Adventures in Diagnostic Imaging:

Or, Reasons I Won't Miss Where I Live Now.

I went to the diagnostic center this morning for my first ever boob squishing. Signed in at the counter, and sat down to wait. The selection of reading materials was limited to issues of Diagnostic Imaging Today and Garden and Gun. That's right, a proudly southern magazine celebrating the beauty that flowers and plants bring to our lives, and killing living creatures for sport. It was that or watch the Today Show, and since I'd rather poke my eyes out with knitting needles than do either one, I decided to take a cat nap instead.

A man in the waiting room decided to strike up a conversation with an older woman. He distainfully exclaimed that the nurses calling out people's names to take them back made it seem like a "welfare office" in there. They should do the respectable thing and use those flashy light things (beeper coasters) like the other hospital does. Um, okay. I can understand having privacy issues, but there's no need to be classist about it. Actually a beeper coaster would have helped, because another woman in the waiting room had the same last name as mine :)

I was called back, and the clerk who took my information talked non-stop. There was a wire basket next to the monitor on the desk, with a computer print out with somebody else's information on it. Not giving me great confidence in your privacy regulations, people!

Waited another eternity to get into the Mammography room. The nurse technician in there also spoke non-stop, about the weather, the busyness of end of the year appointments, the recent attempted terrorist bombing and how the people on the plane should "praise Jesus" that the guy wasn't successful.

The scan itself wasn't as bad as I'd been led to believe, and the whole experience led to a blog post ;)

* My blog has been suffering from a lack of posts due to the wonderful presence of my fiance, for both Christmas and New Year's! Plus my brother is in town as well! Good times all around!

Glen filled my stocking with Stray Sock Sewing, You Shall Die by Your Own Evil Creation! and Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. His mom sent along some adorable vintage Vogart embroidery patterns and skiens of varigated thread, a book to prepare me for life on Vancouver Island and a pair of embroidery scissors. His sister gave me a huge stack of scrapbook paper and tins of brads, rivets and label discs. I see myself embracing my craftiness in 2010!

My parents were generous and gave us a Wii, Wii Fit Plus, Wii Sports and Wii Play - no more excuses for schlumping on the couch all evening. Mom almost fell over laughing at our attempts to race knitted cows in Charge!

And I discovered that I'm quite adept at Bowling as long as I'm not wearing rented shoes.

They also supplied me with a travelling case for my embroidery threads and works in progress - more craftiness!

The next day Glen and I made our Miis, and even made one for my cat! She wasn't impressed.

* Phew, that's enough updating for now. Tune in next time for photos of handmade stockings with gingerbread embroidery!

tees part two and other detrius

* On Saturday I went to look at fabric for the dress I'm getting married in, perused Big Lots for deals (nothin') and went by K-Mart for envelopes. When I left K-Mart I walked to the passenger side of my car to put my stuff in the front seat and saw 2 scratches through the paint from the back door to halfway down the back panel. It made me cry right there in the parking lot.

It was probably a shopping cart; if it was deliberate they would have messed with my Cthulhu fish as well.

* I haven't been sleeping well, so last night I took a sleeping pill. Woke up late this morning, and now I'm tired, sniffly and coughy. boo! I must have caught what my mom had on Thanksgiving.

* So, more tee shirts. How about horror?

- Last year at ScreamFest there was a Bite Mark Clothing booth
(whaddya know, it was her first big booth!) Lovely ladies with accents selling a small range of shirts. I walked away with an I Heart Zombies shirt and I love it. Got complimented on it when I went to see Zombieland!

- another seller at the con was Sigh Co. Graphics. I bought a shirt for a friend's birthday, and for myself I got the New Dark Age shirt. I hope to lose enough weight to be able to wear it :(

- 'Tis the season - only 21 more days until Cephalopodmas! Thanks to Gory Girl Pat I have a Cephalopodmas tee drawn by Apelad himself.

- Finally, Mini Cassette has a mix of scary and omg squee tees.

customer service win!

* This is not a paid endorsement, but I have to share.

Last week I ordered 2 pairs of shoes from Lands' End. The ones I ordered in Jan for walking in Victoria are amazingly comfortable, and shoes were on sale (half price!). The package arrived last night, and the shoes are great.

I decided to wear the purple ones today, since I have tights and a shirt that match :) On the short walk to the car, I noticed they were a bit loose. On the walk from my car to work, across the parking lot, I realized that they are too big.

So I called the Lands' End customer service number to exchange the shoes. I dialed, the phone rang once, and I heard, "hi, this is Debbie at Lands' End, how can I help you?" A PERSON! A LIVE PERSON! Answered the phone! No endless menu of "para continuar en Espanol, precione uno" and "your call is important to us" and "all our operators are currently assisting other customers." I was so flabbergasted that I paused, then said "wait, you are a person?" and she laughed.

She pulled up my account, re-ordered the shoes in a smaller size for the same price (even though the price on one had gone up), told me that I could take the pairs I have to Sears to return them, and let me know that if I decided to order anything else today before 10pm CST, they'd add it to my new pairs so I'd get free shipping.

Yeah, that's what customer service SHOULD be!

and I found out they ship to Canada ;)

tee shirts part uno

* I'm not one for wearing advertising tee shirts, but advertising fake products is a-ok! Wake up ... time to die has great tees based on companies and products in great movies! The Stay-Puft man shirt is a beautiful color and the icon is adorable. Their other shirts include tributes to Die Hard, Kill Bill, Event Horizon and Blazing Saddles. Too bad the company is in the UK, and the prices are steep.

Last Exit to Nowhere, also in the UK, does the same schtick with different movies, including Westworld, Alien, Re-Animator, The Shining and The Wicker Man.

If you're looking for Big Trouble, head to The Wing Kong Exchange for officially licensed BTiLC tees. (dang, once upon a time they had Egg Shen tour bus shirts but I don't see 'em now).

Since I'm a) not made of money; b) hard to fit; and c) hard to please, I end up making my own shirts with iron-on transfer paper and some $5 Old Navy shirts. My favorite so far is a quote from The (criminally underrated) Frighteners: You are violating my territorial bubble. Spoken by the one-and-only Jeffrey Combs.*
My brother's tee quote was: Sealed with a curse as sharp as a knife. Doomed is your soul and damned is your life.

*I actually saw The Frighteners before Re-Animator (gasp) so this was the first movie I saw him in. And according to this website, it's one of his favorite roles!

shopping panic begins in 3...2...

* It's Thursday and I'm thinking of presents. So begins a new series on Yay blog!

I have a couple of friends who love to cook and/or bake. For them?

- Joie Shop has the cutest little gadgets in Canada! Egg timer shaped like an egg, cow ice cream scoop, the happiest bottle opener on earth, and a smilin' potato peeler!

- Fred Flare also brings the cute with Russian nesting doll measuring cups (I covet these), table saw cake cutter, and You Bake 'Em cat treats (includes cookie cutters).

- Via Mighty Haus, an excellent cookie decorating kit of squeeze bottles and spatulas at Sur La Table.

- Last year I got Gosamyr an udon noodle bowl for her Chinese take-out.

- Who doesn't need a soy sauce dispenser shaped like an origami crane? Or hugging salt & pepper shakers? ($30? yikes!)

- Finally, I like this fruit-infusion pitcher. Mmmm, iced tea with raspberries in the middle, or sparkling water with lemon and lime slices.

I'm very very lucky

* According to an interactive graph in the New York Times, the unemployment rate "For white women ages 25 to 44 with a college degree" is just 3.6%. wow. From what I can tell, that's the lowest average overall.

The overall average is 8.6%

The absolute worst? "For black men ages 15 to 24 without a high school degree" it's 48.5%

* Ida was nothing but a storm.

* I've died and gone to cross-stitch heaven! LOOK LOOK LOOK at the beautiful old borders and alphabets at Patternmaker Charts! From France and Germany and Russia! And free in multiple formats! Just have a gander at this tea border:

Only 364 days to plan for next year!

* I had a great Halloween! Partied with my Gory Girls and a good time was had by all. And so many creative, hand-made costumes! So here's a roundup of great costumes I've found on the intertubes:

Surreal Killer (via Metafilter)

LOL cat (via Fatshionista!)

Snuggie Elvis (via Facebook)

Pop Art Girl (via Charmed)

Stay Puft Marshmallow Man (via Craftster)

filled with goodness!

* I finished my Halloween candy boxes and handed them out Monday. Some photos of them didn't turn out, but the ones I'm most proud of are:

Oh yeah, Necronomicons made of paper mache and tissue paper! I should have taken photos of the inside as well, but I forgot. Here's another one of my candy boxes (with a peek of the other two in the background):

* Speaking of unspeakable horror, check out this meat hand! Truly, truly disgusting and creative.

* I bought some Burt's Bees soap bark and chamomile deep cleansing cream and it smells just like Bazooka gum! Which is entirely appropriate for this time of year - I remember many a Halloween getting those little pink rocks of gum. My favorite candy was always chocolate: M&Ms, Kit Kats, peppermint patties. My least favorite was Sugar Babies, or anything super chewy that sticks in the teeth..

* Woo hoo, 6 followers! Welcome Lille and Muza-chan!

Inspiration from Eddie

Farewell, Fearsome Finds!

* A Yokai A Day - paintings of Japanese mythical monsters by Matthew Meyer. Here's Kuchisake-onna - I see a future Halloween costume!

The yuki-onna is also amazing.

* Fantastic Mexican-theme posters/masks from Firecracker Press (although I can't imagine wanting to cut one of these apart).

* Well, since the theme today seems to be spooky art, have a gander at some Mini Monsters and Tiny Terrors! Aww, lookit the dainty dagonite, or cutie Cthulhu:

* I guess this'll be the last Fearsome Finds for 2009 - I hope you enjoyed it!

zombie time!

Monday morning is appropriate for zombie posts, no?

* From shoeboxblog (yeah, Shoebox as in Hallmark):

Oops, somebody must not have liked it cause they had to take it down. But I'm all aboard with the Christmas music one! And the zombie complaint lists.

* Just when you thought all the zombie _____ ideas were taken, along comes the Calgary Zombie Walk:

* Zombie wedding cake! including bride with chainsaw. Flavor? Red velvet, natch. via Neatorama.

* I spent yesterday watching Fido and Evil Dead II while I worked on a couple of Very Special candy boxes. muaa haa haa!

random fun online

* Thirsty bats! A gentleman in England set up quite a few cameras to get photos of the bats that drank from his pond each night. Amazing to see the texture of their outspread wings and their itty bitty tongues.

* Mystery Google! Type in a search, and you get results from what the previous person searched for. I typed in "halloween party cup labels" and got results for "mmmmmmmm cake." :D "dharma initiative" resulted in "Mystery Google is the shizzzz" :snicker:

* George Takei and his husband Brad Altman were the first gay couple on The Newlywed Game! I don't like the show, but awwwww. They won $10,000 for the Japanese American National Museum.

* Did you know there's a black vodka? Instant spook-ification of cocktails for Halloween. Of course Martha has the scoop! Ghost in the Graveyard (vodka, creme de cacao, a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a sprinkle of nutmeg) sounds delicious and looks fantastic.

She has some other black cocktails in the Halloween special issue, but they aren't online (which surprises me). They include using black food coloring in ice cubes - as the ice cubes melt in your drink the drink gets darker. The effect is cool, especially in a red drink.

* Sonic doesn't have decaf! Sonic doesn't have decaf!

* Fifty people, one question. I love the answer "a planet made of cheese"!

(feel free to skip this next bit)

While watching, I was struck/reminded how attractive people are. Yeah, it's a selection of people willing to answer a question on camera at a certain place and time, but still. I think that watching television and movies, looking at magazines, all that exposure to "pretty" people (or at least those who producers believe we will think are pretty) makes us forget how appealing normal, everyday fellow residents of earth are. Watching them think about the question, smile at the person standing next to them, laugh, I teared up (been feeling emotional this week). Something about turning a camera on them suddenly makes them stand out? I can't explain very well.

Back to your regularly scheduled blog post.

droll outer-space man

From the Better Homes & Gardens Holiday Cook Book, 1965

Halloween for normals

* How about Halloween finds at "normal" stores?

First up, Wisteria has a small collection of spooky, but I do dig the Corinthian candles - very goth. I also like the creepy votive holders.

Pottery Barn's collection is even smaller, but several pieces could be used at other times of the year as well. There's even stuff at Pottery Barn Kids - the chandelier is spooky cute!

Crate & Barrel - also tiny, but I do like the gourd candles and I've lately wanted some Japanese Lantern branches. (ooh, Japanese Lantern branches plus Chestnut branches in a matte black urn!)

* It's looking like I'll never get to Part Trois of my BC visit story - things have been crazy at Chez Kodama, what with getting the house ready to sell and certain sleeping issues. I'm working on my Necronomicon cross-stitch to settle my nerves, and I sorted through the scrap book paper for spooky goodie boxes. And I got some great cheapo toys at Tarjey to glitter-ize for the boxes - whee!

Palate cleansers

* Ming makes cookies, too!

*LoL cats to the rescue!

* Wonderful collection of literary drawings, such as Jules Verne:

See more at Hey Oscar Wilde, including lovely Lovecraft.

* Spooky food.

* Dino van

* Too cool to save until Monday - when you get too old to trick-or-treat, try this:

"... one Halloween our doorbell rang and we opened the door expecting to see trick-or-treaters-- but what was in front of our open door--was another door! Like, a full-on wooden door, that had a sign that said "Please knock." So we did, and the door swung open to reveal a bunch of college dudes dressed as really old grandmothers, curlers in their hair, etc, who proceeded to coo over our "costumes" and tell us we were "such cute trick or treaters!" One even pinched my cheek. Then THEY gave US candy, closed their door, picked it up and walked to the next house. It was amazing."

my personal boycott

WARNING - SERIOUS BUSINESS.

* The following movie-related people are among those who have signed a petition to protest the arrest of Roman Polanski. I will no longer spend money on their works.

Isabelle Adjani
Woody Allen (well, I've been boycotting him since Soon-Yi)
Pedro Almodovar
Wes Anderson
Asia Argento
Darren Aronofsky
Monica Bellucci
Adrien Brody
Guillermo del Toro (I don't think I can ever watch Pan's Labyrinth again)
Jonathan Demme
Peter Fonda
Harrison Ford (WHY?)
Stephen Frears
Terry Gilliam (sob)
Buck Henry
Isabelle Huppert
Jeremy Irons (he played Humbert Humbert)
Neil Jordan
Wong Kar Waï
Harmony Korinne
John Landis
David Lynch
Michael Mann
Sam Mendes
Jeanne Moreau
Mike Nichols
Natalie Portman
Martin Scorsese
Kristin Scott-Thomas (nooo)
Tilda Swinton
Emma Thompson! noooooooooooooooooooo!
Wim Wenders

Wow, that's quite a few folks. Makes me sad. At least Luc Besson is okay.

I'm SUPER stressed right now, and usually the cure involves watching movies. I don't think I can.

ETA: Some more folks are in the Okay With Me column:
Allison Anders (weird aside: I was just last week trying to think of the female director from "Four Rooms")
Luc Besson
Jesse Eisenberg - yay, Zombieland is go!
Neil Gaiman - thank you!!!
Javier Grillo-Marxuach - phew, going to Best Buy to pick up The Middleman
Greg Grunberg - psychic guy from Heroes
Kevin Smith

Stay home, Santa!

* My mom received Lowe's monthly Creative Ideas magazine, and it had a few Halloween projects in it.

Amazingly simple - ghosts made of tomato cages, rope lights and drop cloths!

I also like the "hanging ghouls" from shepherd's hooks.

These are much nicer than the usual stuff they actually sell. And now they are on the BAD LIST for putting Christmas trees next to their Halloween decor. C'mon now, stop intruding on my holiday with yer trees - there's plenty of time for that later.

* Meanwhile, Dollar Tree pulls through again with 10 small plastic skeleton hands for $1 (ha ha, and on Etsy it's $2.25 for just one pair?). They also had some great stickers, and glow sticks of all kinds. They were still putting some stuff out, but they are also on the BAD LIST with aisles of tinsel and wreaths next to the skellies.

* I'm thinking of making gift boxes for my coworkers' candy treats this year, so I picked up a paper mache box at Michael's to experiment. (the skeleton hands would make a nice handle or border around the edge - I may even add some glitter ;). I also got a paper mache book. Hmm, Necronomicon maybe? :bwaa haa haa:

Fun in BC (part 2)

continuing story ...

* Wednesday we spent the day in Vancouver. We barely made the ferry, it was raining but I was excited. The ride over was not what I expected; the ferry is kinda like a floating airport lounge.

Our first stop in Vancouver was The Daiso! Which totally deserves an exclamation point! It was completely awesome and fun and when I live up there will require at least 2 trips a year. For my ghoulish gals I got a fake gory brain and fake gory ear - that's right, even at a Japanese dollar store in Vancouver I head straight for the Halloween stuff. They are deliciously gooey. I also got some play money, dish towels, colored ballpoint pens, a couple of notebooks, embroidery thread (in fall colors) and a id badge holder. Yeah, they have everything. Only the size of my suitcase (and my wallet) limited my purchases. They have kitchen containers that are so specialized - one for yakisoba, one for marinating tofu, one for edamame, one for rice cakes ...

Afterwards, we walked around the rest of the mall. Aberdeen Centre is in Richmond, which has a big Asian population, so the stores were amazing. There's even a Ferrari dealership in there!

After a bit of driving around we got hungry, so we went to Moderne Burger (which came highly recommended by Lisa). What a groovy joint! The menu is simple: burgers, fries and shakes are the focus. Glen got a creamsicle shake and I got the chocolate covered cherry. They give you the shake in a proper old-fashioned glass AND give you the leftovers in a metal cup - these folks know what they are doing. I got a turkey burger but Glen went for the steak burger, and he definately won in the flavor department. We got one order of fries between us and it was more than enough, as you can see.

Thus satiated, Glen played tour guide once again and drove me around different parts of Vancouver: across the Lions Gate Bridge, through Stanley Park and through some of downtown. I look forward to going back for a long weekend and exploring!

The final stop on our whirlwind tour was Ikea! I've never been to one (the closest one to me is 6 hours away, either Atlanta or Orlando) so it was a treat. Once again my suitcase limited my purchases to a couple pairs of rubber gloves and a squeegee, but I spent plenty in my mind. And it gave Glen and me a good chance to discuss future decorating ideas: he's a neutrals kind of guy and I'm a fan of theme decor, but I think we can successfully combine the two :)

The ride home was ... interesting, to say the least. SO interesting that I'll hand the mike over to Glen to tell that story. :makes shooing motion with hand:

* Coming soon: part three!

Fun in BC (part one)

I was lucky enough to visit Victoria BC and my adorable fiance earlier this month. I can't wait to move up there! Here's the details ...

* Flew up there on Friday. Not a bad trip, except I went the wrong way looking for lunch in the Seattle airport and ended up outside the secure zone so had to stand in line for 35 min to go through security again. D'oh!

* Saturday we went to the Saanich Fall Fair! Although it was raining up until the time we got to the front gate, the sun quickly showed and we had a wonderful time. I was quite the tourist, taking photos of all the cute farm animals (I saw a goat being milked!) and gawking at the fruit and veg display (huge pumpkin! tiny melons! long string beans!). And the baked goods competition made my stomach growl even though I had just eaten bratwurst and sauerkraut from the German stand (Glen stuck with a weiner and potato salad). My favorite part was the kids craft display - not only baked goods and sewing, but even a Lego competition! So cute!

We didn't even make it to the midway, but our feet were so tired.

* Sunday we joined Glen's mum, sister and sister's friend for brunch. I've never seen a buffet that had breakfast food like scrambled eggs right next to lunch food like salad. Afterwards we hung out with them for a bit at his mum's house to have a small birthday celebration for Glen.

* Monday was Labour Day so we took it easy - did some walking around town.

* Tuesday we had dinner with the H clan - chicken breasts stuffed with homemade pesto and wrapped in prosciutto (mmm); risotto with parsley, peas and parmesan; roasted squash; and rolls. I had fun discussing the merits of robots with the boys, and after dinner we played Hand and Foot.

* Sometime later this week I'll post part two!

look out below!

* This find surprised me - I've been a fan of Flor for a while now and still get their catalogs, and their colors are gorgeous. Now they enter the spooky realm with Arachnophobia, a spiderweb-patterned series of tiles with random placement of spider! I love that they give you the names of styles that will coordinate with the spider-print so you can customize your horror. It's available in Raven/Pumpkin and Raven/Ash, but I think the Raven/Ash would spookily match with Skully and some plain black tiles.

* Tomorrow is the Autumnal Equinox, the beginning of Fall. I expect to wake up to cool air, orange and brown leaves, and NO HUMIDITY. Ha ha ha!
Ming's cupcake today is Chocolate Coffee Cupcake with Baileys Irish Cream Frosting, mmm. Autumn is the season for baking.

* I'm putting my house on the market next week. Hardwood floors, corner lot on a hill, new roof - what's not to like? Wish me (and my realtor) luck! Even though the end result will make me very very happy, the idea of a major life change is still overwhelming.

* Have a gander at my Flickr page to see photos from my Victoria vacation - I'm working on matching blog posts.

sweeeeet!

* During my wonderful whirlwind 8-day trip to Victoria, I was lucky enough to visit not one but TWO delicious cupcake stores!

Glen's mom pointed us to Ooh La La, in a tiny mall on a corner. Oh my is it difficult to decide among frosted yummy goodness perched daintily under glass on cake stands. Their cupcakes are the size of large muffins! I narrowed my choice to Monkey Business (of course) and Twist and Shout.

Monkey Business is "lucious banana cake with a cream cheese icing and topped with Calibeault white chocolate curls." (mine had a banana chip instead of chocolate curls) DEEElicious! The frosting was thick and sweet, the cake almost like a banana bread. I thought, "ooh, I should have gotten 2 of this one."

Then I tried Twist and Shout, "a moist lemon cake with a surprise raspberry filling all topped off with lemon buttercream icing with a lemon twist on top," and was glad I didn't get both the same! The flavor was perfect, like the tartest lemonade on a hot day in the Panhandle. The raspberry got lost in all that lemon, but what tasty lemon is was!



Special cupcake store #2 is downtown, within walking distance (uh oh). Pink Sugar Cupcakery attracted my eye down the block with its PINK awning, then drew me in with a poster of an awesome retro pin-up girl posed with a stand of cupcakes. I didn't find out until later that their treats are vegan - go them, I wouldn't have thought it possible!

Pink Sugar offers bite-sized mini cupcakes but I had to go for the gusto: one Chocolate Orange and one Peanut Butter. These cupcakes were more traditionally sized, and I just realized now that both of the ones I tasted were chocolate. Chocolate Orange had "hint of orange buttercream" frosting, and Peanut Butter had chocolate frosting with peanut butter on the inside of the cupcake. Mmmm I love chocolate, and these were chocolatey indeed! I carried the Chocolate Orange one through the Victoria Airport and the Seattle Airport to save it for my 4 1/2-hr plane ride and boy was I glad - it sure beat a handful of peanuts!

I'm leaning towards the Peanut Butter one as my favorite from this store.

* I can't wait to go back to Victoria and try the rest of the flavors!

Horror in Orlando!

* Last year I went to Orlando for scary good times in October. My zombie-lovin' girlfriends and I attended Spooky Empire's Horror Weekend (then called ScreamFest).

I spent the next week with Gosamyr going to Disney (Magic Kingdom, Epcot and Animal Kingdom) and Universal Studios for Halloween Horror Nights. It was SO! MUCH! FUN! The theme for this year's HHN is Ripped From the Silver Screen, capitalizing on two of Universal's current scary franchises (Saw and Chucky) and pumping up their new version of the Wolfman. They have put much more info on their site since my last visit, and it looks great! Scare zones include Apocalypse: City of Canibals with creepy vaguely human creatures, War of the Living Dead with Nazi zombies, and Containment with a "toxic green mist that turns anyone in comes in contact with into an infected, melting glob of flesh and blood." W00t! I liked the scare zones more than the houses because the actors are right out there in the open interacting with passers-by.

I doubt I'll be going this year but it's fun to dream.

* This has been a pre-prepared post - I'll be back in the next few days to wax poetic on my wonderful visit to Canada!

:doot doot doot:

sugar overload!

* Halloween treat o' the week: Red velvet raspberry cupcakes with French vanilla cream cheese frosting and a chocolate brain. You can see a step-by-step photo tutorial about the brains on Flickr, but no recipe is provided :(

Kinda related: The lovely headmistress of Gothic Charm School has a blog called Cupcake Goth! I like her striped stockings & boots, her waist-nipping jackets and her not-grumpy Victorian gothness.

Check out these s'mores cupcakes over at Saucy Sprinkles! I feel hyper just looking at them, mmmmm ...

The theme continues with these GIANT cupcakes made from fun noodles over at Dollar Store Crafts. I can't think of a use for any day let alone H'ween ... wait! how about a Willy Wonka theme yard, he was pretty scary (both Gene and Johnny). And don't even get me started on the Oompa Loompas.

How about a cupcake flower arrangement? So cute, and better for those on restricted diets.

* I found this on YouTube. I think it's cool - Alice is one of my favorite movies and I'm trying to find a cross-stitch pattern of her but no luck so far. Enjoy!

* WAAAAAAAAAAAHHH! Went to Yankee Candle to pick up some of the wedding boney bunch - they are sold out! They are even sold out online! I wanted the bride and groom with the wedding cake to celebrate my engagement and I waited too long! :(

oooEEEooo!

* B&BW musta heard me praising their lip gloss, cause today they put out a coupon for a free lip product with any purchase!

* Added a new exciting discovery to my Fun blogs over on the side - Ephemera Assemblyman! I'm gonna be perusing his delicious collection of ephemera for weeks.

rain? please?

* Ooooh, it's sleepy afternoon time.

* Have you ever wondered what the world looked like to our fine feathered/finned/furry friends? Haven't we all? ;) Wonder no more, thanks to the Museum of Animal Perspectives! Sam lets you run and sniff (and sniff and sniff) with an armadillo, get licked by a cow, babysit a lamb, and glide through the swamp with an alligator. Wheee!

* I've never been one to wear lots of makeup, but I do love my collection of lip balms from Bath & Body Works. They don't just smell good, they taste good! Orange Kiss tastes like an orange cream soda, Limeade is citrus goodness, Vanilla Latte gives me that coffee taste when I'm trying to avoid caffeine. But they constantly change their flavors to make me want to try more of them :shaking fist at their slyness!:

I have been wearing more makeup since I got my hair chopped off - my face seems so much more plain without it! (all I'm missing is a fantastic hat!)

* Note to self: DO NOT READ ABOUT HEALTH CARE DEBATE! It only leads to frustration and disappointment with my fellow Americans. Why oh why is there so much hate and bile involved? When did we lose the ability to critically listen to a statement and judge it for ourselves, instead of blindly parrotting what somebody else tells us?

Must. think. of. happy.things. ...

like ice cream sandwiches!! The malted milk one is calling for me. Oh, but each sandwich has 36g of fat before adding any mix-ins.

okay, how about ... lolcats?!?

Yeah, that's better!

and where I'm gonna be in 8 days!!! And my adorable host!!!

cooler outside than inside

* Halloween find o' the week: Blumchen, Purveyors of Life's Little Niceties, a great resource for old-fashioned and vintage Hallowe'en decor.

• reprints of the classic Beistle Co. paperboard cutouts
• super awesome black & white boxes
• repros of vintage postcards
• spooky lantern!

Okay, they also have items for Valentine's and Christmas.

I found them while searching for Dennison crepe paper. One day, I'll post some scans from the Dennison Flower Book.

Also in spooky news, I picked up this year's edition of the BHG Halloween special publication at Publix. Once again they have the best mix of grown-up gothy decor (the linked article is actually a reprint from an earlier BHG magazine, with more photos but less "where to find it" info) and cute kids party ideas (magic show party and retro owl paper decor), and a nice article on vintage collecting.
But Beware to those who try to navigate the BHG website! The magazine lists a link to "halloween tricks" at their site, but it links instead to the general Halloween category. And it appears that none of the articles in the magazine are actually on the website yet. Tsk tsk, how am I supposed to spread the word?

* The a/c seems to be broken at work. Air is blown, but it's humid and warm. I've got the window open for some cool fresh air.
ETA: a/c fixed!

Eye Spy

* Interesting find: Nerd Boyfriend. Despite the name, it is neither about nerds or boyfriends. It is instead a very cleanly designed site with (mostly older) photos of famous men, and underneath each photo a couple of links highlighting what they are wearing. Yeah, I can't really describe it well, but who wouldn't want to dress like Gregory Peck, young Leonard Nimoy (looking amazingly like Syler - good call Abrams!), Mahatma Gandi, or even young men headed to the moon.

* I've decided to post my spooky finds each Monday instead of scattershot. Ah ha - Fearsome Finds, coming each Monday to Yay, It's Another Blog!

Pumpkins and spider webs

* It's getting spookier all the time! The latest source to add is Lillian Vernon - not all of their stuff is to my taste, but some of their lacy goth items (cobweb tablecloth, spiderweb candy bowl stand or lampshade scarf) are quite elegant.

Also Hobby Lobby has stepped up - although most of their items are harvest or Thanksgiving, they have a great selection of pumpkins of all materials and colors. And I am drawn to their crow stuff!

* Claudette came and went, leaving behind tons of rain and pine straw. I didn't even lose power!

* I am STILL having problems with Firefox not finding the server - I have:
- checked my firewalls
- verified my connection settings
- made a new profile
- reinstalled Firefox

It just gets worse. Halp!

photobomb!

* So a woman and her husband are visiting Lake Minnewanka in Banff National Park, Canada, and decide to set up the camera to get a photo of themselves. But they were foiled!


Bwaaa haaa haaa! Full story here.

* Over the past 5 days I have spent $500 on my car. It's fixed, but my wallet is empty.

* I thought for sure it was going to rain today but no such luck. The temperature did drop a bit though.

* My new printer/scanner works GREAT! I haven't used it to scan yet, maybe this weekend. I have a stack of magazines and books at the ready.

* Going on a trip ... in space? Don't forget to stop by Greenwood Space Travel Supply Co. for all your interplanetary needs - you never know when you might need a space vehicle hull repair patch or Ambient Light and Noise Reduction Kit.
There's also the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co. for those seeking capes, a forcefield generator, or just some plain ol' Intelligence in a can.
(I personally am rather fond of the design on these time travel posters.)

shorty

* I bought a new printer, so now I can make t-shirts again!

* I am so tired, unreasonably tired. ONE DAY I'll figure out what causes it.

Hey kids! Head on over to Para Abnormal for a ghoulish good time!

Hot Chocolate!

* Emma ROCKS!

Spooky!

* Hooray, the Boney Bunch are back at Yankee Candle! They have the cutest stuff in their Halloween collection. I especially love their patchouli scent (they change the name every year - this year it's Beware!) No minty vanilla this year, but I'm keeping an eye on Dreadfully Delicious Swirl (vanilla cupcake and pumpkin pie swirled - yum!)

Poor Glen didn't realize what he was getting into when he proposed ;)

* In other news, it poured down rain on the way to work this morning, but now it's bright and sunny. I can't decide whether I'll miss this kind of weather or not.

* My mom got herself a Wii for her upcoming birthday and I'm totally jealous. She got the Wii Fit bundle as well - go Mom!

* On Saturday I went to Gosamyr's house for a pool party. The day started off kinda cloudy but cleared up enough for sunning and swimming. And some zombie killing courtesy of Zogar and House of the Dead: Overkill. Also got to see some people I hadn't seen in a while and catch up. A good time was had by all.

On Sunday I cleaned out the linen closet in the hallway; now it's presentable for showing the house. That makes 2 closets down, 3 to go.

* Fun website of the day - iDIY. Marked as stuff for do-it-yourself weddings, but alot of the crafty freebies and tips have other uses as well. She also provides lots o' links to other fun freebies.

Hooray for Friday!

* Ha ha! Where else would you want to keep your dice than in a d20? Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories even give you step-by-step details!

A quick browse around shows they know how to make their own geeky fun - like Crunchy Frogs (with poprocks), a cardboard cat chaise lounge, and LED garden lights (hmm, add some black paper and colored tissue and they could be creepy faces for Oct 31! )

* I finally gave in and joined Facebook. That thing is not made for ease of use, or I'm getting old, cause I have to click around forever to find what I'm looking for.

* So Glen, what do you think about a ceremony based on your favorite game? :snicker:

* Current time-waster: Awful Library Books. My local library is sadly filled with these sorts of out-of-date, no longer correct books. But maybe if I keep visiting the Friends of the Library store I can walk away with a gem like this one: