Guess what- it’s November 1st! That means it’s time to join San and celebrate NaBloPoMo- 30 posts for 30 days of November. San has posted 50 “5 Things” prompts on her page, and to get in the spirit of it all, I’m starting with 5 things about Halloween.
1. Our weather was phenomenal!
Oh yes- this is why we live in Florida. It was our first cool morning of the season- what a way to celebrate and kick off the month of November.
2. Breakfast tea in my “magic potion” mug!
3. We got the all state results!
Every year the all state results come out on November 1st- but since this year November 1st fell on a Saturday, we got the results a day early. My daughter made the band on piccolo! She was thrilled, and I was very relieved- I’m always a nervous wreck waiting for the results. (This also means I get my annual trip to Tampa in January, hooray!)
$. My daughter and her friend went trick or treating.
4. My outdoor decorations were… minimal.
Last year we got so few trick or treaters, I decided not to decorate outside this time. At the last minute I put up a string of orange lights to signal that we were giving out candy. We got about the same number of trick or treaters, and I saved myself a lot of work.
5. The evening descended into chaos.
Someone in our neighborhood was setting off fireworks, which freaked Charlotte and Muffin out. And Foxy tried to run outside every time someone came to the door. We only got about 15 trick or treaters, and I was relieved when it was over.
How was your Halloween?
43 Responses
Happy NaBloPoMo. So excited to get started.
Happy NaBloPoMo! I’m so excited to get started. Thanks for joining again this year!
I love your cute Halloween mug and a black cat always is instant Halloween decor LOL
We didn’t decorate either but we did give our candy tonight!
Happy NaBloPoMo San!!! I’m excited as well- I always love the frenzy of NaBloPoMo!
I put sone pumpkins and 3 black cats ( one wooden, 2 dollar store plastic) out on our porch, turned on the porch light, and called it good. We had a good number of trick or treaters from 515 until 730, then I turned off the light at 745. The last kid got whatever was left in the candy bowl. I still had a few bags left., because I always buy too much.
No live cats for decor though- I keep mine inside. One thinks he wants to go outside, panics if he actually gets out, so big boy must stay in. Girl cat was a stray as a kitten and probably attacked by another animal before she was rescued- no more outside for her, thank you very much!
Congratulations to your daughter for all-state- I imagine it’s very competitive.
Yes, Charlotte was ushered inside as soon as that photo was taken- black cats should not be outside on Halloween! And, thanks- all state is pretty competitive, and my daughter works very hard on the audition material.
We have a fall wreath and that’s it besides our carved pumpkin. I love others decor but it’s just not our thing!
We did not have nice weather. It was in the low 40s and drizzling but that didn’t slow our boys down. They went out for an hour with each parent and got a ridiculous amount of candy. I think people were extra generous given the crappy weather. We definitely got fewer trick or treaters. It was a really fun night though!!
Congrats on Angie making all state. First time with the piccolo right? Is it quite different from playing the flute? You sure have talented kids!!
Thank you Lisa! She had to audition on flute and piccolo, but was hoping to get in on piccolo. I couldn’t really tell you how different it is than flute- definitely different but I would have to ask her how much.
Given your weather, people were probably afraid of being left with way too much candy so they were extra generous. I don’t know how much your boys got, but my daughter and her friends counted their candy afterwards and they all got over 200 pieces, YIKES!!! What in the world are they going to do with all that… I’m afraid to ask.
The downside of Halloween for me is that it’s stressful on Doggo. We alternated between having her in her crate and in our room while the trick or treating was going on. It’s fun to see the kids, but at the same time I didn’t mind when we ran out of candy early. At that point we turned all the lights in the front of the house off and had a hang out in our back room.
I’m looking forward to NaBloPo!!!
Oh, be glad you weren’t in our neighborhood, where people were setting off fireworks (NOT a Halloween thing, people!) It made everything 100 times more stressful for the animals. I would imagine the little kids didn’t like it too much either.
OMG the weather was so amazing! I can’t remember ever being cold on Halloween but I totally was last night. And not mad about it (I got my down jacket from inside and sat there happily on our driveway!!). CONGRATS to your daughter — states!!!!
Thank you Sarah! She’s excited. And- yes, when was the last time it was cold on Halloween? So fun.
Our town does ToTing the Sunday before Halloween from 1-4pm, so we did it last weekend. The weather was gorgeous and we had quite a few! I’d put off buying candy, though, so I didn’t see any when I went to Costco that morning. I ended up with trail mix and applesauce cups. They went fast! I was surprised because I thought they’d be annoyed with non candy options, but they all seemed excited. Smaller kids liked the applesauce and larger kids were into the trail mix. Our non-candy options were bubble wands and stickers and we ran out of those after 1.5 hours!
I can’t remember why I started typing this. Um. Oh. I spent actual Halloween at my sister’s house doing stuff with my mom’s estate, so I’m gong to pretend actual Halloween was last week because that’s more fun.
My daughter and her friends each got over 200 pieces of candy (screeeam!) so I think everyone appreciates a non-candy item.
Charlotte does make things spooky!
Congrats to Angie! That’s so exciting!
Thank you Nicole! And, we always refer to Halloween as “Charlotte’s big day” although of course she has no idea what’s going on.
I’m in an apartment so I don’t get trick or treaters but my neighbor has a lot of cute outdoor Halloween decor! I only have a few things and they’re all inside since almost no one would see anything outside my apartment. But I’m considering doing some outdoor decorations for Christmas!
Ugh, fireworks! They’re legal here in AZ for a week around 4th of July and the week between Christmas Eve and New Years Eve, so unfortunately people are shooting them off on Christmas and my dog gets really scared. I really think they should be limited to just Fourth of July and New Years Eve and not the days around them!
Yes, I agree about the fireworks! And, they are NOT a Halloween thing! It shouldn’t be allowed!
Halloween was great here. I met a friend for lunch and Coach and I went out for a drink early – left candy on the porch and managed to not have to answer the door once. We were home by 5:15, but no one came afterwards.
Congrats to angie for making state band. So exciting. Too bad you weren’t gonna be in Tampa this week – we could meet. I’ll be there briefly Mon-Tues for a funeral.
Well- it’s too bad we won’t be in Tampa at the same time, but it also sounds like you might be kind of busy. Like maybe not the time to pop out and meet a blogger friend!
Yay NaBloPoMo and yay all-state band 🙂
Yay for sure!
At first I thought the cat was decoration.
She should have stayed all night. Ha.
I am not a Halloween fan. We had so many kids ring the doorbell but I pretended not to be home. I didn’t have candy either so why bother opening the door.
Happy to be here on a more regular basis again during NabloPoMo. Yeah.
Oh, you would like our neighborhood. The people who don’t have candy just don’t turn on their porch lights- it’s a recognized sign that people shouldn’t knock on the door. And- Charlotte is SUCH a scaredy cat! She would never sit out there with strangers coming to the door.
I seriously thought that was a cat statue!!! Turns out it’s a real kitty! I love black cats, so graceful. And so mysterious!
Happy to be blogging along with you this year again!
Hee hee! I’ll tell Charlotte you called her “graceful and mysterious.”
And yes- I’m excited to reconnect this month!
Thanks for the info on NaBloPoMo! I’m joining and excited to give it a try with my less than consistent posting to date. Congratulations on the all-state band. Very exciting! Our Halloween was nice. It was the first time for me to not be home. My daughter is 16 and the only child. So, we went to a friend’s who has littles and my daughter and her friend helped herd around the first-graders (my daughter knows them all from working in the after-school program) for trick or treating, I handed out candy at their house and my husband and her husband watched the baseball game (I watched when not handing out candy). It was actually really fun!
That does sound fun- like a mini Halloween party. Welcome to NaBloPoMo! I’m heading over to check out your blog now.
We bought candy, and had zero trick or treaters. We ate some ourselves last night, and will give the rest away on Buy Nothing.
Yay to cooler weather!
Really, you had no trick or treaters? That seems sad! I mean- we don’t get many these days. My husband and are are bringing our leftover candy to work.
I love Snoopy! And quite frankly if you have a black cat you can get away without decorating much. I also put out a couple of things just to show that we were giving out candy. Our weather was abysmal – cold and pouring rain – but we got the same number of trick or treaters, and they were all still having fun. I am not familiar with ‘all State results’ but congrats to your daughter!
Thank you Allison! Yes, I guess it’s probably an American thing, plus a band nerd thing. So I can see how you wouldn’t be familiar.
Our weather was surprisingly beautiful. Cold and pouring rain does not sounds fun, but kinds in search of candy are determined!
Congratulations to your daughter on all states! We just leave a bowl on our porch with candy since we are out with the kids. We had a good Halloween with weather in the high 40s but dry. We did trick or treating with the neighbors. The weather was pretty good and no one was sick!
Ha, you can’t really hope for more than that- good weather and no one was sick. Victory!
Congratulations to your daughter—amazing! Enjoy the start of your cooler weather. We are the opposite; it is finally warm enough to have the doors open again, which I love, apart from when flies come in. I am sitting outside at my parents house reading blogs and commenting which is wonderful. It is 30C here today, but nice and dry heat. Unfortunately it is going to be 16C and rainy tomorrow. Melbourne has pretty variable weather. If you don’t like it one day, you don’t usually have to wait too long for a change.
Yes, I have to remind myself that we are weather opposites! I also wouldn’t describe our weather as “variable”- Florida weather is pretty dull.
Happy NaBloPoMo! I love that Snoopy mug – so cute.
We had a very chill Halloween, with no kids and a new puppy keeping us home, we stayed in and watched the Halloween episodes of Abbott Elementary and Dancing with the Stars.
That does sound chill except for the part about the new puppy!!! I wouldn’t know it firsthand, but I hear they’re a LOT of work!
love the pic of the door with the black cat, very halloween themed!
Yes, it was pretty funny that she came and sat there just as I was taking the photo!
Yay for your daughter! And this means we get another January get-together, I hope!
I really thought that was a black cat decoration and was going to ask where you got it, hahaha.
I didn’t do anything for Halloween! I just did a lot of unpacking. And no trick-or-treaters since I live in an apartment.
Now I’m starting to think I should get a black cat statue, and put it outside the door for Halloween. And yes- we will meet again Tampa, or maybe St. Pete this year, assuming your schedule allows it!
Oh boy – your poor kitties! That sounds like a very stressful Halloween for all cats and cat wranglers.
Congrats to your daughter!!!!
Thank you Suzanne! Yes, it was a little stressful for the cats and humans. Sigh!