One of the things we thought would be fun to do for this blog was themed movie nights. We recently did a retro movie night, but on Halloween we took the leap for the first time in our three years of marriage and watched a scary movie together. I survived without any claw marks in my arms, and Susan survived without succumbing to heart failure.

SHE SAID:

I try to avoid watching scary movies like I avoid the H1N1 virus. Most people can sit down in a dark room for hours and watch axe murderers, exorcists and aliens unleash their rage and walk away unscathed. Not I. As soon as the movie ends I feel like a murderer is hiding in the shadows, or worse, under my bed! I avoid mirrors for weeks. Even previews at the movie theatres can give me nightmares. I blame it on watching Rescue 911 and Unsolved Mysteries at too young an age.

It goes without saying that when Brad suggested “scary movie night” this past Halloween I was hesitant, to say the least. However, I hadn’t watched any scary movies since “The Happening” (I know, not technically a scary movie…) so I thought I’d give it another go. Our friend picked “The Others” for us to watch, starring Nicole Kidman.

As soon as the movie started with an unexpected blood-curdling scream I wanted to turn it off. I fought through it, though, despite the eerie music, horrifying camera angles and downright creepiness.

Once the movie was over, something miraculous happened. I didn’t sense any doom, I wasn’t afraid to look in a mirror (for too long), and I wasn’t crying like a fool! I believe this is due to several factors that might help you along, should you somehow have the same irrational fears as me:

• We watched with friends after much lighthearted conversation.
• No one snuck up behind me or latched on to my neck in an attempt to scare me.
• No one quoted any creepy lines from the movie – THIS ONE IS KEY.
• We continued with lighthearted conversation after it ended.
• Brad let me squeeze his hand as much as I wanted.
• I had comfort food.

As much as I can’t stand the thought of a scary movie, once in a while it is fun to scare yourself. It may even be healthy to get the ole’ heart a pumpin’. If nothing else, it definitely brought us closer together.

HE SAID:

Of all the themed movie night ideas, I never thought Susan would agree to do Scary Movie Night. I’m not the biggest fan of scary movies, but every now and then I get the urge to watch something creepy. For the last three years it hasn’t even been an option for us to watch a scary movie together.

The movie we chose would likely not be considered scary by most people’s standards. But you have to understand that we had to take it easy since I’m not really interested in becoming a widower. “The Others” was more of a loud noises and creepy children type of movie rather than the kind of movie that keeps you up at night from fear of being murdered by a strange creature of the night.

Now, I’m not going to lie. It was very tempting for me to do something to add to the scariness of the night for Susan. I could have left the room and then crept up behind her and scared her, or in the middle of an especially tense scene suddenly screamed “BOO!”. However, I value my marriage. I also value sleeping in a bed, not on a couch (although I’ve never been kicked to the couch). Both of those things combined are far more important to me than the fun of scaring her.

I tried taking videos of Susan clutching the arm of the couch and covering her eyes, but it was too dark in the room so it didn’t turn out. Here’s a picture of her first time driving across the Confederation Bridge to show you what she might have looked like had the pictures turned out. Regardless, I really enjoyed scary movie night. It’ll probably be a while before we indulge in such things again, but I’m glad she got over her fears even just once. In the end it’s just more proof that it doesn’t really matter what you’re doing, as long as you’re enjoying time with another person.

If you have a favorite scary movie we would love to hear about it. Maybe you have a fun story about watching one with someone. Let us know in the comments.

One of our favorite fall activities is pumpkin carving. This year we thought it would be fun to both carve part of the same pumpkin. Though there were a few mishaps along the way, it was a lot of fun.

SHE SAID:

I think this was my most enjoyable pumpkin carving experience yet and I think I know why. For starters, my design (our logo) wasn’t too complicated with crazy precision cuts and detail (although Brad almost gave the boy a uni-leg). I’ve always wanted to carve one of those advanced portraits that require fancy pumpkin carving kits, but I’m not convinced I have the patience or time for that. On a side note, has anyone ever used one of those kits? Are they worth the investment?

Since I didn’t carve a very detailed design, I wasn’t sitting on our living room floor for hours on end, with my hips seizing and ready to snap. I decided to carve the girl part of the logo and Brad carved the boy, so it only took me about 15 minutes. Before we carved anything, Brad printed off a large version of the stick figures in our logo. Then I drew them onto the pumpkin with a marker as a basic guide. I had a lot of fun carving our pumpkin this year and I’m really happy to be displaying it on our front step.

If you’re new to pumpkin carving, here are a few tips to help you on your way:

• Carve a hole in the top that’s big enough to allow easy scooping out of the pumpkin guts. Don’t forget to cut on an angle so the top has something to sit on.
• Scoop out the guts with a spoon and roast the seeds if desired
• Draw on the pumpkin or use a template and punch the design onto your pumpkin with a tack or nail.
• Only make flesh wounds your first time around the design to avoid making too big of a gouge, then go back around to make deeper cuts.
• Instead of trying to push out one massive piece, if your design allows, cut the larger section up into smaller chunks to push through.

HE SAID:

Pumpkin carving wasn’t really a tradition in our house growing up. I’m not sure why, but we just never really cared to do it every year. I think it’s safe to say it’s a tradition for Susan and I though, since we’ve carved a pumpkin every year since we got married.

Due to time constraints, we decided to do the initial gutting of the pumpkin and the carving on separate nights. This might not have been the best idea as our pumpkins are already beginning to go mushy on the bottom. Carving pumpkins doesn’t require much set up, just spread out some garbage bags or newspaper, grab a spoon and a few different size knives and you’re ready to go.

Those of you who have been reading Things To Do For Two for a while will remember in our post about the Cold Stone Creamery that I mentioned how I really don’t like it when my food gets mashed together. Well, I have another small “thing” (some people might call it an “issue”…) I need to confess to you. I really don’t like getting my hands dirty. I’ve been this way since I was little. I distinctly remember on the drive home from school one day as a kid, I looked over at the kid next to me who had food all over his fingers. He didn’t even care. He just sat there like it was no big deal. Even now just thinking about it gets me anxious. So you can imagine how much I love shoving my hand inside a freshly cut pumpkin and scooping out the seeds…

Moving on.

If you are looking for a design to carve into your pumpkin, try to stay away from anything with small round corners, or any other intricate details. Since we just carved our logo into one of our pumpkins, it was fairly easy. Susan carved the girl half and I carved the boy half. There was only one emergency in the process. On the very last part of the pumpkin to be carved, I was supposed to leave a thin piece to separate the legs of my half. Well, in trying to pull out a chunk of leg I almost snapped off that piece which would have resulted in a dude with an abnormally long torso. Thankfully we were able to salvage it and it actually turned out quite nice.

Other than having to shove my hand into a nasty pumpkin, the only other down side was that my wrist felt like it was going to snap by the end of the carving. I’m sure that’s not normal, so don’t worry about it when you carve yours.
I’m sure most of you have tried this before. But for anyone who hasn’t, it’s a lot of fun. Last year I carved the Batman symbol into my pumpkin, which I was quite proud of. If you have any pumpkin carving stories we would love to hear them. Also, if you want to send us pictures of your carved pumpkins we could make a gallery to share them with everyone. If you are still looking for ideas of what to carve, check out this website for lots of great ideas. By the way, we still have one pumpkin left to carve so if you have any requests please let us know.