Frog on the Pumpkin

and was reminded how much I love this bit from Halloween III, Season of the Witch Hee! Had to share.

checks with skeletons....or anything that is not "cute" Halloween - anywhere. But, oh my friends, there is something far scarier out there. shudder Don't click on this link unless you are in good health and are sitting down. Remember, what has been seen cannot be unseen. Stop, no, don't click here! Actually, don't use many checks these days, with online bill paying ....wait, are you okay? You don't look well....... Ah, you clicked on it anyway didn't you? You will likely never recover. I warned you. :) I am pure evil I know, and I am fine with that.

moar funny pictures

the small print. I tell the doctor that is fitting me with my first pair of glasses -reading glasses. Yes, I am getting old :( Anyway, most of my family wears them, so it was not big surprise. When I was picking frames I asked if there were any with skulls on them, the guy thought I was kidding and was not amused when I told him I was not. They did not have any. So cute "librarian" black rimmed glasses for me. So I am there in the office picking them up, and the big surprise was putting them on yesterday and looking at the small type and said, "Is it supposed to be moving?" "What is moving?" she says. "The text, it is moving a little and it seems fuzzier than without the glasses." She looks confused. "Look over in the distance and then look at it again." I turn my head and then turn back to the page and go "Whoa! I the world just got all wobbly." "Oh, these are reading glasses, don't walk with them on. " "I...

Sadly, it is the one year anniversary of the death of Cody Reuswaat . I wanted to say more here, tell some story about Cody at Frightfest, or the memorial service at Transworld in Las Vegas, but not today. My thoughts are with my friends, Tim, Tina, Jarad and Cody's son, Ian.

See, I am getting so used to winning marketing awards, that I forget to post that we won some more!!! WooHoo - also don't know which ones, won't know until my boss calls me from the convention to let me know. :)

Our first trip to Hauntcon and we are on the preshow tour where we got to several haunts in Denver and a special trip to Salt Lake City to Rocky Pointe (before it closed.) We were standing in line to visit the world famous Reinke Bros store and haunt and we overheard some people saying something about "Ashland, Oregon" - What! We know Ashland, we love Ashland we go down at least once a year to see theater at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival . So we make our way back in the line and met Baron Vladimer and Baroness Morticia Reuwsaat (AKA Tim and Tina Reuwsaat or Mort and the Baron) of Darkwing Manor . We also find that they are close friends with Leonard Pickel , the owner of Hauntcon. If you are on the lists, you have heard of Mort, and her twin sister Dementia (she swears she's real :) She is a remarkable person, very funny, intelligent, generous, beautiful, does Halloween like no one I know, ah, yes, I know it is hard to believe anyone is that perfect - I want to be her. ...

I joked about web design as my new career, but I think I need to keep the day job. I spent too much time on Sunday creating a very simple website for the Haunters Video Awards. I am so glad that husband was smart enough to grab the Haunt X award page before the site when down! I copied all the winners from that site and just put a simple list with links to the haunts website on the page. I will work up to adding pictures later. (I really need to finish my book, and the site for Fright fest Northwest first!) I need Hermione's time turner! So I get it set up and ready to go. I thought I was doing the right thing, keeping it very simple, simple image, simple fonts, simple layout. Looked decent on the screen. (I knew I should have had Allen help me with this one, I might need to call him before I am through :) Then husband finished it up and uploaded the site and it had problems. When you scrolled the text, yeah it went behind the heading - looked lovely (not). Husband fixed it (I like...

WooHooo !!!! Got the email from Propmaster that he is taking orders for the DVDs for 2008 ! I am so excited. We have a big party at our house each year and invite our friends over to watch. We can hardly wait. There are over 120 haunts this year and he has created a special 10 year anniversary edition. Just want to take a moment to say a special thanks to Propmaster (Paul) . Not only does he have a great yard haunt but he puts in countless hours creating these DVDs for the haunt community. He deserves our thanks as well as any amount you can afford as a donation. AND.... as a big surprise to husband and I he asking haunters to contribute $1 extra on their purchase to help cover the cost of the awards. It is completely voluntary, so if you can't afford it, no worries! :) Although Micheal at Ghost Ride made us a (really) great deal on the awards - there are still a cost to us, along with the plaques and shipping, which we are happy to cover, but as all y0u haunters know, every litt...

I was checking out something (that I will mention in an upcoming post) online and came across a familiar face. Steve Koontz Most if not all of you have no idea who he is. But I do, he is my friend. He ran one of the local haunts here in Portland called Screamland in an vintage amusement park called Oaks Park , and a prop company called Screamland Productions. Jeff and I met him at the airport in Denver Colorado when we attend Hauntcon in 2006. We were all getting off the plane from Portland and he was wearing a shirt with the Screamland logo on it. We knew that haunt. That park is on the same road as our house and many people stopped by our place on the way there. We said "hi" and became fast friends. Over dinner we found that we had several mutual friends in town and definately the same interests. This was our first Hauntcon and Steve knew everyone. He was more than generous with his time and introduced us to many people we now call friends. He made that whole first visit ...

if it was at the open house or the fundraiser. But someone asked me "Since you have done this graveyard has anyone close to you died?" Now, I am standing there with about a dozen strangers looking at me as I am trying to decide..... Do I want to answer the question or not and if I do, is my answer going to bother (horrify) anyone standing there. I know these people are fans of the graveyard or they would not be here, but how do I explain this and not sound too crazy. And a part of me was not sure if I wanted to share this with anyone outside the crew. "Why yes, I have, it is for my grandmother, I lost her this last February, I made a her a tombstone. It is out in the yard by the grave keeper, the one that is a memorial to WWII Women Welders." I look around, hoping that I do not get a "gasp!" or "oh, really" from anyone. Cause, I will seriously not be able to take that. Luckily, just kind smiles. (Makes me think that I should not be so worried, no...

sing a song :) ....which he likes to do, my fabulous friend - Marc Acito . Just the other day he was featured again on NPR . (again :) His piece is great and helps put things in perspective and makes me laugh. Something I think we can all use these days. Thanks Marc. So I am doing what I can, to help someone who is doing what I would love to do, and that is do something creative for a living that does not involve an office of suits. Do your self a favor and help me help him and take a listen and recommend it to your friends and pass it on. (Which of course you will want without me asking, because it is brilliant.) Oh, yeah, and besides Clive Barker and Neil Gaiman , my favorite, favorite author is my friend, the funny, fabulous and very beautiful Marc - buy both his funny, funny books. How I Paid for College Attack of the Theater People If you already own them, thank you, now do a friend a favor and buy them a copy. Now, get back to making Halloween decorations!!!

Last November I posted the first in a series of Chris follies (Now on to be known as Frog Queen Follies, to stay consistent .) These are completely unnecessary creations for the graveyard or the party that I just have to have. Because I am the Evil Artistic Director - I have to keep up my reputation. :) Anyway, this year, the other Chris made me a companion cube! I know how cool is that! It was a party decoration.....I know, just what a church /graveyard needs. Definitely a folly :) Most of you are probably saying....companion cube???!! Huh?!?! It is from the game Portal , which is the funniest game I (we, okay mostly husband) has ever played. Anyway, you have to carry around this companion cube in the game, and eventually destroy it :( Well, I wanted one of my own.....and husband put a player in it so when you press a button it sings the theme song.....which is hilarious. Very geeky, but not so much as this guy who made his own Portal Gun . Which, BTW, is very, cool....I think I nee...

I will use it as the excuse for why I took a very long nap today. I work for a place that has Presidents Day as a holiday! WoooHooo !! So, I lazed around today....a lot. :) It was also what I call a Dorie day. My Dorie cat likes me, but is not overly affectionate. But today, she was following me around the house crying to be petted. So late this afternoon when I headed upstairs to get ready to see a movie, she followed me and ran under my feet all the way to the bedroom. I picked her up and she, on this rare occasion, did not want me to put her down. So I sat on the bed and she curled up in my lap to fall asleep. I thought, well if she is napping, so am I. So I crawled back in bed truly expecting her to run away, and then I would get up. But if she stayed, I would use it for an excuse for a nap. She crawled right under the covers after me and went to sleep. And so did I until Hal walks on the bed to join me cause he LOVES naps, and proceeds to sleep on top of Dorie (who he cannot see...

We were watching The Big Bang Theory ...because we are both kinda nerds and we think it is very, very funny. Tonight the episode made mention to my favorite fun site . LOLcats , icanhascheezeburger .com see. they are everywhere!!! :)

husband was reading the card I gave him for Valentine's Day. "I really like this card honey" I reply "You know they make really sweet, sappy and lovey- dovey Valentines Day cards?" Husband asks, "Are you telling me this so that I know?" As I butter the toast I say, "Yes, because I am never going to send you one." :)

Someone asked me the other day why I was such a Neil Gaiman fan. Hum, well, he did write the Sandman comics - which were ABSOLUTELY amazing - yes, I was a huge comic book geek - ask husband how he built custom shelves to house my collection after a water heater mishap in the basement. Anyway, that is not the real reason. The real reason is not even " Good Omens , The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch" , if you do not own, stop reading right now, and purchase this book. What in the world could be better than Neil Gaiman and Terry Prachett ? Nothing. That was not a question, I was stating fact. But my favorite thing is something all together different. It turned out to be something I read late one evening, by myself in my library (do yourself a favor and when you design/buy a house, make room for a library. Pretend you are Poe in the Raven poem.....ah, that is so much fun!!!) There was the first time I read one of my favorite stories....... It is the short...

complain about any TV show, because I do have the worst taste in TV shows. So for all my friends that emailed me with comments about how much they love LOST, I guess I should fess up. My favorite TV show, ever is Friday the 13 th the Series . I know, how terrible is that? Pretty terrible :) Bad acting (or lack of) simple stories.....but I love the idea and the shop was cool!!! It came out in the 80's, and it looks like it. It did not age well, but that has not stopped me. Anytime it was on I watched it, I had most of the shows on VHS. Then, amazingly, the Chiller channel started running it again so I TIVOed all three seasons! Then one day as we are arrowing through the list I notice these ! notations next to my shows. "What does that mean?" "Oh, that those shows are in the que to be deleted if we run out of space." You have got to be joking! I was panicky about losing them....I would be like "how do I set these so they save and do NOT get delete because w...

made husband laugh out loud , while he was on the phone. I am so evil :) So I apologize to who ever that was :) see more crazy cat pics

I am going to start bringing one of those sand timers to our meetings. Our lovely neighborhood has association meetings every month. They are usually boring and often long, sometimes very long. But we enjoy our community and well, with the madness we cause in our neighborhood in October. We do what we can to stay on every ones good side. And one of our really good friends got elected chairperson, and I believe the storey goes he was not at the meeting when they voted for him. Lesson learned my friend. Yeah, and scared the beejezus out of husband and I, what will happen if we miss a meeting?! Anyway, we are there to support him and our community...but sometimes, like the nail lady incident, I am reminded of where it is I live. We have an unfortunate "situation" happening in our neighborhood (I will not bore you with the details) that has a chunk of neighbors pretty upset. And when you are upset or passionate about something (as in my case) you can babble on like and idiot...

only known me for one Halloween season if you start your email to me: "I know that you are probably not thinking of tombstones this time of year..." Really, I think about tombstones everyday-of-my-life. (I have a very serious problem, I know.) Husband and I have been putting in way too much time creating our 2008 DVD, and we are just about done. We could not think of what to do for our Easter Egg when husband remembered some odd footage taken by an aspiring movie maker friend. It was unusable for the video, but if you slow it down, turn it sepia, add noise and lots of dust and scratches, you have something, well, just weird enough for husband and I to share. So I have indeed, been thinking about tombstones a lot. A whole lot. Nothing like looking at unforgiving daylight footage of about 20 or your tombstones, over and over and over again, to make you think about how many you need to replace. (I keep telling myself I will not make any tombstones this year, let's see if I...

a good picture of our props in the snow. I don't know why, just a Frog Queen Folly I imagine. :) Well, a got a photo from someone else (I lent them the prop for a party, long story) not perfect, but after the mess I made of trying to take tombstone pictures, I was pretty excited to see this one. Anyway, we posted this on the Davis House blog , but I wanted to share it here (after I did a bit of Photoshop magic on it.)

I just installed (wait, no, not true, husband just installed) CS4 for me. The full professional version. (Big smile!) Which was called Stonehenge in production. Very cool. Not that I have any free time as it is...but what I did have is gone. I now have no excuse for getting the book finished. And, I have Dreamweaver and Flash to run amok in. I am so happy :)

Even if the new Coraline movie was not done by Laika (previously Will Vinton Studios ) Animation Studio here in Portland, Oregon, I would have to see it because it is a Neil Gaiman story. I met a few guys that worked on the film when they stopped by to see our graveyard display and asked them all kinds of questions. Importantly, did they know if Neil liked it. They said yes . I was very happy, because next to Clive Barker, he is my favorite author (living.) And that is great story and a bit creepy for a kids story, and I was afraid they would tone it down too much. They said it was definitely "good and creepy." If I was not already happy because it was October.....talking to them put me in a fantastic mood. I can hardly wait!! Better yet, they are going to film the Graveyard Book . Fantastic book, do yourself a favor and buy it. You will not regret it.

He ros /Lost Husband and I have been watching Heros . The first year was good. I did not complain too much, but by the second year I started comparing it to the worst show on the planet (in my opinion ) LOST. (Rented season one watched it all weekend, a whole weekend of my life I will never get back.) I have been calling it Heros /Lost for most of last year and it has irritated husband to no end. He hates watching the show with me because I have to mention at least three times.....in the first 30 minutes. :) But last night - as if by a miracle - something happened on the show that solidified that I can call it Heros /Lost. A plane crash! Seriously, the show ended with a plan crash (or about the crash.) Hum, that story line seems very familiar....where have I seen that before....could it be....yes, I believe it is LOST. That's it, I am officially done watching.

ME! (We!) Yeah, this should be the new them of my blog - Frog Queen bitchin ' about awards. :) Anyway, I got an email today from one of the groups I submitted our Marketing awards and we won, something, they don't tell you what you won, just that you did. And of course they invited to sign up for the conference to pick up my awards. I think they go through the list of people that did not sign up and have them win an award so that they can invite them and increase attendance for the conference. I am in Marketing, I am suspicious all the time. Awards or not, I am still not going. :)

Twitter, not a blog entry. But then I would have to log on to Twitter and then start talking to people and get nothing done for the rest of the day........ah, it is always something with me. So right now, husband is out of the house at a party, the cats are asleep in the office, I have lit all the candles and The Dreaming by Kate Bush is currently in the CD player and demons are coming out of the speakers :) I am so happy. Back to cleaning the basement!!!

in print. My job entails all kinds of evil ways to separate us consumers from our money. One of those ways is in advertising. One of the most expensive ways to promote a product or services. You would seriously not believe how my newspaper advertising costs. So, getting it right is important, you are paying for thousands of people to see your ad. Be crystal clear with your ad rep and run the right ad. You think I would know that by now. No, obviously I do not. You can see where I went wrong: Me to ad rep,"Run the last ad we ran." Ad rep, "Sure, I will let you know if I need to re size it." Me, "Great, thanks for being so flexible." Sounds like that went pretty smooth right? The wrong ad was run, it had outdated information. How did this happen? Ah, here is the same talk but with the commentary on. Me to ad rep,"Can I just use the last ad we ran." (I mean the "last" ad that I ran with their regular publication, about two weeks...

As I mentioned earlier, I am not a big TV fan, I will watch TV shows when they come out on DVD, but watching a show every week/day/whatever - not my thing. But husband does. And it pays off sometimes, that is how we found Firefly and Carnivale - but yesterday he Tivoed me a whole bunch of shows called " Whatever, Martha ." OMG! If you don't have anything nice to say about Martha, take a seat next to her daughter Alexis and her friend Jennifer. They go through old episodes and pretty much rip her mom to pieces...the show about the wool felt hats made me about pee myself. (That and the few glasses of wine that I had :) Sactioned by Martha, so it proves that although she does not show it. She must have a sense of humor buried somewhere - or she made one with a glue gun and bits of wire and organic, recycled shopping bags? I think it is brilliant that she is making money off of what everyone else says about her. Smart lady! I have to admit that as much as I like to make fun ...

and husband is playing his Xbox. I ask him how it is going. He says "I am getting my ass kicked by a girl in Virtual Fighter." I say, "good, this no longer makes me the only woman kicking your ass. I can share you in that department." I think he was so into the game he didn't even hear me. :) BTW - this reminds me of one of my favorite Firefly quotes, from Wash (from the movie) "Tell us the story again how Jane gets his ass kicked by a 90lb girl, cause that is never gonna get old." :)