Warning: Graphic Photo Within

WARNING!!  GRAPHIC PHOTO WITHIN THIS BLOG

Surprised?

I know.  You were probably expecting far worse, so this should be a source of some relief.  This was the surprise awaiting me when I came home from work today.  This is a nice surprise.  I praised and praised my cats for the gift - because it keeps the rodent population down and that means there will be fewer in my house and in my inhumane traps.

But, don't you wish more sites came with some sort of warning regarding the content?  

Recently, I was seeking costume ideas.  Having lost a significant amount of weight, I wanted to wear something tasteful as I took my children around for trick or treating.  I mean - goodness - I haven't lost that much weight, but it does make me feel better about myself to want to be noticed a wee bit.

Since one child is going as an angel and the other a cheerleader, I thought I would have a costume as a Disney character.  This is the type of stuff I found:

Unfortunately, my children were looking over my shoulder while I was doing the search and pointing out how they were pretty dresses and giving their input on which one I should get.  I don't know about you, but I don't remember any of these Disney characters wearing dresses that short and revealing.  I'm just a mom trying to find a costume to wear alongside my kids, but it appears like the majority of the women seeking costumes are college-aged women intending to party it up on Halloween.  Well, that's the impression I'm getting from the type of costumes available in these search engines.

I explained to the girls that Mommy wasn't comfortable wearing so little clothes on a very cold Halloween night while trick-or-treating and moved on in my search for something less revealing.  So, I looked for more generic ideas such as fortune teller, pirate, etc. and all of my size were taken.  Guess the other moms got to them first.  After hours of searching I finally found the perfect costume:

And just in time too.  There are none left.  This was way more the type of costume I was hoping for.  Tasteful and non-threatening and long enough that I might not need a coat.

On a side note, there is a Zombie Walk in Kalamazoo, Michigan this weekend to try for the Guinness World Records.  My sister plans on going and asked me to join her and her boyfriend.  They are going as hippie zombies.  This created a hunt for another costume - a scary one that won't be appreciated by my offspring.  I am going as a corpse bride.  I'll try to get photos and post them in a follow up after the weekend.

So, now for the readers to chime in.  How many parents out there still dress up for Halloween?

Happy Reading!

Screaming Sunday + ROW 80 Update

Keeping to the theme, and in honor of the previous posts, I am dubbing this Screaming Sunday (being the Sunday before Halloween).   And like screams, I'll try to keep it short and...well, just short.

I'm just going to dedicate this post to all the different kinds of screams.

At the fair, I scream in delight with my kids as we twirl in circles and get pushed by the gravitation within the Tilt-A-Whirl ride against our seats.

In my books, my characters scream in the throes of passion.

My grandmother screams in fear when she sees a spider.  My girls scream at the cats when trying to get into their room and at bugs in general.  I scream at scorpions and I'm glad Michigan doesn't have them.

I also have been known to scream in frustration when something is getting out of hand at home.  Well, it's more like a growl, really, but I think it could apply.

Now for the reader's turn:  What makes you scream?  Is it a positive or negative event that causes it?  Or both?  I want to know. 

Now for my ROW 80 Update:

Reading:  Finished Sookie #7 and #8, as well as Lord of Rage by Jill Monroe;
WIP:  Added 1,741 new words to my novel;
Exercise:  None :(
Halloween preparations with kids:  Finished carving pumpkins and got the "Ruby Slippers" for my little Dorothy.  Too bad my little Minnie Mouse is too sick to go Trick-or-Treating tomorrow.  Rotten stomach virus.

Happy Reading!

Slasher Saturday

I think I already mentioned this, but I don't really care for Slasher movies.  However, I'm dubbing the Saturday before Halloween, Slasher Saturday.  I'm on a roll and going to have fun with it.

Wikipedia defines "slasher movie" as "A slasher film is a type of horror film typically involving a psychopathic killer stalking and killing a sequence of victims in a graphically violent manner, often with a cutting tool such as a knife or axe."  No wonder I don't like them!  What the definition doesn't add is that a good portion of slasher movies, especially in modern times, also includes some voluptuous dingbat that is required, and shortly killed, to add titillation.  Something like this:

 That doesn't leave much for the imagination.  Copy and past the heavy sarcasm here.

The earliest slasher was called Thirteen Women which was released in 1932, according to my Wikipedia source (and how reliable is that?).  That was a long time ago!  Since slashers didn't seem to really take rise until the 1960's, this is probably a little known fact.

I'm sure some of you remember the classic Psycho or even its remake with Anne Heche in 1998.  For me Hitchcock's thriller/slasher movie is preferred because it left the viewer to try to come up with his/her own theories of what is happening until the very end of the film.   It was this mental titillation that I rate a movie on over the erotic titillation in modern slashers.  Keep me interested and on the edge of my seat and I'll enjoy the movie a little bit more despite all the blood and guts.

My sister and I tend to agree that the Scream movies are a little more along our preferences as well.  It has some campy, fun parts to keep you from getting too drawn into the drama and intensity of a scene.  How can you not laugh at Jamie Kennedy yelling at the TV for the girl to look behind her when he should be doing the same thing?  

So, how about my readers?  Are there any slasher movies you would sit down to watch in the bright lights of your living room in broad daylight or in the darkest of nights?  Any of you prefer to watch the classics or modern slashers?  Anyone like to have bouts of fright, then bouts of laughter?  Let me know!

Happy Reading!

My First Award!

I have just received my first blogging award!  I'm so excited.  Thanks, Angela!  Please do me a fave and check out Angela Wallace's blog: Angela Wallace ~Believe, Dream, Awaken.  She has been a regular follower of my blog and I really love stopping by her blog. 

This is all new to me, so I'll just follow the spirit of the acceptance of this award from the last two recipients. 

And since Halloween is almost upon us, I’m going to stick with the same theme as Angela and share 7 Halloween facts about me:

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1. I love Halloween so much it's my number one holiday, making Christmas my number two holiday;

2. I hate horror movies, but I like paranormal ones - just not Paranormal Activity;

3. I love the candy called bottle caps which was good for me because my brother and sister hated them, so would give them all my Tootsie rolls and they would give me all their bottle caps;

4. I always laughed in the haunted houses - I never screamed once;

5. I find that graveyards are full of history and enjoy looking through them.  The older the better.  I once visited one that was actually segregated into sections by nationality, including Jewish (I know, not technically nationality, but you know what I mean), Dutch, and African American.

6. After watching Grudge, I couldn't look into dark doorways for a month, afraid the white face and black hair of that woman would be peering back at me;

7. My kids and I love singing a Nick Jr. song called I Don't Like Candy Corn which isn't true, because we love eating it.

Now it's my turn to pass this blog award on to other very deserving bloggers.  So here are my choices:

1.  Karen Mahoney ~Urban Fantasy Writer

2.  Author in Progress

3.  Paperback Writer

Happy Reading!