Tuesday, September 4 - Devilicious

Thursday, August 16 - What am I gonna be this Halloween?

Sunday, August 5 - Halloween Dreams

8/3/2007 - A Neglected Blog Here

Monday, July 30 - My Blog Just Got A New Costume

5/2/2007 - Happy, pleased and new hobbies.....

Ever hear about having to many pans in a fire? I have so many I put the fire out.......

First Happy, Yes I'm still happy to be almost single! I've said for years that I loved the idea of being married. Wasn't lieing. I did. She left me. Guess that's saposed to make me the looser. But in this case, no. I wish only the best for her and hope she finds someone who will be just as good for her and my inlaws as they were for me. And I hope she does a LOT of growing up between now and then.

And Pleased. In my last entry I talked about a different forums cheap prop challenge. I'm VERY happy that someone who's versed in the art of paper mache won. Good to see talent come out on top. A lot of good talent on that forum.

And now new hobbies. Started playing the drums. OK, maybe it's a second childhood thing at 44. LOL Bought an old 7 piece Slingerland set off of E-Bay. NICE!!!! Came with 3 cymbal stands and one double tom stand and the thrown. 10,12, 13 and 14 toms. 14X6.5 chrome snare with stand and a 22X16 Bass drum with foot peddle. No hi-hats or cymbals. Drilled a hole through a 20 inch ****l serving tray for a ride cymbal. Still looking for something to use for hi-hats. Right now I have half a small plastic bottle on the hi-hat stand to keep the parts from hitting each other when  I step on the peddle. Learning to play jazz. Got two books to play out of. "Progressive Independence' and one on the styles of Art Blakey. I'm learning to keep a triplet beat with my right hand, eight and 16ths with my left and trying to keep my feet from ending up in the next room. LOL Big difference between jazz and rock.

 

Still haven't done anything new for Halloween this year. Am planing on posting a few tutorials in Larry's new forum section. One on stand up paper mache corpses and one on making lab machines out of junk. My be a wile on both of them.

4/15/2007 - 2006 Haunted House Report

I have not been here in ages!  I have dropped in everywhere else, but it's tough to spread one's self around.  At any rate, I'm here now and that's all that matters.

Just a quick report to say that The Scream Extreme 2006 was a success!  What does "success" mean?  If it means making a financial profit, then no, it wasn't a success.  BUT, we raised more than 2005 and our attendance was up as well.  Our days were up, also -- from three days in 2005 to 11 days open in 2006.  So, naturally our profits and attendance were up.  It was very tough being open for so many days.  We more than tripled them and my body and mind were feeling it.  I was quite on edge and grumpy many nights due to having to get the actor's roster together every time as well as doing the makeup.  Most nights I had to juggle the actors around as there were always actors who flaked on the schedule and only had one night where all the places were filled.  Me being an actress, I have always favored actors over animatronics as they have perfect timing (if the actor is good) and can execute a scare at the right time.  However, by 2006's end, I had decided to incorporate more animatronics into the haunt and not be so dependent on actors.  I have kept to my word as now I have five animatronics as oppose to the one we had last year.

If you contribute success to how many people we absolutely terrorized, then YES, we where quite successful!  We had many to take the emergency exits and one lady to even faint on us.  One young man came out having an asthma attack.  I would have normally been quite concerned, but he had his inhaler with him and was warned before entering that anyone with a respiratory illness should not enter.  And get this....We even had to two EMTs, a man and a woman,  to park their ambulance in the front and go through.  I thought for sure they could never be scared as they see the real stuff everyday --- They screamed and jumped just as loud or louder than everyone else.  LOL!

If you think a successful haunt is one where no one gets hurt, again a huge YES.  Even though we are always insured, it is always great when no injuries are reported.  I and the crew go through the haunt with a fine tooth comb every night we're open to make sure there are no stumbling hazards or any other type of problems that could cause an injury.  Some feel I am overly cautious, but I say there is no such thing.

I am looking forward to next year.  There will be a few changes, one of which I will tell you about in my next blogging......

So, how was your day?

Peace!

3/27/2007 - A slow start or not started yet depending how full your glass is.....

I find it easier to set new goals than it is to admit I don't keep the old ones......

Still unsure about this Halloween. My wife and I have split and really don't have anyone I can count on to help. Do have a few friends but most of them work nights. Best to plan like it's happening than it is to happen with nothing done. The good side to this hole thing? Our split has been just as good for me as our marriage was. Wont get into all of that but lets just say I'm HAPPY. Other than getting loads of new dumpster items form work I haven't done or created anything. The Wednesday auctions will start back up the first week of next month. I'll be root'en through the junk piles for more good things for Halloween. Got so much stuff now I could redo the entire haunt. OK, if I got of my lazy a..... LOL

Was going to make something for another Halloween forum's $20 cheap prop challenge but didn't and here's why. First off I'd like to say the guy's doing a great job running his forum. And I have complete respect for what he's doing. That's why I'm not bringing this up no will I ever bring it up on his forum or to him privately. But here? Hey this IS my blog right. LOL. All right, here's my beef.. How come folks can use masks and costumes they got after Halloween and I can't use all the free scrap lumber I can get my hands on? Before ya'll go "waaaa! your just cry'en cuz ya didn't get your way"  hear me out. If a costume or mask is what makes the prop than the creator 'bought' the prop. Didn't make it, just positioned it. On the other hand all the scrap wood in the world is just scrap till someone makes it into something. I think the only way to make this completely fair would be to buy $20 worth of stuff and make a prop out of it. And it has to be bought dirring the challenge. No free stuff and nothing on sale. Or give a list, "2 used light bulbs, 1 2x4, 1 beach ball,1 pool noodle' 3 can's of Great Stuff, fasteners or nails or screws or glues and paint in colors of your choice. Ready, set...GO!"  Wonder what folks could do with that? It's already got me thinking. LOL

1/7/2007 - The moon is always there. Part two.

This is a series of entries under "The Science of Paranormal". If this is your first time reading this please click on the link and follow this form the beginning. Thanks.

Recognition, Faces and Reality.

We have the ability to pick out and recognize 1 face in a crowd. We also can see that same face in the contents of a toilet before it's flushed. Or in a poorly lit camera shot in an old building. Our brains are pre programmed to pick out the features that make up a face. In fact this pre programming ( instinct ) is so powerful the subject could be completely abstract and still acceptable as a face. Need an example? Bugs Bunny, Tweedy Bird and the Grinch. Even if it doesn't have two eyes a nose and a mouth. Optimus Prime and all the cars in the movie ' Cars'.

When investigating it's important to know that what you see isn't always real. Knowing and understanding how the brain works is very important.  

1/7/2007 - Looking back at all the stuff I didn't make.

Sure, I can put time in a bottle. I can hold the thing for hours.........

Every once in a wile I go back and look through all the planned props and what I was doing at the time. I get part way into something and either run into problems or get distracted with something else. Or just get lazy. A habit I can't seem to break. Looked back at an earlier entry about 'toxic zombies'. I tried the paper mache. Didn't have the look I was going for so I dropped the idea. No toxic zombie graveyard. Still have an idea on what might work. Melt into place plastic sheeting on large areas of a torso made of cardboard ribs painted black. Then cutting holes in a paper mache skull and doing the same for the head. Snot rag around the plastic as I would a regular corpse. Paint the inside white. Light it up form the inside with green mini Christmas lights. And there you have it. Internal glowing toxic zombies. You can even see the ribs! Yep, are you guys laughing too? It's a great idea, like all the others, when ever I get around to doing it. LOL

With the pending divorce comes the possibility that I wont have the help I need to run safely on Halloween night. Not that I don't have friends but most of them either work nights or have kids and go Trick-or-Treating. I think the in-laws would still come out and give out candy. But I would be sitting with them out of curtesy and not in the haunt where I can direct traffic ( try not to bash in the heads of stupid people LOL) and keep everything running smoothly. It's just a possibility and not something I can do anything about at the moment.

And now for the pressing matters at hand. My e-mail and the web sites. Deb. filled out a form we got one day and now spam is as thick as clay. The only way around this is to get rid of all existing addresses and start over. Unfortunately the web site is connected to the address getting 99% of the spam. I've talked to folks at Earthlink. I could move the web site to a new e-mail but it would be a locked site. I wont be able to make any changes to it. Plus there is the problem of being on the Monster list, getting thousands of hits form folks who have the site bookmarked or in their favorites. Not to mention all the sites that use that address to send me info as needed. It's a mess. What I might try is setting up a new default e-mail and getting business taken care of first. Change the site over to a e-mail of it's own. Then in place of the site leave a 'site has moved to this address' page. All e-mail sent to the original address will go directly to a delete folder. I'll go from 600 to 700 messages a day down to 5 or 6. There will be peace at last. LOL Well, at least on my end.

Haven't got the Dreamweaver 4.0 program yet but still working on the layout of the new site. In the works right now is a main hub with 4 subdomains.

Halloween props

Halloween displays

Christmas crafts

Christmas displays

As of right now if I put all the stuff I have on the site it will be 500+ pages with anywhere from 3800 to 6000 pics. Mostly of prop and craft how-to's. I'll admit I have more Christmas stuff than Halloween. Been doing it a lot longer. But there will be a lot more how-to's on the Halloween site. I also still plan on keeping it honest. I've gotten plenty of cool ideas from folks on the forum and other sites and plan on mentioning them ( those I remember or can still find ) on the how-to pages for that project. It's going to be a simple strait forward site. No animation, flash. marques or pages littered with giffs and backgrounds. And deffinitely NONE of those annoying things that follow your cursor around the page. And NO pop ups.

12/24/2006 - Twas the day before Christmas and all through the house

12/20/2006 - so much for holiday spirit.

For what it's worth, as long as it's cheap........

This will be a complaining, wining and rotten entry so if you don't want to read my ranting skip to the next one.

 

Words can't describe the mixed feelings I had. I'm in the living room putting up the tree wile the soon to be ex is packing up more of her stuff in another room. And she's got a lot of stuff. Didn't come with it all. She can spend on herself like no one I've ever met. I went with her one day and she dropped $200+ on yard sales. We got a 10x20 storage unit for her 6 months ago. She's filled it 2/3'ds of the way. Mostly with stuff she's bought sense. Oh well, enough said about that. She'll get her place in the woods and she can surround herself with all the stuff she wants.

 

It's almost fitting. This has got to be the ugliest Christmas tree I've ever put up. I modified a fake tree a few years back. Took all the branches off and made my own trunk. With less branches and being more spread out this tree ROCKS when filled with all my shaped ornaments. A real old fashioned tree look with out the real tree sap and mess. Nothing wrong with the tree itself. It's what's on it. Those small colored lights. Drooping strands of silver tinsel garland. And 248 clear plastic icicles. That's it.. Not a single glass bobble, bell or Santa. Just 248 icicles hanging there. About as pretty as a wet dog. If you go and turn your kitchen faucet on, that's about as nice looking as our tree. Cold, ugly and damp looking. And because I'm the only one that decorates it's the only thing Chrismasy in the house.

 

My Christmas shopping is done. All $600+ of it. The most I've been able to spend in the last 5 years or more. Be the last time I'll be buying for my wife and inlaws so I splurged a bit. I know most of ya'll are having a better time of it. And I guess I should be too. Every once in a wile a man has to be selfish and feel sorry for himself. My turn.

11/26/2006 - You get what you think with first impressions. You get the truth if you really look.....

One good, one not so good and still in the air.

There wont be anymore Wednesday auctions till next spring. I'll miss them. Got a lot of really good stuff cheap. Still have the Friday night ones I'll go to. Also plan on hitting both FreeCycles I belong to hard this year. Just can't seem to get enough cheap and free. LOL Going to start looking for clothing I can use for the corpses. Plan on making lots of ground breakers over the summer. Putting them is shirts will keep the amount of detailing I have to do down. Less work, more bodies. I like the idea. Also what to add more tombstones. I've got a bunch I don't use because they're to small. Maybe I'll spend the time on Wednesdays making stuff.

Bought two items for Halloween last Friday night. One is a 1968 pressing of Disney's Halloween album. The other is a very large spool of what I thought was tope material. Deb informed me that it's actually a fibrous material used to back hand embroidery. This stuff dissolves. Oh well. now I have a few hundred yards of this stuff. Was going to use it like cheese cloth and make props to sell on Ebay. Now I don't know what I'll do with it. Might still try props but will have to see how well this stuff will hold up.Guess I should of looked at it before I bid. I'm sure I'll find some use for it that's worth the $3.00 I spent.

The soon to be ex wife and I are getting ready to decorate for Christmas. Probably go over board like we always do. LOL The hard part will be dividing the stuff up. I've collected ornaments for years before we got married. I keep telling myself it's only stuff. Stuff can be replaced. But that don't always work. There is stuff I wont part with, the rest is up to fate.

11/18/2006 - Ode to a lost fellow prop builder.

You are your past. To change now is to change your future......

Everyone has skeletons in their closets. But when you have skeletons in lots of other peoples closets it's easy for you past to catch up with you. Such is the case of our friend and fellow prop builder MadMax. It's unfortunate that the person we know isn't the person he was years ago. What he did for the forum and brought to the community is the MadMax I know. Extremely innovative, creative and always answering questions. A person who's posts added value to the forum. Impossible to replace.

I'd just like to say if you ever get a chance to read this, Thanks dude.

11/16/2006 - In Retrospect and looking to the future....

You don't learn much listening to yourself talk....George Cloonie.(sp?)

For a long time now I'd given thought to spreading my how-to site into a collection of smaller sites with a central hub. This would give a better chance that some of the site would still be on line by the end of October. But then it hit me. I get lots of hits Jan. through Aug. By September my site usually goes off line around the last week. Then in October by the middle of the second week. I don't need to put myself through all that extra work. I get serious prop builders all year long. By October I get 'Halloween Fans'. Kids looking for things to see. And the 'time to get started' folks that wait till October to make props. I'm not going to say I don't appreciate these folks. I do. But I like the folks that start in Jan. better. LOL

Bought another computer at an auction yesterday. Paid a whole .50 cents for a 13 inch monitor, keyboard, two unpowered speakers and the guts. Win. 95 with 25 megs of ram. Didn't get it for it's processing power. It's one more working power supply. Hopefully when everything settles down and I can get some normalcy to my life again I'll dig into animation for next year.

I started this years planning wanting to do a freak show carnival inspired by a fellow Halloween forum member. DR Slicsill ( remember your name but not how to spell it. sorry dude.) Thought it would be a great way to tie in with the dead clowns I made last year. Then I wanted to do a reanimated clown laboratory and circus. Kinda like Frankenstien does clowns. That didn't happen either. Got a few machines glued together and even one cool old scope from a forum member. That's as far as I got with that. Then I bought a bag of really big stuffed animals real cheap at an auction and thought,

"Dead clowns and Evil toys"

No better combination on earth to give nightmares. I cut the head off of one stuffed dog. And that's as far as I got. Fun, but not very productive. LOL

Not going to make plans this early for next year. I think I'll make it up as I go. Do I have an ultimate haunt? Sure, I'd need 7 more folks to help man the thing. And at the rate I'm going 40 more years to build it. LOL The real thing to remember is everyone had a blast with the new and old stuff this year. despite all the personal set backs Halloween turned out really good. Looking forward to next year. Like you, I have no idea what it's going to look like.

11/12/2006 - SORRY FOLKS NO MORE COMMMENTS. 2121 SPAM ENTRIES.

220+ SPAM ON ONE BLOG ENTRY ALONE??????

It's a shame because I liked being able to talk to folks who have things to say. But after getting 2121 coments, 99% of are SPAM, I turned off this blog option.

11/12/2006 - Post Halloween. Done, didn't get done and life in space.........

Life is what happens when you plan on doing something ells.

Had a blast this Halloween. A good turnout and lots of compliments. Did something new this year. Added light and lots of it. Folks saw things I've had for years for the first time. I honestly think I could have had nothing new to show and folks wouldn't of known it. Some of the new stuff I had was made last year. The corpsed clowns, circus themed tombstones and all the ground breaker coffins. Rained last year so I wasn't able to set up the out door walk through. This year I added a section of graveyard fence, 9 black crosses, 60+ feet of rusty chain and two five light 5 1/2 ft. tall candelabras. I also put a makeshift dress on one of the stand up corpses and made me a woman. LOL  Thanks to a friend of mine with a nice digital camera I was able to put pics on the web site. I have film getting developed but it would be a wile before I could get them posted.

Best laid plans of mice and men. The things I didn't get done. I have lab equipment in my basement. Unfinished and getting dusty. The plan was to have a clown reanimation lab in the middle of the graveyard. Then make my first animated props, reanimated clowns, for the clown graveyard. I also wanted to have an evil toy display. I got as far as cutting the head off of one stuffed dog. Planned on this display leading into the dead clown graveyard.

Life in space..... It's surprising how having the bottom drop out of your personal life effects everything you do. I can't tell if I'm free falling or floating. But I'm damn sure I haven't hit the ground yet. First off my brother gets sick and disowns my mom and me. Haven't seen or heard anything form the guy. I do know he's hitting the bottle again. Hard. None of his friends are talking. I've stood outside his home knocking on the door knowing his there. Stopped doing that. Then my wife decides she wants a divorce. Been helping her pack things up for a few months now. Ya, I know that sounds weird. We've already decided  who gets what. Will get one lawyer for the both of us. Nothings getting contested. My father-in-law, who's been more of a dad to me than the drunk I grew up with, had back surgery. He's doing fine now. Still wearing a harness. He'll be in that for three more months. Then, three weeks before Halloween my mom has a stroke. The good news is she's fully recovered. I spent the good part of 4 weeks living at her condo. About a 45 minuet drive from here. Still got the Halloween display up. My mom was totally supportive of it. The one bright spot through all of this? I was contacted by someone who's putting together a book on home haunts. Told me it would be a few years in the making and wanted to know if I'd be interested in participating. Hay, at first I thought this was a joke. Even told him so.  I've seen pictures of displays done by folks on the Halloween forum that blow mine away. Turns out it's not a joke. I'm not going to get excited about it. I'm being concidered. It's not a done deal. I'll know some time next year if my haunt gets pictured. Told the guy about the Halloween forum and even turned him on to a few haunts.

Haven't been to the blog site for a wile now. Noticed that I have 2121 comments left by folks. So I went to check it out. Didn't find them. What I did find is a few spam. So just how gullible do these folks think everyone is? Trash is trash. Fortunatelly there's more good folks on line then trash.

11/7/2006 - Halloween Photos 2006

Halloween Nighshots 2006

Oct. 20, 2006 - The Talking Knights

10/19/2006 - Owl