Casa Bella Halloween’s Video published!
Naturally, only a few of you could attend Casa Bella’s Halloween but that doesn’t mean that many of you can’t see excerpts from the video, featuring some of the actual sound effects and music from the evening.
Also, check out the spooky image! Whilst editing the video, I noticed the shadow standing behind me! What’s up with that?
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
Books for Casa Bella Halloween’s BEST GHOST STORY winner
Guests of Casa Bella’s Halloween were asked to bring with them a ghost story.
Out of all of the stories told on the evening of the 29th October 2011, Selina Daley’s ’Baby Monitor’ managed to elicit the most goosebumps! Selina wins a £20 of Amazon voucher which she plans to spend on books for her studies.
In the meantime, you can read Selina’s story below. Happy Halloween!
This very story that you are about to read is very true and is up to the reader whether they shall believe.
On a very normal evening three women were watching very normal TV, myself, my sister and my mother. My elder sister was staying with us at the time with her two year old daughter, who was fast asleep upstairs in her cot. We sat with the baby monitor on until the room went very chilly and cold so suddenly. I felt uncomfortable and so made my leave to my room. My sister switched off the monitor and she too, quickly followed by mother went up to bed.
Laying in bed I suddenly heard the shrill cry of a new born baby on the monitor. My head quickly tried to rationalise this noise… It’s my niece; it’s the television I said. But none of those accounted for the clear sound of crying coming from down stairs. I was rooted to my bed, my fingertips ached with coldness and though I knew I needed to investigate I could not move. Then suddenly my sister burst into my room, she too could hear the cries. So we stood on the landing the three of us, listening to the ever urgent cries. My mother point blank refused to come with us, so my sister leads the way downstairs. Halfway down I suddenly heard the soft voice of a woman on the monitor. ‘Ssh baby, don’t cry, it’s all ok mummy’s here’ my heart quickened as I realised it was the voice of my sister; I went ice cold all over. As we got to the living room everything went silent. The monitor was switched off. My sister turned to me aghast, ‘oh god I swear I heard my own self’. We never spoke of it again.
It was two years later that I realised the significance of that night when I was sat downstairs on a very normal night. My sister had unexpectedly fallen pregnant again. Upstairs was her four year old and the newborn whom I heard cry on the baby monitor, my sister went upstairs and then I heard her softly saying ‘ssh baby, don’t cry, it’s all ok mummy’s here’. SELINA DALEY
Casa Bella’s Halloween is a monster success!
It’s the day after the night before… and what a night!
After more than 3 months of planning, Casa Bella’s Halloween took place last night, and I have to say that when I set about designing the concept, I
couldn’t have wished for such a successful conclusion to the evening. Success being judged by the reaction of our guests and the simultaneous execution of multiple tasks which included lighting over 30 different types of candles, switching on over twenty battery candles, activating 40 electric lights, and drowning a whole coffin in a tidal wave of dry ice, to name a few!
I guess the reason why I was able to pull all of this together was because of the Casa Bella team, which included my sister, Francesca, my niece, Anna, and my best friend, Tom. They all rallied around when I needed them most and we managed to (I believe) pull off the best ‘wow’ factor of any Casa Bella event yet. Luckily, much of the imagery of the evening, including the reactions of our guests has been caught for posterity and published to the Casa Bella Facebook website (address below).
What couldn’t be caught in stills or in moving pixels (yes, video cameras rolled) was the atmosphere brought by the fortuitous gale that howled around Casa Bella shaking the collection of pumpkin lanterns hanging outside of the haunted mansion and over the cursed grave, all viewable from the thrones of our guests that encircled a life size coffin that bubbled like a cauldron and spewed mist, nor the specially mixed score that ran throughout the evening, featuring a through-the-door moaning gale, an eerie music box, a few ghosts, thunder, rain and the odd slamming door (again, to name a few). This was the ideal soundtrack to the collection of ghosts stories penned by each guest specially for the event with the hope of winning the title and prize of BEST STORY. This award was eventually snatched up by Selina Daley from an equally impressive collection of creepy, gruesome and sometimes witty accounts. Selina’s real life account of premonition will be published to this blog as soon as it is made available by its author. Selina also wins a £20 Amazon voucher which will be winging its way to her over the next few days.
Of course, Halloween wouldn’t be the same without its costumes and, in true Casa Bella style, we were also handing out an award for
Best Costume. It seemed to me that all of our guests were very keen on getting their hands on our skeleton trophy, judging by the quality of some of the costumes and make up. I was really blown away by some of the characters. We had vampires, demons, zombies and even one of the most terrifying depictions of a reaper that I have ever seen! However, it appears that the most impressive of all was….. well, mine! Yes, I was lucky enough to be voted BEST COSTUME WINNER for my depiction of Nosfertu. What do you think? Needless to say, I was somewhat choked when I counted out the votes. In all honesty, I really was not expecting the win! And yes, before you ask, I kept all of the so called ballot papers just in case of query. 
So, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the hideous jury for their most generous votes. It’s very much appreciated! Clearly, it was the smile that did it.
So, now, nearly 24 hours later, the Casa Bella entertainment’s room has been restored to its former glory; the wallpapers gone, the hideous portraits of mutant ancestors, the coffin that struck fear into the superstitious heart of my beloved sister has been folded and neatly packed away, and with it, chunks of plaster from the dining room ceiling! Yes, my dysfunctional relationship with Mr Sellotape ended acrimoniously when I decided to rip him down and throw him out. Which is rather ironic considering I had to ‘refresh’ the sellotape on those walls no less than 6 times as the paper kept falling down! Oh well, he’s been evicted now and I’ll have to call my trusty chum to ‘touch’ up those walls with some paint, ready for the next event.
Yes, presently, there are plans (not yet formalised) for another Casa Bella ‘experience’ in the New Year. For those of you that may not have caught my previous post. Read all about it here. The announcement of this event received unprecedented interest. Read about it here. I’ve already held initial talks with Andrew R Hubbard about a potential Casa Bella Charity event in aid of Alzheimer’s Research UK.
Which means that if you’ve been intrigued with Casa Bella and our dinner party experiences and have wanted to attend then you may well get your wish. Our dinner parties have been strictly by invitation only (for family and friends). However, in order to raise funds for Andrew’s charity, we’re considering throwing open our doors and selling tickets to our next event. So, if you’ve always fancied a unique dinner party experience and like the idea of supporting a worthwhile cause then visit Casa Bella’s Facebook page and LIKE it. We’ll be announcing further details about the next event on this blog and on Casa Bella’s Facebook page where you’ll also be able to see more pictures of last night’s spooktacular event. Visit and LIKE the Facebook page now. Tickets for the next event will be limited (we already have reserved bookings) so if you want to be in with a chance to get a seat, you’ll have to act fast!
Who knows, I could be writing and thousands could be reading about YOU in a few months time!
Until then, “take good care of yourselves, and each other”.
Casa Bella’s Halloween; the nightmare before Christmas
So, it’s the day before Casa Bella’s Halloween but it feels oddly like the night before Christmas! Although, I guess a more apt depiction would be,
the day before the show; finally, after more than 3 months in the making (or rehearsal), Casa Bella’s Halloween is here, and what an event it will be.
Who would have thought that when we started these dinner parties nearly a year ago, they’d turn into these mammoth productions, of concept, design, rehearsal and performance. They’ve moved beyond ‘dinner with friends’ and are more like ‘dinner and a show’, which each, apparently, outdoing the other. But I guess that’s all part of the process, our guests often say, “I can’t see how you’re going to top this next time”, and my response (albeit subconsciously), as a bead of sweat forms on my brow is, “nor can I”.
I know that the motivation is most likely in this detail; for a non professional actor, the reward of 3 months rehearsal is to tread the boards, albeit for a few nights, for us (my sister and I), it’s to see the look on the faces of our guests, the moment they walk into the entertainment room and, not unlike children on Christmas morning, be affected by the conception and construction that came before them.
I know it all sounds a bit ‘grand’ and perhaps not everybody’s cup of tea but it certainly is mine. Somebody said to me the other day, “when you get involved in something, you go all out, don’t you?” I believed the statement was a compliment but I nonetheless couldn’t help but wonder if it was some kind of an insult; as if he was saying “cor, you really do make a fuss, don’t you?” If that was the case then the answer would have been “Yes, I don’t just ‘do’ dinner.” I guess that’s always been me though, every creative project I’m involved in has to have an edge, after all, how else is one going to leave an impression? Now, I know (or truly believe) this person was actually paying me a compliment and that I was merely being paranoid but it got me thinking about who I am and why I need to embrace regular challenges in life, I guess it’s because I believe that if I don’t then I’m dead, albeit in spirit.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot to be said for ‘having a few friends round for dinner’, no thrills, just good food, company and conversation but, personally, I’d get bored with this after a while because, not unlike a relationship, it’d become mediocre; neither of us (host or guest) challenged out of our everyday comfort zones and encouraged to do something out of the norm, whether that be putting on a tuxedo or writing a ghost story and reading it out to a relatively intimate gathering of people only to then have it published to thousands. (Yes, this is what our guests have signed up to). Sounds scary but it’s all part of the process. A lot of effort goes into these events but our guests (well, most of them at least) don’t hold back either because they too believe in this mutually beneficial trade as it reminds us of the present actuality; we’re alive and capable of things long ago consigned to the hedonism of youth. A good example of this is February’s Casa Bella Masquerade, when we asked each of our guests to bring a talent to be performed for their fellow guests. The invite struck fear in most but the result was an evening of eclectic and untapped talent that many of our guests didn’t even think they possessed and it’s beautiful how, even now, they describe the exhilaration of the event.
So, Casa Bella’s Halloween may have endured it’s own challenges; drop out guests, collapsing props, the destruction of treasured ornaments, spooky goings on, oh and sleepless nights, all for one evening but will it all be worth it…..? Check out Sunday’s a Different Angle blog post for the story and, of course, the pictures!
Casa Bella’s Charity event announcement tops 1000 hits in first hour!
Wow, read all about it! Read all about it!
Within its first hour of publication, a staggering 1,006 of you read this morning’s Sunday blog post about Casa Bella’s charity event due to take place in 2012! That’s a approximately 16 hits a minute!
Thanks! Read what all the fuss is about by clicking here and please feel free to share the story with your family and friends and be sure to tune in for details on how to get tickets to Casa Bella’s exclusive event due to take place in early 2012.
And how appropriate that this is also my 100th blog post!
Thanks… keep reading! 
Casa Bella to open its doors to public!
It’s the week leading up to Casa Bella’s Halloween and, in my usual inimitable way, I’m stressing that not all of my ducks are standing to attention, indeed some of the ducks haven’t even been hatched yet, and, a week today, we’re supposed to be in the throws of terrorising guests, or being terrorised! So, there’s much to do, including unfinished costumes for disorganised friends! Next week is going to be a very busy indeed with last minute shopping and make up, lots of make up! Yeah, well I had to satisfy that secret fetish some way, don’t I?
There have been some spooky goings on at Casa Bella this week with collapsing props, the shattering of one of my favourite (and expensive) candelabras and things mysteriously movingaround the room. We’re certainly getting into the ‘spirit’ of things! It’s all part of the process I guess, that or we actually have an uninvited guest!
On the upside, today three people (who will not be attending the event next week), had a special privileged preview of the refurbishments, they appeared quite impressed, and that was during the light of day… so my fingers are well and truly crossed that my vision will be realised at night. Be sure to stop by next Sunday for pictures!
So who were these people blessed with rare and exclusive access to Casa Bella pre event? Well, one of them was my cherished electrician who was kind enough to give up his Saturday morning to carry out some last minute light installations in our events room, and the other couple? Well, they say that people ‘crash’ into our lives for a reason. I’m a strong believer of this and that’s why, despite the somewhat hectic schedule, I cleared my afternoon, to make a new friend, well, two new friends; two complete strangers walked into my home and into my life, and I’m delighted to report that it was a charming experience.
Okay, so they didn’t come in off the street, I’d actually been corresponding with one of them for quite some time now. He is a journalist (even if I can’t help but think that he doesn’t truly believe that himself, at least , not yet) and she is, wait for it, a Midwife! That’s right, a midwife. And you would be forgiven for picturing an ‘old bird’, sporting a somewhat matronly demeanour and perhaps a few badly worn years, the reality is quite the opposite; a girl barely in her twenties who wouldn’t be too out of place on the cover of Maxim. Indeed, this engaging and unassuming duo, destined for marriage next year, make for a very handsome couple indeed.
So what is about this couple that had me compelled to meet with them in the midst of falling fabrics, misbehaving sellotape and disappearing lanterns? Well, Andrew R Hubbard has long been a contributor on Facebook’s St Neots page, and whilst we’ve corresponded by email, we’d never actually met, until today.
The reason for our meeting is Andrew’s pledge to run the Virgin London Marathon in April 2012. Andrew’s a ‘sporty’ guy but the motivation behind this latest initiative wasn’t just to work up a sweat but to work up some money for Alzheimer’s Resarch UK ( http://www.alzheimersresearchuk.org). Andrew has first-hand experience of the harrowing effects of this disease through his namesake, Roy, his Grandfather; a man full of life (and jokes) whom Andrew witnessed become an alien of his former self. ”The money I work hard to raise can’t help Granddad but it can stop people who have his condition suffering and help the families of those with dementia too.”
And it was Andrew’s enthusiasm for this cause that drove me to want to meet the twenty-something year old to see how I could help.
Now, anybody who knows me knows that I’m not ‘into’ charities. Yes, I said that out loud. I’m a true believer of that old addage that ‘charity starts at home’ and by that I’m also including friends who are often ‘in need’ in one way or another. These ’causes’ mean the most to me, right now….or so I thought.
It would be fair to say that, over the past year, we’ve created somewhat of brand name for Casa Bella’s themed dinner party experiences, this is evidenced by the fact that we generally have to work to a waiting list. So why not use one of Casa Bella’s events to help raise funds for Andrew’s charity? This was the topic of our meeting after which we naturally concluded that it would indeed be an active way of making a contribution through something that we now have quite a bit of experience with.
Traditionally, Casa Bella events have only been open to close friends and strictly by invitation only so if you’ve read about our dinner party experiences and wanted to attend now’s your chance. That’s right, we’re throwing open Casa Bella’s doors and will be selling seats to our next exclusive dinner party experience in 2012. All net proceeds will go to Andrew’s charity and towards smashing his £2,000 target.
More details about Casa Bella’s dinner party experience to rival all others will be published here in due course. In the meantime, you can still contribute to Alzheimer’s Research UK’s crucial research by donating on Andrew’s fund raising page by clicking here. Remember, every little really does help, yes even £1! And, if like me, you’re not into the whole ‘charity thing’ then be sure to check out future posts for details of how to snap up a place at our next event for a dinner party experience like no other.
Our next meeting about this will take place in a few weeks time. Until then, Casa Bella’s Halloween will be the only thing on my mind for the next 6 days, besides sleeping of course because, in the now immortal words of Faithless, “I can’t get no sleep”. I wonder why!
Afraid? You will be… Halloween, Hell Houses, Magic & Religion.
“Our fascination with fear is a curious one, we’re addicted to the exhilaration of fear but only if we know we’re safe. From rollercoasters through to haunted houses, some of us subject ourselves to extreme situations for a quick thrill but some terror is all too real…”
And so autumn is upon us once more, and with the wind that rustles the leaves comes the season of Celtic (Halloween) and catholic celebrations (Al Saints Day), and let’s not forget the big roaring fires of bonfire night sparked from the ancient tradition of burning animal bones (bon fire) to ward off evil spirits. These days most of us settle for the burning of wood and other materials that we’d have a hard time convincing our fascist ‘refuse technicians’ to collect, but the symbology remains the same.
So, how much exactly do we know about these old traditions?
Well, Halloween owes its name to ALL HALLOWS EVE which precedes ALL SAINTS DAY (1st November), a naturally Christian celebration yet the practices of Halloween are Pagan in their origin. This paradoxical merger came to be many years later since the church denounced Pagans as satanic worshipers; “when you come into the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations.” No, Halloween has its roots deeply entrenched in the Celts of pre-medieval Europe who divided each year into two halves; the light and the dark half. Samhain (summer end) marked the end of summer and thus the harvest season. The ancient Celts believed that the 31st of October was the day when the veil, dividing the dead and the living, dissolved ‘bringing home’ evil spirits who could only be placated with bribes of food in exchange for immunity from a terrible curse (trick or treat). Some Celts would attempt to scare off the evil spirits by lighting hilltop fires that included the bones of animals (in a sacrificial gesture), placing skulls carved out of vegetables (jack-o-lantern) in strategic places and donning costumes in an attempt to emulate the spirits and go ‘unnoticed’.
Even in modern times, satanic worshipers believe that Halloween is the night when the Prince of Darkness himself returns to earth in order to collect and convert the souls of man. These are just some of the reasons why the church found pagan practices abhorrent and sought a global mass conversion to Christianity. It is believed this took place in the 7th century when the Pantheon of Rome was wrested from the ‘barbarians’ by the church and renamed the Church of The Blessed Virgin and all Martyrs thus going from worshiping All Gods (the Greek word for Pan-theon) to All Saints. It then moved the day that honoured all hallowed saints from the 13th May to the 1st of November to coincide with Samhain; All Hallows Eve (31st October). The church adopted some of the pagan practices in its quest to convert the ‘barbarians’ to Catholicism. Even ‘trick or treating’ became tolerated by the church; costumed children would knock on doors offering to fast for departed souls in exchange for money or an offering.
There was however one pagan practice that was not dissolved in the world’s conversion to Christianity; witchcraft. A witch (from the Anglo-Saxon word Wicca) was somebody who worshipped the deities of nature and collected living talismans and symbols through which they obtained dark powers. Legend has it that the broomstick (a representation of the male organ) was the vehicle upon which the witches flew great distances, in reality, they often dabbled with all sorts of drugs and potions which means those ‘trips’ could have been construed as flight.
The Celts and the Egyptians also believed that the symbolic black cat possessed magical powers. Legend has it that the goddess of Wicca, Diana, turned into a black cat to commit incest with her brother. In all, witchcraft was seen as the worshipping of the devil as opposed to God and thus witches were persecuted for centuries. “Thou shall not suffer a witch to live” (Ex 22:18). Not unlike fox hunting on Boxing Day, witch hunting became a national pastime during the witching season.
Naturally, books and films have sought to capitalise on the mystical elements of witchcraft but none more so than Harry Potter which for millions is seen as a piece of fictional fun but for some is a sinister rebranding of darker themes, such as demonic possession and Satanism. This is born out of passages from the book that refer to the evil character Voldermort who ‘possesses’ the soul of a young girl. In reality, Satanic worshipping sparked mass moral panic in eighties America (and then the rest of the world) where it was believed that the vast proliferation of satanic cults were leading to an increase of prostitution, drug abuse, murder, sexual abuse, pornography, as well as a vast array of disturbing acts (such as necrophilia and cannibalism). The torture of young children was also considered necessary in order to program them to observe a life of devil worship. This led to governments around the world stepping up their policies regarding child abuse investigations which in turn forced cults to revise their strategy and recruit people of standing, such as police officers and politicians.
Today, orange, black and red (the devil’s colours) come together primarily once a year, in the form of a carved pumpkin, on a day when children are given the opportunity to ‘dress up’ and terrorise the neighbourhood whilst most adults flirt with the concept of fear by watching scary movies and visiting old relics in the dead of night in the hope of scaring themselves silly.
Our fascination with fear is a curious one, we’re addicted to the exhilaration of fear but only if we know we’re safe. From rollercoasters through to haunted houses, we’ll do whatever it takes for a quick fix of adrenaline. I should know because I’m one of those junkies as evidenced by my one and only trip to the entertainment capitol of the north, otherwise known as Blackpool. It was a week day and, unsurprisingly, not a very sunny day which meant that the ‘pleasure beach’ was relatively empty. Of all the attractions, we kept on passing one which had a cavernous looking hole for a door outside of which was a wall mounted monitor projecting grainy night vision images of a group of people running and screaming from an unknown entity. For those not familiar with this type of ‘attraction’, it works on the basic premise of charging guests an entry fee to be guided down steps and into some artificial catacomb where the slogan alone is enough to strike the fear of God in most; “don’t touch them and they won’t touch you”!
Oddly enough, like a child drawn to the ubiquitous yet fairly innocuous ghost train, it was this very phrase that caught our attention and, after procrastinating for a few more minutes, we finally decided to brave it. Lucky for me (or not), the attraction wasn’t particularly busy which meant that instead of a group of people, it was just me and my friend, alone in the dark, able to see only but a few feet in front of us, deep in the belly of an ‘attraction’ whose sole purpose was to scare the be geezers out of us. Well, it worked! There were only so many times I could be startled by nerve wrenching screeches, accosted by blood oozing zombies and rattled by chainsaw-wielding psychopaths with disfigured faces before I wanted out of that place. Although, in hindsight, I have to wonder which part I hated the most, running from rooms kitted out with special effects and actors dripping (literally) in makeup or running screaming like a schoolgirl out of the exit doors (at the end of the experience) and into a strategically placed themed diner where patrons sipped drinks whilst enjoying the look of utter terror on the faces of those exiting the attraction.
It may not come as much of a surprise to you that some devout Catholics in North America are adopting the very same tactics to scare sinners out
of sinning. ‘Hell Houses’ are normal looking buildings but with a twist; each of the rooms is kitted out to feature a sin; such as abortion, homosexuality, alcoholism, drug abuse, pre marital sex, abortion and, more controversially, a scene from the Columbine High School massacre (in the wrongful belief that Christians were being targeted for murder). The ‘exhibits’ tend to be ‘staged’ in October (to capitalise on the witching season) and, not unlike my experience, would-be sinners are treated to a collection of gruesome and horrifying scenes depicting sin and its consequences. Those who accept Christ will be saved and those who don’t will be damned to hell. What’s that all about? I chose to go down into the catacombs because the perverse side of me wanted a quick and temporary ‘thrill’. Those who ‘choose’ the path of ‘righteousness’ do so because they have a belief, it should not be necessary to administer such shock therapy to keep them on the straight and narrow. Then again, the other controversy surrounding hell houses is that they aren’t necessarily designed for ‘believers’ but more for ‘non believers’ who are deceived into thinking that the ‘attraction’ is a ‘traditional’ ghost house rather than an evangelical journey. This practice has also drawn criticism from some who believe the process of teaching by instilling fear into children is nothing short of child abuse. This is all somewhat ironic since, on the one hand, we have people brain washed into finding religion whilst, on the other, there are some who just wanted opportunity to freely practice it.
This is so of Robert Catesby who, along with thousands of other Catholics, simply wanted the right to practice his religion. Eh? What do you mean you’ve never heard of Mr Catesby? He was the man behind one of the most infamous and subversive government plots of all time. The foiling of this plot is still celebrated today, on the 5th November.
It took Catesby and Guy Fawkes a year to hatch the plan to blow up parliament and kill the king but a tip off, in the form of a letter, meant that their dastardly plan was foiled. Catesby died in a shoot out in Staffordshire whilst Fawkes was hung (by his neck), drawn (had his innards pulled out) and quartered (cut into four pieces), all before a public audience. And whilst he was not burned on a bonfire, his guts were as his head was speared onto a parliament house spike. That was the price of treason. Thereon, Londoners lit fires in the street to celebrate the fact that the king was saved.
Today, more than 400 years later, we celebrate bonfire night in pretty much the same way. Well, at least all without the hung, drawn and quartered bit. We’d much rather burn effigies instead. Remember, remember the 5th November; the day when we tortured and executed one man and his accomplices, ultimately, because they were deprived the right to practice their religion as they saw fit.
Can you imagine that happening in England today?
Dark skies are upon us as preparations commence
So, it looks like I’m not the only one who’s running around trying to fit the last pieces of the puzzle (otherwise known as concept) into place. Casa Bella’s Halloween is just 20 days away, and the 31st October just a couple of days after that. The clocks will be changing soon which means the ‘dark side’ of the year is truly upon us. 
Some will be forgiven for thinking that I may be starting preparations a bit early but, when it comes to me, I’m the equivelent of your average supermarket with Christmas merchandise; start preparing months in advance. Although in my case, as my sister can vouch, I’m known for changing my mind days if not on the day before the event! And I can’t afford to be in that situation this time otherwise the whole ambience will be affected. I’m sorry I can’t say more about it now for there’s a danger that our eagle eyed guests will ‘guess’ what we have in store for them. ;-)
I spent most of the day yesterday, shopping for ‘last minute’ things and, as always, I’m already way over the self imposed budget! Well, there’s just so much ‘stuff’ out there. What’s a man to do? I’m sure our distinguished guests will appreciate it. I’ve further discovered that I’m soon to be reacquainted with my old friend Mr Sellotape. I thought he wouldn’t be invited to this gathering but it appears he’s going to be featuring heavily, at least behind the scenes. And we all know how that ended up at the HOIME Awards in June!
Today is food day. No, by that I don’t mean usual Sunday lunch, I mean bake and taste sessions. That’s right, we’re forgoing our traditional Sunday luncheon to instead sample from Casa Bella’s Halloween menu. Well, one has to ensure it’s appropriate after all. ;-)
My costume arrived this week… well, the first one did and I looked like a female extra from Star Trek. Needless to say, it was rapidly discarded in favour of something much more sophisticated, and I’m thrilled! Let’s just hope I can master the art of makeup application, extreme makeover style! (enough said on that).
Anyway, for me, not unlike many other souls out there, life is busy. In particular, the last few months of 2011 are to prove the most trying, as there is much happening that I’m actually bound by law from discussing. Needless to say that days and evenings are packed and when they aren’t, sleep is a welcome reaper.
This all means that my posts may not be as frequent as I like but things will change in the new year where I’m determined to return to writing which means that blog updates will also become more frequent.
Until then, don’t miss next week’s post about the true origins of Halloween.
‘There’s someone in my house’; Halloween’s sinister side
It’s October, and it’ll soon be Halloween, the witching season.
For some parents, it’s the only time of year when they get to exhibit their creative flair for costume design whilst encouraging their children to go out, join a gang and terrorize the neighbourhood. For most, Halloween is about ’ghoulish’ fun and the opportunity to greedily share in the bounty extorted by phantoms and demons. But All Hallow’s Eve does have a more sinister side.
Well, what would do you expect from a festival that celebrates the ‘Lord of darkness’? Some parents won’t allow their children to go trick or treating unless they can go with them. Some say it’s because they’re trying to recapture their youth, others say that its in response to a series of horrific cases where children were actually hurt by some of the sweets they collected; razor blade chocolates and insect killer laced sweets were just some of the cases reported to police. What’s worse is that the investigation into such cases often proves difficult due to the fact that children mix and share their sweets making it difficult to establish their origin, and it this technicality which makes the practice even more alluring to would be criminals and terrifying to parents.
But it’s not just spirits that come out on the 31st October, pranksters have their own devilish fun with unpopular neighbours. One reported case involved some boys who took it upon themselves to exact revenge on a busy body neighbour. The 49 year old spinster, who’d often highlight the boys’ misdemeanours to their parents, lived alone. One year, the pranksters decided to impersonate, the woman’s peculiar voice and call the police, stating that there was someone in her house. Units were dispatched once, twice, but they took their time on the third occasion only to find the woman barely alive upon arrival; she had actually been robbed, stabbed and left for dead. Now that’s irony for you. Justice was served though; the pranksters and the drug fuelled robber were apprehended.
In some parts of the United States, they decorate streets with the same zeal on Halloween as they do at Christmas, so it was understandable that 24 hours had passed before residents realised that what looked like an amazingly realistic dummy hanging from a lamp post was actually a real corpse, that of a woman who committed suicide because her husband had left her.
But consider this, next time you smell something ‘funny’ in your hotel room, you may want to report it to management immediately. This advice would have been helpful to a newly wed couple who, after a zombie themed wedding, excitedly checked into a hotel room in Las Vegas where both noticed an unpleasant smell but neither was willing to report it, such was their rapture. It was only the following morning, motivated by the chance of a discount, that they informed hotel staff who, after a thorough search of the room, concluded there was only one place they hadn’t looked; inside the mattress. That’s when they found the dead body of a young girl who had been stuffed into the box spring! She was later identified as one of the many prostitutes that haunt ‘the strip’.
These are just some of the instances that can be explained but what about those that can’t? For example, those times when you could swear you heard somebody you live with come home, close the front door, dump their keys on the side, but never materialise. So, you check the house only to discover you’re alone. Or my personal favourite, so much so that it happens to a character in one of my books, she hears her boyfriend come home and she calls out to him but there’s no reply. Perplexed, she goes through the house, calling his name but nothing. Then the phone rings, she picks it up. “Hello baby, it’s me,” he says, and that’s when she realises, to her terror; somebody else is in the house with her, and it isn’t her boyfriend.
If you’ve experienced something like this, why not share it with everybody? It is the witching season after all.
In the meantime, “don’t have nightmares”.
Monster-in-Law? How’s your relationship with your boyfriend/husband’s mum?
This week I received an email from BESTDATINGSITES.ORG who thought I might be interested in sharing one of the articles from their blog.
And, since I’m often posting articles about relationships on a Different Angle, I thought this fitted in nicely.
So, how’s your relationship with your boyfriend/husband’s mother? Are you the best of pals or the best enemies? Is she respectful of you, your time with him, and the decisions that you make together or are you both locked in a unpalatable power struggle?
There are many reasons why mothers have a hard time letting go of their boys. Some of these are listed below.
- Worried. Many mums are worried about their sons getting hurt, and they want to protect them. This instinct can kick in if they see a girl or woman that they do not think is right for their son, and it can cause a multitude of problems.
- Ulterior Motives. If the boy comes from a wealthy family, the mum may be afraid that any girl that is interested in him is only interested in the family money. If the mother experienced the same problem, she may be even more prone to dissuade the relationships.
- Only Child. With only having one child, a mother has more time and energy to focus on just him. This can make her more possessive of him and his time.
- Competition. She may feel as she has to compete with other women to get her son’s attention. After all, she spent all that time being the only woman in his life.
- Out Ranked. She may be worried about being outranked by a girlfriend or wife. She probably feels that she is the only one who can take care of him and that no one else can do it better.
- Control Freak. Some women feel as though they need to be in control at all times. She may feel she has to make all decisions, and if one is made without her then it is automatically wrong.
- Loneliness. If the mother is not married, and only has her son left with her at home, she may not like anyone interested in him for fear that she will be left alone.
- Stuck Up. This one usually goes along with being wealthy, but doesn’t necessarily have to. Unfortunately, there are still people out there who believe in a class system. She may feel that their family is better than any others and will not like anyone her son brings home.
- Raised That Way. They may have grown up hearing from their fathers that no one was good enough for their little girl, so they are passing that onto the next generation.
- Bad Decisions. She may feel as though her son does not make good decisions, period. If she doesn’t trust his decisions in general, she will likely not trust him to make good decisions in women either; therefore, she will not like anyone he brings home.
Mamma’s boys can be hard to date, as they tend to have mothers who feel like no one is good enough for their child. The waters can be difficult to navigate, and sometimes even torturous. Mother may know best, but when it comes to the affairs of the heart; she is better off letting her son make his own decisions, and even if that means making his own mistakes.
Source: http://www.bestdatingsites.org/blog/2011/10-reasons-no-girl-is-good-enough-for-mammas-boy
