Halloween 2011: Dracula's Candy Coffin

Scary GuyWhat would Halloween be without a small scale movie set from the Harris household? This year our theme started out as a dungeon, but given time constraints, whittled itself down into "Dracula's Candy Coffin." 

Blair spent most of Sunday in the back yard, hammering and nailing away at a coffin. (The neighbors love us.) We filled the sides of the coffin with candy, but cut out a hole in the middle so "scary guy" could pop out. The set up was that Blair sat hidden beneath the coffin while my mom and I lured kids to knock on the coffin top. "Say 'trick-or-treat,'" we instructed them. They knew something was going to happen but they weren't sure what and it was fun to see even the teenagers be a bit leery of what they were letting themselves in for. Mom and I would pop open the coffin lid and Blair would shove scary guy up over the edge of the coffin with a huge "RAAHHHH!!!" 

Check out the 2 hanging flaming cauldrons...We got a LOT of kids jumping back and screaming. Even more parents. It was great. 

 I do feel bad about one little girl. For the smaller kids, I would murmer "Go easy" to Blair as they approached and he would dial back the yell and have scary guy ease up slowly versus just pop out. Or I would catch the parent's eye (the kids weren't taking their eyes off the coffin) and mouth the words, "Is it okay to scare them?" 

I did this with one little girl who was maybe four and the mom indicated it was fine. Still, I had told Blair as she approached that it was a little girl and to go easy and he did, not even doing a yell and instead doing a cheerful and goofy "Happy Halloween!" voice for scary guy.

Didn't matter. This kid took one look at the monster, turned, and ran screaming down our sidewalk. I'm trying to apologize to the mom and calling after the little girl, "Honey, it's a pretend monster. Come here and we'll show you. It's a nice monster," and this kid is across the street screaming and clutching her hair. She refused to go to any more houses and her parents had to put her in the car and drive away. 

I'm sorry, but that's just so awesome.

We had a lot of parents tell us that they loved our Mummy theme from last year and they came back specifically to see what we were doing this year. Once again, full credit goes to Blair. We don't get anywhere near the number of kids we used to and each year I drag my feet more about doing some big production. But it is fun when you hear groups of kids say as they're walking away, "This is the coolest house, ever." 

Until next year... HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Decorating Diaries: High Falutin' Art

"New Found Friend" I'm embarrassed to admit how little I know about art. I can't identify periods or painters, and I'm one of those people who in the past has looked at abstract art and sniffed, "I bet you could put a five-year-old's finger painting up against this and no one would know the difference." 

So I felt a little shy when my friend Melanie asked if I'd like to stop by her office to look at art for our newly painted hallway. Melanie is the owner of Molee Fine Art, soon to be known as Lucky Fish Gallery. We were flipping through framed art and I was commenting, "Oh, that's nice. That one's kind of pretty," when all of I sudden I froze and shrieked "KITTY!"

I had found the painting of my dreams. I don't care what you think of it. I adore it. I burst out laughing when I saw it and even though it's just sitting in my writing room at the moment, I grin every time I glance over at it. I can't wait to hang it in the hall. I lu-uh-uh-uve this painting. 

Even better, Blair feels the same. I wondered if this might be a little too much "cat" for him, but he had the same reaction I did. Our rule is never pass by something in life that makes you grin. It's pretty much why we got married.

So this is the start of our hallway art collection. The painting is called "New Found Friend." Don't feel intimidated by my high falutin' art. I'm still a regular person, just like you. 

I just have a totally cool cat painting in my hall.

Cheers,

Dena

Just Your Typical Day

Ever look up at the end of your workday and think, "Where did the time go?" I decided to track how I spent my time the other day and this blog post is the result. Enjoy. 

• 6:30 AM - Day gets off to a sluggish start as I'd planned to be up by 5:30.
• 7 - 8 AM - Try to work through e-mails while fighting off attempts of both cats to derail my productivity by insisting I give them lengthy backrubs. Cats - 598, Dena - 0.
• 8:30 - 9 AM - Interview Barefoot Josh on my radio program this month.  
• 9:15 - 12:30 - Write and edit ongoing book project
• 12:30 - 1:30 - Revise index for my book due out in October
• 1:30 PM - Consider fixing lunch but choose instead to wander through the kitchen every 10 minutes and stuff random handfuls of almonds, apples, cereal, bread with honey and granola bars down my throat instead. 
• 1:40 - Stare longingly into cupboards, mentally wiling copious amounts of chocolate to appear
• 1:45- 2 - Sulk in chair pretending to work, but really still thinking about chocolate
• 2-2:45 - More book writing/editing
• 2:45 - 3 - More sulking about the no chocolate thing
• 3:30-4:30 - e-mail, admin work
• 4:30 - decide there's no time like the present to paint the accent wall in the hall. We've selected a bright cheery yellow to compliment the orange because we like color
• 5:30 - I still need to do my speed work on the treadmill, but I know I'll be to tired to cook dinner if I do and I don't want all the vegetables I bought to go to waste plus I really need to eat a healthy meal. Go ahead and cook dinner and place in fridge.
• 6:15 - Convince myself it really won't take all that long to put a second coat of paint on the wall and better to just have it over and done with. Solid logic, except the wall is going to require a third coat. Bummer. 
• 7:10 - Finally hit the treadmill for speedwork. 
• 8:15 - Reheat dinner in the microwave (giving myself mental high-fives for having cooked in advance) then drag dinner plate, myself, and ice bags to the couch where I ice my knee and eat gobs of food as I watch The Biggest Loser.
• 8:30 - Blair gets home. Having stayed in one spot for more than 10 minutes, I have lost all will and ability to move. After being at work all day, he cleans up the kitchen for me. The man is a saint. 
• 10 - Bed. Bed, bed, bed. 

And that is where my day went. How about you?

Decorating Diaries: Early Results

I hope Blair likes orange...Blair is in Fayetteville, so I came home from today's run and started painting. It's easier to just jump in and start the process versus waiting for him and having the discussions on whether we ought to wait until we have a clear schedule to tackle such a project (Him- yes, Me-no) and if taping is necessary to protect the trim (Him-yes, Me-no) and if the cats should be locked up while we paint (Him-yes, Me-no -- see a trend?).

I've got one coat up on half the hall but so far I'm liking it. It's a little more orange than I expected. Lowe's was WAY off on so many of the sample colors they gave me that I went to Sherwin Williams where they did a color match on the sample and it's dead on. The Lowe's sample I'd brought home had a tad more yellow to it, but not much. I'm still pleased. It looks like a fiesta in the hall. 

Once the hall is painted, it's time to take down the tacky 70's chandeliers and maybe think about getting a rug and some artwork in there. But one thing at a time. Dinner, and then I have another half of a hall to paint. What remains to be painted of the beige hall