Just in time for Halloween! "Twisted at the Transylvanian"...my newest Murder Mystery Party Game. Here is the premise of the game:

The Transylvanian, a popular nightclub in town, is holding its yearly anniversary party. Mike Hobb, the club owner has sent out invitations to only a handful of friends and social elite to attend the gala event and have a howling good time. Unfortunately, poor Mike will never get to enjoy the party as he has been found dead at the bottom of the wine cellar stairs! Was his death due to natural causes…. or was it murder?
Some things might prove to be a bit “twisted” at the Transylvanian…

Help Detective I.C. Moore and the other guests figure out what really happened.

This game has all the traditional Halloween characters, but with a different "twist". Check out Red Herring Games for more details on this game and many others I've written. Next one up will be "Death at the Double D Ranch"...

Hot off the Press...My nephew, Joshua Bland, won the Indianapolis Marathon yesterday! The picture I am posting was taken from the IndyStar (dot com). Josh has always been a joy to the family with his humour, good nature and dedication to sports and education. He's currently living in Chicago, after receiving his B.S. Degree. He's always competed in running events and I would have to say this is quite an accomplishment with over 6,000 people running in this event!

Sorry to toot the family whistle, but we are all so proud of him! Way to go, Josh! Hope you can come home for Thanksgiving!

Working on my newest Mystery Script for Red Herring. This one is of the Western Genre' and I'm calling it "Death at the Double D Ranch". It's been coming right along with the plot and character development. I haven't been able to leave it alone since I started it! No spoilers, but I'll let all of you know some of the major characters: Sheriff, Redfeather and daughter, a cowboy, saloon owner, oriental cook, gambler, school marm, hired hand, dancehall girl, a drifter and a travelling medicine woman. The names for each character are very unique and the whole premise is reasonable but very predictable if you are a fan of the old time western stereotypes. I never thought I'd like to write one in this genre', let alone play one, but I think this will have something for everyone and be hilarously fun! Hope to have it finished before Thanksgiving.... :>)



(Photo Courtesy of SuperStock.com) Check this site out!

Here goes folks... my one hundredth post!!!! That seems like it should call for some kind of celebration or something, doesn't it? I thought this would have happened sooner, but life takes priority. How sweet it coincides with my daughter's Birthday! Just wanted to let all of you know how much I appreciate your support and friendship. Cheers to all of you and Happy Birthday to my lovely daughter! Life is good today.

Okay, here it is...a dumb thing I had an idea for and made it, but I did flatter Barbie. I gave her a whole new look for Halloween, right down to the hand sewn clothes, stuffing and clay sculpture that encases her whole head and face. Copied it after that Menopausal Altered Barbie that sold for a bizillion dollars on EBay a couple of years ago. If you would like to read my diary of this creation, visit right here. Of course, she didn't sell, but we've had lots of fun with her since. :>)

Otherwise, enjoy her. Unfortunately, she is no longer in my possession. My best friend who thought she was spooky and dumb now has it posed in her China Cabinet on display. I do plan to retreive it on my next visit! I miss my Pumpkin Head Barbie...

Here we come...Mr. and Miss America, 1974! Yep, our Halloween costumes for the upcoming party on Saturday. Simple, comfortable and should prove very entertaining for others. I'll make some glittery banners for us to wear across our shoulders, we'll adorn with tiaras and off we go. (Maybe a wig or two here and there and a can of hair paint!) For our next one, in two weeks, we're going to re-visit the Colonel and his "Hot" Chick:

Yeah, Right! :>) Hope you weren't expecting something X-rated!!!!! It will be fun and looking forward to both Halloween Parties, as well as the Birthday Bash for our daughter tomorrow!

Oh I forgot...it's "Rainy Days and Mondays"... none the less, rainy days do get me down! Trying to prevail over the gloomy weather, I had a productive day. Finished sewing DD's Hostess Apron, cleaned the house and in the midst of fixin' a Hamburger Pie. Its my very own concoction that I've been doing for over 25 years. To describe it - I would say it is an American version of Lasagna.... and it is "yummy".

Gearing up for a busy 3 day weekend. Daughter's B-Day is this Monday, so family is coming in for a dinner over the weekend. Two Halloween party costumes to prepare, plus a bunch of other stuff and that puts the pressure on ol' Craftola right now.

I LOVE it. October is my favorite month because it is so busy and fun! Until next time....

Maybe I'm a bit out of touch, but I just heard about Amazon's Mechanical Turk. It's probably been around for several years but I found the concept intriguing. In case you aren't familiar with it (like I was) they offer a place where employers post tedious, menial type jobs and "Turkers" can choose from the jobs listed and take the "HIT" (Human Intelligence Task) for pay.

Curiosity got the best of me, so I signed up as a Turk. I wanted to see the types of jobs that were offered and I did some Turkin' for 3 days. Here are a few of the Hits I accepted:

-Went to the listed website and found the email addy of the person in charge. Copied and pasted the addy into the form. (Pay 1 cent per Hit - But this person had over 12,000 hits available for this task!)
-Compared pictures to see if they were acceptable to the requester's standards (2 cents a hit)
-Reviewed words as to if they made sense or no sense to me (nonsensible-pay 1 cent a hit)
-Rewrote a sentence with the exact same meaning, but used different words (2 cents)

In short, if you have a few minutes to waste and want to help someone on a huge, daunting task, the program is a great thing. On the email Hits, it went from over 12,000 to 8,000 in just a couple of hours. There must of been hundreds of people helping this poor soul out. Pay is lousy and Amazon doesn't payout until you have at least $20 in your Amazon equivalent of Pay pal. On the upside, it is quite interesting to see the types of jobs listed and when you take a hit, you get this feeling that you are helping someone out.

It seemed to take forever but my favorite month of the year has finally arrived. Don't get me wrong, I love all the seasons we experience here in IL, but Fall is my favorite....especially the month of October! It's not just the fact that Halloween is this month, nor the fact that my DD's birthday is this month.... I like the weather change, the color, the crispness in the air and the settling, home feeling that Autumn brings.

When the weather gets cooler my interests shift. I want to bake, knit, do more crafting and concentrate more on my writing. It must be a "nesting" syndrome, getting ready for the colder weather yet to come before the renewal of Spring.

Enjoy your weather...what ever it may be or what it inspires you to do!