Halloweek

This is the first time I've ever blogged on Halloween. We haven't had a Sunday Halloween since 2010, and I didn't start this blog until 2011. Sunday Halloweens are weird. It's like you have two half-Halloweens, not one full one. It's also kind of a weird Halloween for me, being in grad school and also having a pandemic. I want to watch all the spooky movies, go to all the fall attractions, bake all the pumpkin stuff, etc., but homework and projects get in the way. Oh well, next year I'll be done with school. (I also shouldn't get too content thinking about that, because I may have a difficult job or something, and I might miss my schooling schedule, which is more open.)

On Monday, we didn't have my evening class because my professor wants us to work on our research papers, which are due in two weeks. (I'm not done yet, but I feel like I'm in a good place.) I scheduled an appointment at the Church History Library to look at the Lehi Relief Society minutes, because I found an interesting account where the women organized and spoke at the 1883 Pioneer Day celebration, a break with tradition. But alas, the minute book said nothing about that, so I feel like my trip to the library was a waste. Oh well, I didn't need the information, I just thought it would be interesting if I could find it.

Monday night, I was happy that my favorite contestant won Halloween Baking Championship, which might be my favorite show right now. She almost won last year, but everyone liked her so much that they brought her back this year. Once Halloween Baking Championship is over, it's time for Holiday Baking Championship. When that ends, I have to wait two months for Spring Baking Championship. And when that's over, I have to wait another four months for Halloween again. Why don't they have a Summer Baking Championship?

On Wednesday, I picked the pumpkins that we (my mom) grew in our own yard. Well, I left one on the vine because it's mostly green and I want to see if it will ripen. Then we (my family) carved them. 

Mine is on the right. My niece's is in the middle; it accidentally broke, so it had to be a Cyclops. And my sister opted to feature the "scar" on the big pumpkin (second from right).

All week, Jimmy has been extra affectionate and needy, coming onto my lap multiple times a day and my bed multiple times a night. But his arthritis pills don't appear to be helping, unfortunately. We kind of don't trust our vet.

I was also happy to add some new 2021 favorites to my Halloween playlist. 

 

On Friday, I had my last day working at This Is the Place for the season. But I will be back in December, which I haven't done before, and I probably won't have a chance to do so again. I am looking forward to not working in November, because I have some freelance work to do, not to mention school projects.

That night I wanted to watch the new Addams Family 2, which I expected to be terrible, just because I'm kind of a completist, and I've seen most versions of the Addams Family. It was worse than I expected, and I would go so far as to say it's the worst of the entire franchise. I rate it 3/10 if I'm feeling generous. And I have a very high tolerance for low-quality things.

Saturday was part 1 of half-Halloween. I wrapped up some assignments, then I ran up North Canyon. Most of the leaves are gone, but I still adore that place.

 I was disappointed that the logs and boulder that were blocking an unofficial shortcut had been moved. Did someone move them? If so, I don't understand why they didn't also move the rocks and branch at the top of the shortcut, which would be easier to move. I found the boulder and logs on the other side of the trail, so I moved the logs back to be a blockade. (The boulder would be too hard to move by myself.) If it was erosion, then that proves why there shouldn't be a shortcut. And if it was a person, it was obviously very deliberate, so I hope they sprain their ankle.

Then Saturday evening, I lit the jack-o'-lanterns and put one of my Google speakers outside so I could play my Halloween playlist both inside and outside. I also made popcorn balls, which are a forgotten Halloween tradition. I just made them with marshmallows, like Rice Krispies Treat—I think the more traditional route with corn syrup would taste better but be worse for you and be more difficult.

My parents had bought a small bag of Halloween candy, then ate more than a third of it. They would have run out of candy if I hadn't bought more. But I feel bad that the candies I bought are relatively small, and it kind of stresses me out. I hope we don't get many trick-or-treaters for Halloween part 2, simply because we don't have a ton left. Next year I'll have to remember to get more, because we cut it close this year, as well as in 2019. We don't get many trick-or-treaters, so we don't need much candy, but I think it's better to have too much than not enough.

But I still have a few more Halloween festivities to do tonight!

***

The final pumpkinundation roundup for Halloweentime, but it continues through Thanksgiving.

These V Chocolates Apple Cinnfuls were expensive. They are freeze-dried apples with caramel and white coating, then dusted with cinnamon. I love the candy part; the apples are weird. 7/10.

I've had these Apple Cider Vinegar Kettle Brand Potato Chips before. I remembered that there wasn't really apple flavor, but I didn't remember them being so vinegary. I don't love vinegar chips, but these will be a good standby when I'm craving something salty. 6/10.

The 7-Select Pumpkin Spice Flavored Snack Pie has less than 2 percent pumpkin, yet somehow it tastes like actual pumpkin, a very squashy flavor. These snack pies are a guilty pleasure. 7/10.

Since I like supporting North Salt Lake businesses, I was happy to try Mrs. Cavanaugh's Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Ice Cream. Sometimes when you add chocolate chips to ice cream, they get hard. That wasn't the case here. It was a nice ice cream, but nothing spectacular. 7/10.

Great Value Pumpkin Spice Hot Cocoa Mix is generic and passable, but I wouldn't call it pumpkin spice–flavored if I didn't know. 6/10.

I often get Sunbelt Pumpkin Spice Granola Bars, but this is my first time trying their sister product, Sunbelt Bakery Apple Spice Chewy Granola Bars. They taste pretty similar to the pumpkin version; I don't think they're very appley. 6/10.

The Chick-Fil-A Autumn Spice Shake is being tested in Salt Lake City. It has speculoos cookie bits, spices, and it tastes like orange flavor, but maybe that's just the color messing with my mind. As far as shakes go, it was really enjoyable, but it doesn't really seem like autumn to me. 7/10.

For some reason my phone likes to take blurry pictures of drinks.