We couldn’t afford to put in a pool, so we added a cemetery to the front yard instead. Oddly enough we couldn’t find a pre-made sign to highlight that addition, so we had to create the other hanging piece ourselves. Isn’t it so lovely???
As some of you already know, we have had our home on the market for a seriously long time. I wrote a post earlier in the summer discussing the countless joys of having numerous strangers tramp through our home to do fun things like breaking our blinds, leaving our doors unlocked, tracking muddy footprints from room to room, going through our drawers, and (still my personal favorite) sitting on our beds. (Note to prospective buyers: Neither our beds nor our bedding will be included in the sale of our home. Consequently you don’t need to test either of them out. Keep. Off.) While I never would have imagined that some buyers could behave so badly nor would I ever have planned for our house to be for sale for this long, I am truly thankful that we are still in this home at present.
Some of you may recognize that terrifying doll from the donation post I wrote. At last she has found her true purpose.
With that said, there are rules about what you should and shouldn’t do when trying to sell a home. Have the temperature at a comfortable level. Leave the house smelling fresh or with the scent of baked cookies hanging in the air. Don’t have clutter. Remove personal photographs. And maybe avoid hanging ginormous spiders and skeletons lurking around every corner.
The situation is this – Halloween is approaching. With it comes the chance for me to sass up the home and basically give my inner child a chance to be an outer child. Yes of course I already know that my inner child does not do a good job of staying hidden on most days anyway, but I utterly adore Halloween!
More accurately, I love every festive minute from mid-September to the end of December (except the post-Thanksgiving clean up and ugh my back hurts just thinking about that). I play Halloween movies (kid movies, horror flicks, dorky tales, lame 80’s VHS rips – whatever I can get my Freddy Krueger gloves on) until October wraps up, and then I’m right in Christmas movies (anything and everything except “Santa Buddies” – I must draw the line somewhere). I just love being surrounding with fun and magic and countless reasons to smile that can be seen anywhere you go.
But last year was different. Our house had already been on the market for a few months at that point and had yet to sell. I was extremely worried and didn’t want to decorate our home in a way that might turn a potential buyer off. We did very little to decorate the home, and the kids complained incessantly about it. Since this whole “having kids” business is old news to me, I didn’t sweat the actual complaining. The part that bothered me is that I didn’t feel like we were allowed to really live in our own home. We had to keep it looking a certain way just in case someone happened to come in who maybe might not like Halloween decor or might have a phobia about something we had displayed (I call those people “Halloweenies”).
Ultimately, we didn’t have one showing for that full month and a half. I had kept our traditions boxed up for the sake of someone who never showed up. Can you say Suck Central? That was then, but it’s a year later, and this next month and a half may be a completely different story.
And if that’s the case this time around, I sure do hope that they like Halloween. If they don’t, they don’t. If this isn’t the house for them, it isn’t the house for them. I’m done with living in a way that feels disingenuous to my family for the sake of a maybe. Until this house belongs to someone else, their decor plans are not relevant in my home. I’m not looking to taint my water bowl, but I’m not interested in feeling like I’m spending another hollow holiday in someone else’s house either.
It may seem like an insignificant move, but this is about telling fear to shove off (which is doubly ironic given that I am loading up the house with skeletons and spiders). This is about paying attention to what feels right to me and my family, and then honoring that feeling no matter how silly it may be. It’s also about remembering to keep humor at all times, and sometimes most importantly, during the stressful situations of our lives. We all face challenges and problems that are beyond our control. Our best option is to give our worries to God, pray for strength in the meantime, and just set those skeletons free.
“Life is too important to be taken seriously.” – Oscar Wilde
Isn’t she bootiful???
Love and light always – Jo
Momentum of Joy 
Sep 24, 2017 @ 20:55:30
Are those skeletons happy pumpkins for dinner? So I actually LOVE this post and love that you are fully decorating for the holidays this year. 🖤🖤🖤 Watch it sell now 🙂
Sep 24, 2017 @ 21:07:23
I love that you found black hearts. I didn’t even know that that was an option! Lol
Sep 24, 2017 @ 21:31:31
I was hoping for black 🖤 and orange. Can you believe that there was no orange? Halloween fail 😦
Sep 24, 2017 @ 21:50:22
Ironically I did find an orange fish when I looked through my emoticons. What’s with you and the ocean themes?? 🖤🐠🖤🐠🖤
Sep 25, 2017 @ 05:28:00
😂
Sep 24, 2017 @ 21:01:42
Love your decorations! And I can’t imagine no one would want cemetery views…..
Sep 24, 2017 @ 21:08:18
We should advertise it as having spacious room for all of your extended family (and I mean really extended). ☠️
Sep 24, 2017 @ 21:09:04
That’s great marketing….
Sep 24, 2017 @ 21:10:40
It’s all about spin baby! 😂😂😂
Sep 24, 2017 @ 21:24:43
You could leave surprises in the drawers in case anyone looks…..
Sep 24, 2017 @ 21:31:33
YES!!!!!
Sep 24, 2017 @ 22:03:07
And literally skeletons in closets……do you watch modern family? Cause you totally remind me of Claire at Halloween, but they had an episode where Claire kept trying to scare Phil when he was hosting a real estate showing
Sep 25, 2017 @ 05:52:39
I loved that episode! That show is so so funny.
Sep 25, 2017 @ 07:17:11
I know! Writing and acting is brilliant. And I love any show that can make me laugh and cry
Sep 24, 2017 @ 21:07:58
No serious buyer would be ran off by a spider or skeleton here or there. And, hopefully you will be sold by Christmas, but if not, decorated to your hearts content!
Sep 24, 2017 @ 21:10:19
I hope not, but some cultures can be funny about things like skeletons. At this point, the only culture worried about is the one paying the mortgage today! I appreciate the vote of confidence though, and maybe someone will see and recognize the love and life that this house has held. 🙂
Sep 24, 2017 @ 21:09:28
So glad you found your “MoJo” again! You do what feels right for you and yours!
Sep 24, 2017 @ 21:11:21
Thank you Jodi! You know that I can’t my wild child under wraps! I miss you lovebug!!!
Sep 24, 2017 @ 21:43:25
She is bootiful and so is her Momma. Great post. Live Love Laugh exponentially! Do life your way!
Sep 24, 2017 @ 21:51:30
You are so right about living life our way. It seems so obvious, so I can’t figure out why I keep fighting it!
Sep 24, 2017 @ 22:34:08
🕷🕸🕷🕸🕷🕸🕷🕸🕷🕸🕷🕸🕷🕸
Sep 25, 2017 @ 05:53:12
🖤☠️🖤☠️🖤😉
Sep 25, 2017 @ 05:54:16
😫
Sep 25, 2017 @ 01:33:25
I love the decorations lol. We are looking to put our house on the market next year and I will hate having people in my home talking about what they would change after all my hard work lol. Don’t know about cookie smell, we have a pongy lurcher smell. Great post lovely. X
Sep 25, 2017 @ 05:55:08
Pongy lurcher smell – I have to look up 2 out of 3 of those words! That just cracks me up! In my mind, I’m imagining that to mean sketchy uncle with wet old socks, but I’m hoping not for your sake. 😉
Sep 25, 2017 @ 01:34:05
Love all of your Halloween decorations and I am sure potential buyers will as well! Good luck with selling your house 🙂 ❤
Sep 25, 2017 @ 05:56:37
You’re a love for saying that! I hope that they like them, too, but I’m past caring if they don’t. We have to like our own space while it’s ours, right?!?! 🤗
Sep 25, 2017 @ 05:07:58
Fabulous pictures, over here across the pond we gather 🙂 Halloween for Americans is a very VERY big event in their calendar (English press have been showing some of the more outrageous, a funny one involving Police a garage door and a trapped bloody dummy cut in half!!) The bed anecdote is so funny and ‘frigging’ bad manners!
Sep 25, 2017 @ 05:59:45
I always forget that Halloween is an American thing. One of my former neighbors was from the UK, and he was ridiculously excited about Halloween whenever it rolled around. It was so fun watching him get into the whole thing, too. It’s a really weird holiday, but it’s funny to see what some people do.
Sep 25, 2017 @ 08:05:51
Love the decorations…the house is YOURS until you sell it…so you can decorated any which way you choose. 🙂
Sep 25, 2017 @ 08:07:22
That’s my plan girl! Too bad I didn’t run with that last year. Oh well. Lesson learned! 😉
Sep 25, 2017 @ 08:12:22
Beautiful decorations! So excited for Halloween! ❤
Sep 25, 2017 @ 22:55:05
Halloween is the best!
Sep 25, 2017 @ 14:13:04
Love your spirit, Jo (Halloween and otherwise!) so important to live our truth. If your buyer can’t see past a skeleton or two, he’s not the right one for your lovely home… Xx
Sep 25, 2017 @ 22:55:35
Fingers, toes and bones crossed! ☠️😉☠️
Sep 25, 2017 @ 15:45:41
Boy do I know what you are going through. I had my house in NC on market for years…long story. Switched it to another realtor and she sold it in 3 months. Most realtors will say depersonalize it, decorations no-no, and on and on. She said nope keep it clean and picked up and it is my job to sell it. You need to live in your home. I found I got to relax about the house, enjoyed it and wham someone drove by and said have to see it. Sold.
By the way your decorations are fabulous and if someone had kids it says I am a kid friendly house. Good thing! Buy me.
Sep 25, 2017 @ 22:57:28
Hey Laurie!!!! I went to you site not too long ago and oh my heavens your talent has exploded (I didn’t think that it could get better than where it already was!). You are amazing sweet girl! I love love loved seeing your name here today. ❤️❤️❤️
Oct 03, 2017 @ 23:08:45
This is so adorable!
Oct 03, 2017 @ 23:13:23
Thank you! 🙂
Oct 26, 2017 @ 10:38:52
Nice post. I like your humour. In my country halloween is not celebrated, still I get the general idea. One doesn’t have to carry the weight of imagined obligations to ‘maybe’ people. (Again, love and light? Where have I seen this before?)
Oct 30, 2017 @ 06:08:25
You can always tell when someone is from another country during Halloween. I don’t mean the accents of course. It’s the incredible amusement and entertainment they show because Halloween is the wackiest tradition. It’s a fun thing to do. And I so agree on the maybe. That’s the part that annoys me most. I see what I’m doing. I know that I’m being over the top. I just can’t seem to reel it back in. The only way I can describe it is if you do something goofy like popping your fingers. Once you start thinking about it, you will go bazerk trying to ignore it until you actually get to do it. It’s weird! 😉 Not sure about the familiarity but I find that the blogging world is much smaller than one would imagine. ❤️
Oct 27, 2017 @ 20:16:06
Spooktacular Decor!!!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE ❤
Oct 27, 2017 @ 21:29:24
Ha! Thank you darling!