A Halloween Door Basket and A Night I’ll Never Forget

I don’t do scary.  So it should come as no surprise the front of our house, even at Halloween, is more pretty than scary.  I wanted to create an alternative to the scary Halloween front door, so I created this Halloween door basket that actually looks pretty.

My sweet sister-in-law sent me this door basket after I commented on it in a shop while we were shopping together over the summer.  She’s so sweet.  Not knowing for sure if I wanted the larger one or a much smaller one, she actually sent me both.  I know…too nice.  I thought it would be the perfect time to use it for my Halloween door decoration and went on the hunt for some great looking flowers to fill it.

I found these grayish white hydrangeas that have black veins.  The perfect combination of pretty but Halloweenish.  I added some black roses and some sparkly black sticks.  These sticks aren’t remnants of Hurricane Matthew, but remnants of a 60% off sale at Michael’s.  I think I found the chalkboard bat in the Dollar Spot of Target.  I clipped it to the basket with a small clothespin so I can easily change it out for the next season.

This is as scary as it gets around here.  I’m a total chicken and always have been.  I don’t watch scary movies because I hate the feeling of suspense.  Some people love it.  Me, no way.

A few years ago my brother was visiting while we lived in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and all three of us decided to go to a haunted house together.  I’m the annoying woman who screams in the parking lot when the minimum wage earning guy with a mask walks toward you.  I. just.can’t.stop.screaming.  Even when I know they aren’t going to hurt me.

Of course, the more you scream, the more they follow you around getting a reaction.  This haunted house was an abandoned three story brick building in downtown Fort Worth so it went on forever.  I screamed all the way through it and made my husband walk in front of me and my brother walk behind me.  That didn’t help.  I still jumped and screamed at every little thing.  All of it was very startling.  But the scariest part?

At the end of the haunted house you had to walk through what looked like a wall of dish soap bubbles.  One would think you would walk a few feet and emerge on the outside having finally finished the haunted house.  Not so much.  I’m pretty sure it was about fifteen feet of bubbles and just at the point where you think you will never get out of the bubbles, and you are about to totally panic, you step out into the clear.  Whew.  An experience I’ll never forget.

Here’s another little secret about me.  I’m claustrophobic.  I don’t even like the quilts and sheets on the bed to be too tight.  Not only do I not like small spaces, I don’t like to not be able to move my arms.  Long squeezes from loved ones where I can’t freely move my arms freak me out, so does holding both of my hands.  I know.  Weird right?

My favorite part of Halloween?  Seeing the little ones all dressed up.  No scary stuff there.  Luke is going as Kai from Lego Ninjago.  Cute…not scary, but don’t tell him that.  He totally thinks he is frightening.

Have a fantastic day!

Nancy

P.S.  Scroll back up and look at the full picture of the front door.  In the reflection you can see my tripod (total bad blogger) but you can also spot our sweet Dixie laying on the sidewalk in front of our house.  She loves to lay outside and watch the world go by.  She’s the BEST dog.  She lays there even when other dogs walk by.  They’re pulling on their leash and the owner struggles with them.  Dixie?  She lifts her head and watches them I think wondering what all the fuss is about.  Good dog Dixie.  Good dog.