Post-Halloween wrap-up

It was a pretty good Halloween. There is enough content here for over a week's worth of blogs, so that's what we will be doing. That's largely because some things need their own post, so this post is for the things that can be combined with other things.

First of all, yes, we handed out comic books and candy. Sadly, we were over-prepared. We had 60 mini-comics, and I think it was a 150 piece bag of candy. We had fifteen trick-or-treaters. I know there is a lot of movement towards doing harvest festivals or trunk-or-treats instead, but there's something cool about going around the neighborhood. Maybe we just need more children in the area.

Adventure Time was the biggest hit, followed by My Little Pony. Maria took the leftovers to her kindergarten class. She did not take the leftover Itty Bitty Hellboy, because she thought parents would find the name off-putting. I get that, but he's so cute and spunky! Personally, I think the My Little Pony one made the most interesting choice by ending on a cliff-hanger.

Anyway, if you want some Itty Bitty Hellboy comics, hit me up. They can be traded in for full-size comics if you go to Things From Another World in November. I love that so much. I hope lots of kids go into that store, and get comics, and then get more comics. I hope they do this every year.

Dinner was the mummy hot dogs as planned, and sweet potato fries. I experimented with different types of wraps, more around the head, wrapping twice in different directions, and so on, but they all came out about the same. I did splurge and get the all beef hot dogs, but you know, I am so used to the chicken/pork/miscellaneous ones that I prefer those now. Chili or pizza actually feel like my preferred Halloween meals, but it is good to branch out.

I did not end up making the truffles. I think they would have looked good, but the texture would not have been great for eating, and I always choose function over form in cooking. The chocolate sprinkles work because they are soft and not gritty. The sugar crystals would just make it weird.

We did put up our skeleton flamingo, and the photo on Facebook got many likes. I do like it, but I would like for it to be bigger, and I would love for there to have been two facing each other. This is one-sided, so even if we had purchased a second, they would be facing the same direction, which would not have the same visual impact. 

It did lead to me thinking about more animal decor. For example, if you had a crocodile with an open mouth facing the porch, that could be cool. That led to me thinking if we could have a pair of vultures on the roof. I did find some, but they seem a little small for rooftop duty. I'm not ruling it out, but yes, I am looking towards the animal kingdom for future frights. I think that might be more me.

I never did finish that one craft project, but I sort of knew that wouldn't happen this year, and I am okay with that. I would like to have it done next year.

I have gone back to my regular Twitter handle. I was going to just reload the old photo, and then I decided to do something more current. I posted one from Chicago, which was a photo of my reflection in the Bean, but it was too dark, so I just did that time-honored thing of taking a new selfie. I thought it could be one taken with my camera phone, and I did take one, but without a data plan, I can't get it off the phone, so I took one with the regular camera.

Anyway, those are the basics. Everything else Halloween-related was more complex. The concert I went to that night will provide the weekly band reviews, but in addition to the two I saw, there was a band I missed. I feel bad about that, so I bought their stuff and will review them next week.

Carving pumpkins gave me a lot of insight, so that's it's own post. I posted two weeks worth of songs and videos, and that changed something, so that's it's own post.

I also realized something about costumes, and I may write about that a little next week, or I may hold off. It will probably be the thing I do most differently next year.