This year I did not see as many scary movies as I did in the past. Sometimes I just cannot make the time for a two hour stint to see a film. I do better kinda watching oldies but goodies and doing other chores at the same time.

SIGNS

A classic film by M Night Shyamalan. What I like about this film is how they figure out the different signs from the past to the present that prepare them for the event of today. Signs are everywhere. Sometimes comedic scenes, some intense scenes, Both the adult and children actors are good.

THE SIXTH SENSE

This is another film from M. Night Shyamalan. The first time I saw it I did not realize he was dead. Bruce Willis does a great job acting in this film. Some scary scenes and I feel bad for the boy.

ROSEMARYS BABY

I love the older movies. Mia Farrow does a great job acting like the meek woman who turns for help to only be betrayed over and over again by those around her. The older neighbors who are a coven of witches/devil worshippers who trap her into becoming the mother of the antichrist give older people a bad name. Lol. A classic film.

APARTMENT/ A7

This is basically a remake of Rosemarys Baby. But instead of her husband betraying her in the classic movie, it is life and the missed opportunities that drive her to the apartment where she will fall victim to the devil.

PRACTICAL MAGIC

A classic to watch every Halloween. I love this film. I really want to live at that house and eat pancakes (the non poisonous kind) outside with the ocean in the background.

HELLBOUND

Imagine if the face of God came to you to tell you the exact second you are going to die and then to be dragged to hell by 3 monsters but not before they throw you around and burn you to a crisp. I would be terrified. And the world goes crazy and fanatical groups try to persuade your thinking. Scary as heck. And now I am watching season two.

THE JUDGE FROM HELL

Even Demons make mistakes. For accidentally sending the wrong person to hell, this demon is sent to earth to kill off murderers. Imagine you are sent back as a judge who lets horrible people off without a punishment then finds them later and kills them by making them relive the horror of their victims death. Then for fun, branding their forehead with the word Hell on it. All in a days work until you fall in love.

ITS THE GREAT PUMPKIN CHARLIE BROWN

A childhood classic. Every time I watch this little cartoon I am transported back to my youth excitingly waiting to see this show. Back in those days you looked at the TV guide to find out the time and day it was playing and planted your butt in front of the television set. No streaming services, no DVR, no VHS or DVD. Pretty much you snooze you lose. I still love the part where Charlie Brown goes trick or treating and always gets rocks.

That was it for Halloween movies and shows.

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Making pumpkin bread in autumn always makes sense. Baking goodies, the aroma from the kitchen, it all screams autumn. Of course I cheat and make it from a box, but that is fine because it does use real pumpkin.

The box does make two loafs which is fine when I use to go into the office. But it is a lot to consume. I am not good about freezing stuff like this as I tend to forget it is in there until years later. lol.

But it is a tradition in my household to make pumpkin bread. So let the tradition begin.

Happy Autumn and thank you for checking out my blog.

Part of any holiday is smelling the scents that bring back memories. Of course my house cannot smell of cinnamon and candy corn all the time so I decided to get some fragrance oils that match the holidays. A little bit here and there will help.

With scents like Candy Corn, Marshmallow, Autumn Wreath, Caramel Corn, Night Air and Pumpkin Pie it will smell like Halloween.

I also have the Autumn scents from the same company.

These scents are definitely Autumnal. Apple, Brown Sugar, Forest Pine, Snickerdoodle, Harvest Spice, and Vanilla.

I bought a small portable aromatherapy fan to keep at my desk.

It is very small and you can use it anywhere including your car. It comes with a USB cord so you just charge and go.

I also got a larger one that was more functional with a timer.

It changes color and is quite soothing.

I know people use fragrance oils for other purposes, but I am at a loss. These are not essence oils but more fragrance oil so I would not use them on my body.

I read you can place a few drops on the toilet paper roll, the cardboard part. Also put some drops on cotton balls and place in drawers. If you have other suggestions please let me know.

I did order the Christmas scents but they have not arrived yet.

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The last of the four La Croix Halloween Mocktail has been made.

This is the mocktail where I could not find the drink they suggested, so I used the Sprite Cranberry that I recently purchased. I have to admit that this was a very good drink. It is called Hocus Pocus La Punch.

I don’t know if it was the cherry juice or just the combination but it was quite tasty.

I could not find my jar of maraschino cherries so I used cranberries again. But since I used Sprite Cranberry soda it worked out fine.

So this wraps up the La Croix mocktail challenge. I enjoyed doing a little mixology and trying new tastes. I did get some use out of my Halloween themed glasses.

I highly recommend mixing some soda and juices together to create a new drink, perhaps you will find a new annual favorite. Thanks for checking out my blog.

I know it is mid November and I am still posting Halloween items. But I am at that age where resting in bed holds more charms that doing everything off my to do list. In fact that list has grown to 2 whole pages. But I need to finish my Autumn/Halloween bucket list.

An easy item on my list was to drink some yummy witchy cocoa. Since it was kinda hot in October I wanted to wait for cooler weather.

I found this cocoa on Amazon. I was attracted to it because it was orange, but also only required hot water. I never seem to have fresh milk on hand.

So pulling out my new favorite tea drinking cup, I grabbed a moon and ghost cookie and started to boil water.

Once the water was the perfect temperature, I mixed that orange brew up.

I bought some cute pumpkin hot cocoa bombs from Target and thought I would add them in. Once the chocolate melted marshmallows popped out of the cocoa.

The cocoa was very rich and creamy and very very orange. It was a nice way to end a busy day for me.

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Onto the third of this series of Mocktails for the Halloween season.

This time I made the La Mummy. Made with the orange La Croix sparkling water, it was zesty and fun to drink. I might make this again but instead of lemon juice I think I will use orange juice. I really like my glasses. I bought these at Joann Fabrics. It felt very Halloween like to drink this mocktail.

I have one more drink to make. Sadly I cannot locate the drink in the store so I might get creative, Halloween if anything is about bringing out the creativity in all of us.

For some fun I found this picture on the internet. I loved the show Bewitched growing up. Aunt Clara always reminded me of my Granny whose name was also Clara. Same style, same features. And now I too feel like Aunt Clara. Oh how time marches on. LOL

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Time for the 2nd mocktail using La Croix sparkling water.

I made the La’ Pumpkin Punch. For a dash of fun I added the gummy eyeball to the drink. Yes, I agree, it is kinda gross.

It was very tasty, I am not sure if the eyeball gave it that extra snap, but I enjoyed this one.

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For Amazon Prime Members they provide a series of short stories to read for free. Last year I read the Creature Feature series which was a different story in each book.

This year I read Guillermo Del Toro /Chuck Hogan The Boy in the Iron Box. It was a continuing series of one story line broken out in 6 books.

Flying dark, a plane carrying a team of mercenaries crash-lands on a remote snowy summit. When they come across a mazelike stone fortress, it’s no refuge from the wolves and the freezing wind. It’s more like a trap. What they discover can stop the heart—or worse. As terror takes a new shape, the real battle for survival begins in this unrelenting serialized novel from Academy Award–winning filmmaker and writer Guillermo del Toro.

This was a good story but I prefer last year’s series better. I must admit I like these books and they come out with new collections all the time. Many of the books are written by popular authors that I have read. Each has a different theme. Some romance, some horror, others adventure. There is a collection of stories for anyone. I think the next series I will read is Busybodies or The Spy Who Vanished.

Keep in mind that each book counts towards your book annual challenge numbers. It kinda feels like cheating but it still counts LOL.

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Because I bought those fun Halloween themed molds from Aldi, I also wanted to make cornbread with some chili for a cold night.

Instead of chili I ended up making taco soup. It is so easy just using a variety of canned beans with hamburger meat. Not as good as my Mom’s rainy day chili that would sit on the stove for hours. But does fine in a pinch.

To make this soup, just brown and crumble 2 pounds ground beef. Then add one package Ranch dressing and 1 package taco mix. Then add the following canned beans:

chili beans
black beans, drained
Pinto beans, drained
Canned Corn, drained
Diced tomatoes
Rotel tomatoes
Diced green chilis

Simmer all ingredients over the stove, add water to make it less thick. Enjoy!

Then just using a cornbread mix, pour into molds to make Halloween cornbread.

Although the cornbread was good, the poor pumpkins had issues popping out of the mold. The ghosties did better than the pumpkins but you really need to look at the shape to see the ghost. But that is ok. I knew it was a ghost.

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I wanted to make some fun Halloween themed food this year. When I saw this ghost topped chicken pot pie I definitely wanted to try. It was a very easy recipe. I did make a mistake and used garlic powder instead of onion powder but it worked out ok.

I found the little ghost cookie cutters on Temu for a few bucks. There are two ghosts, each swaying in opposite direction. Sway to the left, sway to the right.

For ease of making, I bought rotisserie chicken but I think you can make your own chicken pretty easy. I did determine that this many ghosts are a “gaggle”.

I also decided to do a quick charcuterie board on Halloween night.

I bought this board from Michaels and thought it was real cute. I had to crop Eli the dogs paw out of the picture. He had to get all involved in making the charcuterie board. LOL

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