I was reading Neato Coolville today when I saw a blast from the past: a K-Mart price sticker.

It brought back so many memories for me. In 1985, I got a job at the new K-Mart in West Valley on 5600 West. We were the first K-Mart in the city to have scanners, but that didn’t mean that we didn’t need to put prices on EVERY SINGLE item in the store. I know it sounds weird, but back then, even though we had a scanner to ring in the prices for us like every store in the U.S. does now (except Hobby Lobby, WTF?!), we still needed to stick prices on every piece of merchandise in the store.

Mostly because the prices weren’t logged into the computer correctly…

I LOVE K-Mart. That job I got when I was in in my junior year of high school ended up paying for my college. I stayed there for SEVEN years and spent seven Christmas seasons and Black Fridays at the checkouts. Even the Christmas I was a pharmacy tech, I ended up working the checkouts because they were always so busy during that time.

That’s why I NEVER go to Black Friday sales. I worked SEVEN Black Fridays. I’ve seen women get into fist fights over blankets. BLANKETS! I listened to that same 45 minutes of Christmas music over and over for two months. I manned the Blue Light Special, braving the throng of people rushing at me. That’s why I cringe at the people camping outside for two days before Black Friday. That’s why I avoid stores during the next month. That’s why I do almost all of my Christmas shopping online.

Yet, I still felt a beautiful twinge of nostalgia when I saw that price sticker. YES! That was what my teen years looked like. That little number in the upper right hand corner was the Key Number. That particular product was Key 1, so it was general merchandise. There was a time in my life, when I had all the Key Numbers memorized and I would have been able to tell you whether something was from the Garden Shop or Sporting Goods, just based on that little number in the red square.

Here is a picture of my K-Mart right before it opened up in 1985:

Our store opened the weekend BEFORE Thanksgiving, so our Grand Opening beat the Black Friday sales by a week. It was phenomenal. I had never before seen people with SO many things in their carts. I just remember people with TWO carts FULL of clothes and toys. I had lived a pretty humble life, so the idea of going to K-Mart and filling up two shopping carts full of things to buy was completely foreign to me.

I spent most of my time working at K-Mart at these checkouts:

I wasn’t smart enough to take these photos. Our human resource director, Sally, took these photos and put them in a photo album for us to look at when we were feeling nostalgic. Of course, when she moved to another store, the new human resource director basically threw the book away. I dragged it out of the garbage, however, and saved my favorites (some Halloween photos and these two). I feel as if Sally took those photos for me, personally.

My Christmases at K-Mart were miserable 70 hour work weeks with no respite from the scanner and go-backs, but they financed my college degree. It was a lot of back-breaking work, but also a lot of fun memories. I love K-Mart. Maybe I should go there just once this holiday for old times sake.

I love this animated GIF of a soldier on the way to war, imagining himself back to the banks of a snowy river.

Throughout my life, I have imagined myself away from many unpleasant situations. When I was a little kid, I saw a movie called, Tribes. In this movie, a hippie has been recruited into the Marines. He endures the hardship of boot camp by imagining himself away to his hippie girlfriend and the memory of kissing her under a lush and beautiful tree.

You can see an example of this at the 5:30 minute mark here. The recruits are being asked to hold buckets full of sand aloft. Adrian is able to hold them longer than anyone else because he has imagined himself away.

So much of my view of life was from this movie. I love this scene where Adrian is calm after all their work, talking to one of the other draftees at the 8:46 mark.

“It’s all what you make it. Took me a long time to realize that yesterday can’t be changed and tomorrow really can’t be controlled with any certainty. I just kinda shoot for the minute. It’s all where your head’s at, man. That’s all that counts.”

When Sidney asks how he held up the buckets for so long, he explains it at the 9:52 mark:

“You just gotta put yourself in the right frame of mind.”

Once he teaches Sidney, then he, too, is able to hold up the buckets just as well as Adrian.

Even my views on drugs came from this movie. When Adrian sees one of the recruits, Quinn, taking a “downer,” they have a nice little talk about drugs that fit my views exactly. You can see it at the 0:56 mark:

“I’m hip to it. For two years, I couldn’t leave the house without downers. It’s really a drag tryin’ to face that every day. It’s insane. You know what happened then, Quinn? I started doing uppers to counteract the downers and function at a normal level, which is really just where I was at to begin with.”

I think I only saw this movie once as a kid, but it made such an impact on me that I can still remember him imagining himself away. I’ve used that technique MANY times over the years to get myself through hard times. The next time you’re trying to achieve something hard, try imagining yourself away and see if that helps you as much as it has helped me over the years.

You can see the whole movie here:

Animated GIF via: Vintage Photos Enter Spooky Afterlife as Animated GIFs by Underwire at Wired.com

Thank you to all the military people out there serving our country. I am incredibly grateful to you for your sacrifice.

Here are some touching videos of soldiers being welcomed home. This first one is a beagle welcoming home his owner. I thought, “She must do that to everyone who comes in the house,” until I heard her crying barks. Daisy really did miss her!

In 2005, when he came home from Afghanistan, Gracie could hardly contain herself. If you click on the ads, all proceeds go to Alexandria Animal Shelter.

This is the most touching one of all. The soldier’s son is having his birthday party when Darth Vader shows up. When he defeats him, he pulls off the helmet to find his father. At the 40 second mark, the little boy screams, “Daddy!” and there’s not a dry eye in the house.

If there is a veteran in your life, thank them for their service.

I have been wearing this manicure for the last few days and I have been quite happy with it. I call it: Shannon’s Violet Velvet Attitude Manicure.

More photos and how I did it after the break… (Continue Reading…)

I was shopping at Target, when I found this 14 piece nail polish set from e.l.f. I have NO need for more nail polish, but it was so cheap (only 10 bucks!) and I liked so many of the colors that I bought it. I am so glad I did, because I ADORE this set!

You can find it online here:

• e.l.f. Nail Polish Cube – 14 pc : Target
• e.l.f. Nail Cube 14 piece Holiday Set

All the colors are VERY pigmented, and I put only ONE coat on my nails for these photos. They were as buttery as Essie polish and covered without streaking as well as OPI polish does. Best of all, the entire set cost less than two bottles of Essie or OPI (as cheap as one bottle of OPI if you don’t know the good places to shop).

This set would make a great Christmas present to anyone who needs the basics. There are a bunch of wonderful neutrals in it and the colored polishes are perfect. Every woman needs a good red, a good neutral and a good edgy color. This set has a great selection of all three, so if you think it might be a good present, IT WILL!

I have only two complaints about the entire set. Firstly, the lids are asymmetrical, so it’s difficult to get them back on the way they were when I bought them. I hate how they will be sideways on the bottle and I’ve never figured out how to get them back on properly. Secondly, the glitter polishes aren’t quite glittery enough for me, but if you’re conservative with your glitter, you’ll love them.

My absolute favorite in the group is Glamor Girl. It’s a creamy neutral, but when you catch it in the right light, there is a pop of glittery gold that makes it stunningly glamorous.

Glamor Girl is just one of 14 beautiful colors in that set and I can’t believe how much I love them ALL! You can see the rest of the swatches after the break… (Continue Reading…)

After the failure of Pick Me! » The Leave Well Enough Alone Manicure, I took it all off and tried a new one. I started again with two coats of Ulta’s Army of 1.

I had seen something on Pinterest about making my own glitter polish, so I decided to try it. Here is a link to the tutorial:

• Lexy Levin – DIY: GLITTER POLISH

I bought an inexpensive bottle of clear polish and some glitter.

The two kinds of glitter are different in size, because I wanted the polish to be REALLY glittery.

I dumped out 1/4 of the bottle and kept adding glitter until it was full. The bottle looks like this now.

The result was a REALLY glittery polish. This is ONE coat of the polish.

Unfortunately, the polish is really thick and difficult to apply evenly. Look at how much it pops up on the nail.

In the end, I’ve decided to leave glitter polish crafting to the professionals. They do so much better than I do.

This manicure didn’t last me very long because the stenciling at the tips wore away quickly, but while it was here, it sure was pretty, very much like the changing leaves in Fall.

I started with two coats of Essie’s Mink Muffs.

Then I used the Bundle Monster Stamping Plate #BM217 and the Konad Special Polish in Green.

I was going for an autumnal sort of feel with the leaves and the brown.

I particularly like how good the two colors look together.

The stamping wasn’t quite as clean as I would have liked, but it turned out good enough.

Whenever I’m feeling down, it’s always a pick me up to do my nails. When they turn out as well as this manicure, it makes me even happier.

For years, I have looked for a nice, chocolatey creme polish to replace my aging Revlon Java Bean polish that I loved so much. I didn’t want any glitter, even though I’m a fan of glitter. I didn’t want any metallic, even though I’m a adoring fan of metallics. All I wanted was a creamy chocolate brown for my nails.

I’ve finally found it with Essie’s Mink Muffs polish.

Although not exactly the same hue as Revlon’s Java Bean, it is very close and looks very good with my skin tone.

It takes two coats to fully cover the nail without streaking.

I’ve been pretty happy with this color and how it looks as a base for stenciling.

Tune in tomorrow for the Fall Foliage Manicure that uses this polish as a base.

Don’t forget to vote, America.

• DFTVA

Every time you just blow off voting, the bad guys win. Don’t let the bad guys win.

Here’s a message from the Greatest Generation about voting:

This manicure is an example of “Leave Well Enough Alone.” I started out with a base of two coats of Ulta’s Army of 1 nail polish.

Then I added two coats of Beetle by Hard Candy.

After that, I added one coat of the second step of Revlon’s Moon Candy Orbit.

Even though it was only one coat of that polish, the pretty mylar pieces made the manicure feel thick and lumpy.

I hated the result so much that I took the polish off within a half hour of it drying.

I had no idea that the FEEL of a manicure is so important. The jagged and lumpy mylar pieces were gorgeous, but they made this manicure feel scratchy and unpleasant. I should have left well enough alone…

I absolutely adore the look of this manicure. I started out with a base of two coats of Ulta’s Army of 1 nail polish.

Then I added two coats of Beetle by Hard Candy.

This manicure looks so good. I love how Ulta’s Army of 1 is a great base coat for Beetle.

The camera can’t fully capture the iridescent hue of Beetle and how it reflects green, yellow and purple depending on the angle of the light. Gorgeous!

How I wish I had left well enough alone with this manicure, because what I did next completely RUINED it. Tune in tomorrow to see what happened.

I got a bottle of Ulta’s Army of 1 nail polish in a free makeup kit that I received because I spent a certain amount of money at the store.

I’ve never been particularly impressed with Ulta products, but I ADORE this polish.

I’ve never even been a big fan of creme polishes, but this one goes on so smooth and buttery without streaking.

I also love to use it as a base for more sheer colors. Tune in tomorrow for an example of that.

Seeing this box of crayons on Pinterest brought back SO many memories for me.

In third grade, I had Mrs. Ellison’s class. She suggested that we get fluorescent Crayons and my mom brought some home from Gibson’s, where she worked. I was the only kid in the class who’s parents bought her those very special crayons. When another little girl stole them from me, Mrs. Ellison knew they were mine and I got them back. It was the first time a teacher believed me over another child and I felt vindicated.

Why is it that this old box of crayons spawned that memory, but when I see the newer boxes of fluorescent crayons, I never think about that day my beloved and special crayons were stolen?

Hotel Balderdash was a FAVORITE show of mine when I was a kid. It was a cartoon show hosted by Cannonball and Harvey (I don’t remember Raymond). In fact, I LEARNED the meaning of the word “balderdash” because of the name of that show. Here is a nostalgia clip that KTVX did about it.

In the past, I’ve talked about Nightmare Theater, which was also on KTVX:

• Pick Me! » Nightmare Theatre

For Halloween, I was looking for video about it on YouTube and found Hotel Balderdash instead. Just hearing that theme song brought back so many memories!

At Hotel Balderdash, I get my morning started right!

To this day, we still sing the Happy Birthday song like this because of Hotel Balderdash:

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday dear Mom!

Happy Birthday to you!

And many more!

From Channel Four!

Right out the door!

My dream was to someday be on Hotel Balderdash, just like all those kids I saw every day. I wanted to meet Harvey and Cannonball. I really liked Cannonball because he was fat, like me, but he was on TV and really cool, so I thought he could teach me about how to be cool, even though I was fat. I thought maybe he could teach me how to stop the other kids from making fun of me.

I never did get to meet Cannonball, but Hotel Balderdash still has a large swath of my childhood memories devoted to it. To this day, I am so grateful to all of the people who made it possible.

The party was a BLAST!

Moncur Halloween Party 2012 Winners:

• Funniest Costume: Jen Savage as The Swedish Chef
• Sexiest Costume: Dawni Christensen as Elizabeth Taylor
• Beast of Show: Stacey Vest as Effie Trinket
• Best Potluck: Chelsea Jelsma for her Cream Cheese Jalapeño Bacon Wraps
• Scariest Costume: Laura Moncur as the Melting Nazi from Raiders of the Lost Ark

You can see the rest of the photos after the break: (Continue Reading…)

I love this comic from Wasted Talent. Going to haunted houses used to be one of my favorite things during Halloween, but Jammy has created a haunted house that is far too scary, even for a jaded adult like me.

• Fright Life – Wasted Talent

Her adult-themed scares were pretty thorough, but even she missed a few that could have been there. Of course, if she had mentioned them, the comic would have taken a dark turn instead of a funny one, so I think she made the right choice.

The next time you scoff at the delightful fun of a haunted house, remember these horrors of adulthood that could come for you at any time.

Here is a link to a great tutorial that shows you how to make fanged pumpkins. They look awesome!

• futuregirl craft blog : Bleep! Yeah Fanged Pumpkins

When I was at the grocery store, I saw some Pumpkin Teeth that you could buy, but they weren’t as cheap as those vampire fangs. You can get twelve vampire fangs for a dollar, whereas the Pumpkin Teeth are nine bucks for a set.

Save money AND create a scary Halloween decoration! Score!

I laughed throughout this whole video of a Halloween prank! They created a child-sized mannequin in costume and set it at doors and rang the bell. It would just stand there, creepy and still. The people answering the door drop in the candy and are suddenly disconcerted when the child doesn’t turn to leave.

I especially love the woman at the 3:30 mark who furtively touches the mannequin after several groups come and go. “What the hell?!”

The guy at the 5:25 mark is hilarious. He gives the mannequin more candy and tells a friend on the phone, “He wants more candy.” He drops in more candy and then laughs, “Is that good? The Halloweener won’t leave, dude!”

It’s a long video, but it’s funny all the way through!

Via: Hallowe’en mannequin prank – Boing Boing

Last year, when I wanted to be a mummy, I had a bit of a problem. The mummy costume that had been handed down to me by Stacey was too tight. I had a choice. I could find (or make) a new costume or lose ten pounds. So, I looked for a mummy costume that would fit me a bit better than the old one. All I could find in the stores was the costume on the right.

It wasn’t really what I was looking for. I didn’t want to be a sexy mummy. I wanted to be a scary mummy. The theme for our party last year was Scary Monsters, Super Creeps. In the end, it was easier for me to lose the weight (only lost seven pounds, but it was just barely enough) to fit into the old costume than to find a new one that wasn’t overtly sexualized.

If you are sick of the Slutty Costume Phenomenon, then here is an alternative.

• Take Back Halloween!

These folks have a ton of suggestions for costumes of women that are inspirational, powerful and not particularly slutty. Of course, lots of the costumes are just famous women from the Victorian Era, which is kind of disturbing to me because they forgot all the women like Madeline Albright and Margaret Thatcher because they just wore normal women’s business suits.

Of course, every damn one of these costumes would turn into an evening of, “Who are you?” questions, followed by the boring explanation. Lisa Meitner might have been the woman to discover nuclear fission, but NO ONE has heard of her, so your costume just turns into a boring lecture on patriarchy in the sciences. The best costumes don’t need to be explained, so choose wisely.

Ironically, I won the prize for Sexiest Costume last year, even though I tried so hard to be scary. And the most ironic thing of all is that it felt REALLY GOOD to win that prize.

Last year the Ohio University STARS launched a campaign called, “We’re A Culture, Not A Costume.” Here are the posters they created.

I love Halloween, so when I think of many of the costumes that I’ve worn, I wonder if I had been a racist with any of them. Where is the line drawn? There are those who have wondered why a white guy with a photo of a cowboy wasn’t included. Why is the cowboy costume not offensive?

I think the difference is when you dress up as a person of another nationality or culture it can be perceived as ridicule. Even if you never meant it that way, it can feel like the costume has boiled an entire culture down to a stereotype. So a geisha costume reminds an Asian girl of every time a guy expected her to be subservient just because of her appearance.

When is it alright to dress up as another nationality? Is it ever?

Personally, I think the line is not with intent. There are few people out there who set out to offend or harm anyone. None of us intend to hurt people’s feelings, so saying that you didn’t mean to offend someone with your costume is not enough.

I think you are safer with a costume depicting a specific person, such as Sayuris, the heroine of Memoirs of a Geisha, rather than just a normal geisha girl. Of course, it would take conversation and explanation to get this idea across and those are hard pressed in a noisy Halloween party. In the end, you may still offend someone.

In fact, MANY of our costumes from the past could be offensive to people. The year Stacey came as an old lady with a walker and offered linty candy and used tissues to people could be called ageist. Dressing up as a hippie, a tourist or a goth could be offensive. The costume staples of princess, cheerleader and kitty cat could be considered sexist. It seems that there are very few costumes that could NOT be construed as an insult.

So, how do you dress up without hurting someone’s feelings? Here are a few tips:

• When in doubt, throw it out: If you are worried that someone might look at your costume and think that you’re a racist, then DON’T wear it. That inkling of intuition is there for a reason. Find another costume.

• Choose fiction over reality: If you dress up as Mr. Spock, Harry Potter or Shrek, no one can accuse you of offending them, even if they are a highly logical geek, fantasy nerd or Scottish bore.

• Choose historical figures over anonymous people: Dressing up as Martin Luther King Jr. is VERY different than dressing up as a random black man.

• If you have to do elaborate makeup to change your appearance, you might be toeing the line: Covering your entire face with makeup to make your skin a different color, altering the shape of your eyes and even wearing a wig might be enough to offend someone. The more you need to change your appearance, the more likely your costume may be perceived as offensive.

Halloween is supposed to be FUN and thinking about whether your costume will offend someone can take some of the fun out of the preparations, but making a costume that hurts the feelings of a friend can suck the fun out of any evening. Take the time to be sensitive about your costume choice and you’ll ensure an evening of fun for EVERYONE.

Of course, sometimes Halloween just needs to be for fun:

If you own two iPads that are able to do FaceTime, then you can create this cool costume that lets you see right through your body. This YouTube video explains it:

Here is another video showing the same effect with a more gory costume:

There are limitations to this costume, because you need to have access to a good WiFi signal to make it work. Otherwise, you’re illusion will turn into FaceTime screen constantly throughout the night.

Via: iPad FaceTime Halloween Costume Lets You See Right Through Your Body – Mac Rumors

I’m considering this costume this year because our theme is “Let’s Go To The Movies.”

Plus, it’s scary and I’d really like to be scary for once.

If you have no idea what this is, it’s the bad Nazi guy who melted after looking into the Ark in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Via: Reddit: My friend accidentally looked inside the Ark. Will he recover?

Update 10-29-12

I did do that costume for Halloween. Here are the pictures:

I melted red, pink and peach crayons over the top of a skull mask and the effect was perfect.

It was so good, I won for Scariest Costume this year.

Tune in next Halloween for a tutorial on how to make this costume for yourself:

• How To Make the Raiders of the Lost Ark Melting Nazi Costume

Check out the video of this haunted house last year:

The most interesting is at the end where they show all the cameras watching the kids walking through the haunted house. The lamest is when they show a mad Justin Beiber in a padded room.

When I was a teenager, I went to a lot of trouble to make the house scary when people came to trick or treat. I made a dummy with a pumpkin head who had been stabbed that scared so many kids that they were reluctant to ring the door bell, but I never went to the lengths that these people are willing to go.

This video is SO FUNNY! Jimmy Kimmel challenged parents to tell their children that they had eaten all their Halloween candy and film their responses. He just expected the children to be angry, but there was an awful lot of sincere crying.

The first couple look totally fake, but after that, there are some really sad kids.

We were Jehovah’s Witness when I was a kid, so I have no idea what it was like to be a kid and have a whole bag of candy from Halloween, much less lose it in one evening. I laughed so hard at that video that tears came out of my eyes!

I don’t know who RDP Inventor is, but he is a child genius! Check out his homemade Halloween decorations and props!

Here is how to make gravestones for your yard:

He made this Electric Chair:

He also has an arm that pops out of the ground made from the leftover parts of an ink jet printer:

Here are some butcher knives, axes and weapons made out of wood, aluminum tape and spray painted blood.

He even made a prop chainsaw! The front handle was from a broken weedwhacker that he got out of the trash. The back handle was made out of a milk carton jug.

I love the thought that he put into all of these Halloween props. They are simply awesome!

Check out this Storm Trooper Helmet made out of milk jugs:

• Filth Wizardry: Milk Jug Storm Trooper Helmet

My dad used to make things like this for me when I was a kid. Since I was a girl, he thought I should like things like playhouses and doll houses, so that’s what he made. Back in 1979, however, I would have LOVED it if he had made me a stormtrooper helmet instead. Of course, I loved that Barbie house more than almost any other toy, so I really shouldn’t complain.

Clint and his wife visited Disneyworld last year and they dressed up as Grim Grinning Ghosts.

• Grim Grinning Ghosts in Disneyworld – Google+

I have never done anything so awesome as this. I haven’t even BEEN to Disneyworld, much less went there in full costume. These pictures make me so happy!

I LOVE these costumes for a cat for Halloween.

I think my favorite is the CATerpillar. :)

Via: So Much Pun: The PunCat Cometh

Many thanks to Marisol Stewart on Pintrest for pointing out this funny picture.

It reads:

20 seconds of laughter… 20 years of therapy.

The look of terror on the little girl’s face is priceless. Isn’t that what Halloween is all about. Twenty seconds of terror in our own homes…

J.K. Rowling said that she would never have been able to write Harry Potter if she hadn’t suffered through such extreme poverty. She was so poor, she was on “benefits,” which is the UK version of welfare. Now that she is vastly wealthy, she has remained in the UK because she feels a sense of loyalty to them for helping her.

She said,

I pay a lot of tax. One of the reasons I stay and pay, why I’m not based in Monaco, is I feel I owe them, I truly do.

To see the complete video: The Daily Show: J.K. Rowling

J.K. Rowling just came out with a new book for adults. The ebook price is pretty high at $15 right now, so I thought I’d wait until it fell under ten bucks. After seeing this, I immediately bought her book, just because she’s so damn awesome!

• The Casual Vacancy at Amazon.com

The next time I see a politician balking at the cost of welfare, I’m going to remember J.K. Rowling and how she was an investment that truly paid off.

Via: Sand & Glass

Just in time for Halloween, I found this awesome science fiction short film that reminds me of a wonderful cross between AI, Blade Runner and Max Headroom. See it here:

I love the concept of being able to upload your memories into a computer and reload them into a “New You.”

It was an idea that made me love “Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom” by Cory Doctorow. It would probably mean the end of the world as we know it, as so tragically illustrated in Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse Series, but that doesn’t stop me from wishing that I could somehow live forever.

Oh, and all the people in that little video would be GREAT Halloween costumes!

Via: True Skin Sci-Fi Short Nails That Blade Runner Vibe | Underwire | Wired.com

This year, Disneyland hired Jack Black, Will Ferrell and Jason Segel to pose as the Hitchhiking Ghosts for an advertisement. I think they look awesome!

Here is the original from Television Tropes & Idioms:

Jack Black is a little short and Jason Segel is WAY too tall. They should have hired Danny Devito instead. Other than that, they look great!

Photo via: Update: Celebrities as Disney Characters! – Cheezburger – BETA

Update 09-24-13

Here is a behind the scenes look at the photography session:

Oh, how I love the Haunted Mansion!

Retronaut posted some cards with costumes for Fancy Dress balls from 1887. Some of them were very interesting.

Here is a costume called The Hornet.

This one is called Magpie. I sure hope they aren’t suggesting wearing actual magpies (stuffed or live) on her head and shoulders.

Here is a good old fashioned Witch costume.

It looks very much like a witch costume you could buy today at Amazon:

• FunWorld Magical Lady Adult Costume at Amazon.com

Finally, here are some children’s costumes.

It funny how different costumes can be, but at the same time, they are VERY similar. The only difference now is that the normal clothes of people living in 1887 are now costumes of today. I suspect that will be the case in one hundred years. Our every day clothes of today will be the costumes of tomorrow. In fact, I have seen that within my own lifetime.

I’ve been having fun watching these “real” videos of ghosts.

Any video with a cat is suspect, since cats act insane and haunted at the drop of a hat, but this one was particularly good in “boo, gotcha!” kind of way.

Of course, most ghosts don’t look like an AT-ST from Star Wars.

Here is a spirit lurking over a patients bed.

The absolute BEST one, however, when a “real” ghost interrupts a fake ghost filming.

It certainly brings into question this “ghost,” doesn’t it?

This great video just came out at the end of the month, just in time for this year’s Halloween. It’s filled with trippy visuals and laced with hints of the Beatles, the lead singer even looks like a young George Harrison.

Little songs like this make me excited about music all over again. Happy Haunting!

Via: Video: Can thenewno2 ‘Make It Home’ From Trippy, Skeleton-Filled Sci-Fi Nightmare? | Underwire | Wired.com

Update 10-15-12

As pointed out by commenter, Diane, Dhani Harrison is George Harrison’s son. I feel like an idiot for not looking that up myself. LOL!

On a happier note, I feel so joyful that the legacy is living on with Dhani! It’s almost as if George lives on through him and I feel a little less sorrowful at his loss so many years ago.

When I saw this Eyeballs Halloween Manicure Tutorial, it looked so fun that I thought I’d try it.

Of course, so did Pintester. When she tried it however, it didn’t quite turn out like the video. As she said, she should have stopped while she was ahead. In her own words:

And then I went off-book. Because I’m a rebel. And occasionally Goth. That’s right, people. I found a bottle of glow-in-the-dark nail polish and decided that this whole get-up needed a top-coat of spooky green glow.

I was wrong.

Also, I feel I should tell you that it didn’t really glow that much, which would have made it less of a fail, I think.

Here’s what happened, comparing what it SHOULD look like with what it actually looked like:

If you’re planning on doing a spooky Halloween manicure for your costume this year, make sure you do it the night before so you have plenty of time to redo it if you run into problems.

I love this Halloween costume idea from The Spotted Fox. It’s the Morton Salt Girl.

Here is a version of this costume from CaitlinD:

I love how L. Ottaviano included the huge salt container with white yarn pouring out of it. It’s a great touch.

Our costume theme this year is “Let’s Go To The Movies,” so this costume won’t work for me this year. But next year, I just might do it!

I absolutely love this photograph from Vintage Seance on Flicker. It’s called The Seance.

I love the old photographs, the Tarot cards and the Ouija board. All of them look so perfect illuminated by the candlelight. I want to know what the spirits said to them.

Then again, even candy corn looks spooky by candlelight.

Via: The Black Hat Society

One of my favorite parts of decorating is pulling out all my Mad Scientist stuff. I have bubbling beakers and peaked gauges, but what I DON’T have are some good specimen jars. I came across this one and I REALLY want to make something similar.

I also like these pickled brains from Martha Stewart.

This particular one is creepy because the skeleton’s hand is covering the baby’s mouth.

These are candles, which I don’t particularly care for because I don’t want to burn anything and I want the specimen to MOVE when the jar is picked up. THAT’S what makes a specimen jar creepy.

Dave Lowe created these jars for the holiday.

As always, click the pictures to see their source.

Update 10-11-12

I actually DID this project this year. One baby doll and two pickle jars. I spray painted the lids with Rust-Oleum Hammered Metal Finish Spray in Silver.

I filled the bottles with water colored with one drop of green food coloring and one drop of red food coloring. I also distressed the baby’s face by holding it over a lighter. Looks pretty creepy to me!

Happy Haunting!

Miss Jen Fabulous did a bunch of fingernail tutorials for Halloween nails. This one is called Halloween Spooky Eye Nail Art:

Here is the Evil Pumpkin Nails:

Vampire Nails:

Haunted House Nails:

If you have been wanting to dress up your nails for the holiday, then here are a ton of ideas for you!

Happy Haunting!