This is hands down my favorite time of year and I’m thankful to live in a state that produces such wonders.
Visions of Autumn
Tag Archives: halloween
Welcome, October!
Oh, sure. I know it’s already 11 days in but ya ghoul’s life has been chaotic lately. That does not mean that I don’t make time for all things October!
I finally read and finished a book for the first time in 2 months. I will review that soon.
Mr. C&M and I recently watched Rob Zombie’s Munsters:
Let me state that, I will forever choose the Addams Family over the Munsters. For whatever reason, I just never sat down and played with the Munsters. That being said, this movie was fine. It was quirky and the set designs were really cool. Now, Mr. C&M is a huge Munsters fan, and he didn’t really like it. He thought grandpa and Lily were well played and the set designs were cool, but he fell asleep 3/4 of the way through it and sees no reason to go back and view what he missed.
Ridley woke me up much too early this morning, so I put Halloween Wars on for entertainment. It’s a fun little show to drink your coffee too while getting in the spooky spirit.
My life should calm down this week so here’s to hoping that I will be more present online and get fully immersed in my favorite season. 🙂
Halloween Hell
Well that was a HELL of a good Halloween folks! We had an absolutely fangtastic Halloween with our BFFs for the entire weekend.
Saturday we hit the cider mills and dropped by a random cidery that we found along the way. The first place we stopped was definitely the best. They made their own hard cider and beer along with donuts and other baked goodies. Honestly, we probably could have just hung out there the whole day but we had exploring to do!
We followed that up with a home cooked meal and jack-o-lantern carving:
Sunday, we hit the road down to Hell. The drive was amazing thanks to the autumn colors and we met up with a couple more friends. We all played putt putt while a gentleman sang Halloween-themed songs in the background. Dracula rap anyone? Lunch was at the infamous Hell Saloon which did not disappoint for a second time in a row despite being super busy.
After that, we kind of just wandered around Hell, checking things out. There’s a chapel where you can get married and several people were. Here Mr. C&M and I are thinking we’re really cool for getting married on Halloween but these folks one upped us. They were married in Hell on Halloween.
We rounded out the night by deciding to NOT give away the candy that Ignited Moth and her husband bought to kids but to instead, avoid the germs and eat all the candy ourselves while watching John Carpenter’s The Thing. (Which I had somehow never seen and am now fully in love with.)
Super big shout out thanks to Ignited Moth and her husband for making this one our most memorable Halloweens yet! ❤
Now, onto Science Fiction November! Do you plan to participate and how?
Two Weeks of October
Usually, I do a weekly report of all my fun Halloween shenanigans in October, however this year is proving difficult to get anything done blog-wise. Outside of that, I have been watching the crap outta some horror movies. I started that over two weeks ago so this incoming list includes only what I’ve watched in the last 2 weeks:
Head over to Sugar and Scream for our joint reviews of Rawhead Rex and Puppetmaster.
Nightbooks might not really be a horror movie but it was spooky and we enjoyed it so it makes the list. My favorite out of all of these movies was Demons. There is barely a plot line but the practical effects were incredible and I can’t stop thinking about it.
Books
4 out of 5 stars – I very much enjoyed this book. As with the first one, it’s a fun and sassy ride. I just did not feel like reviewing it.
Recipes
In case you missed it – Pumpkin Snickerdoodles with Vanilla Chips.
Lastly, it’s been almost 2 years since our last concert. Work has been hell with Covid vaccines, flu vaccines and Covid testing so we decided we deserved a win. We went and saw KISS. It was an outdoor venue so we felt a little better about going and it was worth it. We had so much fun and they played a great set list.
How has everyone’s October been treating them? (Or tricking them?) What spooky madness have you gotten up to??
Third Week of October
5 out of 5 stars – Its hard to NOT rate Elvira anything less than 5 stars. This was fun and campy just like you’d expect.
Random horror movie that we decided to watch and I want my time back. It wasn’t the worst thing that I’ve sat through but it wasn’t good either.
Love, love, love this movie. It’s a classic for a reason and we really should revisit it every year.
Another one that we revisit every couple of years. There are so many great one liners it’s ridiculous. Probably not a movie for the feint of heart.
Other than that, this proved to be a pretty quiet week. No baking was done. With a possible second lockdown on the horizon, we’ve been a bit distracted with not getting caught with our pants down again.
How was your week? What are your plans for Halloween?
Second Week of October
Welcome back ghouls and ghosts to the next stop in the October train of fun! Spooky movies, tasty treats and autumn adventures were had!
2 out of 5 stars – This novel frequently comes up on horror story lists so I read a sample, it seemed like it might be something so I bought it. Ultimately, it was kind of a dud. It’s not bad but it’s not much to write home about. The ending made little sense. So all-in-all, I would avoid this one if you’re looking for a spooky read.
I also purchased Malice of Crows for $1.99 in ebook format.
Mr. C&M and I hit the movies hard this week and it’s been great:
We’re both huge Chucky fans and only sick curiosity and the fact it was free on Prime got us to watch this. That being said, it wasn’t the train wreck that we had expected. It’s an alright movie but it’s no original.
Somehow, in all my life, I’ve never heard of this movie. It’s 80’s horror perfection and I loved every second of it. Highly recommend.
Another classic 80’s horror movie that I had somehow missed. (This whole endeavor has made me realize that I may have to continue this horror movie extravaganza far past Halloween.) I also thoroughly enjoyed this one and would recommend it.
For all the years that I have been with Mr. C&M, he’s talked about an edition of this movie with Type O Negative music over-layed it. This year he finally tracked down a copy and purchased it. (Only later to find out that it was on YouTube for free. Doh!) Again, I had never seen this, original or Type O version. It was fun.
That can of pumpkin was nagging at me from the cupboard so before heading out to see a couple of people, I whipped up some pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting. It’s a recipe that never fails and you can find it here.
We ended the week with a nice hike through some local trails with a friend and his dog that are moving out of state soon. The day started off very cold but it warmed up while we were on the trails. It was a beautiful day and we hiked 2.5 miles. We thought this might actually wear Samus out but she took a nap and woke up ready to play again. :3
How has the last week treated you??
October Week 4.5: Candy and Snow
There was no time this past weekend to do a post reviewing the week before. So this week I present to you; October Week 4.5. One and a half weeks of October fun.
The reason there was no time this past weekend was first because we attended our friend’s awesome A Very Harry Halloween Party. Harry Potter themed of course. She went into amazing detail with everything including (finally) receiving our Hogwarts acceptance letters. I was Moaning Myrtle and Mr. C&M was Lucius Malfoy.
Second, we traveled to Cleveland for a concert (Hammerfall and Sabaton) and explored the breweries of the city.
Trick-or-treating last night was cold, rainy and eventually turned to light snow. Kids these days don’t tough it out like we used to. I believe our motto was wind, rain or snow, trick-or-treating we will go. We saw about 14 kids the whole two hours. In fact, we had 3/4 of our second tub full of candy at 8 minutes left until the end. So, the last two kids got a crap-ton of candy dumped in their bags to which they replied, “OMG you guys are the best!”
Watching
A friend told me that this was their guilty pleasure tv show. Since I was looking for something new to watch on my own, I gave it a try and enjoyed it more than I expected. Lucifer is bored of Hell and decides to take a vacation on the mortal coil. Needless to say, he causes a lot of ruckus.
Reading
I finished my spooky reading for the season!
Treats
We ate a lot of great food in Cleveland, though none of it was autumn related.
We also ate a decent amount of candy while handing it out last night. 😛
I hope everyone else had an amazing October and Halloween season! What was your favorite part?
October Week 3: A Virus Strikes
This past week was a little less eventful in the Halloween department. Only because we attended a metal concert (Midnight, Abbath and Obituary) Tuesday night and I’m pretty sure that’s where I picked up this lovely little virus I’m currently battling. So every night, after work, was pretty much me relaxing and then sleeping. Each day I feel a little bit more human but man, I haven’t had that bad of a sore throat in a long time. I actually had to take pain meds because it felt so awful and swollen.
Now, I’m mostly a mucus factory so that’s an improvement. 😀
Watching
I had thought I had seen this movie earlier in life but upon watching it with Mr. C&M (it’s one of his favorites), I realized I never have. It was fun. 100% 80s horror movie. (Currently available on Amazon Prime.) 4/5 stars
Another movie I’ve managed to never see. This one was pretty cheesy. It’s one of those I would recommend you watch at least once, so you can say you’ve seen it, but then you’ll probably never watch again. (Currently on Netflix.) 3/5 stars
Reading
I just finished Nightwise last night. I really enjoyed it and I’ll review it later in the week.
Treats
Well, with being sick, nothing really happened in the treat department. Soup season has definitely begun though!
We went and began purchasing parts of our Halloween costumes today. This coming Saturday we have a Harry Potter party to attend, thrown by Mr. C&M’s friend and coworker. She’s been planning it for months and it’s going to be 100% Harry Potter related so we’re pretty excited about it.
We also picked up our pumpkins. They’re currently sitting in the dining room warming up so we can carve them soon.
What are you dressing up as this Halloween?
Lucky 13 Years
Good morning Ghouls and Ghosts! It’s the most wonderful month of the year and this ghoul is PUMPED. Last season was depressing due to a death in the family, so we’re going hard this year. Well, as hard as we can with a semi-ill spouse. BUT, we’re not going to let that get us down.
I’ve already finished two books to get into a spooky mood: Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues and Blood Kissed. I’m currently reading The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper. It’s not as spooky as I had hoped but the facts about Victorian London are currently keeping me going.
I’m not sure exactly why but, every year I have a different ‘thing’ that I’m all about during the Halloween season. Last year, it was witches. This year, it’s skeletons. We recently purchased a skeletal rat, cat and T-Rex skull and I love them all.
Mr. C&M and I already started with the horror movies about a week ago. He randomly choose one we had never seen and it was……..not good. 😛
Today also marks our 13 year dating anniversary. 13 is both of our lucky numbers so hopefully the next year together holds some really awesome things for us.
Like last year, I plan to do weekly updates on Sunday of all the Halloween fun we’re having. I had so much fun doing it last year that it will become a yearly blogging tradition.
I hope everyone is ready for a spooktacular season!
September Sun
Wooooo! It’s my second favorite month of the year guys. 😀
Michigan has jumped early into it’s autumn-like weather (aside from a day here or there) and I am DIGGING IT. I am ready for apples and pumpkins and to BASIC BITCH ALL OVER THE PLACE.
I may even begin decorating for Halloween here very, very soon.
What can you expect in the next two months of this blog? Well, after I finish my current book, I’m hopping into the horror/paranormal genres. Nothing sets the mood like spooky books. If we’re lucky, I’ll get some sweet baking in and come October, horror movie marathons.
Mr. C&M and I have a lot going down on the weekends until November, but those things are awesome. Like, visiting the Michigan Renaissance Festival, concerts and a Harry Potter themed Halloween party. It also means our 13 year dating anniversary and our 5 year wedding anniversary.
Anyone else as pumped as I am for Autumn?!
cupcakesandmachetes 