Merry Christmas and Happy New Year's!

I hope everyone is having a great holiday! I am. My daughter from Texas is in town. I'm off from work for the week. We have snow on the ground but beautiful weather outside (and should be for the rest of the week). AND,... Everyone is well. What else can you ask for? (I guess, more money... but hey, can't have everything.)

I have my really cool Christmas loot posted on my FB page. You should really check it out. That album also has last year's too but that's ok. You'll see which are which.

I hope everyone is going to have a great New Year's. I'm hoping to stay awake until midnight to see the new year in. But other than that, nothing special here. Doing anything special?

After that, we only have 10 more months until.... you guessed it! Halloween!!

Halloween Parties

I was at the bank today working with my banker about setting up an account for this business. We got to talking about my website and Halloween. I had also told her that I worked at a haunt on Parker and I225, The 13th Door. She looked at me and then said, "Are you the gal out front that doesn't talk?" Yep! Sure am! So she remembered me from a year before.

Found out her birthday is around the 25th of October, and that she always has a Halloween party for her birthday.

She asked me if I just had costumes on the site or if I did parties too. I told her that, yes, I have Halloween parties on it too.

Later she had made a comment that she would make sure that she would book her party early.

Oops!

Actually, I misunderstood her. I thought that she meant if I had Halloween parties ON the website. I only have Halloween party IDEAS on the site, not a "party planner."

Now some years ago, I have toyed with the idea of setting up parties for others but nothing ever transpired. I work at a haunt now so my month is pretty booked up. No time for parties at that time of year.

This got me to thinking again about how much fun I have planning parties. The food. The decorations. All the stuff that I make for months in advance... ahhhh.

I sure do miss Halloween.... :(

Only 335 days away...!

Get me back into the spirit of things. I want to hear about your Halloween party. Just leave me a comment below.

Roadtrip to HAuNTcon

This is somewhat Halloween related. I'm driving to a haunter's convention, HAuNTcon. I left Sunday morning and plan on being in Kentucky by Monday night. I love to drive. I feel like it's restful. But then, I'm heading to an area that is getting reports of tornadoes and bad weather. You know you really wanna go somewhere pretty bad when you're driving to a state that is full of tornadoes. Hey how crazy is that? Ok, so I'm a little nuts, too.

I started off driving through all sorts of weather. Within the first hour after I left the house I drove through snow. A little later, hit rain. Now 4 hours later, it's nice. (Only in Colorado... and Kansas.) Bunch of wind.

While driving I had thoughts (can you believe that?... real thoughts.) One of my thoughts were to tell you about some of the ramblings of what goes on in my head (*scary*) when I am by myself on a two day drive... (Clear as mud? Well then, let's get on with it.)

Have you ever wondered about what your mind thinks about while driving all by yourself. Do you have focused thoughts or is it all over the place? Sometimes my mind wanders and I don't have to try to think about anything. Go into "zombie mode". Whatever "pops" into my mind is what I think about. Sometimes I have to focus on what I want to think about so my mind will wonder on a specific items. (That's when I get these epiphanies!)

A friend of mine was going to ride with me but couldn't because of work commitments. So I am by myself car dancing to the music. I have it turned on pretty loud.

Don't you love it when someone passes you very fast and then about a mile down the road you see him pulled over by a cop? Priceless... glad it's not me.

You ever play games with the ones you pass by? Whether they are aware of it or not. I usually play a type of leap frog game. I pass them and then they pass me, back and forth. What can I say? It passes the time.

I stayed in Bonner Springs, Kansas the first night. I slept horribly. Probably because I was tired. Probably because I wasn't in my own bed. They had a nice hotel. Bed was nice. Just slept bad. Hard a hard time falling asleep and then tossed and turned all night. Probably ate way too much junk food during the drive. Sugar overload. Not a good thing.

The next morning the wake up call did not happen. Don't think I slept through it. My sleep was too light. Woke up to being hurried and rain.

Rain, rain, and more rain during the drive for the second day. It stops raining in Saint Louis, Missouri. Long enough to view all the destruction from the tornado that hit the day before. Looks like Jurassic Park movie. All the tops of the trees had been eaten off. The trunks of the trees were shattered. There was blue tarps on all the roofs of the buildings. Some buildings had their "guts" laying out on the ground next to the highway. Then rain again.

I had to play my Rocky Horror Picture Show tunes and sing along. That gets me in the mood.

I was about 38 miles out when the countryside was very beautiful (in Kentucky at this time). Dark luminous clouds up above. But at that moment no rain. The countryside reminds me of driving to the mountains in Denver. Just greener and not so rocky. My headlights are on, that's how dark it is. Very green but then it has rained a lot too.

I'm excited about getting there but more excited about sleeping.

What is Your Fondest Halloween Memory?

I was laying in bed last night thinking about the fondest Halloween memory that I had.

It was when I was young. Can't remember sure how young, somewhere between 9 and when you stop trick or treating. (I guess some never will stop trick or treating, but I felt like I had to go with the pack back then.) I was young enough to be still trick or treating.

It was back in the day where I was scared to go trick or treating because if you ran into the "bad boys" of the neighborhood, there was a really good possibility you would get egged for sure!

For those not in the know, egging is when someone throws an egg at you and you're a mess.

Lot's of houses would get egged at that time of year. Or least the houses that the bad boys didn't like. Unless you were cool, then they would leave you alone. I wasn't "cool" but I knew who to be friends with, at least a little bit.

Ok, back on track.

This is back when I lived in Houston. The weather would be fairly warm. No jacket was needed for Halloween. You could be out all night and not worried about getting too cold.

This was when majority of the houses would have their lights on. Almost every door would have candy to give to the trick or treat'ers.

There was this one house near the end of street where I lived that when you got to their door, you would go in. Now I know that's is a HUGH NO NO now but then, things were simpler to some degree. It was a time when there were the 'razor blades in apples' scares but these people I knew of from the church that I went to.

Anyway, when you go inside the first thing that would hit you was the air smelt like cinnamon. Looking around you would see some Halloween decorations on the walls. Mostly the paper pictures of witches and ghosts or black cats.

You would look over to the right along the wall. There would be this huge spread on the table. Punch in a glass punch bowl, hot chocolate, cookies neatly lined in a tray, caramel apples, popcorn balls in saran wrap with ribbons tied on them and, of course, the cornucopia of Halloween feasts, the CANDY BOWL. Grab at your will!

You'd go in there and knew you were spending time!

We would eat and drink as much as we could handle but we knew there were lots more houses that had to be treated!!

This memory wasn't anything extreme, I know. It brought a smile to my face. Just a nice warm feeling.

How Many Haunted Houses?

How many haunted houses do you visit each year?

I remember one year my daughter, Amber, was still in school, not sure if she was in high school or in middle school. I told her that she could be bring a friend. Amber brought her friend, Shanna. We drove all over town checking out haunts. I believe we probably saw about 5 haunts that night.

There was a couple inside a mall. One was outside in a strip shopping center. One was near a racetrack. One was out in a farm like yard. I believe I got them all.

I can't remember all the details of all the haunts. There's just a few things that I really recall. I do remember when I went through the haunts that when I got back to the car, I would write down all the really cool stuff that I saw inside that haunt.

Inside one haunt, there was a person that looked like they didn't have a bottom half of their body. They had this person up high and in back of a room so that the guests couldn't mess with her. I remember stopping, staring and wondering, "how in the world was that done?" My daughter would just say "hurry up MOM!!" She was scared and wanted me to go but I couldn't help myself and had to look. I know now how it was done but back then... it was amazing (still is actually).

There was another haunt that had all this fog and you felt like you were walking through a swamp. All gurgle-ly and murky sounding with the cricket sounds and "plant life" around you. The scare-actors would hide behind the walls and get your feet as you walked by. That was pretty cool because you always expect someone to jump out in front of you so you don't think about your feet all the time.

The haunt that was outside in a farm like setting. I really liked that. You wandered around their yard on a path. They had a wagon with their skeletons in it. I can't remember some of the other stuff but then you get to a small building. You had to go up some stairs and there were a few scares in that and then back outside. I loved the outside part but it gets really cold here in October (sometimes, not this past year though) and outside could get pretty miserable. But the adrenaline was pumping pretty decent so you don't think about it too much.

Another one in the strip shopping center had a TV playing for the people in line to watch. It was the original 13 Ghosts!! I saw that when I was younger. It was one of the first scary movies that I can recall. I was ohhhhhh about 8 or 9 then. (Oops, did I just date myself?) Anyway, funny how that's what I really recall from that haunt.

The best part, I also remember between haunts that the girls would be asleep in the back seat. Even though they were tired they still trudged on!

FCG's 2nd Part Make-N-Take

We had our 2nd part Make-N-Take yesterday. It was great seeing everyone again. This time it was a bit harder but not harder, if that makes any sense.

Andrew, our host, had everything all sorted out for us. That was an amazing feat by itself. There were 17 people attended, not sure how many motors were done but Andrew had to sort all those screws and washers and little eye hooks and all the other bits and pieces into little baggies for each individual's area. He got all the wood cut, scored, holes drilled too. There were a few boards not drilled but nobody's faulting him for that. There was so much he had already done.

I, being so electronically inclined (*sarcasm*), had to keep re-wiring my plug because I kept doing it wrong. Duh on me. Oh well, electronics is so not my strong point. A friend of mine's grandson knew way more about how to wire everything better than me. But what can I say, he's a mastermind at putting things together AND making them work (another story maybe). Go figure, I lost out in that department.

Anyway, we put all our pieces together. Now we need to connect them to the first part of the FCG that we did last month. I'll need the mastermind to help me because at the last I wasn't paying very close attention to how everything fitted together. After I get all the bits and pieces figured out, I'll set up a webpage on my site, All About Halloween, with all the how to's on it. I was amazed that I was able to do as much as I did.

At the end of it all, we had breakfast burritos!! AWESOME!! We had a great time, great food, great company!!

Priceless (AGAIN!)

We Saw our First Ghost...

together. Well, this is not MY first time but for me and my hubby, Pat, at the same time it is. The other times..., those are for another story.

Pat and I went out to dinner at, Hacienda Colorado, here in the Denver Tech Center which is in the southern end of Denver. This restaurant has this really cool fire pit and and all these chairs inside a stoned in area. The stone wall is about shoulder high. The ground had these very fine rocks. Very nice. I've sat out there in the summertime and waited to be called before. But this was not one of those nights. It was cool weather but not really freezing. Heavier coat weather. A little too cool to stay outside if there was a waiting line. This night (actually around dusk) when we got there, there was no waiting.

We had a nice meal, cozy. VERY good food. Really enjoy this place.

When leaving the restaurant, as with most restaurants, after the hostess area there is usually a set of doors before you go out another set of doors to go outside. Like a weather break area. Still no one is waiting in the waiting area.

We were in the weather break area and were about to step through the last set of doors to go into the fire pit stoned in area. We looked through a window to our right and noticed this man standing outside smoking a cigarette. You don't think much of it because all of Colorado restaurants is non smoking so they all smoke outside. No big deal.

We step outside and both of us take a double take. It was weird and sort of funny for both of us to take a second look.

There is NO ONE outside that window!

I noticed Pat had taken a second look and asked him what he saw before he stepped outside. He said a man in a brown coat and hat. I saw that too along with the cigarette that he was about to put up to his face. He was somewhat hunched down, face looking at the ground, shoulders pulled up (like it was cold, normal) about to drag on his cigarette.

I told Pat before we got to the car that we had our first ghost experience. He said, Naw!! I told him, YES, how else do you explain seeing the guy through the window and then not seeing him when we stepped out? There was no where he could have gone with the stoned in area there. The fire pit is to the left and other than the wall of the building and the other side of the stoned in area, that's it.

I would love to hear for you to share your ghost stories. Tell me your ghost story here and you'll have a dedicated page on my site.

Hauntcon Convention

I'm planning on going to Hauntcon this year. Yay!! Can't wait!

Hauntcon will be held at the end of April/first of May. It's gonna be in Louisville, Kentucky this year. I'm sooooo excited about going.

If you don't know about these things, they have it all. At least this one does, that's why I go.

They have:

• seminars/demos
• make-n-takes
• business seminars
• creative seminars
• demonstrations
• costume party - dancing, food, drinking, costumes!!! OOOOO, the costumes, wonderful stuff!! Absolutely amazing costumes!
• haunted attraction tours - you to visit local haunts. Sometimes you get a "lights on" tour. See how everything works. Get ideas of some tricks of the trade.
• trade show - wow, the trade show! Just about everything that you've wanted is at the tradeshow. It's loud and amazing. I can wander for days in there.
• celebrities - I've visited with a few - personally, I have no clue what to say to them because I'm a bit starstruck but they are regular people, right?
• Sometimes they have special dinners, and hearse rallies

See what I mean that they have everything?

I'll be going to the pre-convention tours also. This is where you get there a couple days earlier, they take you on buses and we go to a bit further out and visit other haunts, stay the night out, and visit more haunts, and come back to Louisville for the regular convention. These are great because of getting to visit with everyone on the bus. Then when you go to the convention part, there is always someone you know that you pass by, whether you know their name or not. It's very cool!! 

So, I'm going. It'll be a road trip for me. Love road trips. A good friend of mine will be joining me. That will make it even better. Still can't wait!

Let me know if you're going too!

Can it Get Any Colder?

Ok - this may not be about Halloween but I just have to talk about it!

Man-o-man, it's cold out there!!

I guess majority of the US is having some kind of very cold temperatures. It's lunchtime here and it's still at -9 outside. I had to go out for a bit for lunch. It doesn't look so bad when you're looking out the window. The sun's out, everything's white (snowed too) but it's coooooooolllllldddd.

Stay warm, everyone!

FCG's

I attended a Make-N-Take class with my local GoE (Garage of Evil) group.

***Sidebar***
You should join a local group if you have one. If you don't have one, get with the main site and see about setting one up. You'll be amazed with how many people will sign up and want to participate.
***Sidebar***

This class was about building an FCG (Flying Crank Ghost). This was at Evil Andrew's house. He did an excellent instruction. We built the first half of the flying ghost.

We put the styrofoam head, arms, eyes, and drape all together.

The hardest part of all of it was trying to get something through the styrofoam head for the eyes to be attached. I ended up using a pencil and pushing with a little notebook so that I wouldn't kill the palm of my hand. This was so that I could put the eyes and their wires through the head and coming out the front. They had to go through from the back, through the whole head and sticking out the front of the face.

It was wonderful seeing everyone again. Last time we were together was for the Nightmare before Christmas party.

Anyway, crank ghost.... After the eyes were in, we put the hands and arms all together. After that, the drape went on. It goes actually pretty fast but with all the visiting going on, it takes a bit longer.

Man, I love visiting with all the other haunters. How awesome is that to be able to build Halloween props in January AND with a bunch of other haunters?

Priceless!!

Halloween cookies

I've been thinking about Halloween cookies. I was wondering if it would be a good idea to sell cookies at the haunt in the concession/ticket booth. Would visitors eat them? Would they sell better if they were in little coffins or would baggies be fine. Just random thoughts.

New and Improved

Hello!!! I'm going to try this new and improved look and feel for this blog. I'm also going to try to keep up on the posting on this blog too. I've neglected it for so long. We'll see what happens.