October is my favorite month. To me it marks the beginning of Fall and all the fun holiday festivities. I had several posts planned for October but my month was hijacked and got away from me. Really it’s my own inability to make time to get everything done but when your’re really fucking tired some things get put on the back burner. In this case, they were moved from the back burner to the freezer where they could be defrosted for later. Time to defrost!
What Happened
Early in the month we found and purchased bookcases. Solid wood bookcases were something I had been looking into on and off for the past year. When I found the ones that would become ours I knew it was a great price (because I had been looking for a year, remember?). I was so excited for them to replace our crappy, cheap, and tattered bookcases with beautiful “adult” ones. I had a great time organizing and decorating the shelves and my husband and I genuinely enjoy looking at them. They make our living room look more put together and are generally fucking awesome.
HOWEVER! We had been talking about painting the living room since we moved into the house two years ago but, SURPRISE!, never got around to it. Last year we picked out a color but never tested it out. When we eventually did it looked like pee so we went with a different color. Immediately.
Of course we deemed it necessary that the living room get painted before the bookcases arrive. Which they eventually did (took a couple weeks). We’ve yet to paint the hallway which leads from the living room but we’ll get there … next year. Maybe.
AND THEN! A lot of our furniture had been moved around and items shifted from room to room so it took a while before everything could settle, mostly, back into place. I say “mostly” because the living room is not 100% (missing curtains and we need a lamp!) and our guest room is a hot mess of leftovers. It really started to bother me that everything was spread out so attention needed to be paid to the room to get it back in order. There’s just something about a room when everything is in its place that makes me just want to take a nap.
OH, AND DID I MENTION! I finally decided to get my laptop fixed. The screen had been flickering for a while (years) and since I knew we would be painting I decided to pull the trigger. I knew what the problem was and the idea behind fixing it but wasn’t competent to do the work myself. The nice gentleman who fixed my computer took a little longer than he originally said to fix it (three days vs two and half weeks). Since I’ve had it back I’ve literally turned it on once. Still, it’s nice to know I can video chat with friends and not feel like I’m about to have a damn seizure.
ONE MORE THING! Happened at the beginning of November right when things were finally getting settled and back to normal. A small, baby kitten was found at work. Being the resident crazy cat lady, I was called and, of course, I put on pants and went over. The plan was to drop him off at the SPCA because the little monster would make four cats which is too many for us. It was the weekend and they were closed Sunday, and both my husband and I worked all day that Monday, so we rationalized him staying because we’re adults. We named him Boomer. I call him my Little Monster because he eats food like a goddamn eating champion.
STILL! We managed to watch a bunch of Halloween movies. Even though we didn’t get to do all the Halloween/Fall activities I wanted I’m okay with postponing until next year.
Initially I wanted to write a post dedicated to my love of October, my enjoyment of Halloween, and the plans I had made to make October rock. Since my October
didn’t go the way I had planned I’m going to list the movies we watched with my thoughts. Because you give a shit.
Onward to the Thoughts
- Silence of the Lambs. Neither my husband nor I had seen this movie. A local theater was doing the musical later in the month so we thought it would be good to watch the movie first. The musical was okay. The movie was better. There are definitely some “ew, gross” parts but nothing super bad. I might watch it again.
- Nightmare on Elm Street. I decided this year we would watch the “classic horror movie trifecta” and this one was up first. It’s cheesy in every aspect and I almost want to watch the other 7 or 8 movies this one spawned. Almost.
- Halloweentown. One of my favorite Disney Channel movies! Last year we watched Under Wraps which is another favorite but this year it was Halloweentown‘s turn. It’s a straightforward, family-oriented plot without being overly mushy. I love Disney movies. STFU.
- The Faculty. Maybe not necessarily a “Halloween” movie but I think the plot allows it. An alien taking over humans and a bunch of misfits coming together to defeat it while finding out it’s okay to be who they really are? Yes, please. I also decided to do a 90’s throw back starting with this one.
- Interview with a Vampire. Again, neither of us had seen this. It’s a little long for me and I don’t exactly understand what all the hype is about. I especially didn’t like the open ending. Can we have a resolution, please?
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer. You might think this was the movie that started it all but you would be wrong. Joss Whedon’s script/vision/idea for this movie was mangled and he’s gone on record to say that this movie is not cannon. So why watch it? Because I love all things Whedon and vampires are totally Halloween.
- Scream. Classic 90’s movie that’s a horror movie satire? How could we not? It’s perfect. The fact that is has
twothree sequels makes it even better. - It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. We hadn’t seen it. I couldn’t stand it. Never again.
- Krampus. Okay, I get it’s not a Halloween movie for the obvious reason it’s set around Christmas. Think about it though. A freak snow storm that traps you in your house? Scary creatures coming to kill you? I say it can do both, like Nightmare Before Christmas. The big difference being that Krampus is a solidly mediocre movie that I won’t watch again.
- Phantom of the Opera. Another movie that one may say is not Halloween-y. I beg to differ. A disfigured hermit pretending to be a ghost who also controls, kills, and kidnaps the innocent. If this doesn’t fit into Halloween then neither does Silence of the Lambs. Phantom has terrific music though.
- Teen Witch. A crappy 80’s movie that I can’t get back my time for wasting.
- Young Frankenstein. A classic! That I fell asleep to.
- Idle Hands. I had almost forgotten about this movie until I was thinking of more 90’s movies to include. This movie is way more funny than it is scary but the music is fucking awesome. Um… Offspring have a cameo. Can you get any more 90’s than that?
- Ghostbusters. Had to. Classic. The new one does not exist to me.
- The Final Girls. The Last Action Hero meets Friday the 13th. Not too horrible. I’d watch it again.
- The Halloween Tree. Ray Bradbury is one of my favorite authors. I hadn’t seen this movie in years and I decided to put it on while I repaired a cushion. It’s a little weird, a little creepy, educational, but ultimately awesome.
- Hocus Pocus. I watch this movie every year. Winnie is a prideful witch who should have listened to her sisters!
- Halloween. Part of our “classic horror movie trifecta” that we started with Nightmare. A serious classic. Of all the three, I find Michael to be the creepiest.
- Nightmare Before Christmas. There will never be a Halloween where we don’t watch this movie. We watched it while my husband handed out candy.
- Friday the 13th. The final movie of our trifecta. Of the three, the one with the most disturbing plot twist (SPOILER. A mother avenging her child? It’s sad. Fuck off). I kind of want to watch some of the sequels to see how they incorporate Jason and the 2009 remake to see the changes.
The Wrap Up
There were a few duds and a couple that maybe didn’t fit into the category but I can watch whatever I want and if I want to call it a Halloween movie, then I will. I still think 20 is a great number. I had a few more that we didn’t get to but there’s always next year.
TL;DR
My October wasn’t filled with Halloween and Fall activities like I had planned. Nevertheless it was fun and enjoyable despite the alternative route. Even though things didn’t go as planned, in the end everything was still good and I got a new kitten!
But Mostly Cats 