Life on Mystical Cove

Disney Fund Deposit

2011-02-23T12:12:00.000-06:00

There has never been a more pathetic Disney Fund! Here we sit 3 months from our Disney vacation and I haven't even been able to save $200, let alone $2500.

I found out that my jar is not as hidden as I had hoped. The hubby knew where it was all along and was dipping into my savings. Don't worry--I made him pay for taking the money. LOL!

Today I added $100 to the Disney Fund from two mail in rebates from our cellphone provider. Those are Visa gift cards, so I don't think his fingers will get sticky.

Pre- Trip Report -- Part 3: Possible Disney Fund Deposit

2010-08-10T05:42:00.000-06:00

The Disney Fund may get a large deposit in the near future! I am going to make another confession. I feel like we are friends and you will keep my secret. Right?!

Well I was on a mission to find something in my bedroom one recent Tuesday. The kind of search that has you on your knees dragging stuff from under the bed. Blech! That is some nastiness going on under there.

So when my fishing expedition under the bed netted me some empty 20 oz bottles and a family of dust bunnies, I decided to try a different tactic. Into the closet I went to hunt down old purses to dig through. I admit that I am not a girly girl when it comes to purses. I will carry the same purse until it breaks or get so dirty my family can't stand it.

When I went into the closet I found the purse that I was using last November (2009). Just for the fun of discovery I started rifling through my old hand bag. You won't guess what I found!

No. That wasn't it.

Uhhh wrong answer. And besides why would I have those in my purse?

You my friend have a twisted mind.

I think I need to bring this game of guess to a close before I find out too much about how your mind works.

I found a full weeks paycheck of my husband's from last November. I don't know! I heard you back there asking me how I could have forgotten something so important. In my defense, a lot was going on last November. I had just completed teaching a partial semester at a local Junior College. We were packing to go on a mission trip. I was trying to get the house and kids ready to be babysat by their Uncle and Aunt.

Imagine the surprise that the DearHubby experienced when I shared this little nugget with him. He reacted rather well to the entire situation, but that money went towards bills and not in my Disney Fund. That stinks big time.

But all is not lost. So far this month I made the following deposits to the Disney Fund:

$10 Kraft Rebate
$11.99 Zegerid Rebate
$7.99 Schick Hydro Rebate
$29.98 Grand Total (rounded to $30)

Pre- Trip Report -- Part 2: Starting a Disney Fund

2010-07-11T23:46:00.004-06:00

We are finally going back to Disney!!!

The kids and I have been having serious Disney withdrawals the past year and I was finally able to talk the Dear Hubby into booking a trip. How much fun is it that I get to shift into serious planing mode?

The first order of business is researching and deciding on where we would stay within the DVC resorts. Every trip I consider different resorts and I always book our stay at Boardwalk Villas. There is just something about the Boardwalk area that draws us back trip after trip. The vicinity to our favorite park--Epcot--just can't be beat. Nightly entertainment, clubs, and restaurants are a convenient walk away. What could compare? Disney's Tree House Villas.

This has come as a surprise to me too that I would choose a resort so vastly different from our usual haunt. One of my new hobbies is camping with the family and friends. So I guess that in some way the Tree House Villas is the best of both worlds. How awesome is it that I get to go to Walt Disney World and stay at a resort that feels like I am in a secluded cabin in the woods!

I came across an interesting website today (Couponing to Disney) that has inspired me to start a Disney Fund. In order for this trip to happen I will have to work harder than ever and be creative with how I save.

My opening balance in my Disney Fund is $40. I had $24 and some change in my savings account (how pitiful is that!), received a $4.50 rebate check from Pilot, and decided to throw in a few more dollars to make it an even $40.

Stay Tuned as we plan our adventure.

Pre-Trip Report -- Part 1: I have a confession...

2010-07-09T08:37:00.007-06:00

I have a confession to make and hopefully it won't get me hog-tied and run out of town. After our last trip to the Walt Disney World Resort in January 2009, I felt that I was done with the Disney trips. In all honesty, the thought of returning any time within the following year--made me cringe.

Now several years ago we purchased a camper and we've spent considerable time with close friends and family in the woods. When money got tighter and I couldn't find permanent work, the thought of selling the camper never cross my consciousness. But selling the DVC did several times.

Guys I think I just saw someone pass out in the back row! Before anyone else requires medical intervention let me put your mind to rest. Recently I came to my senses with a little help from some friends.

That's us in a photo from May 2008. The last time we went to WDW as a family. I'll introduce you to everyone starting from the bottom.

That's "Cinderella" who will be 6 on our next trip. She is a 100% bonafide princess with all of the girly tendencies you would expect. And as the smallest member of the clan she sometimes has the biggest presence.

Standing next to her is "Buzz" who might see 10 years old. Living with all of these women is hazardous to his health.

The lady with the braids is me, your story telling, trip planning, budget keeping, suitcase packing, surprise making, coupon clipping Momma. I will henceforth be referred to as "The Queen". Let's not forget people!

The devilishly handsome gentleman to my left is the self-proclaimed "King Louie". We let him suffer under the illusion that he has a say in the upcoming trip. His role in the outworking of this trip is to drive the Disneymobile safely to our destination. Its not hard, but he some times has to have me (let me) tell him the way. Also, he gets to express his artistic side and decorate the aforementioned Disneymobile.

Last but not least is our oldest daughter "Pocahontas". She is a teenager and for most mothers that is all I need to say cause you understand my struggle. Most days she is a sweet, loving child who greets the day with a smile and laughter.

So now you have met the cast of characters (literally) that will be going on this adventure with us. Who knows we may even have some more people joining the fun.

Head on over to
Part 2: Starting a Disney Fund
Part 3: Possible Disney Fund Deposit

Disney Revisted

2010-01-18T17:00:00.001-06:00

I just downloaded some new actions and thought I would give them a spin with some older Disney photos.

I am moving part of this blog...

2009-08-29T07:42:00.001-06:00

This blog was started with the intent of posting about my families various trips to Disney and camping. Lately I have gotten off onto another tangent, so you restore it to its former purpose; I have started a separate blog just for talking about my shopping deals.

The new blog has expanded on my coupon shopping and adds some more of the resources I use. I hope you will join me on my new blog "Keeping Your Cents".

Thanks and I will see you there,

A savings of $56.41 at Winn Dixie today.

2009-08-21T15:14:00.001-06:00

I had a good trip at Winn Dixie today. I haven't regularly shopped at Winn Dixie for years now, but a former workmate is getting me back into the swing of things. I went today and had a great trip.

This week Winn Dixie is running a promotion that if you buy 4 participating Kellogg's products on one receipt, you receive a free galloon of WD brand milk and 1 dozen WD brand eggs.

Sorry for not taking a picture, but I was so excited to show my DH the deals I got that I didn't take pictures.

My total purchases was $66.95 before coupons and discounts.

(1) pack of Round Steak $2.72

(2) Boneless Pork Chops $5.80 & $7.83

(2) Velveeta Shells & Cheese Cups $2.00

(4) Boxes of Rice Krispies cereal $15.96

(4) Boxes of Mrs. Paul's Fish Sticks $27.96

(1) Gallon WD milk $2.99

(1) dozen WD eggs $1.69

Coupons & Customer Reward Discounts

-$5.96 Rice Krispies Sale

-$13.98 Mrs. Paul B1G1F sale

-$2.99 WD Milk

-$1.69 WD Eggs

-$5.80 Boneless pork chops B1G1F sale

-$5.00/$30 purchase store coupon

-$1.00 Velveeta B1G1F MQ

-$12.00 (4) $3 Mrs. Paul's MQ

-$3.99 Kellogg's Rice Krispies Free MQ (vocalpoint)

-$3.00 Kellogg's Rice Krispies (vocalpoint)

-$1.00 Catalina

My total was $10.54 + $2.21 tax = $12.75 and I received a $1 Catalina that can be used like cash.

My net oop was $11.75 which was a savings of $56.41!

$81.38 worth of merchandise for $17.10 after taxes!!!!!!

2009-08-03T20:54:00.005-06:00

I feel like I have finally graduated to the status of a seasoned coupon shopper.

I went shopping with coupons at Wal-Mart tonight, and I feel like I did a pretty amazing job! This was the first time that I required a manager override for the amount of coupons I had. That was nerve racking to say the least! Standing there watching the customer service manager go through each coupon to make sure it was okay for her to override it.

Anybody know the coupon limit, so I don't have to get an approval again?

Here is what I got:

(6) Bagel-Fuls 6 x $1.88 = $11.28

(6) Healthy Choice Meals 4 x $2.00 & 2 x $2.50 = $13.00

(2) Oscar Mayer Bun Length Weiners 2 x $1.50 = $3.00

(1) Great Value Honey Ham Luncheon Meat $3.18

(1) Great Value Shredded Cheese $1.88

(1) Pillsbury Simply cookie dough $2.84

(3) Starbucks Ice Cream pints 3 x $3.00 = $9.00

(1) Great Value Sour Cream $1.00

(1) Great Value Hamburger Patties $6.46

(2) Brawny paper towels 2 x $1.00 = $2.00

(1) Chef Boyardee 15 oz can 88¢

(1) Wacky Mac pasta $1.42

(2) Velveeta Shells & Cheese Cups 2 x .98¢ = $1.96

(1) Success Rice $1.78

(4) Huggies Flushable wipes 4 x $1.72 = $6.88

(3) Dentek Floss picks 3 x $1.12 = $3.36

(2) Great Value loaves of bread 2 x .88¢ = $1.76

(10) Adams flea & tick collars 10 x .97¢ = $9.70

Coupons used:

-$6.00 = (6) $1 Bagel-Fuls printables

-$12.00 = (6) $2 Healthy Choice printables

-$1.00 = (1) Oscar Mayer MQ (Food & Family Magazine)

-$1.25 = (1) Pillsbury Simply printable

-$6.00 = (3) $2 Starbucks MQ

-$1.00 = (1) Chef Boyardee printable

-.75¢ = (1) Wacky Mac printable

-$1.96 = Velveeta Shells MQ (home mailer)

-$1.00 = Success Rice printable

-$6.00 = (2) $3/2 Huggies Wipe MQ

-$3.00 = (3) $1 Dentek printables

-$30.00 = (10) $3 Adams Flea & Tick MQ

My subtotal before coupons: $81.38

After coupons: $11.40

I spent $17.10 after taxes and coupons! That is an 86% savings!

--- That was me all the way home.

Another Good day at Wal-Mart...

2009-07-23T12:58:00.004-06:00

I had a good day at Wal-Mart and this goes a long way to redeeming them in my eyes from the other nights debacle. I won't go into that, but suffice it to say that my revenge will be to shop Wal-Mart and try to get the lowest possible OOP every time.

This trip I managed to have a 53¢ subtotal after all of my coupons! Yeah Me!

My trip included:
4 Adams Flea Collars -- 4 x 97¢ = $3.88 - $12.00 MQ's = +$8.12
3 cans Mighty Dog -- 3 x 62¢= $1.86 - $3.00 MQ's = +$1.14

2 Chef Boyardee Mini Bites -- 2 x 88¢ = $1.76 - $2.00 MQ's = +.24¢

5 Mount Olive Pickle Relish -- 5 x 98¢ = $4.90 - $5.00 MQ's = +.10¢

2 Crystal Light Packs -- 2 x $1.97 = $3.94 - $2.00 MQ's = $1.94

2 Crystal Light Essentials Packs -- 2 x $1.97 = $3.94 - $3.94 MQ's = 0

1 Alexia Cheddar Fries -- 1 x $2.48 - $1.00 MQ = $1.48

1 Starkist Tuna Pouch -- $2.00

1 Dentek Floss -- $1.12 - $1.00 MQ = 12¢

2 Kraft Salad Dressings -- 2 x $1.58 = $3.16 - $2.00 MQ = $1.16

2 A-1 Steak Sauce -- 2 x $2.56 = $5.12 - $4.00 MQ = $1.12

3 Yoplait Whips -- 3 x 62¢ = $1.86 - 60¢ MQ = $1.26

1 Wacky Mac $1.26 - 75¢ MQ = 51¢

1 Great Value mushroom pieces -- 54¢

* Bare in mind that as the saying goes YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary).

Happy Saving,

Wal-mart has been very, very good to me this month...

2009-07-20T20:17:00.000-06:00

I have to say that shopping at Wal-mart this month has been very, very good for my budget. When I first started to seriously coupon shop, I thought that Wal-Mart was the toughest nut to crack. So far this month I have found a sweet spot.

TRIP #1

My subtotal after all coupons was $8.93. After tax I paid a total of

$12.08 for everything you see pictured.

Including:

2 Borden sliced cheese

1 Great Value sausage

2 Mt. Olive pickle relish

2 Oreo Cakesters

2 Dentek Floss picks

2 bags Wacky Mac pasta

1 bottle Cascade rinse agent

13 Hefty Storage bags

1 loaf Great Value bread

3 Adams Flea Collars

6 Chiquita snack packs

3 packs of M&M's

TRIP #2

My subtotal after coupons was 62¢ and $3.25 after taxes!

This trip included:

2 boxes of Bagefuls

1 jar Great Value peanut butter

1 pack of Italian sausage

1 pint of Starbucks ice cream

10 Mt. Olive pickle relish

3-6 packs Nestle water

1 loaf Great Value bread

1 bag flour

7 Adams flea collars

1 box of goldfish

If you enjoy saving money, then check out the forums at We Use Coupons or A Full Cup and tell them that desiab sent you!

Pot Pies, Casseroles, and Comfort Foods

2009-06-09T10:01:00.008-06:00

MyBlogSpark just sent me an interesting survey to select covers for their upcoming release of the Pillsbury Pot Pies & Casserole issue due to hit shelves August 25th; as well as, the Betty Croker Fall Baking issue expected September 15th.

The Pillsbury Pot Pie & Casserole issue features 68 tear out recipe cards for slow-cooker meals, appetizers, main dishes and desserts. I have to admit that the Herbed Chicken Lattice Pot Pie featured on the first two covers looks really good. But for some reason the individual Alfredo Primavera Pot Pies spoke to me more, so that is the cover that I selected.

After staring at these covers for the last few minutes, guess what the Mr. will be having for dinner tonight!

Cover 1 Cover 2

Cover 3

The second cover selection was for the Betty Crocker Fall baking issue. This magazine will feature 75 perforated recipe cards that can easily be detached and added to your recipe box.

Some of the recipes included:

Caramel Apple Cheesecake with Caramel Sauce
Cookies and bars recipes perfect to include in back-to-school lunches
Comfort dessers like cobblers, pies, cakes and crisps
New recipes for Butternut Squash Cake with Maple-Nut Frosting, Ginger Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, Chunky Apple Cakle with Brown Butter Frosting, & Football Cupcake Pull-Aparts

Cover A Cover B

Cover C Cover D

Cover A just looked like yummy mouth-watering goodness, so that is the one I picked. What about you? Which covers would you select?

I'll update you on the ones that are picked to grace your grocery store checkout stand.

I am also posting a family favorite cobbler recipe that is so easy and tasty you will be putting one together tonight. That and I am not sharing the peach one I just made last night.

Fruit Cobbler

1 stick of butter

1 cup self-rising flour

1 cup sugar

pinch of cinnamon if using apple or peach pie filling

1 cup milk

1 can of fruit pie filling of your choice

Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees.
Place the stick of butter into a deep casserole dish and put into the oven.
While butter is melting, mix flour, sugar, cinnamon, and milk in a mixing bowl.
Once butter is melted and bubbling, pour flour mixture into casserole.
Spread can of fruit over the flour and milk mixture.
Bake until golden brown and crusty.
Serve with a scoop of ice cream for a decadent treat.

More Coupon Savings...87 cents net oop

2009-05-20T13:21:00.001-06:00

The sales have been a lot harder to work lately, so I haven't been doing as much coupon shopping. But I do have a recent trip to share with you.

Savings of $90.53

Here is what I purchased in 4 transactions:

2 Suavitel fabric softeners (B1G1F) $2.79

2 Right Guard Extreme $5.98

1 BIC lighter $2.99

1 Benefiber Stick pack $4.99

1 Bayer Crystals 4 pk $2.49

1 Colgate Visible White $4.49

1 Neosporin to go $5.00

1 Neosporin cream $5.00

1 Skintimate $1.99

1 OFF clip-on $8.99

1 OFF clip-on refill $4.99

1 Starbucks drink $1.99

2 Clearance post-it notes $1

2 Snapple $2.58

1 Skintimate Shave Gel $1.99

1 Post-it notes $.50

1 Disney erasers $.49

1 Oral B toothbrush $6.49

1 Nivea Bodywash $6.99

1 Nivea Sun Kissed Legs $9.99

3 Aveeno Lotions 3 x $2.39 = $7.17

1 Aveeno Essential Kit $7.99

2 Nabisco Oreos 2 x $3.50 = $7.00

Q’s used:

-(2) $5/$25

-$1 Suavitel

-$2 Right Guard

-$1 BIC lighter

-$2 Benefiber

-$2 Neosporin (two $1 coupons)

-$1.50 Skintimate

-$3 OFF (bzzagent coupon)

-$4.99 OFF B1G1F

-$1 Starbucks

-$1.29 Snapple B1G1F

-$6.99 B1G1F Nivea

-$1 Nivea

-$2 Aveeno

-$7.99 Aveeno Sale

Total purchases was $103.88 - $39.77 Manufacturers Coupons - $7.99 Store Sale - $28 Register Rewards = $33.13 Cash ($28.12 + tax)

RR’s received:

(2)$5 Right Guard, $1 BIC, $2 Benefiber, $2.50 Bayer, $4.50 Colgate, $4 Neosporin, (2)$1 Skintimate, $3 OFF, $3 Oreo & $2 Nivea

$34.00 Register Rewards Received - $33.13 Cash = $.87 net oop

My attempt at Project 365

2009-01-02T23:14:00.007-06:00

Project 365 has taken over the net for the last week and everybody is jumping on the bandwagon--yours truly included. I just got a Canon Rebel XTi as an anniversary present, so I saw this as a perfect opportunity to sharpen my picture taking skills. Let's hope that I can stick with it and complete the entire year.

I didn't think to post the pictures daily with the story behind them, so I will catch up tonight with both pictures.

I decided to start my album on January 1 which as everyone knows is a US holiday. My husband was home from work for the day and the kids decided to take advantage of this and climbed into bed with him. I thought it was too sweet not to click a photo.

My picture for Day 2 represents our anniversary trip to Walt Disney World. Pulling out our "disney clothes" and starting to pack them makes the trip seem real. This is when I finally start getting excited that we are going to my favorite place and staying at my favorite resort.

We had originally planned to go on this trip in December, but because of budget constraints we pushed it back several week. The budget is still out of balance and yet we are still going. Sitting in the room at Disney broke is a whole lot better than sitting at home broke!

Coupon Savings

2008-12-12T16:57:00.005-06:00

I have been asked several times by friends and family alike how we can afford to go to Disney each year with only one income. The not so simple answer is that I do almost every reward program that I know to be legitimate and I clip coupons. The money that I save buying stuff with coupons helps to pay for our trip each year.

Years ago I did coupon shopping with my MIL, but not to the extent that I recently started doing it. Let me just say that I am having a blast!

I have some pictures to show you just how much money I have saved on items that my family will use or I will share with my parents, siblings, and inlaws.

These pictures represent a total savings of $964.75.

After coupons, rebates, and register rewards, I paid less than $5 out of my pocket. I apply the same principles to shopping when I go to the grocery store. Right now we have so many bags of veggies in the freezer that I got for free that I can't fit another bag in.

For more information on how to match your coupons to the sales check out the forum at A Full Cup. But be warned that it becomes addictive!

Get your daily dose of winnable online sweepstakes, contest, and blog giveaways from Sweeties Sweeps.

Sunesgrl

Day 1 of Our Disney trip continued

2008-10-04T06:44:00.002-06:00

One of the nice things about this anniversary vacation was that I got to spend most of my time behind the camera. Normally when the kids are with us, I don't have a free hand for the camera or the time and attention to taking pictures. Since it was just the four of us, I had a blast snapping to my hearts content.

Once we left visiting our CM friend at the Boardwalk we headed for Epcot for the rest of the day. LJ and Sonny were so excited to be in Disney World that they decided to do a dance. This would have been a perfect time to film them for blackmailing later.

More to come...

Day 1 continued of Jan 08 WDW trip

2008-10-03T06:37:00.000-06:00

It took a sec to get LJ to register what Sonny told him and I don’t think he every got to a point where he understood my need to take pictures of everything that we eat. At this point Sonny just takes it in stride. It is the least of my addictions and quirks.

My corn chowder

Sonny's philly cheesesteak & fries
My side salad

LJ and Brianne’s Food

We enjoyed our lunches and moved back to the room.

After checking our keys again to see if they actually worked we decided to exchange anniversary gifts with LJ and Brianne. Our personal couple gifts were going to be exchanged later in the week.

Our gift from LJ and Brianne:

I love the way that they wrapped our gift. She kept apologizing and we kept laughing. Inside was Yankee Candles, Godiva hot chocolate, peppermints, Dove chocolates, two coffee mugs, and a big fat Visa gift card!

The card they got us was too cute.

LJ and Brianne’s gift from us:

I posted most of the stuff that was in their gift bag, but I will do a quick recap. There were pajamas for LJ, a robe for Brianne, wine, chocolates, a calendar, aromatherapy candles, a set of personalized Minnie mouse gloves and hat for Brianne, and anniversary pins that we picked up on our last trip.

After the gifts were opened and thank you's were exchanged we plotted out our next course of action. We originally had planned to go to Downtown Disney, but the plans were further changed when Brianne suggested that we go to Epcot and start our tour of the World Showcase. Epcot is my favorite park, so it didn’t take long to convince me. The guys wanted to do whatever was necessary to make us happy, so they went along with no complaints.

So this is an example of things changing minute by minute. We were in the truck headed toward Epcot when Sonny suggests that we head to the Boardwalk to visit with a CM friend. Then we could go into Epcot through the International Gateway.

Up next: The Boardwalk & Epcot through another’s eyes.

Jan 08 WDW Trip Re-visited/ Day 1 continued

2008-10-02T16:16:00.004-06:00

This trip report of our Jan 08 Walt Disney World trip has been written since we came home, but I have just been too lazy to update my blog. Since we have a new trip coming up in December, I thought it would be fun to look back at our last anniversary trip.

First some more pictures from the All-Star Movies Resort.

If you revisit the itinerary I posted months ago you will note that we were planning to check in and then head to Downtown Disney to have lunch at Earl of Sandwich. We didn’t follow today’s plan at all. I should know by now that the itinerary is just a loose plan -- subject to change at any moment. This trip the plans sometimes seem to change minute by minute, but we still had a great time.

Everyone agreed that the best thing to do was to just head to the food court and eat quickly.

I don’t know about you but I actually like the hustle and bustle of the All-Star Movies food court. I don’t always like their prices, but I know what to expect. Brianne and LJ on the other hand got sticker shock. Even after months of reading, planning, and chatting the reality of the prices were completely different. They were also surprised by the generous portions. No surprises on either front for me and yet I still ordered too much food.

The crowds in the food court were sparse, so we had no problem finding a table. As we approached the table I saw Brianne open her camera case. LJ reached for his food. Brianne had already been briefed about my addiction to food porn, so she knew the drill. LJ was totally in the dark and was a bit befuddled when his hand got slapped for starting to eat.

“I said my prayer!” he exclaimed as he nursed the effected hand.

Sonny laughed at the newbie mistake and calmly told him the offense he had committed. “You can’t eat anything without taking a picture first.”

Picture taking freak say what?

Be back with another update tomorrow!

Walt Disney World for Honeymooners

2008-07-22T17:51:00.001-06:00

Disney World for Honeymooners

by peter1402

Walt Disney World has always been known as a great place for families with children to visit, but it 's also a wonderful honeymoon destination. Due to the happily ever after theme of every fairy tale, Walt Disney World fits right in the the romantic theme with many of the activities. Many couples choose to have the wedding celebration itself right at Disney World, but it 's also known as a honeymoon destination for many. If you can't afford a round-the-world cruise for your honeymoon, you can still provide your just married interlude seem like you've visited all the romantic ports of call.

First, there are many areas at the vacation resort that are already themed internationally. The Island type accommodations at some of the hotels, the Epcot center with its emphasis on international culture and cuisine, the shopping which brings items from every part of the world are all tied to international activities, culture and cuisine. When you add to this setting the romantic atmosphere of the fairy tales, the luxurious accommodations and the exciting nightlife, you find the newly married couple can enjoy the honeymoon, as well as the repeat visits many of them plan for the next year and every year following.

The magic of the theme park in central Florida is not just for children. A different kind of magic can be enjoyed by the romantic couple. The whole concept of the park is romance and magic away from the day to day cares of life. Couples have taken advantage of the magic of Walt Disney World almost from the time that it opened. Walt Disney World is a great amusement park, but it 's also a prime location for beautiful beaches, deluxe spas, international cuisine dining and of course, the world 's greatest amusement park.

For your honeymoon location, the hotels and resorts at Walt Disney World are well aware that you want quiet time for your honeymoon and will place you when possible in accommodations which will give you peace and solitude far from noise, heavy traffic areas near the pools and elevators. The hotels which are actually located within the park will give you even more of the taste of Disney. You can enjoy your own private balcony while watching park scenery like Epcot fireworks.

If you want to soak up the atmosphere of love and romance you can visit Cinderella 's Castle, or remember Beauty and her Beast. Perhaps your taste runs to one of the other Disney happily ever after princesses.

If watching brilliant fireworks from your hotel balcony doesn't put you in a romantic mood, how about enjoying a romantic candlelight dinner in one of the famous cuisine experiences available to you as a guest at Walt Disney World. You can choose candles and romantic music at Cuban specialty restaurants, Italian cuisine, and of course American high class dining as well. It 's all found in your imaginary trip around the world to all the romantic port-of-call locations.

To heighten your romantic experience, why not schedule a special couples massage? You can enjoy each other at the same time you enjoy the soothing and relaxing experience of a therapeutic massage.

The AMC 24 Pleasure Island Theaters Complex is a great place to enjoy a movie experience for the two of you. Or, you can select an unforgettable show of acrobatics and daring physical artistry while watching the Cirque Du Soleil. This troop has been entertaining and astounding viewers all around the world. The Magic Kingdom parade features excitement, anticipation and enjoyment along with music to make sure that your viewing experience is absolutely top notch.
Maybe you'd like to take in the MGM laser show, or even use the monorail to participate in the circuit of the park by romantic train.

All in all, Walt Disney World in Florida is a wonderful and romantic place to celebrate the beginning of your married life. The stories here are romantic and magical and the activities you can enjoy promise to provide a blissful time. Not only do people celebrate their honeymoon at Walt Disney World, they like it so much that they plan to come back to the resort to celebrate each romantic anniversary as well.

About the Author

Peter Kenny has been working in the Orlando area travel industry for the past 10 years. For more information, please visit Vacation homes by owner and Orlando vacation homes

Article Source: Content for Reprint

2008-04-04T15:39:00.003-06:00

A video for a friend.

Checkin and Day One of our WDW Vacation

2008-02-17T16:56:00.003-06:00

LJ and Sonny set the alarm for 6:30, but we actually didn’t drag ourselves out of bed until 7:00. With the difference in time our bodies felt like it was 6. Once the reality of being just hours from Disney kicked in, we all started moving a bit faster.

I normally am ready pretty quickly in the mornings, but I admit that I gave in to peer pressure and put on a bit of makeup. I was glad I did once I started looking at pictures from that day.

You may remember that we pre-ordered our Photopass CD for a 20% savings. This turned Sonny & Brianne in to Photopass photographer stalkers. LJ and I would be in the middle of watching something and we would hear, “Photo Pass Photographer!” and be yanked along. I can’t complain too much. We managed to have 351 pictures on our CD when I ordered it at home. I can’t wait to share the ones from the Grand Floridian photo shoot. Stay tuned.

Uhhh…were was I? The Jameson Inn offered a nice continental breakfast with oatmeal, waffles, pastries, juice, coffee, and tea. The coffee left something to be desired, but overall the breakfast was nice. After everybody ate their fill, we checked out of the hotel and loaded up the truck.

When we stopped for gas at a service station across the street and I ran in to get what I hoped would be decent coffee. I pulled a cup from the stack and start pouring. I noticed as I was half-way done that the cup looked used. There were dried bits of something on the outside and inner rim of the cup. I should have stopped then, but I am a glutton for punishment and continued. I poured the coffee out, threw the cup away and tried again.

The coffee smelled delicious and I am almost to the finish line when I see something blackish-brown fall into the cup. I tried to keep the freak-out to a minimum, but since the clerk and I were talking at the time she saw my face. First thought that crossed my mind was… well…that. Don’t make me say it. Surely you were having the same thought. I suddenly lost my appetite for coffee and start looking for a place to dump the liquid. The cashier was curious about what fell in and tells me to pour it in the tray. She watches as I pour and………..(highlight to find out) it was a coffee bean!

What made Sonny upset is that I paid for the coffee, got in the truck, and then refused to drink the coffee. I noticed that he didn’t offer to drink it either.

Hopefully, this was not a preview of things to come.

Our first glimpse of the famous signs. Excuse the garbage on the windshield.

We arrived at the All-Star Movies for check-in around noon to a fairly short line. Already Brianne has her camera out taking pictures of the lobby. Watching her get excited over the murals, hidden Mickey’s, trivia questions that line the queue, and other neat things made me realize how much I have taken the details for granted. We could have taken pictures for a while, but soon it was our turn to check-in.

Betty was the cast member that waited on us and Sonny noticed that the CM next to her was also named Betty. Before long he had both ladies laughing and telling us stories about the mix-ups that are inevitable with two Betty’s working side-by-side. My husband has a way of making friends with people and these two cast members were no exception. You will see his magic at work several times on this trip.

When Betty pulled our reservation up on the computer she noted that our rooms were spread out, so she decided that she would get us rooms that connected. That sounded like a really nice idea and soon the changes were made, our rooms were ready, and we were on our way. We were assigned 101 Dalmatians, building 4, third floor, rooms 4942 & 4943.

The rooms didn’t look that far away, so Brianne and I decided to walk the short distance to our rooms while the guys parked the truck and started bringing the luggage. The All-Star Movies resort is beautiful and we had a blast taking pictures on the way to our rooms.

The first thing that we had to do was take pictures of the rooms before they got cluttered with our stuff. I won’t bore you with the pictures you have seen a million times, but I will show you what was waiting in both rooms.

Before and After some artful re-arranging by guess who?

Soon the guys arrived with our bags and we decided to take a few minutes to get organized before we left for Downtown Disney.

Everything was going great. I had just changed clothes when I hear someone fiddling with the door handle. The door opens and in walks the couple who had been standing in the check-in line behind us.

I don’t know who was more surprised! Thank goodness I had already gotten my clothes right. Sonny being the nice guy that he is offers to let them come in and we would get the whole thing straightened out. I don’t think that we look like a mass-murdering type of couple, but the other couple opted to return to the front desk instead.

When Sonny called the front desk and spoke with a CM he assured us that he could fix the problem quickly and painlessly. He would just cancel out the other couples KTW cards and we would be all set. Well that didn’t work like he had hoped. Our keys got canceled too. We were invited to come to the desk for replacement keys that were sure to work. Thank goodness I had the presence of mind to have Brianne leave the connecting doors open. Upon arrival at our rooms the keys still didn’t work.

This time they sent a nice lady to our door on a Segway to correct the problem by re-keying the door. Again no dice!

Our fuel tanks were running low, so we would just have to deal with this situation after we had eaten. Our original plans had been to go to Downtown Disney and eat at Earl of Sandwich, but by this point everyone just wanted to eat now!

On The Road Again...

2008-01-14T18:11:00.000-06:00

For the first time ever, the night before our Disney vacation I slept like a baby. That normally never happens. I usually lie awake making mental lists of all the things I forgot to pack or of the bills I need to remember to pay. The only thing that I can figure is that the “Skittles” worked. Whatever the reason I woke up feeling pretty rested and EXCITED!

The kid’s winter break ended the same day as we were scheduled to leave, so the first order of business was to get them up and on the bus. That task completed I worked on getting the princess fed and ready for her play date with Auntie.

Sonny had loaded up most of the luggage on Wed night and opted to go to work for part of the day. That left me to run the last minute errands—bank, electric bill, water bill, etc. No big! I am leaving for WDW today!

Stopped to grab a quick bite to eat at McDonald’s and happily informed all who would listen that I was on my way to WDW today. I am sure that I was annoying the H&*$ out of everyone I met, but I was having fun. That’s all that matters right?!

It wasn’t long before I got a call from LJ and Brianne that they had completed their errands and were headed to my house.

Small aside—My IL’s went to WDW with us last May and fell more in love than ever. So for the last few months my MIL has been teasing that if something should happen to Brianne before the trip, she would happily take her place.

This almost came in the play when they were putting their stuff in the SUV. Brianne slipped but managed to catch herself just before falling backwards out of the back of the Excursion. That would have been a horrible end to all these months of planning.

When we went to pick Sonny up at work we had a bit of fun with his bosses and the Excursion.

Once we got on the road about 1 pm I popped in the WDW planning DVD. Looking back I wish that we had stepped it up a bit and left sooner, but what can you do? I confess that in all of the planning I did for this trip, it never crossed my mind to order the planning DVD for LJ and Brianne. Don’t worry I flogged myself.

The ride was uneventful. We talked, read, watched a movie, listened to XM, ate plenty of snacks and slept.

We did make it to the Florida welcome center in time to get our OJ. LJ and Brianne, the poor dears, had never gotten their free sample of juice!

After our juice the guys decided they needed massages in the chairs. The FL welcome center has hit a gold mine with this idea.

Our plan had been to drive at least to Ocala the first night, but Sonny started getting tired around Lake City. We started looking for a room for the night and the first place we spotted that looked really nice was a Country Inn & Suites. The rate quoted for the night was a reasonable $89, so I gave the clerk my information. When she asked for a credit card, I requested to pay for the room in cash. The hotel clerk informed me that the room had to be secured with a credit card because of the duvets.

Hotel clerk lady say what?

She went on to explain that the rooms had recently gone through a renovation. Several guests in the past had damaged the new duvets, so they were required to get a credit card deposit of $100. After checkout the housekeeper would survey the duvet and if it was acceptable the front desk would authorize a refund that would take 3-5 days to hit my card.

I’d like to think that I was classy and gracious as I told her no thanks and walked out. Brianne agreed that it seemed an unfair policy and she didn’t want to stay either.

It took us several hotels before we found a vacancy, but finally scored an AAA rate at the Jameson Inn. The room was nice and clean, so we settled in for the night.

Anniversary Surprise

2007-12-13T18:24:00.000-06:00

I am a few pages from being finished with Sonny's surprise album. Once it is finished I will be posting it to my scrapbooking blog: Scrapbook Bargains. Go on over and check it out in the meantime.

2007-12-01T11:16:00.000-06:00

A new album I am working on as a surprise for my DH.

Purchases, Surprises, and DIY Projects

2007-11-21T08:53:00.000-06:00

One of the things I love about our Disney Vacations is planning our itinerary and coming up with great surprises for my family. Since the kids aren’t going with us this time, I am stumped as to how I could make the trip special for my DH, L.J. and Brianne.

I have been pouring over trip reports and threads on the DIS to come up with some ideas. One idea that I swiped from several people on the disboards was to call the Coral Reef to set up a diver banner and personalized menus. The management is still deliberating a policy change on whether or not they are going to start charging for this service, so this surprise is still on the shelf.

I love making DIY projects for our trips. My cubicle in the garage is outfitted with most of the things any self-respecting crafter would own. I have my trusted PC with Adobe Photoshop installed, a nice printer, a laminator, a binder, a sewing machine, my cricut with the Disney cartridges, scrapbooks, cardstock, and an insatiable urge to make crafts.

So far these are my purchases, surprises, and DIY projects:

Disneyshopping purchases—I happened to be checking my email early one Friday morning when Disneyshopping.com sent me an email about an awesome weekend sale they were having. I saw several things that I thought would make a nice addition to LJ and Brianne’s gift bag. Well I put the items in my cart, but was undecided about going ahead with the purchase. Sonny chimed in with his thoughts that I should just go for it since the prices were so good.

Fast forward to that evening. I was peeved at myself for not buying more items from the sale and set out to make another purchase. Everything that I had bought that morning had gone up in price. The site was still heralding this great weekend sale, but the prices that evening were nothing like the prices I saw that morning. I am so glad that I went ahead with my purchase. SCORE! I apologize to everyone on here who wasn’t able to get their items at the lower price.

Check out my super low price loot:

The Mickey knit Henley and flannel PJ set that I picked up for LJ for $5.99. Also pictured are the luggage tags, picture frame, and anniversary pins I picked up on our last trip.

Lavender polo for $4.99 and the Mickey Cable-Knit Hat and scarf set for $5.99--all bought for me!

Amazon purchases: One thing that I know is definite is that we are putting together an anniversary bag for LJ and Brianne. I purchased the bag on Amazon.com for $3.50, so I hope that the bag is nice. I am going to just pack everything in an extra suitcase and put it together once we are there.

Well the bag came in and it is pretty nice for $3.50. I was able to get some graphics from the nice ladies on the Creative designs board and personalized it myself.

I found a sale on desk calendars on Amazon.com and scooped up some gifts.

The Dilbert calendar will be for Sonny to put on his desk at work. The other one is for Brianne. Trust me when I say that we have been friends for so long that I KNOW that she will bust a gut laughing when she sees that calendar.

Mousekeeping envelopes

I downloaded the envelopes from Mouseforless.com, cut and folded them.

Originally I was going to print clipart on to sticker paper and make the seals for the envelopes. I ran out of sticker paper, so I had to improvise. I printed the images on cardstock, ran the cardstock through my Xyron, and then punched each picture with my 1 1/2” circle punch. I think that they turned out super cute.

After reading this thread on the restaurant board about custom cakes I decided to order a 10” for our dinner at the California Grill. I will tell you more about the flavors when I get back.

Hopefully, no one will be offended by my next DIY project. Please remember it is all in fun and we are a married couple.

I scraplifted this great idea for a wedding gift on the Cricut forum. The brain starts working to make it fit my anniversary trip and my next project was born. The original project was made into a ring-bound book, but I wanted something that could be made entirely with scrapbooking paper since I have a ton in my office. And I corrected the title on the finished project to read "Naughty but Nice coupon box". I was going to ask for suggestions for other coupons, but that might really get risque!

The original project can be found HERE. My thanks to Laura Harbron for the idea and permission to borrow.

Well that is all of my DIY projects for now, but I am sure that I will have a few more to tell you about before we leave. Comment and let me know what you think.

Savannah Side Trip pt. 4--One More Wish Granted

2007-11-20T13:44:00.000-06:00

After we left the taping my MIL thanked Sonny and I profusely for bringing them to Savannah. She commented that the cherry on the top of the trip would be getting to eat at The Lady & Sons before we went home. I pulled out the map and got directions to the restaurant. As we circled the corner we could see that the line from the check-in stand went around the block. We all agreed that the line was too long to wait, so we would just grab a bite to eat elsewhere and go back to the hotel.

We parked the truck in the garage and walked over to the Whistle Stop Café located behind the Savannah Visitor Center. You can’t eat at the Whistle Stop without trying the Fried Green Tomatoes, so that was our appetizer. My smart thinking FIL ordered three baskets for us to share. Each basket was hipped high with crispy dip fried tomatoes with a raspberry dipping sauce. I think that the tomatoes rated as some of the best I have eaten, but none of us really cared for the raspberry dipping sauce.

After the green tomatoes I can’t remember what anybody ate. The food wasn’t bad. It was just that we were exhausted after the long drive and then getting up super early for the taping. We browsed the Savannah Visitor Center some more and peeked at the museum.

Everyone agreed that it was time for a nap and the sight seeing would have to wait for later in the evening. It was so refreshing and we almost felt naughty about taking a nap in the middle of the day. The best part was that we didn’t have little people with their feet in our back or pestering us to wake up.

We woke up pretty late from our nap hungry as a pothead with the munchies. Not that I would know what that is like! Anyways, we decided to take a ride to see what we could nosh on and rode past The Lady and Sons again.

The plan was to jump out, get some cookbooks, and head somewhere to eat. Once we turned the corner, there was no line. Not one single person was waiting to get in and I made Sonny stop the truck in the middle of the street so I could inquire at the podium.

The young lady was less than enthusiastic to see me and told me that she could not seat us as they were booked up for the rest of the night. I must have been dragging the jowls because she immediately asked how many we had in our party. When I said four adults she handed me a laminated card and directed me back to the front entrance. At the front entrance the hostess stopped us dead in our tracks. When I presented my magic ticket she cleared the way and told us to take the elevator to the third floor. Yeah!!!!

We were seated right away near the bar and the buffet. These people know how to make a fat girl happy. Our server soon followed with hoe cakes and garlic biscuits and took our order. Today’s success with the Fried Green Tomatoes prompted us to try another order at the home of the Southern Fried Queen. Sorry Paula, but I have to admit that the tomatoes were lacking. Especially after the ones we had earlier in the day.

Except for DH, we opted to eat the southern buffet. We enjoyed every morsel and almost didn’t have room for dessert. I will now submit for your viewing pleasure some food porn.

Hoe Cakes and Garlic Biscuits

Sonny’s Wedge Salad

My big plate from the buffet

Overall, our meal at Lady and Son’s was good, but it will probably be a one time thing. Most of the food we ate is food that we cook at home on a weekly basis. When we go out to eat we want to feel like we are eating something different and extraordinary. My MIL was happy thought because she got one more wish granted.

That ended our wonderful time in Savannah and we are making plans to go back soon and explore the city.

I guess I have digressed long enough (I am trying to drag it out so you have plenty to entertain you in the next 70+ days till we leave.) and it is now time to start talking about my plans for Disney.

Side Trip to Savannah--Part 3

2007-11-19T12:26:00.000-06:00

When we last left our travelers they were fighting their way through a monsoon off the coast of Savannah.

I am a nervous Nelly by nature and I do not do well in stressful situations. At this point I am ready to faint I am so nervous about the low visibility. My DH on the other hand never seems to act rattled and drove on like there was no rain. The rain eventually subsided and we start looking for the road to the restaurant.

A Public Service Announcement: If you are at any time going to Uncle Bubba’s Oyster House for dinner or for the show be forewarned that internet directions are not always right! Both times we have come I have printed directions from the hotel to the restaurant as a safety precaution. (I’m Nervous Nelly remember?!) Anyways, both times the directions have told us to turn left off of the main highway and the restaurant will be immediately on the left. Wrong! It is a right turn off the interstate. The last show we almost didn’t make it in time because of the wrong directions. Once we arrived at the set I met another lady who had run into the same problem.

Once we arrived to the holding area for the audience my MIL started to get really excited and could not stop asking me questions. I answered as many as I could and a lady behind us heard me. She came over and introduced herself and said that she was going to become my new best friend because I seem to know what was going on. Sonny says I have this way of attracting crazy people to myself. :-0 Just kidding! She was very nice and not crazy at all, but now I had two nervous, excited woman bombarding me with questions.

Pretty soon one of the assistant producers came out and ran through a list of rules and “no-no’s” that we were to follow during the taping. I believe that my MIL spaced out during this part and followed none of the rules.

After everyone was allowed to go to the potty in groups, one of the producers came out and surveyed the audience to see how she wanted to seat us. I was hoping beyond hope that the producer would like our look and seat us close to the front like the last time. She pointed to Sonny and I and asked us to come with her. I got excited there for a moment because she led us into the studio and starts looking at the café seats that are right behind Paula as she cooks. As she is walking toward the café she inquires if there are just two of us. When Sonny corrected the count and said four she stopped mid stride and looked at us again. “Oh,” she says as she stops and turns directions. My heart did a flop. No soup for me! I tried not to be disappointed as she led us to the last table at the back of the room right next to a curtain. But this spot would be instrumental later on.

During the show three special guests came on and helped Paula make apple pie, oven fried sweet potatoes, and other things that I can’t remember. I won’t give away who the three guests for the show were, but the theme for this show was “TV Dinners”. Two of the stars I was familiar with, but I don’t watch American Idol so I had no clue on the third.

With our table being so far away from the main cooking area we were not able to converse with Paula like we did last time. I was a bit bummed about that but my MIL kept assuring me that they were having a great time. Between takes we could hear Paula laughing and talking to Gordon Elliot behind the curtain. My MIL said that it was annoying to be so close to Paula and not be able to talk to her. Before I knew it she was getting up from the table and parted the curtains. I was completely mortified! I told Sonny it was his mother, so he had to go and retrieve her.

A second later we recognize my MIL’s and Paula’s laughter from behind the curtain. They are talking and laughing like old friends reunited. They chatted about Katrina, grandchildren, and even swapped emails to share recipes. Well shut my mouth! Paula Deen is truly a southern lady and a gem. She was so personable with my MIL and never seemed upset or impatient. I can’t say the same for some of the assistant producers. One of them rushed up as soon as she saw my MIL and was trying her best to make her go back to her seat, but she and Paula kept right on talking until it was time to tape the next segment.

Needless to say that was the highlight of her trip and I have cemented myself as her favorite DIL.

Savannah Side Trip pt. 2

2007-11-18T09:33:00.000-06:00

Around 3 p.m. I start panicking because I remembered that I hadn’t called the producer. After a few tense moments I am finally able to be connected to her extension and the news wasn’t good. It would seem that I had indeed forgotten that pesky “s” on the email address. This is when panic really starts setting in because we are barreling down the highway at 70+ miles an hour and I don’t have internet access. I do have my laptop, so Sonny suggests that we pull over into the Mickey D’s parking lot and use their wi-fi. No soup for you! McD’s wants to be paid for your ride on the World Wide Web.

I am racking my brain for a solution when again I get a suggestion from Sonny—call my SIL. Easy as pie she hacks into my email account and resends the original email. The producer confirms that she got the email and all is well. The guys will get to go to the taping with us after all. I chose not to point out to my DH that he could have saved me this stress to begin with if he had just let me include him in the beginning.

After that it was a pretty uneventful drive, but we had to stop so many times for my IL’s to go potty that I felt like I had the three kids with me. What can you do? You can have a little bit of fun at someone else's expense!

We finally made it into Savannah around 10:30 and breezed through the check-in process. A friend had pointed me in the direction of an awesome discount at the Marriot Courtyard in downtown Savannah that saved us $100 a night on each room. Score!!!

We had a choice of a courtyard or Savannah view. We chose the Savannah view and I am so glad we did. Seeing the city at night all lit up was beautiful. I only wish that I had been able to use my new camera correctly to capture the scenery.

Our instructions from the producer were to arrive at Uncle Bubba’s by 7:30 a.m. for the taping. I admit that I was acting a bit bossy and told everyone they had to be ready to leave at 7:00 or they were getting left. This is Paula Deen we are talking about!

I guess my MIL being excited helped the schedule because she was downstairs at breakfast waiting for me. With the directions in hand we left the hotel and were on our way. We were making good time and then the heavens opened up and just started dumping on us. The rain was falling so hard that traffic came to a crawl around us because visibility was low.

Side Trip to Savannah--Part I

2007-11-17T11:08:00.000-06:00

Sonny and I had the opportunity to take a side trip to Savannah at the end of September. Can you keep a secret? Only a few of my closest friends know about this, so shh!!!! We went to see Paula Deen on the set of her show Paula’s Party. I love me some Paula Deen and so does my MIL. She about permanently turned green when she found out we went to see Paula Deen in January and begged us to take her. Being the wonderful DIL that I am I obliged and planned a trip. I think that this has earned me the place of favorite DIL from here on out.

We were all set to go when I get a phone call from my sister (read “babysitter”) that she and my mom are in South Carolina and will not be back until the end of the month. What?!!! So both options for babysitters are gone and it looks like we are not going to be able to make the trip. Just a few days before we are scheduled to leave we are able to coerce my brother and SIL to keep two of the kids and one of my bestest friends agrees to keep the baby.

Then my MIL calls and says that the doctor is threatening that she will not be able to go if she can not get her blood pressure down. In the end he prescribed some different pills and told her to rest as much as possible, but she could go ahead with the trip.

A few days before we were scheduled to leave, Sonny tells me that he and his father can’t find anything that they want to do while we are at the taping. So….? Well, he was thinking that maybe I could call the producer and get their names added to the guest list. I got knots in my stomach just thinking about having to call and ask a favor. Much as I love him I don’t know if I can do this.

I let him talk me into calling and the producer was nothing but nice. She just asked me to send her an email with all of their pertinent information and pictures for security and she would see what she could do. The last thing she told me on the phone is to be careful that I typed in the correct email address. Her email address had a “s” on the end that people usually left off. Also, I was to call on Wednesday afternoon to confirm the changes with her.

We were hoping to leave home bright and early on Wednesday morning since we had an almost 10 hour drive to Savannah, but you know what they say about the best laid plans. We actually got on the road around 11:00 a.m. and headed to Sonny’s job to drop off a package. A quick stop turned into a 30 minute gab-fest and then we forced ourselves to get back on the road.

Stay tuned for part 2...

An Early Anniversary Present

2007-11-16T06:44:00.000-06:00

Our entire trip to WDW in January is geared around celebrating our anniversary and no anniversary would be complete without a fabulous present. Simmer down. I am not discounting the love, happiness, and commitment. But let’s keep it real. This is about the gifts!

As soon as my anniversary is over in January, Sonny will start asking me for hints for the following anniversary. For most of this year I have been begging him to upgrade my Cricut. For the uninformed—a Cricut is a die cutting machine with interchangeable cartridges. (Two of the cartridges I have are the Disney cartridges.) I use it like crazy for my scrapbooks, card making, invitations, and other craft projects.

I know to the untrained eye they don’t look different, but trust me they are. The first one only cuts items on a 6 x 12 mat, whereas, the second one can cut on a mat 12 x 24. Can you imagine the Disney projects that I can make with that baby? I wake up at night dreaming about the mickey heads I will cut out of magnetic and sticky paper. I fantasize about the homemade autograph books that my children will proudly carry with them from park to park.

So every few week my DH would confirm with me that I still wanted a new Cricut. I even had someone lined up to buy my smaller one. Everything was coming together nicely. Then the DIS threw a kink in my plans. How you ask? Well I followed a link over to the photography board and started looking at everyone’s gorgeous pictures. Pictures that I knew I couldn’t squeeze out of my pitiful point and shoot camera. Hey, they even have a family over there. I want to be a part of the family! And everybody on the DIS is so willing to tell you all about the great sales that you just can’t miss.

Before I knew it I was chatting with my DH on Skype telling him all about this camera that I just had to have. I mean if it is good enough for the folks on the DIS then it has to be good enough for me.

My poor husband—for the last 7 months he has been secretly checking out Cricut prices and cartridges, convinced that I would be receiving that for my anniversary and here I was changing the game plan. I have to say that he was a good sport about it and I am happy to report that I got my anniversary present early this year.

Drum roll please! My sweetie bought me a Canon PowerShot S5IS which is a major upgrade from my last camera.

Sonny’s rationale in buying it early was that it would give me a few months to get accustomed to the camera. That way I can take the best pictures possible at WDW. The funny thing has been that he seems to be using the camera just as much if not more than me.

I have to say that I am in love with this camera and I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface on all the things that I can do. Here are a few of my initial shots with it—tell me what you think. On second thought just leave me with my deluded dreams that my pictures will pay the bills some day.

I would love to take credit for this one, but my DH had the artistic eye on this one.

Where Will We Lay Our Heads?

2007-11-15T13:57:00.000-06:00

The first decision we had to make was when we were going. L.J. had recently started a new job and with no vacation days built up yet, he wanted to miss as few days as possible. The easiest solution was to plan around the holidays when everybody would already have a few off days scheduled. Plus, Sonny and I could get in another trip on our AP’s from January. December 28- January 4 started looking like our target dates.

The first time we celebrated our anniversary at Disney it was right after the Christmas holidays. The crowds were unimaginable and we said that we would never go back to Disney during the holidays. Never say never because here we are. But our reasoning this time is that with four adults we should be able to handle the crowds with proper planning.

We recently became Disney Vacation Club members and our first trip home was this past January 2007 at Saratoga Springs. Then in May 2007 we stayed at BWV. For all of the SSR lovers let me just put it out there: The resort is absolutely beautiful! The rooms are absolutely beautiful! But this resort and the Downtown Disney area is just not where we are absolutely happiest. Given a choice we prefer the Epcot Area and Boardwalk Villas, but every trip we tell ourselves that we will try somewhere new and every trip we end up right back at the BW. This trip I figured there is no sense in pretense—we wanted to stay at BWV again.

So our challenge now was finding a 2 bedroom villa at BWV for December 30, 2007 – January 4, 2008. But so did everyone else in the free world! The best the CM could do was to book us at Saratoga Springs for the first and last two nights. We went on the waitlist for the middle days that we needed and hoped for the best.

As any true Disney Planaholic knows, we don’t do well with waitlists or probability. I will play nice for a little while, but I need a confirmation number NOW to write in my Passporter! I sweated my husband something fierce about what I should do about the room situation. Out of desperation the poor man suggested that I just book concierge rooms at the BWI. That sounded really nice at first, but as I started checking out prices I realized that the cost of the two rooms was outrageous during the holiday season. No thanks. I will have to find better way.

To save points I did go ahead and book All Star Movies for the first two days of our trip (Friday and Saturday night). We stayed here last September with the kids and thought it would be a nice start to our trip.

But I started to get really antsy about not having our room booked so I called Member Services constantly. After a few weeks, I was on a first name basis with several of the cast members. Finally, the first of September I confessed to Sonny that I was afraid that the waitlist would never come through. Several phone calls to Brianne and we decided to move the entire vacation back one week. So our dates changed to Jan 4-11, 2008.

I called Member Services and received the bad news that they could not get us into a 2-br at BWV for the week. We would again have to go on the waitlist, but our chances would seriously improve with this being the start of value season. The waitlist came through for all but the last night! I am so excited that I would not be upset if we were at SSR for the last night.

Let the Planning Begin...

2007-11-15T06:37:00.000-06:00

One of the hard parts about taking relative newbies to Disney World is impressing upon them the sheer amount of planning and the endless decisions to make the trip magical. Brianne’s first questions to me was, “How much money do you think that we will need for the week?” How do you answer that question? It is almost impossible to succinctly answer that question. So instead I begin to ask her questions. I asked her how many days she thought they would like to go to the parks. What kind of eating habits do they have on vacation? Do you see yourself wanting to do a lot of side things like Disney Quest, Pleasure Island, the Water Parks, Cirque…? Well you get the idea.

Her eyes got big and she said she had no clue as to how to answer any of those questions. So I replied that I didn’t have a clue how to answer her question either because it is not a simple equation one does to come up with a definitive number. My suggestion to her and request of her was to educate herself on Disney.

I pointed her to Mousesavers and Allearsnet to start her research. She called me a few days later in awe. It never dawned on her that Disney was so big and offered so many things to do. As she started reading she started making a list of the places they might like to eat, rides they would be at the top of their wish list, and nighttime activities they wanted to check out.

Let me digress here for a moment. My DH and I have taken quite a few people to Disney with us over the years and we always end up being the designated tour guides. The “keeper of the schedule” as it were. Everyone blindly follows us everywhere we go and never once volunteers preferences or opinions. So every trip we feel responsible for everyone’s’ good time. That is a lot of pressure on two people who are struggling with their own good time. So DH decided to make one condition on Brianne and LJ if they were to come with us. Their vacation happiness was dependent upon them. We were going without our children and so we aren’t planning on babysitting anyone else. Does that sound harsh?

Anyways, Brianne decided that she liked the process of getting ready for our trip, so I ordered her a Passporter to do some serious planning. I also through a recommendation from timandlesley decided to sign up for Tourguidemike. The jury is still out on whether or not I feel like this was money well spent.

“Disney Through Another’s Eyes”

2007-11-14T16:20:00.000-06:00

I have been reading trip and pre-trip reports over on the disboards and I have to admit that I would love to achieve the following that some of the reports have gained. Admitting that may sound vain, but at least I am being honest.

I admit that I am late to the game and not usually up on the cool places to be, so I only recently read UtahMama’s trip report from 2006. And I am going to follow her admonition and not post any “disclaimers, warnings, or apologies”.

So let’s jump right in by introducing the crazy cast of characters:

There’s me your storyteller and vacation planner. I am a Domestic Goddess with three genius level children, a miniature Dachshund that I believe has ADHD, and a wonderful husband who deals with my ever changing moods and obsessions. I can honestly admit that Disney is one of those obsessions and at times I have been known to start planning our next trip before we are home from our current trip. I never get postcards or pin codes attached to my name because Disney knows two things about me. They know without a shadow of a doubt that I will keep coming back year after year. And two that I have been known a time or two to pay rack rate.

Sonny my DH is the person who started my Disney obsession and he recently told me that some days he wishes that he had never taken me to Disney World the first time! He was only half-way joking. He funds our trips by working as a Drafter for a small company and occasionally does free lance work on the side.

We are planning this trip to celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary and I can’t wait to see what surprises he has in store for me. I guess that sounded a bit egotistical, but my DH has planned a wonderful surprise for my anniversary almost every year. Check out what he did one year that we stayed at Disney's Boardwalk Inn.

Joining us this trip will be Brianne and her husband LJ who are celebrating their 5^th anniversary. Brianne and I have known each other all of our lives. As most friends do we have experienced some rocky times, but we always manage to get through it. When Brianne and LJ were dating we would all get together and go on date nights. After about 6 months of dating LJ decided he wanted to pop the question, so he asked me first what I thought she would say. Ah…yes!!! So I got to help him plan the proposal and her to plan the wedding.

One of the things they thought would make their wedding special would be for me to be a bridesmaid and Sonny to perform the ceremony! We still talk about how sweet it was to watch their relationship develop and then to have such a special place on their wedding day. Plus, our anniversaries are in the same month 9 days apart.

This past summer Brianne and I worked really hard to surprise her parents with an awesome anniversary party. During the planning phase we would talk on the phone and email each other daily. Once the party was over we found that we really missed talking to each other, so our friendship grew.

Through the course of the daily conversations between Brianne and I, we started talking about plans for our anniversaries. With our recent purchase of DVC, Sonny and I knew that we would be spending a week visiting our favorite cast members at the BWI and Villas. Brianne and LJ are in the process of trying to buy a house, so Brianne was unsure of what they would be able to do.

The last few years we have taken different couples with us to Disney World for our anniversary. One year we took my brother and his wife, one year we took my parents, and earlier this year we took DH’s parents. I don’t remember how we came to the conclusion to invite Brianne and LJ, but I am so glad we did.

Since my first trip to Disney in 2001 I have done whatever is necessary to go back at least once a year. In total we have gone as a family or as a couple a total of 11 times. When someone asks us, “You’re going to Walt Disney World again?!!” we point out all of the new things there are to do and see.

LJ and Brianne, on the other hand, are relatively newbies when it comes to WDW. The last time LJ went he was 10 and has only vague memories of the parks. Brianne was 3 and remembers little to nothing. There is nothing better to a Disney Planaholic than planning a trip as if you are showing someone the world for the very first time. This trip we will get to see Walt Disney World through another’s eyes.

Jumper the Movie

2007-10-10T07:39:00.000-06:00

I just saw a trailer that looks very promising. The only thing that will keep me from going to see it is if the movie is rated "R". Watch it and see if you don't agree.

2007-08-02T10:12:00.000-06:00

Adding the Photobucket remix of the wedding.

Come H*&% or High Water

2007-07-17T12:22:00.000-06:00

This weekend will be added to the ever growing list of things I thought I would never do, but did.

From the time that I can remember a group of my parents friends would get together twice a year and go camping. In all the years that they went my family and I never joined them except for an occasional day trip of swimming and bar-b-que. My mother's assement of camping was heat, bugs, snakes, and general discomfort, so that is what camping meant to me.

My husband on the other hand had very fond memories of his parents taking him and his five siblings camping in a renovated school bus. Since we have been married he has longingly talked about how fun it would be to go camping. Later when the kids came along his enthusiam increased. I was always the wet blanket on his excitement and vetoed the idea every time.

Within the last year my mother and father became the proud owners of a used travel trailer and set out on several camping trips across our home state. Nothing surprise my siblings and I more than hearing my parents talk about how much they enjoyed their camper. If my mother found enjoyment out of this new hobby then maybe I needed to reexamine my stance.

I started by just taking a look at the inside of their camper to gauge how many creature comforts such a contraption could offer. I was pleasantly surprised to see all the amenities a girl could ever want. This jarred my long held notions of what camping was about.

Around this time we received an invitation to go camping with a group of our friends. The more I pondered the invitation the more I leaned toward going. Don't think for a moment that there weren't moments were I questioned my decision and my sanity. I tried on several occasions to back out, but how do you tell three children that mommy is too scared to sleep in a travel trailer for the weekend?

I guess come h*&% or high water we are going on this trip.

To Have and to Hold...

2007-06-20T12:21:00.000-06:00

The last few weeks I have been busy helping my niece get ready for her wedding and that has left no time for scrapbooking. I just have been reminding myself about all of the great things we will have to scrap once the wedding is over.
The biggest challenge with the wedding is coming up with ideas that are beautiful and elegant, but budget friendly.

While I was on the look out for stuff for my sister-in-law's baby shower I stumbled upon wedding invitations on clearance. I purchased a set of 50 invites, envelopes, response cards, and response card envelopes for $10 a box. The next challenge was how to dress them up without breaking the bank.

I was able to purchase packs (25 each) of scrapbooking paper from CreateforLess for $4.19 a pack and make jackets for the invitations. The charms and ribbons were also on clearance for $10 for a box of 50 each.
This is the finished invitation with a picture, vellum, and response cards inserted.

The father of the bride took their engagement pictures with the groom's camera. We upload them to Walmart.com and was able to order 4x6 prints for 12cents a piece.

You can also see on the outside of the invite the monogram that I made to be used on their invitations and wedding programs. The second monogram will be on the wedding favors. You will have to let me know what you think.

I also found a program template on Diybride that I customized with their wedding information. The programs will also give directions to the reception site, special thank you's, dedications to deceased family, and a few scriptures that will be read during the ceremony.

The 6x6 covers were printed on matching cardstock with the same monogram as the invites, just in a larger size. We are using a darker purple ribbon to hold them together. The picture above is an example of what the finished program will look like.

Today I worked on another exciting budget friendly idea for after wedding. Sarah knows that she is going to need a ton of thank you cards, so we have been on the look out for some nice ones in purple. At some point this week I got the idea to buy some more of the clearance invites and make thank you cards.

First I printed "Thank you" on all of the invites close to the graphic. I took a scorer and scored each card across the center. Fold and voila! you have a thank you card. Second, I carefully opened the envelope at the seams. The inside of the invitation matched the graphics on the front of the invitation. By using a template from Green Sneakers I made an envelope to match the card.

I will update you later on the seed packets, candy bar wrappers, OOT boxes and other DIY projects for the wedding.

A relaxing day of scrapbooking...

2007-04-16T18:30:00.000-06:00

Today was a pretty good day. I woke up early and cleaned a little and did a bit of laundry. Then I got down to the fun stuff and worked on some digital scrapbooking layouts.

Pets are used as a form of therapy, so why can't scrapbooking be consider therapy? No matter how my day might be going, scrapbooking has a way of calming me down and making my anxiety levels lower.

The only thing that would make scrapbooking better is if I had my own room to do it in.

I am not a proficient as some with digial scrapbooking, but check out my layouts just the same.

Meeting Paula Deen!

2007-04-12T20:02:00.000-06:00

My DH and I had an experience of a lifetime this past January when we got to meet Paula Deen on the set of her show Paula's Party! The show topic wasn't one that I would have personally picked, but I would have eaten liver and onions for the opportunity to meet the "Queen of Southern Cooking" herself.

This was our first time visiting Savannah and I only wish that we had been there for more days. We stayed in a beautiful room with complimentary concierge service and views of the pool and river.

My sincere thanks to an enterprising ebayer!

2007-04-05T13:46:00.000-06:00

One of the things that I like to do when I am not tending to a myriad of household duties is scrapbooking. I have dabbled at being a consultant for a company and lately I am exploring the world of digital.

Along the way in my journey to create records of my family's memories I have collected quite a number of "tools". Things that I assure my husband is an absolute necessity to complete that very special album that I am currently working on. Other times I justify the purchases by pointing out to my dear sexy husband that said "tool" of the moment can be used in various applications. Therefore, such "tool" becomes a multipurpose "tool" with the ability to function in ways the prior "tool" could not.

I have even gone so far as to assure dear sexy husband that whatever "tool" can also serve as a source of income once I devise a sure fire byproduct that other scrapbooking housewives can not live without.

I have won some battles and I have lost some, but I think the war might be turning the tide in my favor. Thanks in part to something I saw on Ebay today.

Imagine my surprise when a creative scrapbooker took the same "tools" that I have so diligently worked with for years and was able to create something so rare and beautiful that other woman would covet it. Covet it to the point of spending their hard won "tool" money to have it.

I just want to send a sincere thank you to that enterprising ebayer because she singlehandedly in one auction helped to further the cause of every scrapbooking mother in america.

Check out the auction for yourself and see if you agree.

Doing something I never thought I would...

2007-04-04T10:59:00.000-06:00

I have resisted the urge to create a blog for a very long time. I just never saw the need to post my varied ramblings for the world to read. So what has changed? I can't rightly tell you. Maybe it is the feeling of being left behind. Or maybe its feeling like all the cool people have one, so I should too. Either way I am here now and I feel sorry for you!

What can I tell you about life on Mystical Cove? First, it is very very quiet and not much exciting happens on our street. Except for that one time we had a special guest come visit us. She had her own tour bus and everything. Once she got in the house she gaves us a private concert and everything with her back up dancers.

The truth is my daughter had her dance recital the weekend before and really liked her costume. I guess in her mind she wouldn't get to wear it again, so she decided to wear it to summer camp. I can only imagine what the counselors at camp were thinking about the mother who would let her child come to school in this get-up. Once I saw her in it I figured that the best discipline was to just let her go and suffer the consequences.

Me meeting the bus with my camera was a stroke of genius that hit me as I heard the roar of the diesel engine approach the house. That was the last time I had to say anything to her about wearing appropriate attire to camp! Here she is in all of her glory in recital photos.