Tuesday, September 28, 2010

This story did not end up

the way I predicted.

During the two weeks that we were working on the Extreme Home Makeover project a package came in the mail from ShellHawk.  It said something on it about a "cute cuddly spider" or something like that.  I know Shell, she is very cool, and funny and talented and beautiful....but the reason that I like her best is her evil sense of humor....likes attract in this case.

Anyway, I had visions of all kinds of terribleness lying wait for me in that box.  It sat of at least a week, cause I was not going to open it home alone.  Actually, I was just plain not going to open it.

I will admit it.  I was afraid.  Not proud of it...but it is true.

They call it a phobia for a reason :D

Back to.....so one night we (husband and I and the cats......cause in the whole three stories of the house, with many comfy places to sleep....the cats have to be where ever you are don't they) are sitting in the office answering emails when husband picks up the box and says

"You still have not opened this!?!"

"Nope, not gonna, I was thinking of putting it in the freezer to make sure what ever real spider she sent me was good and dead before I opened it....just to be sure."

Husband looks at me with that look....."That would be so funny if I thought she was kidding"

He then tells me "spiders hibernate you know."

I say " WHAT?!?!?  No, did not and do not want to know!! - So you are saying my freezer idea has a flaw?"

He "Yes, and you are being silly."

In my mind I am thinking "after all these years of marriage, you should not be surprised" but I just say "Call it what you want, not going to open that."

"Do you want me to open it" he asks - shaking the box by his ear.

"Don't wake them up! For goodness sake, are you crazy!!!" I cry.

"I will open it for you."

"Okay, but do we have a flame thrower....or how about some kerosene....maybe some lighter fluid?"

He rolls his eyes "Fine I will open it outside!"

"Still going to need the incendiary devices....outside or inside.  It is the only way to protect ourselves."

At this point he has had enough of me and rips open the package.

Now, if I did not have a gray kitty that is sharp on five ends and scares easily, I would have moved out of the way and into ....another dimension....yeah, that would have been perfect!

He pulls out two cute bottles of hand sanitizer.....Candy Corn and Licorice and looks at them.

"Fine those are lovely.....put don't take your eyes away from the box.....it might eat your hand!!!!"

He puts his hand back in the box.....I can't watch.......It is going to be horrible.

I prepare to scream.
_______________

It is way too silent, that can only mean one thing....oh  no the spider killed husband!!!

Very sad, I am going to miss him :(
______________________________________

I look up and he has this black fluffy thing in his and a very strange look on his face.

He says "I have no idea what this is" and tosses it to me.

I would jump....but we still have that "sharp on five ends" problem on my lap.

I look at it.....it is soft and squishy.....it is a scrubby thing....that is made to look like a spider.



Say it with me....."Aaaahhhhhh"

I show it to husband, "Ah, look it has cute string legs, adorable....oh and look at the cute little face....there is even a bow in on her head.  This is really cute...ahh......"

"That is NOT going in the shower!" he says as he backs the chair away from me.

I think he is kidding and say "This is so cute, I feel bad for not opening it....this will be perfect in the shower."

"That is NOT going in the shower"

I now understand that he was not kidding....I am intrigued.....

Hum......"Why?" I ask.

"Cause it is creepy!  I am not washing with that!"

"Wow, really, I mean it is just as......"

"It is NOT going in the shower!"

"Fine, I will put it in my bathtub then."

At least that is what I told him :)

After all that drama........it is sooooooo going  in the shower!!! Yes it is! :D

I post this cool video

that I discovered on Pumpkinrot's site about an owl and a pumpkin. 



It is adorable, check it out if you have not seen it.  I post it on my Facebook page and you know what my evil husband does....

He posts this one as a comment.  Saying "it is more my style"  Really?!



He might be sleeping on the couch for a while :D

I am glad that someone

remembered to take pictures during setup :)

Thanks Dawn - she snapped this great picture of Hal, doing what he does best......guard the props.

I have a funny feeling that this is going to be his new favorite napping spot.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Want to know just

how sick I was last week?  Twice the crew had to come in and wake me up from napping on the couch to show me how a project was going.....very sad.

But Dorie was happy, my kitty loves napping with me. :)

Anyway, one of the projects is the re-engineering of the coachman.  Nothing anyone will notice, but we swapped out the head* and moved all the electronics out of his chest and below the seat.  This will make him easier to take down at night and less top heavy.

While I was napping the crew got the final touches working and he looks like he might actually work most of the season.....fingers crossed. 

And maybe, if husband reads this post, he will be nice enough to supply us with pictures of his and Dan's handwork.....oh and while you are at it be sure to ask him about the new outdoor project that he loves so much.  It is very cool, trust me, you want to hear about that too!!!

*bonus points to anyone that caught that "swapping out the heads" reference from Red Dwarf :D  I am a very silly frog queen!

I was so busy this weekend that

this is the only picture of set up that I managed to snap on my phone......I know it looks mostly set up.  But that is a lie.  Most of the props are in the yard.....that is 1/3 of the setup.  By Sunday, with the abbey and most of the lighting completed, I would say we are half way. 

We still have a long way to go. We are using new stands for the projectors this year.  The coachman set up looks the same....but is completely different on the inside.  The new video effect will be awesome...but we do not know how we are setting up the camera....so that base is still a mystery.  The other mystery is my replacement candles......I was still burning down real candles last night....we have never been this behind before :(

We have the rest of this week, and next weekend to work it out.

If you hear screaming in the distance.....don't worry, just the FQ having a nervous breakdown. :D

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Scaffolding when up last weekend

today we set up the yard.....the madness begins!  Wish me luck :D




Hal was his usual helpful self, of course :)

Friday, September 24, 2010

Two things to tell you

First.....what are you doing here!!! The new Hauntcast is out.  Go download it now!  NOW I tell you! :)

And second.  I really need someone to make me one of these.  Would this not be awesome in my office?


Actually, as much as I like the frog....the Easter Bunny is classic! 


Thanks to Haunted Design House for the link!  Check out Slightly Warped for more pictures


Okay, that was it.  Go back to prop making!!  What, did you think I was going to show you pictures of inside the Nightmare Factory?!?! 

Maybe.....if you're nice :D

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Be careful what you wish for

I cannot tell you how many times I have seen a truck on the road loaded with pink foam and joked in my head "Hey, can you drop that off at my house?"

The reality is quite different.....nothing like my dreams :D

So just incase you wanted to know.  This is what 116 sheets of one inch pink insulation foan would look like in your driveway.

Scary, huh?    :D

FQF

We were so proud of ourselves

for texturing 116 sheets of pink foam to look like cinder block that we signed a sheet (click to enlarge picture) and took a picture of the whole crew to celebrate!    You will see that Hal managed to get in the photo....cause he always does.
I guess he should, we has the supervisor and he tested several of the finished sheets for their "napping" capability :D

This was the project that we worked on Labor Day weekend for Extreme Home Makeover for the Nightmare Factory....it was kinda weird at the time, not being able to post or blog about this project.  We were sworn to secrecy...so everyone believed it was for our haunt....116 sheets of foam...I mean I am known for being crazy, but..... the fact that everyone believed me worries me a bit :D

Thanks to everyone....
Hiding in the back: Mark (Matt's brother - who was visiting from out of town)
Left: (another) Mark
Left: Angie, "husband"
Bottom: Hal (Halloween Cat), Matt's Mom (visiting from out of town), Lisa, Dawn, Frog Queen, Dan (standing facing)
Right: standing on stack of foam Toph
Standing: Matt (rockin' on as usual)
Back turned to show off the Davis Graveyard shirt: Nick

Special thanks to Karyn (missing) who spent most of the day and evening on Friday, but could not make it for the photo.  And thanks to Matt's family who spent their vacation working on this project with us.  FQ does have the best friends!

The Davis Graveyard Crew rocks!!!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Hello? Anyone home?

Sorry for my lack of posting and my erratic blog visits and comments.  That Extreme Home Makeover project set us back on time a bit more than we thought and I have gotten a very bad cold that is making me move very slow at a time when I should be in over drive :D  Work is very busy, so staying home sick is not really an option :(

On top of that, my phone where I primarily post to my blogs, update both facebook and twitter decided to die and it has taken a week to get the phone replaced and set up....it is working now, so hopefully we will be back to normal soon.

Wah, wah, wah,.....I know, I am boring myself too.  Not great excuses but I hope starting tomorrow, things will be back to normal.

I really hate when

this happens :D

Funny Pictures-SPIDER... SPIDER IN THE BED!
see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Monday, September 20, 2010

Still collecting Etsy items for the door prizes for the party.  And how could I not grab a bunch of pumpkins from Shellhawk!  I have two of them myself and have purchased several for gifts for friends.....everyone is nothing by happy....of course.

So in honor of this latest addition to my door prize stash, I am changing out the Etsy link at the right to her store.  She has fresh inventory available, so be sure to stop by and go shopping!!  She is offering free shipping for a limited time so what are you waiting for.....shop NOW!! :)

Friday, September 17, 2010

I hate when they

come in pairs!!!!

One spider is plenty! :)

Head on over to the Spiderfest2010 blog to check out the two latest additions to the Spidefest 2010 party.

I call it a party....yeah, a scary party that I am going to need therapy after :)

Thanks to both Stolloween and Grimvisions.....I think it is thanks I am feeling.....or I am having a panic attack, it is hard to tell at this point.

We used to have parrots

so I find this really funny.

When we got them, they could talk.  So we could of and should of taught them to say "kitty is a stupid-head" :)

About a year later, all they did was "meow".

Damn cats taught them that while we were at work.  Cats are evil.

And we all know how much I like evil. :D

We got the finished

song/music track for our new video prop.

It is awesome!!!

I would share the final version with you, but the singer and the person that arranged this song did it for free, and I know how the internet is and I really do not want to abuse their favor.  We will have a version of it on our 2010 video.

Trust me.  It is amazing!!

We are filming her singing this weekend so we can tweak the video and then carve the face.  We are really cutting this one to the wire......where does the time go! :D

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Do I trust

Shellhawk?  Depends....well, most of the time....but in this case, not so much so.  You see this package from her has been sitting on the table in the dining room since....I don't remember...I am not even sure what day it is. :)

Anyway, as I said on Facebook - I am not opening this.....I need someone to come on over and open this for me......


See most of you have been nice enough to post pictures on your blog BEFORE you send me the spider so that I can prepare myself.....this one showed up unannounced.

I am afraid, so very afraid.

Is and always will be

the man.


Wednesday, September 15, 2010

He says, "well wait, what constitues a category 3..."

.... spider?"

In my mind there is screaming and I am thinking "OMG, please be kidding, please be kidding!!!"

Then I watch husband hold up his hand and say "When the legs would stick out of your hands if you held it in your hand....about 4 inch legs."

Dan says "Okay, then it is just a category 2."

I feel like I am in a nightmare. 

I mean I always kid about how much I love the Phil Jupitus routine about spiders, but I never in my wildest dreams thought I would be having this conversation in real life. 

This is really not happening to me.

___________________________________________

So, we are at the haunt build working on a soda machine in the cafeteria room...making it look like all the soda, which must have been radioactive (that is why it is green and yellow and bubbly) oozed out all the sides. 

BTW - Great Stuff is not your friend :)  Okay, not my friend.

Anyway, Dawn opens it up to attach the skeleton arm to where the cans come out and says something about seeing the biggest spider right by her face.

At this point I have jumped over the wall and into another room in the haunt.  "I am outta here!  Everyone have fun finishing up, I will call Guy to replace me...see ya!"

From where I am standing I look over and see Dan opening the machine, while Dawn points to the location...and says "Wow" That is a category 2 spider!"

"Or it could be category 3......well wait", Dan looks at husband and asks, "what constitutes a category 3........"

As Dan and husband clarify spider size by husband holding up his hand and saying that "if you had it in your hand the legs would stick out through your fingers."  He states that too 'matter of fact' for my liking.  At that point they decide that the spider in question is only a category 2.......

........yeah guys, that made me feel sooooo much better.  I will remember that moment for the rest of my life.....even though I was physically standing there with my jaw on the floor, I felt myself leave my body as my spirit went running down the hall, screaming!!
___________________________________________________________________

As far as I know, the spider is still in there.  So no matter how cool the other rooms are....that one is by far the scariest room in the haunt.

I think they have all

packed up and gone on to the next project :)


Now we can get back to our own haunt.  Thanks to all our friends and their families for helping out.

Only 4 days until we set up the scaffolding.
Only 10 days until we set up the props
Only 16 days until the art show
Only 17 days until we work on the final details of the display
Only 24 days until we turn on the yard for the first night
...then the madness really starts :D

Only 46 days until Halloween!

Everyone ready!!!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Just a small taste

of the reveal for Extreme Home Makeovers Nightmare Factory project.

They took video of the dorm reveal and aired it...but the haunt reveal did not happen until after 9pm so it did not make the news.  Here are a few pictures.

I will let you know when I can post our photos.  One more event and we are done with this project for now.  It has been a long, wild ride that I would have not missed for the world.

But I am tired and really, really need to work on our stuff so we can be ready for Halloween.

BTW - anyone got moss?

Monday, September 13, 2010

I know a little about this

from the AP - "Famed horror director and musician Rob Zombie will be working on a special project in the haunted house (Nightmare Factory) to be unveiled during the reveal. Zombie's credits include directing the movies "Halloween," "House of a 1,000 Corpses," and "The Devil's Rejects"."

And it is super cool little project that our friend Tattoo worked on with Rob Zombie - you guys are going to love it when you see it.

Hummmm....guess that means I have another secret :D

Here is what I can do....after the show airs, I can give you the behind the scenes "how they created it" breakdown. :D

I just have to say

again that the Frog Queen has the best friends.

Not only did they spend all Labor Day weekend making 116 panel walls for the haunt, we spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 12-14  hours a day this last weekend on the haunt for Nightmare Factory for Extreme Home Makeover.....but now, several of the crew, that were able to take time off work, are heading down today (Monday) to help finish the last minute details, like webbing and set dressing.

Our fabulous photographer is also heading down there to take pictures of the haunt all day. 

I wish I could be there with you guys (my work is not so flexible) - thanks so very much.  I am really not worthy. :)

I am a very blessed lady indeed.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

I can finally tell you

my secret.

Rob Zombie is playing a benefit concert right now for the Extreme Home Makeover Nightmare Factory remodel.

He has been at the haunt all day.

Cool guy!

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Well, we have packed up

the shop, as much as will fit in the truck and car and we are on our way to Salem early tomorrow.

The blog will be pretty silent for a few days....I wish I could post, but I am told that Ed is not allowed to see the haunt while it is being worked on.  It is supposed to be a surprise on Monday, so I cannot post any pictures on my blog, Facebook or twitter.....but I will be posting as much as I can.

I will be back on Monday with cool pictures and hopefully great stories.  Everyone have a great weekend working on your own haunts!!!

Cheers!

You do not have to be there

to be part of helping out Nightmare Factory getting a makeover.  They are also taking cash donations to help them purchase items that are not being donated.  Click on this link and go to the bottom of the page and click on the donation link to help out.

I know that several local haunters have asked about helping out and we really appreciate it.  I believe that they are also still looking for volunteers so if you click here, you can sign up to help.

They are still looking for supplies so if you own a business that can help them out or if you work somewhere that has the supplies...please ask your boss if they can help with a donation.  The kids will really appreciate it.

I/we want to clarify that the project we are working on is us being part of the team that is working with Bad Boys Scenic Design, we are basically being Tattoo and Bert's minions for the weekend, we are representing them and not Davis Graveyard.  This is not our party, so it is really not possible for us to invite you to "their" crew, that is why we are referring everyone to the general volunteer site if you want to help.  If anything changes....we know your phone numbers, we will call you and beg you to come help if we need it.  Thanks so much for offering.

Someday when the Graveyard is popular enough to be called in for something like this....we promise to invite you all. :)

My cats would

never be so kind as to warn me.  They would just drag the bag of cat food with them out the door as they left me to die.

As usual

I do not know what I am doing so this is going to suck.

But for better or worse, I have finally got up our Etsy store. 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/DavisGraveyard
As of today I have most of the tombstone accents up and about half of the epitaphs.  I still need to take pictures of all the cement skulls, but it started raining outside....so I gotta set a place up in the house.

And I have been a little distracted with other projects.

The fourth section of the store will be the Frog Queen follies....just some of the items that I Halloweenify or make.  Don't look for anything in there until late next week.

So if you are looking for accents for your tombstones like we use in our display or you need an epitaph designed and printed.  Head on over there and take a look.

Now, back to prop building!!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

This could not have happened

to a nicer guy.  Jeff and I are really honored to be part of the Nightmare Factory makeover.  We had never met Ed before this May, we had heard of him from other haunt friends and all the word was how great of a guy he is and how fun the haunt is.  It was a blast to meet him and all the great kids and see the haunt this May.

We where very excited when we got the call to help.  We know how hard Ed has been working on the pouring the floor to get ready from his facebook posts.  We have wanted to help but nothing worked with our schedule since we were working on our own haunt, so when this came up we kinda felt it was meant to happen.

We joked on the phone with Tattoo that that was our "free" (well, in a rough sense) weekend so it worked out perfectly. 

Well, at least that is how it started.

Then mid last week the vendor that was sending preformed cinder block panels fell through.  They asked us if we could help them out.  Of course we said yes....but then the bigger problem was finding 116 sheets of 1 inch pink foam.  After a lot of back and forth calls, husband finally tracks it down.  In Salem, which is great, expect for we need it in Portland. :)

So what seems like an easy task turns into an adventure with a contractor delivering the foam to our house at about 10pm (much to the dislike of our neighbors) - but we cannot tell them what we are doing....so we have to just smile and hope they don't call the cops :D

This is where the whirlwind starts.  We call everyone we know that has worked with us on our props to come help us texture 116 pieces of pink foam on their Labor Day weekend holiday.

You know your friends love you when they give up their whole weekend to work on another project.

Like I said all weekend, we are doing it for the kids (I promise not to post the Robbie Williams video here this time when I worked on the Dorenbecher Children's Hospital project. :D)

We even had friends that brought their family that were visiting from out of town over to help!  Yes, it was a sea of pink foam.

It is down in Salem now, they are having a bit of trouble lining up the panels since they were all created seperately and the only ones they could find had tougue and grove, so that is going to be an issue on the corners.  We are going to do what we can to make it work. 

So if you don't hear from me for a while....I am like buried under a pile of pink foam panels in Salem.  Tired and stressed....but very happy to be doing something so cool!

Wish us luck!

Then, this weekend we will be working on the project we originally signed up to do :)  It is very, very exciting.

I learned a lesson

never show one of your students the advanced tombstone project that you are working as a sample in the class. It gives them ideas.

Usually our tombstone classes are beginning class that just teach you how to carve a simple tombstone.  But since our last class of the year was so small (we had a few no shows) I decided to let this person add a few things to their tombstone.

What started out as some ivy turned into a skull and ivy and then we dug out a skeleton hand too, which had to be attached with expanding foam, it was a bit much. 

More complicated that I should have let happen in a beginning class, since they were unable to finish the tombstone because the mud had to dry for 24 hours.

It was a good experience to show the other people in the class a few other techniques.  So next year I think I am going to do an advanced class for repeat students.

But first I have to live through Halloween this year :D

I have a really big

secret.  I can't tell any of you right now.....cause it is a secret.  Except for that one person I told :D
I am evil, I know and I am fine with that. :D

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

In retrospect

I wish I had fallen off the planet like everyone thought I did :D

But I did not....I was keeping a secret.  But as of Sunday evening, it is no longer a secret, so I can break my silence and let you know what the Graveyard crew has been up to for this holiday weekend.....and almost every waking moment since then.

See it started with at phone call over a week ago.....our friend Mike aka Tattoo from Bad Boys Scenic Design that have haunts all over the states, calls us and asks us a favor.

Would we help him with a project in Oregon?

"Sure, what do you need my friend?"

"Well, I am working on a project for Extreme Home Makeover for their Halloween edition, and I could really use your help in creating some rooms."

Now, if the Frog Queen and husband would have had any idea what "Extreme Home Makeover" was, we would have been really excited and, then promptly said "we love you Tattoo, you know we do, but no". :D

But since Tattoo is our friend and he said that we are working on the Oregon School of the Deaf's Nightmare Factory haunted house in Salem (about 45 minutes away) we said "sure".

What started as just creating a 140 foot long brick hallway has gotten horribly....horribly out of control.

We used to have a life....but it's gone now....at least for a week or so :D

More details to come, I gotta go make myself a martini. :)

Friday, September 3, 2010

Frog on the Pumpkin: Stirling Castle Graveyard -Repost

Cause I am excited that we are heading back to the UK in a few months, I thought I would repost some of my favorite Scotland graveyard tales.

Frog on the Pumpkin: Stirling Castle Graveyard: "There are few places in the UK that I will visit over and over, no matter how many times I have been, and towards the top of the list is Sti..."

Somethimes artists

can get in your head and tap right into your nightmares :)

Thursday, September 2, 2010

My only excuse for this post

is that it is my blog, and I like cats. 

I like dogs too.  But I only have cats at the moment...and they have me under this spell like cats do.  And I work for a boring company, about as boring as it gets, so I LOVE when I see a company/business/agency that has a sense of humor.

Only a cat has the attitude to get on a rail car without a ticket or pass and only in Ireland would said cat be issued a rail card . Awesome, the person that thought to use twitter to locate the owner and give the cat his own rail pass, that person deserves a raise! 

Sometime I make myself laugh (and as Craig Ferguson says) that is half the battle.

Thank you and now back to prop building :D

So, can I get that in black?

Well, apparently you can!  It looks like spray foam comes in black.  Beckett (and a few other companies) make it for sealing ponds.  (A little spendy, but a small price to pay for keeping your skin.  Cause if you get Great Stuff on you....it never comes off....without a sacrifice :D )

Thanks to my friend Andy for finding this for me!

Not that I use the stuff much....but I thought I would share it with you fellow haunters.

Now if they would just make Styrofoam in black.  Yes, that is what the Frog Queen wants for Christmas, black foam!!

So did you carve that

out of a block of foam?

Really, ah...no, that would have been the easy way :D

Remember this prop?  Well, as you can see our original idea to mud the craved rock shape looked more like she was coverd in a blanket....it was painful.  We ripped it apart and went with Plan B, which I think was originally Plan A.   We like to do things the hard way.

Instead of the chicken wire and fabric we decided to just make the uncarved part of the statue out of pieces of scrap pink foam.  Elyssa spent a lot time fitting pieces in there and then we used, glue, two-part expanding foam and Great Stuff to hold it together and fill in the gaps.

First paint job was...well, not good.  So here she is in her (mostly)*finished state. Elyssa and I are not 100% happy with her...but she will do for this year.

I present:
Margie B.

She is the replacement video effect for Dean the talking head.  We love Dean, but after 4 years...he and we need a break. 

Margie B is inspired by the small statue video effect (Leota) that is at the end of the Haunted Mansion ride.

Our friend and big fan of the Graveyard Margie Boule helped us record and eerie Halloween song for her to sing.  We recorded her vocals a couple of weeks ago, we will film her when she gets back from vacation later this month.

Really looking forward to seeing this one finished.

This is a milestone for the Graveyard.  This is the first time we have made something that will replace a prop that will not end up somewhere else in the yard....no, Dean will spend this Halloween as decor for the party....or in the closet, depends on the frog queens mood :D

* might have to adjust the face shape after we project Margie's actual face on the molded face.

It is never too early

to wish someone Happy Halloween.  No, never.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Funny thing happened

on the way to the forums.  We got majorly distracted.  Husband and I have to apologize for our complete lack of participation in any of the forums this year.  We have been bad haunters. 

Just like the rest of you we are running out of time, but we will find a way.  Our current plan of attack is for me to hit GOE and ChateauGrrr and husband will get HalloweenForum and Haunt Forum.

See you haunters out there!  Looking forward to catching up with everyone!

We are sorting through

pictures of the display for a art showing for our fantastically talented photographer Marci this October.  I have been looking through the pictures a lot lately, they are all fantastic. (And thanks to the friends that have helped us choose.)

But this one, out of the thousands that she has taken will always be my favorite.


I have it framed, it is hanging in my living room.

I remember the first time she showed it to me.  Took my breath away.  To me, it captures exactly how I envision the display.  She made us look so much better than we are :D  It is perfect.

Because we don't get enough

trick r' treaters on Halloween.  We decided to make one of our own :D (that is a big lie...the "enough" part....we get thousands of people.)

Actually, this prop came about from the popularity of the Superman costume curled in the fingers of one of the reapers with a trick or treat bag on the ground with candy spilling out of it. 

It is usually towards the back until Halloween night, then we move it to the front.  I never get tired of hearing little kids whisper to their parents "why does he have the costume?" or "what happened to the kid?"

We like to tell them that that is what happens to kids that try to come up the driveway :D

The first time I said that I thought for sure that some parent was going to be offended, but so far, everyone chuckles.

It has been so much fun we decided that we wanted to make our own TOT that we can move around the display, either in the yard or out in front of the display.

Since we are big fans of classic costumers and especially the Great Pumpkin Peanuts special it was a natural choice to go with a kid in a sheet. 

We thought about the actual Charlie Brown multi-eye ghost (which husband and I love)....but we want it to look more real than cartoon.

So here is the latest progress on the TOT - in this picture he has three coats of white paint sprayed on - the mud is naturally kind of beige.  I will give him about 3 more hand painted coats of white this weekend, hand paint the base black, paint on the eyes, but a stuffed bear in one hand and a plastic pumpkin in the other.

The first picture I want to take is of him outside the gate, set like he is looking in the yard, lit only by the street light :)

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