We're back - Florida was F A B U L O U S

Our first day at Universal Studios and this is the first ride the kids (and hubby) went on ... twice. Look, hardly any people.

Our next park on Wednesday was Universal Island of Adventure and boy oh boy, what fun. We met up with our fun neighbors and the kids had a blast going on rides together. Whoville is wonderful, simply wonderful, not a straight line in the entire place, everything is curved.

The Cat in the Hat

And The Grinch - no way!!!

Here's the gang coming off the Popeye and Bluto river ride and look, they're soaked down to the underwear. I don't even remember how many times they rode this water ride, maybe 12.

On our way out of the park, soaking wet, we paused for an elephant ear and sat down on a ledge. Right beside us in the bush was a husband/wife duck team begging us for our elephant ear. they ate it right out of my hand. Amazing.

Guess where we were on Thursday?

The Happiest Place on Earth, but right now, at 11:00 pm, these kiddos are exhausted.

No vacation down south would be complete without a little minature golf.

And at last Downtown Disney

Where we visited Legoland [ and purchased two really cool Star Wars ships]

guess where we're going .....?

~ two days here ~

~ one day here ~

i'm excited about this ~

and this .... haunted mansion

Etsy custom order ~ Monogrammed Hair Bow Holder

I really love special orders, I guess because I can chitchat with my customer and it feels more personal. Below is an Etsy special order. Just thought I'd share.

Coupon Organization 101

I am, by no means, a coupon queen. I strive to be one, but alas, it does bore me. I cannot make myself go to three different markets to save $.35 on one item or buy the stuff at CVS or Walgreens only to have it sit in my bathroom for months on end. I don't like to have an unlimited amount of tooth paste on hand. It makes me nuts. I like to buy ahead a little bit, but not too much. I just don't like the clutter. Seriously, makes me kookoo. But .....

I do love saving at the market, you know maybe $20 to $30 in coupons [when they are doubled], I can do that. I have tried several coupon organization systems and I haven't been crazy about any of them. Then I stumbled upon a system that just might be crazy enough to work for me. I call it crazy, because when I explained it to my husband, he looked at me like I was crazy.

So I found a left over 3-ring notebook from my son's end of year junk last year. I think it is a 1/2" notebook. I got my other son's notebook full of Pokemon cards in baseball card sleeves and took all the cards out [much to his disappointment - side note: he hasn't looked at his cards for probably 6 months so the guilt didn't last very long]. Then, the fun part, organizing.

I sorted my coupons by how my market is laid out and what works for me. I got tabbed dividers [also happened to have on hand from my working days] and labeled each section. Then I started putting my coupons into the baseball card slots. There are 9 slots per page, you can even use the back side if you want, but I have a ton of baseball card sleeves so I'm just using the front. I did double up coupons, say for toilet paper, they all went into one slot, with the closest expiration date first.

Okay, ready for my first shopping trip. Pulled out coupons for items I wanted to purchase, I put them in the first sleeve. And off I went, shopping list in hand, coupon binder in cart. WOW, super duper easy. And best of all, if you see something on sale you just know you have a coupon for, you just flip through your pages and find your coupon. No more standing there in the aisle sorting through your stack of coupons hoping they don't all fall out of your hands. As I used my coupons, I pulled them out of the slot and put them in the clear pocket on the left so I had one pile to hand to the lady at check-out.

So if the old coupon organizer isn't working for you, think outside the box [or bag].

When a family dog dies

We had to put our sweet dog, Pockets, to sleep last night. It was so hard. It's hard explaining this to children. It's so hard seeing the tears in their eyes and trying to make them understand that it is for the best. It's impossible to explain to a 6 year old that we won't visit her in a cemetary and that cremation doesn't hurt.

It's hard watching your dog suffer, yet not being able to make that final decision, the inevitable and the necessary. She was in so much pain and it was evident in her walk, her personality and mostly, her beautiful big brown eyes. I'm at peace with it now, but it's tough. Tears still come, and I imagine they will for a while. Our little dog, Lulu, is confused. She keeps looking around. Where has her buddy gone, she wonders. She, I'm sure, senses our sadness as we all hug her a little more tightly.

I think I have a crush on a gay man .... Eddie Ross

Yes, me. A suburban housewife with 3 kids, 2 dogs and an SUV have a crush on Eddie Ross. I'm pretty sure my husband will be okay with it, don't worry. How can I not love a man who decorates so beautifully!!

And, creates stunning tablescapes ......




And beautiful food :::::


And, WHAT ... he does flowers too .... be still my heart peonies and rananuculus

Please, oh, please, how I'd love to go flea marketing with you ~ :)

I have followed his career since being on one of my favorite Bravo TV shows Top Design. Loved him on that show. He started this blog and I just love his look, his designs, his fun take on life, in general.

Oh, what a great 8th birthday.

:: Magic Mountain ::