By Popular Request!

You asked for it, you got it! Part III of the Most Critical Review I've EVER written! Before you check the next post, though...

Did you miss Part I? Part II?

~Viv

EDIT: Ack! Link for Part II is fixed! Thanks for the heads-up.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Are you all set to hand out that Halloween booty? Want to add some pirate to your day like me?

Here's some tips for swashbuckling Halloween!

First, find a costume you like, adapt and accessorize to make it truly you. Thanks to a generous benefactor, I had a few pirate costumes for the family. We all meant to pose in them sooner, but sadly we had a death in the family and a funeral in Tampa to attend. 


When we got back, I realized the female pirate costume didn't work for me at all. I'd lost some weight, so it was too big, and the gold blousey top, brown vest and skirt just didn't say "pirate" to me. So I tried on this men's costume, switched out the fabric belt for one of my own, and added some shell necklaces and earrings to round out a Pirates of the Caribbean look.

The Engineer went for this cool Blackbeard costume. I know what you're thinking: where's the BEARD? Astoundingly, the costume comes with a jacket, jabot (in case, like me, you recognize the word jabot but can't remember what it is, it's like a neckerchief or cravat), tricorne hat, belt and boot covers--but NO beard! We would have preferred the beard to either the belt or jabot, but the coat is very nice, don't you think?

Carve a pirate pumpkin! 


Just go here and download this Jolly Roger pumpkin stencil and carving instructions! 


You can also check out this pumpkin carving time-lapse video below for more inspiration:




Host a Pirates of the Caribbean marathon!


The latest movie, On Stranger Tides, is available now on Blu-ray 3D & Blu-ray Hi-Def Combo Pack!

Fool around with some photo effects to capture the mood! Here, I used AppZilla 2 for the iPhone, and Photoshop on my laptop, to give our pirate photos a vintage look.




Finally, take the little swashbucklers out and pillage for your own pirate booty!


We received this pirate costumes to help promote the October 18th release of the Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides  Blu-ray 3D & Blu-Ray Hi-Def Combo Pack!

Howl-O-Lame

Part II: The Happening


We headed through the park from the first Haunted House, talking about how much we enjoyed it, still excited...but as we went, walking through the park, bunching close together as we'd reach the foggiest, darkest sections of the paths, anticipating the thrill of being startled in the dark...nothing happened.

Not a thing. No performers waited in the dark to scare us, no werewolves or zombies, no one.

It wasn't even one of those, "It's quiet--too quiet," nights, because of course we were surrounded by throngs of people, pressing in on us, so that I'd kept looking around, checking to make sure the seven of us stayed together in a group.

Mostly, it was just like a regular day in the Gardens, except for the fog, and that disturbed me, because when I attended HOS before, there were designated scare zones all around the Haunted Houses, and then there were guys in camouflage, and even a Carnival section with Dia de Las Muertas characters. This is right out of my previous (very favorable) review of HOS last year:

The fog effects and creatures walking around scaring you were *fantastic*. You couldn't see the characters until they were right up on you in most cases. The werewolves were are favorites, though the Owl tried to surprise a huge, hulking walking ghost by hiding behind it, figuring it would take a while to turn around--and ended up being startled himself by a scary clown with a chainsaw! I don't want to spoil any of the surprises for you, but they are really good at distracting half your group on one side while someone comes up on the other and scares the rest of you when you aren't expecting it at all!

But now, no chainsaw-wielding clowns or ghosts were to be found.

We passed rides with long lines, saw the Phoenix and made a decision to ride it because at least one of our party had never been on it before. The Phoenix (in case you haven't, either), is a big boat ride, not like an African Queen let's-go-down-the-Amazon boat ride, but a suspended one that swings like a pendulum. We wanted our group member to experience it because he didn't believe the ride actually completed at least one complete 360 revolution, holding you dangling upside-down in your seats.

So we waited in line for the Phoenix, pulled down our over-the-shoulder harnesses and carefully kept our arms out of the way for the waist one, which comes down on its own. The guys in our party told the newbie rider to brace his knees, because apparently once the waist restraint comes down, the pressure on *ahem* certain parts of the male anatomy is intense, and only worse once you hit that complete 360 and are fighting against gravity. Oh, and there is an added "click" which tightens it further when the ride attendants first start the ride, too.

This time, for the first time ever in all the years I have been riding it, the Phoenix swung back and forth, going ever higher, gaining momentum, holding us just barely upside-down at the peak of its swing--with an incredible view of the clouds and the stars beneath us--and then slowed down, the swings declining, until we were once again at the bottom, on the ride platform, and clambering out again.

No complete revolutions! I've never gone on the ride and had it not complete at least one 360 before. A couple of the guys in our group suggested it was because riders were maybe misbehaving, spitting on people or something (I later verified with operations that this ride, in an emergency situation, can be made to swing right down to the bottom to stop, but that "you'd know it if that happened, because it's fast. Like immediate." But, according to her, the ride cannot simply be cut short, just that emergency stop option. So this was, apparently, a fluke?).

We were disappointed, but that was just one thing, right? Well, that and no scary performers anywhere. But we still had a lot of the park to cover.

And then we went to the Haunted House in the Timbuktu theater,  Zombie Mortuary, which we'd been looking forward to, and the line was unbelievable. Up both the ramps to the stage, zigzagging all over the place. We were told by some attendees exiting that the wait was at least an hour and a half, and we had no reason to doubt them based on what we could see.

So we decided to come back around, and hit the HH at the very back of the park first, because we figured the wait times couldn't really get any longer than that. Some people were bound to leave early, right?

So we kept traversing the park--and cool, creepy, scary, startling performers with amazing makeup conspicuously failed to jump out at us from the depths of the darkness or the obscuring clouds of fog.

We deliberately chose the darkest parts of the paths, the roads-less-traveled. Still nothing; other than pretty lights on the bridge to Stanleyville and masses of attendees, we might as well have been walking down any road in the dark. Actually, any other road might have been scarier in the dark.

We rode Kumba, because it was there more than anything, and because the line was shorter than anything else--though normally, when the park is open, there's barely any line at all, so it was actually longer than typically.

Our spirits diminished, but still hopeful, we came to another new haunted house, Nevermore, only to be turned away. Nevermore was closed (no reason for why it was closed, no anticipated wait time. Just, "Come back later," we were told). So we continued on.

The Vampire Casino Haunted House was next, and from what we could see of the line it was long, but at this point we were ready for some fright night, so by accord we joined the queue.

And so we waited--and as we came around the sign and slipped behind it, our spirits raised, thinking we were close. We zigged and we zagged, and kept on zigging and zagging, and as we turned a near 90 degree turn in the line, we realized that what had been visible to us before--what we had mistaken for THE line--was in fact only a very small portion, like the tip of the iceberg visible to the Titanic right before the crash that sunk it.

We were over 45 minutes in line, and damned if we weren't even halfway through this thing already. There was no way to go back--throngs of people waited patiently behind us--and certainly no way to go forward but to continue on. Later, we would see tour groups, with their telltale lighted necklaces, passing us by without a care in the world, enjoying their front-of-the-line privileges. Murmurs in the crowd grew ugly; I heard disgruntled  attendees all around me saying things like (actual quote) "Dude, this sucks, we should have gone to Halloween Horror Nights," and, repeatedly, "I've never seen the lines this long!"

An employee with a galvanized tub full of ice and cold drinks planted herself near the middle of the line. One of our party had a sore throat; all of us were thirsty, so I ponied up for bottled water for all, parched myself. The employee asked me how I was enjoying my night, and so I told her, honestly, that I was disappointed, but that there was nothing she could do about it; I explained the long lines and lack of performers.

She took her time getting me my change and the crowd moved up, taking my group with them, who hollered back to me. As I went up to join them--barely any distance at all, and passing only those people who had already seen me stop to get water--an inebriated guest tried to stop me, sure I was cutting in line. I hurriedly explained the situation, holding up the bottled water, pointing to my group who were waving at me just ahead, and continued on, though he continued to rail at me, proffering some choice expletives at my back. I couldn't blame him for being upset--I would have, too, if I thought someone was trying to cut in line.

Apparently, as others in the line shared with me, at some HH, employees were not just granting front-of-the-line privileges to the VIP and Tour guests, but "their friends" and, allegedly, one entire "group of school kids" (the "kids" might have been in their teens; I have no way of knowing, but HOS is definitely NOT intended for young kids!).

When I reached my group, I went to put my change in my pocket, only to find that the employee who taken so much time with it had over-charged me for every bottle of water, $3 instead of 2.50, while asking me why I was not enjoying my night.

Whatever. It was only a few dollars, right? But I was getting annoyed. And I had about 45 minutes to wait.

So I pulled out my iPhone and went to the HOS mobile site, trying to find wait times, contact info, someone I could call to find out why HOS was going to hell in a handbasket this year.

There's no contact info on the mobile HOS site, and the Busch Gardens one had only a form to submit which didn't render right on the iPhone, even if I could have typed well in the sized-down-for-the-phone textbox.

So, still with plenty of time to kill, I Googled until I found some phone numbers. Two turned out to be only-open-during-bankers'-hours useless. The third got me through to a real-life person who had no authority and didn't know what to do but did tell me that there were updated phone numbers and gave me two more. One of those was disconnected. The other was a voicemail.

Right, I said to myself, that's it, I'm going to talk to Guest Relations in person before we leave tonight.

Finally, after an hour and 28 minutes (I know because I checked my phone when we got in line, and I also put my timer on once we got halfway in, since, again, I had all that time to spare while I was waiting), we reached the entrance to Vampire Casino, where a performer at the door was doing a comedy skit in character. I didn't hear much of it, though, because there was so many people going in that he would get drowned out, and besides after waiting all that time no one spared an extra moment to engage with him, which took away from his schtick.

I have to say that I was not in the most receptive mood for the HH by this point. The Owl's girlfriend was worried she might get really scared (she didn't), so I placed myself in the middle of the group in front of the two of them (nothing scares the Owl. It's almost eerie).

So it was probably my annoyance that had me muttering, when the 'bartender' in not-at-all scary chalky white makeup thrust her face into mine,"Oh, don't even."

She took one look at my less-than-impressed face and turned away, murmuring, "Huh, you must have kids..."

And I had to smile.

This HH, the one we had waited in line for an hour and a half to get get into, was honestly very meh. It wasn't as good as the first one we went in, and it would have had to be much better to impress us at this point. Plus, although lots of characters tried to scare us, their preferred method was just popping out and yelling "HA!". I remember just once thinking, "Hmm, I didn't expect that one." I don't remember being scared even once.

90 minutes for a less than 10 minutes experience does not a happy group make. I think the Owl's girlfriend was the only one not miserable at this point, because she wasn't going to have nightmares when she went to sleep. The rest of us just felt we had spent half our night in line so far-- and seen only two haunted houses, rode only two rides.

We trudged on, and reached Gwazi, where half the party decided to give just one more ride a try. The rest of us, me included, sat down on a bench (Gwazi is a wooden roller-coaster that has a known bumpiness issue that leaves some of us with headaches afterward).

Now, at last, after more than four hours since we had seen some of the front of the park, we found entertainers in costume.

No one had shown up to entertain the crowds during the interminable lines. None in Timbuktu, Stanleyville, Congo or Nairobi. None, the full length of the park from just right of the Moroccan Village entrance area at around 7:30 until now, when we reached Gwazi, which is just to the left of the Moroccan Village, at 11:26.

Four hours with nothing.

But now, finally, at Gwazi we saw werewolves, scaring guests and posing with them, a zombie with a walker (scary makeup, although this zombie made no attempt to surprise or scare anyone), and a zombie groom who actually seemed enthusiastic about his job and had some talent at it. He snuck up on the people sitting at the caricature stands, alarmed others on the benches, and completely freaked out a number of unsuspecting people strolling along the path. Some of the Werewolves, howling, took off in a group, while a few remained behind. One even used our group as cover once our friends came out and we started talking about what to do, standing with us and nodding his head, his back turned to the crowds on the walkway, until he saw a likely target to scare.

We waited 50 minutes, all told, for our friends to get out of Gwazi, so we had plenty of time to observe the guests and entertainers (and for me to take notes). I think, if we'd seen more of this kind of stuff anywhere else in the park, we'd have had a better night in spite of the lines and not getting in most of the Haunted Houses.

But, of course, we didn't.

So, at just about midnight, half of our group, including me, decided we'd had enough, and would take that first car home.

After I had a little talk with the folks in Guest Relations.

Next in the series: Part III: The Reckoning

Howl-O-Frustration, Scream of Despair. A Farce in Three Parts.

This, as promised, is the most critical review I have ever written. Thank you for your patience; I know it is late in coming. In the interest of covering all the bases to figure out what the hell went so wrong, I spent the last several days on the phone playing phone tag, doing research on the internet, and venting to my family while trying to reach a resolution of some kind, even if it is less than ideal. You'll see what I mean soon.

So it's also a long review. I'm splitting the posts into parts to spare your weary eyes and also to retain my sanity while rehashing all the crap I went through during this debacle and have had to wade through in the days since, so this is the Part the First, which basically sets up all the afore-mentioned crap. We don't really wade in it until the next installment.

I also just received my review copy of Skylanders: Spyro's Adventures, and I'll be announcing our giveaway winners in-between these posts, so those folks won't be kept waiting in suspense. 

And I (truly, honestly!), have some short, positive reviews coming up soon. Promise.

By the time this whole thing is done, hell, who knows, I might have to resort to posting rainbows, unicorns and kittens for a while just to reach blog equilibrium.

Thanks for your support,

~Viv

Part I: It Begins

Last weekend, on Saturday, October 22nd, I took a van loaded with excited teenagers across the state to attend Howl-O-Scream. I was on my own; The Engineer was away globe-trotting for two weeks to exciting places like Kuala Lampur and Bangalore, doing thrilling things like flying for 24 hours straight into a 12-hour time difference and falling, exhausted, into a hotel bed every night after working 11 hour days! I had decided, after very little internal debate, not to join him on that adventure.

To those of you wondering just how much of a masochist I am, juggling everything on my own with the 16 year-old Rhino for two weeks (during soccer tryouts! While on medication!) and then choosing to add to the stress by chauffeuring an entire group of teens across the state on a beautiful Saturday afternoon--these are all great guys, and honestly it's no trouble.

Friends of our sons, they're cool, smart kids, and if I could adopt them all, I would, because they are already our second family anyway. But  their parents, who are also good people, would object to that, so we just do stuff like have movie nights, sleepovers and outings like these instead.

So! Four of us tumbled into the van and headed for Tampa, about a 2 1/2 hour drive. Once there, we'd pick up The Owl, his girlfriend and his best friend at USF (go Bulls!), and divide up into two different vehicles (because some of us might not last the whole night and want to leave early, and once you leave Howl-O-Scream, there is no re-entry).

How did we choose Howl-O-Scream? Halloween Horror Nights, at Universal, is actually closer, by a good hour, to where we live. The Engineer and I had been to both Busch Garden's Howl-O-Scream and Universal's Halloween Horror Nights before.

We liked HOS better. In past experiences, the Haunted Houses were just as good as HHN and the lines were not too long (about 30-45 minutes each), there were roaming performers all over the place (not just in scare zones), some of them wearing ghilie suits or shrouded in simulated fog that hid them completely until they jumped out and scared you. As an added bonus, the rides were open, too. We'd taken the Rhino and the Owl to HOS last year and we all enjoyed it.

In fact, we grew up, the Engineer and I, only a few miles from Busch Gardens, and we both had strong ties to the park, especially me. We had both worked there as teens, as had our siblings. The Engineer worked on the now defunct boat ride during the summer season, and I worked in the games area in Timbuktu, smiling and sweating and handing out big stuffed animals. I chose to stay on and continue working after the season while I attended USF like the Owl is now. My Mom, a skilled Administrative Assistant, also spent years working in the zoo department for the Busch Gardens veterinarian.

But this was all back when the park was owned by Busch Entertainment Corporation, a subsidiary of Anheuser Busch. Back then there was a working brewery at the park, and if you were legal you could stop by the Hospitality House for a few free samples of their beer. Today, the park is owned by Sea World Parks & Entertainment, which is in turn owned by the Blackstone Group.

If you aren't familiar with the Blackstone Group (which I wasn't, before I looked them up), they are an investment firm whose CEO is Steven Schwarzman, a name you might know.

Remember him? He's the guy who, as reported by the New York Times, "referred to President Obama’s plans to raise taxes on the private equity industry in the following manner: “It’s war. It’s like when Hitler invaded Poland in 1939.” Mr. Schwarzman did not explain how the genocide of 3 million Polish Jews was comparable to large companies having to pay higher taxes."

So, yeah, BG has changed quite a bit since Blackstone took over. More on that later.

HOS is held on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from late September until the weekend before Halloween. Thursdays, HOS goes until 1:00 in the morning, Friday and Saturday nights it lasts until 2:00 am.

And HOS costs--well, that depends. The price for you to attend HOS for could range anywhere from $24.99 all the way to $179.99. For one night.

For instance, on Thursdays, you can buy a four-pack (online and advance purchase only) and attend for only 24.99 each. This is a great option for starving college students, or anyone on a budget, if you live in Tampa. You can also get promo codes from local businesses if you live in Tampa, to bring the price down. Naturally, you pay more for front-of-the-line access, VIP tours, and private tours. You pay less than full (or promo, or passholder) price per night if you go for the whole weekend, BUT more than the Thursday night package rate. More for Fright Feast. Less if you buy tickets online in advance. I'm not sure how they came up with all these pricing packages; figuring it out is like playing a game of Fizbin.

Why, for example, are advance ticket purchases less when there are no limits on attendance and no HOS benefit to having your tickets ahead of time?

Anyway! When you buy the basic HOS admission ticket (77.99 at the gate, 52.99 advanced online purchase! 42.99 with the promo codes! 32.99 with passholder discount!), HOS begins at 7:30 pm.

This is important because, although an HOS ticket says you can use it to get into the park at 5:00, the early admission is not actually valid for any HOS stuff. While you can get in line for the regular Busch Gardens attractions and rides, none of the Haunted Houses are available until you hit that 7:30 mark.

Even with the premium packages that give you front-of-the-line access, you can't get into the Haunted Houses early. The ONLY option for getting into any of the Haunted Houses before 7:30 is the Fright Feast (add $25 onto your purchase price! Add $22.50 if you are a pass holder!) dinner option, and even then you only get a half-hour head start into them.

So HOS  lasts from 7:30 until 2:00 on Saturdays, when we went. That will be important later. We all had basic tickets (with the passholder discount! bought in advance online!).

Our group left USF in its little two-car convey in plenty of time to get to HOS before 7:30, which is a good thing, because although BG is less than 3 miles away from USF, we waited in twenty minutes of traffic just to get into the park. That was no one's fault, of course, although, as it was the 2nd to last weekend of HOS, I'm surprised there were no police directing traffic. We were excited and in high spirits as we drove in...and in...and in, to park in an Adventure Island remote parking lot (1.4 miles away from Busch Gardens).

Which astonished me. Here HOS was just starting, and we were parked waaaaaaay far away. I've never parked that far away, even attending BG all day, even on their most crowded days. When I worked there, they had remote parking lots, for when crowds were highest, like 4th of July weekend. But even then it was common knowledge that the park capacity for safety was, if I remember correctly, ~23,000(?), and the park wouldn't let anyone else in if they reached that level of attendance, for fire safety reasons, so that's as far away as it got.* Busch Gardens has added rides since then, of course, but not much acreage to the park, so I was amazed they were expecting this many people just for tonight's HOS.

After all, we'd chosen this Saturday deliberately. Most locals and college students went on Thursdays because it cost less. We couldn't go on Thursday, because the kids had school the next day. We couldn't go Friday, because leaving after school would have gotten us there too late for the start of HOS. So that left Saturdays, and since USF was having its homecoming game this weekend, we figured that would draw people away from HOS this Saturday. Where were all these crowds coming from?

The line for a tram was long (walking would make us late to get into the park, and we'd also gotten separated in traffic and didn't want to take off walking before the rest of the group caught up to us). It went quickly in the beginning, as several trams were running and lined up waiting for us, but then the line would stop, because each tram had a long way to go, and they hadn't staggered their departures. So between the traffic and the parking situation, our reunited group of seven ended up on two different trams anyway.

We meandered through several parking lots and across various roads to the park. In the last parking lot before we got off the tram, as we waited for those ahead of us to clear out, 'zombies' attempted to push through barriers to get to us, which helped set the mood for the night.

Our party met up again just inside the entrance to Busch Gardens (Cell phones are a MUST for coordinating at times like these), excited to (finally!) head off and experience Howl-O-Scream for ourselves.

NightShade Toy Company 

When we got inside, it was wall-to-wall people already, carrying us along in a river of bodies past zombies and set pieces--we saw one wall where bushes were creatively co-mingled with a hidden zombie covered in foliage--until we got to a bottleneck in front of the Nightshade Toy Company. Since we'd seen it last year and the line was long already, which we put down to it being close to the entrance of the park, we headed to the next house to begin our night of horrors.

At this point, we are still in great humor, and we even saw some zombies as we passed the building that will be holding the ice show by the front of the park.

Death Row Vengeance

The line for the next HH was long, too, but as we hadn't been in Death Row Zone (though it was a repeat house, too), we got in, figuring it must be good with all those people waiting already. We waited about 45 minutes or so, and it actually was a great haunted house, with a novel ending that scared us more than anything that had come before it.

And that's when things took a decided turn for the worse.

And this is where I stop, as it is 7 PM already!

*Note: All of the park officials I spoke to told me that it is now policy not to release what the capacity of the park is at all, or to release how many attendees are present during the day, or on any given night of HOS, although they do track all of them by the bar codes on their tickets. I was assured that if they had reached park capacity for HOS that night, the park would have closed down, though I was also told that procedures for doing so were proprietary information that they would not disclose, either. 

Halloween is Creeping Up On You!

Halloween is only 10 days away! That means you don't have much time left to scare up those fall decorations and work your magic with the kids' costumes, and what about snack time?

Grab yourself some Pringles (they've got Pringles Grab & Go, Pringles Snack Stacks and Pringles Sticks for fast portable snacking), and if you haven't had a chance until now, be sure to try some of their eerily familiar flavors--how do they make potato chips taste like pizza and dill pickles?!

And if you've got a little more time on your hands, you can always whip up something a little more substantial, like these fun salty-sweet Halloween treats (no tricks, promise!).

Pringles Ghoulish Brownies

INGREDIENTS:

6 ounces baking chocolate, unsweetened

3/4 cup unsalted butter or margarine

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

3/4 cup flour

1-6.41 ounce can of Pringles Original or 1-5.71 ounce can of Reduced Fat Pringles Original

1 cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

Orange and black frosting (optional)

Edible decorations, such as sprinkles and candy corn (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 F

2.  Line 13x9-inch baking pan with foil, and spray foil with cooking spray.

3.  In a glass bowl, microwave chocolate & butter on high for 2 minutes.Stir until chocolate melts. 

4.  In a stainless steel bowl, mix sugar, eggs, and vanilla until well mixed. 

5.  Pour in butter chocolate mixture and mix well.

6.  Empty Pringles and flour into a food processor, and puree until very fine. 

7.  Empty flour mixture into chocolate mixture and mix well; add nuts to distribute.   

8.  Bake for 30 minutes, and cool.

OPTIONAL DECORATION DIRECTIONS:

1.  Before pouring Pringles into food processer, reserve 3-5 crisps and set aside.

2.  While brownies cool, gently break Pringles crisps in half and decorate with frosting gel.

3.  Top brownies and frosting and place crisp “gravestones” in brownies along with other edible                       

          decorations to create a fun and playful graveyard scene.

My Favorite Giveaways Around the Web!

Laptops and Tablets and Phones, Oh My!

Dolby Lounge is giving away Dolby-enhanced prizes like Lenovo laptops, Acer tablets, and LG phones in a Facebook/Twitter contest that ends Friday!  With each entry comes a free download of "12 Dubset DJ mixes", too. I have no idea what that is, but if I were a cool kid, I bet I'd know. ; )

To enter, either  go to http://twitter.com/dolbylounge and follow, then tweet out the answer to the question “How do you Surround Yourself?” with the hashtag “#dolbylounge” 

OR follow these instructions to enter on Facebook.

Contest Rules Ends on Friday.

Fun-da-Middle Fundamentals Gift Pack!

This is a really cute giveaway: a cupcake-making set for those cupcakes with a creamy filling inside!

It's on a blog called Having Fun Saving, and here's what you can win:

• One sample of new Betty Crocker Fun da-middles cupcake mix
• One cupcake pan
• One oven mitt
• One package of cupcake liners
• One box of cupcake gift notes

Just comment for initial entry, and there's instructions on what to do to get s'more!


Ends today, so you had better hurry if you want to enter!

Scare Up a Box of Delicious Cookies for Halloween!

Over at a blog I just discovered called the ReviewWire (which really needs a more eye-catching header IMHO), they're giving away a box of Smiley's Halloween Cookies! 

To enter, you'll need to check out the Smiley's Cookies website and comment on the giveaway with your favorite Smiley's Cookies. Additional entry methods are also available.

[ Note: Why do delicious cookie places not ask me to host a giveaway? I have the One Sweet Tooth to Rule Them All.  Smiley's, I'm looking at you. Hook me up.]


Also ends today!

Spookamole Recipe Contest

Avocados are good for you, and I know I don't eat enough. Let's be honest: unless it looks and tastes good, I'm not likely to change, either. This recipe contest asked for creative recipes with avocados, and since I love Halloween, I was delighted to see some recipes for items I would actually serve and eat myself! Voting is open to the public, and I didn't have to register to vote (I liked the Witch's Fingers). Check it out and vote for your favorite recipe to win!

Voting ends on October 16th.

Dove Chocolate Discoveries Home Starter Kit

Okay, this contest is unique.

You can win a "starter kit" of Dove Chocolate Discoveries, worth about $159, AND what makes this really different is that Dove Chocolate Discoveries is one of those businesses where you go and demonstrate the products in parties hosted in other people's homes.

Now, I don't know anything else about the business side than that. But I do know that Dove makes some awesome chocolate! 


Plus, If you don't want to start a business, there's a lot in this kit for any chocoholic would really enjoy. 

I personally actually have some experience in this home party stuff. I used to be a Partylite consultant, which I really enjoyed doing. Even though I was one of their best saleswomen in my first few weeks in the company, I found I didn't make all that much money doing it. You could get their starter kit free by signing up enough people to host parties with you as the consultant. I did that with the help of my wonderful friends,  but you also have other expenses that come out of your own pocket. 


Sometimes your mentor could help with the forms and materials, and I had a really nice mentor, but she decided to stop mentoring(!) and kinda left me in the lurch. And I couldn't even get mad at her because she went into the ministry for her church! Yes, really.

So why, you may be asking yourself, if I didn't make a lot of money and all that happened, did I enjoy doing it? 

Because I was a SAHM, and working as a Partylite consultant let me get out of the house a few times a month while my spouse watched the kids! I met a lot of people, I enjoyed demonstrating, and my husband and I really liked their candles, (I don't think I could be in sales if I had to sell something I didn't like; I just don't have it in me). So even though it wasn't that profitable for me, I know my Phone Phobia kept me from calling "leads" like I should have, and I probably could have made more money if I did more of that. Also, some people really did make money. 

Most importantly, I had fun doing it! So I consider the whole experience a plus. Since this contest reminded me of all that, I am including it here.

So If you love chocolate, or if you are maybe looking for a little side business or a way to get out of the house, you can enter the contest here 

This one ends on Friday.


Note: It looks like the contest is part of a Mom Central campaign. I've done some blog tours for them, but I am NOT part of this one and I don't have any affiliation with Dove Discoveries AT ALL, or any of the other contests mentioned above.


Now, have you entered OUR Real Steel and HandVibes giveaways?

1, 2, 3. Three Pancakes! Ah ah ah

IHOP will serve up ‘no tricks – just treats’ this October, featuring a month-long celebration with pumpkin pancakes as well as All-You-Can-Eat Buttermilk pancakes, culminating in a free Scary Face Pancake giveaway for kids 12 and under on Friday, October 28 from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. (one per child).

Additionally, parents can sign up all month long on ihop.com for a wake-up call from Count Spatula with a friendly and fun reminder about the free Scary Face Pancake giveaway. 

Who is Count Spatula? I'm so glad you asked!

Count Spatula was the winning name chosen from more than 1,000 entries to the “name-the-Scary-Face-Pancake” contest last October.  The Count Spatula Scary Face Pancake is an oversized signature buttermilk pancake with a whipped topping mouth and strawberry nose, served with two mini OREO® cookies and candy corn on the side to allow kids to create their own Halloween hotcake.  It will be offered throughout October and, like all IHOP Kids menu items, is less than 600 calories. On October 28, kids will be treated to a FREE Count Spatula Scary Face Pancake as an early Halloween treat. 

Also available from October 3rd through Halloween, IHOP's Pumpkin Pancakes, made with real pumpkin and spices and topped with a creamy whipped topping and All-You-Can-Eat Buttermilk Pancakes,* a la carte or in a combo (which starts at $4.99).   

For more information or to find an IHOP restaurant near you, please visit www.ihop.com. Prices may vary by location.

*All-You-Can-Eat Pancakes are served three at a time until guests are satisfied (or so full they can't get up from the table!).

Haunting House

Martha Stewart Living's licorice Haunted House from their October issue is certainly fun to look at--but what's really cool is that, if you have their app on your iPad, it's also animated!

I don't have their app on my iPad. :(

And some of you, I know, don't have an iPad. :(

 But that's okay! Because the video is below.

I'm told it took 8 hours and over 221 photos to create the animation.

 Happy October!

Farm Rich for Healthier Halloween Entertaining

I love this time of year! Not only does Halloween bring out that dormant creative part of me that wants to decorate the house and throw a party, but the weather turns cooler and I can actually start using my oven to make delicious hot food without melting in the Florida sun.

Which is great, because when we do throw a party, the kids spend most of the time out on the screened porch, enjoying the cooler weather.

We're finally in for a cold snap this weekend, and I'm starting to think about what to serve the teens for our annual Halloween party, followed right up by the November poker tournament, which we are hosting this year.

For party food, I really on fast and easy. Which usually, let's face it, means less than healthy choices.

But Farm Rich has come to my rescue in the past, with traditional party favorites like their mozzarella sticks, pictured to the left. They're baked, not fried, and ready in just 15 minutes. All you have to do is pop them in the oven.

And I'm looking to Farm Rich for more mouthwatering goodies this season. Their "fall lineup" (which is actually available all year round) includes paninis, quesadillas, mozzarella bites, meatballs and pizza slices.

So, than stuffing the kids full of yet more sugary treats, I'll be serving their favorites, featuring all-natural ingredients and zero grams of trans fat.

Which, incidentally, are also a big hit with the poker crowd.

Farm Rich sent me some coupons for their delicious products so that I could get them free and try them out. Currently, those coupons are crumpled up in the bottom of my purse, still waiting to be used, as my freezer was already full of Farm Rich mozzarella sticks and quesadillas.

In a Halloween Mood? I'm Haunted

Looking for a little Hallowen inspiration?

Make it:
Reader's Digest 20 Homemade Costumes for Kids

Bake it:
Monster Cupcakes

Wear it:
Halloween T-shirts (and other great designs)

And Hear it!


Thanks to my Twitter friend, @lauralovesart, for this Poe clip of "Haunted"! I'm loving it.

More Halloween posts are coming up soon on Cool Moms Rule!, including giveaways! Stay tuned.

Welcome to Fright Night!

Happy
Halloween!

Your Guide to Everything Halloween: What's On the Menu?

Adult Only Get-Togethers

Try the Dracula's Kiss (pictured) for your Halloween cocktail party.

Midori (melon liqueur) is perfect for glow-in-the-dark cocktails like the Squashed Frog.

And, of course, there's always the classic Zombie, or its more feminine counterpart, the Voodoo Queen.


For Everyone

Speaking of Voodoo Queens, for Halloween Recipes you just can't beat Britta, the self-proclaimed Webmistress of the Dark.

My favorite recipe on her page, though I have yet to try it for fear of messing it up because her pictures are just so gorgeous, is the one for her Eerie Eyeballs. Please, if you try this recipe, let me know how it turns out! Is it as "easy" as she says?

Well, if that one's tough, there's no worries with the next recipe. I can vouch for it personally, as I make it every year for our Halloween gatherings with my favorite Pillsbury crescent rolls: Crescent Mummy Dogs (pictured, left).

Archie McPhee's, as well as some science shops and education supply stores, have inexpensive brain molds like the one used in the picture here. Use the brain mold for red jello, or ice for a cooler or punch (both very easy), or try something more complicated and serve up your own unique brain dish surrounded by a red sauce or jelly for impressive results.

By the way,under the brain picture in that last link are some excellent examples of Finger Cookies, which I have also heard referred to as "Witch's Fingers". if you skim down the page a way you'll find the recipe; to save you time I'll paste it here:

"Finger" Cookies
makes ~ 5 dozen
Yield: 5 dozen

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 egg
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla
2 2/3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup whole blanched almonds
raspberry jelly

In bowl, beat together butter, sugar, egg, almond extract and vanilla. Stir dry ingredients together, then add to wet and stir thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes.



Working with one quarter of the dough at a time and keeping remainder refrigerated, roll a scant tablespoon full (I used a 1 oz. cookie scoop) of dough into a thin log shape about 4" long for each cookie. Squeeze clost to center and close to one end to create knuckle shapes. Press almond firmly into the end of the cookie for nail. Using paring knife, make slashes in several places to form knuckle. You want them a bit thin and gangly looking, since they'll puff a little when you bake them.

Place on lightly greased baking sheets (or use silicone sheets or parchment); bake in 325F oven for 20-25 minutes or until pale golden. Let cool for a few minutes.

Meanwhile, melt jelly over low heat in a small saucepan.



Carefully lift almond off of each finger, spoon a tiny amount of jelly onto nail bed and press almond back in place so the jelly oozes out from underneath. You can also make slashes in the finger and fill them with "blood".

You can also form toes - just make the cookies shorter and a bit wider and only add one joint instead of two. No almonds for these, just indent where the nailbed should be and add a bit of melted jelly to highlight once they are baked.

Note from Viv: You can also use store-bought frozen cookie dough for the Finger Cookies, and then follow the directions above for rolling and assembling them.

Your Guide to Everything Halloween: Music Sets the Mood

Whether you're having a Halloween party or just handing out candy to Trick or Treaters on Halloween night, nothing helps to get you in the mood better than a little spooky music!

Here are my picks for the best Halloween music!

You can create your own list on Playlist.com, or browse through other playlists for inspiration!

Follow the Halloween Haunting!

Kimba over at a Soft Place to Land has created a Mr. Linky list with some great Halloween blog posts you'll want to check out! If you have a blog and are writing Halloween posts, you can link there, too.

Don't forget to follow the links back to Cool Moms Rule! We'll be having lots more Halloween posts for you all to enjoy, including: more home-made decorations for the big night, the best Halloween deals, quick and easy costumes, party foods, favor bags (and what to put in them), and a look inside our own Haunted House!

~Viv

Your Guide to Everything Halloween! Part I: Hand-Crafted Decorations

This year, for Halloween, I made some of our decorations. I try to do that every year, so I thought I would share some of my tips with all of you for making your own decorations for the Halloween season.

Tombstones

The best way to make tombstones that look like the real thing? Cheat. No, I'm not kidding! Here's what I've done in previous years: bought styrofoam tombstones from Walmart or Target the day after Halloween. They're marked down and they look great!

This year, I took some professionally-made styrofoam tombstones and personalized them for my kids.

I flipped the tombstones over and used a Sharpie marker to write my own "epitaphs". You can also use a carving tool to make the letters look etched into the "stone". What's great is I can use the tombstones either way, with the cool professional R.I.P showing, or the personalized side I created. My oldest likes very simple, classic graphic design. He dresses all in black, though he would insist he is more "metal" than goth. Whatever. My youngest is all about the video games these days. I used their interests to create their tombstones. To experiment with what you'd like to write on a tombstone and how it looks, try the fun, interactive online Tombstone Generator. Here' one of the original tombstones, on the left, followed by the ones I made.

Carving Your Jack O' Lanterns

Each year, I come up with some sketches for Jack O' Lanterns, make them into patterns, and the Engineer carves them into pumpkins.

The way I make them into patterns is simple and probably not the best; I simply draw them in black ink or charcoal, and the dark spaces become the hollowed-out sections of the pumpkins.

This year, I wanted to do something different, for a few reasons: the Engineer is pressed on time (always!) because of his work schedule, and pumpkins don't last. To put it bluntly, pumpkins rot too quickly down here in the Southern heat. Plus, let's face it, although the finished work gives you a wonderful sense of achievement, carving pumpkins is not really "fun." It's messy and goopy and it's hard work. And if you have to rush and carve them the night before Halloween, or the night before your Halloween party, it just gets stressful.


So, this year, I did two things differently: I worked from templates and artwork available online, and I used Funkin carvable craft pumpkins, so our work would last from year to year. Incidentally, I think Funkins are a great idea, but they aren't cheap. I highly recommend Jo-Ann's Craft Stores, who have Funkins on sale through this Saturday for half-price!

This year, my Halloween party's theme is very dark and gothic, with lots of skulls. I thought a skull pumpkin could work for just about any Halloween, so I went with that theme for my Jack O 'Lantern.

I saw a fantastic carved pumpkin on Skull A Day, very three-dimensional, but I felt it was beyond my limitations (remember, the Engineer usually carves them!). However, the author of the site had a great acrylic work he'd done, and I thought that could be altered slightly to make a template for my pumpkin.

I enlarged it to 125% on the printer, and whited out some of the black area so that there wouldn't be a big hole completely around the skull, just mostly. I figured that would be more structurally sound. Then I cut into the edges of the template on angles, to make it fit the pumpkin better, and I taped it on with masking tape.



I used store-bought pumpkin carving tools, and got to work! I really recommend buying the specialty tools like the pumpkin saw. I actually found a better one that I had purchased a year ago once I was all done carving the pumpkin. Did I mention that the Engineer usually carves them? Yeah. Well, my carving didn't go so well. At one point, thought I tried to follow the template, I ended up joining two holes together! : P

So, anyway, I went free-form after using the template, and made my own unique skull, and it looks a little better. It's still not exactly what I had in mind, so I will probably try again. The pic on the right show the skull jack o' lantern I made, and here's what it looks like when it is lit up.



While trying to find the perfect pattern for my own Jack O' Lantern, I scanned through literally hundreds of sites and images. There's some great patterns out there! Here are my favorite links!

Kid-friendly Jack O'Lanterns!

Here's where to find the best free kid-friendly templates for carving your own pumpkin (or Funkin craft pumpkin).

Hershey's Pumpkin Carving Patterns

Hershey's Halloween site has something for everyone, including patterns for beginner, intermediate or advanced carvers.

DLTK Holidays

Among the traditional pumpkin patterns on this page, you will find Blue's Clues, Thomas the Tank Engine, Scooby Doo and Spongebob carving templates.

Oh No! Pumpkin

Are you a fan of the "Home Alone" movies? This is the template for you! To make it even more personal, trace around your own child's hands, add to the surprised face!

Here's a cute Goodnight, Moon Pumpkin Pattern for fans of the classic children's book.

Totem Pole Halloween Pumpkins

Based on authentic totem poles, these patterns are different from any you've ever seen--except the next ones on our list! Try stacking smaller carved totem pumpkins on top of each other to create your own pumpkin totem pole!

These WWF Patterns Win the Prize for Most Original!

Gorilla, Polar Bear or Rhino? These beautiful patterns from HP and the World Wildlife Foundation will satisfy every animal lover.