Halloweens Past...Cuz I'd Rather Be Merry Than Scary This Year

Halloween is almost here and we have a bushel basket full of candy, but just haven't taken the time to decorate for Halloween like I've always done in the past. 

It seems like I just want to get through Halloween so I can get into Christmas. 

Yeah, I'll say it...

I'm not feeling Halloween this year!

So I thought I'd put up some photos of "Halloweens Past" so you wouldn't think I'm a complete grump. 

These pictures are all from other years when the Halloween spirit was with me.

I know my Halloween spirit will come back...just not this year. 

This year I'll breathe a sigh of relief on November 1st and make a bee-line for Christmas. I'd rather be Merry than Scary this year!

Maybe it's because 2018 has been a hard year for us...too many losses. The future looks bright, but the recent past has taken a toll. 

This year I'm not going to black out my teeth or put on a costume, but I will wear this T-Shirt, give out candy, and admire all the little ones who come to the door. 

Then on November 1st, fall and Halloween are gone and I hope my mood brightens. I really can't wait for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and 2019 to get here.

I've even picked my "word" for 2019... it's JOY.  I hope to find all the joy in 2019 that we missed out on in 2018, and I hope you do too.

Thanks for dropping by!

(And Happy Halloween To You)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2017

Hope your night is filled with lots of Trick or Treaters!

Stay safe...

The real scary thought right now is that tomorrow is already November and Christmas is less than 2 months away. 

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Dollar Tree Scary Pictures

By the time I was able to make a trip to the local Dollar Tree store, the scary pictures I talked about in a post a while back were mostly sold out. I was able to buy a few that they had left.

This bloody mess turns into a nice looking vintage gent when you bend the paper picture (as I did here) or change your position to him by walking past him if he's hanging on the wall.

I didn't have time to put his picture in an old frame before I left on a recent road trip, so I placed him on the chalkboard to get him to stand up straight and not bend. 

That purple ring with bells and ribbon hanging with the cups is meant to hang on a door knob. Nothing practical about it! Just something to add a little cheer and jingle to let you know if a ghost comes through your door!

While the scary photos were mostly sold out at the store, there were dozens of the door knob hangers left in various colors of orange, lime-green, purple, and black. Like everything at Dollar Tree, they were $1 a piece, which I thought was a good buy. 

The jingling bells of the door knob hangers would make a cute addition to a holiday wreath for Halloween, or even for Christmas. 

The lime-green, black, and even the purple ones, seem like they would fit in with Christmas decor these days, as long as your decorations are done in a fun or comical way!

These two evil-doers could add a little Halloween drama to your windows and mirrors! The witch and Count Dracula just lift right off the white plastic backing, and they adhere to any smooth flat surface. 

The great thing is, they are reusable. I stuck the witch on the mirror in our powder room, and she looked like she was staring right out of the mirror at me. 

It was too dark in the powder room to take a photo of her creepy stare, so I moved her out to a window, smoothed out the air bubbles with my hands, and took a photo of her on the window.

The dark solar screens we use on our windows here in Texas (to reflect the strong sunlight) really show up as wavy lines in photos when you take an "up close" picture of them.

Here's a photo of the Count in the window next to the one with the witch...

You'll have to take my word for it! In person they both look like they're kind of floating outside looking in. Here's Count Dracula in a close up...

Truthfully, I bought them a little too late for Halloween decorating this year, but I'll bring them out early next fall and have more time to enjoy them.

I inadvertently got a clearer (but smaller) photo of the witch in this window when I took a photo of a glass cake plate to text to one of the daughters to see if she needed one.

Luckily she did need one, and though she would prefer a white bottom stand, this one was free...and free is almost always good! Our road trip included a stop at her house, so it got packed up and delivered just in time for a Halloween cupcake display.

Here's a better view of the cake stand where you can see the top and bottom together. Just squint a little and you won't see that darn TV at all!

Remember, everything is $1 at the Dollar Tree...You won't find any price tags there because of that! 

All opinions expressed here are my own, and I paid a whopping one dollar for each of the Dollar Tree items shown here! I featured their products here because I love that Dollar Tree is actually a true $1 store.

The cake stand is something I've had for a while and is not from the Dollar Tree store. I've collected a few cake stands over the years, and I'm currently trying to downsize my junk "collections" by passing things on to family members when they express an interest. 

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Dollar Tree Halloween Decor

After loving the scary photos found on Saturdays Vintage Finds blog in my last post, I hustled right down to Dollar Tree just like I said I would.

My favorite Halloween purchases today are these two mice. I figured the scariest place for mice would be in the kitchen, right?
I know it would really creep me out to have real mice in there!

The quality of the mice (rats?) is not very good as their little whiskers stick oddly out. I think they would appear more realistic if they were up on a shelf, farther away, instead of close up like this. 

But I thought this little vignette was cute, so I decided to go to one of the seasonal Halloween stores tomorrow and buy some better quality mice to take their place. 

Meanwhile these two will continue to frolic on the kitchen cart until I can replace them.

Did you notice the little white stand this mouse is standing on? A few weeks back I bought a couple of these little stands for $1 each (at the bargain isle) in our local Target store.

Until 3 or 4 years ago, I had never been to a Dollar Tree store! I had been to other "dollar stores" and found most of their prices to be in the $1.99 to $2.99 range. 

On my first trip to Dollar Tree, I got madder and madder until I finally started to walk out of the store empty-handed...in a huff...and, as I passed a clerk in the isle, I loudly complained that there were no prices on any of their products! 

You can bet my face turned red with embarrassment when the kind clerk whispered to me, "Hon...everything is a dollar!"  

But even that is not exactly true. I buy all my greeting cards at Dollar Tree and most of the kid's cards are "2 for $1" -- so that's just 50 cents a piece!

If you've managed to stay with my post this long, I thank you! I'll be back to show you the spooky photos I bought today too.

Dollar Tree Purchases: Six Halloween cards for 50 cents each; Two black mice $1 each.

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Halloween Decor And Dollar Tree Tip

Halloween is closing in fast! The only Halloween decor I've managed to deck the house with are these crows up above the window trim.

Things are looking a little bare in here as I'm still (avoiding) working on this room.

Somewhere there's a box of Halloween decorations hiding in my garage or one of the closets. The box must be where the scarecrow is hiding as I haven't found him yet.

It doesn't seem like Halloween is near without the Scarecrow hanging out.

Here's some pictures of the scarecrow from Halloweens past.

I happened upon a new-to-me blog called "Saturdays Vintage Finds."

Besides lots of drool-worthy painted furniture, I found a post on these adorable "scary framed photos" and was surprised to find the photos were put together from things bought at Dollar Tree. 

Saturdays Vintage Finds

Click on over to Saturdays Vintage Finds and check out how those adorable scary photos were put together. 

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Adding Crows For Halloween

Crows are popping up in our house just in time for Halloween. I like to add a little humor by adding them to the scarecrow's perch along with pumpkins.

I've learned to only use faux pumpkins when decorating. That's because I had a mis-que with a few small pumpkins a few years ago.

The little pumpkins seemed really hard and not likely to rot so I wrapped them up and stored them. Yeah, dumb. The mess was really ugly!

The scare crow's patches add some color to his black pants. Here's a close up of the little pumpkin patch on his knee.

The bunny's nest got a crow too. The bunny looks a little uncomfortable with the crow looking over his shoulder.

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