Trick-Or-Treat -- Maybe The Ghouls, Ghosts and Goblins can scare away my OCD on Halloween night!

Brrrrr I can feel the chill in the air this morning! Still, Autumn is my favourite season and October is my favourite month. I don't mind the cold weather and at the moment I still keep the bedroom window opened just a tiny bit to let the chilly air through into the bedroom, all day and night. I love the weather here in Scotland, despite all of the rain, I just have a collection of umbrellas! You are an idiot to leave the house without one tucked in your bag because it is likely to start raining while your out even if there is not a rain cloud in sight, in Scotland they are all rain clouds and they will catch you out when you least expect it!

So, today I did manage a task and I am feeling quite proud of myself!

I braved the hall closet out in the communal hallway of our flat. Thankfully the students that are across the hall don't use it and for what we keep in there comes down to three plastic storage containers, Archie's cat carrier, the fan we use in the summer (very rarely) and some paint trays. So you might wonder what is so bad about going out into the hall closet? Well, it is full of spiders. SPIDERS!! EEEEEKKK I would never kill one but I am more than frightened of them. I would go as far as saying a phobia. I will cry, I will scream, I will jump on top of furniture and scream for help as if death is trying to touch me. Oh I hate them so much, especially when they look like they are running on all 8 creepily thin legs towards me.

I did get in there as I constantly looked around and up and watching everywhere I moved and everything I touched and typical sods law the box I wanted to take out was at the bottom of the pile and if that wasn't so bad it had a trail of spider webs surrounding it. I did get it out but without lifting it. Thankfully none of the neighbors were in the hallway, being on the ground floor it is unavoidable to avoid them when they walk through the door. So, as I am pushing this container across the floor, squeamish and washing my hands and arms isn't something that can take away the feeling of spiders. Well, I got it in the flat and if it wasn't for avoidance I would have just taken what I wanted out of it in the hallway without dragging it through my doorway.

The end result. Halloween decorations! Ahhh I love Halloween!! It is right up there with Christmas in my books! Halloween isn't celebrated over here like it is back where I grew up. I have never seen a house decorated here, not even a pumpkin on the doorstep. I miss looking out the window and seeing the swarms of children walking down the street in groups trick or treating and waiting for the door bell so I can hand out candy to the kids who always end with a 'THANK YOU!' and seeing all of the costumes, especially the ones who make such a unique and fantastic effort! I miss seeing the houses so extravagantly decorated with the lights, the music, the man made graveyard with limbs poking out of the ground, the carved pumpkins with the elaborate designs and the simple faces, even the ones with the pumpkin 'guts' spewing out. You have to love it all. I never thought that a country could be so lame with the lack of Halloween celebrations but here in the UK they lack the enthusiasm in celebrating the night of ghouls, ghosts and goblins!

Every year that I have been in the UK I celebrate Halloween but I don't buy candy because we wont get anyone knocking at our door. I still lay out the newspaper on the floor with a pumpkin for my husband and one for myself to carve. We light them and set them out on our doorstep during the nights before and on Halloween night we light candles all around our living room, bring out all of the Halloween candy and spend the night watching cheesy horror movies.

It may not be the same as what I grew up with in Canada and maybe before my lifetime is over the Scots will soon learn how to celebrate this night in style, whether they learn to or not it won't change how I celebrate it now. All the same except for the lack of trick-or-treat-ers, and without them I have a new Halloween tradition with my husband and we also have time for an extra two cheesy horror movies that night.


I feel like I need more decorations! I won't be buying the pumpkins until a few days before Halloween, besides, they may look out of place with the fuchsias in bloom on the patio.

At least this pumpkin is safe from the carving knife!

Even the fake spiders creep me out!

Easy to do - I just melted a red candle
( Smells like cinnamon too yum!) over the white and
let it run down the candle --Thank you Martha Stewart!

Even the family joins in the fun

Archie is even joining in the fun - So as long as he puts
his toys away when hes finished with them.