"Ghoul Friday" (gul/frid/e; noun)

There is a level of patience that goes beyond and above expectation. I believe I've reached the outer limits of mine when it comes to the excruciatingly slow loading times on this website. So I've decided to go on strike.

Perhaps strike isn't the right word, because there has already been conversations to discuss this problem and how my needs aren't being met by my hosting server.

Ok then. I'm going on a blogging strike. I need the extra time to harass Yetch into picking a new provider. And besides, someone in this house will suffer physical harm if I have to continue dealing with 30 second load times. It's better for all involved if I just step away from the computer.

I'm hoping this will be resolved by early next week. See you then.

After watching a bit of Hannibal on television last night (I like Julianne Moore, but she just isn't a substitute for Jodi Foster), I remembered an item I've been meaning to blog about for ages.

Thanks to Natalie at Bake and Destroy, you now know what to get your favourite cannibal or undead friend for Christmas. As part of her - and I kid you not - Zombies in Popular Media Class, she wrote The Joy of Cooking Humans for all flesh eaters to enjoy.

The premise came after musing about the evolution of Zombies over the years (especially throughout the filmography of George Romero):

After a record breaking 10 hours to take everything down, sort it into storage bins and then clean up (normally I can do it in 5 hours), I've been somewhat burnt out this last week. I need a bit longer to get back into the swing of things and to take a little break for myself.

Last night I dreamt that I'd built a new prop for next year - a sure sign that I need to take it easy still.

In the meantime, here's a video from another haunter I've mentioned before (Dave the Dead) showing his decorations obediently marching themselves back into storage.

If only it were that easy.

It's all gone. Not a prop to be seen on the main floor.

I'm left feeling torn in three directions. First, I feel a bit sad that it's over. Conversely, I'm very happy to have my house back to normal (everything seems so spacious!). And finally, I'm starting to ponder what the theme for next year will be.

In the meantime, I invite you to take a look at images from this year's theme in the Art Ghoullery.

The children's restaur-haunt was a nice change since it allowed me to have fancier items in the front room (gift shop), and a real party atmosphere in the dining area. It also was designed in a way that it didn't interfere much with day to day life, so I could set up most of it early on.

I hope all of you had a great Halloween. I still have a couple of party ideas to post from this year. After that, it's back to enjoying gems found online and in my city.

So farewell for another year to my seasonal visitors; come back in September to see what new ideas I've come up with.

As for the rest of you, I'll be updating the blog as usual. Stick around, my lovelies, as we start the countdown to 2009.