I love this time of year.  It’s still warm, but the promise of cool Fall nights is right around the corner.  I start thinking about crock pot meals and bonfires and baseball playoffs. Our family has a buttload of birthdays from September until the end of the year, which means lots of clan time too, always a plus.

And, I love to decorate for Fall.  The challenge is getting the decor done in time to enjoy it before Christmas shoves all my pumpkins and acorns into storage for another year.  Since it’s also a busy time at work, I sometimes get behind the 8 ball.  More than sometimes.  Pretty much always.  Actually, this describes it perfectly:

Not this year!  This year, I am determined to be bathed in Autumn Splendor by October 1.  I am planning ahead.  I am scheduling.  I am ON IT!

Sometime in July, I became obsessed with this display for Autumn.

Is that cute, or what?

The best part is that I already have the base bucket!  So, in other words, it was pre-ordained that I was to make this display.  This whole thing is only going to set me back about $15.  I’m a happy camper!

All I needed was a length of rebar, which my MacGyver husband already had, 5 little plastic pumpkin buckets, and some adorable mums.  Easy peasy!

It’s too early to buy mums, but long weekends like this one are meant for projects like this, so I planned on getting my display ready.  Base planter, check.  Rebar, check.  Potting soil, check.  Off to get some pumpkin buckets from the dollar store!

What is going on in America?

The $1 Shop, Dollar General, nor Family Dollar have these pumpkins.  They have mini (two inch) pumpkins, and orange pails with pumpkin faces on them, but not the required pumpkin shaped and textured treat buckets.  Fail.

Amazon has them for $4.99 ea. plus shipping.  Not eligible for Prime.  Amazon is smoking the ganja.

I checked K-Mart online, and found them for $1.46 each, available in my local store, so off I went.

K-Mart online lied to me.  They have the pumpkin buckets, but only in hot pink, purple, or black.  I’m sorry, when did the signature pumpkin orange go out of style?

I happened to spy Marge, a helpful, cheery employee in the Halloween aisle at K-Mart.  I asked her if they had any orange pumpkin buckets.

“We must have….somewhere.”

“I couldn’t find them, only these pink and purple ones.  Oh, and the black.”

“Why wouldn’t we have orange?”

“I, uh, I don’t know.  That’s why I’m asking you.  You must have orange, yes?”

“Well, it’s flippin’ K-Mart, so who knows.”

Thank you, Marge at K-Mart, for confirming that even helpful, cheery employees are baffled by K-Mart’s choice of inventory.

I look at Steve, and know what he’s thinking.  The Big W.

“Do you want to try Target?”

“They’re almost $4 a piece at Target online.  I’m not paying $4 for pumpkins that should be $1.  I was compromising at $1.46.”

“Micheal’s?”

“Michael’s doesn’t have the round ones.  They have the pails.  Their actual pumpkins are $12 each.  Let’s not get crazy.”

“OK, then hear me out.  Let’s just go to Wal-Mart.”

“No.  No Wal-Mart. I don’t want the planter that badly.”

“Wait, so you would rather abandon the entire project than buy the pumpkins from Wal-Mart?”

I grudgingly head to Wal-Mart.  Where there are no pumpkin buckets.  There are costumes, and candy, and decorative items, and orange gift bags with jack-o-lantern faces, but there are no pumpkin buckets. I subjected myself to Wal-Mart on a FRIDAY NIGHT, and came away empty handed.

*sigh*

Ebay.  Ebay’s gotta have pumpkins, right?

This is where I learned that the world has gone insane.  Used plastic pumpkin buckets are being hailed as “vintage”, and are listed for $15.00 and up.  Not just one seller, mind you…..dozens.  I *did* find what I wanted, at the price I wanted…. $0.75 each!  Plus shipping.  From China.  That may arrive by Christmas.

I’m not giving up.  There will be decor up by October 1st so that I can bask in the beauty of Fall.  That fabulous towering pumpkin planter may be adorning my front stairs in a few weeks.  Or, I may scale it back a little.