"This is Halloween..."

  Today we had a tax-free shopping day here in MS.  I was so excited that the first thing I did was text Tessua, and seeing as she needed new jeans for her new job, it didn’t take much convincing.  Monkey was soon strapped into a buggie, and the hunt was on.  As I’ve mentioned before, my hubby is deployed at the moment, and we’re hoping to see him soon.  A few weeks ago I bought a homecoming dress for his arrival, but the perfect pair of shoes that I could envision have been eluding me.  And without the right shoes I couldn’t buy jewelery, so until we found the holy grail of footwear I was in a rut.  

   

    Wouldn’t you know it?  We went to Target, and although Tessua found a pair of suitable jeans, the perfect shoes did not reveal themselves.  Not to be dissuaded we pressed on.  To Kohl’s!  I was very excited because until today I had no idea there was a Kohl’s in this area.  Once inside it was like my shopping madness could not be stopped.  I found a pair of chocolate brown leggings that I’ve been looking everywhere for.  I saw several different outfits I wanted but controlled myself enough not to purchase.  Then, just when all hope seemed lost, we found the shoe section.  There among all the drab blacks, boring beiges and nuetral whites, we found the perfect pair of pink shoes!!!!  And, they even felt good!  They were waiting for me the whole time.  Soon after that finding jewelery was a cinch, and I was flyin’ high at all my good luck.

    On the wave of euphoria Tessua and I headed over to Michael’s simply to replenish my stock of hot glue sticks.  But what we found was so much better!  They are putting out their Halloween decorations!!!!  I was already excited about the shoes, but this was just the icing on the cake!  I was literally skipping up and down the isles, singing “this is Halloween”  This was mainly from excitement, but also partially to scare off the creeper who was following us with his little boy.  Tessua swears he was trying to hook his kid up with my Monkey, but Monkey was promised to a doctor’s son long ago.  *Don’t tell her Daddy*  At any rate the creeper left, and Tessua and I had a grand old time.  Especially after I saw a giant black raven that we quickly named “Nevermore”.  This led to more skipping and singing and giggling as I ran around the Halloween isles grabbing things from the shelves to make a giant wreath for my door.  Sadly we had to trade Nevermore in for a smaller model, but don’t worry.  I positioned Nevermore in such a way as to frighten the be-gee-bas out of some unsuspecting customer admiring the fake roses ;-)

   My love for Halloween even outweighs my love for Christmas.  (Sacrilegious for a Southern Baptist, I know, but I can’t help it.)  Halloween will always be special to me thanks to my grandmother.  Four out of her six children settled in homes near hers, so most of my now eighteen or nineteen cousins lived close by.  My “momo” would decorate her giant front porch to hair-raising perfection each year.  There were creepy glowing sandbags lining the driveway, spiderwebs everywhere, stuffed figures on haybales, a black cat that hissed at you when you walked by, numerous hanging skeletons and ghosts, and oh so much more!  The best part was when you’d get up the stairs, my momo and one or two of my aunts would be dressed up as witches, standing over a cauldron that was smoking with dry ice and filled with candy!  *sigh*  Halloween was magical.  

   That being said, I have no big front porch I can deck out, but I would like to try my hand at a few creepy crafts I have lined up.  The first, of course, is the wreath.  My mom has made numerous wreaths for various holidays, seasons, and football teams, and after years of watching her, I’m ready to try my hand at it.  I’ll let y’all know how that goes ;-)