Haunted

Look at the latest photos of the graveyard.

I did not know our work looked so good!

My favorite haunts

Most of you know that I love Halloween - a lot, a whole lot.

I know that most of you love the yard and think how can anyone do better? Well, for the record, many people do. Better, different, creepier, bloodier....I really don't want to compete, takes all the fun out of the process.

Here are some of my favorite yard haunts from around the country. They are a constant source of inspiration. I have exchanged email and personally met a few of them (and hope to meet the rest) and am lucky enough to call a few of them friends. They all seem to be lovely, creative, creepy souls with the same disease that I have.

Darkwing Manor
DC Cemetery
Fear Inc.
Haunt 31
The Haunted Mansion - Northside
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Mitchell Mausoleum
Pumpkin Rot
Raven Manor
Region of Terror
Skull and Bone
Stolloween

Happy Halloween!

Bobsledding

I knew it was going to happen when I looked up the stairs and saw her. And cause I am nice, I wanted Husband to be aware of the impending doom.

"Husband, come look at Dorie"

Peers up the stairs to see her sleeping in a shoe box.

In the the box from my new cute shoes, up at the top of the stairs with about a quarter of the box hanging over the side of the top step. From this vantage point, if she moves just right, the box has fantastic sledding potential.

She blinks at us and goes back to sleep.

Now, we could be nice and walk to the top of the stairs and push the box back a few inches back on to the landing.

Instead, we sit on the couch to watch a movie. Suddenly.....

{Thunk}
{Slide}
{Claws in carpet sounds}

and then the sound of shoe box hitting wood floor....

We don't have to get up, we know what just happened.

Those shoes were worth every penny.

Can you read that aloud?

(In my head, and I am sure it showed on my face, I am thinking, you really don't want me to do that.)

It was a memo with rules to a game we had to play. I had read them on Friday, and that is why I knew I did not want to read them aloud.

Seriously, (because it was early Monday and my filter had not woken up yet) I said "Do you want me to correct the grammar while I am reading?"

Silence - apparently no one's sense of humor was up yet either.

Okay...here we go.

Well, I thought about sharing some of it here....but I can't bear to do that. No one else should suffer from that memo. I am going to shred it now.

On a positive note. I did wear my new cute shoes today - and that distracted me (and a few teammates) from the confusing team building exercise :)

I am happy to

apologize, to all the people that I said NEVER come to our fundraisers.

I jinxed myself when I said never, because the guest list this past Friday night at the fundraiser consisted of primarily Davis Graveyard fans that saw the link on the website. Besides the PCS staff that attended and one other person - I believe the rest of the attendees were all just visitors to the website.

I have to say, that this time, I am happy to be wrong :)

Look, a real

Frog on a Pumpkin!

Did I also mention that I get emailed frog pictures - all the time :)

Of course this one did not end up in the deleted items folder. He goes on my blog!

I thought it was particularly interesting what the caption of the photo said about this image of a frog at the Bronx Zoo.

Apparently they were not just shooting this frog photo for my blog (as I assumed they had) but the actually give pumpkins to the zoo residents. :)

"Besides being a Halloween icon, pumpkins are given to zoo residents for behavioral enrichment: with the goal of stimulating animals both mentally and physically." :) This idea has the full endorsement of the Frog Queen.

What is that sound

it is 4:00 a.m. and my alarm clock is going off. Actually it was the one on husband's side of the bed, because we both know from experience that I cannot be trusted with an alarm clock.

4:00 a.m - in THE MORNING.

The cats are even still asleep.

Now, don't get me wrong, I have seen 4:00 a.m. on the clock before a couple times....because I was still up. But if I remember correctly, there was less of a loud buzzing sound then.....no much, because I was probably drinking the other times :)

The news crew will be here shortly.....must get out of bed, put on some clothes on, and find some Red Bull - in that order.

After this, I have to go to my day job and sleep on my desk.

Why do I do this Halloween thing again?

This is our final plea for the fundraiser tomorrow.....we are going for that 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. "getting the kids to school moms". You never know :)

If you would have told

me when I was 8 that there would be a day when I would dye my hair to keep it orange, I would have called you crazy.

I match my hair color now to that of a picture I remember of me and my sister with bright orange hair in our green and white polka dot dresses smiling in the sun. (I lived in California as a child, they have sun down there.)

For the record at that time, I would have given every toy I owned (and likely the life of my fellow orange haired sibling) for blonde hair.

Why do you collect frogs?

I get that a lot, especially when someone visits my office. I have 100's of frogs. Or more, I lost count. And that is just at work....at home, well, they are everywhere.

It started with my sister actually, she pointed out a page in one of the Sandman comics where Delirium was making frogs while in a waiting room.

We both liked it and thought how inspired.

I bought her a frog doll.

She bought me one. I took it to work.

Next time Neil was signing in our area, I had him sign that page of the comic and hung it in my office.

More frogs appeared at work from friends and co-workers. If I did a favor for someone, or it was my birthday, I got a frog. Despite what I am told, I must have been real nice to a lot of people, because I have an impressive amount of frogs (no, not that old - thank you.)

During my obsessed days my sister and I made origami frogs for both Neil and Tori when they were in town (Delirium looked like Tori in a few issues, and they are friends.) We even brought a stuffed frog to one of the Tori shows that Steve her guitar player at the time propped up on the guitar stand during the encore. Excellent!

I get frog pictures from peoples gardens, frog shot glasses, frog labeled wine (Actually, Frogs Leap is rather tasty, I can't say that for any of the others I have tried) frog candy, frog pasta, I have a copy of the Weekly World News with a front page article about "Frog Baby" (really who needs that?) and other frogs too numerous to mention.

I often hear "I thought of you the other day when.....(insert frog story here.)"

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy it. I do love frogs - real ones too. But I don't own them (although some well meaning person did buy me one once...it is long gone) anything more maintenance than a cat is a problem for me. I don't even have house plants.

I am going to stick with the fake frogs.

Frogs and Halloween - my favorites. Frog on the Pumpkin.

Oh, and to Mr. Gaiman (cause I know he is reading this blog - not!) - more Sandman stories please :)

This is the last one

No more fundraisers at the Graveyard. Thanks goodness. They have turned out to be a whole lot of work for nothing.

I thought I knew how to do this. I work on several large fundraisers for work and in my community. "I have this down", I thought. I was wrong, again :)

Reflecting on the current event, there are several reasons (that I can use for an excuse) for low attendance, but really, I have lost my taste for the whole thing. I do not need to add the time and expense of a fundraiser to my already insanely busy October.

And the terrible feeling I get from not raising any money for someone when I said I could. I am going to need more PeptoBismal :)

I cannot tell you how many people have begged us to come to a party at the graveyard and then when we tell them we do this fundraiser and how much it is, they are "Great, I will be there! Thanks for doing this and supporting our community!"

They never sign up. Never. Not one person that says they will sign up does.

Not really surprised, just disappointed. And to be honest, a bit relieved to be done with the idea.

Go to just stick to donations and raffle tickets for charity.

More time for sleep!

Not until February

will the Adobe CS4 Master Collection be mine. And, I will likely need a new computer.

:(

I really like your hair

"Did you have it done recently? It is looking a bit on the blonde side. I like it."

Now she is saying this to the back of my head as I am working at my computer. Because I was busy/rude, I did not turn around , just smiled over my shoulder.

Blonde, did she say blonde! (My eyes as wide a saucers!)

I have an emergency hair appointment for 6:30 tomorrow :)

He called up

and gave me the news.

"This is too important to say in an email. There is an inflatable across the street"

*gasp* as I almost drop the phone.

What do you say when something like this happens to someone you care about?

"Oh man, I am soooooo sorry."

Who put

all those Halloween decorations in my yard?

Tonight is the first night all the props (hopefully) will be running. In front of lots of people!!!

Me worried?

Not yet, but I already need a nap and a cocktail.

One of the vets told me

that she is a smart cat. I laughed a bit, her? Right?

Stern look from the vet.

Oh, you are serious?

(I think, okay, crazy vet obviously does not own a cat)

He goes on to explain that in many cases timid cats (in the way that she was acting) are smarter. They are more aware of their surroundings, that is why they are so afraid of things they don't know.

The "Don't Care" chorus in my head is saying...righttttt ........oh, and we are going to need to see your degree now?

Anyway, crazy vet did cure Door, (for a ridiculous amount of money - so I guess it is me that is crazy.) so he must have been a real vet despite my doubts.

Last night I came in the house to find Door sleeping on one of my Halloween party door prizes.

I believe she saw all the pictures of Hal on the computer or read his bio on the website , and thought well, that is how you get to be favorite cat and get some petting in this house! Feign interest in the crazy owners hobby!

I guess she is a smart cat! Cause it worked.

Door loves her mummy! (*groan* Go ahead, that was pretty painful :)

Your only supposed to cast

good spells. The dark ones come back ten fold.

So I tell myself that turning someone into a toad can be a good thing....maybe that person would be happier as an amphibian, and they just don't know it. I might be doing them a great favor. :)

Anyway, got a request the other night, so I was looking for something useful in my spell book and stumbled upon some mighty odd spells. Yes, odder than turning someone into a toad, which, by the way, was not in this book. :)

After perusing the spells that begin with A and B....here are a few spells I found.

Automobile Accident Prevention

I did know this one, but I checked it out anyway.....Feverfew. Yep, lots of Feverfew.

And as any gardener will tell you there is a reason for that. Because if you plant one small Feverfew plant near your house, it will eventually overrun the property and you won't be able to get out to cause yourself any harm.

Bubonic Plaque

I flipped to this page because I wanted to know what kind of spell causes the plague, (I bet it involves rats!) that seemed a very irresponsible thing to teach. Turns out it is how to protect from the plague. Which I thought could not be near as interesting, but I was wrong!

By far the most difficult spells I can image - the second one is likely impossible.

#1 - You need twins to carve the wooden pieces of a plow out of an ash tree, then assemble the plow and plow a circle around your property with twin black oxen.

#2 - You need 12 virgins of each gender, they have to plow a around the property in the moonlight without making eye contact. Naked.(Okay, that wasn't part of it...but it should be.)

Bullet Proof Spell

Something about eating pine nuts every day. Now I know why they are so expensive.

Banana Protection Spell

You hang a hand of bananas outside your house from a red ribbon with an evil eye strand until the bananas are black. They you destroy them. They were very clear that you don't under any circumstances bring any part of the charm into the house. So, I am thinking if you want to transfer your bad energy to your enemy....mail it to them! I wrote that idea down for future reference.

A little farther down the page caught my eye....

Demon Doll Spell

I know some of you already knew this, but it was news to me. I might be possessed, that is why I am so evil. (Now, in my best Craig Ferguson voice) I know!

I am making one of these, if I put all my bad energy in the doll and burn it, in the hopes of becoming a nice person. (My boss will love that.)

Anyway, did not find the spell I was looking for, and didn't expect to :) So, I came up with my own, as I often do. The usual, candles and cords and silk, and other miscellany. I wrote it down, if it works, I am going to use it again for another project.)

(Focusing your energy and your thoughts, that is the point - always. In spells and in life.)

Reflecting back, I believe I had a good idea on the plague spell, the next one I write will likely involve naked people!

Only at our house

in normal conversation would you hear:

hand me that skull (or arm or leg)

if you put that candle there, it will look like the skeleton has a penis

just hide the controls in his chest

Do you know how many times we took that coffin in and out of the hearse?

What color do we paint the pews

how do you remove the bolt from a skull?

real corpses would not rot that way

which skeleton are you talking about?

did you repair the tombstone?

will the light get too hot and melt the coffin?

Hope you don't mind the smell of formaldehyde

Can you help me install the demon?

we like him, but his skin is kinda crispy

more moss, woohoo!!!

I have the sledge hammer, I'm going to move a tombstone

All in a day's work I suppose.