Sunday, October 31, 2010

Ode To Halloween II



Halloween is a frightfully wonderful time of year!  I remember as a child the excitement of getting down the Halloween costume box from the closet !  Playing dress-up year round was a joy when I was a young girl.  I must admit, those who know me can attest that I still like my "costumes" year round. However, my mother did not let us play dress-up with any of the things in the "Halloween Box".  It was a sacred treasure trove. Filled with the likes of my mother's white majorette boots, a straw barbershop hat, pirate earrings, Mardi Gras beads, assorted glasses, make-up, mustaches, masks from Halloween's Past and many other props and baubles.  My brother and I would run to the bedroom for the annual opening of the box filled with awe and wonder as this simple beat up cardboard box with it's tattered flaps invited us into a world of imagination and possibility.  We could BE anything we wanted.... once a year !!!!  One of my favorite photos is me at age 2 dressed as the irreverent comedian Phyllis Diller.  My parents are awesome.  They put me in a leopard moo moo with a teased out wig and beads around my neck.  I must dig for this photo. It truly is PRICELESS.



For the child in all of us.... Try your hand at this game!  I bet your children just might take you to the cleaners. It's fun for all. Vampy is TOO cute!  I love making him fly!!!
TRANSYLMANIA 2









Trick or Treat !
Me and my pumpkin, filled to the brim with all the joys of sugar, would stumble into our kitchen! Having been scared by the urban legend of razors and pins in apples and candy, my parents would police our bounty as my brother and I dumped our ALL our confections out on the table and began the meticulous ""Sorting and Inspection".  No candy consumption without MANDATORY inspection!  Then we got to pick 5 or 6 pieces to enjoy!  The rest was relegated to the top of the refrigerator, where if we finished our dinner for the next month we could have 2 pieces after dinner.



This Halloween a friend suggested I be a Cigarette Girl.  After some thought, I got busy putting my costume together.  I love making my costume from things I already have around my home or in my closet.  I guess it's just the way I was raised but we RARELY bought our costumes.  There's so much satisfaction in nailing your character without having to grease the wheels of the retail machine.  I had recently purchased a beautiful corset at the Ren Faire and I knew I had a black skort, circa 1995. I made my bustle out of my grandmother's vintage slips.  They had ruffles on the bottom.  One was red and one was black.  I rolled the tops down safety pinned them up and then took the tie from a black satin robe I had and pinned that to the top of the bustle so I could tie it like a backwards apron.  The corset hid the pins.  I bought black sheer tights with a v-ing pattern and I had dark gray platform rounded toe Mary Jane pumps (very 1930's) that I bought while in Vegas last Christmas.
Next, to tackle my props.  I needed to design & create my pillbox hat,  I had some silver circle boxes that fit one inside the other like the little Russian dolls.  I found the right size and I started adding ribbons, bows, feathers, tulle, a black satin rose and some glittered red balls.  I went to Michael's crafts for these supplies.   The colors of my costume were red, silver and black.  With my color palette in mind, I spiced up the hat with a pinch of leopard and three red glittered cherries.  I bought some hair accessories at Strawberry with the intention of taking them apart in order to use bits and pieces on my hat.
My hot glue gun is my best friend, well let's just say the triumvirate is dust tape, safety pins and hot glue.  A person could handle most situations with these three items.  But I digress......

Finally, I had to make my cigarette/candy box.  Fortunately I decided to purchase the tray from Michael's.  It saved me valuable time and was perfect.  I went to Economy Candy in the Lower East Village and bought candy cigarettes and I purchased movie size boxes of candy with old fashioned names like Sugar Babies, Boston Baked Beans, Atomics Fireballs, Peppermint Bark, Whoppers, and Bazooka Gum from The Dollar Store.  I emptied the boxes and re-glued them shut.  I then glued the boxes to each other, in order to stabilize them in the box.  I used a rolled up place mat in the box to prop up my wares.  The candy and cigarettes fit perfectly.  I then used a shoulder strap off one of my weekender bags to attach the tray so I could carry it with ease.  Velcro secured the straps to the tray.  I stand corrected.  I must add Velcro to my essential items list.


I think I was the ONLY Cigarette/Candy Girl in ALL of New York City this Halloween.  The feedback was AMAZING!  Everyone loved my costume and surprisingly many wished I HAD been selling my wares!  I could have made a mint if I had had candy to sell.  The next time I wear this costume I will keep that in mind.  It really IS easy to create your own costume.  You just need a little imagination and then inventory what you already have and with little time and expense you would be surprised what you can come up with.

Happy Halloween!  I hope yours was Boo Spooky!!!!


Just sayin......
~Kelly

Monday, October 25, 2010

Ode To Halloween

HalloweenHow I Love Thee Let Me Count The Ways......

October is my favorite month.  The cool crisp air of Fall washes over everything and the heat of Summer releases it's grip.  Thoughts turn to chili, OktoberFest beers, corn bread, football and all things pumpkin!!! In the Frisco family Halloween is equal to Christmas!  In fact, I may be the ONLY person who exchanges Halloween care packages with my brother and BFF's. First RULE of Halloween gifts:  They CANNOT BE TACKY. Thought MUST be given to the proper coolness and spookiness of the present.  In the past, I have given a VooDoo Doll Surfer, kinda looked like the Trilogy of Terror Dude. C'mon you know the one....the little native guy with the tiny knife slashing at the girl and she throws him in the oven and jumps out and slashes are ankles.  Now THAT is scary stuff!  My brother HATED that movie growing up.  The best is that he keeps it up year round in his bathroom.  I love that!  Means the world to me!  I had a friend visiting me recently and I asked him to figure out what things in my apartment were always a part of my decor and what I put up JUST for Halloween.  Yes, my apartment is eclectic and eccentric and well, Halloween IS every day ! By the way, my friend did pretty well (I was pleasantly surprised.)

Most of you who know me also know my LOVE of the supernatural and October is an homage to ALL things paranormal.  Yes, I BELIEVE in ghosts. For most of my Life I've believed because those I respect and love believe. Namely my parents and close relatives. I wish to take the next thoughts to express to you my deep belief and respect for the Ouija board.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouija  I also hope to discourage anyone from using this method to communicate with those who have crossed over.  It truly IS nothing to be "played" around with.  It IS NOT a game as Parker Brothers would like you to think.  My parents, my aunt and uncle used to do the Ouija board before they REALLY understood what type of spirits with which they were communicating.
One must realize that ONLY the LOWEST forms of spirit still walking this Earth will come through....the tormented, the criminal.  Though they always had holy water next to the board and they ALWAYS asked if the spirit believed in God, not always did a relatively harmless spirit come through.  They had those that cursed and took God's name in vain.  Scary Scary Stuff.  They would refuse to communicate and stop for the night.  If good exists in the universe than so does evil.  It is fact. But enough of my cautionary tale.  I leave it to you to make good decisions.....or bad.  If I have learned anything in this Life, we can ONLY control ourselves and how we react to what Life places in our path along our individual journeys, we cannot control anyone else or their reactions to Life.  I must remind myself of this daily.
That being said,  I suppose I should also share that I have had two auditory paranormal experiences in adulthood that have given me concrete belief that our energy goes on once we pass through the veil of death to our next existence.  My first experience was in a house that my father knew to be haunted by the previous owner but I was NOT IN ANY WAY privy to this knowledge.  I think because my father did not want me to be scared or to taint any experience I may have in the house.  We were painting the home after the lastest tenants had vacated the premises because of the haunting. I was in the "Florida" room. Or the sun room as they call it here in the North.  Typical terrazzo floor with lots of jalacy windows, I was up on an aluminum ladder painting the small spaces between the ceiling and the top of the windows.  I climbed down and went into the kitchen. I had no view of the room and I heard the ladder being dragged across the floor.  A VERY distinctive sound, trust me. I called out to my dad, thinking he was in there, moving it for some reason.  He answered me from the back bedrooms way to the right of the Florida room. I went to the room and the ladder was RIGHT where I had left it!  I was shocked.   I went running to where he was because I knew we were the ONLY 2 people in the home.   When I told him of my experience he then confided in me about the experiences going on in the home.  He said, "That was Mr. Comfort."..... very matter of factly. He went on to tell me he had seen him.  The previous tenants did not know of the haunting and the woman asked my father if someone had died in the home.  My dad said yes.  She told him she saw an apparition of a man in, of all things, his tighty whiteies.  Well, anyone who knew Mr. Comfort when he was alive, knew that his home was HIS CASTLE.  If someone came to the door he would answer it wearing his underwear because this was HIS domain. Yes, kinda funny and scary!  I'm just glad he moved my ladder and I didn't have to see him in all his unfit glory.  Frightened is the last word I would've used to describe my state of being.  I also find it ironic as I am writing this that his surname is Comfort.  He surely did not provide that in Life or Death.
  My second experience was a month after my sweet Osrius past away.  He was almost 22 yrs old.  I had the pleasure of his company since 1986!!!  My first pet in adulthood.  He passed in Feb of 2008.  If he had made it to June it would have been 22 yrs old!!!  I was in a bad place. A sad break up, unexpected surgery, "Sirus's" passing and general bad luck....not like me AT ALL.  I have 2 felines that I share my life with currently, Simian and SoHo!  For a month after Sirus's passing the boys would NOT lay in the places where Sirus would lay.  Very odd behavior especially for SoHo because they shared a special kinship and ALWAYS slept in the spaces.  One night I was changing the linens in my room.  I have a loft bed. Sirus could not jump in his old age and slept in a basket near the side of the bed.  It had remained empty.  I looked at the basket, his bed, and was talking to his spirit telling him how much we collectively missed his presence in the house.  And all of the sudden, out of thin air I heard his "Meow".  That does not sound miraculous to you and you say to yourself it was one of my other cats.  Those who know me and Osirus, know VERY well that he could "meow" the word "Hello".  My parents were they first to discover this when we moved home briefly in the early 90's.  At first I did not believe.  Then I came home late one night and he was in the window of the screened in porched saying "Hello" to me.  Well, he said "Hello" that night a month after his passing and his "Hello" was his "Good-Bye".  He knew I would be OK and he stuck around long enough to make sure of that.  I did not hear his vocalization in my head, nor was it right beside me.  It was in the distance.  I went to find the other cats and they BOTH were in my bathroom in the back of the apt.  It was Osirus. After that night both cats started sleeping wherever they wanted.  Sirus's "spots" were no longer sacred because he had crossed over into the light.

I leave you with this music tribute....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhG8zC4npsE&feature=fvw

I must sign off.  Need to work on my costume.  I'm attending an "underground" party for Halloween.  So secret I'm not allowed to blog about it.  I'm going as a Cigarette Girl.  Gotta work on my Pillbox hat.

I will have a few more blogs before Halloween....I just have too much to share.  Your attention has been kindly noted.  Now run along and find ways to frighten or be frightened my minions !!!!!  BaaaaaHahahahahah!!!

Just Sayin....
~Kelly :)