Long Hot Summer

Stabby Craftin'

Super cute felted pumpkins by The Dwarf Ram on etsy.

Check those viney tendrils! That little detail makes it. That takes skill... and patience. ;)

Pumpkin Overload

Made the first batch of Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies of the season this morning, along with  a couple other quickie pumpkin recipes so I wouldn't have to put half a can back in the fridge. More on those later this week.

My moms best friend and Girl Scout co-leader, heretofor to be referred to as TAZ, also my ex-troop leader (shocked? yeah, I get that alot) from back in the day and cat-sitting client, gave me her "Great Pumpkin" choco-chip oatmeal cookie recipe a few years back when I first started building and baking for Halloween. I haven't had the chance to vegan-ize the recipe yet (there's an egg in it just begging to be replaced with a flax seed egg...), but since this batch is for my grandpa that doesn't matter too much.

I'd totally give you the recipe, but then I'd have to kill you. And if I didn't then TAZ would. You know how Girl Scouts are about their cookies. ;)


What's your favorite autumn pumpkin, Hallow-themed thing to bake?

First Pumpkin of 2012!

It's just a little baby and what I call "a cheater pumpkin" that I picked up at Target yesterday. It's my opinion that pumpkin's should be carefully selected from farms or from roadside stands, with mud and dirt cemented on their sides, hay stuck in bits like autumn graffiti. But this little guy was squeaky clean discovered in the middle of the grocery aisle next to the bananas and hostess doughnuts, hence "cheater pumpkin". Nothing against him or any of those glistening picture perfect grocery pumpkins out there. They're still pumpkins and that's all that matters.

Can't wait to pick up a couple of monsters soon!

Target Halloween

The rumors are true! The usually torturous super slow Halloween stocking at Target seems to have magically already happened. Of course I didn't believe it until I headed out yesterday morning and saw it for myself.

The last couple of years I haven't been at all impressed with what Target's been putting out. I couldn't tell you one thing I've walked away with since the haunted mailbox I bought a few years ago. Maybe a couple melamine plates. A little ceramic pumpkin. And I've never EVER been able to catch the pumpkin spice Eggos or the poptarts everyone on the haunt forums were gushing over... until yesterday.


On the shelves:

Always happy to see these little guys. I don't think they'll ever get old.

Sparkly cardboard houses, and witch hat owls... I love these pillows, but let's be real. I could totally make my own. No sign of any bedding, except for the usual chenille throws. Shame. I really loved all their pillow cases.

Does your store have pillow cases this year?

A terrible photo, but I was kinda in love with all the sippy cups. Is that weird? I especially love the orange skulls and the black pumpkins (barely caught on the edge here). The pictures are divided into strips and turn to make different pumpkin faces. Sweet!

Party things.

Kicking myself for not liberating these two. They want out!!!

 

My phone crapped out on me halfway through the first aisle. Wanna see more? I recommend checking out The Spooky Vegan and her Target 2012 post. She has some awesome photos of everything I didn't get a chance to. I'm in love with the flaming pumpkin!

 

Overall, in comparison to the last few years of ho-hum Target Halloween, I guess I'm impressed. Definitely satiated the Halloween need at the very least.

What made it home with me:

I have a thing for pencils and stickers this year. Probably cause they're cheap. :)

 

 

Lalaloopsy... doomed to live in her package for all eternity. Unless I go back to liberate the sock monkeys, then maybe I'll get a 2nd and let her out to play.

 

 

More dog toys! The Bugaboo's been carrying around her skellie since I gave it to her yesterday. Even brought it in to sleep with her last night at bedtime.  The bat has proved Zoe proof! She was chewing on the rope wings all day and not a scratch...

 

 

Fabulous plates. The black ones are even microwave safe!

 

 

The good stuff! My mom was super excited about the Cadbury Screme eggs. Also managed to grab a couple boxes of Eggos waffles since I've been trying to find them for three years! Tried some this morning, which, of course, our evil toaster almost burned, but they smelled and tasted SO good. Subtle, but definitely pumpkin spice. Worth "3-years-of-waiting" good? Um... probably not.

A couple extra shots from a quick run-in to Marshalls:

Marshalls is probably the scariest square footage of consumer chaos on the planet, FYI... the things we do for Halloween! I was pretty unimpressed with all the sparkly garbage. Only this guy merited a photo.

 

 

At Five Below:

 

Again, nothing special.... so far. I'm hoping for more, because last year this was where I really scored some surprisingly awesome stuff.

 

 

Wal-Mart, Walgreens and Party City are next on my list of places to check out and that's about it for me and my Halloween shopping. After that it's really time to hunker down and build build build!

Harbinger

Image by Raceytay

American Runs on Punkin'

Pumpkin doughnuts appeared in our Dunkin' Donuts racks this weekend! So excited!

Can't get enough pumpkin? Check out A Beautiful Mess blog for pumpkin smoothie and cream cheese recipes (both easily veganized) and more on the way later in the week.

Doll Chateau Bella

Most dolls are creepy. Fact. But it's the blatantly off-kilter ones that steal my heart right away. At least you know you can't trust them outright. Unlike porcelain dolls-- so sweet. So innocent. SOOO unassuming. When they're the first ones to come alive at night and claw at your face while you sleep. They make movies about these things for a reason!

But Bella wouldn't hurt a fly...

It's the magic little girls like Doll Chateau Kid Bella that make me wish I was made of money. Luckily, the full sets sold out months ago, otherwise I'd be tempted. This is one of those dolls you keep stock, locked behind glass to marvel at. The costume really makes this beauty.

Click the pic to go to Bella's page on DollChateau. They've got a pretty impressive selection of odd little dolls worth checking out.