#Creepmas - Bronner's!

Every year, I go to Bronner's with my Mom & sisters. 

Bronner's is typically known for a Christmas destination - it's literally a huge Christmas store with hotels + waterparks in the same parking lot.  It's located in Frankenmuth, MI and is also big on Christmas with lots of cool shops & restaurants.  

I didn't take Chuck into Bronner's with me - but he did go along the rest of the day, but of course I changed coats and left my phone out in the car, so I missed a lot of photo ops. 

This was a bell!

They have TONS of ornaments of (almost) anything you can think of.

I'm pretty partial to the maple leaves....

We spent the morning in Bronner's, had lunch at Slo' Bones and then visited some stores in town the rest of the afternoon. 

Creepmas 

It's Autumn!!!!

Chuck also celebrates Truck Driver Appreciation!

Since I've worked for a trucking company over 24 years now.

So the Spawn and I were finishing up the epitaphs on the headstones after repainting...

I turned one of the stones around and found this guy....

He was gently relocated thru the back fence into our neighbors woodpile, since honestly - I think if I heard / felt / saw that body squish I would throw up! 

The Grandson and I went to the store one day and he asked me about listening to Halloween songs!  XM doesn't have the Halloween stations going yet, but I thought that it was funny that this song had just started, tho!

I apparently don't have pics, but I got the pieces cut out & painted to make the floodlight blinders - I don't know what else to call them!  This is my inspiration pic that I took while exploring Tillson St last year. 

Mine are pretty similar (I'm making 3) except the side pieces are the same size and will be put together with a V shaped top piece. 

I also got the headstone cut out & sealed for the Spouse's car that was in an accident this summer. 

It took a few sketches, but we finally settled on a shape that he liked.   I'll have that done probably today, weather permitting. 

Yesterday was Exhumation Day!

We dug the skeletons out of the back of the garage.  

So now this is what the patio looks like. 

We dodged raindrops putting stuff back into the garage, but the big guys are out! 

And we remembered that all the little skeletons were tossed in boxes with the cows. 

These are the ducklings, squirrels, a random turtle, bats, a piglet, puppy & kitten.

Oh, and an iguana.  And a piranha.  How did I end up with 2 owls? 

I'll have to do a full inventory just to see what I actually have. 

On the agenda for this week is taking the grandkids to the apple orchard Wednesday with their daycare classes because the Spawn, aka their mom, has to work at said daycare and they'd rather go with me than one of their teachers.  Then we need to get the blowmolds out, cleaned up and lights checked out (which I hate doing!!) and the critter skeletons out of the shed.

   

Because....

OMG!!

I feel behind already so do I really want to wait until this weekend to start setting up??

And just for fun, let's check the weather!

Of course this will change 783 times before Halloween actually gets here....

That looks to be pretty close to perfect!  Fingers crossed it stays that way!

But since we're in Michigan - we'll probably have a blizzard.  

Almost double digits!

Hidey-ho, friends & neighbors!

Have I just never noticed that people consider July 5 the beginning of Halloween season?  I sure saw a lot of memes & stuff on the socials saying so.  I don't remember seeing anything about it in the past! 

But that's OK.  It can be!

I also saw that Target released their H'ween stuff online yesterday. 

I always have to check out the skeletons, no matter what store I'm checking out. 

OMG

A PENGUIN!

I wish it was bigger than 10.5 inches, but that didn't stop me from ordering.  

More than one. 

3

The Spouse likes Penguins so that's my justification. 

I also got this guy.  

He's only 24 inches so he can be a friend for the rainbow one from last year 

(who is currently hanging off a planter at work)

I wish they had less-mean looking faces.  I might have to add eyebrows. 

Target also has otters!  

It's really cute, but I passed on it. 

Let's compare the chickens & goats from Target (seen below on the left) and Joann's (on the right)

Not gonna lie.  I like the chicken. 

The goat seems a bit wonky to me.  I'm not sure what it is. Maybe I need to see it in person. 

But then since I was on the Joann's site (for research purposes) I looked at their skeletons, too. 

Between their 40% off "sale" and another 25% online only coupon.....

Chuck is getting yet another new friend!  

This one is a 3' tall one.  I like his happy face!  I'll be going to pick him up after work today. 

I think I need intervention!

New additions!

So I didn't plan on getting anything new this year for the cemetery, but of course it happens....

As of a week ago, this is all Party City had in the store.  

There's a 12' jack o lantern guy behind the rack, too. 

Just tossing that out there, for FYI

I thought this was funny.

I was looking at Oriental Trading and darn - these got pre-ordered!

This is a raccoon - I think he'll need some paint added to make it more obvious what he's supposed to be. Around the eyes & tails for sure. 

The unicorn is smaller than the horse & pony, but he's still super cute!

And then I was checking out some threads on the HalloweenForum and I saw mention of disco skeletons at Party City, so I had to check out the website.....

OMG.  

I wasn't sure at first - but then I got a 20% off coupon code in my email so that sold me.

They have both 3' and 5' options.  I got the 3'.  

She's definitely not going to be a replacement for Chuck - she's going to be mainly for show.  I'll have to come up with a good drag queen name, since that just seems like what a disco skeleton should have!

Everything should be arriving the first week in August....

stay tuned!

IT'S SUMMER !!!!

 I set this to post exactly at 20:51 UTC, which is 16:51 EST, because why not post exactly on the equinox?  

That being said....

This freaking heat wave plays hell on a chubby girl!  

I hate to be sweaty. 

There was a moment of panic last night when we had a storm blow thru and our power flickered a few times.  I sure don't want to be without my A/C!  

I saw our only casualty this morning.

I planted my lilac not long after we moved into this house (22? years ago!) and one year it almost got flattened from a wet heavy snow, so the Spouse trimmed it back to a tree for me and it's been like that since.  Guess it didn't like the dumping rain and the trunk snapped just below the ground level.  It was only about 5 feet tall so it'll be an easy clean up.  

I'm glad I haven't been at any cemeteries recently so I am certain this handprint on my car came from the smaller of the grandkids and not anyone ghostly.   I don't know if I want to know what was on her hand to make dust stick so well thru multiple rains!?

Chuck got a new horse for the funeral procession thru the cemetery this year thanks to a neighbor!  

Of course the grandkids are having a good time with it until then.

I've been reading a lot of "Code Orange" posts lately on various forms of social media.  There just so happens to be an At Home store, Joann's & Michael's all close together, also close to my work. 

I was kind of disappointed, but I have to remember that it's early!

At Home looked to be in the process of stocking their shelves. 

I snagged this really cute ghosty blowmold. It's lit by 2 C7 bulbs.  I'll have to look at it after dark to see how well it lights up.  It should be good with the white plastic. 

Are the ads on FB true?  Is Joann's closing?  Of course the store I went in is usually pretty dumpy anyway, but they had a lot of flattened boxes everywhere and a lot of empty shelves. I really don't like how they mark up their prices and then give you "sales" or "coupons" to bring it back to a somewhat reasonable price.  This little guy (who I'd seen online and thought was adorable) was a lot smaller than I expected and was marked $35!!!  Everything was already 40% off so I sucked it up and paid $20 for him, only because he is so stinking cute! 

My tangent....they have a groundbreaker skeleton similar to the one Party City came out with last year - marked $500!!  and their 8 foot skeleton with LED eyes was $400!  Hard pass. 

Then the Michael's was a bust.  There might have been a few fall things out, but nothing that grabbed my attention enough to even walk down the aisle.  I did see this countdown online, tho.  

This is really neat, but I wish they had skeletons instead of witches. Or even ghosts! 

I'll have to make a run to the stores closer to my house.  They're in a nicer town and usually have better selections. 

OMG - did you see this at Tractor Supply?  

That's just entirely too hilarious!  

I personally wouldn't pay that for a giant chicken but I really want to see someone with one!  

I've seen a TSC thread on HalloweenForum and people were wondering which size skeleton would fit on the chicken's back better!

🤣🤣🤣

Chuck, what are you looking at??