October 2026 Donations

March of Dimes

October was Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month and so I chose to donate in honour of the children that Autumn lost.

Miscarriage, stillbirth, and other conditions can cause a pregnancy to end before or during birth. Infant death can be caused by preterm birth, birth defects, and other health conditions. March of Dimes honors those who’ve experienced loss, and provides resources for families facing unthinkable challenges and struggling with unimaginable loss to find hope, answers, and a sense of community. We also pay tribute on Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day, October 15. With your help this month, we can be there for all moms, dads, and babies.

Please join me in the Low Budget Philanthropy movement and help out your community and beyond in the simplest way - donating any amount to whatever charity or organisation that you care about!

Maureen's Wicked Witch

A year ago I was sitting at a dining room table in Cleveland Heights chatting with Maureen for what would be the last time. Of the decorations displayed, this witch was by far the coolest. I had to snap a photo.

BONUS: Extra goodies to round out the last of this year's Halloween posts!

Super cute Halloween card from Bishop and Pax:

(The "little treat" was a shower cap from a hotel room - ha! I used to need disposable shower caps for when I would dye my hair and Bishop still snags me one when he travels.)

I helped Lucy pack up Ghoul Bags to pass out to her classmates. She had enough left over to put together a bag for Isabella, who I was having dinner with the next night:

Barbara Signaled me to tell me all about her kids and how they are enjoying the Fall season.

From Autumn, arrived on Devil's Night!

Package from Helen, also arrived on October 30th:

Happy Soup Season, Lisa!

It's time for hot soup, hot drinks, and hot Jimothys! Do you have any good soup recipes? My favourite soup is Leek and Potato. 

Also, do you have any raccoons in your neighbourhood? I love them so much, but we don't have them here. Love their creepy little hands!

Please enjoy the unseasonal strawberry notebook (didn't want you to miss out!), and the teabags pilfered from our hotel room recently.

with love from 

Helen x

Woke up on the 31st to a Halloween greeting from Helen!

Jack-o'-lanterns by Amy and Don from pumpkins they grew on their farm!

Oh my gosh, look at this card that my cousin Alina made for her godmother, Aunt Rose. The cut out puppets are too cute for words!!

31 Days of Eerie Shows!

** Mr. Boogedy

* Bride of Boogedy

♥ Poltergeist

* What Lies Beneath

Haunted (1995)

** Final Destination

* The Haunted Palace

* Final Destination: Bloodlines

* The Birds

* The Shining

♥ Roadgames

♥ Halloween H20

Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed

* Halloween II

* Psycho

* The Bat

* Sleepy Hollow

♥ Frankenweenie (1984)

* The House That Dripped Blood

* Fright Night (2011)

* The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

** Happy Death Day

* Scream (1996)

♥ The Fog (1980) 

* Night Watch (1973)

* Dracula (1979)

* Your Monster

♥ The Changeling

The Dead Don't Die

* The Curse of Frankenstein

♥ The Exorcist

BONUS: Rewatching ♥♥ Widow’s Bay 

* - liked

♥ - loved

Any unmarked titles were, in my opinion, so-so.

October 2026 Books

** It Seemed Important at the Time by Gloria Vanderbilt - This was a quick read that focused on the mostly delightful romances that Gloria Vanderbilt had throughout her life. I love her writing and her honesty. I do always wonder what her life would have been like if she had stayed with Howard Hughes...

** Veal ¹ by Mackenzie Nolan - Janine's brother Noah recommended this book to me last New Year's Eve. He knows the author and I was gobsmacked when it was available as an audiobook through Hoopla. It was on my to-read list for 2026 and I decided to finally get to it this month. Essentially it's the story of college-age gals who work at an arcade in a town that is infamous for a series of vicious murders perpetrated against young women. Is it a monster with glowing yellow eyes or is it man, the most dangerous animal of all and the biggest threat to women? As a female, I was rooting for it to be a monster. It's such a terrifying and frankly, depressing thought to know that most men hate or at the very least, dislike women. And dislike them enough to take their lives from them, among other things. Hence the title, Veal. In the eyes of these hateful men, women are veal. They are nothing more than meat bred in anguish waiting to be devoured. At least that's my interpretation. 

♥ ‘Salem’s Lot ¹ by Stephen King 

* Ghost Stories Volume One ¹ by M. R. James (narrated by Derek Jacobi) - This was good for the season and I can't decide whether I thoroughly enjoyed the stories, or just listening to lovely Derek Jacobi...

♥ The Exorcist ¹ by William Peter Blatty

¹ - audiobook
² - abridged version
* - liked
♥ - loved
Any unmarked titles were, in my opinion, so-so.

Halloween Duolingo Style

Spooky Cuties

I'm so glad I bought this colouring book because it was so relaxing to fill in the pictures while watching scary movies at the apartment in Cleveland Heights last week.

Halloween Comes to Trader Joe’s

This afternoon I picked up Kay and we went for Indian food and then the Trader Joe’s in Berwyn where I spotted a cute little seasonal display.