Greetings, friends! It’s been a few days since my last update, but I haven’t been idle. Have you noticed how early the stores are stocking for Halloween this year? I blogged about my first sighting at At Home (formerly Garden Ridge) which was on July 1st, a full one month earlier than last year. (And if you’re interested, that was at a chain called Home Goods, where the theme of ravens & blackbirds predominated.) Naturally, I’ve been keeping an eye on the usual merchants ever since, and they have not disappointed!
Yesterday Yankee Candle had a special one-day preview of their upcoming Halloween 2014 collection, and we dropped in to get a look. Thanks to PerkyJewels on Twitter for the tip-off!
The great thing about being a dad to small kids is that you always have a built-in excuse to be in the toy aisle. And if you have your kids with you then nobody looks twice at you as you gawk at all the amazing stuff on the store shelves these days. We are living in a golden age for toys and board games. Sure, there were a lot of really cool toys that I miss from the seventies and eighties that I wish my kids had a chance to experience, but today’s market offers a certain quality and vast variety of toys and other amusements that the old days could never touch.
Garden Ridge recently declared bankruptcy, and are now being reincorporated as At Home. But true to form, the seasons still come early there and stay late.
My dear wife noticed yesterday that one of the nearby stores had been refurbished, so we decided to drop in and check it out. I of course had high hopes for what to expect, and I wasn’t disappointed.
