A Ghoulie Girl Goes Shopping

This morning I found a bit of free time on my hands which is ubber rare. I decided it was the perfect time to drop in on one of my favorite local boutiques, The Market Shop, to peruse their Halloween offerings.

I came home with a few things. I plan to go back for more but for the sake of Mr Ghoulie's sanity I try to keep my Halloween shopping in small doses.

Today I picked up this dapper skeleton flour sack towel. Mr Ghoulie hates it when I buy decorative towels. He simply cannot understand why a towel cannot be used. I simply cannot understand why he can't understand that.

I also grabbed five of these little pumpkins. Very inexpensive and I love the way they did curly stems. Mr Ghoulie will not understand why I need more pumpkins. I say I always need more pumpkins.

Last I grabbed Hubert the ghost. He's so cute, in a creepy way. I love his little tuft of hair and the way he sits. He looks more scared than scary. Again, Mr Ghoulie will shake his head and roll his eyes. I say it's these quirky little obsessions of mine that make him love me. (If I tell him that often enough he will eventually believe it!)

This weekend I'm working on the to-do list for the Halloween season. I hope everyone in Ghoulieland is enjoying this last holiday weekend before Halloween.

Haunt on!

Shop 'til You Drop

I'm exhausted. For some reason my hubby got a wild hair up his hiney and wanted to go Christmas shopping yesterday. Tracy and I always go Christmas shopping together - without husbands. It's a tradition. Unfortunately we weren't going to be able to work the shopping trip in this year so hubby stepped up to the plate.

Now understand, the man hasn't ever been Christmas shopping in our 19 years of marriage. Oh, he may pick up a gift or two but the shopping marathon is alien to him. I was sensing disaster on the horizon. I mean one does not just jump into this kind of thing lightly. Heck, Tracy and I can spend over 2 hours at Super Target alone. This is serious shopping. Nevertheless I relented and off we went.

During the course of our day my husband asked me several times what I wanted for Christmas. Now I could send him to the blog but then he would see his drag queen picture and that, my friends, would be suicide. So, I told him we would need to go to Lowes for my gift. Yep, the woman needs tools!

"What do you need tools for?" he asked over and over. Finally I said "I need some things to make some new tombstones for the yard". [Blank look] "Ya know, for Halloween." [Cricket chirping] The poor guy just cannot get his brain around the fact that I like to make creepy stuff.

I've always been into Halloween but I will admit that he had no idea what he was signing on for when we married. I was mild back then. Now I'm a hardcore, everyday is Halloween, addict. I do this for a living but I know he's always wondering when I'll get over this Halloween thing. (I'm sure my mother thought I would outgrow it as well.)

Six hours later we arrived back home and we have still not made it to Lowes. I have to wonder if he's hoping I'll ask for something a bit more conventional if he gives me some time to think about it. The man would be thrilled if just for once I asked for a diamond earrings or something frivolous. No, I think I'll head out to Lowes this afternoon and pick up his gift for me. I'm sure I'll love it!

Dear Santa....

Ok, I realize that today is only the first official shopping day of the holiday season but I figure it's never too early to let Santa in on what I really want for Christmas. Besides, since my list is somewhat "abnormal" I want to allow him plenty of time.

So, let's get this letter started...

Dear Santa,

I realize that you're very busy this time of year so I'll get right to the point. Enclosed please find my Christmas list. You will notice that in order to save you time I have included pictures, stores and pricing. (See, despite what you've heard - I am a very good ghoul, err, girl.)

Jack the Ripper Poster from Madam Talbot's Victorian Lowbrow - $12.95




















Eyeball Light from Grandin Road - $49


















Burlap Scarecrow from GrimVisions on Etsy - $50




















Jack Black Root Beer and Treats from Simply Classic Gift Baskets - $55






















Frank and Bride from Gothic Rose Antiques - $2500




















Kinnitty Castle in Ireland - 18,000,000













Warmest regards,
The Ghoulie Girls

P.S. I understand the castle may be a bit over-the-top so I'm sending a cc of this to The Great Pumpkin - just in case.

Black Friday Turkey

Ahhhhhhhh Thanksgiving. One of those few days of the year where the only places open are convenience stores and K-Mart. It's also the day before Black Friday which means after you collapse from your Tryptophan laden turkey dinner you can peruse the sales fliers and organize a plan of attack on that Christmas shopping list.

At this very moment there are people laying out their ads, making lists, comparing prices and organizing their relatives for their assault on holiday shopping. Strategies are being laid out and if you don't have one by the time you get in line, well, then you're an amateur.

I always had a strategy. I talked to employees as they entered the building to find out where the items I wanted were located. My list was ranked, taking into consideration scarcity, best price and "must haves". I focused on one store only and there was never a time I wasn't one of the first 5 in line. This is commercialism in it's finest hour.

If this is your first venture into the Black Friday arena here a few tips we've picked up over the years by watching the pros:

* Don't go too early. Wait until about 20 minutes before the store opens and stand off to the side. Once the doors open everyone who's been waiting for 2 hours will be so focused on getting in that they won't notice that you cut in line in front of them.

* When the doors open don't walk - run! If you drop your keys, purse, coat - keep running. The only time to stop is if you drop your list.

* If someone grabs what you want promptly yank it out of their hands and whack them over the head with it

* Don't let someone's cart stand in your way - hurdle it. Really, you can make it.

Personally I no longer go out on Black Friday until at least 10am. These days there's rarely a deal that makes me want to stand in line at 4am freezing my nether regions off and getting acquainted with people who'd rather kill me than lose the chance to get a bargain.

See, Halloween isn't so scary after all.