Countdown to Halloween day 30: The Very Last of the Halloween Goodwill Finds Posts for 2015

Well... this is it folks! The last Goodwill Finds post of the 2015 Countdown to Halloween! I'm not too sad though, because there's always next year to look forward to, and with the end of the Halloween season I get to go back to looking for items in general that tickle my fancy. Halloween, like all good things, must come to a close. 

I have to say too, that I think for a post I wasn't sure I'd even be writing, since I just found all this stuff last weekend... I kind of saved the best for last. Here's a shot of the whole pile, (anything that was actually in with the Halloween merchandise was 50% off) so let's dig in!

First up this little folding screen-thing made up of three black cats. I kind of wish they hadn't done two pumpkins and a skull. Wouldn't a skull, a pumpkin, and a witch have been cool and colorful, and reminiscent of Halloween III? Either way, I think these cats are cool. Serene, majestic... almost stoic.

When I picked this up I thought it was a night-light, but then I realized it was actually an air freshener. I love that he's got an eye patch! He's practically a pirate jack o' lantern!

I think they sell the filling for these at Bath and Body works. I'll have to see if they have some pumpkin spice ones.

This was a surprise! I was really hoping to find the entire set of KISS band members in vinyl toy form... but all they had was The Demon, Gene Simmons! He's pretty much the one you want to find if you're going to find one though, so no complaints. Ever since seeing KISS on the Paul Lynde Halloween special this season, I can't NOT think of KISS as a Halloween band!

This is Ghost Rider's red-headed step-child, Vengeance! He's on one of those bikes that is supposed to have a ripcord to rev up the bike before you set it off on the floor. As an unabashed lover of s**tty 90's comics, there is a soft spot in my heart for ol' vengie here. He's one of the Midnight Sons characters, and he's basically Ghost Rider on bath salts. Plus the colors here are just perfect for the season!

I was pretty excited to find a McDonald's Halloween pail that features the McDonaldLand gang circa 1999. I was pretty chuffed to see that the lid is intact, the handle was on there... and this thing is in great shape!

While I'm not a huge fan of the pails as they creep closer and closer to modern day, THIS bucket features both Birdie and Grimace in that animated style they were doing for the "Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald" at the time.

I know next to nothing about vintage Halloween masks. Like how to even tell if they are, in fact, vintage. But these two masks just look way too old, and way too oddly familiar for me to leave them behind. I'm using the McDonald's trick or treat pail here as a model, which I think lends an appropriate level of eeriness to the eyes that I really like. This green guy is just absolutely gorgeous.

I should mention that both masks do actually have markings near the bottoms that should be telling me what the companies are that made these. This might make it easier for me to trace them to a specific time period... but unfortunately they are impossible to read. So... no dice. This devil guy's mouth opens up sideways I guess? Not sure. I love the use of blues and yellows here to make the red look crazy bright. Both of these masks stink like old Halloween masks should. Just smelling their weird cheesy gasoline odor takes me back to the Halloween section of Ames as a kid.

This is another interesting looking book about monsters that I may save for next year's Halloween Read Pile... or I may just read it now. Not sure. But "Scare Scape" by Sam Fisher looks like fun.

I was pretty excited to find this comic book, which is a cheap, indy comic done by creator "Madman" and is touted as:

"Eternity's Halloween Special" which I realize now is the name of the publishing company. "Lunatic Binge" is kind of fun, but kid of rough around the edges. We're talking super cheap end of the old indy comics pool here. It's mostly fun to own for the novelty's sake.

This was another fun find! "World's Worst Monsters & Villains" is another of those weird compendiums that collects monsters from movies, cartoons, myths, fairy tales, video games... whatever, and includes them all with equal fervor... and a equal lack of correct information.

But it's fun to flip through and look at! Here are some particularly monstrous entries in Cthulhu himself and something vampire-y called a Camazotz. If you're an RPG enthusiast like I am, these kinds of books are our bread and butter.

Well that's it kids! I'll be back one more time for this countdown with a final wrap-up post to see us out of the countdown! I won't be hibernating this year during November before my Creepmas and Christmas countdowns in December... so I'm not really going anywhere! Ummm... anyway...

I'll be back soon with more Goonie Goodwill Goodies! So until then, Happy Haunting!

Countdown to Halloween Day 29: Jack O' Lanterns!

Hey there everyone! Tonight I thought I would share one of the most treasured traditions of the Goodwill Geek's household. Jack O' Lantern carving night! We don't go all that fancy around these parts, simply picking out five pumpkins from Walmart... but it doesn't matter if the pumpkins came directly from the patch itself or simply from a shelf at the store... we make magic with them either way. 

Here's my oldest son going through the planning phase of his pumpkin.

Here's my youngest son. I have no idea what the deal is with this face he's making. The boys were SO excited to get started on their Jack O' Lanterns this year though! As soon as I came home with the pumpkins, they both helped me carry them in from the car and started begging to carve them out IMMEDIATELY. We had to wait a bit before we got started... so you can imagine it a bit of an agony for them.

I could watch this kid make faces while cleaning out his pumpkin ALL DAY. The dry heaving, the whining about how slimy it is... this is as much a part of the tradition, and my delight, as the pumpkins themselves every year.

Mwuah-Ha-Ha!!!

Here I am taking the top off my youngest son's pumpkin. He is just SHAKING with anticipation at this point. I realize you can't hear it, but we've got Halloween tunes cranking in the background.

My youngest son is way more willing to scoop the guts out of his pumpkin than the older one. Look at those faces!

A pumpkin in the process of being emptied out. Tools of the trade all around.

Then my daughter got into the action. She was very secretive about her design at first, but she's always willing to get her hands dirty when it comes to pumpkin guts.

I just love watching them all at work.

Now my wife's getting into the the action, working on her pumpkin design. Of course, my favorite thing in this picture is my older son's face. HAHAHA!

Bowls of guts all around (to pick out seeds for later...) we see the process of a pumpkin becoming a Jack O' Lantern.

This is the first year we've let the boys cut their own pumpkins, and they were SO proud and excited!

This is the most quiet and focused I have ever seen my youngest son before. It was almost eerie.

My daughter's design finally revealed... Oogie Boogie!

Here is my oldest son's Jack O' Lantern.

Here is my youngest's. I was very impressed with his work.

Here is mine! I love his big toothy grin.

Oogie Boogie came out amazingly well!

And my wife decided on the Chesire Cat, as a preview for her Halloween costume this year!

Here they are, lined up on the autumn-y porch. 

The lighting ceremony. The Jack O' Lanterns look almost as excited to be lit as the kids are to see them being lit!

Oogie Boogie looks even better lit up in the night.

This one just looks agonized and spooky in the dark!

I still think my youngest son's may be my favorite this year!

I like my pumpkin's grin lit from within even better!

The Chesire Cat looks even loonier!

And here they all are, lined up and grinning together on our porch in the night!

And of course, it isn't a proper jack o' lantern carving session without roasted pumpkin seeds afterwards! 

That's it for tonight kids! I'll be back soon with some more Grave Goodwill Goodies! Until then, Happy Haunting!

Countdown to Halloween Day 26: Goodwill Finds AND Scottie's Books!

Welcome back! So I have been able to hit up a few more Goodwill stores this past weekend so I now have enough posts to get me right to the end of the countdown, and still do my anthology (and other) posts as well! 

So let's take a look at the Halloween goodies I brought home from the Ellsworth store, and then I want to share a handful of books I brought home the same day from Scottie's Books.

Halloween or not, my 6 year old son has been bitten by the Goosebumps bug, and so now any time I see Goosebumps at Goodwill, I pick them up. There never seems to be any lack of Goosebumps at Goodwill, so I think this one will become a running theme over the next few months. What I found particularly funny is that the "Planet of the Lawn Gnomes" book was printed so recently that it is actually promoting the new movie! Someone got done with this book pretty recently. I don't know if that's a glowing endorsement. 

Just in case there was any confusion as to what Goosebumps movie was being promoted on the cover there... 

This is a glow-in-the-dark skeleton hand on a stick, used for pointing. I actually use a dry erase board to teach things at my place of work, so I think the next time I have a class I have to give, I will whip this guy out for effect. 

Once thing gets a good washing, it will be filled with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. I considered Candy Corn but then I remembered...

So peanut butter cups it is! 

I never watched Aah! Real Monsters on Nickelodeon... but I LOVE the concept, and the character designs. So I never pass up a chance to bring something home if it has the characters in or on it. The book, "School Lunch" looks like fun, and I may just read this one to my kids.

I love the look and color of this mask! Had it been yellow instead of green I would be fashioning a Skeletor costume out of it for a party I have to go to on Friday night. Instead I think I'm actually going to go with a different concept, but this thing is gorgeous. I'm actually considering painting it yellow for next year, but I'm not sure I want to risk messing it up.

This little candy dish (pretty sure it was meant to be a coffee mug, bug I am 100% sure the paint is not warm beverage resistant so...) is cute and fun and since I don't have enough witch things in the Halloween collection, I knew she had to come home.

Her goofy, cutie little face is really what sells the whole deal.

And here, ladies and gentlemen, is the small pile of books that I picked up at Scottie's books. I've talked about Scottie's here a few times before, and I even sort of began a tradition of looking for books for the Halloween season each year. But alas, alack, Scottie's will be closing its doors for good in just a month or so. ANOTHER USED BOOKSTORE BITES THE DUST. 

But at least I got to pop in there one last time to find some Halloween-y treats before the doors shut for good. The book on the left here is "Whipping Boy" which is a horror novel written by John Byrne. Yes, THAT John Byrne. Comic books John Byrne. And if you look carefully at the blurbs on the cover, you'll see that one of those is by Chris Claremont. Yes THAT Chris Claremont. I don't even remember now what this book is even about. I just knew I WANTED it. The other book, "The Beast Within: A History of the Werewolf" is a history of werewolves. Plain and simple. And I have loved werewolves since I was a kid. So this was a no-brainer. Plus the author's name is Adam Douglas, which is technically NOT Douglas Adams... but is close enough for me to get confused and excited.

Ugh. I hate it when I start editing pictures that I've taken for the blog, and I realize one of them is fuzzier than I originally thought... and I realize that I'm too lazy to actually take another picture of the thing in question. This thing is that thing in question. "Monster Museum" is another one of those oversized Alfred Hitchcock Anthologies. I plan on talking about this particular collection in a later post, so I won't go into great detail now, but I owned it in paperback before I brought this thing home. I LOVE this collection. LOVE IT. And in the next few days, hopefully you will read about all the reasons why this is.

For now, that's all I got folks! I'll be back soon with more Gloomy Goodwill Goodies, but until then, Happy Haunting!

Remember, I'm doing this countdown as a part of the official Countdown to Halloween, so be sure to pop over there and look and see who else is participating this year.