The candy, the costumes, the scary stories and how the weather has cooled down and there is a nice snap in the air. I love it all.
Each year I get a big old bunch of pumpkins, carve them up and light them on Halloween. Our house has a long staircase leading up to the front door, perfect for showcasing my pumpkin dementia.
For the past week or so the kids have been asking about the pumpkins. They were eager to buy them when they first appeared, but they know I like to wait for the last minute. The reasons for my last minute pumpkin buying habit are many, but it can be boiled down to two main ones. I’m cheap and I procrastinate.
The procrastination usually works out to my advantage. As Halloween looms the prices on pumpkins start to drop. I keep an eye on the local supply, I don’t want to miss out completely, but I take my time. This is also good, because if you buy too early there is a chance that they may spoil before the big night or fall prey to the predations of animals, both wild and domestic (Both my dogs and the local deer population love pumpkins). Admittedly the selection becomes a bit limited, but I like the warty and oddly shaped ones, they are much more fun to carve. My main requirement is that must still have a bit of stem still attached.
Today, after I dropped off Max and Rebecca off at preschool, I stopped by Wally world. I needed light bulbs and I was looking for Nate’s costume. Nate wants to be a Jedi Knight and so far I have had no luck in locating a costume in his size. I found a few Annakin’s, but he would rather be Obi-Wan. I was going to thoroughly search through the costume department and then maybe check out the sewing/craft area. If all else fails I could get the pattern and do it myself. Max will probably want to wear it in the future, so it will be worth the effort.
As I strolled in I took a gander at the pumpkin bins, they still had a ton left. Then I noticed the price: $1.50 each, formally $3.50.
Score! I grabbed a cart and piled in 10 pumpkins. I was able to snag quite a few big ones and they all have stems. With my cart almost overflowing I wrestled it over to the costume department.
Woot! The aisle was deserted. I love shopping in morning. It is much calmer and if I go on a Tuesday or Thursday, my entourage is at preschool. I happily pawed through the entire collection of costumes, but to no avail. I found a lot of Darth Vader, but no Jedi. After swinging by lighting and getting light bulbs, I headed over to the craft section.
There was a nice display of Halloween costume patterns, but the one I wanted was not included. I searched in the appropriate drawer, but again no success. I then idly looked through the costumes on display. Then I found it, jammed in the back, upside down and backwards. What luck! I tossed the pattern into my cart and headed on out.
Giddy with my success, I loaded up the van with pumpkins and I called my husband. When he picked up I announced “I am a pumpkin goddess!”
With an amused chortle he replied “Indeed you are.”
Here is a picture of the back of my van when it was full of pumpkins.
Just a few pumpkins
Originally uploaded by Teckelcar. The scary part is I’m going back to buy more, this time with kids. They like to pick out pumpkins and you can never have too many.
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