IN WHICH I TALK ABOUT HALLOWEEN MEMORIES

 

me + Jakob 2000

I have always loved Halloween, and when I had a baby I was very excited about sharing that fun holiday with him. Obviously, I dressed him as a pumpkin for his first Halloween because that's a rite of passage for all babies I think.

Then he was (in no particular order): a dinosaur, a giraffe, Captain Jack Sparrow, a military guy, Jason from Friday the 13th, a zombie, Edward Cullen, and I can't even remember everything else. 

Of course, when he was little we would go with cousins to trick or treat. It was always a ton of fun. We would also go to all the haunted trails that central gulf coast Florida had to offer. Although J was just a little one, he really loved them. I think mostly seeing me super scared was what he was laughing at! 

When we moved to Oklahoma we would have Halloween parties for the kids at our house. We did different themes, like Haunted Circus or Scary Movies. I would make tons of food that was themed, play games, and just in general let the kids have fun. 

There was never a year we didn't carve pumpkins and try out some special carving. Occasionally they worked, but often they did not. But we had so much fun doing it. 

The haunted house tradition continued in Oklahoma as well. J and I went through them all. Sometimes we would be so freaked out by the time we reached the front of the line we'd have to talk ourselves into it. Once we got inside, J would be absolutely fine, but me? No way. I get scared sitting here typing about it. But I kept going because he loved it. 

I still love Halloween. 

It's a little bittersweet at times when I think about the memories, but last year my mom came out and we had a pumpkin carving contest with my nieces at the judges (I won.), went to a haunted cornfield with three haunted houses in it, and just in general ate a lot of candy and had fun watching scary movies. 

What's your favorite holiday? Let me know in the comments and make sure to click HERE to follow me on social media. 

IN WHICH WE TALK ABOUT HALLOWEEN MOVIES

 

Anyone who knows me knows that I love Halloween. I love haunted houses, despite the fact that I get so scared I almost cry. I love pumpkin patches and apple picking. All the fall smells and sights just make my very soul filled with utter joy. 

I also love Halloween movies. 

BUT I am not the biggest horror movie gal. Honestly, if it's gory or a lot of psychological terror then I'm out. 

But give me a Disney Halloween movie any day of the week. I watch some of these every single year! Here's my list of MUST watch Halloween movies! 

• Hocus Pocus
• Halloweentown
• The Corpse Bride
• Frankenweenie
• Casper
• Sleepy Hollow 
• Coraline
• Beetlejuice
• The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown
• Practical Magic
• The Haunted Mansion
• Goosebumps
• Coco
• Ghostbusters
• Scooby Doo
• Hubie Halloween

Do you like gory or are you like me: scary lite?

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IN WHICH WE TALK ABOUT LIST MAKING FOR ANXIETY

 

List making and listing things soothe my anxious mind. 

I started list making awhile back in a variety of ways to help me deal with my anxiety and bipolar. I was finding that my bipolar was causing me to have severe issues with focus. I started making lists of "must dos" so that I could focus more easily and stay on target. That's one way I use lists. To accomplish tasks and stay productive. 

Another method of list making is the 5 things method, where during high anxiety you list five things you can see, touch, smell, taste, hear. This brings you back to the present and helps stop your mind from spiraling. This one helps me quite a bit when I can calm down enough to use it. 

If my anxiety is just particularly bad to the point where my thoughts are becoming obsessive then I will do trivia lists. I will try to name things that I don't really know super well in order to distract and make my brain concentrate in other areas. I usually will enlist the help of someone else in these. The other night during commercial breaks (thanks Amazon) I listed NFL football teams for each state for my boyfriend. 

I like to use lists to keep my mind away from obsessive thoughts and use as a way to put more positive things into it. Here are some examples of lists you could write to help you!

• favorite movies
• favorite books
• places you want to visit
• people you've helped
• adventures you've had
• favorite songs
• favorite desserts
• favorite smells
• books you want to read
• countries you want to visit
• list your big goals
• list your little goals
• favorite meals
• meals you want to try
• list your personal weaknesses
• list your personal strengths
• favorite works of art
• the things you've worried about that never happened
• all the flowers you can think of
• all the colors you can think of

You can really make a list of anything. It's a great journaling prompt or a great recitation when you need to break that obsessive thought pattern. 

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