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.

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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.

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How has everyone’s October been treating them? (Or tricking them?) What spooky madness have you gotten up to??

First Week of October

The first full week of October shaped up to be one of the best weeks in all of 2020. One can only hope that the rest of the month continues to be just as awesome.

4 out of 5 stars – I love historical fiction and this reimagining is fun. The Donner Party is trailed by creatures that may be the first vampires in the United States. Each character is given a new revamped back story that helps lead to the eventual demise of the party. I’ll look for more historical fiction from this author.

My C&M and I each created a movie list for the season of the things we wanted to watch for the first time or rewatch since it had been quite some time. This one was on my list of movies I had somehow never seen before. Mr. C&M couldn’t believe it and it was as great and weird as he promised.

Mini Low Carb Pumpkin Pies – I FINALLY used the ramekins that we received for Christmas last year to make tasty little crustless pumpkin pies. This recipe is low carb, low sugar, keto-friendly. I’ve lost 10 pounds cutting back on carbs. 🙂

Finally, we ended the week by taking part in the most epic wedding; Ms. Ignited Moth’s! It was SO much fun and everything went off without a hitch. I can’t wait until the professional pictures are done because the photographers were just awesome. 🙂

How has the first week of October 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!

Soulless

Locke & Key

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 2: Apple Cider Slushies

The second full week of October was a bit of a doozy. Work has been absolutely swamped with hordes of people coming in for their flu shots. We’ve been doing anywhere from 20 to 50 per day. As you can imagine, this interrupts the natural flow of work when it’s busy in it’s own right. Plenty of people getting sick already and a few confirmed cases of the flu. I don’t expect it to slow down anytime soon so it’s even more important to enjoy the season whenever I get a chance.

Watching

I was pretty skeptical the first few episodes of this season. Yes, it’s honoring slasher films but in the beginning, it was pretty basic. Then, we had some twists and turns that brought my interest back. The last episode was so weird, I don’t know how to feel. We might be coming to ‘absolutely ridiculous’ grounds but I’ll hang in there and find out. I can say that I am LOVING Billie Lourd this season. I can’t stand Emma Roberts, if she’d hurry up and die, I would enjoy it a lot more.

This one was weird but in a good way. It was original and how often do we get to say that about movies anymore? I would recommend giving it a try. It’s not amazing but I enjoyed my time watching it. 3/5 stars

Reading

I finished In a Dark, Dark Wood and you can read the review here. I’ve picked up one of my absolute favorite authors, R.S. Belcher’s Nightwise. It had my attention at the very first sentence. I binged about 45 pages before I was interrupted but I can’t wait to get back at it.

Treats

Oh, the treats were glorious! We went to the local orchard during the town’s fall festival strictly to get apple cider slushies because, what about that does not sound amazing?! It was cold, but we wanted one anyway. Worth it. We also picked up a pumpkin cream coffee cake that we have yet to break into and chocolate covered cherries and bananas. Both of which, we HAVE broken into and they’re damn tasty. We also bought a jar of apple butter and I forgot to make myself an amazing sandwich with it today.

I also baked up another goodie that I will post later in the week. Sipping an apple cider slushie while baking is the only way I want to bake every autumn now.

Apple versus Pumpkin, GO!

October Week 1: Axe Queen

Aaaaaaah! The first week of October has been splendid. Not quite up my alley, but I’m being a supportive wife, has been the three day weekend of Big House 9. A giant Smash Bros tournament. Today is day 3 and the Championships. The husband played the first day and won his first match, then lost his second. I love him for not being a sore loser and just using it as motivation to get better for the next tournament. He’s not into regular sports (neither am I) but man does he love E-Sports. He’s been like a kid in a candy shop through the whole experience.

Last night, after a partial day of gaming, we attended my uncle’s yearly Brewfest. He brews his own beer (he’s really good at it), and show cases what he’s done. It’s more like an annual get-together that revolves around beer. It’s always a fun time but this year, he built an axe throwing range. I’ve always thought throwing axes would be sweet so I of course gave it a try. Turns out, ya girl is a natural. I was named VIP of axe throwing. It may have been a little too much fun, this might become a ‘thing’.

I was the only person to duel wield weapons and stick them both. I was also the only person who managed to stick the cleaver at all.

Books – I gave up on The Five and picked up; In a Dark, Dark Wood. It’s October’s book club choice and so far it’s pretty interesting.

We only managed one horror movie for the week. We’ve wanted to watch US for quite some time since it was hyped as being seriously creepy. However, neither of us ended up being overly impressed by it. (We both enjoyed Get Out much more.) When you have to look up plot line details online afterwards, you know the story was missing large chunks. It wasn’t bad, but it was not as amazing as it was made out to be. 3/5 stars.

Treats – It was time to officially start indulging in pumpkin. We tried Meijer’s mini pumpkin muffins for breakfasts. They were pretty good, if you don’t want to make better homemade ones, they’ll suffice. I had my first Pumpkin Spice latte of the season from Tim Horton’s. Again, it was okay. (I think my pumpkin standards are set really high.) I also made an easy pumpkin treat for the part yesterday that I’ll post later in the week.

How did your first week of October treat you? Or was it full of tricks?

Fourth Week of October

Oh no! The last full week of October has come and gone and we only have a sweet few days left until the best holiday of the year. (Thanks Michigan for making sure the weather for the entire month was absolutely awful.) Mr. Cupcakes & Machetes and I attended a last minute Halloween party with last minute costumes. The Halloween store was picked clean and we ended up as a wolf (me) and a plague doctor (him). It was fun and we decided that we’re going to throw a Halloween party next year. (We usually throw one every year but haven’t the last couple.) I also realized that our Halloween decorations were sadly lacking and that is going to start being fixed as soon as Halloween is over and I hit all the clearance I can!

Reading – 

I had a week full of Poe. I don’t re-read anything very often but since I hadn’t read these stories since I was a teenager, it was a perfect time for a refresher.

The Murders in the Rue Morgue – Short Story Review

The Tell-Tale Heart – Short Story Review

The Black Cat – Short Story Review

Today, I’m going to be starting Parasite by Mira Grant. It works both for horror for the end of the month and rolls into Sci-Fi November. Plus, it’s the book club selection for next month. Killin’ all the birds with all the stones.

Watching – 

We’ve continued watching The Haunting of Hill House, I’m still not very impressed but I’m sure we’ll follow it to the end anyway.

2.5 stars. Nice concept, but not very moving otherwise.

Have you attended any Halloween parties this year? If so, what did you dress up as??

 

Second Week of October

This week ended in death. My husband’s grandmother passed away yesterday after several years battling cancer and nine months in hospice. No need for condolences, there was much pain in the last several months and she has finally been released from something that could hardly be called living towards the end. The black cat gif is in honor of her and her love of black cats.

Reading – If you missed it, I finally finished Dracula and I actually enjoyed a classic for once. I’ve now started my book club selection for the month which is completely un-Halloween related. I hope to knock it out shortly and maybe even brave another spooky classic.

Tim Horton’s Pumpkin Spice Iced Capp has strong pumpkin flavor. I think I prefer a little less intense pumpkin flavor in my coffee but it was enjoyable nonetheless.

Movies – Two movies this week. I think it important to mention here that I barely watch one movie a month so this is a movie action packed couple of weeks for me. This year has apparently flip-flopped my usual style, reading LOTS of paranormal/horror books. I guess I’ve traded it for movies this season.

4 stars – Most fucked up movie I’ve watched in awhile.

2.5 stars – Highly romanticized version of the book.

Note – I know it unwise to watch a movie immediately after reading the book it is based upon but I did it anyway. The most frustrating thing was that there were moments when the dialogue stuck closely with the book and then other parts where the journal entries were completely butchered to make this a weird love tale. Mina and Lucy were both made to be much more vapid than either were and none of the male characters were as enjoyable as they were in the book. It may be the one movie I don’t like Anthony Hopkins in as I strongly disliked his Van Helsing. It did however make me miss when movies had to do something besides CGI for their special effects.

Well that was my successful second week of October. How is everyone else fairing in their holiday fun??

Mid-September

Autumn is coming.

That’s right. Luckily for you, I’m trying my hardest to resist everything autumn until about mid-September. Then, this blog is going full blown (mostly anyway) autumn/Halloween themed. Because it is legitimately my favorite time of the year. This means pumpkin spice and apple recipes of probably everything and horror/paranormal book reviews. Hopefully some beautiful autumn pictures as well. Just don’t worry about it, I’ve got you covered.

October 1st is my ten year dating anniversary with my husband. October 31st is our wedding anniversary. That’s correct. We love Halloween so hard, we got fucking married on it. There was no white gown for this girl, we were vikings and everyone was forced to wear a costume if they wanted to attend. But that will be a post on it’s own one day.

Do you know what sucks about Autumn?

Nothing.