A Ghost and Petunias

A couple weeks ago His Madness and I picked up some flowers for our window boxes, so naturally it's been pouring down ever since. I'm just happy it's not snowing. In spite of the neglect and probably thanks to all the rain, they still seem to be thriving.

Somehow, during all this inclement weather, The Crew noticed the spooky community was buzzing about some early releases of Halloween decor. So, when a certain item they missed out on last year suddenly reappeared online, they ordered it right away.  

It's taken awhile to be delivered and when it finally arrived  Burt got so excited his right arm fell off. Fortunately, Ivy was able to step in and take over, as usual.

Kibitz wants everyone to know that reattaching skeletal arms is a snap. All it takes is a rubber band, a crochet hook and some patience.

After Burt was reconnected to his arm, he added the batteries to light up the ghost's orb. It shuffles through a prism of pastel colors, which kind of distracts from its overall eerie appearance, but we can live with that.

It took awhile to find a place to try it out but it really did bring this dark corner to life. It's kind of giving off creepy church vibes but we're going to ignore that, too. In any case, it won't be staying there much longer. We're going to be having a parade of plumbers and electricians coming through our house all summer long and I won't be in any mood to explain why there's a ghost in the living room (or two skeleton's in the coat closet).   

Okay, it's finally stopped raining, let's plant these petunias.

Hope you are having a great weekend!

Thanks for stopping by, see you soon.

A Little Halfway to Halloween Decorating

Tulips and daffodils are wonderful but for some people, the best part about spring is being one season closer to fall! 

Don't get me wrong, I love spring, but sadly I'm allergic to all the best parts and end up feeling like these hyacinths look. At least flowers are something that can be appreciated from afar. It definitely wasn't the best idea to have them blooming inside the house but it's been so cold here they probably wouldn't have bloomed outside, let alone survived.

Since we are officially Halfway to Halloween, the Crew has decided to give the mantle a spooky make-over. Frankly, it's been looking pretty dull since the Christmas decorations came down and anything will be an improvement.

A couple of weeks ago His Madness and I stopped by Michaels to check out their Gothic Bordeaux Collection. It was interesting and there are a lot of unusual pieces but nothing unique enough to add to our already overflowing decor hoard, especially since it wasn't on sale! I'm afraid the "madness' plaque, although totally on point, would've simply been an observation of the obvious.

 

After deciding to stick with the green and purple color scheme we've used many times before, Burt found a few newer things to add to it. Unfortunately, most of it was a pass.

 

There has to be some sort of lighted garland, whether the purples match or not.

After nearly two of hours of revisions, the mantle was finally finished.

Then Kibitz spied an intruder. What! More plastic creatures!

Ivy and the Toad Witch eventually convinced Kibitz that the plastic salamander should stay. Especially since they thought the whole thing could use a little more green.

Happy Halfway to Halloween and Happy Birthday Laura!

(sorry for being late) 

 Thanks for stopping by, see you soon.

Making It Through March

 

The Crew had big plans for this month but as usual, many things got in the way.  Still, they had a great time celebrating all the birthdays and holidays, not to mention the first day of spring.

There were lots of Girl Scout Cookies.

Aways popular with everyone. 

There was also Pi.

Followed closely by St. Patrick's Day - when the city started cutting down all the trees lining our street! We knew there was going to be some major work done on the storm sewer system but had no idea all the trees would have to be cut down. Miraculously, our magnolia was spared, along with our next door neighbor's tiny crabapple and one mature tree on the corner. ALL of the big trees growing between the sidewalk and the street are gone, luckily there are still a few around in peoples front yards, so it doesn't have that totally bare, subdivision look. Talk about arboricide! As heartbreaking as this is, it's actually supposed to help the environment and keep the storm water runoff from polluting nearby lakes and rivers. I hope those fish are happy.  

Burt really knows how to cope with an existential crisis. He sees no point in waiting for a holiday to start drinking. 

On the silly side of plant life, Ivy's Christmas Amaryllis is finally starting to bloom. Maybe she should try passing it off as a red Easter Lily?

As if daily life hasn't become hard enough in the current dystopia, the weather was predicted to end with a smorgasbord of precipitation. What, no tornados?

And, they were right. Maybe it will warm up in April. Glad to see there's still some trees around.

Happy Spring and thanks for stopping by!

Happy Economic Blackout Day!

February has been nothing but bad news all month long. I even tried to delete the press coverage from my phone just to get a break from all the terrible things that the orange felon and his billionaire minion were inflicting upon already disadvantaged people. Not to mention all the stupid stuff like renaming the Gulf of Mexico and picking a fight with Canada. Unfortunately, all the outrageous acts by the current administration were back the next day. Thanks a lot, Apple.

I keep hoping the current situation will be like Conversation Hearts. They're stupid and you definitely don't like them but somehow you end up with a bag anyway. They show up in late January, uselessly sit around until they get tossed out around Easter. If that could only happen with real life! 

Speaking of Valentine's Day, I nearly ruined it this year when I accidentally put the red and white flowers His Madness got at the grocery store, in a blue vase! Ugh, nobody wanted to look at that! The white carnations moved to a vase of their own, in another room.

Then, to make matters worse, I made crepes for breakfast topped with strawberries, blueberries and whipped cream. Luckily, there were blackberries and mint in the fridge to break up another accidental, "patriotic" color scheme. Guess I didn't think that plate though either.

   

Luckily, flowers and crepes don't last forever and the next time HM went to the store he found some magenta ones. I arranged them in a white vase. Am I over reacting to the atrocities visited upon so many people by the current administration? No, and it's been very frustrating to not be able to do anything about it - until today.

It's Economic Blackout Day!

Yay! Finally, a way to fight back! Can I avoid shopping with giant retailers today? Absolutely. In fact, after being a life-long Target shopper, I plan to boycott them for as long as possible - along with all the other retailers who gave up their DEI programs as soon as the orange menace took office. Now, disentangling ourselves from Amazon is going to be a sacrifice. It won't be easy giving up next day deliveries and all the other stuff, but it will be worth it. 

Remember last Halloween? That wonderful time not so long ago, one filled with hope and optimism for the future? I saw a meme today that said "let's pretend it's October" and it was a good reminder that life was good once, and it was just last month! This is a terrible time for so many people. Those of us who can speak up have to speak up. Nothing will change if we don't work for it. HM and I found out about the 50501 Protest too late to join in and felt bad about missing it but there's another day of action on March 4. If we all do something, no matter what it is, things will change.

Sorry about the politics but everyone should have a voice.

We can all live together, it's not that hard.

Thanks for stopping by, see you soon! 

January 31st

Does anyone else spend the winter wondering what to do with their leftover pumpkins?

Since there are thirty-one days in January (like October), Burt and Kib rationalized that carving a pumpkin today, in honor of it being the 31st of the month, was an excellent idea. Plus, there would be one less pumpkin to shuffle around under the kitchen table. 

 

Ivy decided this was an excellent time to leave (and let them clean up their own mess). 

Actually, she decided to go shopping for Valoween decor in order to put off packing up the Christmas decorations for one more day. Also, she just wanted to get out of the house and didn't care whether she found anything or not.

After perusing the selection at Home Goods, she found the prospect of facing a holiday without any decorations to be not as bad as she had imagined. In fact, she was looking forward to it.

Still, she kept looking. You have to give Target points for trying a different angle, or is this a combo Valentine/Spring display? Were there chocolate bunnies on the lower shelves?

Eventually, she found something to bring home.  

The grocery store was the winner, supplying a bunch of semi-spooky striped roses and a bottle of wine. Neither of which will have to be packed up when the holiday is over. Not that they will even make it to Valentine's Day.

Happy January 31th everyone!

Thanks for stopping by, see you soon.

Christmas Time

Happy New Year!

Since I am coming down with a cold and so is His Madness, Burt will be doing all the celebrating this New Year's Eve. He is the one with the bells on.

The Skeleton Crew has been running behind all year long and they got even further behind during the holiday season. (Ivy is STILL working on the decorations.) So they wanted to get a jump on saying Happy New Year since they missed out on wishing everyone a Merry Christmas! 

We actually had snow on Christmas in our area this year and the winter wonderland was beautiful, while it lasted. 

Then it all melted and produced a dense fog that lasted for two days and grounded all the flights into our neck of the woods. That left our son Andy and his wife Kristin stranded in Chicago. Let's just say after a bus trip to Milwaukee and an even longer drive on a foggy interstate, we were all glad to get home, snow or no snow. 

Of course we couldn't let the weather get us down for long. Since there weren't any hats around for His Madness to model while we were out doing our last minute Christmas shopping, he opted for a red bow tie instead.

Finding things to do with visiting family members over the holidays can be a challenge in a small town. During lunch one day, we got into a discussion about the other candy maker doing business here. The Hughes family have been making and selling chocolates out of their basement since the 1940's. Since none of us had ever paid them a visit, we decided there was no time like the present. You have to admit, the whole premise sounds kind of surreal and could we even find it?

Sure enough, after a Google search we did locate Hughes' Home Maid Chocolates and it is indeed operated out of the basement of a modest house situated in a residential neighborhood. Judging by the serial number on the non-working furnace, the home probably dates from the 1920's. That's totally irrelevant but it makes you wonder if the Great Depression inspired them to start up their own business and how do they get on with their neighbors,

It turns out that the maximum capacity for customers is about six, so there's no lingering around or time for indecision. Andy managed the transaction while the rest of us earned a withering look from an entering customer for being an unnecessary waste of space. Apparently, sometimes a line will form that stretches down the block. Aren't small towns just full of character?   

Are these chocolates that different from each other? Yes, totally. When we mixed them together, it was pretty easy to tell them apart. There are both excellent in their own way. The other candy maker, Oaks Chocolates, was founded fifty years earlier and they still use their original 19th century German chocolate molds and hand-dip each piece. Maybe, the key to flourishing business is to keep your company in the family, stick to your original recipes and use the best ingredients available.

I hope everyone has a safe and Happy New Years Eve. We will be home, probably having an early night after eating too much chocolate.

A belated Merry Christmas to all who celebrate and best wishes for 2025!

See you soon, thanks for stopping by and Happy New Year!