Sunday, July 27, 2008

Halloween Preparations and a Road Trip


Halloween says, "Ready or not, here I come!" Ninety-six days. 96. Start counting down now!

I say, I'd like to track down the Creative Memories consultant who urged me to crop my original (and only) copies of some pictures and kick her - hard - in the shin. I learned pretty quickly that it was a damn stupid thing to do, but at the expense of some favorite photos.

Anyway.



Most years, I put together Halloween goody bags for some of the children in my life. Some are related to me by blood, some by love. This year is no exception, but last year I wasn't so much in the mood, so it was a half-hearted effort. Which, hopefully, explains why I'm planning them now. I'm changing things up a little, because not all the kids seem to like getting the bags, so between now and then I'll be evaluating the list.

Last week, I ordered a few things from Oriental Trading. I'm not super impressed. I mean, I know it's cheap, bulk crap from China, but one set of items was so old that the labels - which had started out white - were translucent.


Yesterday, John surprised me with a little plan to do some house-hunting, followed with a stay at a hotel. We aren't looking that far away: it was just a way to do something different (sometimes the cats drive me crazy). We found a couple potential houses (not saying any more on the subject), and did a little shopping. John grabbed a couple boxes of Sour Apple Fizzies, and I found a Christmas present for nephew J (a fabulous snowman nightlight; his top hat is full of glitter and it acts like a bubble ornament when it warms up). At some point during the evening, I decided that I'd have to include Fizzies in the goody bags.

This afternoon, I checked online and found some for a reasonable price (compared to others), at a site I've done business with before. (Edited) I can't decide if I'm going to order a couple flavors of the 2-tab packs or full-size boxes. I have to wait until Sept. to order, since there are some melt-able items I want to get as well.

About the hotel. Well, I guess it was a motel. In almost every way, the place we stayed at was lovely. It was funny, when we went to the desk to ask for a room, they said, "Oh, all we have left are rooms with king-size beds and jacuzzis." Oh, shucks. We had a seriously yummy meal at a steakhouse (Logans?), checked in at the hotel, and took liberal advantage of the pool and hot tub. (I made myself take a bath in the jacuzzi tub, since we'd paid extra for it.) They even had a book case in the lobby with books to borrow. Nothing that interested me, but I liked seeing some children's titles there. Another nice thing: adult-only hour at the pool. We really appreciated that after the only child in the pool during our first attempt SPAT on John and almost landed on my head doing cannonballs. "We'll come back at 11."

Is there a law for motels that says that the mattresses have to be hard as a rock and the pillows so insubstantial that three isn't half enough? This morning, after a really restless night, I just wanted to be HOME. I told John that from now on, we're traveling with our own pillows. The awful mattress would have been endurable if we'd had pillows that didn't just keep getting smaller.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

WHen we went to Boston last summer, we stayed at a Candlewood Suites. I don't know if there are any around here, but my goodness, was it nice. I booked it online and it was very inexpensive as hotels go. But it was like a studio apartment and the linens were better than what we have at home! The mattress was wonderful! Of course, I ALWAYS travel with my own pillow(s)! Don't like hotel pillows. Glad you had fun though!