Halloween!

Today and tonight, we had family visiting and at least 4 sports games were watched on the giant TV. We got enough trick-or-treaters that Jason had to shut off the porch light at 8:15 (we still have a few pieces of candy left, but obviously we need those for our own treats).

It's 50-some degrees outside, and clear. I can't remember a single Halloween when I didn't need my winter coat and usually an umbrella, too! Lucky kids this year.


I made brie with pecans, chicken tortilla soup (quite spicy! It made me sweat.), hamburger tortilla pie (not quite spicy enough), a jack-o-lantern, and roasted pumpkin seeds. Plus we had chips and queso and salsa and lime beer. We are stuffed.



Usually in October, I watch lots of scary movies, and I had looked forward to it this year, too. But somehow I only managed to watch 1.7 scary movies and they were not very good! Quarantine looked interesting -- it stars Jennifer Carpenter, who you may know as Dexter's sister or one of the skinny friends on the Wayans brothers' White Chicks. It's a little Blair Witch-ish, in that it's filmed in all camcorder-style. I give it a MEH and a shrug. It didn't grab me.

I watched 7/10 of The Wicker Man, from Scotland circa 1973. A Scottish policeman receives a letter stating that a 12-year old girl has disappeared from a small, weird island known for its fruits and vegetables. He flies out to investigate, but finds the locals to be exceedingly unhelpful. Soon he discovers that they're all pagans! He thinks they're going to sacrifice the girl because they had a bad harvest! They have sex in the cemetery! He himself is like 38 years old and is waiting until he gets married to lose his virginity. Then it's May Day, and they're teaching the children -- the GIRL children -- that the Maypole is a phallic symbol, and he's trapped on the island because they did something to his plane, and then I didn't see the end. So. If it were more engaging, or if there wasn't QUITE so much folk music, or if it were funnier that he was such a prude, I would have finished watching it.

Ooh, I just read a spoiler, and it turns out that the locals need to sacrifice a virgin to appease the crops gods, and HE IS THE ONE! And, I see that the actor playing the virgin cop was 43 at the time. So, there you go. Oh, plus there is a kid named "Myrtle" but with the Scottish island accent, it took me like 8 times of hearing it to figure out what the heck her name was. So there's that. Accents always add something to scary movies.

Today, on Halloween, I thought lots of channels would be playing scary movies while I carved my pumpkin, but nope. "America's Next Top Model" had a marathon. "I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant" was on (which could definitely be a nightmare under some circumstances).

So, I've left the menfolk to their many sports events and am typing away while I watch the original Friday the 13th. Finally, life seems to be in order. October = scary movie. Or, in horror movie terms: Ch, Ch, Ch, Ch. Ah-Ah-Ah-Ah.