Recently in zombies Category

...and, I am so not ready. The Big Ass Spider project has come to a screeching halt.  Apparently, my craft room is a little high on the humid side and the Big Ass Spider along with all the pumpkins would not dry correctly.  The pumpkins can be baked in the oven.  A 27" long spider?  Not so much. I've warned my mother they will be getting their pumpkins around Christmas.  It sucks, I know, but I need to focus on one thing at a time, and the party is imminent. Holy shit on a stick where am I going to put all those people?  There are people coming who couldn't make it last year!  With fingers crossed, lots of prayers to various gods, and maybe a sacrificed chicken, we are hoping it will be a nice night and we can just open the house up.  That should help. Next year will be easier.  No moving.  No lack of workspace.  No random encounters with kamikaze approaches to home renovation.  I have a path with which to work.  I have a plan.  And, yes, it will change as all best laid plans do, but at least I know this one will be seen through to its fruition. I just hope my peeps forgive that my house is more like Generic Halloween Party and less Zombie Apocalypse than I had hoped it would be.  At least I know that with my group, much fun will be had all around. I love my peeps. On another note, NaNoWriMo is in less than two weeks.  I have sort of a clue.  Maybe an outline.  A kind of preparation.  Man, the level of insanity this one will take will be epic!  Epic!  And, I've sucked some of my family into it.  This is a point where you should hear maniacal laughter.  I am wringing my hands in evil anticipation. Today, on top of it all - without mentioning I still need 12 hours of CEUs for my license - I had jury duty today.  It wasn't so bad, mostly explaining how the process that will randomly interrupt our lives will work.  The judge was very nice and indicated that they would work with us as best they can.  There's that at least.  I feel better at that reassurance - and the fact that they only need us 8 days.  What was it my friend Ashley said she had to endure?  25?  Ugh.  I suddenly feel very lucky. But, you know the worst?  The absolute worst?  I haven't a costume!  Super Husband doesn't have one either, but he'll come up with one faster than I will. We do this every year, he told me, we run the party but forget the costumes.  It's the curse of good hosts, I guess. Help? ______________________ My house? Still a mess.  My neighbors?  Still unwarned.  My ability to come up with party games?  Still pathetic.  Timmy eating a grotesque meal at the kitchen table and greeting people with a "I'm so happy to be consuming body parts, gimmer yours!" grin?  Priceless.

It's a quarter to three in the am, and I am wide awake.  A few hours ago, I was dead asleep, but then around one am my eyes popped open and I haven't been able to get back to sleep since.  My stomach has been feeling ooky most of the day.  I just had some miso soup to try and quiet it down.  I don't feel like I'm coming down with something, but I can't explain the ickiness in my stomach today. So, I'm awake. In the middle of thoughts of "can't add another layer to the spider yet because it's not dry enough" and "I wonder if paper mache glue will keep if I mix a large amount and store it in a covered bowl," I decided that a blog post might help me relax enough to sleep.  Worth a shot. The plans for the Zombie Apocalypse party are coming along.  The theme itself will mostly exists through the guests.  I wanted to build zombie props and all sorts of things, but my laboratory didn't get finished in time and there is only so much time in the day.  Barring that, it's still coming along.  The official email invite went out yesterday.  I've slowly gotten some of the decorating done.  The props I'm working on are coming along.  People seem genuinely excited.  I think it will be pretty cool. There is only one problem: apparently a newbie to our group posted an evite for her own Halloween party happening on the same day.  Now, I don't care that she's throwing one, but there does seem to be a sense of competition seeing as how after I sent my invite, she posted that she just "wanted to point out" that it was also their first wedding anniversary and she would love to celebrate it with everyone.  Now, I'm not going to lie, that little guilt trip made me twitch on the inside a little.  Multiple parties are great because it means people can wander to different venues, but don't guilt people into going.  On the advice of Super Husband, I wrote her a letter expressing that we are not putting on our party at the same time as hers as competition.  Our party has been in the works for a year.  However, instead of inadvertently competing, I suggested we combine our parties at one venue and celebrate all our anniversaries and really have a bash. She has yet to respond.  I thought it was a fab idea.  We'll see if she ever emails back. Until then, I have no time to worry about it.  Lots of props to finish. Speaking of, why am I the only one in this group that works with paper mache?  If I had about two other people who worked in it, we could so get some zombie parts out by the party. Oh, well. The good thing is now that I have a dedicated room for working with mache, I will be able to get props worked on throughout the year.  Next year's theme for the party will be Freak Show, and boy, do I ever have some ideas... ...I wonder who is going to be willing enough to lend us their pavillion for the sideshow attractions... But, I'm getting ahead of myself.  I need to focus on the current party. I just wish there wasn't a major SCA event this weekend, but barring illness or other disasters, I have to go.  I guess there will be some late nights over the coming weeks. If this night is any indication, that won't be a problem since apparently my sleep pattern has been randomized. It's going to be an interesting month. _________________________________ I don't know why I start to get nervous around the time of the party.  I guess there's a part of me that's afraid that people will be bored, which in this group is a nie impossibility.  They always find something to do or blow up.  That reminds me, I need to send warnings out to the neighbors soon...

Let's see: The mask is done and given to it's rightful owner.  There is need for some correction, but we'll get to that.  (Damn polyurethane.) I'm nearly done with one piece of embroidery and the other will not take long, so they will be put in the mail soon. I've got two dragons to do, but they sort of work themselves. And, one Ball of Bun, which is a whole day of work. So, here it is...the moment...the moment I can look at my paper mache table (which is our kitchen table, but the hubby doesn't give me grief about it) and can honestly smile that knowing smile of someone who can start a new project. "But, you have all those others!" you might shout. Not that you will because many of you who visit here have the same problem of not enough time in the day to satisfy the Monster of Creation. We all have one.  You have to sacrifice at least one pound of creative service a day to it or it gets very growly and wants to chew on your ears. Mine, poor dear, was hiding in a closet, locked in a box for a very long time. In the beginning, it was running free.  Running in circles mostly, but really only until it found a direction.  But, then, a change, a move made it a little more wary.  It found itself a little less accepted.  When it did attempt to crawl out and shine, it was frowned at, told it wasn't good enough, and forced into a little box.  Sometimes, it would peek out of the box, but there would be the same coldness.  It would shiver and duck back into the box.  Eventually, the box went into a very deep, very dark closet... Many years later, I found the little box, and opened it, and the Monster of Creation blinked at me in the light but was a little too nervous to come out just yet and sought out a shadowy corner of the box... It took a lot of months to coax it out.  But, after using soothing music, a few happy comments, a few carrots and the odd cupcake, the once shy, huddling thing has decided it no longer needs to be afraid and is currently jumping up and down on my head. The problem with that is it's had a lot of pent up energy, meaning,  it's a little hyper-active.  This is probably the source of my Project ADD.  My Monster of Creation is just so excited all the time that it flits from one project to the next.  I think it feels like it doesn't have enough time left in life to do everything it wants to do. Silly monster. I often lose to it.  It's hard to say no to it when it's suffered so.  As this blog post has been written over the weekend, a new paper mache project has surfaced.  A new mask based on a nightmare I had.  The good thing about it is that it's not needing to be finished Now.  It can develop as the Monster sees fit.  That's rather nice. And, oh yes, it's going in the Halloween pile.  Oh, a new jack o'lantern will be started, too.  Also, Scratch.  Scratch is a creature that has been in the works for years.  I can never get his skeleton right... Halloween is months away. Good time to start all of these new ideas.  No rush.  No stress.  And, besides, every time I start a new Halloween project I tend to stand in the kitchen and cackle like a mad scientist.  (No, that is not an exagerration.  Ask the hubby.) It's a good feeling seeing your evil plans coming to fruition. The next Halloween party has a Zombie Apocolypse theme.  By the gods, I will have the crawling zombie torso and the squirming zombie head on a plaque... I think when I get this way, my Monster of Creation hops up and down happily wringing its hands because other than crochet, Halloween stuff is the only time it gets really excited. I just had a thought, though.  I think I need to give my little Monster of Creation a form.  No one else can see him, of course.  All of our Monsters are very personal, but I think some times they wouldn't mind people knowing they're there and what they look like.  I'm betting mine would hope I would make him fiercer than he is, but we'll have to see on that one. In fact, I challenge everyone to show off their Monsters of Creation.  I've seen what you guys can do.  This challenge is a walk in the park. That is, of course, if you can get the little boogers to sit still long enough to copy them... Wouldn't hurt to give them a name either.  I never really had a name for mine before.  He was always just my little monster.  Have to give him a name... ________________ There are times I wonder if my monster shouldn't be on some medication to try to focus its energies, but you know, that would be stupid.  Mosters of Creation are meant to be wild, untamed, and annoyingly everywhere.  It's their nature.  I don't think I'll mess with that.

I wasn't as productive as I would have wanted tonight, but considering I've been pushing my productivity for the last few weeks to its very limits of ADD, I'm not surprised I shut down tonight. Yes, ADD. I have project ADD. I have this tendency to get really into a project, and when it nears completion...move on to the next one. I know there are people who suffer this beyond my blog borders. I've met some of you. You can't deny it. You know that things are going well. The current project is progressing. You will finish it and more because people are demanding it. But, oh, look! A duck! Yeah, don't try to deny it. You've all had those moments when you're working on something you "must finish" and then something you "must try" clouds your vision and threatens to take you into the world of "something more interesting." And, it's a serious tease because you know the thing you are working on is seriously interesting, but the little bumps in the creative road make it less interesting than starting something new. Don't look at me like that because I know you understand what I'm talking about.

Now, luckily, I feel my project ADD isn't in its truest form tonight. I worked on a previous project in lieu of the ones loooming. Granted, that's not the best excuse, but it isn't the death knell on my projects. Apparently, I needed a break from crochet to work on my sketch of a zombie girl scout.

It's not even close to being done, but, hey, I figured I'd give you guys something to giggle at. (One of these days it will be gross and disturbing...or disturbingly funny...I think I prefer disturbingly funny...) _______________________ Here's a fun game a friend of ours made up to keep his children interested at dinner, no matter where it was. Look around the room, and ask yourself the question, "What would I use to defend myself if the Zombie Apocalypse came?"In your current room, would you survive?