Happy Howa-heeeeen!

A. says "Happy Howa-heeeeeen!" D. asks every day if tomorrow is Halloween. Not since Christmas and July (their Birthday Month) has an event been so eagerly anticipated around these here parts. Even more so since Mama decided to do a Homemade Halloween this year. It was surprisingly easy -- no sewing involved! -- starting with the Gallery of Ghosts and ending with D's Spider costume. She's going to be Charlotte from Charlotte's Web for school, complete with cute stuffed pig. We may even make her a "Some Pig" sign to carry. For trick-or-treating we're going to make her a little more scary and drape on some webs and stuff.

I was so into it this year, not the least because the weather has been so cool and Fall-ish, that I wanted to make homemade treats to hand out, but M. reminded me that it probably wouldn't go over very well with all the concerned parents out there. Good thing I came to my senses before slaving away over trays of cookies. After all, I wouldn't let D. eat a homemade treat unless I personally knew the person who made it.

Anyway, "Howa-heeeeen" was a Big Deal in our old neighborhood, we probably got 200 - 250 kids coming by. I've heard it's a bit slower over here in our new digs, maybe 100 kids. I'm still going to get the "good stuff" this year - Snickers, Baby Ruths, M&Ms, Musketeers. My main rules with candy is no PB cups. I can't resist a Reese's and last year I ended up snitching all of them from D's basket. But it's OK because she doesn't like them anyway. Anyhoo, despite my well-documented sweet tooth, I am NOT a candy fan. I like some Belgian dark or milk chocolate; I like Mike & Ikes. But I'm not big on commercial candy at all (except PB cups). So if I stick to buying Snickers, etc. I can pretty much guarantee I'll be able to keep my hands out of it.

I'm also making my traditional Trick-or-Treat dinner of turkey Sloppy Joes and Tater Tots. I've made this for dinner on Halloween since M & I first bought our house, so I'm keeping up the tradition. It's a great, quick easy dinner before we head out and keeps nice and warm in the Crock-Pot if anyone is hungry when we get back. M is in charge of handing out the goods (A will help) while I take D. around the neighborhood. The porch will look very spooky and I got some great haunting music from iTunes to play out there. By the way, check out iTunes Halloween sounds if you're looking for some mood music for a party -- some of it is really scary. Think whispery children's voices; distorted rantings; screechy stuff. My sis Jenn & I freaked ourselves out!

And finally, if you're looking for some REALLY SCARY ghost stories, the marvelous Fig of Dizzlefig has published a series called "Boo" including one by yours truly. Go check 'em out - look in her archives for "Boo."