125 days (but who's counting?)

I'm ready for this heat & humidity to be GONE! 

So circling back to my last post....

SUCCESS!

I went to a different At Home store last weekend and was able to acquire my blowmolds! 

I couldn't resist getting 2.  

And also the Danger Noodle. 

I've actually been wanting one, so I grabbed it since it was right there, yanno.

There are several different varieties out there - this one actually reminds me of my skeleton horse's (and pony) tail. It's more rubber-y and less bone-y.

Now.... do I want to get the boney wheelbarrow???  It's totally appropriate for my Sanctuary for Anatomically Incorrect Animals.  And I could imagine some hilarious scenes to put it in.  But do I really want to drop $150 on it???  They've already gotten a good chunk of my H'ween play money this year! 

Thoughts to ponder.

I also went on Amazon and ordered a few things. 

These earrings are super cute, but they're definitely for people with daintier earlobes than I have (damn getting old anyway!!) but it's not stopping me from wearing them! 

btw - that's the Amazon model - not me.

I also decided to get the mini wolf skeletons.  

They're indeed small, but there's a place (somewhere) in the sanctuary for them. 

Maybe with this guy?

He's also been ordered, but not due to arrive until the first week in July sometime. 

It's 17" tall. I didn't want one that moves or makes noise, so this is a good one. 

Interesting that I just got emails from TSC about the items I'm watching (all the critter skeletons) are still temporarily unavailable.  But when I went to look - they're not even showing on the website anymore! 

AKA the Spawn - she keeps turning the living room A/C off!

The grandkids were mildly offended at first that I was using their pool, but they got over it (and that I stole one of the water guns to squirt them when they got too close!)

I didn't get this At Home JOL, but I took a pic to send to my sisters because it looks like one of our aunts! 

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Thoughts to ponder - was reading a thread on the HalloweenForum about buying H'ween candy - do you stick to a budget or just buy all willy-nilly?   We've given out full sized bars for the past several years - it's not a real big deal for us since we usually get less than 50 kids, a good amount of them are drive-bys.  This is why....

This is my neighborhood.  The purple squares in the neatly gridded area are streetlights.  I live on a non-streetlight street.  We also don't have sidewalks.  Or many houses with porch lights on at H'ween.

There are no lights noted in the twisty side because I don't know where all those are, other than there's a lot more than what we have!  And sidewalks.  And houses closer to said sidewalks than mine is to the road.   

So even tho there are plenty of kids in our area, I found out they must all go over into the twisty side for ToT.  The Spawn has taken the grandkids over that way, and she said there were tons of kids out and a lot of houses with porchlights on. 

Anyway - I digress.  Going back to the Forum discussion - I looked at my Amazon order from last year when I bought the candy bars and compared them to current prices. 

18 ct Skittles / Starburst Variety Pack  =  2024 - $18.14 / 2025 - $21.78 

30 ct M&M / Mars Variety Pack  =  2024 - $ 27.89 / 2025 - $42.50  

WOW!

At least I looked now so I won't be shocked later at the prices!  Especially on the chocolate.  Sheeesh. 

I have been warned!

So until later..... see ya!

Happy Solstice!

And just because I can.... this post is going live at 10:42pm EDT.

We had some pretty nasty storms come thru my area Wednesday.  

Screenshot of a funny Facebook post from the folks in Hell, MI!

I've heard crickets really early this summer - and I saw a lightning bug getting a drink on my rain gauge this morning!

So I've been watching TSC's website for their H'ween stuff to go on sale.  Nothing yet.  

But I was successful with Cracker Barrel!

These actually just delivered today. 

They had a super cute haunted house blowmold, but by the time I heard about it, they were sold out.  But that's OK - I really like the headstone one, too!  

OMG - this bowl!  I have no idea what I'll do with it for now, but I'll put the candy in it on H'ween night. 

The can is for scale.

Please excuse the dirty patio table!

I made a trip to Michael's after work - I had a $10 coupon that expired today… and right across the street happens to be At Home!  

Someone posted some pics on the HalloweenForum and my eyes went straight to this blowmold!  

OMG!

No luck at the store by work, but I’ll make a trip to the one closer to my house this weekend and hope I can find one (or two)!!  If not… I’ll keep looking!

I did come home with things I didn’t know I needed until I saw them.

A longhorn cow????

Obviously it’s mine now.

Chuck now has a girlfriend.

I’ve actually been wanting the little bird nest.

I wasn’t sure if I’d find anything at Michael’s since they have some weird ‘collections’ out.  Last year with their pastels and this year’s pink stuff?

🤔

But I happily found nutcrackers!

And they're different!

I have several cats… because black cats!

But a dog??

Awesome!

Now that I’ve gotten a small fix of Code Orange I should be good for a while!  Or at least until I find my At Home blowmold or TSC puts their stuff on sale!

GASP - Code Orange at TSC!

 ...too bad you can't actually order anything yet.   Booooo!

But I have a shopping list going!  

I'm biased that I like my HD horse better - this one's neck is too short. 

That being said, not for $599.99!!!

At least you know it's head probably won't flop back & forth like the HD one does. 

Super cool and substantial in size!

Also $599.99

96" high x 36" wide x 95" long

MINE!!!!

at 17" long x 6.25" high - that's worth the $19.99

Load me up!

They're little but I'm game to pay $4.99 for several. 

Also will be MINE!  

I have a couple I got from Michael's 2 or 3 years ago and was disappointed in how little those are. 

This one is a realistic 27" high x 17" wide x 16" long.

$69.99

I'm on the fence about this one.  I have 2 from Michael's and 1 from I think HalloweenCostumes.com

Do I need any more?  Meh

10" high x 20"long x 6.75" wide

$24.99

Cute!

6.5" high x 4" wide x 6" long

$12.99

I signed up to get notified when they're available to actually purchase. 

150 Days!

Wow, I have a string of really interesting blog titles, don't I?  

But that's OK.  Just checking in anyway. 

Not a whole lot going on. 

I've seen some people on social media reporting Code Orange at At Home - I'll need to make my way there soon!  I've seen their posts in various places about "sneak peek" so maybe they'll have something in my area.  I'd like to see the little ghost paintings IRL. 

From what little I've seen so far, I don't see any really new critter skeletons like I'd like to acquire.  HalloweenCostumes.com has a 17.5" sitting wolf that's showing Out of Stock, so I've been keeping an eye on that.  

This is a possibility - it they ever get it back in stock!

HEY!  When I saw these (comes in a 2-pack) on Amazon before, they had them listed as 'wolves' but now they're on there as 'puppy' and 'dog'.  Which is a better description, I guess.  They kind of look like Beagles with wigs.  Funny, but I think I'll pass. 

I'll eventually see what inspires me. 

Last weekend we got out the fire pit and made S'mores.

 

THIS is how marshmallows should be done!

However I am in the minority in my household. 

I even let the grandkids try a bite - the granddaughter actually ate some, but her nose was turned up the whole time and the grandson spit his out.  Guess they're not fans. 

That's OK - that just means I don't ever have to roast their marshmallows for them! 

We also let off some fireworks recently - the video is on IG.

We laughed that we were the first people to let off (unexpectedly) obnoxious fireworks in the neighborhood this year!

Chad at work looked especially fabulous in the early morning sun. 

I thought this was funny - the # of notifications in that folder....

Apparently the FrightMaps update wanted to get attention! 

We finally caught the ice cream truck!  We've heard it in the neighborhood several times but either missed them when they went by or they didn't come down our street!

I thought this was hilarious!  Saw it on Facebook Marketplace. 

I have this same blowmold - hope mine's not haunted, either!

So I still have plans (and materials!) for 2 props that actually move that didn't get made last year.  I'll have to break down and have the Spouse help me out.  It's difficult to plan a "build" when there are 2 little helpers around!  

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Halfway to Halloween!!

Happy Half-o-ween!  

It's funny how different people have different ideas of what the halfway point is.  

Half of 365 is 182.5.  Today is 182 days - so close enough! 

I made up a "perpetual calendar" so I can always see right at a glance how many days to go.

 Moving on! 

I ordered a few things a while back, and the Spouse would put the boxes in the garage.  So, by the time I got home from work, I'd forgotten about them!   So, they stacked up and I got to open them all at once.  Now we're all caught up. 

First - I didn't think I needed any more skeletons (HA!!)

but I was poking around HalloweenCostumes.com and happened to see a 6' Frankenstein's monster skeleton on clearance!  

Regularly $90, on sale for $40, plus 15% off and some rewards?  Couldn't pass him up! 

Hey there!

My only issue is that his head is loose and spins around very easily. I'll have to fix that somehow.

And I don't even remember seeing IRL all the colors on the skull, but they're clearly there.  The picture on the website showed them much brighter. 

Next was this guy from Michael's. 

Had a $10 voucher that I needed to use and an online sale. 

He's 5' tall with the stake, so fairly substantial. 

Lastly - a couple years ago I got a white wooden cross from the dollar store.  You know, the kind you see on the side of the road, etc?   I wanted to get a couple more to add to the cemetery, to spruce up the look some.  Do you think I've been able to find any???   I looked at a couple different dollar stores last year, concentrating especially on the weeks leading up to Memorial Day and nothing.  

Then I searched & searched online and couldn't find any for less than $20!!

I don't know if I was using the wrong search words or what, but suddenly I found them for $7 at Walmart.   I grabbed them up in case they disappeared again!

I actually really like the sunflower one.  

I got 2 of each flower design.

I had planned to put them back in the box for storage, but 

Hurricane Grandson happened. 

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Thoughts to ponder..... 

Halloween is on a Friday this year.

Normally, the Spouse and I both take November 1 off work so we can take the cemetery down, move everything to the back yard and get the yard cleaned up.  Then we can put everything away at our leisure.

Do we continue that trend?  Or do we leave the cemetery up for the weekend and take Monday off work?  Not that we need any excuse to take time off work, but it would be easier because the Spawn and grandkids will be at daycare / school. 

OOooooooo - speaking of.....the grandson will be starting kindergarten this fall!  I wonder if his school will be having a Halloween party & costume parade?  Is that still a thing?  I sure hope so!  He'll be going to the same elementary school that his mom (aka the Spawn) attended, and I went to all of her's.  Can't wait to find out!

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I thought this was kind of funny.  I volunteer on a search & rescue team and each week our K9s train at different parks around the county.   This was found in a pavilion.  Somehow, I don't think this is the variety of human remains they were searching for! 

Since they all know about Chuck, 

I immediately commented back that all of my skeletons were accounted for!

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OH!  and let's acknowledge that May is also Cemetery Appreciation Month! 

 

Doing a quick Google search, it looks like Iowa is the only state that actually acknowledges it - good for them!  Iowa legislators created the State Association for the Preservation of Iowa Cemeteries in 1996 and their governor signed the proclamation.    Rhode Island also has an Advisory Commission on Historical Cemeteries... and apparently the town of Warwick gives you the opportunity to go on a cemetery scavenger hunt...????  That would be AWESEOME!!!! 

I wrote a post back in 2021 about the Seven Historical Cemeteries in the town where I live.  

Maybe it's time to revisit them? 

I found a nice post from the NecroTourist listing 30 ways to celebrate. 

So get out there and appreciate!!