Phew.

I suddenly feel like a better person.

After conferring with my mom, I was reminded that the Haunted House was NOT in fact started as a ploy to get service hours. That was what painting US maps on elementary school blacktops was for. The HH was started in an attempt to boost trick-or-treating in our neighborhood, since we had noticed the numbers waning over the years. My dad had recently inspired us by telling us about the haunted house he and some friends built in a soon-to-be-demolished house (they actually built real walls and everything and had an entire house, as opposed to our cardboard and tarp, duct-tape and wire construction in a three-car garage), so we decided to give it a go. It wasn't until the next year that we started taking donations, because by doing so it would become community service, and the workers could take something out of the experience besides a sense of personal satisfaction.

Phew.