Zombies, zombies everywhere....

Victoria used to be known, jokingly, as the home of the newly wed and nearly dead but I am starting to think it may be the home of the newly dead and nearly wed.

This year, the zombie walk has tried to go "legit" -- complete with permits and sponsors. They also chose to move the officially-blessed walk to Halloween day; in part to coordinate with the Comic Convention that is one of the primary sponsors (those in costume get in for reduced rate. woo). Unfortunately, this move pissed off those who think a zombie walk should be closer to a flash mob than a parade so they have organized a separate walk on a different day -- I am currently getting event invites for both on Facebook.

On top of that, there is a little thing called the Olympics. The torch relay starts here on October 30th and there will be plenty of protests to go along with it including, you guessed it, another zombie walk -- this one "in memoriam" for missing women, residential school survivors, those who have died at the hand of police, and so on.

Oh, and did I mention, a zombie craft fair, too? (it was supposed to follow the official zombie walk, hence the other date) Hubby and I will be participating in the craft fair; Kiddo and I are working on a special Zombie edition of Bümfmag for the occasion. I tried to make some plush zombie stuff... but so far it has been a "pit of fail"... but I will at least be there to keep him company and hawk his wares.

I think after October ends, though, I'm going to need some zombie-free time.

Barely dented the to-do list

... but got stuff done that really needed doing. I actually did some housecleaning (yes! It can happen!) but didn't make it as far as the filing. I didn't finish Bümfmag (although I know what I need to add now... it's just a matter of adding it.) Don't forget, if you want me to send you a copy, comment on the Giveaway post. I didn't get any crafting done and several web updates went undone. I didn't even have time to play with the shiny new OTTO.

However, I did get Kiddo's school supplies and new school clothes labeled with the Lovable Labels I received (expect a product review later this week) and I mowed the part of the lawn that really needed it. Meanwhile, Hubby drafted some help and built much-needed railings for Kiddo's tree fort. He needed the jigsaw and I offered to go into the underdeck storage to look for it... and that led to my pulling out enough stuff to rearrange things and find more room in there. I also labeled all our big Rubbermaid™ tubs so we don't have to play "guess-what's-inside" every time. I never did find the jigsaw though. He made do.

Here's Kiddo's new and improved tree fort:

She's looking forward to painting it sometime soon.

A Prize and A Giveaway

Today, I got this:

(There are more photos on Flickr.) I haven't played with it yet... but soon. In the meantime, read what Colin thought.

Aside from that, we've been busy with work and camps and getting ready for back-to-school, and working on other projects -- including a zine that Kiddo and I are putting together to sell on Etsy and hopefully in a few places locally. We are calling it Bümfmag. Would you like a copy? Tell me why in the comments and I will send a copy out to at least 5 commenters (maybe more... depending on how many overseas comments I get...).