Belated Haunted Hump Day.

I'm a bit late on the Haunted Hump day fun this week and missed last week entirely. But I haven't been feeling good and have been a bit busy. That's my excuse and I am sticking to it. 

I made this sun catcher thing for a friend for her birthday. It's in my coffin tray for the photo op, and in hindsight, I should have painted the wood black, but she liked it all the same. It seemed to fit with the Goddesses she's been drawn to lately and somehow when I was making it, I knew it had to go to her. I know it's not really a Halloween Craft per se, but the feel of it, to me, fits for this month.

 October 13th was Amanda and my 1st year anniversary of being married. We've been together for 11 years now. Anyway, the Twins, Bethy and Ashlee, like going to Scarrywood an wanted us to go with them, so they bought our tickets as a present. They certainly didn't have to do that, but we did appreciate it.

So Scarrywood, for those who aren't familiar with our area of the world, is where Silverwood Theme park flips itself into a giant haunted theme park every year. They run some rides, not all, have scare zones, and several themed haunted houses. The scare zones are open and you pass through them to get to the other stuff. There was Clown Town- which is my least favorite-, a spider section, The Doll's house- which was my favorite-, a chainsaw guy, a scarecrow corn maze-ish area, and a lot of actors walking around spooking people.  

Of the themed Haunted houses I went to, there was Blood Bayou, which is a hillbilly, Southern swampy, cannibal theme. I had trouble with the uneven ground in that one, and cannibals aren't really my thing, but the detail in that haunt is really beautiful. I just wish we didn't have to be pushed through so fast. I would have liked to stay in some portions to admire the work they'd put into it. But when you have a long line of people behind you, you move. 

The second haunt I went to was Pharaoh's Tomb. This one was a new haunt for the park and I guess some people think it needed some more work. I, on the other hand, really enjoyed it. The detail on this one was lovely and again, I would have liked to stay and look at the work done in more depth. 

I went to the magic show, Dillusion, put on by Nick and Amanda Norton. I always see their magic show when I go to Silverwood, and this year they were doing a Halloween one. I loved it, as usual!

This is the Doll's House Scare Zone.

One of the creepy dolls stopping a person. She began jumping as I was taking the photo. They liked stepping in people's way to stare at them and when people would try to move around them, the dolls would step with them, blocking their path. It was so much fun to watch them. One guy saw them said  "Fuck no!" and took off like a track star. One of the dolls chased after him just as fast and I laughed my ass off. There was even an Andy doll from Raggidy Ann and Andy, but he had a messed up face. He was also dragging a metal chair around which was a bit obnoxious. He got me twice. LOL! I was sitting while my wife and friends went to ride rollercoasters or visit haunted houses I didn't want to go through. (I had to rest because my back was being an asshat.) He would come out of my field of vision when I wasn't paying attention, sneaky fucker. 

This is a photo op we got with the dolls. Amanda's taking the picture and managed to only get half of me, there on the far right, the girl on the left is Ashlee and the right next to me is Bethy. 

On the home front, we have been super tired this week. I think I've slept more than I have been awake. Amanda and I have been taking it semi easy by watching netflix in the evenings. Last night I began The Curious Creations of Christine McConnell. I freaking love it! I saw, somewhere, that someone mentioned her being the Martha Stewart Goth people. Or something close to that. She totally is! And her house mates crack me up. Which was so very needed last night. My depression monster has been dragging me back down, horribly down, this week. Laughing felt so good. 

Earlier in the week Amanda and I watched The Haunting of Hill House with our friend Bethy. She lives about a hour and half away from us, so we call her and cue up netflix in time with hers and that's how we watch movies with her. We've done that with Cousin Kat, who live across the country from us a time or two as well. Anyway, we pretty much binged this show over three nights. We all really liked it. It was so creepy and fun. Definitely worth a watch.

On a trip to Ross to look at Halloween stuff, Amanda bought me a cup. I will share it of course. She also got me towels for the kitchen that say "I love you to the tomb and back", which fit us more than my kitchen at the moment, but I still loved them. When I was still working at my friend's bakery, I'd bought her a skull spoon rest. When my depression gets super bad or I have a bad fibro flare, she's been stepping in to cook, so I thought she'd like it. 

We finished the entertainment center I think two weeks ago and I found our Halloween decor from the garage. I managed to hurt myself when trying to pick up one of the tubs, it was caught on something and ugh, it was bad. But, I got both tubs in and I didn't even put everything we have out. Some of stuff isn't Halloween decor, but our normal decor, and I would show more, but the house is a little messy with laundry I've folded an some art supplies. Amanda got a little candle happy, but I like it, so it's okay, they are just hiding a couple of things. The cats like it too. They like jumping up behind stuff to look out the window.

I've one a little with the little mantle over our fireplace. We'd planned to finish the painting and do touch ups, but we just didn't get to it this year. We'll work on it soon and I have plans to build a fireplace mantle and facing. That little one just doesn't do it for me. 

I put some dollar tree puple led lights in the alcove and while this is blurry as hell, I really like the result.

I've also added some around the living room and really liked how they look on this wall shelf- which you will better see in moment.

This was the shelf before we figured out what we wanted on it. Batlas stayed of course, its the safest place for him. Also, Amanda and I took all the pictures and art we had with us to a thrift store and found frames there. Gold was not an accent we were planning on having, but I really loved the amount of vintage/antique-ish frames they had and just went with it! Some frames we got were black or we painted them black. A couple of pieces I made, like the key one and butterfly one.. that you can't really see.

Of course this was all done before we got our sofa back, but that's the current layout. I want to make a couple little things to put in, but too much more will be, well, too much.

Well, there you have it. 

Someday, I will do a proper house tour so you can see it seamlessly.

Haunted Humpday- Coffin remote tray- I'm sort of jumping in because I actually crafted a little bit this week.

Recently, I decided to start squirreling away some money for the things Amanda and I need or want. I need things like underwire replacements for bras and I want to buy an embroidery machine. I also want to save up and get an air conditioner for the bedroom and have a down payment for a new-to-us car. We'd also like to make some repairs and improvements to our house. But in the more upcoming savings deaprtment, I have been saving for Halloween. We haven't really been able to do Halloween shopping and since this is really the time of year that Torrid USED to have decent clothes in my preferred style come out (before the GAP bought them-assholes) and stores come out with decor or things to make decor that fits my decorating style, yeah, we or well, I decided to save a little. Of course, I told Amanda what I was doing and she was for it. 

So, on a day she had off and I had off, we decided to take a trip to Joann's and we found a few small things. The trip was mostly geared to window shop and research the texture and feel of what fabrics I want to use for some costumes and clothing later on. But we made it out of the store with a few little things. I'll get to the rest of them in a later post, this one is about a remote tray. 

I found this coffin tray and knew it was coming home with me. The embellishments, above, were coming home with me too. You can never have too many of those. 

I also knew this pretty holographic star and moon paper was coming home too. I've had a sheet of this before. Its a vinyl, sticker paper you can find in the scrap booking section. 

I was thinking of making the coffin a shelf or open shadow box, but decided against it while I was painting it with black acrylic. I sealed it after it was painted with a clear polyurethane spray. 

After the polyurethane coat dried, I measured and cut the sticker paper and had Amanda put on the bottom inside of the tray. She, for some reason, can apply that kind of paper much easier than I can. 

To finish it off, I used the black embellishments on the rim and added my remotes. Its silly, but works much better than the caddy I had the in before and its easier to move from place to place. When we get our sofa back, we're going to put this tray on the ottoman or a side table.

 Unfortunately, that's all I have for today. 

I'm going to make some tea, go a round with my netti pot, and go watch something from the warm, cozy comfort of my bed.

Hope everyone's Haunted Humpday was great!

Bat Fit 2017 Update pt 2., Long Way Round

Picking up were I left off, I've got one final portion to the beauty health section and that's what I do for my hair. 

Herbal Essences Color me Happy has been a constant for several years for obvious reasons. 

I used to just use Pantine Pro-V conditioner, the classically clean stuff for a long time, but one day I saw this coconut hydration conditioner. Wary at first, because my hair is a little oily, I decided to do a test run with it. I love it. It made my hair so soft and easier to comb through after a shower. That's a big deal to me, I love having long hair, but I have a tinder head and hair that likes to tangle. And I found that I didn't have to wash my hair as often when using this. I used to go ever other day between washes, now I can extend that two- sometimes three days- depending. 

Now because I have been bleaching my hair, sometimes I feel my hair needs a little extra something. My friend Felicia found this stuff and loves it. I tried it. I don't like the idea of leaving anything in my hair, its gross, so I put this stuff in about every other time I wash my hair, let it soak in, then rinse the majority of it out. I don't get the gross, unclean, greasy feel, and my hair is even softer. 

Now as far as hair spray or gel, I don't use any of that except on a really big occasion. I might use a little mousse on wet hair before I roll my hair up in rollers for the night, but I've done that so few and far between that I've had the same can of mousse for 2 years and it's not half gone. 

2. Writing 

Since my desk is now in a proper place in the living room and has been cleared off- thank you, Amanda- I have a more situated and designated place to work on writing. Previously I had made myself a writing manifestation board but it didn't feel right by the time I was finished with it. I set it aside thinking it was just one of those perfectionist moments, but when the feeling didn't go away, I decided to make another one. I am happier with this one. It has some quote from other authors, some affirmations, as well as some things that inspire some of the things I write. 

Second on the writing progress, is that I am going to actually start planning and contacting people I want to form a writing group with. It is going to be a fairly small group and meetings will be done online. There are a couple of groups here in town but call me paranoid, I don't know any of those people and don't trust others with my writing easily. That and I am just not ready to go hangout with a tone of people that may or may not work out when I can do a small group of people I do know and can trust. 

3. Wedding

We have a location. We have more solid ideas. We have an idea of what we want for dresses and unless Torrid wows us, then I will be making them. Last night our friend Rachel asked us if we had a photographer and offered the services of her boyfriend when we said we didn't. So we have a photographer. 

4. Crafts. 

I am making little fairy balls and will post them when they are finished. Other than that I picked up some elastic for a grocery bag holder project. 

5. Heathen and Witch Study and practices

Not much going on here other than the continuation of the book we are reading.

6. Reading

I decided to stop waiting on Amanda to finish reading Monster Hunter International, and picked that up again. 

7. Quiet time for myself and for Amanda and I together.

We had our friend Fiona up for a visit, but she went home yesterday. Today we are spending a little time together. We are going to nap, probably watch something on netflix, and pick up the house before dinner, showers, and bed. Amanda has been throwing around the words date night, so I am hopeful. I've done the writing manifestation board for myself, started the fairy ball craft, and colored half a picture. That's about all for Bat Fit right now.

My Dad told me about the show Long Way Round where in Ewan McGreagor and his friend Charley- also an actor- ride motor bikes from London to New York heading east. So far I really like the show. But then again I really enjoy travel shows. Long Way Down is about their trip from the Northern tip of Scotland to the southern point of South Africa. I am looking forward to that. Getting to hear Ewan McGreagor's music in some of the show is nice as well. Check it out, it is fun.. 

And now for a post that makes sense, Bat Fit 2017, mouse fails.

We have a bit more snow than this...quite a bit more. In fact, I was taking a friend to her doctor's appointment today and Amanda's Kia Optima got temporarily in the snow, going up a hill. It was exciting- apart from the old man yelling at me. A note on that, it is more effective to calmly give me instructions than to scream them at me.

Okay, because I am unsure how much I got into my last post about Narcisa and all my attempts to read said post have been unsuccessful, I'm going to update her situation now. Amanda and I took our furry princess to the vet because her voice sounded awful and we had suspicions that she was sick. There was also a fear that she was really sick due to her penchant for eating whole pawfuls of fireplace ash. Seriously, we were fighting her to stop, moving the ash bucket, covering the ash bucket. As it turns out the Vet thinks Narcisa is a freak for eating the ash, has never had a cat who has done that, and considering her love of eating random things, she has pica. Further, he thinks that she may have caught the little cold that Throin brought home with him when we adopted him and it was wearing off. But because she growled and hissed so much on top of eating ash, her throat is basically just aggravated and if she doesn't get better in a week or so, we are to take her back in. She is getting better though.

Bat Fit 2017 Link

Bat fit is something that I have been interested in for the last couple of years. Some of my blogger friends have participated in that time and it just seemed like something kind of out of my reach, per se.  Well this year, I am going to take a stab at it with a sharp stick and see what happens. So to revisit my list from a previous blog addressing something similar to this, I'm going to go into more detail about what those things mean and a little of my action plans on how to work on them. These are not really resolutions, they aren't even really goals, they are just things I want to work on so as not to set myself up for failure. The idea is to have positive experiences, not stress myself out and tear myself down trying to achieve things outside my limits. 

1. Health

While my overall health appears to be good- at least according to my blood work, minus anemia, I am over weight. In fact, if I were to use the clinical term "Morbidly obese". I have been struggling with my weight for over the last decade, clear back to the end of high school. From depression to fucked up period patterns and horrible heavy bleeding, and medication, none of this has been easy. Thrown in fibromyaliga and a herniated disk plus an affinity for sedentary activities (reading, writing, movie watching, sewing, and other various crafts), I've been fighting an up hill battle. Actually, I fight it even when I've gone to the gym and swam every day or done an mile on the elliptical every day.  Do I want to lose weight? Yes, of course, there are far too many lovely Goth fashions I want to wear. Plus making and buying clothes would be cheaper too. But I am not going to make myself miserable trying to lose weight. I could run myself ragged and never get anywhere.  

Instead, Amanda and I are going to start the weightloss hypnotherapy disks left over from a few years ago. It had been working a little bit but then we lost control of what food we ate when we lost our food stamps and her mother was buying and cooking our meals. I kind of just said fuck it and threw in the towel. So, back to that and eating smaller portions. We don't typically eat too terribly anyway. I try to maintain a high protein diet with veggies and fruit. We are also going to start a yoga regimen with a friend of ours. I will do that until I have my hysterectomy, take some time off for that, and then once healed, go back to doing it. 

2. Writing

Writing is hard for me. I've had really negative thoughts about it. The joy of it has been sucked clean from it and it became more of a chore than anything else. There are several reasons why, most of which stem from crippling lack of self esteem, self loathing, self doubt, and outside factors beyond my control. When that went, one of the foundations for my personal "joy" was snuffed out. I've been trying for the last year to get it back and that in and of itself has been an internal fight. I've thought many times that maybe I'm just not supposed to be a writer anymore, that that ship had sailed, and that I am desperately holding onto something that was never meant to be. Those thoughts hurt me in ways I can't describe. So, maybe there is hope yet. 

I would like to begin a writing group. I'm also going to write at least 6 hours a week as prescribed by Brandon Sanderson (author of the Mistborn series) from his college writing course. It is on Youtube and the link is here  . 

3. Wedding

We don't have a lot of money for this venture in our lives, but we we want to make it as nice as possible. I'm going to start a Gofundme page to help get my parents up for the wedding just as soon as I get over my hang up of begging other people for money to make something good happen in my life. Because that is what this feels like.  Secondly, I want it to be as easy and smooth as possible. We've enlisted one friend to help with some projects and will probably be enlisting a couple of others.  As for one of our big stumbling blocks, dresses, If I can't find what I like on Torrid come prom season, I have patterns to make what I want and have informed Amanda as such. She said okay. 

4. Crafts

In general, I'm going to work on various craft projects in various mediums, as the year progresses. From sewing, paper crafts, painting, and crochet, I want to get a couple of big projects finished by next Yule. 

5. Heathen and Witch Study and practices

There are books I have been meaning to read that I feel I am ready for. There is a lot I wish to learn and I do have some ideas of what I want to explore where I feel drawn to go spiritually. Frankly there are also somethings that I have always wanted to do- like learn to read Tarot and Runes and so forth. I also want to explore Seidr. 

6. Reading my usual 20 books a year and hopefully more

Ever since high school I have had a goal to read 20 books a year. I don't always achieve that goal, some years I only get 5 read and some years I manage 42. Reading expands knowledge and helps to hone writing and vocab, shows style and so on. Plus it is really fun. 

7. Quiet time for myself as well as Amanda and I, together.

I need self care time that I don't beat myself up about. I am terrible with that. In fact, I often feel guilt for taking time to myself when I should be doing this or that. It only keeps the self hatred cycle going. So, I am going to try and do some things for myself whether coloring a picture, taking time to do crafts or read, watch a show or movie, or just sit and listen to music. I also want to get back to doing things that make me feel pretty, like putting on make up and doing my hair every day. Painting my finger nails, plucking my eyebrows and so on. 

I also want to have time just for Amanda and I. We need time to watch movies together, to talk, to go out and do things even if it is just to go for a drive. So much of our lives is surrounded by other people and while we love our friends, sometimes, we just need time to be together. 

Anyway, those are things I'm working on for Bat Fit 2017. If they all happen or they all go anywhere good, I will be pleased, but I'm not going to beat myself up about not getting everything done. 

Lastly, I bought a new gaming mouse so I could play Eveonline a little easier. It seems that this mouse and I are not getting along very well at the moment. I am going to do some trouble shooting and if it doesn't work like it is supposed to, I can hopefully send it back.

For now, I need to work on making fruit sushi and chicken teriyaki sushi for dinner. Amanda was supposed to do it but she's fallen asleep... again. 

Late night Haunted Humpday

It is Haunted Humpday again and a few days ago I found this lovely hand painted glass and the skull candles below in my mail box. It was sent from a sweet lady in West Virginia for the Halloween swap. I LOVE THEM! Her paint work is amazing and my stupid camera phone doesn't do it justice. I love her use of perspective too!

Here is a photo of the back side.

These weren't the only things we received in the mail. Amanda placed an order on Amazon for a Spirit board, my vampire fangs, and some white foundation and pressed powder. 

She has a thing for circles and spirals and well, skulls, so I think she picked the perfect board. 

These fangs from Scarecrow have a putty that will harden so I can have a custom fit. Which means they won't fall out of my mouth. I am so freaking excited to have a set of these again. I had some once before, but they got lost in one of our moves. 

My foundation is by Stargazer and the test I did on my hand gave me two answers. First, I am not allergic to it and didn't get a chemical burn. And secondly, it is light, it is smooth, and it doesn't have a smell that is going to drive me nuts or make me sick after awhile. In fact, so far, I really love it. 

The two things above are pretties a friend gave me. The skulls are for our early Halloween party and the spiderweb and spiders are a die cut wood garland that I can paint and hang up. She actually got me two of those. I will probably leave the spiders off, because I don't like them. 

This last photo is a bag I made. I had Amanda draw a bat on the fabric when my embroidery template couldn't be seen through it enough to trace. I drew on the lettering and then went to work. When I was finished, I sewed up the sides, put in a hem and draw string section at the top and slipped in some ribbon to cinch it shut. I did it all by hand, sewing included. Dragging out the sewing machine fora  five minute job after the weekend I had, just didn't seem like something really wanted to do... I finished this either Sat or Sunday evening. Anyway, it does in fact have my little gemstones inside. 

Well, that's it for this week's Haunted Humpday. 

Weather maps, sitting in the dark, crafty things

I've only seen the XXXholic movie so I don't know much about the show or manga, anyway, I adored the little drinking buddy and bought myself a plush of him before I got with Amanda. He's been hanging out in the living room lately. Today, mostly in effort to keep Narcisa from stealing my hair bows, I put the on the drinking buddy's ears. Not only does he look adorable, but he's expressing his inner Goth. I found the hair bows at Walmart of all places, in the Halloween section. I will introduce them properly in my Haunted Humpday post tomorrow because I have another set and a couple of other fun goodies to share. For now think of this picture as a preview. 

Today I am sitting in the dark- well sort of. I have the patio door open so I can enjoy the nice 47 degree, cloudy weather, and have the side table lamp on long enough for me to write this post. As soon as I am finished, I will turn it off. Since I awoke to a beautiful, gloomy day, I checked the weather app on my computer. I love this app because I can look at the weather in my "favorite" places too. So, I look at weather in different parts of the United States, Japan, Europe, and some times I just sit and look at the structure of the coast lines. I know its weird, but I like maps and I like watching the flow and progression of weather. I'm sure most of my friends would groan, but I have been itching for snow. I get it, we are getting older and colder weather, fronts, and rain makes the bones and joints ache, but snow is amazing and so is rain!

Crafty things! I have a felt project I am either doing today or tomorrow. I saw it on pinterest and when I showed it to Amanda, she liked it so much she thinks we need to do a lot. Good thing felt is cheap. My friend Rachel brought me a craft project last night, it is die cut wood that I can paint and string up as garland. She brought me some other little things too, but I am saving them for tomorrow.

I ganked this twisted pixies' instagram page. Twisted pixies makes pretty gothic jewelry and often has interesting little quote pics like this. I thought this one was fitting in light of how I have been feeling lately and because some of my friends have a similar struggles in their lives. Certainly it is a different perspective and kind of an uplifting one, although I'm not saying we are damaged, but if anyone feels broken or damaged, well, it says it for itself. 

I am feeling a little better. Thank you to everyone who commented and to those who didn't but sent encouragement and support via other means. All of it is greatly appreciated and I'm sending my own hugs, support, and love back to you. 

Haunted Humpday

The other night our friend Rachel came over and we put her idea to put my empty gallon pickle jars to use. I have a pickle addiction, but hey it is better than smoking and its a nice 0 calorie snack. (I am currently out and very sad about it.) We made luminaries. 

For mine, I had Amanda draw some bats out on black card stock. I already had a silhouette of a witch, you can find free ones on google. Anyway, I put down a layer of slightly watered down modge podge and tissue paper. Then I laid down the bats and witch after cutting them out, and put down another layer of tissue paper atop them to help lock them into place. I made two other jars, one with parts of a coloring page I had been coloring and then other with netting and stickers, the latter of which is below. 

Rachel did a lovely tree, graveyard, and fence on hers, which I didn't get a picture of. But I did get a picture of Amanda's- which I thought I hadn't when I was telling a friend about it this morning. Turns out I did, yay!

Amanda likes H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu and Octopi, so naturally she went with something along those lines. Meet Cthulhu. But it gets better...

He's going to eat the people of Seattle. 

At the moment that is all from the craft-o-sphere. It looks like only three of our pumpkins were good We've got them sitting on our patio for a little sun, to help two of them finish turning orange. Apart from that, I am saving some stories for next week.

However, we have watched two crappy Vampire movies and not too long ago, we watched Conjuring 2.

Neither of the vampire movies were very good, I can't even remember there names. While one was on netflix and the other on Amazon prime, I think both were independant- which is sad because sometimes independent films can be really good. One was supposed to have been campy but ended up just being boring and an excuse for sex. the other had plot holes, was a little difficult to follow in some places, and whatever campiness they were going for, failed. 

The Conjuring 2

I loved this movie. I really enjoyed the first one and I liked Annabelle. I don't know which I would say is better, I think all three each have equal footing. There's some foreshadowing in the beginning that I picked up on that Amanda missed, its so subtle and artfully done. I remember being a little confused and then when something is revealed, I was like, that's was awesome ad very well done. I don't want to spoil the fun of it though, so I'm not going to say what it is. 

That's all for this week!

Yesterday's Shopping Adventure Finds and Impromptu Craft Project.

Yesterday's adventure of shopping didn't turn out as expected. In fact, I didn't even make it to the Kiev Market. I actually got it mixed up with the European Delicacies market. I didn't buy anything there and I think that was party because I was on the phone, but I did pick up a few things from the Oriental Market along the same road. One of those things being the Green Tea Powder above. 

I also found this tea and am excited to try it out

I bought this bottle of pomegranate molasses for Amanda so she could try it out when she makes her molasses cookies. 

Lastly on the shopping goodies list, I am interested to see what I can do with this.

Yesterday was a really hot day and I was out in it for a couple of hours. By the time I got home I was ready for the dark, arctic haven that is my house. Of course I had to carry in my groceries first. After putting them away and deciding to rearrange three of my kitchen drawers, I wanted to do something crafty, because sitting down to do homework when I was going to have to leave in an hour didn't seem appealing. 

I think I caught a ghostly orb. Taking some of these pictures was bizarre today. 

I've had this metal container and used it in our various bathrooms for as long as Amanda and I have been together. I've been meaning to re-purpose it for my makeup. I've decided to take a page out of Bane's blog and Goth it myself.

This is the finished product and version 2. The first go-round I'd taken a plastic/ rubbery bat, covered it with silver glitter, and then hot glued it to the container. Trying to fix it wasn't working so I just pulled it off and moved on to this. It is a wine glass cover for Halloween, but it still works. I also used mod podge to help seal the decal in and give a textured look. It was a lot of fun and I am looking forward to setting it up.