I guess I've lost my dang mind...

So, before we went on vacation from work a couple of weeks ago, my boyfriend's sister made a comment about my not doing the part this year and not having the inside set up so they could all see it.  Tom and I have only been together just less than a year, so his sister was not in my life last year, so she didn't get to see the craziness.  Next year she and her husband and children will be in California and won't get to see it, which makes this year the only time in the foreseeable future for it to happen.  After some thought, I figured I'd at least set up most of it so she could come out, plus the ToTs would probably like to see it back since I didn't do tours last year.  Then while I was at work, I made the crazy snap decision that if I'm going to go through the trouble of setting up the inside, I might as well go all the way and have the party.  Now... call me nuts, but I'm kinda looking forward to it this year.  Last year and the year before were such let-downs that I swore this year I wouldn't put myself through it again and take a break.  Anyway, I told my co-worker Devin about my decision and she immediately started jumping up and down and cheering.  She was at the lame party last year, and she loves A. parties and B. dressing up for Halloween, so her enthusiasm totally made me happy about my decision to go forth and party.  I revealed to Tom what I wanted to do, and he said "Looks like we have some work to do."  That made me even happier, being that he used "we".  :)  Then I told everyone else via a Facebook status update... and the positives just came rolling in.  My friend Ivy said it'll be a great year since we don't have the oppression of the "ex" around and Tom is much cooler.  I am really stoked now.  Even my best friend was positive about it, and she hates Halloween.  I think the fact that I'm not making costumes mandatory plays a big role in that... lol  Anyway, Tom and I have most of the gossamer up in the house, and all the boxes down from the attic.  It really makes a difference having someone who is HELPING me, rather than running off and doing his own thing all the time.  I am REALLY looking forward to this year, even if it is on a much smaller party scale.  I am going to keep it simple and enjoy it.

Did I mention I collect magazines too?

I have always been a book-lover, so it's natural for me to collect Halloween books, but magazines  catch my eye too, especially when I have time to peruse them on breaks at work.  Lately, the fall and Halloween issues of the standard women's mags (BHG, Family, Southern Living, etc) have been showing up on the stands and they definitely have a way of catching my eye.  I picked up a copy of this season's "Taste of Home" "Ultimate Halloween" offering last week, and while it has a lot of cutesy things in it, the recipes are what really prompted my purchase.  (It's actually a softcover cookbook, but we'll call it a magazine since it was in the magazine section and all.  :)

I'm always looking for something different and tasty to whip up for the yearly event, and even though it's not happening this year, I want to get a jump on next year's party by scouring for new recipes to try out during my hiatus.  Now, there's always the same ol' thing in most of these magazines, but I did find a few things I want to try, and every one of these mags inspires me, so that makes it worth the extra bucks I spend on them.

A lot of what I love most about these kinds of magazines is the presentation of the food.  The spicy skeleton ribs and sausage stuffed slithery snakes above are two of my favorites from thes particular magazine.  (Though I think I would add some mozzarella cheese to the tops of the peppers after stuffing them and bake them in the oven for a bit instead of serving them up with the peppers raw.)

Anyway, Taste of Home doesn't disappoint this year, at least not me and I'm happy to have another Halloween reading goodie in my growing collection.  You can also check out the recipes in the Halloween section of their Holiday recipes on tasteofhome.com.  Enjoy!

The great garage clean-up of 2010........

is drawing to a close, finally.  Andy came and got the rest of his crap out of my garage, now all that is left is to organize my tool and supply cabinets, and the prop building can commence!!!!!!!

Wanna go a little "green" with your props?

http://www.inhabitots.com/2009/10/12/brian-dettmers-ghastly-recycled-cassette-tape-skulls-skeletons/

Very cool use of old cassette tapes!

I want!!!!!!!!

I Love Halloween With Scary Witch Flying her Broom Tshirt from Zazzle.com

Score!!!!!!!!!!

Got some camo netting today from my ex-Army neighbor who is moving today.  Two boxes of desert camo.  He figured either my son could use it for his airsoft gatherings, or I could use it for my Halloween display.  He thought right on both counts!  :)  Score!!!!!!!!  Thanks Charlie!

Halo Elite Costume

For you Halo fans out there.......... this is AMAZING!

http://www.geekosystem.com/halo-elite-costume/

Anoka Halloween

Anoka, Wisconsin - I wish ALL towns were this enthusiastic about Halloween!

http://anokahalloween.com/

HAuNTcon 2010

HAuNTcon is almost here!!!!!

The Haunted Attraction National Tradeshow and Conference, or HAuNTcon as we all know it better, for 2010  will be held in Kissimee, just outside Orlando,  April 28 - May 3.

April 28th - May 3rd, 2010
Ramada Orlando Celebration Resort & Convention
6375 W. Irlo Bronson Memorial Hwy.
Kissimmee, FL 34747
(877) 467-5786

For details as they develop  within the event, please visit the official HAuNTcon  website:

http://hauntcon.com/

There are also discussion threads on the forum about the event, and possible meeting places; so if you're a Florida Haunter who's lucky enough to be going to HAuNTcon, check it out and meet your fellow Florida Haunters!

FloridaHauntersForum

Gargoyles

This morning around 4 AM, as I sat on the couch eating my bowl of Ramen noodles, surfing through the 93450276 channels on cable on my night off from the Evil Empire, I came across my all-time favorite cartoon series, "Gargoyles" on Disney XD.  Now, first of all, yeah, I KNOW the series was out from 1994-1997, which made me an adult when it was in its heyday.... and obviously that makes me a bit weird to have my fave cartoon of all-time occurring not when I was a child, but as I am a grown woman (26  years old when I started watching, actually).  But hey, if you ever watched the series, you'll understand why I fell in love with the cartoon as an adult.  The whole series was geared toward an older demographic rather than the younger set that Disney normally targeted for the morning watching audience.  I actually got hooked on it because I always put the TV on Disney in the morning for my son Brandon when he was old enough to watch television (I think he was like a year old or so at the time).  Of course, Brandon would find other things to do to occupy his time, like play in the toilet, rip up his daddy's Car and Driver magazines, or eat the dead June-bugs that were stuck in the sliding glass window track.... so I would end up watching the show by myself, with my cup of coffee in hand.  From the first time I sat down and viewed my first episode, I was completely addicted to it.  It was fascinating, the characters, the story line - I found myself riveted to the TV.  I never missed an episode, and was thankful that it went into reruns so I could see the ones from the previous seasons.  It was like a soap opera, only in animated form, like Aeon Flux (I watched that a few times back in the day) and kept to a running story line that made it necessary to watch all the airings to know what was going on. 

Can you fall in love with a cartoon character?  Heck yeah!  (Figuratively, people, I'm not a freak.)  Goliath was - and still is - the perfect man, just bigger, with wings, a tail, and a loin cloth... and stuff.  Tall, dark, handsome in a blue sort of way.  Quiet, mysterious, strong, and brave... he is everything that I dreamt of in a man, only in a gargoyle's cartoon body.  Of course, he had his flaws - that whole "turning into stone" thing during the daylight hours is kind of a bummer, and you'd need a ladder to dust him.  I loved his voice, deep and soothing...even though I do not find Keith David the least bit attractive, the man has a great sound.

Back to my point for the Halloween side of my thought process this morning.  I want to rebuild my verion of Goliath, who many of you know passed on to the great landfill in 2008.  I really missed his presence in my cemetery this last Halloween.  He was like a sentinel, as he should be, watching over the graveyard as I slept, and greeting me when I came home.  I miss having him in the dining room during the off-season.  He was my first papier mâché prop since elementary school, and the first big project I ever really did, so I was really proud of him.  I learned a lot in the process of creating him, and in refinishing him a couple of years later.  I know I can make him even better this time.  It also helps that I have a much more well-suited man to be my duct-tape dummy victim for the main form this time too.  My hunk-o'-beefcake man, Tom, is 6'3" and a giant, so he will be perfect for creating the RIGHT size and proportions for Goliath.  The first body for Goliath needed a LOT of work, extra foam added in here and there, to get the proportions right since it was created from two people's bodies - upper body and torso from my ex, who is narrow-shouldered, and the legs were done from a DTD of me from the waist down, so they were too short and needed a lot of work lengthening and bulking up.  I hope Tom knows what he's in for with being a DTD victim... 

Anyway, that's one of the major props that I would like to accomplish for the 2010 season.  It took me 18 days, I think, from start to finish, to create the original version of Goliath.  I'm thinking this one may take a bit longer since I don't have all the spare time that I had when I made the first one, but the process itself should be much easier since I know a lot more about how to do it all.  Thankfully, I already have all the materials needed to create him too, so all that is left is to get that motivation to git 'r dun!