Yah, so I was getting antsy for Halloween and jumped the gun on carving my pumpkin.

Then I went out and bought some stuff to go with it.

Before tax, it's under 35 bucks. Not too bad, though I'd like to have done more:

Purple lightbulb, $1, dollar store.

Black plastic rose (as the "star" on the tree lol), $1, dollar store.

Purple pre-strung christmas tree, $20, Walmart.

Orange garland with beetle silhouettes, $3, Walmart.

Black and neon green electric jack-o-lantern, $6, Walmart.

Pumpkin, $4, supermarket.

(Always have candles laying around.)

This time I was smart. When you carve a pumpkin, you should put a candle in there as soon as you can, for the heat closes the pores open inside and reduces the ability for bacteria to drink up all that sweet water content, making the guy rot faster.

Last year I was stupid. I put a candle in, but it was a candle that was housed in glass. That's bad. It gives off heat, but not ENOUGH heat... giving it just a nice, jungley environment for bacteria to thrive.

My jack-o-lantern was a mess in under 4 days!

This year I not only used a really hot-burning candle, but shoved a hairdryer in there about 20 minutes.

Some say you can also spray gloss sealant on the inside, but, well, I have none lol.

If I had the cash, I'd put more pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns underneath the tree, like christmas presents. There's probably a danger in that though, having candle-lit pumpkins underneath a plastic tree that could fall over on them if the wind gets crazy.

Remember kids, it's not Halloween if you don't at LEAST:

A. Carve a pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern.

B. Light it up inside... with FIRE.

Even with fire, I'll probably need to carve 2 more pumpkins up between now and Halloween. They only last so long y'know...

(Jack-o-lantern, 2006) http://www.majhost.com/gallery/JINZONINGEN...loween_2006.jpg

(Jack-o-lantern, 2007) http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2371/161279...6778143ba_b.jpg

EDIT: EW! The one I did this year and the one from 2007 look nearly identical!!!

Main difference being, the one this year can't hold a cigarette in it's mouth.

How weird... it was totally unintentional.