Friday, October 25, 2013
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Halloween Questionnaire
1. Do you / does your family celebrate Halloween? If no, for what reason?
Yes! We love Halloween. We've always gone to fall festivals and haunted houses, decorated our house, and handed out candy to trick-or-treaters. It's the best.
2. Are you attracted to spooky & macabre things naturally?
Yes! I'm a big fan of scary movies and the supernatural in general.
3. What has been your favorite costume you have ever worn?
There have been quite a few great ones. But this one tops the list:
4. At what age did you / do you plan to stop trick-or-treating, or participating in Halloween at all?
I think the last time I went was in 8th grade. But I will ALWAYS participate in Halloween!!
5. Do you feel like less & less people participate in Halloween nowadays compared to when you were a kid?
In my neighborhood, yes. Because most of the kids are grown up now. But in general, I think the holiday is growing every year!
6. Have you ever bobbed for apples? Were you successful?
Yep. My record was less than 1.5 seconds.
7. Hypothetically speaking, if you had a child [too young to make their own decisions], what would you dress him / her up as?
This is a very big decision. I can't wait to make my future baby's first Halloween costume. Maybe a baked potato.
8. Do you intend to take your children trick-or-treating, if ever you have any?
.....YES.
9. What is the coolest jack-o-lantern you have ever seen?
I've seen some of Ray Villafane's in person at the state fair. Like this one:
10. What did you usually use to collect your candy in?
A pillowcase.
11. Were there any creepy houses that you refused to go to, or weren’t allowed to go?
There was one especially scary house in our neighborhood. It was AMAZING. Plus, they gave us a ton of candy, a can of soda, and a toy every year.
12. What was your favorite candy to get? What about your least favorite?
Anything full-size. And I loved getting Twix bars!
13. Did you ever receive anything that wasn’t candy?
One house gave out glow sticks every year. Other than that, I've gotten soda, toys, goodie bags, and, once, a Beanie Baby.
14. Have you ever been to a Halloween costume party?
Maybe a few.
15. Are you good at carving pumpkins?
I can do the easier patterns! I love it!
16. Have you ever carved a really extensive pumpkin, or were they always simple carvings?
That Tigger one was probably the hardest I've done!
17. Did you ever go on hayrides as a kid?
Yep! We went to the Headless Horseman festival every year for the haunted hayride.
18. What has so far been your greatest Halloween experience?
Impossible to say. One of the most fun Halloween memories I have was scaring trick-or-treaters with a big group of my friends in high school. We had dummies all over the yard, but one was really a person who'd jump up and scare the little kids!
19. Have you ever encountered a house with a bucket of candy outside on their porch with a sign saying only to take a certain amount each? If so, did you take more than it said? If not, would you take more than it said if you did see such a thing?
Only empty buckets!
20. What is your favorite Halloween / horror movie?
So hard to choose. Non-scary favorites are Nightmare and Hocus Pocus. Scary favorites are probably Halloween and Friday the 13th.
21. Has anything ever scared you on Halloween?
Josh once jumped out of the darkness in my garage after a scary movie and Halloween bonfire.
22. Are you more interested in cute, funny, “sexy”, or scary costumes?
All of the above :) I like clever costumes.
23. Have you, or anyone you know, dressed as a Harry Potter character?
Nope. Only for homecoming week.
24. What color do you most relate to Halloween?
Orange. Black. Purple and green.
25. Have you ever been through a corn maze? Was it difficult & / or scary?
Every year :) So fun!
Yes! We love Halloween. We've always gone to fall festivals and haunted houses, decorated our house, and handed out candy to trick-or-treaters. It's the best.
2. Are you attracted to spooky & macabre things naturally?
Yes! I'm a big fan of scary movies and the supernatural in general.
3. What has been your favorite costume you have ever worn?
There have been quite a few great ones. But this one tops the list:
I'm the waffle.
I think the last time I went was in 8th grade. But I will ALWAYS participate in Halloween!!
5. Do you feel like less & less people participate in Halloween nowadays compared to when you were a kid?
In my neighborhood, yes. Because most of the kids are grown up now. But in general, I think the holiday is growing every year!
6. Have you ever bobbed for apples? Were you successful?
Yep. My record was less than 1.5 seconds.
7. Hypothetically speaking, if you had a child [too young to make their own decisions], what would you dress him / her up as?
This is a very big decision. I can't wait to make my future baby's first Halloween costume. Maybe a baked potato.
8. Do you intend to take your children trick-or-treating, if ever you have any?
.....YES.
9. What is the coolest jack-o-lantern you have ever seen?
I've seen some of Ray Villafane's in person at the state fair. Like this one:
So cool!
10. What did you usually use to collect your candy in?
A pillowcase.
11. Were there any creepy houses that you refused to go to, or weren’t allowed to go?
There was one especially scary house in our neighborhood. It was AMAZING. Plus, they gave us a ton of candy, a can of soda, and a toy every year.
12. What was your favorite candy to get? What about your least favorite?
Anything full-size. And I loved getting Twix bars!
13. Did you ever receive anything that wasn’t candy?
One house gave out glow sticks every year. Other than that, I've gotten soda, toys, goodie bags, and, once, a Beanie Baby.
14. Have you ever been to a Halloween costume party?
Maybe a few.
15. Are you good at carving pumpkins?
I can do the easier patterns! I love it!
16. Have you ever carved a really extensive pumpkin, or were they always simple carvings?
That Tigger one was probably the hardest I've done!
17. Did you ever go on hayrides as a kid?
Yep! We went to the Headless Horseman festival every year for the haunted hayride.
18. What has so far been your greatest Halloween experience?
Impossible to say. One of the most fun Halloween memories I have was scaring trick-or-treaters with a big group of my friends in high school. We had dummies all over the yard, but one was really a person who'd jump up and scare the little kids!
19. Have you ever encountered a house with a bucket of candy outside on their porch with a sign saying only to take a certain amount each? If so, did you take more than it said? If not, would you take more than it said if you did see such a thing?
Only empty buckets!
20. What is your favorite Halloween / horror movie?
So hard to choose. Non-scary favorites are Nightmare and Hocus Pocus. Scary favorites are probably Halloween and Friday the 13th.
21. Has anything ever scared you on Halloween?
Josh once jumped out of the darkness in my garage after a scary movie and Halloween bonfire.
22. Are you more interested in cute, funny, “sexy”, or scary costumes?
All of the above :) I like clever costumes.
23. Have you, or anyone you know, dressed as a Harry Potter character?
Nope. Only for homecoming week.
24. What color do you most relate to Halloween?
Orange. Black. Purple and green.
25. Have you ever been through a corn maze? Was it difficult & / or scary?
Every year :) So fun!
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Monster House
Our house needed a Halloween costume, so it got one:
I also made some paper chains out of orange and black construction paper. And I cut out some bats from black posterboard and taped them around the house.
More decorations to come :)
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Pecan Cookies with Praline Frosting!
This cookie has turned into a fall tradition for me. They're my boyfriend's favorite, and they are full of yummy fall flavors! Ladies and gents, I implore you to bake up a batch of these. They're sugary, creamy, nutty, and delicious.
Here's the link to the original recipe!
Pecan Praline Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup finely chopped pecans
Brown Sugar Frosting (see below)
Pecan halves for garnish
"In a large mixing bowl, beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer. Gradually add sugars, mixing well. Add egg and vanilla; beat well.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, soda and salt. Gradually add the dry mixture to the creamed mixture, stirring after each addition. Stir in the chopped pecans.
Chill dough for 30 minutes.
When chilled, remove from the refrigerator. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place the balls of dough on ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake at 350 degrees for 10 - 12 minutes. Cool on wire racks.
When cool, spread Brown Sugar Frosting over the tops of the cookies. Top each with a pecan half before the icing sets.
Makes about 5 dozen cookies.
Brown Sugar Frosting
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
½ cup half & half
1 Tablespoon butter
1½ cups sifted powdered sugar (plus a little more if needed)
Combine brown sugar and half & half in a saucepan.
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Boil 4 minutes.
Remove from heat. Stir in butter. Add 1½ cups powdered sugar. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Add a little more powdered sugar, if needed, to achieve a desired spreading consistency"
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
It's October! Time to decorate...
October 1st is one of my favorite days of the year! It means my favorite month, leading up to my favorite holiday, has arrived at last!
My October 1st traditions include: Putting up most of my decorations, listening to Halloween music, drinking cider, baking those Pillsbury pumpkin sugar cookies, and watching The Nightmare Before Christmas. I also went to Target to buy some candy for my Halloween candy jars, black and green light bulbs, batteries, and a few other Halloween essentials :)
Here are some photos from my decorating sesh yesterday:
My October 1st traditions include: Putting up most of my decorations, listening to Halloween music, drinking cider, baking those Pillsbury pumpkin sugar cookies, and watching The Nightmare Before Christmas. I also went to Target to buy some candy for my Halloween candy jars, black and green light bulbs, batteries, and a few other Halloween essentials :)
Here are some photos from my decorating sesh yesterday:
The hook on our ceiling was perfect for this guy! (Which I got on Nov. 1st last year for under $20!)
Witches, rats, spiders, and skulls. And my Halloween block countdown!
Our coffee table. Complete with skull goblets, a coffin, and a severed hand.
Some stickers and a mad scientist.
Stanley was intrigued by our new dinner guest! I also put out some Halloween place mats and light-up pumpkins.
Skull, witch, and vampire stakes in the yard!
A giant arachnid and some orange LED lights. October perfection.
I'll be putting more up throughout the month! Can't wait to transform our little house into a haunted mansion!
-Ellen
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