Halloween 2020

So. Yeah. As previously discussed, 2020 has pretty much sucked donkey balls.


Suck it with the censorship Facebook 🀬🀬🀬


And the one thing my kiddos really look forward to is Halloween. And, this year? No. Just no.

We could go Trick or Treating, Melrose hasn’t banned it


Which I personally consider batshit but even Salem only cut back rather than completely stopped things…


But that just seems like asking for trouble. We’ve managed to stay safe this far, to the best of our knowledge, so no on ToT.

However we kept Halloween traditional up to a point.

Today we have:

Watched Spooky Movies

  1. Paranorman
  2. The Witches (1990 with Anjelica Hutson not 2020 with Anne Hathaway)
  3. Kiki’s Delivery Service

We thought we had done quite well on TT (as she is a huge Goth – even at age 4!) and has already watched, and loved so many scary films.


No, seriously, Labyrinth and Goosebumps 2 are her current best things ever


But at bedtime she fell asleep then woke up scared of zombies and Bad witches. Damn. Well, it’s a good thing we put The Addams Family off I reckon.

Eaten Holiday Food

Mealtimes were fluid and we just kept food flowing in a mixture of:

  1. Hot Dogs
  2. Popcorn
  3. Smores

As you can see, TT demanded an apple around 4pm so that was good πŸ˜‚πŸ€£

Worn our costumes

Well the kiddos did at least.

I did mention my daughter was a massive Goth yes? We therefore let her “borrow” some of my makeup:

She felt that purple glittery lipstick and black glittery eyeshadow finished off her “spooky bat” outfit rather well. She was happy, so I didn’t disagree god love her πŸ’œπŸ’œπŸ’œ

  • We have left a bowl of candy out on the front porch, and the kiddos carved pumpkins last weekend.
  • Here is #1 Son drawing his own design:

    Here is TT’s initial design and through to completion:

    And here they both are in pride of place on the front stoop:

    They are still there! I’m genuinely shocked that neither squirrels nor trash pandas have nabbed or destroyed them!

    So, 2020 hasn’t taken everything from us. And we are still here and happy.

    TT has declared that

    This is the best Halloween ever

    So I’ll take that. Right now? I’ll take that.

    Pumpkins, Mums and the PTO

    Oh my!

    There was a Pumpkin and Mums sale up at #1 Son’s school today.


    Last year I was completely confused as to why they might potentially be auctioning off fellow mothers…

    It turns out the hus-creature was also, as he checked – ‘mums = chrysanthemums

    Which was a relief I have to admit πŸ€£πŸ˜‚


    There was also hot apple cider sadly, (or perhaps not given my liver still seems to be crying after Friday), not alcoholic, and ring donuts and…. a petting zoo.

    I’ve made a vow this year to actually do more of the after/outside of school activities and so I insisted we head up.

    First came the petting zoo:

    Sadly, #1 Son was not keen, but TT was enthralled. So I sent my boys off to forage for pumpkins – but sadly not mums as it turns out that they are highly toxic to cats and dogs, so no plant for me – while TT went in with the animals.

    It wasn’t completely successful as she has actually listened to me about not petting strange animals it seems, and took a lot of convincing that it was ok to do so. There was a lot of “Mummy no, I not touch animals” but she had fun.

    Then came… pumpkin decorating:

    Both kids had so much fun. I had to intervene a little when #1 Son kept trying to attach stickers to his sister’s pumpkin (and believe me, she was not impressed by that!), and my role was “Chief re-attacher of pen lids”, but they both had so much fun.

    Also TT was hilarious – she was most definitely choosing her own pen colours and would not be swayed.

    Serious artist is serious

    She would not relinquish that red marker.

    Then it came time to leave. She would not be parted from her precious pumpkin. She had a full on level 10 meltdown when we left it in the boot of the car to, you know, dry and set.

    Her precious:

    Both children decorated a pumpkin of course:

    And we had to let her have it on the way home from lunch, so she cradled it like a teddy bear:

    Such pride many happy πŸ€£πŸ˜‚β€οΈπŸ’—

    But then once we returned what were we to do? I had visions of her sleeping with the darned thing. However through some judicious use of lollipop based bribery, to prevent her from sitting outside all afternoon, both pumpkins now have pride of place on our front porch:

    But this does mean that for once I have contributed to the Halloween decorations hurrah!

    Fall Yarn Projects – and a surprise πŸ˜†

    Good evening (or day depending on where you are in this great world of ours) dear audience.

    Let’s discuss something that is close to my heart – yarn!

    “But wait!” I hear you cry (I have amazing speakers on my phone/computer you know!) that is far too broad a topic.

    I agree my friends, so let’s narrow it down. The dreaded C word is fast approaching you know. Yes, Christmas.

    Now, I know many of you who are crafters (like me, or at least I like to pretend that is so!) will probably have already started – if not completed – some of your intended gifts.

    However, this is what normally happens for me:

    The Festive Season Checklist:

    1. Realise Christmas is X number of months away.
    2. Realise “oh crud – gifts
    3. Think to myself “oh, of course, I could hand make gifts”
    4. Start lists of everyone who I think I could make something for.
    5. Remember that, actually, I am a slow knitter/crocheter and so in order to do this for everyone I should have started in January.
    6. Cry at list.
    7. Throw list away and start browsing Amazon.

    However, there are people out there, normal sane people, who can do this and do this well.

    And for those I have some wonderful news.

    This is my first-ever sponsored/requested post!

    Yes I’m actually doing something practical for a change.

    (Stop gasping at the back there, you there in the back row – I see you!)

    So, let’s talk seasonal knitting. Now did I mention I am a slow knitter? I’m better crocheter in terms of speed, but I find making anything beyond blankets in crochet a bit head scratchy.

    So I really ought to have started things like sweaters or cowls or ponchos back in the spring let alone in the summer.

    (I do have a seed stitch cowl that I’ve been working on but it’s very much at the bottom of the unfinished object pile)

    However for those of you who can knock up a sweater in a week – and I know people like this exist, there are several in my weekly knitting group – there is still more than enough time for my exciting news to impact you.

    LoveKnittingUSA are running an amazing giveaway via yours truly.

    They are offering 10 free balls of yarn for one of my lucky readers.

    That’s right dear audience 10 balls of gorgeous yarn from the Simply DK range

    Why DK? Well it’s from my own personal preference – I find I underuse DK (when I work on projects for myself I tend to work in fingering/sock weight) and I therefore feel that this yarn could use some love.

    Isn’t that amazing? Obviously there are T&Cs but they are remarkably simple. You will need to be prepared to provide your name and address by email (so that spam bots don’t pick it up from my blog or Facebook) to receive the prize.

    It will be sent directly from LoveKnitting, (due to me knowing how crazy busy my life can suddenly get, and I would NOT want you missing out) and so you would also need to contact me once the prize arrives with a photo.

    And, we would very much like a picture of the winning Finished Object.

    Which leads me nicely on to the next part of this post.

    So, how do you win this wonderful loot?

    Well, send me a comment, either on the blog directly, or through the Facebook link, telling me:

    1. Your favourite part of Fall/Halloween heck even Christmas
    2. What you would most love to make from the prize.
    3. Who it is intended for – and don’t be shy, self care is important, so if it is for yourself that’s great too.
    4. The color palette you would use – all 10 could be the same shade for a sweater, or multiple for scarves, or heck brioche colorwork it’s up to you.

    The deadline for comments/entries is two weeks from the publish date of this post.

    So sharpen your pins, polish your hooks, heck get out those looms people.

    And get thinking/posting/writing

    If you need ideas, there is this wonderful Fall inspired post which includes ideas for cozy seasonal patterns.

    Or, if you are more spookily inclined, (and I have to admit that since moving to Massachusetts, Halloween is fast becoming one of my all time favourite holidays) there is also this Halloween knitting projects post which LoveKnittingUSA have already published.


    Why flog a dead horse? These are amazing resources dear audience so please use them


    All Hallows’ Eve

    Stateside is just magical.

     

    No really, it was amazing.

    #1 Son had a party and parade at school. He has worn not one, not two, but three costumes today:

    • Pumpkin Ghost – he made this himself, consisting of his long sleeved jack o lantern t-shirt and red trousers (they had to be red)
    • Dinosaur costume – a National History Museum official one for the school party. They were not allowed masks, makeup, blood or weapons.
    • The Blue Power Ranger – for Trick or Treating with me and TT.

    TT was Harley Quinn – because daddy couldn’t find β€œDemon Spawn From The Hell Pits” in a 2T.

    The shoes didn’t make it home πŸ˜πŸ™ƒ

    So the city of Melrose ran a Halloween Trick or Treat event 15:30 – 17:00. So given it gets dark, and TT is still so little we did the full run. Local businesses along Main Street were handing out candy and doing activities with the kids.

    So. Many. Costumes. I had dressed up as Cleopatra for the heck of it, and I wasn’t the only adult in costume. Not only that, but one of the staff from the local Mexican cantina was wearing the same costume!

    So. Much. Candy.

    No really, this is TT’s haul:

    With a shout out to Aunty Diana for the bags, which had TT shouting β€œKitty cat” a lot.

    #1 Son (rather sensibly) disappeared his haul to his room as soon as he got home. He has slightly more than her, but she soon got very good at shouting β€œmy turn” whenever she saw him get candy.

    She charmed extra out of one business by saying β€œta” when she was handed chocolate.

    We had so much fun, honestly. It was a perfect afternoon, beautiful weather, fun activities – there were at least two haunted houses and both kids loved it.

    We initially planned to go out as a family later, but #1 Son was overwhelmed after all the people and noise (and I wasn’t far behind him if I’m honest), it was very close to TT’s bedtime, and daddy had a new shoes blister; so we decided to put a pin in it for this year.

    Sadly we have only had one set of house-to-house Trick or Treater’s but hey ho.

    What we did at the weekend

    We decided to put the new shiny (car) through his paces.

    Took the kids out for lunch on Saturday where #1 Son actually ate food. TT demanded a burger then refused to eat it.

    No change there then. πŸ™„πŸ™„πŸ™„

    The wonderful hus-creature then dropped me off for my nail appointment.

    Due to unforeseen casualties, which included breaking every nail, and actually ripping two of them (and yes that did hurt. A lot.) I had been forced to cancel and reschedule. It had therefore been three weeks since my last one.

    So poor Lily had a bit of a mess to work with, but she managed these amazing Halloween nails:

    She didn’t have all her brushes so the free style drawing is, to me, even more impressive! She’s actually on leave in a fortnight (how very dare she πŸ˜‚πŸ€£) so I’ve been forced to book for another 3 weeks time. Ah well, they’ll be gorgeous for thanksgiving at least.

    Sunday was even better. We went to New Hampshire (first time I’ve crossed state lines) to spend the afternoon with friends at their small holding.

    It. Was. Awesome.

    First we stopped for lunch:

    Then once we arrived I met all the animals I’ve heard so much about.

    The goats:

    Lib will be breeding the biggest goat soon for milk and bebbeh goats πŸ’•πŸ’•πŸ’•

    The steers:

    They are being raised for meat. Faux and Lib asked us to stay for dinner (which was not expected and very generous of them) and we ate Ronald. Who was their previous beef steer. With apologies to those vegetarians and vegans who may read this, home reared meat is delicious.

    I met the alpacas. Knit and Purl.

    Β This is Knit, she hates everyone and will eat your soul given half a chance.

    She definitely has resting bitch face:

    This is Purl, who is slightly lighter in colour, and will tolerate humans and the very occasional pet:

    There were all the chickens and ducks:

    I was also given a dozen fresh eggs to take home. I’m planning yumminess with those… store bought eggs here are just not the same.

    Also the next dinner:

    This cockerel is being evil to the other males so at some point omnomnom.

    It may seem cruel to some but honestly? I’m genuinely impressed with the set up, and it teaches where food really comes from. Could I slaughter or pluck myself? Maybe not, but knowing the animal is genuinely free range? Priceless.

    There are also various house animals including a dog (who was shut away as #1 Son was nervy), two house cats we didn’t meet, and a house rabbit that TT just adored. There were also baby chicks and barn cats that stayed aloof. It’s such a wonderful setup.

    All the kids had a blast, and I got some adult time πŸ‘πŸ»

    Hallowe’en Jack

    Has vomited all over our front porch πŸ˜‚πŸ€£πŸ˜‚πŸ€£

    Hallowe’en is a huge deal here it seems!

    I actually think it’s really cool how excited everyone is.

    TT loves that scarecrow thing:

    Unfortunately (though predictably) she views it as a punching bag. It loses.

    And our neighbours are not alone:

    That is all from one front lawn, and it has been on display since early September

    πŸ™€πŸ˜±πŸ™€πŸ˜±πŸ™€πŸ˜±πŸ˜‚πŸ€£πŸ˜‚πŸ˜­πŸ˜‚

    I see it every time I go to get my nails done.

    Oh these are the offerings from the last two visits:

    This was three weeks ago. And I had to take photos of my natural nails as I’m just so bloody proud of how well I’ve done.

    To give you an idea dear audience, this visit coincided with the anniversary of me deciding to give a bit of a crap about my appearance, just a tiny one:

    Thank you Timehop, and thank you lovely Natalie if you ever read this!

    And this was last week’s offering:

    Sadly these needed cutting short as my nails seem to spontaneously commit suicide after five weeks, so six weeks and they are gone 😭😭😭😭😭

    Still pretty though.