Pumpkin Carving 101 ~ Day 25

I have a confession. Until today, these were the only Halloween decorations in my house. Are you as shocked as I am depressed about it? I know, right?

I was driving through town last night and passed a house covered in cob-webs and Halloween lights and I promply burst into tears. I keep telling myself that the remodeling we've been doing will be worth it and I'll have an even better place to decorate next year. But then I think, next year, like as in 365 MORE days from now. And then I want to cry again.

Anyway, I tried to redeem myself today by doing a little pumpkin carving with the kiddos. And I have to tell you about the greatest thing ever. Ever.

Meet the Pumpkin Gutter. If you don't have one you must stop reading this and drive on over to the local Wal-mart right now. Go. I'll wait.

Now. I don't know about you but I've owned every pumpkin carving kit ever made and that piece of plastic with teeth that's included never does the trick for me. I'm an avid pumpkin carver, I admit it. But even if you're not this thing is worth all of the five hundred eighty seven pennies it costs.

It's fun to boot. You can even use it in the smaller pumpkins.

Anybody can do it and it makes quick work of the not so fun part so that you can get on with the so fun part.

Next, if you carve even one pumpkin a year, you're going to want to invest in some carving tools. You can get the cheap ones (left) which work great or, for a little more, you can upgrade to one like this Martha Stewart set (right). I like this one because it comes with the gouging tools which really come in handy. By the way, did you know they make a carving kit for your Dremel? That is totally going on my Christmas list. (Along with a scroll saw....just in case any of my family's reading this!)

To make things a little easier you might want to use a pumpkin carving template. Google them. Free. Easy. You can also find some from Southern Living, here. Do not, I repeat, do not let your child try talking you into free handing Mickey off a Disney World bag onto your pumpkin. You were warned.

And last, but certainly not least, spray the inside of that masterpiece daily with a mixture of bleach and water - I use Clorox Anywhere spray - to keep flesh eating bacteria from forming. Or you can wipe the inside with petroleum jelly to keep it hydrated. Don't let all that hard work go to waste!

I have one final tip for you. If you mistakenly thought maggots only eat meat, I am here to tell you they eat pumpkins, too. This is especially good to know if you're keeping your pumpkin indoors. And it rots. Without your knowing it. Because you didn't know you were suppose to spray it with bleach water, no one ever told you, and you find yourself, the day of your Halloween party, cleaning maggots off the buffet, the floor, the walls....BLECH.

Not that that's ever happened to me.