11 Days Until Hallowe'en! All Hallow's Read

In October of 2010, Neil Gaiman came up with the idea of All Hallow's Read, mostly because he felt there weren't enough book gifting occasions.

When I was a kid, I read through the entire Nancy Drew library, the V.C. Andrews treasury, and various supernatural "choose your own adventure" books.

I got through a few of Stephen King's less terrifying books ('Salem's Lot, Christine) before I couldn't sleep (see: IT and Cujo). I'm sure there were a bunch of other 1980s, "I was a Teenage Witch/Ghost/Psychic" books that were terrible and less memorable. As I am an avid, voracious, ravenous, insatiable reader, I love the idea of giving scary books for Hallowe'en, I've just never participated. Until this year.

This year I will be gifting my niece and a few other choice friends with spooky books. Her mom and dad are pretty voracious readers too, so I'm not worried about her at all.

Are you participating in All Hallow's Read? If so, what are your spooky book picks?

2 Freaking Weeks Until Hallowe'en - Fence Part 2

So, it's not like I've never built anything in my life. I took shop class in Jr. High. I built my raised beds. I've built stuff, ok?

I was clearly unprepared for this build. 

Oh, how I want to say that I threw this together like a boss. But alas, that was not to be. 

If you're ever interested in copying my fence, which is encouraged, I will highlight the items you should not do, for emphasis. Here's what I actually did.

1. I marked every 6 inches on the furring strips.
2. I sorted the 45 strips into 3 sets of 15.
3. I drilled a 3/4 inch hole at every mark. Every 6 inches. On 15 strips - 180 holes. Just in case you were not aware, math means that a 3/4 inch pipe will not fit into a 3/4 inch hole.
4. I tested the PVC to make sure it would go through the holes. It didn't.
5. I went back to Home Depot and got a 7/8th inch drill bit and opened up all of the holes. 
6. I tested to make sure that the PVC would go through. It did. Tightly. 
7. I thought, "Perfect!".
8. I strapped together two of the strips and used the first strip as a jig for the second strip.
9. I added a third strip, zip tied all of these together and numbered each set. Then, I drilled 7/8th inch holes in every other hole. This would be my top bar.
10. I started spray painting the PVC, because my wrists were sore from the drill.
11. My lovely husband (thank you!) cut all of the 10' PVC into 5 1/2 and 4 1/2 foot poles.
12. I then sanded all of the strips with the help of a friend (Chris, thank you!!!).
13. A friend (Troy, thank you!!!) heated the finials and added them to the tops of the 5 1/2 foot poles.
14. We started to put the PVC into the holes. It was too tight. WAY too tight.
15. A friend (Lydia, thank you!!!) and I dremeled out EVERY SINGLE HOLE. Just in case you're counting, 30 strips with 16 holes each and 15 strips with 8 holes each = 600 holes. Could I have been any less efficient? Don't think so.
16. Then another friend (Derek, thank you!!!) and I drilled out screw holes on the sides of the strips so that the whole thing would stay together.
17. I got the wrong screws (hex head) despite spending 20 minutes in the screw aisle and had to send Derek (see above) to the store to get new screws.
18. Two other friends (Erin and Justin - oddly enough my newest and my oldest friends - Thank you!!!) and one husband (thank you!) started putting them together. Finally.



They were such pretty holes, at first. 2 strips zip tied

19. I used all of the spray paint in Home Depot to repaint the poles (because they were completely scraped off due to dragging them through the holes) and the strips.

I now have 15 - 8 foot sections of fencing that are going up tomorrow. 

This is the pre-painted photo. You'll have to wait (AGAIN) for the fully painted photos.

This easily could have been a 12 step, rather than an 18 step process. Like a boss.

16 Days to Hallowe'en - The Harvest Festival

The autumn season is the time for our harvest festivals in the Northern Hemisphere. You will notice that while some festivals celebrate the first harvest, other celebrate the final harvest.

Many of them also have an aspect of fertility ritual embedded in them, which is to be expected as a fertile harvest portended a fertile population, and vice versa.

While festivals can range from early July to late October (or January to March in the Southern Hemisphere) depending on region, most cultures have traditionally feasted following the harvest and before the winter hibernation. Here are some of the many harvest festivals from around the world.

Bagach - end of the grain harvest/birth of the Virgin (Belarus)
Bénichon - blessing of the harvest (Switzerland)
Bhogali Bihu - celebration of the end of the harvest (India - Assam - celebrated in January/February)
Chuseok - thanking the ancestors for the harvest (Korea)
Dozhinki - celebration of the end of the wheat harvest (Belarus, Poland, and Russia)
Dree Festival (India - Apatani)
Fiesta Nacional de la Vendimia - celebration of the grape harvest (Argentina - celebrated in February)
Gawai Dayak - celebration of the rice harvest (Sarawak, Malaysia and Indonesia)
Guldize - end of the corn harvest (Cornwall)
Homowo/Sesebumo or "To Hoot at Hunger" - Sesebumo is the last festival of the Homowo festival at the end of the corn harvest - (Ghana) and Iriji (Nigeria)
Incwala - first fruits festival (Swaziland)
Kaamatan - end of the rice harvest (Sabah - Malaysia, Borneo)
Lammas/Lughnasadh - beginning of the harvest (Celtic/Pagan - UK)
Maras Taun - end of the rice harvest (Belitung, Indonesia)
Nabanna (Bengal, India and Bangladesh)
Niiname-sai - "celebration of the first taste" (Japan)
Olivagando - olive harvest festival (Italy)
Onam (Malayali, India)
Oseniny - end of the harvest season (Russia and Slavic countries)
Pongal - celebration of the first fruits (Tamil Nadu)
Samhain - Gaelic/Pagan/Wiccan end of harvest celebration
Sukkot - Feast of the Ingathering (Jewish) Today is actually the last day of Sukkot!
Tet Trung Thu - celebrating the farmer spending more time with the family after harvest season (Vietnam)

Any harvest festivals that I've missed out on?

17 days till Hallowe'en - Fence Part 1

So, here's how the fencing began, as a big giant pile of wood furring strips and PVC.  That rug on top is not for Hallowe'en, that's for my bedroom so my silly little dog stops sliding around my bedroom like a fuzzy little hockey puck. One of these days, she's going to dislocate a hip.

So, what you see there is 55 - 1" x 3" x 8' furring strips. Generally, they are $1.89 a piece at Home Depot, but because I agreed to take the picked-through ones in the carrel, and not make them bring out a fresh pack of them, the manager discounted them to .99 cents a piece. Woot.

The PVC is 1/2 inch schedule 40. They are in 10 foot lengths and are $1.89 a piece as well, but I got a bulk discount, so take off, $10.80. Woot again. On the bottom of the cart is 4 -10 foot lengths of 1 inch PVC, at $3.64 per piece.

Since that wouldn't fit in my car, I rented a truck at Home Depot for $19.99. Such a deal, you wouldn't believe.


Then, from King Architectural Metals, I ordered these plastic fence finials. They were .33 a piece at a grand total of $40.

I also bought some screws and brackets, they came in at about $20.

I had a bunch of random black spray paint (from whence it all came, I know not) which I completely used up, so I did have to buy a bit more. I will probably buy even more. I'm not going to include that in the price yet, so stay tuned for more pricing.

The pumpkins for the end pieces were $3.00 at Target, so $21 total on those.

Here's the breakdown:

Furring strips - $55
PVC 1/2" - $216
Truck rental - $19.99
Pumpkins - $21
Finials - $40
Screws and brackets - $20
Never having to build Hallowe'en fencing again - $priceless

So the total so far for fencing was $372. Compared to 120 feet of pre-made metal fencing at $1,200, it's quite the bargain, and with this, I can take it down and stack it up in the garage for next year rather than having a cemetery fence around my property year round, which I'm sure my lovely neighbors would just adore.

As I noted before, I've tried cheaper options. They were cheap, they looked cheap, and frankly, they didn't work. So I'm pretty happy with this outcome.

Stay tuned for the build in progress, helpers, and well, that "measure twice, cut once" is a real thing that should probably be followed a little more closely by people like me...

24 Days until Hallowe'en - Soapbox Edition

WTF!!!

Can we all agree on the outset that not every woman wants to be "sexy _________" for Hallowe'en? Great.

Can we all agree that sexy costumes may be great for some women? Great.

Having said that, WTF is going on here?

Sexy lobster?

Sexy pizza? Really?

What on this green earth is sexy about an ear of corn?

NO.

Please, for the love of Maude, no.

By the way, when you hit up the same website for sexy men's costumes, this is what you get....

Really? I'm no expert, but is this supposed to be sexy?

More douchey than sexy, really.

Um. OK.

Now for the piece de resistance - I know we're not exactly going for practical here, but if you were on a SWAT team, which outfit would you be more likely to survive in? I know that garter is really going to protect her in a firefight - also, the armband. Very practical.

Countdown to Hallowe'en - 30 DAYS!!!!!!

It has begun!  The big countdown!

Despite working my ass off the last couple of weekends, I am definitely not ready to start setting up the yard yet. Not until the fencing is finished and in order for the fencing to be finished....

I'm gonna need a lot more black paint. A LOT MORE.

I'm doing 120 feet of fencing which is actually going quite quickly. I've set up a little system for running off the holes - not sure if you can see it but each piece of fencing will have 3 cross bars - so I've tied the three together with zip ties so that they are all in line with each other for the vertical posts.

These are nearly finished and it's a matter of painting and then screwing everything together.

I should be able to set up by the 11th of October. That's relatively late for me, but not too late. Of course this weekend is, once again, going to be in the high 90's in the Valley. So I will likely start work early in the morning and get inside before 11 a.m. to work on the other props inside until it's cool enough to work outside again.

Tomorrow I'll share some of the props I've been working on inside the house.

Happy October everyone!

Countdown to Hallowe'en 2014

I am amazed!

This is my 4th year participating in the Countdown to Hallowe'en, produced by Shawn Robare and John Rozum, two absolutely astounding artists. I've never quite managed to post every day of October, but we'll see how I do this year. I'm already off to a good start and it's still only September.

What is Countdown to Hallowe'en?  It is a blog festival - 31 days of posting by the ookiest, spookiest, nuttiest, most creative Hallowe'en lovers in the blogosphere. For a fun fix each day of October, find a new blog and check out what they're doing. We'll be starting off next Wednesday!  Sometimes you find a total keeper. I'm sure it's how I found a number of the blogs I follow.

Since I really do have to LOVE a blog to follow it, I'll recommend the following because they are frankly either beautiful, really fun, really useful or truly original (and sometimes all of the above!)

PUMPKINROT (if I only had one to choose, it would be this one)
Dave Lowe Design (or this one)
Haunted Design House
Mr. Macabre
Shellhawk's Nest
AranaMuerta (rare posting but fabulous)
Creepy L.A. (Hallowe'en-freaky stuff going on in L.A.)
Grim Hollow Haunt
Highbury Cemetery
Long-Forgotten (Haunted Mansion fun - longest posts EVER)
Maple Grove Cemetery
Orange and Black
PARA-Abnormal (best geeky cartoon ever)
Scotty Art (the art of Stolloween)
The Skeleton Key (posts during Hallowe'en season only)

Do you know of any blogs I should definitely be following?

Prop production

So, this year's theme is coming together. I, of course, decided to completely change up my theme somewhere around the first of August, which gave me about 2 and a half months to prep for Hallowe'en. Since August, I have been madly trying to finish the projects I was going to work on anyway, whether or not I changed the theme - lighting and fencing. In between working on these projects, I've been squirreling away time working on the little props that are going into making the new theme work.

Michael correctly stated that it was a lot of little detail and I wasn't really looking at the bigger picture. The bigger picture is a lot of little detail! I think people will be amused.

Personally, I like to inject some humor into my creepy. I always like to make people laugh at a little joke here and there. This year's theme has it's tongue firmly planted in cheek. I'll be giving away little clues throughout the next couple of weeks and hopefully by the end, it will all make sense (or it will be a giant mess, but who cares, it's not like we're landing on Mars!).

Here are the first steps on one of my props:

 Doesn't look like much yet, but it's coming together!

Pumpkiny goodness

Four of the pumpkins grown in my garden last year

I grew 17 pumpkins last year and one of them got nibbled on by a squirrel before I got a chance to get it inside. Rather than letting the furry rodent get more of it, and start to develop a taste for the things, I chopped it up and gave it to the chickens.

I have never heard them so quiet for so long. They LOVED it. While there are actually no controlled studies providing evidence for pumpkin being a natural dewormer in chickens, it certainly doesn't hurt!

In the spirit of pumpkin noms, and my enduring and illogical fantasy that the weather forecast for this weekend (over 100 degrees F.) is wrong, I give you my favorite recipe for pumpkin bread. This recipe is adapted slightly from the one over at Northwest Edible Life (who I just ADORE), but I like my version better - it's spicier.  Try hers though; you might like that one better and she uses chocolate chips!

Spiced Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients 

Wet Stuff

15 ounces (1 can) pumpkin puree or 15 ounces of home roasted and pureed pumpkin (home roasted, while more time consuming, is SO much better - you get that slightly caramelized taste of the pumpkin)

4 eggs

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted and cooled

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup water

3 tbsp. bourbon or whiskey. I use anything that's in the liquor cabinet  (Optional – substitute water or apple juice if you prefer not to use liquor)

2-1/2 cups sugar

Dry Stuff

3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1-1/2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 heaping teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon allspice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 2 loaf pans and line them with parchment paper. If making muffins, grease and flour or use muffin liners. In a large bowl, whisk together the wet stuff and sugar. Mix pumpkin, eggs, oil, water, bourbon and sugar until well blended. Sift the dry stuff (minus the sugar which you've already added to the wet stuff) directly into the wet stuff : Mix the dry and wet stuff together until just blended.

Pour batter evenly between the prepared pans or portion into muffin tins.

Bake for about 60-70 minutes in the preheated oven for 9×5 loaf pans or about 25-35 minutes for muffins. Because baking time will vary based on your oven calibration, oven size, pan, etc., it’s really best to rely on the the toothpick test to determine when your pumpkin bread is done. Loaves or muffins are done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let your bread cool in pan until firmed up, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a cake rack and let cool completely before slicing. This is harder than it should be, but the texture of the bread is better if allowed to fully cool before you cut it open.

This bread freezes well if well wrapped. I wrap in tinfoil and then put in a gallon ziploc bag.

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.

Seriously? September?

Happy September everyone!!!

You know what that means, of course.  It means funkins and pumpkins in Michael's and Joann's. It means pumpkin spice lattes at Starbucks and pumpkin pie Pop Tarts.

It also means I'm way freaking behind on my Hallowe'en planning.

This year, of course, I've kicked it up a notch. In the past year or so, I've become involved in a group called So.Cal. Valley Haunters. While I thought I had some skillz, they have taught me about 100% more. I have learned new tombstone carving skills, lighting and all kinds of prop building.

So, for the last month or so, I have spent nearly all of my free time building my lighting from scratch. In previous years, I have used just about anything I could get my hands on, from flashlights propped up against props to solar lighting, which lasts about an hour. This year I'm doing all LEDs. There are definitely companies that will sell you the set ups, but for what I'm building, I would probably have spent over $1,500. I checked out the set-ups at Scare L.A. this year, just in case I needed to buy something or I just couldn't figure out the workings. I have currently spent about $115 and honestly, I think I overbought a bit, also, I've had a few donations of speaker wire and 12 volt adapters (thanks Derek!) so it probably evens out:

new soldering unit:  $24 (display model at Fry's - score!)
project box: $8
AV connectors: $20
LEDs: $24
Jack boards: $25
Splitters: $14

I should be nearly finished with the lighting by the end of the week and then I get started on my new fencing. Which, again, could likely be purchased, but for a buttload more money.  So, off I go to the local hardware store. I'll take more photos of the fencing as it's a lot more photogenic than soldering wires, and post them as I go.

Happy almost we'en, y'all!!!

The page has turned

It's officially October and time for the Countdown to Hallowe'en to begin!

Being born and raised in Los Angeles, I've never been anywhere else for Autumn, but I hear all about bright orange and red leaves and apple cider smell and crisp cool mornings.

Here's my ode to Autumn in Los Angeles.

There's nothing like the smell the Santa Ana winds coming in and setting all of the foothills ablaze so that the sky is pumpkin orange and cobweb gray and store-bought tombstones floating down the street with each gust of wind.

The sight of teenagers wearing their Ugg boots and shorts and a plaid scarf, pretending that the mornings are crisp and cool, but it's actually 88 degrees and they're just desperate.

Pumpkin "patches" popping up on deserted corner lots with petting zoos and $30 pumpkins because they had to be trucked in from Central California. The lots will shortly turn into Christmas tree fields filled with flocked and bedazzled trees of every sort and then back to dumping spots for torn couches and stained mattresses.

Trader Joe's shelves emptied of their "This pumpkin walks into a bar" and pumpkin cake mixes. Every denizen ready for the onslaught of pumpkin spice lattes on another warm Hallowe'en night.


I personally love all of this. It is my favorite, my sacred time of the year.
I wish you all a very Happy October all!!!

6 weeks!!!

I'm getting super-excited about Hallowe'en this year. I've spread out some of my boxes and unpacked one or two of them. I'm getting nervous about having everything done in time. You know, grand plans and all.

As I wrote earlier this month, my theme for this year is "Something Wicked".

I got the cauldron I was looking for and I'm waiting until next weekend, the 28th and 29th to unbox a couple of fun props I bought last November in the post-Hallowe'en sales. Yes, they've been sitting under my desk, still in their wrapping for almost a year.  I'm a very patient woman.

I also got some eyeballs in the mail this week.  Fun!

As you can see from the sidebar on the right, I am participating in Countdown to Hallowe'en this year for my 4th year. I am represented this year by Post's Yummy Mummy!  Throughout the countdown, I am going to try to post 3 times a week throughout the month of October. We'll see how that goes. I recommend searching through the rolls over at Countdown as there are some super fun Hallowe'en bloggers over there.

In the meantime, I have had my first pumpkin spice latte of the year, though I have not yet indulged in any pumpkin snacks.  We'll see how long that lasts!

Also, in garden news, these are my 4 latest gleans. Aren't they just gorgeous!

12 weeks 'til Hallowe'en :)

Yes, I am back again for a number of reasons:

1. I just got back a ton of time at work because I finally hired someone and she started and she's great and I'm not doing 2 jobs anymore!!!  Yay!!!
2. So much has happened.
3. I feel like writing again.
4. Hallowe'en is 12 weeks away and I'm planning on participating in CryptKeeper 2013 and if I don't get started writing now, I'll never build up to writing again on October 1.  

So here I am!!!

Catching up:

• Last September my in-laws moved into our house for 3 months. It was a difficult time. Let's leave it there. They moved out on New Year's Eve. 
• 2013 started very well and all has been going along swimmingly. About the first thing we did was get a dog. Her name is Mitzi Francesca Landsman, but I tend to call her Schmookieface. Michael calls her Mitzidoodle, the Wonder Poodle. She's AWESOME! I don't know how we found such a special dog, but I think she might be the best dog I've ever met.  Ever.
• I grew a billion cucumbers, tons of lettuce, a million tomatoes and 4 watermelons. I killed a ton of garlic and I have killed the dill again. I planted artichoke and while it produced chokes, I thought I'd give the plants some time to toughen up so I cut them off so the plants could grow. We'll see if that works. Also, I bought a fejoia tree and it is producing!!!
• I canned 200 pounds of loquats into every form I could think of.  Next year I'm going to ask for help. Also, I'm probably going to make some kind of liquor next year, because it seems everyone wanted loquat liquor. 
• I got two new chickens!!! Michael named one Marsala and my sister, Shannon, named one Super,
  
  after the cartoon.  I kept trying to tell her that SuperChicken was a rooster, but she didn't care.
• We went to Alaska for the last week in July and had a fabulous time. I went snorkeling. In Alaska. No, Michael didn't join me snorkeling because he's bok, bok, chicken!!! He stayed on the ship and napped. Wev.

I'm attending the Scare L.A. Hallowe'en Convention this weekend, August 10 and 11. I'll be spending a ton of time working the Southern California Valley Haunters booth, which I recently joined and LOVE. I can't believe I get to dress up for Hallowe'en in August.  I plan to take a billion photos.

BY THE WAY....Did you know that cameras can become obsolete because the batteries are no longer made and buying the special batteries online costs about 1/2 as much as a new camera?  Well, it's true.  And it sucks. So I need a new camera. Before Sunday...Grrrr.

So there it is folks.  My update for the past 10 months. Whew.  

4 days til Hallowe'en!!!!! No, really this time...or is it 3?

Whatever. It's getting close and I have about a billion and 30 things to do before the big night. Adding up days is not one of them.

But, sparking from the sick pit that is my brains (braaaaaaiiiinnnnnnsssss), here is our front yard as it stood yesterday.

 

It's so pretty.  And at night, sooper spooky!  Notice the mass murder that occurred inside the house.  Lemme tell you, when the sun sets and shines in the windows, it's a total gorefest in there!

This is one of the 5 new tombstones for this year's Senior Prom themed Hallowe'en.  Poor Parker, touched down in heaven on the day before his 16th birthday.  Wonder what happened there???

People cannot pass our house without stopping to gawk.  LOVE IT!!!

I'm having a blast this year!

4 days til Hallowe'en!!!!!

Holy Hallowe'en Batman!!!  How did it suddenly get this close!!!!!

Actually, I've been out back building up a storm...

Did you know I had brick columns in my front yard?  Neither did my neighbors until last night! This is the first photo.  There will be more coming tonight and tomorrow. 

18 Days until Hallowe'en - Updates

Candlery 

I'm about 50% finished with the candles - those should be finished tomorrow night. Last year I made my candles out of toilet paper and paper towel rolls.  They were awesome but they definitely did not hold up.  This year I'm making them out of PVC pipe.  More expensive, less recycling, but at least I'm not wasting a pack of glue sticks every year. These should last for a couple of years at least, and next year I'm definitely going to be reusing them.

I got the idea from Dave Lowe and then Ghoul Friday, two of my favorite Hallowe'enie bloggers. 

Major glitch.  

I special ordered some materials at Home Depot for my cemetery columns and they called me at 8 p.m. last night to let me know that they wouldn't be able to get them in.  Aaargh!!!  I must say, this does put a crimp in my activities.

I love my Home Depot.  Pretty much every time I go in there, they are helpful and friendly and have what I need. This time, they failed me. 

Grrr, I say. Grr. 

Costumery

People keep asking me what I'm going to be this year, but I'm not telling.  It's an '80s theme, so one can start there. The Mr. and I are, as usual, going as a pair.  The year before last we were Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett.  Hmmm. Who might we be???

I hope to have photos of the columns in progress and the completed candles this weekend.  Stay tuned.

20 days til Hallowe'en

Today's plan:

• Make candles
• check the paints in the garage
• Order straw bales

We have a ton of paint from when we moved in and had the house painted, but of course, I have absolutely no idea what is in each can, so this afternoon I will go out and check all the cans. Of course, it's going to be 95 degrees in the valley this afternoon which would make for awesome paint drying weather, but I can't actually paint until tomorrow. 

The sickness/obsession/fun that is Hallowe'en, as I am rushing to finish this year's props, is that I have already decided on a theme for next year.  I'm going to do a total Dia de los Muertos theme.  I live in a moderately Latino neighborhood in a heavily Latino city, so that works very, very well. Also, it'll be super easy to add to my existing props - I definitely won't have to make a ton of new ones. 

Nothing like a little planning ahead....

21 days til Hallowe'en - prop building

Aaaah!!!

I did a lot of work this weekend.  Got the framing of all of the columns built and got my new gravestones.  Unfortunately, it's going to be 20 billion degrees in Burbank this week, which is great for paint drying but not as great for me being outside actually putting paint on things.  So I'll probably be working in the garage a bit and then doing whatever I can indoors.  I have candles and signs to make, both of which can be done indoors (though it would probably be easier outdoors, but oh well).  I can also put a first coat on the gravestones and have those dry in no time flat.

The guys at Home Depot are starting to recognize me...

24 days until Hallowe'en - Photos of Hallowe'ens past

Yes, it's a lot of baked goods. Because baking is my secret power....but I'm also pretty good at tombstones!

I wish I could find the photo of the meat foot I made.  I guess I'll just have to make another one and take photos.

Books from a garage sale and a skull from Michael's.

It's a cake. It actually tasted very good. Whatever. You don't have to eat it...

Witches' fingers