New Stuff Halloween 2024 Gurley JOL candle nuggets

 I saved the best for last!  I asked for these little nuggets for Christmas last year.  I love their little faces!  I had been holding out for years hoping I'd come across some at an estate sale for a quarter but that never came in to fruition.  I can't remember how much they cost as it's not fun for me to brag about pricey prices since dirt cheap is what gives me the thrills.

New Stuff Halloween 2024 Scaredy Cat Pillow

 

This vintagey looking scaredy cat pillow is a newly produced item that I found at Ross this year for 10 bucks.  It's glorious perfection!

New Stuff Halloween 2024 JOL

 

I picked this vintage trick or treat JOL pail up at an estate sale on the last day, half price. I had gone to the sale the previous day, saw it but left it behind as I like to share vintage Halloween and I most definitely have my fair share of these kind of JOL pails, but I didn't have this exact one though.  He was still there on the last day so he came home with me for one whole buck.

New Stuff Halloween 2024 Frosty Frights

Something actually 'new, new' we collected this Halloween season are these little nuggets from Wendy's kid's meals.  I thought they were most precious.  I particularly wanted the three on the far right. At the time of posting you can quite possibly still pick them up.  There are 11 of them in total but several are fruit loop colored so I didn't collect those.

Spooky Season!

 Yay!  Spooky Season is here!  It's been unofficially here since the summer with all the massively early Halloween merch released back in June.  I certainly don't have a problem with that as it helps curb my summer seasonal depression.  Summer can go back to hell from whence it came! However this year, while I appreciate all Halloween efforts, I have been severely displeased with the lackluster garbage presented.  And there was definitely an obvious, rather offensive trend, puking up the atmosphere and the vibe that is the true gloriousness that is Halloween, the culprits:  Pastels, disco balls, and florals.  

Nope.  Just nope.  This isn't a baby shower, it's not New Year's Eve, and Spring hasn't sprung.  The people who came up with these themes, the best I can fathom, hate Halloween, loathe Halloween, completely don't get it nor care too as they need to get to their Jr. League meetings and refill "Mommy's sippy cup" with a fourth helping of whatever pretentious wine that the other botox injected bimbos are raving about this week.  Or a bunch of 10 year old girls designed it.  Either way it's ridiculous.  But I have to not let the dickwads get me down.  Hidden among the garbage were some black and gothic spooky stuff tucked here and there.  I never thought the day would come that Halloween would be so disrespected though.   All I know is when Easter rolls around, everything better be black and covered in skulls and blood.

Anyway, I shouldn't bitch too much, I rarely buy much new Halloween merch anyhow.  I just go for the ambiance of it all.  I typically keep my eye peeled at thrift stores or estate sales for the rare vintage mid century piece to come along.  Last week I stopped in at a thrift that is only opened extremely limited hours and picked up this massive sized Gurley JOL candle for one buck!  He's got a bit of a booboo crease across his face but it makes him look like he survived a slasher attack! 

September Back To School Frito Kid and Coconut Cut- up Cake Party

I've been sporadically working my way through making all the monthly themed vintage coconut cut-up cakes and Frito Kid party ideas for a few years now.  I am juuust about there!  For this round I decided to double up and combine September's since they are both Back to School themed.  

Here is the vintage Cut-up cake inspo:

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from this little 1956 booklet:

Here's my take on "Ding Dong":

I am pretty sure it's suppose to be a school house but it's really a stretch of the imagination.

Now let's add in some 1954 Frito goodness:

The refreshments miss the opportunity for some Frito additions but I surely didn't!

Ice cream with Fritos is the BEST!

Did you know Circus Animal Cookies/Crackers don't come in the fun little boxes anymore?!

So I had to take it upon myself to fake some.  I turned a couple of mac and cheese boxes inside out, glued down a printed image I found out in internetland of the box front, and added my own little string handle.  I didn't buy any cookies out of principle due to the boring ass plastic bags they now come in.

 And lastly soda... I picked apple soda since that seemed most schooly inspired.

Here is the spread:

This puts me at finally making all the Coconut cakes except the god awful ones (May and June) that I just refuse to do.

I now just have Frito Kid November lastly left.  Because, spoiler alert, I did the December one last year after Christmas already and have it tucked back for this upcoming season.

Here are all of the themes collected together for your viewing perusal:

For the past Frito Party Goodness check out the below posts:

Frito Kid October Halloween Party

Frito Kid August Back Yard Barbeque

Frito Kid July 4th Party

Frito Kid June Cowboy Party

Frito Kid May Flowers and Fairies Party.

Frito Kid April Easter Party

Frito Kid March St. Patrick's Party

Frito Kid February Valentine Party

Frito Kid January Circus Party

and all the Coconut Cut-up Cakes corralled:

January Mr. Snowman Cake

February Ever-Lovin' Heart Cake

March Coco The Nutty Clown Cake

April Quick-A-Bunny Cake

July American Eaglet Cake

August Sailin' Down the Bay Cake

October Hallo Witch Cake

November Gobble-Gobble Gobbler Cake

December Dear Santa Cake

Zine Lovin'

 

I love magazines. They are full of all kinds of neatness, useful and useless. I used to have subscriptions to several magazines many years ago while I was able to get them from Coke Points Rewards.  I should clarify.... I like free magazines.  I ain't paying those high dollar magazine prices when the dentist office has a nice stack awaiting my perusal dating from 2014.  

One of my most favorite was Real Simple.  It's got all kinds of organizing solutions porn, crisp clean rooms, and 101 ways to reuse an old coffee pod.  Within the pages was another feature that wasn't usually boasted on the front cover which was an essay written about someone's personal life experiences.  There were a few stories that I could relate to along with some presenting situations that I haven't ever thought of, all were very enlightening.  Still to this day some of these essays pop into my head and I thought I would talk about them today.  They are like little glimpses into the future that in the moment you just don't see it.

The first one I can't remember what the prime topic was.  I think it may have been the loss of tradition and family.  I only remember one line but it struck me.  

"I remember when my grandmother stopped putting up a Christmas tree." 

  I was just dumbfounded.  I thought how could a grandmother not put up a Christmas tree??!  Isn't that one of their absolute deals?!  As years rolled past from reading the essay I started noticing my own grandmother shrinking her Christmas decorating footprint to the point where in 2020 while we were sitting outside celebrating the holiday 6 feet apart she asked if I wanted to see her tree.  I didn't want to go inside and us be next to each other in an enclosed space but she then said 'Oh, I can bring it out here!"  It turned out to be this 6 inch tall spirally metal little tree that she decorated by shoving colorful pom poms into it.  She was pretty proud of it.  It now has me thinking of the reasons with the lessening in general.  There's the practical one that I can attest to and that's holiday decorating is a lot of work.  I can also attest to when you start having physical/balance issues where getting on a step ladder ends in you hitting the ground (been there 3 times over the last few months).  And there's the emotional aspect where all the littles are grown ass adults and not as fun anymore. And again, I am easing into that with having an adult child.  It's just something to ponder is all.  The seasons of life and it's celebrations.

Another essay I have always held onto was written by a adult daughter who found herself caring for her mother who had Alzheimer's.  She and her mother had never gotten along throughout their lives.  The mother was actually quite mean and overbearing when she was in her right mind.  However when she lost her mind, for the lack of a better phrase, she became a sweet docile person.  The daughter grew closer to her mother and this end of life season became something unexpected.  Talk about a terrible situation being turned into a oddly lovely one.  This is one of those stories that I'm not there yet in my own life.  I hope I never am to be quite frank whether it be a loved one inflicted or myself.  Time will tell I guess.

The last essay I read was on something fun but still my brain at the point of reading was like "What?What?!" It was about a couple that had become empty nesters.  Basically this couple were thrilled and loving life now that they don't have to set anymore good examples.  They talked about when their adult kids visit and mom's making cereal for dinner... for herself.  The kids can make their own damn bowl.  The parents were now free to cuss and stay up late.  Watch any garbage they want on TV.  They had been pretending to be upstanding adults to be good role models for their kids, now they could forget all that nonsense.  I'm telling you my mind was blown.  I had an eight year old at the time of reading this so I was deep into the 'be a good role model' that I couldn't even understand.  Now I'm realizing how exhausting it has been setting that example for years. I'm so there wanting to let that 'job description' go.  I'll say that over the past few years I've been quickly transitioning to this along with me truthfully always being a bit more of an edgy parent anyhow so who knows, maybe I wasn't the good role model I was trying so hard to be.  Regardless, I look forward to spending my weekends watching murder shows and eating Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

Dish the Dirt

For today's Dish the Dirt I have got a doozy of a story for you all.  It's an experience I had back in April that going into it I saw nothing but a clusterf*ck and torture but it needed to be done....and I now know I was the only one who could do it and the end result I couldn't have even imagined.
So grab yourself a pot of coffee and a pack of smokes because this is gonna be a long ride!
Many of you who have read MHiCTY over the last couple of years have heard me mention my MIL.  It's usually around the holidays because that is her dedicated seasonal reign of torture.  It's a time of her talking at us, blaming us for why she hasn't done this or that, complaining about everything, and every year it's her last Christmas.  My MIL can have a really nasty attitude and no matter how many times you tell her something if she doesn't like the answer she just keeps pushing.  She chooses not to drive but will constantly complain that no one takes her anywhere.  When you do take her somewhere she takes advantage of the situation and adds on a multitude of other places she wants to stop because she can get a 'Buy 10 get 1 free' deal on Oreo cookies.  I mentioned last December that we had gotten some great news that my sister/brother-in-law where moving across country and taking my MIL with them.  Can you imagine how ecstatic we were?!  The exact date was dependent on when they sold their house but the plan was by summer 2024.  They put their house on the market in March and it sold within a couple of weeks putting the launch date at the end of April.  So here is where the clusterf*ck torture part comes in.  I have hinted a few times about my MIL's house being a dumpster...I guess that's not much of a hint.  But the reality is she is a hoarder.  I mean a 'get Matt Paxton up in here' kind of situation.  Hoarding is one subject I read and watch alot about, I have a real interest in it.  Hoarding has levels from 1-5, with 5 being the most extreme and my MIL is a 3.5-4.  This level has entryways inaccessible, basic appliances and functions of the house not working, piles of items reaching to waist high and complete rooms blocked with items.  She has lived in this house for 30 years, it's a 3 bedroom 2 bath with 2 car garage..... a huge house with plenty of cubic feet to be stuffed full.  At the beginning of April Mr. Husband and I got our nerve up to go into the hoard to locate some items that he wanted from when he was younger, having a vague idea of where he remembered them being 20 years ago.  Now remember the plan was set that they were moving many months before back in 2023.  When we went into her house I could tell she hadn't been packing other than one tiny box with some old coke bottles in it.  This was not the house of someone who was moving in a month.  Mr. Husband and I spent about 3 hours making our way from the bedroom door to the bedroom closet to search for his items if that gives you an idea of how hoarded just one room was.  As we were shifting stuff my MIL came in with a garbage bag.  Which was like angels singing to me.  I was like Yes!  Let's do this!  I wasn't aware that she was able to see "trash"  and understand it honestly.  We eventually made it to the closet but the items weren't in it. I started to think how much I would hate for her to move and not be able to take everything she wanted along with really hating if family photos or keepsakes were just let behind because of the time crunch and massive hoard so I went into action and worked with her sorting and packing nearly everyday up until they left.   
We started out slow and spent a couple of weeks just on the living room since this is where she pretty much lived.  I hauled at least 4 car loads of stuff to the thrift store and we had the city bulk pick-up come 3 times.  She ordered a dumpster for a week and we really could have used 5 but I made it work.  The next area we cleared out was the 2 car garage which was a level 5 hoard.  The ceiling was falling in, items were piled literally to the ceiling, and I found 2 dead animals in there...one was a rat and the other quite possibly was a Chupacabra.  We got the garage pretty much cleared and I laid a king size comforter on the floor and this was where we put the items she was going to keep.  Since they are moving across country she had to be really selective and I was super proud of her.  She made a lot of hard decisions and quickly.  At this point in the clean-out we only had a week before departing so we assigned each day to a room and what ever didn't get done she would have to do as "homework" or just let it go.  Since the dumpster was pretty much full at this point as one room was gone through the previous room became the new "dumpster" so we had some kind of space to maneuver.  One day I was running a bit late and as I arrived to the house there was a flurry of activity and people.  My MIL came out to my car saying "It's a miracle!" Her idea of a miracle was a creepy dude wanting to take the 2 broken down refrigerators that were in the garage and a meth head woman taking some of her expired food (and there was TONS of it).  Lord, but she was happy more stuff was leaving the house.   She couldn't take any furniture and was able to give away a lot of stuff to friends and neighbors.  I allowed 2 days for packing and dealing with any loose ends at the end, one of which was my MIL and BIL were in a power struggle over her wanting to take her brand new refrigerator.   It was only a few days before they were scheduled to leave and she was saying she wasn't leaving without it.  I had to become mediator and come up with a solution to make her happy which wound up being giving it to the neighbors across the street.  Oh my word it was a bitch helping get that thing out.  Why on earth are they making fridges now so big they have to be taken apart to get through doorways?! My prime focus here was to get her packed and everything in the house gone through for the most part looking for photos and important documents.  I wasn't expecting to be bringing much home from her house but surprisingly she had nearly everything I have been looking for and then some.  I'm not going to have to buy body wash for 2 years, trash bags for 6 years, wax melts for a year.  I've been wanting a garden weasel and lo and behold there was one in the garage.  I have been wanting to make some sort of extension for my vacuum cleaner, well, she had 4 that didn't work so I took some of the hoses.  New pair of leather garden gloves, check.  2 giant bags of garden soil, check.  New box of plant food, check.  Jugs of laundry soap, check.  Cans of Off bug spray. check.  Not one, but two jigsaws and they were in of all places, the master bedroom. She had all sorts of never used useful things all up in there among the debris. We also found a bunch of family photos which she gave us some and Mr. Husband's birth certificate.  By the end we were both happy with the work we did and while the house wasn't empty, it was about 80 % cleared. The day they departed I did one final walk-thru just to make sure no documents/personal info papers were left behind and I'm glad I did because there was a huge pile in a closet.  I took 10 large sized plastic bags full of these kinds of papers back to my house and worked on burning them over the next 2 weeks.  I also donated things for her to several animal shelters (towels, blankets, dog toys, carriers). Because they were putting her house on the market to see what it would fetch even being in disrepair, my BIL hired a professional to clear out the rest of the stuff costing him about 1,200.00.  I know this person had to get more dumpsters. The house did sell and she made a bit of a profit to use as the down payment for her tiny home she's having built.   
So now for the bizarre thing I learned about my MIL through all of this time I spent with her.  She is not the same person when the rest of the family are around.  All of the nastiness, she only uses on Mr. Husband and my SIL family.  Me and PB....she loves us, she is kind to us and we whole heartedly enjoyed working and spending time with her while helping her with the house.  I realized that I had only been around my MIL maybe once without Mr. Husband there so that's why I had a negative opinion of her.  I mean, I hate it for him and his sister but she thinks PB and I are gold.  For the most part it was myself helping her but PB came over with me on one occasion.  She was having what ever drinks and snacks we liked delivered to the house and all that.  Several times Mr. Husband offered to come over and help and I told him no because she becomes difficult and moody when he's there.  It's so weird.
The whole packing clean out was such a great experience.  She and I had a fun time together.  I even miss her!  At one point the thought crossed my mind that she shouldn't move and just stay here but I got back into reality real quick.  Her house was just not safe for her and some basic functions didn't work (one of the bathrooms, stove, central heat and air....etc.).  I also know that I can't take her places every single week like she likes.  We are all planning at some point to visit them but I told Mr. Husband he will have to stay with his sister while PB and I are going to stay with his mom so we can enjoy her pleasant side.And for those keeping score at home we found the items Mr. Husband was looking for:  One of his dad's Hawaiian shirts, a Spook Hill t-shirt, and his Sega Genesis.  

You don't say?!

You're all going to be noticing some changes around here on MHICTy..maybe you already have.For the past four years my family and I have had traumatic event after horrific devastation.  On a "good day" it's just a massive ordeal.  We've had deaths and losses that will never heal along with salt and battery acid being rubbed in the wounds.  And I'm not exaggerating, I wish I was. I can tell you this, that old adage of "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger" is a load of BS.  I plugged forward with my MHiCTY posts anyway thinking that working on creative projects would be helpful and be a good distraction.  I have presented some well photographed and creative presentations but the writing was lackluster because I'm not in a comical mood.  Over the past several months I have been spending a good amount of time outside in nature (well, my yard while working on the exterior of the house) and thinking things through.  I now am realizing I have not allowed myself time to attempt to heal or at the very least the grace of understanding just how much I have been through.
Right now I am doing my best to cut back on anything that adds extra work. maintenance, financial commitments, or mental stress. I have also been doing the "inner work" of positive thought (that's hard for a sour ball such as myself) , focusing on the current day, gratitude and Stoic teachings of letting go and caring less.  I've cut out keeping up with all the drama and bad news of the world.  All of this has been helping however we are now into Summer which causes me seasonal depression since it's impossible to go out and enjoy outdoors, even at night.  I have gratitude for air conditioning and early releases of Halloween stuff during this season.
So like I mentioned earlier, changes around here are going to be...I don't even know.  Less posts or less posts that involve multiple layers of work.  I may start leaning more into life essays and opinions.  Rants and venting only if I think they will be comical because I'm staying away from negativity.  I don't need to purposefully bring it into my life, it's got no problem seeking me out on its' own (that was a joke?!).
I do expect to be all systems firing for Halloween though! 

Preheating

photo credit: Camerique/Getty Images

Mr. Husband said something to me that I found quite hilarious and sadly true.  Right now Florida is just "preheating"... and it's already miserable out there with us hitting the low 90s. We'll be really feeling the burn, and I mean that literally, July thru September.  I noticed it was like a switch got flipped from cool and comfortable on April 30 to humid and horrid on May 1.  However I have been seeing reports of northern states that typically get to enjoy decent spring type weather are having temps higher than we have in Florida.  I say good!  Those northern states are the ones that whine about Winter and how much they love Summer so here you go..... Have some Summer, enjoy your climb into a 500 degree oven!

 

Tormented

For Nightmare Theatre's season 4 finale with the film offering of 1960's Tormented I made us a themed cake for the viewing.  Since a certain friend is still going hard at his diet of no sugar, I made a sugar free cake with sugar free icing.  It's all from a mix/tub so no recipe is needed. 

I tried to make it look like a sandy beach with seaweed.  The sand is the domed top of the cake cut away and crumbled.  I made a lighthouse cake topper from trash (plastic cups, foam board, scrap paper), put a print of the movie poster on it along with floating disembodied heads of the Mittens, Sapo, and the Baron. 

Sugar free cake isn't all that bad and it saves you about 60 calories per slice.

Of coarse the main person that this cake was made for had to be sure to let me know afterwards that sugar free cake gives him gas.....

Here is a brief synopsis of the episode:

A jazz pianist is haunted by the ghost of his ex-girlfriend, whom he watched fall to her death on the eve of his wedding to another woman in this Bert I. Gordon sleezeball from 1960. Back at the NMTV studios, cable access investigative journalist Dr Lester W. Sinclair is convinced that Sapo is an escaped convict, and launches a campaign to bring him to justice.

 And here is Nightmare Theatre, season four's finale, Tormented!

2024 Celebrations

As seen in  the previous post I spent a lot of time and effort working on the exterior of our house during the first few months of the year since that is the only time in Florida that it's comfortable to be outside for hours and not need medical assistance for heat exhaustion.  The issue with this is that a bunch of our family celebrations are during this time frame with 2024 being a bunch of milestone ones.  This year is PB's 20th birthday, Mr. Husband's 55th Birthday, and our 10th wedding anny.  Trying to tend to the exterior and make celebration magic happen, well, just couldn't happen.  I couldn't do it all.  So this year I had to do something a bit different.  I had PB do Mr. Husband's B-day theme and vice versa.  (I did help them each with the decorating but I didn't go wild with allspice over it.)  For our anny we went out for an expensive dinner.  And for all of the events I made a simple cake for each.

Here's how everything came together:

So first up is PB's birthday.  Mr. Husband choose to do "20 Faces of PB" .  We went through all of the photos we had and picked our favorite one from each year of his life then printed a bunch out and placed them around the dining room.

I made a box mix cake and put the images on skewers.

For Mr. Husband's birthday theme PB picked a show that Mr. Husband loves...Walker Texas Ranger.

We printed out Walker photos and decorated with all the western type items we own.

For our 10th anny I made us our favorite Hummingbird cake in the shape of a horseshoe for good luck:

We then dressed up in our wedding clothes and made fools of our selves at a nice restaurant:

House scraping, sanding, repairing, wood puttying, priming, painting.....ugh.

 

I thought I would show some of the long, hard, and laborious work I have been doing over the past few months.  These images are showing most of the work up to the priming stage.  I have since gotten all of this painted but I haven't taken photos of it yet since I still need to paint all the window trims and a set of shutters need to be painted and rehung.

Most all of this has had to be done up on a ten foot ladder or even climbing on the roof, which I do not enjoy doing.

Since the heat is horrible right now I am trying to squeeze in all of the last bits here and there in the afternoons if it hasn't rained or isn't going to rain.  I still have a big chuck of the back side of the house that needs everything done to it but that's going to have to wait til next season.

Here is what the house looks like when it doesn't appear to be covered in zinc:

High Maintenance

I'm going to be on hiatus for quite a bit so I can get a handle on the high maintenance of our exterior house wood rot/painting and invasive weeds before the searing sun and sweltering heat take over and make it inhabitable for human life to venture beyond air conditioning.

How I wish my house had 'Carefree Clapboard'!

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Snow Day Freezer Case

My last offering for Snow Day this year is my display case theme which is "Ice Box".

 It's comprised of vintage freezer owner manuals, recipe booklets, metal ice cube trays, freezer food boxes, paper snow flakes, mini igloos that were bases to novelty drink glasses, plastic icicles,  mini plastic penguins, fake frost, and fake ice cubes.  I made the ice cubes from a big pound block of clear glycerin soap meant for crafting small bars of soap which I picked up at an estate sale.  I just cut them into chucks.  The penguins are from a game PB has had forever called Penguin Pile Up.  The game is suppose to be for little kids where they balance the penguins on a plastic ice pyramid but it's cruel and damn near next to impossible to do as all the ledges are sloped and slippery.  We have only kept it all these years because of the agony it causes.

Snow Day Crafties

To celebrate the sadly short amount of time we have that resembles Winter here in Florida I have been doing a "Snow Day" theme here on MHiCTy for the past couple of years.

This year's offerings are gonna be short too because frankly Winter has been over for us for the past 2 weeks.  I damn that groundhog to hell... and that's the temps we are gonna be having here in the near future....hell fire degrees.  Blah. 

Anyway, the first Snow Day bit I have for you all are like 'snow globes in a box' from recycled materials.

The idea is from a children's magazine from 1948:

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The upper snowman I made is crafted close to the original idea.

I then decided to try out a few varieties:

A print of two snow people from a vintage greeting card with bits of silver glitter.

A background featuring a snowy paint-by-number print.

And The Cure building a snowman.

My clear plastic boxes originally held mini Halloween bottle brush trees that I picked up from Target on clearance last season.  I also sponged on white acrylic paint to the fronts of the boxes to encapsulate the image in Winter.

All of the images i used and then some are in my Pinterest Snow Day Board

And you can check out all the past Snow Day posts by clicking on "Snow Day" seen in the lower left corner below.

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