Update on Contest , Zombie Puppets, and Pretty Much Everything Else

Hi, we're home and I'd really LOVE to post some pictures from my trip - but once again my computer does not want to cooperate and download anything.....so hopefully I'll be able to use another computer to get that done so I can get to some blogging.


I'd also like to change the rules of the contest - due to, ahem, really low response - if you want to enter, then just leave a comment in that post. Or this one. Or whatever. Believe me, at this point, barring some major onslaught of entries - you've got a pretty good shot. So in that vein, if you really don't want it - don't enter, because chances are good you'll end up with it. Lol.


I have a lot to say about my trip and what was good (and what wasn't) and I think we got some good shots of the festivities and the parks.

I don't want to go back to work, but I am glad to be home. I missed my cats and my Autumn Wisconsin weather. We had a long hot summer and I was all, 'Enough already with the sunshine and the hot and the bright already!'.  I just wasn't far enough away from summer yet to appreciate it.

I am hoping that I can make this a yearly tradition and seek out some new Halloween Haunt every year to try - when I was a kid - and we lived far away from EVERYTHING - we always made excursions out to other places in the state to go on haunted hay rides, Haunted houses, you name it. I'll talk more about that when I blog about the haunted houses.

When I moved to Milwaukee, I thought I'd be in seventh heaven, finally living in a big city around Halloween time - but the truth of it is - we seem to have a dearth of good Halloween options in this town. Unless I'm just looking in the wrong places, the things I have tried are just well, okay. (With the KILLER exception of the Night of the Living Dead Zombie Puppet Show going on tomorrow night, of course!). I did find a great haunted asylum a few years ago on the South side but I haven't seen them since so I'm assuming they never reopened.

Last year i watched the Travel Channel's specials on the Best Haunts in America - great specials that made me want to visit all of these places around the country. I also found out that the Detroit area has the most haunted houses/attractions in October per capita (or something like that, anyway, there's A LOT) so that probably accounts for my disappointment upon moving to Milwaukee.

I wuz spoiled.

But - there is a great website on America's Best Haunts - and I'm happy to say that Wisconsin did make the top 20 this year - although this place is not in Milwaukee. It may, however, end up being my Halloween destination next year.

Wisconsin FearGrounds

And here is the promo for the NOLD:TPS at the Oriental tomorrow night. Can't wait!!!!



Also a very cool article can be found online here

Day Nineteen: We Made It

And I'm kind of surprised.....there was about ten minutes when I was sure we were going to miss our flight. As much as I planned for this, there's always things you can't anticipate - and a couple of those almost waylaid us too much.

But we made the flight -and of course, the advantage to running behind is that you don't have to wait to board or to take off.

And hey, if you don't mind the panic attack, high blood pressure, and headache that go along with it, I wholeheartedly recommend it as a way of travel.

We also made a last minute decision to rent a car, went to the wrong hotel, and of course we only had two hours of sleep last night. Which meant:

A) By the time we made it to the right hotel, it didn't make any sense to go Universal today; and

B) By about 330 pm I was completely and totally exhausted - a feeling which was accompanied by the  distinct sensation that I was leaving my body. It was simultaneously scary, giddy, and kind of interesting all at once. I napped for a couple hours and woke up feeling like I was oriented  back into the mortal coil again. Of course, that wore off, and I'm verging on crashing in front of this - so I'm going to sign off for now and sleep.

We did manage to eat lunch at a great Chinese place while we were waiting for our room to be ready, and had a nice late night dinner at Fish Bones a couple of hours ago.

Other than that, we've both just been napping and trying to prepare/map out our plan of attack for the week...I'll post as I can and hopefully there'll be more pictures. Unfortunately there were none today since I didn't want to add anything new to my camera until I was sure what was on there was going to come off.

Have a great Wednesday - even though I thought I was going to float away today, it beats the HELL out of work. So freakin' glad to get away.

-Mama F.

Day Eighteen: Contest!!!

Well, evidently I had to travel about 1200 miles away from my home to FINALLY  be able to get some time to post on my contest.

My computer in Milwaukee refused to download my photos, but my notebook is actually  behaving very well here in Orlando.

The prize is a print of a watercolor painting I recently did:

I apologize for the quality - I had to photograph the painting (and didn't do a great job) since I don't have a scanner.

I've never seen The Brain Eaters (1958) and apparently, it's not available on DVD at the moment. But I needed a black and white photo for an exercise in my painting class, and when I found this, I used a black and white version to create my own version.   I would never sell this, of course, since it's obviously just an art exercise using someone else's work - but I can give a print away.

I'm also considering using this technique to create some original work - but of course time is a huge factor - and while I'm still at my current job (please, Jebus, not for too much longer!!) then that may hamper my efforts.

The exercise was to paint this picture using only two colors. I cheated a little bit and put a touch of pink and yellow in it. But the rest of the painting was done using only two other colors.

To enter the contest, you can do one of two things:
1) Guess which colors I used and guess correctly - I'll take very generic color names. Pink and yellow do not count, since I already named them, obviously.  I'll also tell you that 'white' is not an answer - any white on the painting is just unpainted background. But you have to get both correct, which gets you an entry into the contest.

2) Post a link to my contest on your blog and post that link in the comments.

Do both and you'll get two entries in the contest.  I will then draw one winner from those entries.

I moderate the comments, so I won't be posting them until I pick the winner of the contest on October 31st. 

*As I mentioned in a later post, you can enter the contest just by leaving a comment.  However, either guessing the correct colors or posting a link will get you additional entries*

Good Luck!
-Mother Firefly

Day Seventeen: Delays

Well, as good as Mama's intentions were and as much as I tried to plan in advance, it turns out that working 50 hours a week, planning for a vacation, and trying not to lose my damn mind are not very conducive to blogging every day.  I've been sort of bummed about it - I did manage to blog every day last year and I had a blast. I was even in graduate school last year - so imagining that I'm even busier now then I was then is kind of sad.

But I can't get too down - because this year I get to do what I've wanted to for YEARS and that's go to Universal Studios Horror Nights in Orlando.

I'm going to attempt to blog from down there - they may be short posts but I'll try to do updates as I can - providing the Wi-fi works well and I can wrestle the lap top away from Papa Cash.

Wish me luck.

I was also going to start the contest tonight, but I'm having HUGE technical difficulties, so I'll attempt again tomorrow to download what I need to download.  Also I'm discovering in the last week that Mama REALLY needs a new computer.

See you tomorrow,
Mama F.

Day Fourteen: Ghost Adventures

I've talked about my love for the Ghost Hunter guys many times, especially on my other (neglected) blog, Old Spooky House.  But I'm not the only nutcase responsible for that blog, so I can at least do the American thing and blame other people for it. (Hee)

Who were also here in Milwaukee last night, and I wasn't there.....sigh....just too much going on recently.


I've also talked (or drooled) about my crush, Josh Gates, from Destination Truth, on that blog as well.

I've got a destination for you, Mister......It's called MAH BEDROOM

I think, however, I have neglected to mention these dudes very much - and maybe it's because I'm slightly embarrassed to admit my fondness for this show. Then I realized that it totally belongs in my huge stack of other guilty pleasures, like Road House, Showgirls, American Idol, and any VH-1 show that features slutty drunk women competing for some washed up recording star. (What happened to those shows, btw??)

These dudes, my friends, are my guilty ghost-hunting pleasure.

I heart ghost hunting shows (I even have my own K-2 meter - all the ghost nerds will know what I mean) and I can't say I would recommend the Ghost Adventure guys methods, or even that I believe all of their results.  (They find something every single time????)

But there is something that is so all-fired craaaaazy about how they go into a completely dark place, get locked in, and start calling the ghosts out.  And these dudes don't even stop there, they invite the nasty stuff, the demons, the what have you, to get up all in their faces, and at least one of them has to fight off a mini- possession at least every other show.
And I don't even think I believe in that stuff. 

I know - it's the National Inquirer version of paranormal research. And I'm sure that what they do makes the other guys who have a more systematic and well, reserved, method of research want to hold their heads and cry.


But there is something about watching these three get locked down, even though you can pretty much predict what will happen.  We have our  'Oh Chick, Chick-Chick-CHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK' guy who provides the scared reactions(Fans of a certain comedy team will get that one), we have the guy who's kind of in the middle as far as reactions and provocations, and then we have Zach:

I can't decide if this guy is sexy or just insane.....or maybe both.

 Who likes to yell and intimidate the ghosts into giving him paranormal evidence.

Then someone has to fight off possession.

 I don't even BELIEVE in possession.  (I believe more in the influence of our own minds) but I can't say I secretly hope that one of these times, Zach's head will spin completely around and he'll spray green vomit all over his compadres. Which will then cause the poor man's Lou Costello to cry and pee his pants simultaneously.

As silly as this show may feel at times, it's still more entertaining than the slew of remakes and sequels in the horror genre - at least you get some good spooky stories and history before their lock downs - and they do often revisit places they've gone to before. They also have some of the weirdest equipment out there. 

So if you're home on a Friday night and have nothing better to do, tune in the Ghost Adventure boys and watch Zach and his crazy hair yell at dead people in the dark.

Boo,
Mother Firefly

Day Thirteen: Dark Candles

 

As I said a couple of days ago, I started using scented oils instead of candles. One of the best places I've ever bought oils is Dark Candles.


Not only do the bottles look great and have fantastic artwork, the oils smell AMAZING.

A few of my favorites are Dracula, Corpse, and Haunted House.

Day Twelve: Society of Eclectic Halloween Artists Blog

Check out the contest here at the Society of Eclectic Halloween Artists Blog

All you need to do is go to their blog and enter in the comments section. You can also post about the contest for an extra entry in the contest.

This is one of the cool things you can win: