Saturday, December 08, 2007

We Interrupt This Blog For A Very Important Announcement

There will two new hobbitses in the family come next summer.

Peanut & Belle are both expecting, due about a month apart. This will make 6 nieces & nephews all 5 & under next Christmas. Fun times, indeed...

Oh yeah - YAY! ;-D

Judgement House - Prank

I completely forgot about the prank that Matt played on everyone the last night!

Matt was one of the guys who played the "dead" kid. He's the one in the video of part 2, below. Anyway, he set it up with Mom beforehand to have some fake blood there & told those of us playing the hooded demons to really go all out when we were attacking & dragging him out in the last 4 or 5 scenes he did.

After his last turn, he just laid on the ground (they always did this a certain extent after each time, but he stayed longer this time) & then curled up into a fetal position. Before all the lights came up, Mom went over & put a couple dabs of fake blood on his nose & the corner of his mouth. Then she hid the blood bottle & said she thought something was wrong with him. Once the audience was gone & everyone came in the back, Matt groaned & slowly picked himself off the ground. You could see where some of the blood had dripped onto the floor & everyone started freaking out. Greg, who playing Satan that night, started going "Get Security, we need a first aid kit, we need band-aids!" Poor Abby, his sister, ran outside & was very upset. Once I realized she had left I followed & saw Tina trying to comfort her. I said "You do realize that was a joke, don't you?" Abby stopped for a second & then went "That jerk!" One of the other guys didn't realize it was a prank until Matt licked the blood & went "Mmm, minty..." & offered him a taste.

Overall, I think it went off quite well. I can never keep a straight face when I know about stuff like this so I was covering my mouth in mock horror while trying not to laugh.

Matt & Abby are in the second picture down in the Makeup Removal post below.

Ahh, the fun we had in Hell...

Tea Time!

We had another ladies tea at church last Sunday & Mom was assigned to make all the scones this year.

Which means I was assigned to help make all the scones. (I'm not really upset, just think it's funny that Mom being on a committe means I am too.)

We used the same recipe as last year & made 7 double batches. That's a lot of cream cheese. Dad helped mix several of the batches up.

Anyway, I started mixing batches about 6:30 Friday evening, worked from 12-8am at UMY, then took a couple hour nap before starting again. Mom & I took most of our dishes & decorations out to the church Saturday evening where I also did the PowerPoint announcements. When we got back home, I got my second wind & played music videos on youtube all night while I baked. Until 6:30am. I slept until 9:45-ish while Mom finished up the scones, then got ready to go. We had to have our tables ready to go by 3pm, so we decorated & then the shindig started at 4pm.

After the meal was over I tried to stay at the table for the program, but the long hours were catching up to me. I ended up crashing on the couch in the fireside room for about an hour then it was time to clean up.

I crashed so hard when we got home. I have pictures that I'll post as soon as I find my camera in one of the boxes.

Oh yeah, I've been home sick from work the last three nights, but at least now I have my voice back.

Oh. My...

I am not a nurse. I am not trained or equipped to deal with recently post-operative children who have holes in their throat. Especially when said hole is draining mucus at an alarming rate. I don't recall "cleaning mucus out of a hole in a client's neck" being in the job description, but they would probably say that falls under the "and anything else needed" section.

I so want to gag right now...

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Judgement House - Hell Scene Videos

PS. This here is post #500.
~~~~~~~
Here are the videos that I tried to take of the Hell scene. It was just with my little camera so the quality isn't very good, and as you can tell, it was really dark in there. You can see enought to get the gist of it, though. Keep in mind that it was around 110 degrees & smelled of burnt hair.
Scene 1...

Scene 2...

And now for a little humor - the promised disco dancing demons playing in the strobe light...

Judgement House - Makeup Room - Removal

After it was all over, they got the joy of removing our masterpieces. Most of it came off with Pond's cold cream & eye makeup remover. Sometiems we had to use this stuff called Bond-Off that was supposed to be able to take off anything. It didn't work so hot on Tina, but I think the collodion just really liked her or something.

Andy hamming it up for the paparazzi...
Matt peeling his sister Abby's latex off...Kelsey removing his face...
And then there's poor Joel...
We decided to do something a little different one night with him. I don't remember whose idea it was to make deep scars with the collodion (stuff that puckers your skin as it dried - really does look like a scar) but it was a bit of a mess to take it off.


Umm, yeah... he had bruises the next day from where it had been puckered. Oops...

Judgement House - Makeup Room - Demons

I did some of the demons' makeup, mainly Tina's. Each demon was kinda half & half - one side normal, the other demonized, to demonstrate how Satan & his demons are deceptive & dont' show their true sides to the world. We started with liquid latex on the icky side, layering that with tissue paper to give it a nice wrinkly effect.
Partially latexed Tina...
After the latex dried, I would use my Leatherman to pull holes in the latex to make it look like it was burned & blistered. Then it was time for the makeup. I put red on first & went around the rest of her face a bit, 'cause Hell was hot, y'know. Then came the black & a deep burgandy red went inside the holes to look raw. The last night, I also used the burgandy to draw scratch marks across her face & neck like she had been clawed.An up-close shot of the final result. I started doing her eyes in a kinda cat-ish look. We kinda got hooked on that & joked that she would have me do her eye makeup for prom. The final touch was red & black charring on the one hand & leg. We did run into a bit of a problem with Tina, as the latex was really hard on her skin. She accidentally pulled a bit of her own skin off when removing the latex one night. We used less latex after that & tried bandaids that I ripped up & painted over. It didn't look quite as good but at least it didn't give her a unintential chemical peel.
Another shot of the final result. We sprayed her hair on the dark side black. Abby, who was the other female demon, has black hair, so we sprayed white stripes on her dark side.
Mason, one of the hooded demons - he was also in the Judgement Room scene & they wanted plain black faces on them in there. We just did straight black on him & then set it with black powder. It stayed really well, even with all the sweat & the hoods rubbing up against them all night.

Judgement House - Makeup Room - Crash Scene

I didn't do any of the crash victims. Those folks were Mom's specialty, as well as several of the other makeup ladies. They used lots of blood. Lots & lots of blood.
Mom bloody-ing up one of the kids.
Mint flavoured blood - yum! At the crash scene... Just ignore the glowy red eyes.
One of the girls who was 'thrown' out of the car at the crash scene.

Road rash... looks so lovely.

Monday, November 26, 2007

Very Important

This is a video that everyone needs to see. The message that it gives... it's just, well... Just watch it & you'll understand.



See. Wasn't that enlightening?

And, yes, I am totally addicted to this song.

Friday, November 23, 2007

Judgement House - Welcome to Hell, Part Duex

Hell was rather, ah... hellish. Heh. By the way, the Hell jokes were flying like mad and the church garage will forever be known as Hell. I think it'll be a little hard to forget since the smell of it is kinda soaked into the walls. We burned hair between each group to it nice & icky smelling & we had a heater going as well. It was usually between 100 - 110 degrees. The guys were so proud of themselves the night they got it up to 115.The source of the truly horrid smell. One night, we must've gotten a batch that had gel or hairspray in it, 'cause that one really made everyone tear up & start choking.
The fella in the red shirt is the guy who was in charge of Hell. He said his employees at work loved telling him to "go to Hell" at the end of the day.
A couple of the techie guys. They handled the sound effects, the Satans' voice changers, the strobe lights & the fog machines. By the way, don't breathe fog machine fog. Stuff's icky. Seriously.
One of the parts of Hell. There were two parts, first a conference between Satan & a couple of his demons, then they all went over to the section pictured above, where the "dead" kid from the story discovered where he was before being attacked & dragged out by the hooded demons.
The whole gang - Satans, demons, dead boys & techs. Well, most of the gang. Several of us were taking the pictures.

Judgement House - Welcome to Hell

Our church did Judgement House this year. The Mothership & I were on the makeup team. I would help in the makeup room, then head over to Hell to be available for touch-ups. The last night though, I got to be one of the hooded demons. Most of my pictures are of Hell, demons & the makeup room. There are a few of the dead folks & the crash scene.Demonized me... there's a hood on the cloak that covers most of my head.
Two of the demons & one of the kids in the story who was sent to Hell. The two on the left are siblings.
Satan & his minions hanging out in Purgatory, the trailer that was available for us to chill out in. Football is apparently popular in Hell, as is America's Next Top Band ( or whatever it's called.)
Satan & a hooded demon, watching football...
The two Satans - the one on the left is our worship pastor & the other is a son of our associate pastor. They had voice changers, which are what the white cords belong to.

The last night, after the last group went through, we had the folks who were in charge of the whole shebang come over & we did an extra performance, with quite a few tweaks. Instead of saying "Silence" like the original line called for, Satan told his demons to "Shut yer pie-hole!" When the hooded demons were supposed to attack the "dead" kid, instead of dragging him out, we pulled him up & did a little song & chorus-line dance to... well, I can't for the life of me remember what we sang, but it was funny. There were a bunch more, but there was too much for me to a.) remember & b.) explain coherently.

More to come...

Monday, October 22, 2007

Useless Fluffiness

I got an email from Belle & figured I'd answer it on here. So, enjoy this dose of useless fluff. :-)

1. What time did you get up this morning? 10:15 - I didn't work last night & stayed up late in attempt to halfway keep my schedule

2. How do you like your steak? Medium - some red but still dead
3. What was the last film you saw at the movie theater? Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix
4. What is your favorite TV show? Doctor Who, Firefly & Alias
5. What is your middle name? Joy
6. What is your favorite cuisine? Chinese
7. What foods do you dislike? Cauliflower - ick!
8. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Come Undone by Jackson Waters - The dude with the long red curls is the youngest son of one of our pastors at church
9. Who is your favorite singer? Ella Fitzgerald - I really need to get my CDs unpacked now...

10. What is your favorite song at the moment? I Need You & Life After Death & Taxes, both by Reliant K and Come Undone by Jackson Waters

11. What characteristics do you despise? Lying, manipulating, whining - the same as Belle's answer
12. What are your favorite clothes? For regular wear, long boot-cut jeans & a funny T-shirt. If I were skinny & had somewhere I could wear them, 40's & 50's style skirts & blouses
13. If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go? Scotland & Israel
14. Where would you want to retire? I wanna travel everywhere but based near family
15. Favorite time of day? Whenever I'm allowed to sleep while it's dark outside!
16. Where were you born? Topeka, KS
17. What is your favorite sport to watch? Anything horse related (esp. this video - I get the chills!) & hockey
18. Who do you think will not send this back? Hbda-hbda-hbda
19. Person you expect to send it back first? See above
21. Beavers or Ducks? I don't understand this question, who wrote this? I'd choose Monkeys anyday!! (This was Belle's answer & I'm gonna leave it!)
20. Pepsi or Coke? Cherry Vanilla Diet Dr. Pepper
22. Are you a morning person or a night owl? Neither now but used to be a night owl
23. Pedicure or manicure? Pedicure - I love having my feet massaged
24. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? I have video of demons disco dancing in strobe lights! Will post at a later date ;-)
25. What did you want to be when you were little? A horse trainer & showman
26. What is your best childhood memory? My horses
27. Piercings? Ears - 5 altogether
28. Ever been to Africa ? No, but would love to go someday
29. Ever been toilet papering? Kinda sorta - helped fork the pastor's yard once
30. Been in a car accident? A car rolled into me & hurt my knee once but it wasn't bad at all
31. Favorite day of the week? Sundays - lots of little kids & I got to sleep a night both times!
32. Favorite restaurant? Olive Garden, Montana Mikes - love the sweet potatoes
33. Favorite flower? Poppies
34. Favorite ice cream? Chocolate, filled with chocolate, topped with chocolate & maybe a bit of caramel
35. Favorite fast food restaurant? Subway & Quiznos
36. How many times did you fail your driver's test? I have never failed a driving test

37. From whom did you get your last email? Belle
38. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? This place, so long as I didn't have to pay for it ;-)
39. Bedtime? ASAP
40. Who are you most curious about their responses to this? See 18
41. Last person you went out to dinner with? The Mothership, Peanut, Kat & Nameless, probably 3-4 weeks ago
42. What are you listening to right now? The opening song to Beauty & The Beast - Jay's hobbits are here
43. What is your favorite color? Purple or red
44. How many tattoos do you have? None... yet!
45. How many people are you sending this email to? See 18
46. Favorite magazine? Guns & Ammo
47. What time did you finish this email? Noon

Saturday, October 20, 2007

:rolls eyes:

Ahhh, what a world, what a world...

The other morning we ended up secluding a girl after she was sent back from the school for refusing to take off her coat. She has readily admitted that the reason she acts up is for the attention, so while I was monitoring her thru the little window in the locked door, I refused to look directly at her & just kept track of her in my peripheral vision. Another staff came along & started laughing. I guess the girl was trying to stare me down & my ignoring her was driving her nuts. She pulled a 6-inch piece of denim from the cuff of her pants & faked strangling herself. I just raised my eyebrows & shook my head. After all, what damage could she possibly do to herself with that. She kept banging on the window & would occasionally yell "HA-HA!" thru the intercom. I wanted to get on the intercom & ask her what she thought was so funny, since she was secluded & we as staff were the ones who were foot loose & fancy free. I was even getting paid time & a half to be there. But we mustn't instigate the precious little kiddos.

This was the same kid who took a good 45-minutes to come out of her room for lab draws several weeks ago & was wearing a leather jacket when she knew full well she would have to remove it for the nurse. She just stood there, looking down her nose at me with this smug little smirk on her face. I told her she wouldn't get anything at all, bathroom door open included, until she redirected & followed instructions. It took her another 45 minutes, but she eventually let the nurses get their vials of blood.

Did I mention she broke her glasses (either 2nd or 3rd pair since she's been here) & then broke a lense & started scratching on her wrist. She put it up to the window & said "See - I'm bleeding." There was a spot of blood maybe as big as the tip of a pin, but she kept going on it, so we had to go take it before secluding her again for pushing staff.

At least the physically violent one who was refusing her meds for the last week & a half is gone to the psych hospital.

Videos of the Hobbitses

First up, we have Bobo & Little Man wrestling with Flanders, with Sugar Plum in a cameo appearance toward the end...


And, now Sugar Plum (who had just finished saying "A-dba-dba-dba" to me & then laughing uproariously - I can only assume it was the world's 2nd funniest joke, as there are no remaining copies of the #1 joke per Monty Python), Nameless (who really, really needs a name), Little Man, Ramone (:rolls eyes & shrugs:) & Flanders, who doesn't bend that way.

Why yes, I have been spending too much time on YouTube - there are even science videos on there that have come in handy during Microbiology.

Hope this works - I'm at :cough:work:cough: where there is a severe lack of Javascript & all other things that make the intertubes so much more fun...

Monday, October 08, 2007

New House...

A few pictures of the new house. All off-white walls - which I personally think is unacceptable, but that's just me. :-(
The entryway, view from the front door - the floors are laminate. The piano is now against the wall on the lower right side. The two bedrooms are off to the right side, the living is to the left, the kitchen is down the hallway around the corner & the bathroom is at 12 o'clock.The kitchen - the fridge is a commercial one! The island with the stove is topped by black marble. The flooring is linoleum.
The kitchen from another angle. The built-in BBQ grill is original & the stone is all the backside of the fireplace in the living room. There is a circle all the way around the fireplace that gets used as a racetrack when Bobo & Little Man are here. Boo also walks it, making sure all is as it should be in her house.
The living room - the fireplace is on the left side. There are now blue sheers up on the window.
The dining room, from by the fireplace in the living room. We have Heritage Lace curtains up on the window now & a curio cabinet in the corner. We are loving the laminate flooring, especially when the kids are here - no more peeling gooey food out of the carpet after meals.

We're still in the process of moving, but we've had the whole family out several times. Dad bought a go-cart "for the grandkids" (yeah, right, whatever you say...) & it has gotten lots of use. I got to go to East Lake yesterday evening with Flanders, Ramone, Jer & Jay to play with Jay's new jetski. That was so. much. fun! Jay managed to throw Ramone off once when practicing tight doughnuts at top speed. Ramone & Jer both tried (a bit) to toss me off, but I managed to stay on, thanks to years of horseback riding. Jer & I didn't get to stay completely dry though, as we flipped it over whilst trying to load it onto the trailer. Always glad to give the guys a reason to laugh...