Can't get enough spooky lip balm

How did previous generations get by without Target? I ask you.

My cat is possessed, probably

So this has happened several times now. Shouldn't be surprising, should it? And yet, it always it. Seeing your cat's toys arranged into eerily perfect, symetrical shapes is something I guess you never get over.

I was packing for a trip to LA last week, running around the house, as you do. I took a break for dinner and saw this inches from me on the living room floor:

Yup. It's all true. I have not doctored these images and I really have no reason to arrange them myself and then lie about it. (Except I guess it does make a good story and me a bit more popular.) But i'd like to think I'm not as pathetic as that.

The other images are here and here.

Stuffed pumpkins

I am no fan of pumpkin pie. Or pumpkin soup or pumpkin ice cream. And this has never seemed right to me for obvious reasons. So in an attempt to eat actual pumpkin this h'ween season, I decided to build my own skaren-friendly squash dish.

After be-heading a couple of mini, sugar pie pumpkins, I scraped out the seeds and pulp and put them in the oven to roast whole. This takes about half an hour, so multi-tasking by watching a vintage horror movie, like Hammer's Horror of Dracula (which runs about an hour + 15) is advised.

Then I sauteed shallots, garlic and parmesan because those taste good on everything in my world and added chopped up squash. Topped it with more parmesan and put it under the broiler.

The result? Not a bad early fall Sunday dinner. Next time, I'll experiment with some thyme or sage and meat it up with some sausage.

Of course, I also roasted the seeds, which were maybe the best part. In fact, they were the perfect thing to float in my pre-dinner martini.

The most wondrrrrrrful time of year

is here at last! And I, who have no sweet tooth, feel compelled nonetheless to celebrate this day with a sugar cookie for breakfast. Yes, it's in the shape of a pumpkin and it's the kind I used to get from the grocery store when I was a snot-nosed kid. Only now they sell them in ritzy coffee joints, this decade's version of the fern bar.

But I digress. It's lovely no? Let the scary crap begin!

My name is Victoria Winters...

In sf, the blue skies are gone, the wind has picked up and the gray cloud has descended. But am I sad? No way, becuase it's a perfect night to kick off my cocktail hour Dark Shadows fest.

What better way to enjoy an inky red wine and the company of a black cat but to start the series all over again? I ask you.

I first became obsessed with Barnabas when I was working on, hands-down, the worst account of my career. It was so bad, that at some time, most of the team toyed with the idea of walking in front of semi just so we wouldn't have to go to work. I kid you not.

I can truly state that the gang in Collinsport saved my sanity during this trying time. The only price: going a little too nuts for a deceased TV show that aired during the b/w 60s. I mean, even the Star Wars geeks I worked with thought it was little strange.

But now I plan to view it through different eyes - was it really all that fascinating, were the sets really all that great, the gaffes all that funny? Well, I'm one episode in and I can say that yes, the sets, setting and all are still awesome - Collinwood mansion is kind of Dwell-licious for its day. So far tho: no Barnabas.

Stay tuned.

First h'ween sighting of 2010!

These things are happening later and later, which I'm not against.

I sort of like the fact that it's a little half-assed. Makes it creepier and funnier at the same time.

And so it begins

A new H'ween season is upon us! How do I know? Martha told me.

Just walked into Safeway yesterday for a few necessities - yes, one was in bottle shape - and there she was in all her glory.

Yeah, sure, it's mostly a new container for old articles, but smack in the middle of godawful week, it's a good thing. I mean, bad thing. In a good way.