There's a chill in the air. You know what that means. Wait, do you?

I'm not handling this time change very well.

In case you were wondering. 

Disney Princess Life

     I've been up in the Blue Ridge mountains for a long weekend, savoring the fresh air and feeding deer out of my hand like Snow White. I named one Snuffles, and she got so close to me her eyelashes brushed my cheek. I'm fairly certain that's an old-world omen that I'm going to lead a magical life from now on. It's like a hippogriff bowing to you, it means you're respected amongst the forest creatures. 

Spooky Sticks

     I figure I should really be cramming in any last minute Halloween ideas now since it's rapidly approaching, so today let's talk about another quick, easy, and cheap decoration that you can whip up, once again using my favorite free resource: sticks! The inspiration for this was found at Target, where they had a similar set-up going for $25 dollars a pot. That's fifty bucks to bookend your front door with some creepy looking sticks. No thanks. Here's what you do if you're feeling like not paying for fancy landscape refuse:

1. Collect some nice branches. 

2. Spray paint them black. 

3. Add glitter if desired.

4. Place in a black pot at desired angle of stand-up-ness.

5. Spray foam the shit outta it. 

6. Cover that however you so desire. You can paint it black for a swamp witch look...

... or slap some moss in there for a slightly less oil-spill-ish appearance (although really, what's scarier than environmental disasters?).

     

     Pretty Halloween-appropriate, yeah? It probably adds to the scary factor that I've been sitting on my bed by the window, zonked out on cold medicine and rocking a sickly cast that really takes my natural paleness into full on restless spirit territory, so I'm sure anyone driving by has been thoroughly spooked. 

Halloween-ing the house!

     Halloween is rapidly approaching, and around here we're spookifying the house in preparation. Here's a quick, easy, and cheap way to bring a little creepiness into the home (I say this as a total hypocrite -- I can practically hear Morticia Addams saying "...but Debbie....pastels?" every time I walk into my room. Oh well. Split personalities for the win!). 

Step 1: Raid the woods. 

     Take a walk through your local foliage and collect some nice twisty twigs. Try your best to keep them away from your giant dog who is comically obsessed with sticks. 

As a side note, this picture reminded me of a children's book my mom used to read to me that had ragdoll children and they had to go through a thicket at some point and it wasn't supposed to be scary but I always found it tremendously upsetting for some reason (I still get anxious thinking about it) and now I can't remember what it's called and I can't find it on Google and I've been looking for over an hour and I'm worried it may just be a manifestation of my anxiety that I invented as a child and it's not a real book at all and I'M FEELING VERY AGITATED is what I'm getting at.

Step 2: Paint it black. Then add glitter.

     Throw down some newspaper or a dropcloth or what have you and hit the sticks with some black spray paint. Then, while the paint is still wet, sprinkle some glitter on top. 

I wish I'd seen that smudge on the lens earlier. Let's just pretend it's a ghost, in the spirit of Halloween. Oooh, a lost soul who wants me to have poor quality photos -- scaaary.

Step 3: Arrange fittingly. 

     These particular sticks were destined to become a nest for this fine fellow here.

    
     And of course I couldn't resist a spookified version:

     And done! Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. The best part about this little Halloweenification is that you don't have to worry about storing this from year to year. It takes a tiny smidgen of spray paint and glitter that you probably already have, and sticks. You can't get much cheaper than free, so go ahead and toss them when the season of creeping is over.

APPLEEEEESSSSSSSSSS

     I went apple-picking Sunday. 

     It was the perfect day for it: sunny and clear and cool and breezy and generally delightful. We got approximately one camels-weight of apples (that's a measurement, right?) and some apple cider donuts, and I had myself a cider slushie. Mmmmm. The apples are, of course, delicious, but we now have...a LOT of them. Like, a lot a lot. 

     As in, I had trouble cooking dinner because every horizontal workspace is covered in APPLES. I'm not complaining though. I'm like the Bubba of apples. Apple pie, apple salad, apple cake, apple cider, caramel apples, apple pancakes, grilled cheese and apple sammiches, apple-topped pork....apple isn't a word to me anymore. I've lost it. 

     Suffice it to say I'm about to be eating a lot of apples.

Honestly.