As of yesterday I actually got started on this years Halloween projects!!  I know, I know too little too late probaly but I feel good about it...lol!

We went to got the wood we needed to get our new castle walls built, and built 5 out of the 9 we need already!  Not a cool new prop or anything like that but it's a start and that's all that matters at this point!  We got the fabric to do up our wolves too, doing the animated reindeer conversion to a sitting howling wolf, should look pretty cool when done.  Then I have to get moving on the pirate ship, UFO and dragon...Only a month to go I can do it.....

.....I hope.

Didn't get to work on anything this weekend it was so hot and humid I just couldn't stand to go out. Tim worked all weekend so I there was no way I was taking Jake out in the heat. I did manage to move props up to shead that I have completed. Don't want everyone seeing my surprizes for this year. Sure hope I can download my pictures later, I do have some of Johnny Appleseed, just no time to go to Mom's and download. We need a new computer at home but keep putting it off until Jacob gets bigger. He trys to reformat mom's all the time, I can just imagine what he would do to one he could sneak and get access to alot.

Planning what to do in the party area and it looks like I am going to have "Madame Crowley's Psychic Readings" for everyone while they wait on the trail to begin. Looks like hot dogs again this year, cheapest way to feed everybody. I got "Madame Crowley" tarot cards off ebay, Ms. Cleo tarot cards at that! for $6.00 total, can't beat that!!

I have been surfing the net trying to organize my ideas and maybe find some new ones. While looking at a haunt in MI I got upset and had to get out of it. I know different strokes for differnt folks when it comes to haunting, but ****...these people had a room with babies stabbed and eaten, blood everywhere and pics of what looked like dead children that had been mutilated. I couldn't take it. To me that is not scary but disturbing as I have had to fight so hard to have my child and have fought so hard only to lose some. Ah well, I won't dwell on it.

I am rearranging, reworking the trail, trying to make it work and be scary. I am probably putting too much into it, the woods at night are scary anyway.

I have paper mached another skull, very awesome looking I might add, and want to have a body with this one but having trouble creating that part. The head is heavy with the neck attached but I will just keep persavering until I figure the damn thing out. It is so HOT outside I haven't been able to do much. We are hoping to get relief soon. Maybe then I can get the ball rolling again on the prop part of my life.

I have also been kicking around ideas for the party area. I always have to decorate some there too. I finally settled on a quote with Alarming Products for 2 masks and a head prop. When I get paid on the 31st I plan on ordering them. There is also several things in ABC which I want to get and decorate with mainly these two:

http://www.abcdistributing.com/home/catalog/cat_item_pg.asp?P=4&G=347

I can always figure a place for something like them.

Halloween Forum has started up a place called SinisterSpace and I have joined there. As usual I am unable to figure out uploading pics and stuff. My pics are too big and I can't figure out how to downsize them to fit into anything. I'll keep trying maybe get some pointers later from Empress or Deathtouch.

I have recently found the book "I Am Legend"  by Richard Matheson and this is the picture on the front cover. I was hard to see on the book but this picuture is awesome! Scary stuff...

I received the best compliment from my son-in-law this weekend. We had a big fish fry in the garage where I am working on alot of props. Someone made a comment about the skeletons, heads, etc. and Tim said, "that's just my mother-in-law, she's the Queen of Darkness." I really liked that one and appreciated it in a way most people, other than other haunters, would never understand.

Paper mached a beauty salon head last evening, we will see how it turns out for the spider victim props. I think they can be used.

Also about 8:45PM when Jacob and I had went up to get ready for bed (Tim working) I heard a knock on the door. I figured it was my brother Darius, no, I got a treat, FED EX had delivered my 3 new skulls from ACC and now I can start paper maching them and working on a prop or two for the graveyard. It's the small things in life ya know, ACC skulls, etc....

I am now back from vacation and back at work. I am not sure one could call what I just went through a "vacation" with all the house cleaning, cooking and large number of family in and out of the house. But I wasn't at work, I could sleep in and spend time with Jacob and also able to work on props and work out more trail ideas.

I completed the neck and head for Johnny Appleseed, thanks to John at Pumpkinrot and Mark--Deathtouch, I think he turned out great. I will posts pics as soon as I have him mounted. Tim is supposed to help finish that out this weekend. I stained my Bart and he turned out good too. I didn't take the time to "corpse" him but I bet I could if I tried. In the words of Cousin Gage who helped, "they look wicked awesome!" I thought so too. I was also able to drag out alot of things stored and was able to figure out what props I already had, what I need to buy, etc. I also decided to keep my charity the March of Dimes and not change this year like I did last year.

Next thing I am going to start working on is the spider victims. I am going to try and paper mache a head I received from a local beauty salon. I think I could possibly make the heads into a prop piece for the spider victim then wrap it in the comforter lining to look like bodies in spider webbing. I am thinking about purchasing a hand that moves by battery to be in one webbing to look as if the person is still alive. Gross huh?

Still working on uniforms. I took Gage to Ft. Donelson and while there finished buying my Union and Confed hats for the scareactors. We had an excellent day for exploring and tried to get a few ideas from what was there. I believe the trail needs just some fine tuning. I am sending copies of everything to Damon for finalizing all the details (if possible.) Time is winding down and I am trying to get things bought and made as much as possible so the expense won't be so bad in October. Of course the food expense and all the etcs. are bad no matter what. Soon to start planning the party area and food. More later...Peace...

These are the only two pictures that I had the chance to take while working the Fright Fest NH haunt earlier this month...

I'm the good looking one in the middle...lol!

That is the costume I wore for 5 hours straight.  It was brutal hot in the building nevermind in the costume.  It was fun though, spooking never gets boring...