Tuesday Thoughts

Let's talk about having your groceries delivered. I know a lot of people are doing that these days. I think that if I lived up a flight of stairs, I would definitely have my groceries delivered. 

Most likely this is what would happen to me:

But then I would deserve it! Really who would do this? I wonder what the delivery "rules" are. 

It is pretty funny though!!

Me on Monday

I have always loved books. I loved getting them for Christmas and my birthday when I was a little girl--especially since Christmas and my birthday in January were so close together. But, I would loan them out and they would never come back to me. I wouldn't remember who I loaned them to. So, I came up with a foolproof way of keeping track--about 30 years too late. Still, it was something. I removed the dust covers and added a post-it note with the name of the person who borrowed it. Fast forward to 2026...

...as I'm cleaning out. I've been getting rid of a lot of books. A. Lot. I only use my Kindle now, so do not need actual books. The only book---books I read are from friends who actually hand me the book and say, "You have to read this!" When they pile up, I'm compelled to get them read and returned. The last time I did that was last December/January. I read 4 book books in a row. I had had them for several months and they were haunting me! I was glad to finish and return them.

But, as I've been cleaning out, I came across the drawer with all the book jackets of books I've loaned that never came back. I didn't even bother to try to get them back. I just tossed the jackets! 

So, to anyone who borrowed books from me--don't bother returning them! I don't want them anymore.

Getting rid of those books allowed me the room to do this...

...117 scrapbooks all in one place. I'm so happy to have this project finished. But lest you think I don't have many books left--you would be wrong. There is another bookcase as big as this--floor to ceiling on the right wall as well as a smaller one on the side of the fireplace on the opposite wall from this. 

So, I'll be cleaning out more and more. It's sad because I loved my collection of hard-back books. But nobody wants them anymore. It is really sad. I keep saying that I'm going to put books in my car and add them to every "book box" I see. I really need to do that. I have some really good books!! It pains me to let them go.

Something for Sunday

On Friday, Connie hosted a Halloween luncheon. She really made it nice for us--as she usually does! She goes all out!

Starting with the cute invitation.

Nancy E. asked if we were to come in costumes. Now everybody knows I hate costumes. Everything about them--thinking of them, making them and even wearing them. I have a couple of Halloween t-shirts and thought I would just wear one. But then, when Stephanie invited us to come over on Halloween and join in on their neighborhood festivities, I thought the least I could do was "dress-up."* I figured if I was going to dress-up for Steph's I would dress-up for Connie's. 

A couple years ago, when we went to our first Disney World's "Mickey's Not So Scary" Halloween party, the girls insisted we dress-up. So, I got us--Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head costumes. So I pulled mine out. 

You can barely see, but I have cute Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head earrings. This one is Mr. and Mrs. is on the other ear. My friends kept asking me if I had popcorn on my hat. It seems pretty clear to me that they are flowers! Daisies to be exact--with the yellow centers.

Connie's table was beautiful. I do love a nice table!

After a little chit-chat, the games started. Connie had about 7 or 8 games. They were a lot of fun, but most were kind of hard. We were so bad that some of the answers to the later games were in the first couple of games. I couldn't believe I couldn't remember that quickly.

Lunch was delicious--Fiesta Stack-ups and fudge pie with orange sherbet for dessert. 

 We had a great time and there were so many prizes!! And candy! I love candy! And then there were party favors! 

The party favors are those beaded art projects. We had choices, I picked the haunted house. We each got a game prize--a Halloween towel and a "spooky" soap/lotion dispenser. Mine is a skeleton taking a bubble bath. We got pens and candy to bring home. I had already put that in my candy dish. 

Another fun party in the books! Now the pressure's on. This is her way of telling me that it's my turn next!! I'll most likely have my annual "Dickens" party--but not on the actual day (12/19) this year as we'll be in Atlanta at Sandy's house for Christmas.

*Side note: Butch is not going to Stephanie's as he insists on staying home to pass out candy. We have quite a few more kids now as our neighborhood is turning over. He said that we are not going to be those grumpy old people who turn out their lights!

Scrapbook Saturday

Happy Halloween!

We got this invitation in the mail--all hand made! And this girl is not even a scrapbooker!!

Bonnie (and Dave) are family friends. She has become quite the expert with the Cricut. She knows how to do so many things besides just cutting titles and images--which is all I know how to do. Also, they have been doing this Halloween party for many years. We've only had a chance to go once since Butch is pretty adamant that we not be those "old" people who don't give out candy!! 

First of all, the custom envelope--love that spooky font. I do not know how to add the spider web and spiders along the edge. Actually, I don't know how to do envelopes at all. That was a fun beginning. When I opened it up, there was this:

How cute is that? Dripping blood and all. When I slid everything out this is what was there:

Where do I begin? Let's start at the top with the little "Happy Halloween" card. I'll be using that on a Halloween scrapbook page for sure--actually, I'll use all of this!! Next, is the actual invitation. She used a photo from one of her parties as the background of the invitation. I love that so much. I'm not sure how to do it, but it's really cool! Those adorable skeleton magnets were done on the Cricut. She had to cut the black and white foam and the magnetic sheet. They are so darn cute! Then she included the instruction sheet as to how she made everything. She even gave me a "shout out" regarding double-sided redline tape--the ultimate sticky tape. Considering she is way more crafty than me, I'm surprised she didn't know about that. Still, it was sweet of her to give me credit. She added a couple of cute little stickers, and bound it all together with brown paper from an Amazon package adhered with glittery wash tape!

The whole thing was so impressive. I appreciate all the time and work it took to put all of that together! I love when people go to such lengths to make sure her guests have a great experience--starting with the invitation!  

Friday Funnies

Ten Things Thursday

Before and after houses. Which is your favorite?

1.

2.

3.

4.

5. 

6. 

7.

8.

9.

10.

I love all of these. The landscaping has a lot to do with it. But my most favorite is #1!!

Words of Wisdom Wednesday

I’m making this a Words of Wisdom Wednesday post—even though I wrote this about a year or so ago. Some things have changed, but it’s mostly correct today. I have made a few updates.

Let me start by saying that forevermore, Disney shall remain our family’s most favorite vacation destination. We’ve gone at least 10 times—including when our girls were little! 

I’ve heard people say they hate Disney. Well, that’s their own fault. You either love it or hate it. I don’t think there’s an in-between. 

There’s only one way to love it. You MUST do the work! You cannot just roll up to the park and think you will have a good experience. Disney requires hours of pre-planning, learning and studying to know exactly what you need to do and when you need to do it. It’s complicated and super-frustrating until you know what you are doing. And even then, you’ll make mistakes. 

My girls are darn near experts now. I love that they handle it all. Here’s a step-by-step that we’ve come up with for an incredible and memorable Disney experience:

1. Decide your dates. 

Forget about trying to avoid the crowds. There’s really no such thing—only tips to get around them.

2. Pick your resort. 

There are three levels: Deluxe, Value and Economy. Things they all have in common are: beauty and cleanliness. The perks are what differentiate them from each other. I’m not going to go in to all of that because I don’t really know all the differences. We’ve always done Deluxe resorts—Old Key West and The Beach Club. The Beach Club is our favorite because you can walk to Epcot and Hollywood Studios from there.

Going from top to bottom was a bit of a shock. We did Economy (the Animation resort) this trip for the simple reason of cost. We’re doing 5 days at about the same cost as what 7 days used to cost at the Deluxe level. Disney is definitely expensive.

3. Book your airline flights.

We like to go as early as possible. Sandy came up with the idea of going to Disney Springs the first day because you don’t need a park pass for this. We shop and have lunch. Also, you can enjoy the pool at your resort.

4. Decide which type of passes you want to get. 

We always get the “Park Hopper” passes. That allows you to go to more than one park a day. 

When you stay on Disney property, you are allowed to go to whatever park is opening early. And by that I mean—one park opens earlier than usual every day. You also need to know that if the stated early time is 8 a.m.—that park “might” actually open at 7:15 or 7:30. I’m not even sure they open for the extra “magic hours” anymore. We always get there for “rope drop” which allows you to get at least one or two rides in before there is a long wait.

By being able to “park hop,” you can go to another park to pick up the late hours—often until midnight or after—if they even still do that. But, it sued to be that you could only stay for late hours if you were staying at a Deluxe resort. 

Rookie mistake by us as we took that for granted. Since we weren’t at a Deluxe resort on one of our trips we didn’t know this was a perk exclusively for them. But in reality, our days of opening the early park and closing the late park are over. We could probably get by without “Park Hoppers.”

5. You need to know how to get “magic bands.” Okay, you can forget the magic bands. I think they are obsolete. Now everything is on the app. Your resort reservations, dining reservations, lightning passes, dining plans, and any extra things you sign up for are on the app. You make just about all of your plans months in advance—requiring getting up at 5 a.m. to get in the queue to make your plans.

6. You need to know how to “link” all the people in your group. If you don’t, then you can’t get all reservations together—food, lightning lanes, etc. I’m not even sure what everything is called now. This was a bit tricky and took ALL 8 of us being in the same room to get them linked. 

7. You need to know how far out you can reserve your dining reservations and be on the phone as soon as they open up. Sandy, Stephanie and Mindy—“tag teamed” it by dividing up the jobs. Even by being online at 5 a.m. the day of opening, we were not able to get our first choice of restaurants for Disney Springs. You need advance reservations for EVERYTHING including bars! Otherwise you will wait hours for anything. 

8. You need to know how the lightning passes work. 

The girls handle this, so I’m not even 100% sure. The gist is this—first of all, you can book a certain number of lightning passes per day about a week out from your trip. You have to pay extra (what? This is insane, but true) for the most “in demand” rides and they aren’t cheap! When one of the girls mentioned $27 for a particular ride I about lost it. The park passes themselves are very expensive and then you have to pay extra? Well, only if you don’t want to stand in line for hours (and yes, I mean hours). One person books for ALL. Once you check in to the first ride of the day, you can book another lightning pass for later in the day. But here’s the thing—each person has to check in for each ride in order for the group to be eligible for more lightning passes. Like I said, tricky.

9. Plan your strategy for each park.

Take in to account what are the most favorites for each

person and try to accommodate them. 

10. Just because I need to have a “#10” to complete the list, here are some practical things to remember:

*If you go in summer, it’s going to be hot. If you have a mister, bring it or, you can buy one there. 

*Bring sunscreen.

*Wear a hat.

*Share every meal or snack. The size is usually pretty big.

*Wear comfortable shoes. This is imperative. We log a lot of miles on our Disney trips. Standing on concrete is the worst! At nearly 75, it bothers my back.

So, as you can see that if you do not put in the work to pre-plan, your trip to Disney will be a very expensive waste of time.