Happy Halloween!
 

Sucks when Halloween is on a weekday, but I hope everyone here at least wears a little orange 'n black today to celebrate their playful dark side. I've dragged Sally from a cardboard box grave and resurrected her in part (no blue makeup) for work today. Fun!

Happy tricks or treats everyone.

Today I'm a devil......pitchfork and all. I found this great wig and built the costume around it.

I'll get a picture at some point soon-

I wonder how my customers would respond to being greeted by the Pope today. :evil:

Hummm, sorry no orange. Just black shoes.

We've gone a different track this year for Halloween. Rather than some of the more elaborate costumes of the past



This year we dressed up the house. Using 52 8' tall 1x3's just over 600' of black plastic and a bizzlion staple-gun staples we have created a Halloween maze that takes up our entire front yard. It includes the main maze plus a "cowardly lion" path for the little ones. Tonight it will be ready to greet the treaters with 2 Fog machines, one strobe light (carefully placed to obscure the one real exit) and several ghouls hiding within it's walls.

And the best part? Other than providing some manual labor and construction funds this was not my project. My newly minted teen decided to forgo trick-or-treating this year in favor of building and running it. In contrast several of his friends are getting multiple costumes so they can jack the neighbors for two rounds of candy. I be one proud papa.

I'll post some photos tomorrow...

Yup, must be Halloween...I've slived my tongue on a tootsie pop :rolleyes:

I'm wearing my candy corn socks.

Just today? ;)

*rimshot*

I'm just wearing candy corn. I'm going to be a little sticky by the end of the day.....

Just kidding. But I will be Jack Skellington tonight. I may scare the candy out of some three year olds at my front door (Unfortunatly), but it will be fun. Not sure how to tone it down for the little fellas since I can't tell very well who's there until I open it.

I'm ready to hand out candy. We did a pumpkin carving party for Maddy's friends on Saturday. Easiest party ever, buy some pumpkins, put out a cheap plastic table cloth on the kitchen floor, let them have at it, fold up the table cloth with all the gunk and trash it.

Just wearing my cat ears. Well, not just. Cat ears and a dress. But if I had my druthers, I'd make a costume like one of these:


Is this haunted room actually stretching?

Wearing all black and heading off to Knott's Scary Farm tonight with CoasterMatt and bride...
:) Mwahahahaha!

I'm wearing the same ugly mask I do every day. Tonight its trick or treat with the babies!

Today I'm dressed as an over-stressed law student.

So, pretty much the same as usual.

I think we'wr going to end up at Haunt tonight.

I'm not sure I will be dressing up tonight or not. Definitely was not going to wear to work what I wore to a party on Saturday.

Whadja wear?

Not enough.

I think the pink tu-tu needs to make an appearance!!:snap:

Not the pink Tutu, but might be considered worse.

I'll post photos if I can ever be home and awake.

BTW: Merry Samhain everyone!

Ah. I didn't know you guys had a party.

In other news, there's weird stuff on Disney websites today. doombuggies.com has a recording from the woman who voices the new HM bride-- apparently an old imagineer backstory for HM. Window to the Magic has a painfully cheesy HM radio play. My choice, though, is the non-Disney-specific but Disney-inclusive Headless Spectre Radio.

Oh my god, MY EYES.

You know, he doesn't look half-bad in a dress. Needs to do something about that farmer's tan, though.

I'm canceling my subscription....

No...he doesn't look half bad. He looks all bad. It was terrifying.

Happy Halloween!

I came to work today dressed as a productive employee. It's a truly horrifying sight, hardly anyone recognized me.

holy bleepin' bleep! few......VERY few straight men I know are secure enough to ever do such a thing...let alone let it be captured on film...and with a beaming smile no less!


Sir, you have balls of brass and steel! I salute you.

NA, those cats are so totally plotting something. I'd hide those kitty treats somewhere else.

Yes, Aleister is plotting how to open another can of food.

Dude. Whoever they are, they rock!!

NA's spooky kitties are so cute.

In order to get people to dress up we had Crazy Hat Day here at work. End result - no costumes, just dumb hats or wigs. I guess it's better than nothing. I showed up as mostly Sally but my wig is seriously history so I didn't wear it...which means I'm not wearing a hat....so I'm not involved in the dumb hat contest, and everyone bugs me about not wearing a hat, and most people don't even know who I am. :mad:

Never fear, my Halloween is not ruined. I have pumpkins in the car and we have Monsters Inc at home to watch. Hopefully we'll get lots of kids at the door at the new place. :)

This is Kevy we're talking about...so I don't think your total number has really changed. :p

I guess you don't know very many straight men, sir.

This takes me back to my childhood when my parents would take me to dinner at the Playboy Club in Manhattan. I liked to pull the bunnies' tails.

I'm definitely decked out in black and orange today. Unfortunately, I had to work today, but just until six. I'll probably stay at home the rest of the night.

Oh, and I got my pictures of our Halloween party developed today, and will work on getting them scanned in the near future! :)

Hey look ! It's Kevy Bunny !!


BUNNY !!
(Cos I can't find the other picture.....)

I'm jet-lagged, so my costume this year is simply black nail polish. Sheesh! I remember when that was daily wear for me... ;)

Is this the picture of which you speak?

I just pulled in the decorations. The only "kids" that are still out are the teenagers looking to cause trouble. I hung out at my neghbor's house while Nick went out with other neighbors. We had 2 groups that obviously didn't live in our neighborhood, but other than that it was all neighbor kids. There were 3 teenage boys stalking the streets tonight. They were looking for trouble. They weren't asking for candy, but were carrying around big sticks/weapons. The big thing around here is stealing candy bags from smaller kids. It made me sick to see them, knowing what they were up to. We threatened them pretty good and they just kept walking.

I had trick-or-treaters!

OK, so I had to call to them across the street, and I had to stand outside my condo building, but I gave half a bag of Twix away to about ten kids! Little pigtailed Supergirl was my favorite.

I'm surprised at how t'-or-t'ers few we've had. I suppose a big chunk came earlier while it was still daylight (you know, even though we live in a well lit, gated community). But we've had all of 10-15 or so.

I had 2. The first was the little girl who lives next door. I told her parents to come by. The second was a little boy across the street, who I walked candy over to as I was leaving to meet a friend for dinner. I should have given them more as I still have about 20 peices left. I'll probably bring it to work.

We had mobs! We gave out 4 bags of candy by 8:15! And they're still out there... I can hear them.

Lots as usual. I think the high school didn't give out homework tonight, because we had more big kids than ever.

We also went to the annual elementary school Halloween costume parade. (The hours of adult productivity that this school sucks out of the community to build good will to set up its constant fundraising amazes me.) Notably, the principal kept referring to the dress-up event as "wonderful imaginative play," which I assume is code for "not devil worship."

We've had quite a few, and are still getting stragglers. Tori's party was very fun- the kids were all worn out by the time they left. (Just a few minutes ago). There were six girls, three boys and an assortment of hyped out dogs and cats. We had pizza delivered and there was a ton of candy, punch, pop, chips, cookies, cupcakes, etc- the kids are so tanked up on sugar and stuff that their poor parents won't be able to get them to sleep.:D

We also took them around the block trick-or-treating, and I discovered that our new next-door neighbor is the son of an old friend of mine. I used to cut his hair when he was a little kid, and now he's all growed up and married. Yup, I'm old.

Hehe. When I was still in retail I used to run into my 5th/6th grade teacher, the student teacher from that class as well as the principal from that school all the time. I must have done wonders for them ;)

We only had about 12-15 visits totalling about 80-100 kids. They traveled in large groups.

I was dressed as Jack Skellington, and when they came to the door I filled the hallway with fog, I had lights and the soundtrack song "This is Holloween" going. It was cool, and the kids got a big kick out of it. I did scare a couple of the little ones a bit. But not too bad.:p

Our first Halloween was pretty good. We went over to one of Indi's friends houses for trick or treating. He didn't quite get it at first but once he caught on he was pretty unstoppable. Jade just ran around like a little maniac. Indi was a dinosaur, Jade a leopard, Michael an antisocial butterfly, and I was a fairy princess/wizard/witch/goth/accountant a la Carmelita Spats.

The Halloween Fairy had to go to Target afterwards to get the toys and granola bars to replace his and Jade's candy with. He doesn't do well with sugar and even if he only has a few pieces a day, he'd be a wreck after a few days. So he ate a bunch tonight and then gladly left the rest outside the bedroom door for the fairy. The fairy's husband has all the candy packed in the car to take to work, as the fairy is fat enough already thanks.

You're a Halloween natural, Traci- wtg! I especially loved your costume description- it's like you are combining all the costumes you've missed out on over the years.

We're lucky in that Tori doesn't care for candy. She's only had one cavity in her life, and it was a teensy one on a baby tooth.

I went party hopping in my awesome Fred Flinstone garb.

And if you think Kevy was bad, our entire Varsity football team dressed up as Disney Princesses :-o

I did not have any trick-or-treaters.

I guess I'll have to eat these Milky Way candy bars myself.

Darn ;)

Knott's Halloween Haunt was awesome. I had a great time.
Ghost Rider and Xcelerator (sp?) were two amazing coasters. I'm glad our CoasterMatt made me (the chicken man) ride them both.
:)

oooh, a whole dozen trick or treaters, bah. And the local Haunted House maze, which has been a reliable Halloween treat for years and years, has gotten so popular that the crowds and waiting time deterred us.

Oh well, Nightmare Before Christmas at the El Cap was a nice Halloween treat. And being Pee-Wee some more was some more good fun.

All-in-all, a fair to middling Halloween. Bah. Tuesday.

The kids went out last night- Ian was a vampire, Rose a little devil and Braden was a hitman (striped suit, broken handcuffs as he just got away and a toy gun) mafia type- figured with the popularity of things like the Sopranos, it works.

He goes to this house- guy opens the door, has candy in hand- asks Braden if he is a business man- Braden says "nope, I'm a hit man" and the guy backs away- drops the candy in the bowl and disappears into the house. :eek: I mean- come on!

Rose had a take out bag from Maggianos (italian place) and at one house got extra candy cause the guy works there.

Funny night- they called it off early- came home and enjoyed the bounty. (plus the cut the adults get- of course ;) )

I'm sad that Indi doesn't do well on candy :( The Halloween harvest always provided enough for a binge night-of then lasted me a couple of weeks, sneaking candy into school and such. It was a special time of year for me.

Oh well, I hope you got him his favorite (healthy) treats. :)

Our candy used to last until Christmas because we could only have one or two pieces a day.

As we made our way through the neighborhood, we'd stop back at home, my Mom and Dad would dump our hoard, send us back out of their hair and they'd give what we'd dumped away. We got to keep a little, better for us not to have had all that sugar. Besides, we ate plenty while we were on the road.

No trick or treaters at my place. Very few kids in the building and mostly little gangs of troublemakers on the street where I live. I'm glad I don't live near the Castro. I went to a couple of the parties on the street about 10 years back and they were crowded but fun. Sadly, this year may well be the last after shootings last night. :-(

not a single one again this year. guess the barbed wire and booby traps are working. :P

actually, my neighborhood is the one where all the 'visiting van-loads of kids not-from-around-here' come from. thanks to all the households who provide treats a lot of my neighbors cant afford.

Sounds like it was a fun night.

I was in bed with the flu. My son, also still sick with it, had no desire to carve pumpkins or dress up. He did want to scare the heck out of the trick or treaters but being sick that was only a weak wish.

My Hubster did have my niece and nephew over {such a gem he is} and carved pumpkins with them as well as took them trick or treating a bit around the 'hood.

I asked and we had about 4 trick or treaters. For the last couple of years they have dwindled but before, us being on a court where usually no one else gives out candy, we still didn't have lines of kids coming by.

And yep, how sad. Now I will have to eat those white Reeses', peanut M & M's and Almond Joys. :evil:

I did think while I was buying them I should buy the kinds I don't like...

I turned off the porch light and went to Haunt. I had very little candy in the house and got out before giving it away. More for me. :evil: It's either go all out or go away for me. One year we gave out 741 pieces of candy!

I went to my mom's place where they had the house decked out in ghosts, lights, music and the such. Had a lot of kids show up for candy, then I took my nephew Trick or Treating around the neighborhood. He was Peter Pan.

This post is missing the prerequisite cute pic!

I gave candy to some of the monsters at Haunt last night...

Lol, don't feel too bad. Indi did some serious pigging out on candy last night, and got to pick ten pieces to keep. Actually, he could have kept the whole bag, but he wanted to give it to the Halloween fairy in exchange for a toy. She traded him a big truck, a few little cars, some crayons and some granola bars. Those are a treat for him as we don't usually eat packaged snacks.

I'm hoping what little candy we have is gone very soon. He broke down sobbing when his kit-kat came out of thee package broken. We're all happier when his blood sugar is stable! :p

I am from the old, old school that gives out BAGS with quite a few good candies in them. You can't find trick-or-treat bags in stores anymore, so I drew scary pictures on paper lunch sacks.

Kids did not know what to make of it. You might have thought I was handing them gold bullion.

Too bad only a dozen got to experience the booty. The rest got dumped out of the individual bags into the TROUGH that is my office kitchen, where it all promptly disappeared in true ghostly fashion.



Next year, I'm gonna skip tricks or treats altogether, and get to that really cool local Haunted House maze right when they open.


Wanna throw a really good Halloween party next time the holiday falls on a Friday or Saturday, but I guess that's some years off.

I poisened the neighborhood kids as best as I could with tainted candy and apples with razor blades and small ICBM's. That'll learn em not to make noise at 8am on the weekends.

So, that was your evil twin we were at Haunt with last night?

Stranger things have happened on Halloween

oh geez!!

You counted them?!?

I did.

As they were being given out or mathematically at the end of the night by extrapolating how many bags were gone?

Mathematically at the end of the night by extrapolating how many bags were gone (minus what we ate, of course). :)

The very one !! Hope you didn't run into him... :D

You rode Ghost Rider?? Do you still have your teeth, or did they shake out? :rolleyes:

And a damned fine Pee-Wee you were!!!

Friday, October 31, 2008
Saturday, October 31, 2009

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we built a haunted maze in our font yard this year. On Halloween night it was filled with two fog machines, a strobe light, and between three and five neighborhood ghouls jumping out to scare people. This is the morning after photo, so the maze shows some sighs of ware from the evenings festivities. The entrance is at the top left and the exit at the bottom left.

That's pretty sweet.

Probably how it all started with my ex's neighbors, who have been expanding and expanding at least for the past 8 or 9 years since we've been going.

This year, they had a big write-up in the paper and the place was mobbed. We could not even get in. They have tons of friends who help out, and have quite a collection of set pieces and ghouls. Slightly different themes each year (Insane House of Pain - - mental asylum theme was my fave).

Maybe yours will have a similar fate of fantastic fame!

I think we might have some aspirations of expansion. If you have any good suggestions for creative effects to add to a haunted maze please do tell.

Note in this case I am using the word 'creative' such that it is synonymous with the word 'inexpensive'.

Using the Eisner dictionary today then are we? :p

My smile's intact. The bonding stayed in place.
:D

Ok, Baby pics direct from Colorado. She's soooo cute!! I had to share.

Aw!

How CUTE!!!

Aw! Love it - so cute.

Cute baby pics!
:)

Oh, I know how to do that well, trust me. ;) But, when you want something great and cheap, it costs time. I can totally help you come up with some fantabulous ideas to enhance the maze. It would be a lot of work, but worth it. :)

Those pics are so cute, I think I have a cavity.

She's so cute!:)

I hate to admit, but Halloween Day/Night - Ghostrider was running much better than it has in a while (I still miss the way it ran in 1998) - Rose and I rode a whole lotta buncha times during the day, without even leaving the train.