halloweenified them with black paint. I think they came out pretty good.

Then I had to replace a non-Halloween picture in the dining room. I repainted a picture box black and made this with a scrapbook page and some chenille pipe-cleaners:

I had to figure out where to put Clyde. This year he's sitting on top of the DVD shelves. That's a lady's shawl he's wearing, but I think he pulls it off quite well. I tried out a purple boa on his head, but he looked like he was in drag.

Happy 52nd Birthday to Me!

Exactly what I wanted: A personal best and a 1st place win in my age division at the Harvest Fair Run. My goal was to break a 10 minute pace, and I did: 5K in 29:01. (That's a 9:20 pace.)

My favorite part of the whole event: Doggedly passing up all the young whipper-snappers who zipped by me at the beginning of the race.

It's Beginning to Look Like Halloween

I wanted to try out a popcorn-ball maker I got at a thrift store, but I realized I needed some clear treat-bags to put them in, which meant I had an excuse to go out and look at Halloween stuff again. I just discovered the Dollar Tree store, and it was filled with all sorts of goodies for a mere buck apiece. I just couldn't pass up this cookie jack-o-lantern on a stick:

The little ghosts light up and change colors. I did not get those at The Dollar Tree.

Here are a couple of marshmallow pops and hard candy skeleton heads on non-edible bodies:

I actually did get around to making popcorn balls, and the shaper worked great.

The monster-hand treat bags were my favorite, but the opening wasn't big enough:

Is It Time to Decorate Yet?

Today I went to a juried art show called Halloween & Vine:

http://www.halloweenandvine.com/

Wow. Definitely a cut above the stuff you see at Target. Unfortunately, the prices were considerably higher, so all I could do was drool all over everything and covet my neighbor's goods.

Oh, well. I do have some pretty cool stuff of my own. I haven't started decorating yet (I'll hold off for one more week) but here's a pic from Halloween past:

That's looking from the living room (to the right of the blue fireplace) into the dining room.

It's Been A While, Huh?

I'm jumping the gun a little bit on Halloween. What the heck, Summer is over, and that's close enough for me.

Those are my four volunteer pumpkins that sprang up in the middle of my squash plants. I had no idea they were pumpkins until they started to turn orange. Pretty cool, huh? The mornings have been damp and drizzly, so I thought I'd better pick them before they started to rot.