Happy Halloween everyone!

Hope everyone had fun this weekend and stayed safe.  Since it's Sunday, I'll be home tonight waiting for the kids to come for candy.  all the festivities were on Friday and Saturday.   I never know how many to expect in my neighborhood, so I always wonder how much candy I'll have left, along with the candy I won.  I made and distributed the bags like I said I would.   

It's been fun participating in the Countdown to Halloween.  Will be back next year.  

A Trick and Some Treats

On either Wednesday or Thursday, the yearly phone directory was delivered to my neighborhood. I noticed it on one of my neighbor's doorsteps before finding my own copy.  I suspected they'd dropped it on my porch that I had decorated for Halloween.  The door on that porch doesn't work (long story), but the fact that it's there makes a lot of people try to knock on that door, and they often leave  the phone directory and some of my newspapers on those steps.  Sure enough, when I went to look for the directory, there it was in an orange bag (because it's almost Halloween?) that almost blended in with my jack-o-lantern bags as seen in the photo.  I felt tricked,  though I know no one intended it! It was kind of funny seeing the orange bag against the pumpkin bags!

Last night I went to a party put on by a local restaurant that also serves as a venue for local bands. A man from this band turned out to be a resident of the mobile home park where I live, and one of the residents nearest me. He gave a free copy of his band's CD.  A very nice treat. They put on a good live performance.

Some neat costumes were worn by the many guests.  Lots of devils, maids, witches, and other common and unusual fare,  but one that seemed funnier than all the rest was a man in the old lady with a baby costume. I've seen this one for sale on the Internet, but last night was the first time I actually saw someone wearing one.  It's quite hilarious.  And wouldn't ya know, he won the best costume overall.  I believed that he was most worthy of that prize.

After this party I headed over the bar on the next block to find out the results of their 

contest to guess how many candy corns were in a plastic jar.  The karaoke DJs had sent out an email saying that three people had come close to guessing the right number on the first night (October 8) they'd  begun the contest, and that they would be announcing the winners  at midnight on October 29.   I made sure to get over by then to hear the results.   Turned out one of my guesses was the third-closest, and as result I won the the jar of candy.  Along with the candy corn, there are also some gumballs and Mellow Creme pumpkins.  I knew I could not eat all this, so I put a handful of them on pieces of plastic wrap and tied then with ribbons to share with the family.  I plan to deliver them some time tomorrow.  

Only two days left

...till Halloween and not much to put up on the blog for today.  No time to look for candy at the last minute, but will have to get some on Sunday afternoon for the kids who show up that night. 

Tonight I will be attending a party at local restaurant with a  local band playing.  I received the invite via Facebook.   And tomorrow night is the Halloween Karaoke contest at a bar in my town. Usually they have this only on Fridays and that was the case last year when the holiday was on a Saturday.  I'm now wondering what they will do next year when the holiday is on Monday. 

Today I saw a sign in the window of an empty carpet store building advertising the upcoming seasonal See's Candy Christmas store in Gilroy, CA.   These are like the Spirit Halloween stores, opening for two months in a building left empty by some retailer.  Oddly, this abandoned carpet store is just across the way from the building left vacant by Linens and Things, when that bed-and-bath chain went out of business in 2008.  The former Linens and Things is currently housing the Spirit Halloween store.  I guess this building is too big for  seasonal candy store.  

And even though it's still not Halloween yet,  Christmas has already been coming in at the store where I work since September.  Only a few Halloween items are left and they have all been moved to the front of the store.  We must have sold a whole lot of it since it began coming in the second week of August. 

And last night on the news they were predicting Black Friday to come early this year, right before Halloween. Usually it's the day after Thanksgiving.  As far as I have seen today, there is no news of this being true.  

And today I on the way home from work, passed by a house several blocks away from my residence with a Halloween decoration in their front yard, another decoration I really liked. Unfortunately, since I was driving, I was not able to get a picture, and I was  a little too lazy to stop.  

Random Thoughts on Seasonal Candy, Pretzels and Chips

I wasn't looking for either of these things, but I could not help noticing them today at Walmart. I'd never seen Doritos or Cheetohs in large  boxes with Halloween designs on the boxes, and pretzels in a bag with a pumpkin in them.  I had no compulsion to buy them and have a feeling that people will say not to hand these out to trick-or-treaters.  Just the same I could not help noticing them.  Not much else to say, however, as I have not been a big pretzel eater, though I enjoy them sometimes.   Looks like these kinds of snacks comes in holiday-themed bags or boxes, something I've noticed mostly with candy.  Oddly, I did see a customer pick up a bag of the pretzels to buy. 

I could not find any Halloween Marshmallow Peeps, which I'd been hoping to find for a blog entry (perhaps this blog idea occurred to me a little too late).  Though I have noticed how the Peeps candy has found its way into other holidays besides Easter. One year I bought the chocolate black cat Peeps.  I found this image of the different Peeps made for Halloween.

I hope to get some if I can find any over the next three days.  I just did not think of this until now.  But I know the Christmas ones will be on the shelves soon.  I really liked the gingerbread cutouts Peeps when I bought these one year.  And one year I came across the Valentines Heart ones (the only time I recall seeing those particular ones.

From the wikipedia entry on Marshmallow Peeps"

Peeps are produced by Just Born,^[1] a candy manufacturer based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Peeps were introduced nationally in 1958 by Pravin Pant Sr., a Nepali immigrant. When Just Born acquired Rodda Candy Company in 1953, they automated the process (originally the chicks were formed by hand) and mass-produced them.^[2] The yellow chicks were the original form of the candy — hence their name — but then the company introduced other colors and, eventually, the myriad shapes in which they are now produced.

Just Born has expanded its product line to include bats,pumpkins, and ghosts for Halloween; hearts for Valentine's Day; eggs for Easter; trees, gingerbread men, snowmen, the word "JOY", and stars for Christmas; and red, white, and blue chicks and stars for the 4th of July.

Wow, I've never noticed the July 4th ones.  That holiday seems to  overlooked when it comes to seasonal candy. Has anyone ever seen red, white and blue candy corn?  Speaking of which, I saw some of that at Walmart, both the Halloween one and the Indian Corn (darker-colored) version.  This candy seems to be made for most other holidays. My store has already been getting the Christmas version, Reindeer Corn. 

And would you believe that such a holiday as National Candy Corn Day exists? It's the daybefore Halloween, the holiday for which most candy corn is purchased. 

Earlier this month, Rite Aid had bags of Mellow Creme Pumpkins for 0.99. This is another Halloween candy favorite of mine. I bought one that day.  While Googling these, I came across this blog.  

And with Halloween in just three days, it's time to start getting candy to hand out to the kids. I suspect I will wit until that afternoon to get it so I will not feel compelled to eat any myself until the kids stop coming for the night.  I know not to hand out unwrapped stuff, so if I get to buy some candy corn or Peeps in the next three days, it will be for me. 

"Time Warp" from "Rocky Horror Picture Show"

In honor of last night's episode of "Glee," one of the few current TV shows I regularly watch, I have uploaded this video of the song "Time Warp." 

I as really excited to see this episode last night, after  one week worth no new episode of the show.   Overall, I thought the episode was not too bad. 
 

I only once ever saw "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" on VHS around 1991.  After admitting to this, I was chastised by two different people in college for not watching at a midnight showing.  Had that been the case, however, I would have gone to the showing totally clueless about the audience participation.   And As far as I know, no movie theater near me, including the one in my town, has ever done one of these midnight showings.  

Quiz: Are You Spooky or Kooky?

You Are Kooky

You are all about sweet treats on Halloween. You don't mind if people get a little scared, but no one should get PTSD from a haunted house! You believe that Halloween should be about fun not fight. You love to dress up in an amazing costume and go out to show it off. You've even been known to take in a scary movie or haunted house, but only if it's well done and not too freaky. You'll pass on anything too gruesome. Your favorite thing about Halloween is watching the tiniest kids have fun. Looking at them makes you feel a little bit younger too!

Are You Spooky or Kooky?

Blogthings: 100's of Fun, Free Quizzes and 3 Stupid Ones

Neighbors' Haunts--and Political Signs

For a mobile home park with over 235 units, it may seem hard to imagine that so few

people have decorated for Halloween.  But such is the case with the said kind of dwelling in which I live. Today I took a walk around the park today and shot a few photos of some of the few that were decorated with more that a mere pumpkin or two on the window ledge  or a just a fake spider web hanging from the porch coverings.  

Some were limited to mere pumpkin decorations in the window as seen in the photo at right, but the porch (below right) of this same unit was more somewhat elaborately decorated with the skull face, mini-pumpkins, the witch 

hanging from the covering and the big pumpkin hidden behind the brass-looking cowboy boots.  I've never met the owners of this home, but I'm guessing that the boots are always on the porch along with the brass-looking cowboy statues.  And that other decoration hanging above the porch--its back is to the camera so I have no clue what it's supposed to be. 

Not a very fancy decoration, but I could not resist taking a shot of this  the green skeleton on the railing of this unit.  

Now this next unit (in the photos below) had a very interesting decoration: a fountain surrounded by a pirate skeleton, several skeleton head stakes, a large  fake spider, a skeleton with a sign reading SPOOKY.  Indeed.   This was the most elaborate decoration I could find.   Granted, I didn't expect to see every single unit decorated, but there were very few that did not even had a pumpkin in the porch or decal in the window.  

I then took a walk across the street and went to view some of the homes behind the 

grocery store across the the park.  I was a bit tired and did not walk very  far, but did manage to get some shots of a graveyard setup in one front yard.  The yard was surrounded by a metal fence. The graveyard included light-up pumpkin stakes and RIP headstones.

In that short walk, I seemed to see fewer Halloween decorations than political signs promoting candidates for the upcoming election. As you know, there is an election every year on the second Tuesday in November

 and there always seems to be  a lot of 

campaign signs up.  Promoting an upcoming in November election seems to be the next biggest thing in October after Halloween.  Being in California, I have over the last month been inundated by TV ads for the California gubernatorial race.  I vote by absentee ballots, which I received three weeks ago and filledout and mailed the same day.  And in the photos are signs promoting several local candidates for sheriff and the school board of San Benito County.  Strangely there were none of these signs in the trailer park.  When it's a presidential election year, the election seems to 

overshadow Halloween, though the then-current candidates sometime seem to inspire costume ideas for Halloween.  This was so the case during the 2008 presidential election. There seemed to be more talk about the race than about Halloween that year.  The Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin was said to be a popular costume idea, though I did not

see anyone in this disguise. I never see the supposedly popular ones, not that I really wanted to see that one. 

This was the most  was able to get, as I was a bit tired from work and from not having slept very well last night.  I'd been meaning to write on this and even though I was home all day Sunday, rain kept inside the house most of the day.