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House of Horrors 2011

It all begins in this room...the "Patrons" see a short film while waiting in this room.  It is about a family who has teenagers and the parents ask if they are mature enough to stay home alone for the first time at night....well the short film  takes on a  "Blair Witch" feeling  with the kids doing their thing, listening to their Ipods, watching T.V. , shooting some hoops in the Backyard...then the boy is up in is room checking in on Facebook and starts to hear some Circus music playing somwhere, {he has no idea it is coming from the basement} he brings his handheld laptop to film what he sees and goes to investigate, as he opens the basement door someone or something grabs him.  The girl hears a scream and calls for her brother she also begins to hear the Circus music and so she follows the musci and it leads her to the basement door where she hears the sound coming from...as she opens the door...a Scary clown with a menancing face and green hair  is there waiting for her..and grabs her too and pulls her down into the basement.  That is where the story of the House of Horrors 2011 begins....

The "To-be-scared" walk through the small, creepy door, the same door you see in the film...this is what you see on the far side of the hallway...."THE CLOWN", that is somehow "off" in his own demented way......

the "to-be-scared" go through a series of hallways and rooms and the first one is the Demented Clowns' Room, he is there with all his buddies from the Circus..

When you leave the Clown Room you go through a hallway of floating ghosts...and webs...

Then the graveyard with all kinds of corpses laying around and popping out...

from behind coffins....or popping out of tombs....

Old brides who have died of a broken heart....hang in the corner...

When you leave the graveyard you go through the Witches Hallway....

In the Witches Hallway...you'll be touched from the walls by a slight sensation...{brushed with a feather} all along you be stared out by creepy old painting of dead people.....then you go into the dot room, where there are neon colored dots on the walls and real bodies covered in dots will lunge out at you....{for some reason I did not get any images of this room}...

The next hallway is the Spiders Web Hallway.  Spiders in all shapes and sizes....even going so far as wrapping up humans in their web to suck their human blood....

If you make it to the end of the hallway...you might be checked into the Menancing Medical Room/Morgue....{this is the room that my girls where Zombies in and I got to participate in creating it}

The nurses check in station, where you will be "checked" in and never checked out!!!.....

As you walk past the nurses station, the mecical rack is loaded with  jars with all kinds of body parts and gruesome stuff......

Bodies in mid-autopsy.....laying on tables...hopefully now one was cut into alive....Every Morgues has the Cript.....where all the dead people are in their own cubby...

The cript with the hand of the Music teacher.......

The Cadaver gurney....where the dead await...the knife!!

 The House of Horrors was a great success and everyone had a great time creating it and participating in it and we all can't wait until next year so we can plan the next House of Horrors 2012!!

 

Medical Zombies!!

A quick look at my two Zombies and their soccer teammate and bandmate in the Medical/Morgue room...

I have lots of photos to share...very, very soon....

House of Horrors!!

Last year the Middle School Music Program hosted a Harvest Festival and House of Horrors for the first time.  My partner and I were in charge of the Haunted Music Room..I was able to snap up a few pictures of it between frights...

When you walked into the room this is what you saw..dead pianist playing a scary tune....

The Scary people in the frame....yep those are my ancestors, now I know where my big ears come from!!



The haunted Violinist fiddling a scary tune.....

Wall decor....fit for a music room.....and finally......

The Ghostly Conductor.....it was a blast creating this room..

This year I'm doing double duty because I have  The Harvest Festival's Food booth and the Haunted Medical room and Morgue in the House of Horrors to put together.  Yikes...Holy Vampire BATS!!  I've been "pinning" away at Pinterest all the scary ideas and surfing the web for ideas...Here is a great blog post on a Mad Scientest theme...The Scientist has gone MAD!!  posted a Brooklyn Limestone who really knows how to get into the Halloween spirit!! Check out her Halloween Decorated Home in 2008 , she lives with her husband in an Historic Renovated Brownstone..I love it!!

  Not only is her Haunted Brownstone eerily decorated for the Trick or Treaters she throws a "to die for party"!! If you are not inspired yet....here is some more.....to get your juices or blood flowing...here are some more ideas for you...

Pickled brains by "Ms. Martha"...

Hope you all are getting into the spirit and stayed tuned all be posting some picture of the House of Horrors on Cullen St....no I'm NOT talking about my garage...it really is a horror in there!

Baby Shower in Historic Neff Barn..

I grew up in the City of Whittier but my family lived in an unincorporated area which was sandwiched between the City of La Mirada so that is most likely why our area was part of the Norwalk-La Mirada School District and not a school district in Whitter. Growing up I spent more time in La Mirada and even worked for the City of La Mirada while attending my local junior College. 

 One of my jobs was working at Neff Park where the founding family's Ranch was located in the City of La Mirada.  The Neff Barn was owned by the McNally's {of Map Rand-McNally fame} they lived in the Big House and during the weekends you could take tours of the Grand House. 

When I was working on the weekends I had the key to the "Big" house {as seen above} because  weddings would take place in the Gazebo and then the reception would be in the barn.  I can remember one time I went there at night  with my boyfriend {now Mr. Incredible} to show him the house.  We pretended like it was haunted and tried to picture us living there if we owned the place or thinking back in time what our town would of been like way back then. Sometimes we used to make out on the front porch...shhhhh don't tell on us.  Mr. Incredible grew up in a house less than a block away and went to elementary school which is next door to the park. 

 Not only that when he moved to the next street over {finally moving out of his family's house,  I practically was living with him I stayed over at his house so much his roommates wanted to charge me rent.  But one, summer day while I was working at Neff Park doing the Summer Day Care he drove up in my convertible VW and had loaded up all my belongings and broke up with me right then and there. I won't go into the details of why...let's just say I was not the only girl in his life at the time.  So we as a couple  have a lot of history of good ol' Neff Park. 

  {here is the backside of the barn facing the park, and in the background is the caretaker's cottage}

                          Isn't she charming?  I think so..I'd love to live there!

This past weekend we revisted the Neff barn where we held a Turtle themed/Barnish Baby shower for my BFF's Daughter, Jessica.  Since it is in a RED BARN I thought it would be neat to have a bit of a rustic feel to the decor, after all it is taking place in the barn, the shower not the birth!   Valley View Farms dairy that was so part of this area's history existed for along time, they closed a few years back.  I can remember the smell of the dairy when we drove past the dairy.

                                {old milk jugs from Valley View Farms}

   Old pictures of the farm hands..along time ago...McNally Ranch

We used some burlap as table runner and milk jugs for the Flower vases.  The Mommy~to~Be wanted use Chocolate brown and Lime Green along with Turtles....

Fairy Godmother Flora {Monica, my BFF since I was 5}..made the Turtle Fruit Salad bowl...is it not the cutest thing?

                                    {Fairy Godmother Flora with her neice}

The cute baby clothesline....yep she is having a boy!

Fairy Godmother Fauna on the right....with my BESTie from High School, we both worked at the Neff Barn at the same time that I did.

  Good Friends and daughters..with their mothers....young and old mingling.

Recipes being shared as they were requested by the whole group..

The Mother~to~be with her cousin reading all the advice the older mother's have for her....

From Left to right.. Mimi {grandmother~to~be} Flora, Mother~to~be, Fauna and Merryweather.  What a great time we had planning and celebrating the new life coming into the world in December!!!  Good Luck Jessica..WE LOVE YOU!!!

Baby Shower Time!

It has been long time since I've planned/hosted a baby shower.  My BFF {remember this post about her}  daughter is pregnant and we are throwing her a Turtle Themed Baby Shower!I feel like Fairy Godmother Merryweather {along with Flora and Fauna} in Sleeping Beauty when it comes to her.  But I better git....I have Oriental Salad to make and toes to paint!  Have a great day!

Farmhouse table

Finally I was able to get my farmhouse table done!!  You might of remembered this post when I was looking for inspiration on gettin' er done.  It has been on my wishlist foreva!  I'm so pleased how it came out!

 
My friend had found some old fence wood with a weathered rustic patina.  He was able to pull up my old tile table and put on this wood plank lid on it.  I did  not go with the zinc topas I originally thought I would,  thinking the Tub chairs would be too much "heavy" metal going on.  Now I'm on the lookout for a bench for one side and two more chairs for the other side.  I have a sofa table I'm thinking of cutting it down to use a side bench for the farmhouse table.  Those black metal chairs came with my Black Round dining table are too low for the Farmhouse table so those won't work. I may go with white or galzanized Tolix Chairs from PB. 

 
From this side you can see the "worm" holes in it.   I placed some burlap as a runner across the farmhouse table and put a  galzanized carry-on and inside are some herb plants, some Silver Thyme, some Italian and Lemon Basil,  some Rosemary and some  Oregano, that are awaiting to be planted in my herb garden by my kitchen door. {more on that soon}. 

 
It is feeling very fallish around here..we have had lots of rain the past two days and it makes everything so clean and clear!  Love this time of the year and I'm loving my new look out back..slowly everything is coming together. 

I'm linking up to Show and Tell Friday at A Romantic Home .