Somethin's Up In That Little White House...

Well, I'm sure that's what my neighbors are saying....

This weekend has been a busy one! Friday night Patricia and I went to the Backdoor theater ( the one I did Jesus Christ Superstar & Pirates of Penzance at) to see Jekyll & Hyde the musical and it was AMAZING!   Saturday we headed out to the Casablanca with friends Lee and Emily to get a head start on the decorating for the up coming Costume party on the 23rd!

This week I'll be doing a room by room showing of the decorations, and with any luck by Friday I'll have the 2010 Halloween Virtual tour up and running!  So I'm starting today off with the "Witches Den"...

(How It looked in sketched)

(In real life, ready for our Gypsy fortune teller)

 It's amazing what a few ratty quilts, some furniture moving and a colored light bulb or two can do to a little room! Some of the quilts we covered the couch and chairs with have "blood spatter/ red paint " on them, from my friend Brittani's "Carry White" costume from last year.

I also painted a few signs to hang here and there, one of my favorites being...

 On the Other side of the lounge, the piano got an equal dose of Halloween decorations, using an old bird cage I found at my grandmothers, some family photos I'v collected  and  of course a few cob webs here and there strung up by friend Emily.

The Piano will be a hot spot during the party I'm sure!

It would seem the former owners of this house left their pet crow behind... and can anyone tell me what this mirror says?! I keep cleaning it off and yet these letter just mysteriously appear again...

 But even with all this great "atmosphere" we created in the lounge, we think you'll find it will be rather hard to stay out of the kitchen... 

Tune in soon!


-Mick-

F-A-T-E!

Well readers,
Look at what I found Thursday afternoon!

IT'S A T.V. LAMP!  We had about 25 min before rehearsals for happy days began, so I decided to run down the block to my favorite thrift store  Value Village. Finding this lamp was just fate, because rather than going my usual pattern of strolling around the 1st floor of the store I went straight up stairs to where they keep the clocks and lamps, walked right to the middle of the isle and *BAM* right there in front of me was this little guy that has been nicknamed Bambi by Patricia and the other Casablanca girls.

As soon as I paid the great big sum of $4.45 for it, I ran back down to the theater and plugged it in! Sure enough it works!!!  This will be going to the Casablanca ASAP, I need to find away to have both the antenna and the T.V. lamp on top of the television set.

I AM WILLING TO TRADE THIS LAMP~!

For one of the T.V. lamps that looks like the drama faces of Comedy and tragedy! SO if anyone out there has one, or stumbles on one hehe I'll trade ya! one that looks like this...

But for now Bambi had a place in the Turquoise room of the Casablanca, that black white and grey is going to look GREAT in there!

Here's hoping you weekend is filled with lots of  vintage thrifty nifty finds!

-Mick-

The Casablanca Hash-brown Casserole

Since so many of you said you'd like to gobble up the hash brown casserole why not give it a try, here's our recipe!

What you will need:

1 family sized can of Cream of Chicken soup.

1 32oz bag of chunked hash browns. (found in the freezer section)

1/2 cup of chopped onions.

1 cup Sour cream.

1 pack of bacon bits. (optional)

1 bag of shredded cheese, and cheese will do. (I use American and Swiss)

 First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a bowl, mix together the can of Cream of Chicken soup with the hash brown chunks adding a cup of sour cream, and half cup of  chopped onions.

Then, evenly spread the mix in a 13"x8" pan,  next layer the top with half the bag of cheese, sprinkle on the bacon bits, then add another layer of cheese using whats left in the bag.

Finally, Place in the oven and set time to 50-60 minuets, checking occasionally to make sure the top layer of cheese isn't burning (if it is reduce the heat).

Super easy to make, one of my favorite dishes because you can mix it, put it in the oven, and walk away! If you make this dish be sure to take pictures and blog about it!  I may end up sharing a few more Casablanca favorites before the season is over!

-Mick-

Michelle Comes To Visit!

Well Dear Readers,
This weekend the Casablanca was graced by friend Michelle!  She played the female lead in Pirates of Penzance this summer, (and not so long ago appeared as an extra on the show "Friday Night Lights" ) we have  become great friends. She's been away at school in Arkansas since summer ended and this weekend she managed to get back to us and come hang out!

(Patricia, Me, Caitlin, Michelle, Jenny)

Since she was back in town, we decided to celebrate her birthday early with a homemade birthday cake,

 (And with some Casablanca stove Magic...)

(Ta-Da!)

And for dinner one of my favorite crowd pleasers, a cheese, bacon, hash brown casserole!

(Mixin' and fixin')

(Before)

(After Baking!)

 

(And the end result, Michelle and her Cake!)

But of course, we couldn't have just let a birthday go quietly by at Mick's...

After dinner in the lounge, we settled into the Turquoise room for a movie 

 

Friend Jenny quickly fell in love with my thrifted blow mold ghost light, (Casper I like to call him)  Im so happy we've reached this weekend in October... because now you will slowly start to see Halloween decorations being put out.

Most of the guests left around 10 P.M., however Patricia and I encountered some car trouble and ended up spending the night. Sunday morning I got up and fixed the problem, but it was such a wonderful morning we decided to start putting up a few of  Halloween decorations!

(The Bottle Trees)

( One of many )

The bottle tree is based on the belief that the shiny, 

colored glass can attract and then trap evil spirits bottles can trap bad spirits at night, 

which are then destroyed in the next day's sunlight...

 They also lend a hand in creating a creepy atmosphere!  Trees like these are very common in the deep South,  I'v seen many examples of trees such as these from Louisiana, all a part of our "Victorian Halloween".

All in all just another fun filled weekend at the Casablanca-

-Mick-

Halloween At The Casablanca!

Every year we have at Halloween, the Casablanca hosts a costume party! This year is no different, but to tide you over here are a few candid photos from Halloween parties past...

(2007)

 (Halloween Party Guest 2008)

(Kitty Dexter looks thrilled doesn't he?! 2008)

(Party Guests 2009)

(I went as "Bob Hope-In "Road to Rio", hence the fruit filled lampshade hat!)

Some of the only pictures 2009 decorations I ALWAYS forget to take pictures before people start showing up and then after the party I just clean up and as soon as I'm done I think DARN IT!  So last year we made a Halloween video ....

 Each year we also try to have an overall theme for the party,
In 2006- the theme  was "Attack of the B-Grade movies"

we gather up as many black and white classics (Dracula, Phantom of the Opera 1925, The Mummy, The Wolfman...) to show on the drive-in we even had accompaniment to some of the silent pictures!

In 2007- our theme was "Zombie night" showing movies on the Drive-In such as...

 "Night of the Living Dead", "The Last Man on Earth" (the one with Vincent Price"), "28 days later"... We also decorated the house with items we might use during a zombie apocalypse haha! We actually boarded up some of the windows for this one!

2008- Theme - "The House on Haunted Hill"

(This was one of my favorite parties) Just like in the movie 8 guests were asked to the house on haunted hill (ok so I know the Casablanca sits on more of a slope, but work with me! ) With the promise of a bag of candy  reward if each guest could make it without sleeping dying in the night... Sooooo much fun!

2009- "Creature of the Black Lagoon" -In true 3D, Red & Blue glasses and all!  Here are a few of the party invitations...

"Like its said "You wont believe your eyes!" This cinematic event at the drive-in was a huge sucess and we've show several other 3D movies since.
2010- "A Very Victorian Halloween"

The Idea for this years Halloween theme came to me when I was recovering  from my surgery. Among the slew of movies I watched while I was confined to bed, resting, was Walt Disney's "Haunted Mansion".  The back story was set in 1885 during a Halloween Costume Ball, so this years decorations are loosely  based on Victorian  lore (I'll go more in depth about that in a future post).  But here's some rough sketches on what to look for!

("The Bottle Tree's")

("The Witches Den")

But the rest of the decorations stay a secret until Friday the 22 of Oct! Then you can read all about the Costume party that following Monday...

Hope all your haunts are happy ones!

-Mick-

"What are they going to do with a 57" width bed?"

Post title comes from the movie Pleasntville when a full sized bed causes quite a stir in this pleasant little town.

 If you remember dear readers, I set out to make 2 twin beds with no foot boards with two $4 cabinet doors I found at Habitat for Humanity and was going to hunt for the bed frames to hold the beds up...

 Well that was 7 months ago... and the box springs and mattresses are STILL resting on the floor. My good friend Mrs. Tate (who owns the antique store) put up for sale a pair of  twin beds with matching head boards and no foot board, (that date 1966) about the same time I nailed the cabinet drawers into the wall  to make matching head boards.  I would have jumped all over them BUT she was asking $175 and I just couldn't do that. They were exactly what I was looking for, they even have a latch on the back of the head boards where you can keep them as two twin beds, or push them together to make a king sized bed!

(The twin beds in the store)

Well this last weekend  I plopped down onto the bed and the cabinet drawer turned headboard came out of the wall and I COULDN'T GET IT TO STAY SCREWED IN THE WALL. So I call up Mrs. Tate and ask if she still has the beds, she does, I ask how much she is asking and then she informs me of a 75% off everything sale (because shes going out of business) and that the new retail price with tax is around... oh....

$40.00

Sold!  I picked them up Thursday and took them to the lake Friday night. Patricia and I went to Wal-mart and picked out some bed sets that match the rug I purchased earlier this year, so now we have GOOD beds, and sheets.... next weeks pay check? Pillows and SILVERWARE haha, I think the beds fit right fit right in! I also realized now with the purchase of these bed the Casablanca now has all real furniture in every room!!!  

(The new beds & linens together)

Hehehe who knows maybe someday when a "Mrs Jordan" comes along, we can push our twin beds together...like Ricky and Lucy.

-Mick-