The Last Great Halloween
a Trudy McFarlan Novel
by Rootie Simms
Publisher: Wilder Things Publishing
Pub. Date: June 9, 2015
ISBN: 978-1512287394
Pages: 186
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

While I was setting up the schedule for the Halloween Madness event, I received a press release about the new young adult book - The Last Great Halloween: a Trudy McFarlan Novel by Rootie Simms. After reading the synopsis, I knew I had to read the novel.

Set in 1960, The Last Great Halloween centers on Trudy McFarlan, a preteen who got to skip the six-grade along with her best friend Paige and jump right into Junior High (7th Grade). Her favorite holiday is Halloween. Trudy and Paige have been planning the greatest Halloween party since forever, but they've never gotten around to actually having it.

After Trudy's mother told her that she was too old to go trick-or-treating and if she wanted a costume, she would have to make it herself, the unthinkable finally happens - the Halloween party becomes a reality.

Paige's mother is letting them have a Halloween party. Trudy already has the perfect costume - a bat, but she needs to find all the materials to make it first. If she doesn't find what she wants in dusty attics, then she's going to have to buy it herself, which is difficult when she doesn't have an allowance to spend. Plus, the ten dollars her mother gave her is for party supplies.

Trudy's plans for a last great Halloween becomes in jeopardy when she has a falling out with her Paige, resulting in a separate party.

My favorite holiday is just around the corner - Halloween!

Ever since I was a young kid (which was in the '90s), I gave up trick-or-treating and started decorating the outside yard for Halloween Night. Now as an adult, I still decorate my yard; adding a few new scary props each and every year. The only problem for me is that I'm limited to Walmart and Dollar General in my town that both put out only a small Halloween section every year. The good news is that when I can't find anything in those stores (which is almost always), I can always look on the internet to find great Halloween props.

One of my favorite online stores to get Halloween goodies is Oriental Trading, which has a slew of items to choose from. I was sent a cool new tombstone to review especially for the post. It is the Day of the Dead Tombstone!

Made out of foam, the tombstone measures 12 1/2" x 22" and comes with two plastic stakes, which will secure it to the ground. Due to the fact that it's made from foam, tombstones can be damaged while being sent in the mail, but I'm glad to say that the Day of the Dead Tombstone (retails for $14.99) arrived in perfect condition. It features a creepy skeleton and the words "Dia de Los Muertos" (Day of the Dead) engraved on it.

Now this tombstone is going to look a little bare by itself, so it's going to need a companion, like a ground-breaker. Oriental Trading nicely sent me a cool Latex Zombie (retails for $25.99) ground-breaker (also known as a grave-breaker).

Return To Sender
Director: Fouad Mikati
Cast: Rosemund Pike, Shiloh Fernandez, Nick Nolte
Studio: RLJ Entertainment
Release Date: September 29, 2015
Retail: $12.99 (Best Buy Price)
Running Time: 95 minutes
Rating: Not Rated
Buy Link: Best Buy

Review:

Now available to own on DVD & Blu-ray (only at Best Buy) is the thriller Return To Sender. Directed by Fouad Mikati, the film stars Rosemund Pike (Gone Girl), Nick Nolte, Shiloh Fernandez and Camryn Manheim. There are no extras or special features on the Blu-ray.

Return To Sender centers on a dedicated nurse Miranda Wells (played by Rosemund Pike) living in  small town. She just finished her training to become a surgical nurse and she plans on buying a new house. For Miranda, her life was perfect, but her friends believe otherwise and they set her up on a blind date.

The unthinkable happens when a stranger, William Finn (played by Shiloh Fernandez), shows up at Miranda's doorsteps. She mistakes him for her blind date and lets him into her home, which turns out to the be the worst mistake of her life as Finn brutally assaults her. The real blind date eventually arrives, finds Miranda and call 911. Finn is quickly captured by the authorities and locked behind bars.


With her father (played by Nick Nolte) by her side, Miranda somewhat recovers from the attack and tries to pick up her life where she left off, but things aren't too simple. Due to the fact that the crime occurred in her home, selling her house becomes a major problem. Even worse, her dream of being a surgical nurse might come true as she her hands now shake when holding a scalpel.

An Amish Christmas Gift
by Amy Clipston, Ruth Reid & Kelly Irvin
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Pub. Date: October 6, 2015
ISBN: 978-0718039653
Pages: 416
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

I'm normally not in the mood to read holiday theme novels until after Thanksgiving, but I'm a big fan of Amish fiction, so I jumped right into reading An Amish Christmas Gift when I received it last week. There are three different novellas in this title - Naomi’s Gift by Amy Clipston, An Unexpected Joy by Ruth Reid and A Christmas Visitor by Kelly Irvin.


Naomi’s Gift centers on Caleb, a widower that is traveling with his young daughter, Susie, to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania to visit his sister's family for Christmas. Along the way, Susie spots a farmer's market. She begs Caleb to stop there and find a gift for Aeti Sadie, which he eventually agrees to. Being a kid, Susie gets distracted and walks away fro Caleb's sight at the market, but luckily she comes across a quilt booth where Naomi King happens to be. Naomi is a 24-year-old woman, who is lost all hope of finding love, well, that is until she meets Caleb and sparks fly between the two. Unfortunately, Caleb still isn't ready to let someone near his heart as he lost his wife on Christmas Eve two years ago.

An Unexpected Gift is set in St. Joseph County, Michigan and centers on Abigail Kemp, a 22-year-old woman who decided just a year ago that she would never find love. With no future husband in sight, Abigail has been saving every cent that she earns from selling baked goods and quilted potholders, all so she can one day buy a horse. Despite being busy making sweets for the holiday season, Abigail agrees to help look after Micah Zook's grandmother, which the elderly woman makes it her mission to set the two up before Christmas comes around.

I'm sure everyone will be busy this month buying candy for trick-or-treaters, decorating the yard for Halloween Night and searching for the perfect costume either for your kids or for yourself, but don't forget that October is a great time to make nifty crafts!

Oriental Trading has many different crafts for kids, including the Peanuts Halloween Stickers Scenes ($5.99 retail). It contains 12 - 11" x 8 1/2" paper backgrounds that resembles the pumpkin patch from the classic Halloween Special - It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!, along with 12 - 11" x 8 1/2" sticker sheets.

I received the Peanuts Halloween Stickers Scenes along with a two other crafts (I'll get to those later in this post) from Oriental Trading back in late August. I couldn't wait until Halloween, so I eagerly opened the package and made the cute Peanuts scene (see below for the photo). It's simple to put together. All you have to do is peel whatever stickers you want and place them on the paper background.

I'm sure almost everyone has seen the Charlie Brown Halloween Special, so I'm sure this sticker scenes set will appeal to both children and adults.

The countdown to Halloween Night has officially begun, meaning there are only a few weeks to buy candy and other goodies for the this year's trick-or-treaters.

Depending on the weather, there are between 120 to 145 trick-or-treaters that show up at my doorstep on Halloween Night. Instead of giving out a few pieces a candy to each kid, each and every year, I put together a little treat bags full of a variety of candies.

In the past, I bought a package of 40 paper treat bags around a $1, but it seems the bags have been discontinued as I can no longer find them anywhere. The only bags that I can find in the stores are in packages of 10 to 20 and costs between $2 to $4 per package. I don't care for the bags as they are way too tall and require twist ties.

Luckily for me, Oriental Trading has a big selection of goody bags to choose from, including the Mini Jack-O'-Lantern Drawstring Goody Bags. The 4-inch tall plastic bags retail for $11.99 per unit (144 bags), but is currently on sale for $7.78. The bags feature a printed Jack-O'-Lantern in the front, while the rest of the bag is see-through.


Now, you can't just give away an empty goody bag on Halloween Night or your house will be egged, so naturally I'm going to put several different sweets in it. I'm sure many of you have already seen gobs of Halloween candy in the stores. I don't just buy any candy as I want to make sure it has the right amount pieces (100 & up), so I'll have plenty to go into each treat bag.

Oriental Trading carries many bulk assortments of name brand candy. And I mean huge bags (1,000 pieces)! For this year, I was looking for something new that would standout to the trick-or-treaters and I found to different ones - Zombie PartyButtermints ($6.50 per unit/108 pieces) and Eyeball Sweet Creams ($6.50 per unit/108 pieces).

The Last Man On Earth:  The Complete First Season
Starring: Will Forte, Kristen Schaal
Studio: 20th Century Fox Entertainment
Release Date: September 22, 2015
Retail: $37.29
ASIN: B012D2WIDE
Running Time: 282 minutes
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:
  
Now available to own on DVD is Fox's hit comedy series The Last Man On Earth starring comedians Will Forte and Kristen Schaal. Special Features includes a Commentary on The Elephant in the Room, Commentary on Screw the Moon, Survival of the Funniest: Creating The Last Man on Earth, The Last Man On Earth Q&A Panel, Deleted Scenes and a Gag Reel.

Set in the year 2020, one whole year after a deadly virus wiped out humanity, the last man on Earth is Phil Miller (played Will Forte), a man who spent months traveling across the USA, Canada and Mexico looking for survivors. Through his travels he left messages on road signs stating that he is alive in Tucson, Arizona, his hometown.

Phil finds a nice house in Tucson and moves in. He spends his days drinking tequila from a kiddie pool (which he also bathes in), setting things on fire and hanging out with his buddies, whom are all sports balls with faces painted on them.


Eventually the loneliness gets to him and he plans on committing suicide, but out of nowhere he finds the last woman on Earth - Carol Andrew Pilbasian (played by Kristen Schaal), a very annoying
woman from Delaware. She had saw the messages that Phil had left on the road signs and came to Tucson looking for him. She is determined that they should get married and repopulate the Earth. At first Phil nothing wants to do with Carol, even though she moves in next door to him, but eventually he agrees to marry her.