Moving right along.

Ya know, I have a beef with people who post on the Halloween Forum that they don't have the $$ to do their H'ween display this year, woe is me, woe is me.  Why can't they reuse the stuff they already have?  That should cost all of $0.  Or do they throw everything away come November??   

Sheesh.  But I digress.

Anyhoo.  I've added a few new things so far. 

I ordered another 4 foot skelly from the Skeleton-Factory.  It's entertaining that the family isn't even fazed that Paul is currently chilling on the couch in the living room. 

I used my 55% coupon at Michael's to get the red velvet skull.  

And damn if I didn't get an email today that if you're on the new Rewards Program, you have a 60% coupon!  I can't think of anything else that I want!

Joann's already has what little H'ween stuff they have out 30% off.  

I got this little headstone for the kitchen cemetery. 

The one I stopped at had very little out, but a lot of empty shelving with shelf plans taped to them.  I didn't see anything really exciting on the plans, but I may change my mind once I SEE it in person. 

And since I've decided on a masquerade ball for the cemetery this year, I've started getting some stuff from the Salvation Army to dress the skeletons with.  I asked my Secret Reaper for masks & beads & other scraps of materials.  I refuse to spend any more than $3 per piece on these outfits, so it's kind of fun to see what I can find.  These are some fabulous scarves, tho!

I found this village piece today in with the Christmas knick-knacks!  

Super cute.

I also found this reaper candle-holder.  It's hard to tell, but he's pretty happy looking. 

oh, and these......this isn't all from one trip.  I've been finding these nutcrackers since the beginning of the year.  I've been avoiding "typical" nutcrackers and only getting "unique" ones. 

A Royal Canadian Mountie, a bunny that will go in with the Easter stuff, an aviator and a biker holding a helmet & gloves. 

Actual Christmas nutcrackers.  On the right, the average looking guy is stained & not painted so that's how he rated as "unique".  The snowman is also a candle-holder and may possibly be regifted to my sister who loves snowmen.  

A postman, a gardner and a very fabulous pirate on the left. 

I found this one at an antique store.  He needs a little work, maybe a new paint job and glue here & there, but is otherwise solid.  He's got that old attic smell.  I've got quite the herd of these now. 

Speaking of herd.....did you see this is coming soon to a Home Depot near you???

OMG - how awesome would this be???  Over 6 feet tall (I assume they measured to the ears and not the base of the neck like a real horse)  O the possibilities!  

I would LOVE to have one, but storage would be a huge issue for this.  It would be hilarious to store it in my sister's barn!  She's got 2 live horses but 3 stalls in the barn so the skeleton could have its own space!  Heehee, she would probably disagree, tho.  A photo-op for sure, but not actually storing it there.   We'd (hubby & I) have to figure out a way to rig a pulley system to get it up in the garage rafters with the rest of the skeletons.  He's great at figuring out things like that.  It won't happen this year so I hope they bring it back for 2017!  

Going back to the masquerade ball idea - I discovered I had like $64 on my iTunes account and before I went nuts buying more music, I researched music for the ball.  Gots to have tunes at a ball!  I didn't want to use stuff from Midnight Syndicate or Nox Arcana.  While they are super awesome and creepy, I wanted to find music someone could actually dance to.  So I uploaded some of the usual stuff, but found some others that are pretty awesome.  

Witch Doctor

Purple People Eater

Monster Mash - did you know there is an explicit version of this????

Love Potion No 9

The Addams Family Theme

This is Halloween (Marilyn Manson)

Time Warp

I Put a Spell On You (CCR)

Monster in my Pants (Fred Schneider from the B52s)

Call Me on the Ouija Board (Sharon Needles)

Dracula (Sharon Needles)

This Club is a Haunted House (also Sharon Needles)

This is only around 38 minutes, so I'll have to find at least a couple more songs.  I won't have it playing every night, but will for sure during ToT.  And I've been listening to it while painting.

I thought of another quick improvement project to do for this year.  I have a ground-breaker coffin that I made a couple years ago that needs to be aged.  There are all sorts of recipes to stain wood on Pinterest using steel wool & apple cider vinegar so that's the plan.   

I'm almost done with repainting the headstones.  I've not doing a lot at a time, but tomorrow (Well, today since its after midnight) looks like it'll be decent (cloudy but not too hot and hopefully not humid) so maybe I'll get them finished up.  It'll be nice to get them put away so we can actually get into the garage!  I have the sawhorses right inside the door so they're in the way. 

Time to turn in - busy painting day tomorrow!  And I should do thru some boxes in the house that are mysteriously labelled "Halloween" to see what's in them (insert Twilight Zone music)!

I can't possibly be the only one who has such things floating around, am I??