Each year as people enter the auction we have boxes, bags, or some container that holds a gift. The gifts are donated and are always worth the $20 they paid for them and they get the box or container that were often very nice. This year we have put the Halloween twist on the same thing. When the person comes in and wants to buy a trick-or-trick bag they have to reach into the box "Steve made" and select a ball with the bag number on it. They have there holes to select from and they will get a huge surprise no matter what hole they select. It is going to be a hoot. I can hear people screaming already. This is such a popular part of our auction that the bags usually sell out withing an hour.
This year we have taken everything to extremes. People will be greeted by a hearse parked in front of the door and one as they enter the parking lot of the hotel. There will be fog machines and tons of spooky stuff after they check in.
Our new director has outdone herself. We have Trek bikes, motor scotters, a painting that usually sells for $1600, all sorts of wonderful stuff. The entire office is filled with stuff and boy there is a lot of stuff.
You will notice that Steve got assigned to building the box that will house the trick in order to get their prize. We have so much stuff planned that we had to actually stay on a schedule this year. I suspect our auctioneer will be carried into the room in a casket. I'm not sure but I have a feeling. Everyone wants to dance and then we will have a costume contest. Everyone gets a bag and has to go around the room trying to collect money for the best costume. At the end the person who raises the most money gets to keep half of it.
I am not as easily embarrassed by things as Steve is. I am more than willing to go out onto the floor at our auction and do whatever it takes to make a buck, and that's what I plan to do. Thank God one of us is a little more dignified and knows where to draw the line, kind of. Here is the costume Steve selected. Knowing that Steve attended a Catholic school for many years everyone who knows him will find this more than amusing. He will wear all black under it and there was make up that came with it but I think it may take a bit of work to get him to go that far but we'll see. Everyone is so excited about this as it is so very different from the elegant formal affairs the CPA has done in the past. Tonight Steve and I attended a dinner at the local high school and I heard again how excited people are for the event. Two tables are doing Togas, however the Toga must coincide with their occupation. I guess I'd need red flashing lights on my toga so who knows how much money I'd pull in doing that. Below you will see Steve "pre auction".
When I lived in Milwaukee, for whatever reason I used to watch "Sewing with Nancy" and often wondered why anyone would go through all of that work to make a dress or coat when they could go to Sears and get a Craftsman or Gur-animals. It just made no sense to me but, there you have it
I've always admired Steve's ability to get behind the machine and whip up a table cloth or curtains for a room. I'd sew my
---- fingers together if in fact I could make the strings go the right direction. He has tried so many times to tell me how it works but I insist that if the needle goes thrugh a hole on the top and out the same hole you've accomplished nothing.
Well, Jefferson's version of "Sewing with Nancy" is "Sewing With Stevie". A very highly rated show I might add. One week he sews two table clothes together to make one and the next he's running electrical wires to a bathroom or plunging a toilet. Go figure.
All teasing aside, Steve has been commissioned by Brian Wang to create a Candy Man costume for the CPA costume party and auction on October 29th. I'll tell you, there is nothing more manly than picking out yard goods.
We went to Joann's and got our yard goods and then he came home to create the Brian Wang costume. As I sat in my recliner he would come to me and measure across my chest and from my neck to my hips. I found it amazing how many feet of tape is on a sewing tape. Then he'd come back and measure over my shouders. Keep in mind, I never had to get out of my chair. Then the cutting began and the machine kicked into gear. Five hours later I went for my first fitting and he did well.
Here's the concept. I will glue candy bars onto this Brian Wang costume and sell them for $5 each to people who want to win a chance to win an iPad that Steve and I purchased for the auction. It is well known that I can work an audience and sell ice to Eskimos so we shall see how close to $1500 I can get.
Keep in mind, I planned on sitting in my chair the other night and stitching candy to my outfit (my costume) but the string would pull right through the wrapper so that didn't work. Then I tried to go through a Snicker bar and again, the string just went right through it. So I will resort to Velcro. I will have a hat on with candy bars attached to it. I am hoping to enter the room with the Candy man music going. No doubt I will make the front page of the paper. Last time I made the front page at our auction I was kissing a horse and feeding him chips and salsa off a plate. He wouldn't take it out of my hand. I had to improvise. See below. It is far from done.
We are not good with a hammer, and you may quote me. After hanging doors and some touch up, we decided we would not nail through our new wood trim but rather we'd glue it on so we didn't have hammer marks or nail holes to fill. As you can see, Steve is putting glue on the first piece of door trim. As I stood in the hallway hanging onto the trim so it didn't move a bit, I could hear the clicking of the caulking gun and a person saying, "I don't know what I'm doing wrong, the glue won't come out". Being the eternal smart ass I suggested he read the directions. After a cramped hand I heard him say "Oh, there we go, you can't keep pumping the thing". DUH. He got his glue on the trim and would ever so carefully bring it to it's final resting place for attachment. And if you ever need to glue something that will never move again, we have the glue for you. We are considering it as mandatory equipment in the buses. We stuck on our trim, stood back and praised ourselves for a job well done. So the doors won't open (kidding) but the trim looks nice. Take a look. Now we have about 400 feet of wood trim to paint as it didn't match the doors as we thought it would. Take a look at the handy work below. Move over Bob Vila, you're being replace by Starsky and NUT.
As all or our followers recall, Steve once said, and I quote, "I never want to hang a suspended ceiling again". Well he did. He also said he'd never fly in a helicoptor, and he did and now, we can add this to his list of "won'ts" He never wants to hang another door and I don't blame him. Hanging a pre hung door is 100 times worse than putting up a suspended ceiling. As usual, I was the helper so I usually ended up on the dark side of the door because we had no lights while we did this. Perhaps that was the problem. With every door it seemed to get worse. Thank God for the wood shim. I'd love to find Mr. Shim and give him a big old kiss. We hung four and by the time we got to the last one it was getting better until I got my fingers pinched between the casing and the wall. Leave it to me. I was also stuck on the inside of the closet with no lights. As Beaver used to say, "I was a-scared".
We have one door that we both insist is defective. If you believe that I have a bridge for you to buy. We have four hung and have three more to go. We should be able to polish those off in an hour or two and now that we have lights and electricity, it might make a difference.
Hanging doors is just horrible. I can speak for Steve and myeself by saying we will never hang another door unless we have to. Maybe....
As you can see, Steve has completed one door and was ready to put on the lever handles that tmatch the rest of the house. Well, this usually goes without trauma however, you remember the defective door? He put the knob on that door and shut it to see how it was alligned and it was alligned just fine until we couldn't get the door open again. We literally locked outselves out of a room with no lock on the door. I invisioned Starsky and NUT trying to kick down this door. That in itself would have been worth replacing the door and most likely a trip to the ER. It's been a hoot.
At long last we have the ceiling hung and all the panels in place hiding a multitude of sins. Putting in almost 200 tiles was not without its issues. As we got to the future bar area a couple tiles didn't fit very well so Steve gave it a little added pressure. Needless to say, we had a slight tile slide.
This brought back memories of my visit to a local chiropractor. I prepared to go into the office as usual and pulled the door open. I heard and felt a light sucking sound and all of a sudden the ceiling raised up just a bit and then fell out of the tracks. The doctor stood there as the ceiling tiles hung over the receptionists desk. I think there were a few heating pipes mixed in between the tiles and the grids.
I sat in my chair as the doctor looked at his former ceiling and then at me. My first thought was "he's going to hurt me". I tried the best I could not to laugh but I just couldn't help it. The look on his face was priceless. I went in for my adjustment then came back out to be reminded of what I had just done to his office. I asked if he wanted to ever see me again and he said yes. I got to my car and burst into laughter.
Anyway, below are a couple pictures of the room with its lid on.
