In Memory of Harriet Burns

I am so saddened to hear the passing of Harriet Burns. While our time with her was brief, she left an indelible impression with me and Sam. My heart goes out to her friends and family in this sorrowful time, especially to Blaine Gibson. He and Harriet lived in the same community and he looked after her with such love and admiration. The friendship between them was almost palpable.

Sam and I are sitting here reminiscing about that fateful 24 hours with the Disney Imagineers. I'll never forget how she was so thankful and appreciative of my driving. Sam and I had rented a Town and Country MiniVan for the trip in hopes it would be the most comfortable and roomy of the vehicles available. I had put together a basket filled with a variety of healthy snacks, gum, and bottled water for our guests to enjoy. Because we were late in picking them up the second day, the basket of goodies was a hit on the drive home. X opened the package of gum, while Harriet and Maureen, X's wife, enjoyed the carmel and chocolate mini rice cakes.

Just on the outskirts of town, Harriet mentioned that she needed to pick up a prescription at the local drug store. We offered to take her there, since we were going into town anyway. She was pleased and impressed that I could park that big car into such a tiny parking space. That memory makes me smile. When we said good by, she gave me a kiss on the cheek.

As Sam said, the time spent with Harriet, Blaine, X and Maureen, felt like a road trip with old friends. Its hard to believe that we had only just met. I will miss her dearly.

Harriet Burns Disney Legend Imagineer Bio





Harriet Burns 1928-2008

Name that Collectible!

Greeting Guys & Ghouls!

I just feel terrible about the lack of posts lately! You've all been too kind with the emails of encouragement about the move, and the fact that Sam STILL does not have a job. He's trying to go out to New Hampshire by himself to stay for a week to find a job, and somehow, someway, we'll.....follow? Ugh. I don't really like the sound of that, but the man's gotsta getta job!

I mean, seriously. How else are we going to continue our little obsession...especially with the 40th around the corner. Come on people! We need to stimulate the economy here!

Oh, and paying the mortgage would be a good thing, too. See? I have my priorities in order. :)

Ok, so I took some fun shots of this next collectible and as I was picking out the pics I wanted to use, this idea for a game came to me. If it doesn't work, eh.. we won't do it again. But it could be fun. So let's try it!

*in a loud Michael Buffer-style voice*

NAME.... THAT..... COLLECTIBLE-ble- ble-ble.....

*giggles*




So the first person who guesses correctly gets....nothing! Except for my deepest gratitude for playing and utmost respect for your knowledge of Haunted Mansion Collectibles! And if you complain that there is no prize, can I please direct your attention to the beginning of this post. Thank you very much!

:)

Olszewski Disney Pokitpals

Thanks for the emails friends! I appreciate all the suggestions on packing up the collectibles, especially the one that saves me all the packing and I give everything away to a certain unnamed Haunted Mansion fan. Yeah, that gave me a chuckle. Laughter is good, though, during these stressful times. It seems that everything is in order for the move...well, almost everything. You see, there is this one teeny-tiny detail that hasn't quite worked out... but its just a little thing, really. The little thing called a J.O.B.! But more about that later, because right now there is this other teeny-tiny thing I need to share that I'm sure you're all more interested in anyhow...

A few weeks ago Sam and I picked up this nifty little piece called a Pokitpal by famed miniaturist Robert Olszewski. Bonus points to anyone who can tell me how to pronounce Olszewski. Is it Ol-che-ski or Ol-sews-ki? Help me out here, please!

The Haunted Mansion Stretching Portrait Pokitpal is part of the second series released for Disney. This piece is finely crafted with nice detail all around. See for yourself.




Is this Pokitpal actually stretching.....?



Or is it your imagination?






Pay no attention to the chubby fingers...





This piece is just so cute! I only wish they had done the rest of the portraits, as I'm sure every other Haunted Mansion fans wishes. HINT HINT Olchestki, Olshesski, Ol...UGH! I love your work, Robert, and please forgive me for not knowing how to pronounce your last name.

This piece is also special because it will probably be the last Haunted Mansion piece we'll be getting for awhile, with the impending move. Besides, we have to save up to head back to the Mansion for the 40th, so there will be no more buying for awhile! But never fear, there are plenty of other pieces for us to share, that is if we don't sell. Can you believe it? Sam and I actually discussed selling our lenticulars to help fund the move. *gasp!* That is how desperate we are to move to New Hampshire. Thank goodness Sam came to his senses and halted that thought. We'd rather sell our furniture and first born before we sell our Ghost Ship!

Ya'll know I'm kidding about the first born... no hate mail, please! :)

So wish us luck that the right job comes along for Sam! We're thinking about sending him out there without us to get a jump start on things.

Announcement

Greetings Haunted Mansion fans!

You probably don't remember, but way back in my post about my 24 hours with the Imagineers, I mentioned that in February my husband lost his job. I'm not gonna lie to you. Its been a tough couple of months, but we do believe that everything happens for a reason.

Currently, Sam and I reside in Southern California, about an hour away from Disneyland, which is mighty helpful with an obsessive condition such as ours. So the decision to move away from here hasn't come easy, but in fact that is what is most likely happening. We're not talking about moving from our 4 bedroom house to the town next door. Nooo-oh-ohhh! That would be too easy for us. We're moving 3000 miles away to the opposite coast.

To New Hampshire!


To a 20 acre farm.


Did I mention it was over 3000 miles away? We've google mapped it. That's one looong road trip, folks!



I'll give you a moment to absorb that.



I need a moment, myself.




Actually, our family is extremely excited about this new adventure in our life. Sam is hopefully flying out this week to interview with a company out there. We've already found a house out there, and have a renter for our home. All the pieces seem to be falling into place. So keep your boney fingers crossed that Sam gets this job!

And if there are any Haunted Mansion fans in New Hampshire, lemme know! It would be nice to have some friends in that neck of the woods.. and woods.. and woods. Did you know that New Hampshire is the second most forested state in the nation?


Here are some interesting facts about New Hampshire. Our kids are fascinated with learning as much as they can about their new state. I'm so thrilled they're excited. Being a native to Southern California, I'm most afraid of #48.

The other thing I'm most afraid of is packing up this expansive collection of ours. Seriously. I need advice. I never thought I'd move, so I didn't save boxes to the bigger pieces. So, if any of you fans have some moving advice or lessons learned from your moving adventures, please share. Please. Don't make me beg.


Here's a picture of our Haunted Mansion room, where the collection started and from where it has since spread. This was taken back in 2006, so the collection has expanded quite a bit.




I think a playful spook must have left that black hairbrush on the tile. :)

Happy Mummy's Day!

Mummy's Day, ha ha. Get it?

*groan*
Bad, I know. But let's be honest. You don't come here for my humor. Thank goodness. There are plenty of other super terrific blogs for that.

Collectibles, that's why you're here. And have I said thanks lately for stopping by? No?!
Well, thanks friends for stopping by! We have new friends from Kuwait, Portugal, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Viet Nam, New Zealand, Greece, India, Italy, Argentina, Ecuador, Ireland, Philippines, Poland, South Africa, Croatia, Sweden, Finland, Singapore, and the Netherlands.

Hey, It's Mother Day. I can be proud of my baby.

Oh yeah, I'm kind of fond of those 2 kidlets I birthed some years ago. :) I really appreciated my breakfast in bed today.

So, looking around to find a Haunted Mansion collectible with the mummy on it was a little difficult. Although in all honesty, I didn't really spend a great deal of time looking. Outside of comic books and pins, I couldn't find anything. So if you collectors out there know of something I've missed, please let me know.

I'm not a huge fan of pins. Pin collectors, don't hate me! Think of me as one less competitor! :) But Sam and I did pick this set up when it hit the clearance bin on Disneyshopping.com. I do like it because of the display quality and the nifty storage inside the house. I can keep other collectibles inside this one and I do. And that's good. Because we are running out of room.



Hmmm, pins are compact, easy to store, don't weigh a ton. Maybe collecting pins isn't such a bad idea after all....

Avanzino Signing Event at the Disneyland Resort

I had a nice, but interesting weekend at the Disneyland Resort. It was my birthday and I wanted to go to the Food and Wine Festival to meet Dave Avanzino for the Artists signing. Apparently, there is an unspoken, unwritten rule about what Dave can sign. The Disney Gallery website stated that the Artists could only sign their respective merchandise, limit 2 per guest, and no personal items.




So I thought, silly me, that I could have him sign the Haunted Mansion Shadow box (that we purchased from Disneyland about a month ago) and his Room for One more piece (from the Happy Haunts Ball event). I thought we had understood the small print on the Disney Gallery website fairly well. But Martha, you know Martha, she plans all these events, was there to make sure that Dave only signed items that were purchased right there at the park, on that day. Boy, are we stupid or what? How did we miss that? According to Martha, all collectors know that rule. According to her, she's been doing these events for years and has never had anyone not understand that the Artists will only sign if you purchase the item right then and there.

Dave, who had been willing to sign the pieces, looked embarrassed, and Sam was clearly frustrated. He even tried to tell Martha that we had purchased the shadow box at Disneyland earlier in the day, but then Martha wanted to see the receipt. Ooops, foiled again! That's when I remembered my phone, and pulled up the website and zoomed in on the small print on the Disney Gallery page. It didn't say Artists can only sign items purchased at the park on that particular day. So I showed my phone to Martha, we had a nice conversation about the rules, which now I completely understand, and she allowed Dave to sign our Shadowbox piece, even though we hadn't purchased it that day. She wouldn't allow him to sign the other piece because it was from a Disney Florida event.

Ok, so even though we are collectors, and have attended several Disney events, we are obviously incredibly naive. It was our second time meeting Dave, but the first time we had ever attended one of these Artists signing events.

So the weekend was interesting. I did get to tell Dave that his shadowbox is one of my all time favorite pieces. He said it was one of his, as well. He also mentioned that he is currently working on something for the Haunted Mansion 4oth event. Oh, and Martha mentioned that she would have to change the small print for future signing events.

Didn't mean to be such a troublemaker...



To top off my birthday weekend, Sam surprised me with the Olszewski Haunted Mansion miniature. I was not expecting to ever to get this piece. Sam, you're the best husband EVER!!!

Thanks Friends!

My friends Guy and Natalie gave me the coolest cards and gifts for my birthday! They’re so thoughtful.

With a starbucks carmel frappuccino in one hand, and my camera in the other, I’m on my way to Disneyland for a weekend of magical birthday family fun. I’m hoping to get some spooky shots of my home away from home...The Haunted Mansion.




I'm digging my new Randotti replicas! Thanks Guy