Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween from Morticia Addams and her special ops forces (aka Little Man).

Our Jack-o-lantern courtesy of Bill and Christopher.

Sadly, this was the first Halloween in the 21 years that Bill and I have been together that he couldn't get out of work and missed most of the festivities. Hope everyone else had a safe and happy.

This is (almost) Halloween

Bill has been going around the house singing this for days now so I thought I'd put it on here in honor of tomorrow's holiday:

"This is Halloween" from "The Nightmare Before Christmas"

[SHADOW]
Boys and girls of every age
Wouldn't you like to see something strange?

[SIAMESE SHADOW]
Come with us and you will see
This, our town of Halloween

[PUMPKIN PATCH CHORUS]
This is Halloween, this is Halloween
Pumpkins scream in the dead of night

[GHOSTS]
This is Halloween, everybody make a scene
Trick or treat till the neighbors gonna die of fright
It's our town, everybody scream
In this town of Halloween

[CREATURE UNDER THE BED]
I am the one hiding under your bed
Teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red

[MAN UNDER THE STAIRS]
I am the one hiding under yours stairs
Fingers like snakes and spiders in my hair

[CORPSE CHORUS]
This is Halloween, this is Halloween

[VAMPIRES]
Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!
In this town we call home
Everyone hail to the pumpkin song

[MAYOR]
In this town, don't we love it now?
Everybody's waiting for the next surprise

[CORPSE CHORUS]
Round that corner, man hiding in the trash can
Something's waiting now to pounce, and how you'll...

[HARLEQUIN DEMON, WEREWOLF & MELTING MAN]
Scream! This is Halloween
Red 'n' black, slimy green

[WEREWOLF]
Aren't you scared?

[WITCHES]
Well, that's just fine
Say it once, say it twice
Take a chance and roll the dice
Ride with the moon in the dead of night

[HANGING TREE]
Everybody scream, everbody scream

[HANGED MEN]
In our town of Halloween!

[CLOWN]
I am the clown with the tear-away face
Here in a flash and gone without a trace

[SECOND GHOUL]
I am the "who" when you call, "Who's there?"
I am the wind blowing through your hair

[OOGIE BOOGIE SHADOW]
I am the shadow on the moon at night
Filling your dreams to the brim with fright

[CORPSE CHORUS]
This is Halloween, this is Halloween
Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!
Halloween! Halloween! 

[CHILD CORPSE TRIO]
Tender lumplings everywhere
Life's no fun without a good scare

[PARENT CORPSES]
That's our job, but we're not mean
In our town of Halloween

[CORPSE CHORUS]
In this town

[MAYOR]
Don't we love it now?
Everybody's waiting for the next surprise 

[CORPSE CHORUS]
Skeleton Jack might catch you in the back
And scream like a banshee
Make you jump out of your skin
This is Halloween, everyone scream
Wont' ya please make way for a very special guy

Our man jack is King of the Pumpkin patch
Everyone hail to the Pumpkin King now!

[EVERYONE]
This is Halloween, this is Halloween
Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!

[CORPSE CHILD TRIO]
In this town we call home
Everyone hail to the pumpkin song

[EVERYONE]
La la la la-la la [Repeat]

Libraries and bookstores are time vampires

Once a week a go to the library. I know, how cool, right? Yeah well, don't be too impressed because I'm usually accompanying my guys as they swap out last week's dvd's for a new stash. I manage to take out one or two or five books to read and Little Man and I take out a book to read at bedtime.

The last few times I've been going alone because Bill's work schedule doesn't allow for Sunday trips to the library and Chris is far more invested in Minecraft. This suits me fine because I can wander about looking for something to read without feeling rushed. Therein lies the seduction.

You see the library is a time vampire that sucks the hours from your day. It beckons with its shiny shelves of endless books. Come in, come in, it whispers. So you enter all innocently because you just want to return these few items and take out a couple of new books and movies. And before you know it the entire day is gone and you emerge into darkness hours later dazed and wondering, where has all the time gone?

Going into a bookstore is the same way. It's like a giant vortex that sucks up your time and holds you prisoner, unable to leave as you walk up and down aisles looking at books you want to buy and read. Their covers lure you toward them. Authors you've read before seem to whisper, come read my newest book. And so you flit like a hummingbird from one shelf to another, one section to the next, picking up this book because the cover is so attractive or that one because the title calls to you. You turn it over and read a description of the story and it sounds so intriguing that before you know it you've opened the first page and begun to read and you start to shift from one foot to the other because your leg is starting to fall asleep and finally you stop yourself because now you simply have to find out what happens next but you want to be in the comfort of your own home so you grab the book and head to the register but then you spy another favorite author who has a new book out featuring a sexy guy sharing the cover with a suggestive title and you have that long weekend coming up that would be perfect for reading this trashy little novel so you grab that as well. It's a never-ending nightmare.

No, actually a nightmare is going into a bookstore with a certain amount of spending money (or none at all) and seeing 247 different books that you want to read/need to read/had been meaning to read. And you can't buy any of them! Because you came in there to pick up something for your friend's birthday. I don't know about you but I can always find something for myself, be it books or clothes, when I am out shopping for someone else. However, when I have money and go shopping for myself? Nothing. I could win the lottery tomorrow and not find a stitch of clothing to wear. Books I could purchase by the truckload.  I'd be the first naked millionaire with more books than I had the time to read.

I used to read one book at a time but I have evolved and now I read several books at a time. This says more about my impatience than it says about how well-read I am. Here's what I am reading now:

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. A big shout out and thank you to Bre over at Peacoats and Plaid for writing about her love of this book.

Bad Girls Go Everywhere: Wisdom, Humor and Inspiration from Women with Attitude by Kathryn and Ross Petras. It's a collection of quotes and anecdotes by famous women.

Secret Sins by Lora Leigh. The obligatory trashy novel.

I confess, I already started "The Happiness Project" and finished "Bad Girls Go Everywhere".  Later I'll start on "Secret Sins". Who said the time-sucking ended once you left the library or bookstore?

A little lovin' for me blog

Change is good, Sandy never said.

I'm a creature of habit. Sure I like some new things but the same ol, same ol is comforting to me. I know what to expect. I like it. Which is why I still sometimes find myself baffled that I uprooted my family and basically moved my life across the country a few short years ago. Maybe I don't do small changes very well, but my life-changing ones are epic.

What has this got to do with anything? Well, I made a few changes here; decided to promote advertising and sponsorship, and joined with a couple new sites, most notably, bloglovin'. I know. Finally! Right? Hey, I may be late to the party but at least I show up. Eventually. So if you see me around bloglovin', come follow me. Or just say hi.

In the meantime, I'm still setting up my space there. Might do a little painting, hang some pics. Got a hammer I can borrow? I'll give you a cupcake.



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Have we gone too far? The sexification of today's Halloween costumes

Before we go any further, let me assure you that sexification is a word. It's my word. It's like beautification, when you beautify something. So it stands to reason that if you sexify (another word I made up, which totally exists and if it doesn't, it should) something, it's called sexification. Moving on...

Halloween sure has gotten a lot sexier over the years. Especially when it comes to adult women's costumes. This year as I was perusing the aisles and websites for a costume for the Little Man I came upon some outfits that had me scratching my head and saying tsk tsk while others made me stop and go, Whuuuuut? Let me 'splain.


Halloween and scary movies have a long history together. Let's face it, some of the most famous horror film killers have been the best advertisement that Halloween has ever had. I'm talking Jason, Freddy Krueger and even that evil, little killer doll, Chucky. These guys are all about the gory and scary. Until...you put them in a super short mini skirt. Not only have they been trans-gendered, but these ugly pop culture killers have been turned into hotties. Yes, now you, too, can be a sexy Ms. Voorhees; hockey mask included. Freddy's striped sweater has been extended into a mini. And Chucky's overalls are now a mini-dress complete with red thigh-highs. What's next? Michael Myers in a skin-tight, gray catsuit? Sigh.


Garden gnomes are cute, little lawn decorations. They might even make you think of those Travelocity commercials. A garden gnome with a red, pointy hat and barely there blue micro-mini skirt? No, just no. Besides being uncomfortable, you run the risk of poking someone's eye out if you bent over to pick up something you dropped. Remember what they say, 'it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye'.

I don't know. These days scarecrows are sultry. Ghostbusters are sassy. Even Dorothy from "The Wizard of Oz" is struttin' down the yellow brick road. One might say it's too much. Then again, judging by the amount of material in some of today's costumes, it might be too little.

Ah, October

Take a few moments to breathe in the Autumn air. Unless of course you live in a clogged city and then please try not to choke on exhaust fumes.

source

Things to do when you're stalled for writing ideas

Please bear in mind that these work (or don't) for me and your writer's block may vary. Also, this has absolutely nothing to do with NaBloPoMo, except that I am still (trying) to write each day for a month.


1. Focus your mind on intelligent website activities. And by intelligent I mean time-sucks like Pinterest or Candy Crush. Nothing engages my creativity like linking candy in a game or aimlessly pinning tips on how to better organize my life. Currently my pin boards are super organized. I'm half-way there!

2. Go for a walk. I like to wander from one room to another often getting distracted by the television, the refrigerator or what the neighbors across the street are up to. Then I wonder where the last 3 hours went and why my computer screen is still a big ol' blank. 

3. Sit and bemoan my cursed fate at being a writer with nothing to say except when I have to verbally comment on everything that either makes me weep for mankind or laugh like a demented loon and in both cases is not fit to blog about in the first place.

4. Listen to music. However, this can be counter-productive to writing because I usually end up organizing (thanks Pinterest!) my iTunes playlist or I go looking for new music to download and I then I wonder why I don't exercise more because I have some pretty awesome workout music and then I feel like a lazy schlep with no oomph for writing at that moment.

5. Ask the husband for ideas. This can also be counter-productive because if I tell him I have nothing to say in a blog post he looks at me incredulously and says something smart-alecky like, You? You have something to say about everything. Or, I always said your head was empty. Thanks, Bill. Some help you are.

And that's how you beat blog posting writer's block.

Resurrecting Dracula

So much for posting everyday in October. I hit a wall. A blank wall and couldn't come up with any worthwhile to write, let alone have other people read. And I certainly didn't want to just post any old thing just for the sake of posting. Earlier today I was, again, at a loss for something to write.

And then I logged on to my aol account. And I saw a preview for this.  Which begs the question: Why is tonight the first I'm hearing about this new series? I swear sometimes I feel as if I live on the other side of the moon. The network, producers, whoever is in charge should be promoting the hell out of this! Who doesn't like a good Dracula re-telling? I, for one, love all things Count Drac related. Thank goodness I didn't miss this yet or else, blood would be shed.

I'm a big fan of legends, especially scary ones, which, I know, is odd considering what a fraidy cat I can be. It's kind of like how I can eat olive loaf but I don't like olives. Don't ask me, I already know I'm weird and that my tastes defy explanation. But seriously, I like reading and watching shows about them (the legends, not the olives). If my history classes had only incorporated more of the creepy I would have gotten better grades in school.Certainly couldn't have hurt.

Halloween traditions

Holy wow! I'm halfway through the month and still going strong. This is a big thing for me. I'm usually good for 2 maybe 3 posts in row. But 17? Next thing ya know, it'll be snowing out here in the desert.


Okay, so pretty much every holiday has some sort of traditions set around it. Halloween is no exception, especially with us. Like, watching "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" is kind of an unwritten law in our home. We haven't seen it yet this year but there's still plenty of time.

Last year, Little Man and I started a new tradition of driving around at night to see all the Halloween decorations. It's a little like when people drive around to look at the lights at Christmas only we scope out which houses are decorated so we know where to go for candy on Halloween. It's both fun and strategic. This was all his idea, too, contrary to what some might say. Mom, I'm lookin' at you.

Of course, each year Bill and Chris do up the front of our house with decorations. That's totally their gig. They draw up a plan, gather their tools & props and spend hours setting up graveyards, body parts, skeletons and other creepy ornaments. Makes me so proud, especially when people stop and stare as they walk down the street. Some in admiration, some in mock horror and others just scoop up their little dogs who are barking at the torso with no lower body, crawling out of a grave and do that quick little walk that's not quite a run. Somehow I don't think this is what Fiddler On The Roof had in mind when he sang about traditions.