Welcome to Debbie's Domain

Trick-or treat night is here. The weather is horrible! It's cold. Rain, snow, and wind are whirling around the house. The kids want to go trick-or-tricking. You want to stay in where it is warm and dry. What should you do? If you have school-age children, wrap them up warm under their costumes. Maybe they, and you, can hold out for a little while without freezing to death. Most kids will be ready to go get warm in a little while. Younger children will be just as happy to stay home and have a small Halloween party in the house. Everyone should dress up, even the adults. You can set up little areas inside the house for them to trick-or-treat at. Family members can give out the candy. Have a costume parade and march around the living room. You can make cookies or popcorn balls. Play games, like bobbing for apples. Then end the day with some Halloween cartoons, or read some stories. All of these ideas will be fun for the older kids when they give up and go home to get warm...

There are all kinds of instructions on ways to preserve a jack-o-lantern and make it last longer. Some work, some don't, some work better than others, and some are just too much trouble. If you want the jack-o-lantern to last around 2 weeks, untreated, keep it out of direct sunlight. Bring it inside when not in use, as it should not be too hot or too cold. You can put a wet towel in it, wrap it in plastic, and store it in the fridge if you want. If it starts to dry out you can also soak it in the sink a few hours. There is a product named 'Pumpkin Fresh' that you can buy at the store that will also preserve your jack-o-lantern for about 2 weeks. Keep it out of the weather, and spray it inside and out everyday. To make it last even longer, put it in the freezer for about 2 hours after spraying. Store it in a cool, dry place. Another way is to carve your pumpkin, then let it soak for 8 hours in bleach water. Use one teaspoon of bleach for every gallon of water. Spray i...

Halloween is a good time to watch scary movies. There are so many movies for kids, it's hard to know where to start. I couldn't possibly name them all. There are several that made a hit with my family, so I will name a few of the favorites. "When Good Ghouls Go Bad" is just a little scary, but mostly funny. Danny Walker (Joe Pichler) and his dad (Tom Amandes) move back to their hometown of Walker Falls. His dad plans to reopen the family business, Walker Chocolates. They move in with Danny's grandfather, who acts more like a kid than an adult. Everyone calls him Uncle Fred (Christopher Lloyd). All of the town's people are unfriendly and seem a little weird. Nobody celebrates Halloween anymore due to a mysterious death of an 8th grader, Curtis Danko, and a curse on the town if they ever celebrated Halloween again. Uncle Fred gets killed when a tower of pumpkins fall on him. After his funeral, he comes back as a zombie to save Halloween. That's when the...

Some people don't believe in celebrating Halloween. It is often hard for children when all of their friends are getting so excited about it. There is no reason for them to miss out on all the fun. You can have a Happy Autumn or Happy Harvest celebration instead. Decorating is easy. Just stick to the basics. Uncut pumpkins, gourds, squash, hay bales, corn stalks, Indian corn, mums, colored leaves and scarecrows all make good decorations. Window clings with leaves, acorns, and scarecrows are sold in many places. Children can make a lot of their own decorations with construction paper or felt material. To make decorations water proof, cover with Contact adhesive plastic. Another perk to these decorations is that they will fit right in with Thanksgiving. There are a lt of fun places to go and things to do with the kids. Many places offer corn mazes, the apple or pumpkin farm, and hayrides. Some towns and schools have fall festivals. You can also make your own fun....

There are a lot of different ways to decorate a pumpkin for Halloween without carving it. One of the easiest ways is to paint it. You can simply paint a traditional jack-o-lantern face. That is simple and anyone can do it. However, if you would like something more creative, you can paint a cartoon face. There are several that are quite easy. Spiderman is one that is relatively easy. Paint a large red oval on the front of the pumpkin, or paint the whole pumpkin red. After it drys, paint lines for th spider webs, and copy Spiderman's eyes, also in black. There are others you can paint, like Tigger, or Garfield that don't require as much paint. Turn your pumpkin into a bat or spider. You can paint the pumpkin all over with spray paint and let dry. However, another way to do it requires only a can of some of the sparkley black hairspray from the Halloween isle of your local department store. With this, you must be careful not to smudge the hairspray. It is faster and ...

Hi, Debbie's Domain is my new writing blog. I have been writing since I was a kid. It's one of my favorite things to do. I hope to write a book someday. I hope you will enjoy reading my blog as much as I enjoy writing it. Please, let me know what you think. October is almost over. The leaves on the trees, and the ground, have been painted  glorious  colors by Jack Frost. Harvests are about all in. Halloween is just around the corner. I love this time of year and I love holidays.   Debbie!