Back from the dead.

wow. Not only can I not do 3 posts a week, I can't even do ONE post a week. In my favorite favourite month even. Argh.


Heh, maybe I should just put these in a box and pull them out for my entries! Let's see ...

"Unstoppable human infects movie."
"I like grotesque headshot everywhere."
"The undead outrun insane chewing cadavers."

Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

* So, getting ready for dress-up time. Don't forget your make-up! And here's a book to help you out.

By T. William Smith and Michael Carrington, copyright 1981. I like that each of the steps is accompanied by a FULL COLOR and a sketch. If you'd like to be a devil (like the fellow on the cover), just follow this diagram:

or you could be Snidley Whiplash instead :)

Okay, how about a clown?

dude, cheer up, it's Halloween!

uh, as you were.

But wait, I'm a woman, what about me?
umm, something not quite so ... psychotic maybe?

Much better.

* Until next time, whenever that may be, namaste!

Countdown!

* The Halloween posts continue! (with just a tiny misstep on Monday)


* Old Navy Canada has the cutest spooky clothes for women! One of my fave pairs of pajama pants ever came from them. This year they have the pj pants, cozy socks and tees that I crave. Sadly, the store near me has a minuscule pj section, so they had none of these when I went to look.

* Target seems to have some nice tees as well. My fave is the spider web one. Also looks like they have Nick & Nora Halloween pj sets: Dia de los Muertos style skeletons, paisley owls and far-out fall leaves. And spooky socks.

* Not Halloween! This past weekend we were busy!
On Saturday night Glen, Marilyn and I saw Whose Live Anyway and laughed our butts off. It was great to see Greg Proops and Ryan Stiles live in person. And we were only 4 rows back!
On Sunday we all took the ferry over to Salt Spring Island for the Apple Festival. It was great (but cloudy), and I've never seen so many varieties of apples! We walked around a really wild organic orchard, tasted some apples and saw the cutest outhouse ever. We also visited a cheese farm (goats and sheep) and a teeny bakery.
I love that it's so easy to find local & organic foods around here.

* On Friday I'll try to provide a non-consumer oriented Halloween post ;)

Hooray for October!

* I know very well that I can't do a post every day in October, but I'm gonna try for 3 a week (Mon, Wed and Fri). Wish me luck!

* For the past few years, I've made special boxes of candy for my friends and co-workers. No co-workers this year, but the boxes continue. Here are some favorite places to find just the right graphic elements:

• The Graphics Fairy has everything from beautiful butterflies to antique photos waiting to be modified. She even takes requests!

• The UCLA Library site took some digging, but the reward is high-resolution pdfs of the Antikamnia Calendar - happy little skull-headed men going about their daily activities.

• Historical Anatomies on the Web. Once again, you gotta look around but there are plenty of skeletons and muscles to choose from.

• The Fantastic in Art and Fiction, from Cornell University, supplies demons, more skeletons in clothes, and a naked witch riding a broom.

• Just Something I Made has lots of stuff that can be easily modified for nefarious Halloween purposes. These apothecary labels include a "danger poison" label, and here's a lovely ornate gravestone border.

• And of course there's Dover. Their Old-Time Halloween book and CD combo is great, because the CD includes higher quality jpegs.

* If you want a post a day, take a drive to Neato Ghoulville! (don't forget to detour through Weird Hollow, they're dying to see you bwaa haa haa!)

yay!

(note to self: if you hit Enter after you type the title, the blog will post. you don't want to do that.)

* Gettin' in the Halloween mood. I want to make treat boxes again this year, but on a larger scale. I've been perusing a fantastic book my mom-in-law got me - Ghoulish Goodies! It's really cool with great recipes and adorably spooky illustrations. I'd love to try the pumpkin-shaped cookies with melted crushed candy for the eyes so they look like they're glowing!

* Also nabbed this year's BHG Halloween magazine (the magazine is great but their website is a nightmare!) My fave section this year is the "Dead and Breakfast" front yard ideas, and the photos of an antique shop's decorations. Weathered paperbacks stacked with pages facing out? Brilliant! Wrapping flameless candles with yellowed book pages? Spook-a-licious! Hmm, flameless candles were on sale at Costco last week ...

I haven't seen Martha on the newsstands yet. This year she even has her own costumes for sale at Grandin Road - the costumes that she tells you how to make in her magazines and website, but buying them would save time I guess. (Don't look at the other women's costumes there, it's all that unimaginative "sexy fill-in-the-blank" junk)

Well, looks like Target have started the ball rolling and revealed their mascots for this year - green witch, square-headed Frankenstein and mummy, and one-eyed ghost. Dagnabbit, I'll miss the Jones soda this year :(

World Market doesn't have a specific section on their website, but this branch candle holder would fit right in, these mercury glass votive candle holders are great, and I would love this kinda-retro paper pulp moon & owl.

Okay, I'd better spread this stuff out or I'll be bare by Halloween. See ya next time!

spooky times ahead?

* Hi to anybody that's left!

* I realized last week that I haven't done a single post about Halloween and it's almost September! Blame Canada. No Target (they'd be on the bad list anyway after donating money to a PAC that then supported an anti-gay rights politician), and I have no idea what nifty mail-order places there are up here. I have scoped out Michael's collection, and the rack and a half at Winners/Homesense, but nothing is calling me. I'm considering making my Halloween treat box bigger this year and filling it with cookies. My sis-in-law picked up some cute cookie cutters on her trip to Oregon so I could break those in.

The spirit is coming, though. Today is super windy and the scent of fall is in the air! And the wind is chilly! Real fall!

* Last Friday night we attended a very special birthday party - Lovecraft's 120th! The giant Cthulhu head with lit-up eyes was amazing! They had spoken word artists, singers, poets, a trivia contest and they showed a creeeepy short film called AM1200 (rent and watch with the lights off).
My favorite parts were:

• The gentleman in the photo above reading Nyarlathotep (which it turns out I've been pronouncing incorrectly).
• The singer (Jeff Andrew), self described as "hobo noir," a combo of Tom Waits and Tim Burton, and accompanied by a saw! a saw I say! and a tin whistle!
• Missie Peters' poem about a rift brought forth through a carving
• a bouncy little Cthulhu song sung by the host and a robed gent with a guitar

They even served birthday cake.

* That's it for today - thanks for stopping by!

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)

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

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!

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!

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.

I confess

* Hi, my name is K0dama and I'm addicted to Halloween decor. And Target. And when they combine, I can't stop!
So of course I've been lurking at their website for a sneak peek and was rewarded today. Waaay in the back, on the last pages of a search for "Halloween decor", items marked "new" but also "not in stock." Like this guy, Zen the bobblehead! Or a spooky cute advent calendar!

* I'm also feeling crafty, wanting to do something with all the lovely scrapbook papers that I get on clearance because they are just too pretty to pass up! Maybe start making my own cards - I've done that in the past and they seem to be well received. Creative and economical!

* But I'm determined to save money for The Big Move. I'm in the process of tidying and cleaning all rooms and closets, so what better time to cull what I don't need (and don't feel like toting to the Great North)? 3 bedrooms full of stuff will take some time :)

ETA

oooOOOoooh! I'm already thinking of Halloween, natch, and I heard that Michael's has their stuff out.

And Universal has the theme for their Halloween Horror Nights ... Ripped From the Silver Screen! I'd heard a rumor that they were gonna have Saw, and sure enough they do, in addition to Chucky and The Wolfman.