Halloween 2005-OR as we fondly refer to it....ZoMbIE hOliDaY!!!

Well wasn't this fun boys and girls, well yes it was. For once I used my brain..ha ha, no pun intended. I opted to stay home from work on such a glorious day and also the day after. This afforded me enough time to create and then dismantle without the rush or stress I usually have to deal with every year. All my loved ones whom have had to deal with this timely tradition every year, know of what I speak. In fact I got KUDO's from all concerned, even Heather's fiend, ERIN, and that is saying alot! What I am referring to is the fact that I, in the past, haven't made my grand entrance downstairs for the evening festivities until after 7:00 PM (or later). This would be due to getting home from work after 5:00 PM and having to transform the yard into the virtual playland that it becomes, get "in character," and then make up. Even the few years I was unshackled and let off earlier (3: 00 PM) I still could not manage to get all of the CHORES (HA) done and be wating for hobgoblins by 6:00 PM. Granted the girls helped me with the yard, something I appreciated very much, but quite frankly even with help an hour or so is not enough time to get it done.

Suffice to say this grand day started at 8:00 AM, (Only because I couldn't go back to sleep)..normally on a day off from work I would try and sleep till 10ish. I had errands to run that morning, I also had clothes to dirty and bloody, BUT I can proudly say that by 3:00 PM EVERYTHING WAS DONE, with the exception of the makeup transformation process. I even managed to set out the wonderfully ghoulish tableware, (that Tamara, a fiend, from work so graciously bought for me) and whip up some devilishly divine dip for our chips and brains..I mean vegetables that we would devour later that night.

It was then I sat but for a moment, to feed and catch a second or two of Judge Joe Brown. NOW, Off to the races....Time to transform..yeh..ok. I thought I would get a MAJOR jump start on make-up. Could it be that I might actually be able to be ready as soon as it got dark??

The make up I was using on my face to create, "that dearly departed dead look," says to obtain said look it should be applied, dry, applied, dry...etc. So it was best that I had started that early. Time warp- the sky darkened, I found myself lighting the skull candle that bleeds out it's eyes, turning on the black light, the blue flood light, the WELCOME candelabra, the bubbling cauldron, the fog machine..placing brains...yeh- vegetables on the table, grabbing the hAllOWeeN bowl and sitting my corpse like derriere on the porch...it was around 6ish!! I did it! FOR once I WAS WAITING for the hoardes.

As per the norm in this area, trafffic blew Monkey parts so Heather arrived home later. She "corpsed herself" up in record time..Erin, the "monk" swooped in and Duane unearthed himself soon after. Ronnie stopped by when he got off from work.

We got the usual comments from the creatures of the night: "Awesome," "Cool," "This is great," and my personal fav, "This joint is sick!!" The Penningtons popped by, Destiny just adored what we had done with the place LOL....sadly Valerie did not attend, she was whooping it up somewhere in the Pitts, as in burgh.. WE MISSED YOU!!! : ( >click on thumbnail for larger image

PS Just in case your curious and want to purchase your own "I WOULD be caught dead in that outfit," wear, just stop on by your local Thrift Store. They have awesome buys! Heather's lovely dirty dance frock was purchased there as was my "to die for" blouse, oddly this was a "Bank of America" shirt and WAS in PRISTINE condition. Look what dirt from a dead plant, rubbing it across a deck floor, a pair of scissors and some blood can do for you!! (Property of City Morgue aquired from Hot Topic). PPS Thanks Val for the use of your "The Birds" pants. I Mucked 'em up a little more-LOL.