Halloween has come so fast this month, if only I had a few more weeks to prepare. This year seems alot more busy in comparsion to previous years. The yard haunt gets more elaborate, more props, more ideas, more fine tuning. This year, I decided to get most of the basic yard elements done, and put out the “stuff I don’t want to get stolen” out on Halloween day. I decided to take my time this year, slowly put out decorations and be able to enjoy the month. This is my favorite season of the whole year, I am going to savor it by making cookies, drinking cider, carving pumpkins and decorating at a slower pace.

Now for some news around the globe on Halloween. Apparantly Jon and Kate are going to be “Popular” pumpkin carvings this year, HA! I highly doubt that! TV land is doing a “Roseannes Wicked Halloween Bash,” be sure to tune in. The huge nightmare of the “balloon boy” is going to become a last minute Halloween costume, I have no comment on that. In Los Angeles, apparantly there is some people dressing up as “Illegal Aliens” with emphasis on it being a “Alien” costume, it says “Illegal Alien” on the front of the costume. I guess it upset some real illegal immigrants. The body of a 75 year old man body was found on a balcony, it was there for several days because people thought it was a “Halloween Prop.” Poor guy! According to a poll from rismedia, four in ten adults have admitted they keep treats for themselves on purpose and not give it all to the trick-or-treators. 30% also said they keep a handful for themselves!

The Complete Zombie Preparedness Guide: 10 Essential Online Resources

Are you ready for the zombie apocalypse? For a neighborhood overrun by unfeeling monsters with an insatiable appetite for human flesh; undead cannibals which can only be killed by destroying their brains? If you’re like us, then you’re probably convinced that it’s not a matter of if the zombies are coming—it’s just a matter of when. To help you get ready, here’s our 10 essential online guides for zombie preparedness.

1. Zombie Preparedness Initiative – This site is run by a group of concerned citizens preparing for the impending zombie invasion. Essential feature: The forum where you can discuss everything from preferred weapons to choosing the ideal “fallout” location.
2. Zombie Survival and Defense – An online community for zombie theorists, survivalists and fans to share their survival plans and experiences. Because when the zombies rise, sticking together will be crucial.
3. Mathematical Model for Surviving a Zombie Attack – The mathematics of a hypothetical zombie attack and how to survive it. The key to survival: “hit hard and hit often.”
4. The Undead Report – This site has all you need to know about the undead and how to survive a zombie outbreak. There are sections on targets, survival gear and more.
5. Zombie Survival – A font of practical zombie survival information, with resources, FAQ’s and a forum. As the site says, “There are two types of people in the world, those with a Zombie invasion plan, and Dinner.”
6. Zombie Research Society – The Zombie Research Society believes “what you don’t know can eat you” and that enthusiastic debate about zombies is essential to the human race’s survival.
7. How to Survive a Zombie Attack – This Ehow.com article explains how to survive a zombie attack in 10 easy-to-follow tips. Perfect if you’re actually being chased by zombies and only have a short amount of time for reading.
8. Surviving a Zombie Attack: A Guide for Dummies – Even if your brain can’t handle long division, that doesn’t mean zombies don’t want to eat it! This guide explains to the dumber-among-us just what a zombie is, evasion strategies, how to kill a zombie and even long term survival goals.
9. Zombie Squad – The Zombie Squad provides trained zombie extermination professionals and zombie survival consultants. Their goal is to educate the public on how to respond to zombie-related disasters of all kinds.
10. World War Z - An oral history of the Zombie War, including a risk calculator designed to determine your odds of surviving a zombie attack.

This article was contributed by Kelly Rockey, who writes about Halloween costumes on her site. Feedback is welcomed at kellyrockey1@gmail.com.

I want to wish everyone a Happy Autumn! Now you can put away the summer decor and put out the Halloween stuff without your neighbors looking at you insane. I already started decorating inside a little, outside will be next week. I don’t think I can wait much longer, for some reason I am ULTRA ready for this year’s Halloween. I think because I have alot more time to spend decorating and perfecting. I decided that I am going to get up really early and have more time to enjoy it instead of scrambling at the last minute to finish up the yard.

I also wanted to mention my halloween site Oct31st.org is online. With all kinds of downloads, audio, recipes, decorating ideas and lots more to come. I hope it helps make your Halloween the best yet.

Incase you were wondering, The Fright Catalog is back online!!!! They have a brand new telephone number and are slowly adding new additions to the website.

The beginning of the Halloween season is finally here! The first of September marks the start of the season for our spooky holiday. The day we have been planning for all year long, or should I say month? However, around here…no decorating outside until early October! Which brings me to a question, when is it okay to start decorating the outside of your home? I know many of us get resistence from our husbands/wives, friends/family about decorating “too early,” but what is considered “too early?” Many of us wait all year round, only for me to have to explain that the season starts this month for many haunts, stores etc! I usually decorate the inside early, I don’t think it’s ever “too early” to decorate inside. Halloween is so infused with who I am, that if I could have a Halloween themed room all year round I would!

The best part about this time of year is the weather is slowing starting to cool down. The air is starting to crisp, the leaves begin to fall and change their color. Homes and stores start to put out the fall decorations. Halloween is near!

This month I can truly watch “The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” and feel the Halloween spirit. I also like to watch “Garfields Halloween Adventure,” “candy, candy, candy, candy, candy!” I have watched both these specials since I was a kid, they will forever remain loved and classics in my life. How do you celebrate the starting of the season?

As Halloween is approaching, I am always intrigued as to what the “new trend” will be this year. However, part of the Halloween shopping experience is me eavesdropping on other shopper’s conversations (or should I say ghost dropping?). I was in Michaels craft store not too long ago when a group of obvious mothers walked by the Halloween isle saying “Halloween stuff already? It’s not even back to school yet!” Though I can share their opinion when it comes to stores having Christmas stuff weeks before Halloween, I thought “Aren’t pens, paper and backpacks always on sale at some point?” Because of this, I was recently asking myself “do holidays come too early to stores?” Even if some people agree it’s “too early,” there is not exactly a “holiday police” or a “holiday’s too early committee.”

I have recently come to accept that anywhere between one and three weeks before Halloween, stores start to push the early Christmas shopping. I have decided to ignore the early Christmas like I ignore people who leave their cart in the middle of the isle. I have made a personal choice to move onto Christmas once Halloween is over and Thanksgiving is near. I think a simple idea is to just focus on one holiday at a time, I spend so much time thinking and planning for Halloween (like I know most of you do as well), that it is pretty easy for me to ignore the early Christmas.

One website in particular has visited many stores in his area, taking lots of photos of all the Halloween goodies for the season. I want to invite you to peek at Pumpkin rot’s blog. That should get you into the Halloween spirit!

Moving on, the new trend I have seen so far is black, white and silver. Although, I don’t believe the trends in stores are large enough to catch on. I think that is one of the reasons why so many of us like to celebrate Halloween. What reasons you ask? Because there is so much variety, there is something for everyone. Halloween has the cute, to gross, from black, purple, classic orange and all in between. There is such variety in every idea and in every theme.

Aside from decorations, I think costumes are what have the most trends. Usually the hottest costumes are from whatever movie was a big hit within the year. But there are always the classic costumes; zombies, devils, sexy, pirates etc that always will be a staple in Halloweens history.

Halloween is also on a Saturday this year; I am wondering if there will be more people out this year than previous.