Troubletrons Halloween Post Dilema

What do you do when you promise your wife to write an awesome Halloween post on your blog...and it's the last minute....and you don't want her to punch you for failing to do so? Should I take a quick karate class to boost my ability to defend the forthcoming attack? Hide? Or post wack Halloween trivia?? I'll go with a combo of lame trivia and hiding.

Halloween Holiday Trivia

* Orange and black are Halloween colors because orange is associated with the Fall harvest and black is associated with darkness and death.



* Jack o’ Lanterns originated in Ireland where people placed candles in hollowed-out turnips to keep away spirits and ghosts on the Samhain holiday.



* Pumpkins also come in white, blue and green. Great for unique monster carvings!



* Halloween was brought to North America by immigrants from Europe who would celebrate the harvest around a bonfire, share ghost stories, sing, dance and tell fortunes.



* Tootsie Rolls were the first wrapped penny candy in America.



* The ancient Celts thought that spirits and ghosts roamed the countryside on Halloween night. They began wearing masks and costumes to avoid being recognized as human.



* Halloween candy sales average about 2 billion dollars annually in the United States.



* Chocolate candy bars top the list as the most popular candy for trick-or-treaters with Snickers #1.



* Halloween is the 2nd most commercially successful holiday, with Christmas being the first.



* Bobbing for apples is thought to have originated from the roman harvest festival that honors Pamona, the goddess of fruit trees.



* Black cats were once believed to be witch's familiars who protected their powers.


Monster Trivia & Folklore

* Signs of a werewolf are a unibrow, hair palms, tattoos, and a long middle finger.



* Vampires are mythical beings who defy death by sucking the blood of humans.



* In 1962, the Count Dracula Society was founded.



* To this day, there are vampire clubs and societies with people claiming to be real vampires.



* There really are so-called vampire bats, but they're not from Transylvania. They live in Central and South America and feed on the blood of cattle, horses and birds.



* Many people still believe that gargoyles were created by medieval architects and stone carvers to ward off evil spirits.


Creepy Snippets

* If you see a spider on Halloween, it is the spirit of a loved on watching over you.



* Worldwide, bats are vital natural enemies of night-flying insects.



* The common little brown bat of North America has the longest life span for a mammal it's size, with a life span averaging 32 years.



* In about 1 in 4 autopsies, a major disease is discovered that was previously undetected.



* The Ouija Board ended up outselling the game of Monopoly in its first full year at Salem. Over two million copies of the Ouija Board were shipped.

Costumary: A Retrospective

When I promised a special Halloween post for every day this week, I was planing on doing this really cool, full-scale costume retrospective of my life. I have all my family's photos from my childhood (supposed to be scanning them all for everyone . . . but have been negligent in my duties). So, I thought it would be pretty cool to check out the costumes I have had throughout the years.

Now, having gone through ALL 14 million of my family's photos, I can go ahead and say my brilliant costume retrospective isn't going to be that great. In fact, it's impossible. Apparently, my folks didn't think Halloween was the sort of event our family took pictures of.

However, I did find a few of my costumes, and a few of Troubletron's (in the 20 pictures I have of his childhood).

Let's start with my first Halloween. That would be October 31, 1979. I am two months old. My brother Dave got to be a Santa Claus. And, let's see . . . what did they dress me as . . .
A baby. I was a nothing for Halloween.

We're not off to a good start.

Ok, let's skip ahead 4 years. David was a Superman. Seth was a clown. And, what was I?
A bride. A very sad little bride.

I don't have the photos to prove it, but I know I was a bride with a different dress later in elementary school years for at least two OTHER Halloweens. I think this was due to my Mormon upbringing. Or maybe it was just my desire to wear a big, pretty dress. It's interesting that, in real life, I went the elopement route. I guess I had worn enough wedding dresses.

Skipping ahead again. This is my 10th Halloween (October 1989). That's me second from the left.
I was a fairy. And, I'm pretty sure this wasn't my first/only fairy year. Seth is a pretty good Dracula in this pic, and David is in the back row as a hobo. I think that's Mary Kate Olsen on the front.

Meanwhile, just one state away, Troubletron was dressing as the Joker before anyone had ever heard of Heath Ledger.
Now, we're going to do some more skipping. It's like junior high and high school didn't even happen.

Teenbot made a very cute mouse in one of her baby years. We're not going to get any more specific than that from Troubletron's memory (I like Troubletron's very neatly parted hair).
Teenbot was a Hershey's kiss one year. Maybe age 3?
Littletron leans toward superhero costumes. He did Batman as a youngster (an interesting opposite to Troubletron's Joker).
College time. Ok, so I definitely have lots of pictures from my Halloweens in college, right?

You'd think.

All I have is this one, where I'm some kind of evil witch who might stick her tongue out at you.
Some older readers/friends might remember that two years ago, I was a very fetching Little Bo Peep.
I do NOT look good in blonde.

Finally, last year, Troubletron and I were Peter Pan and Tinkerbell.
That date marked the first time I was able to talk Troubletron into wearing tights.

Ok, so, those were the only Halloweens I could find photos of. But, I did find some other pictures from our pasts in which we LOOKED like we were in costume for Halloween. Yeah, I gathered them for you. Check out today's BONUS POST below!

BONUS Costume Post!

Since I couldn't find many pictures of Troubletron or me dressed up for Halloween, I've complied some photos of us "dressed up" in pictures when it was not Halloween.

We'll start with Troubletron. Who dressed this kid as a '70s pimp?
Here I am dressed up for the White Trash BBQ. Yep, I'm DRINKING AND SMOKING, while pregnant!
Troubletron rocks the suede vest. He's dressed as ridiculous(ly cute).
Here I am, dead (at the end of the filming of Til Death).
Troubletron is dressed as an animal for a camp play. Can you guess what animal?
He looks like he may have been tall for his age.

This next photo was taken NEAR Halloween, but we are not in costume. Yet I (far left, standing), am dressed like a boy . . . a boy wearing a Barbie Rocks sweatshirt (thanks for forcing me to have that haircut, parents!). David is dressed as a psycho kid with a knife. Seth is dressed as a kid with a rat tail.

Next . . . Troubletron dresses up as either a Star Trek cast member or a pervert for his halloween picture (the turtleneck can only go one of those two ways).
(Also, he still makes this face from time to time--mostly when he's pretending to be surprised, or is being sarcastically surprised).

And, what kid of the '80s didn't go through a Karate Kid phase?
That's me in the middle. Did we take Karate? No. We just had Karate pajamas. And, Seth's holding a toy aligator, which is way more menacing than mine and David's bad Karate-kid poses.

Next, Troubletron dresses up as one of the members of Color Me Badd for his uncle's wedding.Yeah. How YOU doin'?

And, finally, we have NOT me, NOT Troubletron, but another photo of JakieWakie! This time he's dressed as some sort of gypsy child.
Why would JakieWakie dress up in a dress, you might ask? Well, basically because he was my living doll. I did this. Bwahahaha!

He was just my little pawn. See:
Doesn't my dress look like Libby Mae Brown's dress from the America part of Red, White, and Blaine? Destiny.

Happy Halloween!!!

Count Chocul-yum!

Hmm. WHAT should I eat for breakfast?

Monster Bash

Last Sunday, Troubletron and I spent the day spookifying our apartment, setting the table . . .
and preparing a fierce musical playlist for . . .
. . . a super fun Halloween cookie-decorating party! We started the night with some gruel (potato soup) (not pictured), and quickly moved on to the fun.

Troubletron considers his blank cookie canvas.
Shonsbot creates her hairy eyeball masterpiece.
This event was Rohantron's first time decorating cookies. Which, obviously, blows my mind.
Idiocorb encounters each cookie with reverence.
I took it slow, pausing frequently to sip the warm, cinnamony apple cider.
The night was not without casualty. One, specific casualty comes to mind.
I'm so sorry Idiocorb. I really am. I must learn to scoop icing OVER THE TABLE.

Yes that is a tiny plastic spider by his toe.

He didn't let this shoe tragedy dampen his spirits.
Troubletron just stirred up a bunch of trouble, as we should have expected.
There was so much creativity.
(Redrum)
(Staked through the heart)
(Pumpkins)
(Indian Flag, tender heart, and beginning haunted house)
(Donkey, gay pride, and DC flag cookie)
(Some people were very much about "representing")

I asked everyone to pose with the cookie they were most proud of creating.

Some people took credit for other people's work.
Shonsbot picked her haunted house cookie.
Rohantron picked a cookie that fell apart. Disappointment face.
Everybody already knows that Idiocorb is an O.G. So, he didn't need a cookie reminder. But, it didn't hurt.
I picked my witch. Troubletron later informed me that my spiderweb cookie was way better and involved more technical skill.
The night was rounded off with a rousing game of "the 'boo" (aka Taboo).
Tune in for more Halloween fun and adventures tomorrow!

Halloween Sewing 2

As I said yesterday, I've did lots of sewing last week!

I even pulled out the machine to whip up a very folky lady viking dress and Nordic-ribbon apron for my cousin Mimibot.
It has been FOREVER since I have sewn clothing, so there was some remembering that took place. And, some mis-remembering. But, I figured it out. Don't look too closely.

Mimibot was good enough to model it for me, as long as she could leave her jammies on.
Subtract the pj pants and add some fierce, animal-skin boots and you've got a viking warrior princess!

Did you know that Thursday is named for the Viking God Thor? It's Thors' day. The History Channel told me that.

Check back tomorrow for a re-cap of our Halloween Bash!

Halloween Sewing

It only took me a month after K a t y's September sewing challenge to get out my tools and get down to business. But, in the last week, I think I've accomplished enough sewing handiwork to make things right.

Since 'tis the season for all things scary, I made some all hand-stitched scary faces for a Halloween monster banner. I made two versions of a Frankenstein monster.
Two shiny-eyed Jack-o-lanterns:
Two witches (who apparently have bananas for mouths):
(note to self: no more Lisa-Simpson style hair on these. It takes AGES to stitch)

Two howling ghostie ghouls:
And two spooky tombstones:
I pinned them all to a long, braided yarn rope, and hung them under the spiderwebs:
Troubletron says the pictures of these don't do them justice, but they are really very cute in person. I'm thinking of making kids' sweatshirts/hoodies with these on the back for next Halloween. Is that something folks would buy?

Speaking of Halloween . . . be sure to check back everyday for more Halloween-inspired blogs! We'll have something Halloweenie everyday this week!