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Mason and I traveled to Florida last week for our son Frank’s annual Halloween party. Each year, we go down to help him with the food and decorations. Brian wasn’t feeling well so he didn’t get to go with us this year. 🙁

Frank is a dentist and he always invites his co-workers, and gym and pickle ball buddies. He has a LOT of friends, and is highly respected in his community.

Last year, I dove into Pinterest, and came up with THE most disgusting ideas you can imagine. If you want to see pictures of last year’s Tongue Tickling Tampons, Sweet & Savory (Recycled) Q-tips, Mouth-Watering Maxi-pads, Southwest Outhouse Dip, and more, CLICK HERE.

This year, Frank very sweetly called me, and asked me to “tone it down” for this year because some people at the party last year refused to eat the really gross-looking stuff. I explained to Frank that people NOT eating my snacks was a compliment but that, yes, I’d tone it down this year. It’s our busy time of year (everybody wants their book published by Christmas) so I contacted his girlfriend, Sara, and asked her to come up with the ideas for this year.

She did, and even sent me a list so we could coordinate groceries, and make sure nothing was forgotten at the last minute.

Mason and I arrived early on Friday afternoon. When Frank got off work, he and I went on a whirlwind grocery shopping adventure. Since he makes plenty of money now, and since he was buying, I did what he did when he was a kid. When I saw something I wanted, I simply tossed it in the cart when he wasn’t looking. I got some really cool “kiwi grapes” and a pair of candy corn fuzzy socks. Ha ha ha.

We ran into people at the store that knew Frank. That was awesome! He has really settled into his community and he has so many friends and a great support system. That makes me feel good since he’s six hours away from us.

The next morning, I was in the kitchen at 6:30 a.m. starting the prep work. By the time Sara was up (she’d worked very late the night before), I’d already finished baking the brownies, and had hard boiled 30 eggs. Next, I pulled out the skull mold I’d purchased on Amazon, and went to work on that dish. It took me THREE HOURS to make THREE PLATES of them! I can tell you that the tampons and maxi-pads last year went a LOT faster! However, the skull caprese skewers turned out great!!

Then, I went to work on the stuffed jalapenos. Sara had already prepped the peppers. She left one or two seeds in each one just to give them some “bite.” She gave me the recipe and I went to work on the filling. Well, those didn’t come out as well.

CLICK HERE to see what they were supposed to look like…

Here’s what mine looked like:

NAILED IT!!! Ha ha ha. The cheese ran everywhere and the pupils on the eyeballs kept melting!

I made three cookie sheets of those and that was the best looking batch of the bunch. However, one guy at the party was scarfing them down. He said they were delicious! The recipe is here.

Time was getting tight in the afternoon. Frank was running around like a rooster with his head cut off. Mason was hanging decorations wherever Frank needed more. Frank went ALL OUT on the decorations this year! He even left bloody hand prints on the guest bathroom mirror. He told Mason and I to check out his new shower head. When I pulled aside the shower curtain, we both screamed.

Helga was hanging in there. I told Frank, “You’re grounded!!!”

Mason hung a motion-activated spider over the bathroom door that fell down and clickety-clacked while I was peeing. Good thing I was already sitting down or I’d have peed my pants. When I went to bed, this is what I found when I pulled back the covers. Mason did that, too, so he’s grounded as well.

During the party, Mason’s costume terrified EVERYBODY!

This is what Sara did with the brownies I’d baked that morning. She made lots of other yummy stuff, too, including hard boiled eyeballs with the eggs I cooked.

This was the large skeleton charcuterie board (there were 3 other smaller ones):

Frank left his friends in charge of the grill for five minutes and this happened:

Mmmm! Charbroiled burgers and dogs anyone? (That guy with the blonde hair is from Scooby Doo.)

I can’t post all of the inside decorations (his house looked AWESOME!) but here’s a picture of Frank’s front yard:

On Friday night, we had a Christmas Vacation movie incident! Frank took us outside and we stood in the front yard while he pointed his remote control thingie towards the house. Mason and I made the drum roll sound with our tongues. Frank pushed the button and…nothing. While Mason and I waited, asking, “What’s wrong, Clark?!”, Frank ran all over, from this plug to another plug, and from this bush/tree to other ones, back and forth. He could NOT figure it out. And, I kid you not, THIS was the culprit!

We are never letting him live that one down!!!

During the party, one man approached me, and said, “Hey, where are the tampons and maxi-pads?! Those were GREAT last year!!!”

Then, another man came up, and said, “Yeah! I told my girlfriend all about the sugary wax on the salty recycled Q-tips! Where are they?!”

So, guess what I’m making again next year?! Ha ha ha.

We’ll see Frank again next month. He and Sara are coming for Thanksgiving. She has family in Georgia, too!! Yea!!! 🙂

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