Pun Slinger Zinger: A-OK at the Kitsch Corral

Bag: Simply Vera, Kohl's

Shoes: Betsey Johnson, Macy's

Skirt: Dolls Kill

Some time ago, I boldly announced that I might wear spurs to get my flu shot.  Which I had no business doing, as I'm not Annie Oakley and have no access to weaponized footwear.  So I did the next best thing and stepped into my star-spangled mules.  Sticking with the stellar theme, I teamed them with a star-print top.  Then I burst into that Acme like a supernova, goading the pharmacist to do his worst.

By which I mean that I zeroed in on my phone before I even smelled the alcohol. 

And that's how I used fashion to face my fears.  

Me and the unicorn I rode in on. 🦄⭐

Fireworks Fowl and a Perp on the Prowl: Game for a Ghoulish Thanksgiving

With Turkey Day on the horizon, I was on the hunt for a harvest-themed whodunit.  However, it seemed that I'd exhausted all of my go-to authors.  Fortunately, there are cupboards full of festive culinary cozies out there.  So I plucked Isis Crawford's A Catered Thanksgiving off the paperback pantry shelf.  I was drawn to its colorful cover, complete with skull-embedded pumpkin pie crust.  Yet once I delved into the fiction-rich filling, I had some trouble getting it down.    

This was partly because I needed to become acquainted with a new sleuth, or in this case, sleuth sisters.  Foodies Bernie and Libby run their late mother's catering company, A Little Taste of Heaven, in New York.  They're close with their dad, a retired cop.  Bernie is tall, dark, thin, and impulsive and loves clothes; Libby is short, fair, plump, and cautious and wears her pants until the elastic gives out.  Needless to say, they bicker a bit.  Which can be fun, albeit sometimes confusing because Crawford alternates between their points of view.   

Still, the real blowout doesn't occur until the duo sets up shop in miserly Monty Field's kitchen.  He's hired them to prepare a Thanksgiving feast for his feuding fireworks-fortune family, never imagining that he and the turkey will go up in smoke before the table's set.  There's some description of Monty's stuffing decorating the walls, setting the stage for a story that's more gruesome than goofy, which you know isn't my cup of tea.  Adding insult to pyrotechnic-induced injury, I thought I'd figured the mystery out, and everyone knows that's no fun.  But it turns out that I was a turkey!  Because there's a twist at the end that implodes everything, and it's as satisfying as a potato cheese casserole. 

Which got me thinking, if I was wrong about the killer, then maybe I was wrong about the rest of it too.

The only way to know for sure is to see what Bernie and Libby cook up for Christmas.

Home is Where the Harvest Is

Jacket: Blue Asphalt, Wet Seal

Adorned Acorn Necklace

Belt: Steve Madden, Zulily; Bag: Apt. 9, Kohl's 

Koala Baby

Yellow top: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's

Blouse: Candie's, Kohl's' Shoes and bag: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's

Mushrooms and succulent: Kohl's

Sweater: Amazon

Mum and pumpkin: Michaels

Bracelet: ZAD, Zulily

Skirt: Hollister, Marshalls

Top: Nine West, Kohl's

Bag: Amazon

Dress: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's

Jacket: Candie's, Kohl's

Bow: Wild Fable, Target

Wreath: Kohl's; Ribbon: Michaels

Boots: 2 Lips Too, Zulily

Orchid: A. C. Moore

Square Dance Romance Necklace

Bag: JCPenney

And by harvest I don't mean produce, but stuff that looks like produce but is plastic.  That's right.  I've changed my décor -- and wardrobe -- from creepy to cozy in honor of the oft overlooked Thanksgiving.  This is new for me this year, just as decking the halls with skulls was new for me last Halloween.  It looks like I'm turning into my mother after all -- which, Mom, if you're reading, I mean in the best way possible!  

Speaking of motherhood, I was decorating the fireplace while Char Bar watched from her blanket.  She was screaming up a storm, which she does when she's excited and/or frustrated.  So I shouldn't have been surprised when she rolled over onto her stomach for the very first time!  She couldn't roll back onto her back, though, so I had to turn her over.  Undeterred, she proceeded to roll -- and scream -- three more times as I kept one eye on her and one on my tchotchkes.  She hasn't stopped since, and I'm sure next year I'll be working overtime to prevent her from playing kickball with the pumpkins.

Some harvest that'll be!

Late Bloomer Boomer and See You Again Sooner: Reconciliation Celebration

A high school reunion is a prime premise for a novel.  All those pasts, however charmed or checkered, resurfacing to settle a score.  Yep, reunions drum up unease and drama.  Which is why I've never gone to one of mine.  That said, I do enjoy strolls down other people's memory lanes, and by people I mean  characters.  And so it was with anticipation that I RSVP'd yes to the reunion of a bunch of baby boomers in small-town Ohio in Elizabeth Berg's The Last Time I Saw You.  

With insight, tenderness, and humor, Berg introduces us to five members of the class of 1960-something: the Beauty, the B-lister, the Brain, the Quarterback, and the Outcast.  Each has lived a full and, in some cases, surprising life since high school.  Yet none are immune to the minefield that means going back -- or the obstinate optimism that pushes them forward.     

Poignant to the point of near melancholy, The Last Time I Saw You is bittersweet and human, tapping into our wish for second chances -- even if they don't end up looking the way we thought they would. 

Halloween Hues and Boo-tiful Coos: Scary Secondary to None

Wreath: Amazon

Skirt (a dress!): Zulily

Necklaces: Betsey Johnson, Macy's

Bag: Betsey Johnson, Amazon

Tee: Fifth Sun, Kohl's

Bag: Marshalls; Ring: PinkBopp, Etsy

Jumbo Jack-o-Lantern Necklace

Top: Nine West, Kohl's; Skirt: So, Kohl's; Bag: Cat & Jack, Target 

Where it's Bat Necklace

Remember when Halloween was all about black and orange?  I'm so glad that purple and green (and sometimes pink) have since been invited to the costume party.  Because a secondary color palette packs more roar for fierce fits and dark décor.  And I made the most of that with these outfits.  I've had the candy-colored clothes and accessories for many moons except for (interestingly) the celestial tee, Where it's Bat Necklace, and pumpkin purse.      

Clothes may make the witchy woman, but spooky season's stale without a festive read.  My pick?  This creepy cute collection of cozies:          

Capitalizing on the murder mystery cult classic that is the cupcake, the aptly named Halloween Cupcake Murder introduced me to a new coven of cozy queens.  In Carlene O'Connor's eponymous and Galway-based Halloween Cupcake Murder, a cupcake holds the key to the killer of a curiosity shopkeeper.  And also, bizarrely, a cult.  Yet this was far from the most curious tale in the trio.  Because Liz Ireland's Mrs. Claus and the Candy Corn Caper seeks to find not only who offed an elfin baker in Santaland, but who's peddling contraband candy corn in this most Christmassy of locales.  Still, it may be the third confection, Carol J. Perry's A Triple Layer Halloween Murder, that takes the cake.  In this Salem-set story, the sleuth investigates the disappearance of a bakery baron via her visions -- and collaborations with her cat.  

All three novellas are made for curling up in front of the fireplace to forget life's crazy.  Even if I read them in no such place, but between and during diaper changes and feedings.  Nevertheless, I enjoyed my escapes to these crime-riddled fantasy lands and may have even found some new go-to authors.       

But my biggest Halloween headline isn't about baubles or even books.  It's about, of course, our first Halloween with Charlotte.  Here are our family costumes, which we wore to my parents' Halloween party:

Yep, we're 3 Musketeers and the Three Musketeers, starring none other than Char Bar.  As with all our Halloween costumes, the husband came up with the idea.  Although it was my (somewhat desperate) idea to go with these dubious dresses.  You may notice that I edited the husband's to look like it was sort of part of his tee.  Ah, technology, the hallowed hobgoblin of social networking.

And with that I wish you the happiest of Halloweens -- the kind with no tricks and all treats. 🎃🍫👻🍬💀🍭👺🧁

Galaxy Graveyard: Good Bones

Top: Allegra K, Amazon; Tights: Michaels

Creepy Crescent Necklace

Smithville

Top belt: Amazon; Bottom belt: Wild Fable, Target

Smithville

Barrettes: Leopard: Burlington Coat Factory; Rhinestones: INC, Macy's

Skeleton: Target

Bag: Betsey Johnson, Macy's

Tabletop décor: Michaels

Here they are, my poet blouse and moon belts, the perfect storm of celestial style and '90s nostalgia.  Also, my newly made Creepy Crescent Necklace.  It's a look that I like to think of as ninety percent The Nanny and ten percent The Craft.  You know, if The Craft was a cartoon.

That said, no Halloween scene is complete without skeletons.  Some of the ones you see here are mine, some are at Smithville.  We took Char Bar there for the first time this past weekend.  The husband half-carried, half-held her in one of those harnesses because he was afraid that the stroller would roll over too many rocks and disturb her.  At first, her eyes were glued to the decorations and people.  Then she fell asleep.  Still, it was an A+ autumn outing.  

Absolutely no bones about it.