Hallowe'en is spendy.

My home-made lighting box!

So, while I'm not buying pre-made props this year, I am on a bit of a home-built kick.

You can add $8.38 to my total for the lighting, since I had to go buy more speaker wire. All in all, still not bad at about $123.

Now I've started swiping the card for our fencing.  In the past I've done various makeshift fencing to keep kids off the props. I've used teeny tiny garden fencing from the 99 cent store (pictured below - nope), I've used broomsticks pounded into the ground in a diagonal to 'suggest' keeping out of the yard (did NOT work at all) and I've used more expensive Home Depot wooden fencing painted black that worked moderately well for 2 years but was a huge pain in the ass and kept falling down/getting kicked/looked like shit/didn't actually keep anyone out. 

This is the 99 cent store fencing with my home-made columns.

This is going to be long term fencing and keep-people-out fencing, so I'm kind of making this on the more permanent side of things. I hope to keep these fences for the next 5 to 7 years with some occasional touch-ups, which I think is totally doable.

The 4th dimension makes this car get 110 mpg!!!

Since getting my new car (a beautiful and massively fuel efficient Ford C-Max Energi) I have lost a good bit of hauling capacity; therefore, this weekend I'll be renting a Home Depot pickup truck and hauling all of the supplies back to the homestead for work. There is just no way I'm getting 4 bags of sand, 55 furring strips and 120 pvc pipes in my car.

All of my cars seem to have a 4th dimension, but I think this car's extra dimension is in the gas tank, which I have only filled twice since May, so I'm really OK with the trade-off.

I'll bring home a total on the fencing and let you in on the costs. I know it's something I'm always curious about. 

A lot of the little props ingredients are being sourced from recycled materials though. A lot of cardboard, soda bottles, crates/baskets, wire coat hangers, twigs, and some things found at yard sales in the "FREE" bins.

One of the best things about being in a Haunter's group is how generous everyone is with their skills and knowledge. It's also the thing I've loved so much about Stitch n' Bitch all these years. There isn't a person I've come across that says, "I'm going to keep this knowledge or this skill a secret so no one else can learn." Everyone is willing to help everyone else out. It's pretty awesome. So, this year, I'm going to hopefully be able to post the step by step on my fence building to share with y'all.  Hopefully it won't be a total disaster.