December 31, 2012

Home Sweet Home!


We just home yesterday from spending Christmas in Arkansas at the MIL's house.  It was nice - all the deets are here and here, so this will be the Cliffnotes version.  

Here is my impersonation of a tree, Monday afternoon.  Please note sunshine & t-shirt. It was like 65 degrees.  Perfect!
Here is the same courtyard Wednesday morning after we were visited by Winter Storm Euclid.  Mom had over 6 inches of snow on her deck!

Anyhoooo - I introduced Miss Angela to the joys of taking the waters at one of the Bath Houses (she loved it!) and as we were walking down Central Ave in Hot Springs, I saw this......

And of course is was our last day in Arkansas, so I will remember this for next time we go!

We did make it to Josephine Tassaud's Wax Museum.  I've never been to a wax museum before, but I hope the real Madam Tassaud's is better than this one!  I'm glad they had names by the dummies, since some I would not have figured out on my own!  Others were pretty obvious - the Pope, Liz Taylor, Elvis and even Al Capone.  But the rest?  Not so much.  I'm just showing the Chamber of Horrors here.
 I thought Alfred Hitchcock was a fat Vincent Price. 








Christmas was nice.  I got a Kindle Fire HD and a sewing machine.  And I got a shawl and that is the greatest item of clothing ever!!  I love it.

Don't be hatin', but I also got a RuPaul doll!

Every time we stopped on the way to and from Hot Springs, we stopped at Love's Truck Stops.  Of course!    Angel managed to get a teddy bear keychain from every state between MI & AR.  At our last stop in Indiana, I found this.....

How stinkin' cute!  It's the same size & general shape as the teddy bears, but it was the only skeleton I saw. And of course it's MINE!  I will take that Indiana crest off.


Love's also carried these guys.....I managed to control myself and pass.  They were $9 each for the little ones.  I would have spent a fortune!

But anyway, it's good to be home.  The cats went crazy to see us and I thought Jack was going to pee on the floor when I got him from the Pet Hotel.  The plan for NYE is staying home with a bottle of non-alcoholic wine watching the New Year's Rockin' Eve on TV.  We're such party animals.  We let Angel sit up last year, but she got bored and went to bed around 11.  I'm glad we're home to watch the Rose Parade tomorrow!  I'm sad there won't be a Winter Classic hockey game to watch, tho.  The Wings were scheduled to play in it again.

So I hope everyone has a safe & happy new Years and a wonderfully spectacular 2013!

December 25, 2012

December 20, 2012

Happy Winter Solstice Eve!

Tomorrow is the shortest day of the year!  I for one am glad the days will be getting somewhat longer, since I was looking for my Christmas lights to go on this afternoon, then realized it was only around 4:15.

And if the crazies are to be believed, the world is also supposed to end tomorrow.  If you look at a website called bible.ca, (probably even more crazies) there's already been 242 times that the world was supposed to end.  So odds are in our favor!

Then there is the hoopla following last Friday's tragedy in Connecticut, bless all their sweet little souls!  There were several school districts across SE Michigan that cancelled school today and tomorrow due to "disruptive, unsubstantiated rumors" of violence against students.  Sounds to me like someone wanted a longer winter break!

Anyhooooodles, I don't like to get involved in subjects such as that, since some people and their arguments just make me want to slap them upside the head.  

Moving right along!

Check out what my husband's best friend gave us for Christmas!  I am a big Jeff Dunham fan and I absolutely love Achmed!  They thought I'd use it for Halloween.  Pppft.  He looks happy there with Santa!


There's a little button on the base.  When you press it, he says stuff like "Silence!  I keel you!" and "It's just a flesh wound"  Hysterical!

So now that Creepmas is over for the year, my posts here will be slowing down for a while.  I still find myself looking for potential prop ideas while out shopping, but I try to squash those thoughts.  Unless they're really, really cool ideas / items - then I'll cave.

I'll go around tomorrow (after my house is clean ) and get pictures of the jolly Maple Grove Manor.  Saturday we're on our way to Arkansas until the New Year, and I already have a couple cemeteries in mind that I want to explore.  We're going to visit the hubby's Mom and of course I will happily ditch them all to "take the waters" at the Buckstaff Bathhouse!

So in case I'm not back here before....Merry Christmas and a safe & Happy New Year!

December 13, 2012

Creepmas Day 13 - Halloween Nativity


OMG, is this not the cutest thing you've ever seen?  I would totally display this in my house !!  The baby vampire in the coffin is adorable!!


buy here (and send to me!)

December 12, 2012

Creepmas Day 12 - Hunting in Christmastown


The other night we were watching Blake Shelton's Not So Family Christmas Special on NBC.  This was totally hysterical and the best part was the claymation bit with him and Larry the Cable guy in Christmastown.

Watch & enjoy!

December 11, 2012

Creepmas Day 11 - cards


It seems like every year I try to weed out names on my Christmas card list and just when I think I can cross someone off....damn if they don't send me a card!  So of course I feel obligated to send them one and therefore keep them on the list.   
It's a vicious circle.

Maybe if I sent cards like these.......my list would diminish!  And as I looked at the offerings, I see that these cards are blank inside and can be personalized!  
Oh, the possibilities!!






December 10, 2012

Creepmas Day 10 - ornaments part 2 (the good ones!)


Now these are ornaments more fitting for the Creepmas - time of year!   That link will take you to the site, for more shopping joy. 

Vintage Halloween Witch Stirring Magic Cauldron Christmas Tree Ornament

Halloween Pumpkin Christmas Tree Ornament
Krampus Ornament
Halloween Witch Full Moon Christmas Tree Ornaments

Zombie Christmas Tree Ornaments

Ying Yang Bat Christmas Ornaments

Van Gogh Skull With Burning Cigarette Ornament

Halloween Haunted House Christmas Ornament

Halloween Christmas Ornament

Vintage Halloween Spooky Cemetery Night Blue Moon Ornaments

KEEP OUT CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT

Halloween DOTD Comedy-Tragedy Skulls Christmas Tree Ornaments

Scary Pumpkin Ornament

Looking At You Ornaments

December 09, 2012

Creepmas Day 9 - ornaments (the cheesy ones)


Let me elaborate....these are ornaments other people might prefer to have on their tree, but I'd pass, thankyouverymuch.


festive fetuses



Christmas at the Bin Laden's.  Obviously at the Mrs.' houses.





Yule Poo


I have to confess that I can't figure out what the first one is, other than a dismembered giraffe head.  Am I even close??


(insert 12 year old girl giggle here)


December 08, 2012

Creepmas Day 8 - Krampus Fun Facts




OK, I should have researched this sooner so I could have posted this on Krampusnacht. Next year I'll be better prepared.

I am not going to take credit for this post at all. It's a total copy from toplessrobot.com so if you want to bask in "Impressive Acts of Nerdery" - go check out that site!

10 Fun Facts About Krampus - by Rob Bricken, 12/23/10  (applause & kowtows)

10) Krampus Is Older Than Jesus
Krampus (from the German "Krampen," or "Claw," or "Giddy Child Murderer") was born of a pre-Christian, Alpine Pagan tradition, and has been described as a "boozy goat-horned menace that whips children around Europe." Lest you confuse this with Madonna, Krampus can also be identified by his matted-black hair, Gene Simmons-like tongue, cloven hooves and, I can only assume, a penis that is violently barbed like a housecat's, but also corkscrewy and muddy like a pig's johnson. He also sports a large wicker basket on his back, filled to the brim with thorny, unbreakable birch sticks. What are the sticks used for? Oh, we're getting to that! WE'RE GETTING TO THAT!

9) Krampus Rides Shotgun with Santa

​The Mystery Science Theater 3000 classic Mexican Christmas movie Santa Claus shows the jolly old elf thwarting the devil Pitch at every turn, protecting the poor children and showering them with gifts. But on December 5th in places like in Austria, Switzerland, Croatia and Germany, the little bastards are on their own. Krampus is St. Nick's right hand man: a good cop/bad cop team of pure emotional torture. If it's decided you're good (AND you pass a grueling pop-quiz on religious catechism, in some traditions), the gifts are yours. If not, you are swiftly whipped raw and right to the edge of death by Krampus' unrelenting birch rods. St. Nick -- the Don Michael Corleone in this fucked-up relationship - -looks on but keeps his hands clean. He's a saint, after all.

8) Men are Encouraged to Terrify Children as Krampus
As a young German child you may reach an age where you don't believe this Krampus shit anymore. And that's about the time a herd of men dressed as Krampus--or Krampi, I guess--will approach your bedroom window, in full-Satan regalia, rattling rusty chains and large bells and screaming at you...every December 5th. And while you're pissing down your lederhosen, your parents then LET THEM IN THE HOUSE, LET THEM TORMENT YOU AND THEN HAVE DRINKS WITH THEM. Known as "Krampusnacht: Night of the Krampus" (which sounds like a straight-to-DVD Uwe Boll Film), these "often intoxicated" men invade entire towns with torches, chains and other traumatizing instruments until the streets run brown with the shit of mortified rug rats. Still, if you're wasted, feeling violent and in possession of a Pagan Incubus costume, this actually looks like the most fun you will ever, ever have during Christmas.

7) Krampus Has Mastered Many Forms of Punishment

​ When it comes to punishment, Krampus doesn't stop at mere birch rods. That would be too kind. Under the careful tutelage of Pinhead and various Cenobites, Krampus' retribution repertoire grew ten-fold over the centuries. According to a series of very popular 1800s postcards, Krampus enjoyed: ripping pigtails out, leading children off a cliff, sadistic ear-pulling, putting pre-teens in shackles, forcing children to beg for mercy, and throwing youngsters on an Express Train to The Lake of Fire (making no local stops). And then there's my favorite: drowning children to death in ink and fishing out the corpse with a pitchfork. It's like The Grinch meets Hostel.

6) Krampus Makes a Terrible Video Game Boss
Krampus' made a brief cameo in the arcade game CarnEvil -- better known as that shitty first-person shooter with the broken trigger collecting dust at your local Multiplex game lobby. While he looks more like a Santa/Krampus/Rudolph hybrid, and spouts off terrifying bon mots such as "I'll stuff YOUR stocking!", the pixilated poser can't hold a candle to the real, eye-gouging legend of old. But it's another pretty good example of America taking something foreign, and making it 100% less fun or interesting.

5) Krampus Brought Nazis and Christians Together For a Common Purpose
It's true! If it's one thing both Hitler and Christian fundamentalists can agree on, it's hating Krampus. Not since Mel Gibson has there been such a confluence of anti-Semitism and religious fervor. A 1934 New York Times article headlined "Krampus Disliked in Facist Austria" declared Krampus "Strictly Verboten": police were ordered to "arrest the devil on sight." He was even labeled, I shit you not, "the work of wicked Social Democrats." It's like reading Glenn Beck's Ancestry.com page.

But the Krampus tradition survived, as it did during the Inquistion when you'd be put to death by the Catholic Church for impersonating the devil. The New York Times goes on to call Krampus "harmless," tell of his bringing "candies and delights" to children and remarks that "Krampus balls are the first sign of Christmas jollification." It's nice to see that even in 1934, The New York Times didn't check its sources and made absolutely zero fucking sense.

4) Krampus Has More Terrible, Evil Brothers
It turns out, Krampus is just the tip of the overseas holiday misery gang-bang. Iceland folklore cites "13 Santa figures, known as the Jolasveinar," each more terrible than the next. Like, there's Hurdaskellir, or "The Door Slammer." Then there are vicious elves named "The Window Peeper," "The Sausage Snatcher," and "The Doorway Sniffer." Not in my most depraved, David Lynch nightmares can I imagine what any of these entail. But Bjork's videos are starting to make a helluva lot more sense in comparison.

3) Krampus Will Sex Your Woman

​ In the 1960's, Krampus briefly gave up pulling out children's fingernails to get a little mud for his turtle. For whatever reason, the imp became wildly popular as some sort of sex-demon on foreign postcards. He got into some weird BDSM and fetish stuff, which isn't too surprising given his history of chasing and spanking young virgins with whipping switches. Hey, it was a weird time and Krampus was doing a lot of Koke. Eventually he got some counseling and got back to making pre-pubescents gnash their teeth deep in the bowels of suffering.

2) A Mass-Produced Anti-Krampus Leaflet Went Nowhere
"Last week, the head of Vienna's kindergarten system warned parents that the effect of an interview with Krampus might well leave their children scarred for life," says a 1953 Time Magazine article, titled "No Shit, Vienna Kindergarten System." The magazine continues: "In a leaflet called Krampus Is an Evil Man, Dr. Ernst Kotbauer urged that his children be freed of the frightful cross-examiner. 'There is too much fear in the world already... unemployment, high taxes, not to mention the atom bomb. Let's begin by throwing out Krampus.'" Well, Hitler and the Spanish Inquisition couldn't stop Krampus, so you can imagine what good a bunch of hippie Viennese doctors did (SPOILER: Krampus continued his countrywide march of terror, unabated).

1) Krampus Merchandise is Hotter Than a Burning 4-Year-Old!
Once the internet discovered Krampus, it was like the Flying Spaghetti Monster and LOLCats rolled up into one: a brand new ironic mascot for disillusioned, holiday-wary twenty and thirty-somethings. Krampus Beer is on the market, tons of worship websites (like Krampus.com, used to research this article), tons of t-shirts, a brand new book of Krampus postcards and a shit-ton of homemade Krampus wares at Etsy.com have ensured that Krampus will live forever. So suck it, Hitler! Seasons Beatings to all, and to all a Grüss Vom Krampus!