We went to the Pirate & Princess party this past Friday and also last February. Much has remained the same, but there were a few changes. Most significantly, when you go back to Mickey’s Toontown Fair to find the princess meet and greet lines in the Big Top Tent, you only have to wait in one line.

Last year, you needed to choose to wait in line for Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, or Snow White. Then, one you got to the front of the line you met the princess and her accompanying Prince. We waited in line for Cinderella and Prince Charming last year, but we got to Mickey’s Toontown Fair so late in the evening that we did not have time to wait in yet another long line to meet the other princesses.

This year, you wait in the line once and although you will not get to meet the princes, you do meet Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and Snow White all in the same room. They each have a small tent they pose in with the children and you move from one to the other. It was quite pleasant and the little room where they have the met and greets is quiet and calm, which is a nice change from the rest of the park.

It’s almost like a scene out of Child’s Play, where the evil Chucky doll becomes murderous. In this case, though, the doll is red and fuzzy and last seen speaking n baby talk on Sesame Street. His name is Elmo and he wants to kill James.

What?

A family in Lithia, Florida (a suburb of Tampa) says that when their son’s Knows Your Name doll ran out of batteries, they replaced said batteries and the doll began to display an alarming new vocabulary. The doll is supposed to which connect to a computer to learn certain phases and names. The newest phrase is “Kill James”.

The Bowman family was not amused. Although the toy is James’ favorite, it is now being kept away from the boy. In the meantime, manufacturer Fisher-Price says it will give the Bowmans a voucher for a new doll and examine James’ model for the source of the problem and check whether other dolls are malfunctioning in similar ways.

One has to wonder if this doll was manufactured in China. If it was me, I’d skip the voucher and sell the doll on eBay. Of course, I would probably receive bad feedback when the buyer received the doll and realized the poor doll was just trying to say “Tickle James”.

Everyone collects something. My dad collects Roy Rogers memorabilia. My sister collects Precious Moments. I used to collect David Winter Cottages, before the line was sold to Enesco. My daughter likes Cherished Teddies. The entire family likes to give Willow Tree figures to one another for important life events, like the birth of a baby or a child’s first day of school. We do not have unlimited room to keep acquiring little pretties, but it’s lovely to be able to have some of the things you adore sitting near you on a special shelf or curio cabinet.

The UK Gift Company has a very old tradition of providing high quality collectables. They began in 1858 as Church’s China and for the past several years, they have been online and able to serve an international clientele. I like to browse the Lilliput Lane pieces they have, because they remind me of old David Winter designs. For me, there is just something endlessly charming about tiny details and themes that hint at simpler days.

Of course, one of the things I like best about the things the UK Gift Company offer is that they make sure to stay on top of the trends that drive new collectable lines. While Lladro will always be a timeless classic in their inventory, they also have new lines like the surreal Speed Freaks collection by Terry Ross.

What do you collect? 

I’m not as into the Mickey Mouse lore as some people who visit the Walt Disney theme parks. I enjoy the overall experience and agree that these are some of the cleanest, most well maintained parks you can find anywhere. Nonetheless, I am not one of the fanatics you see walking around with necklaces full of collectable trading pins. Heck. I even saw one older guy this weekend with a duster FULL of pins. That was kind of cute, though.

The friend we went with bought her daughter a starter kit for the Disney Trading pins, but I felt like we will not be going to the parks enough to do the same. Even so, one of the cast members at MGM did give my daughter a free Tinker Bell pin when he saw that it was her birthday!

Anyway, I know one of the popular things to do while at Disney parks is to walk around looking for “hidden Mickeys”. I saw my fair share, but I met them with an internal shrug. I did, however, think this one that I saw in the manatee tank at Epcot was pretty cool looking, so I snapped a picture. It would be easier to see, but there is a fish in front of it.

I just got back from our Disney Weekend. I have so much to write about, but I am bone tired and just wanted to check in quickly. We attended the Pirates & Princess Party at the Magic Kingdom Friday night and Saturday we went to MGM for a bit and finished out the day at Epcot. Now, Epcot is amazing! I cannot believe that up until now I have not been there. Just walking around the lake and seeing all the displays for the different nations made me have a little wanderlust. I’m ready to book a flight and have a grand adventure somewhere far away. A flight to Australia sounds good right about now. You cannot get too much more away from here than “Down Under”. Plus, there is something about an Australian accent that makes even the most shady looking man sound appealing.

For all of you out the who make your own hair bows, don’t forget that when your girls are wearing your bows, they are walking advertisements! You need to make sure you are carrying your business card at all times, or at least something with your website on it. Of course, one of my favorite ways to let people know you make bows it to dress your little one is this cute shirt:

My grandmother sat me down when I was very young, probably about 8, and talked to me about skin care, moisturizing, and making sure your skin stayed young looking for your entire life. She said I needed to start moisturizing at a very young age. I am happy that I took her advice to heart. My skin looks great, but I am convinced that it has a little something to do with genetics and clean living as well.

In fact, I have learned over the years that you need to take of your skin on the outside and on the inside. What you put into your body and how healthy you are is going to be reflected in your skin. As much as I learned from my mother, grandmother ands just from living life, I am always learning more information about how to face down aging and come out looking great.

Some of the best beauty tips are about prevention. You want to prevent wrinkles, dry skin and acne – not just tackle them once they are looking back at you in the mirror. The BORBA skin care has a great article about preventing acne. I linked it for your reading enjoyment

By the way, while you’re at BORBA’s site take a look at their clarifying line. It uses pomegranate, which is an amazing antioxidant. And their current promotion is too good to pass up – if you spent $100, you get a skin care sampler worth $25.

Tonight will be the last time you will be able to see a total lunar eclipse until December 20, 2010. You’ll also be able to see Saturn and the bright star Regulus on either side of scene. If your skies are clear, you should be able to see the eclipse for about an hour from both North and South America. The eclipse will begin at 10 p.m. on the East Coast

Those of you in Europe and Africa can see it high in the sky before dawn Thursday.

A total lunar eclipse happens when the full moon crosses Earth’s shadow and is blocked from the sun’s rays.

I like it when Tampa makes the news. It gives me more to write about, more to ponder, and more to wonder when I will have enough cash saved up to move to somewhere just a little more rural in our fair state of Florida.

I suppose it bothers me that this last reason our area is in the headlines is because of a sex challenge set forth by a local preacher and his wife. The Relevant Church in Ybor City has a 30-day sex challenge. It is their answer to the high divorce rates. They ask all married coup0les to have sex daily.

The challenge also involves the singles in the church, though in their case they are challenged to abstain for 30 days. Is it just me, or does it seem very sad that churches these days have to challenge single Christians to not have sex? That’s one of those pretty cut and dry tenants that too many people tend to overlook in their own lives.

Or, a love affair with time…

Time is a versatile performer; it flies, runs out, marches on, heals all wounds, longer then rope & will tell.
– source unknown

Even people who are not fond of wearing jewelry like rings and necklaces love the feel of a truly high quality watch on their wrist. My ex was a man’s man all of the way, but he still liked a big, gold, luxury watch. I guess there is just something classic and comfortable about a timepiece that’s made to last, … and made to look great. I love a good looking watch, because I am fascinated by jewelry that doubles as something useful.

Without dispute, the heart of the timepiece industry is the Swiss community and their long, celebrated tradition of Horology (the science of time, timekeepers, and timekeeping.) And, the heart of the industry is vividly realized at 10hs10.com. Anything at all you want to know about amazing Swiss luxury watches can be found on the 10hs10 site.

While you’re visiting the site, I want to urge you to go ahead and sign up for the newsletter. Just by signing up, you are entering to win one of three watches made by Atlantic, who also happens to be celebrating their 120th anniversary this year.

I just finished reading The Man Who Folded Himself by David Gerrold. I figured it would be my kind of book, since it is a time travel fiction written by the man who penned my absolute favorite episode of the classic Star Trek series – The Trouble with Tribbles.

While the concept was endlessly fascinating and I enjoyed the complex look at multiple time streams and anti-paradox, I found myself wondering why the book was not just called The Man Who F*cked Himself. It may have been a more apt title.

Now, even books as popular as The Time Traveler’s Wife dealt with the concept of sexual exploration in the face of going back in time to meet yourself. That book, though, did not dwell endlessly on the issue. Gerrold’s protagonist, Dan, came to the point where that was about all he thought about. I found myself skipping entire pages of the story, and this is not a very long book.

In the end, I’m happy I finally read this 1973 time travel classic, but I will not be putting it on my list of re-reads.

There are those of us who are not in a never-ending pursuit of the latest video gaming system. My ex was forever buying a new system to replace an “old” one and that meant he had to buy all new games. The old systems would just sit and gather dust, or take up room in the closet. All along, I was mourning the loss of games like ClayFighter, which was made for the old Super NES. I loved it when Tiny grappled or Blue Suede Goo flipped someone with the curl of his Elvis-like hair.

For those who are still happily in love with their vintage Nintendo NES or Nintendo 64, there is NintendoForSale.com, where you can get your hands on refurbished classic consoles and vintage video games. “Relive the Fun” of your youth!

Personally, I’d like to find an old Intelevision system. I was addicted to Astro Smash!

Florida residents and the insurance industry do not have a happy relationship. Let’s just say that insurance companies will do almost anything to not have to cover homeowners here in the state, despite the fact that we have not had a devastating hurricane here in years. One insurance company even tried to justify their recent rate increases by saying Global Warning is causing them to have to up prices.

It’s a bunch of crap. These same insurance companies are simply greedy and prefer to go after the lower risk policies, like cars and trucks, and cherry pick the less risky homeowners.

Now 50,000 State Farm customers in Florida (most of them in Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties) are the latest casualties of the greedy insurance industry. Their hurricane coverage will not be renewed by State Farm this year.

Most will turn to Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state-run insurer. And while Citizens has always been more expensive in the past, recent rate freezes might actually means these former State Farm customers will save money.

Florida lawmakers keep trying to pass laws to protect homeowners. Insurance lobbyists are snakes in the grass, often tripping up the good intensions of the policy makers. In the end, most insurance companies pay consulting companies to find loopholes, and then they just keep upping prices and dumping riskier homeowners.

I used to hate shopping, seriously hate it. It’s not that I actually hate going out and buying the tings I need. I just despise the crowds of rude people and having to deal with clueless salespeople. Online shopping revolutionized things for me. I adore shopping online. Not only can I avoid the crowds, I often avoid sales tax as well. Plus, I can comparison shop without driving from store to store.

When I find a good website that lists shopping deals, I bookmark it. I’m going to share a great site worth book marking with you now. Buxr.com is a one-stop source for all sorts of online shopping bargains. You can find product discounts, online coupons, and special store promotions. I especially like their Free Shipping section, which clues you in on all the deals available that also come with the added bonus of not having to pay shipping costs.

Plus, if you have your own website, you can share Buxr Deals with your visitors and make money while you’re doing it through commissions simply by using the Buxr Deals Widget.

I’m taking my daughter to the Pirates and Princess Party at Disney’s Magic Kingdom for her birthday again this year. We tried it last year for her birthday and it was absolutely magical – despite the cold weather and the rain. My sister and my nephew went along with us, sop we spent a considerable amount of time doing Pirate kinds of things. This year, though, I am taking along one of my best friends and her daughter. The daughter is one of my daughter’s best buddies and is only 10 weeks older.

So, two princesses this time and it should be a BLAST! Gigi is dressing as Aurora and her friend, Cassie, is going as Jasmine. We will go to the party Friday night and then stay at one of the Disney hotels. The next day, one of my friend’s cousins is getting us all free park hopper passes. We will start the morning at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and then move onto Epcot for lunch at the Akershus with the Princesses.

A big weekend, yes? I have to admit I may be more excited than my daughter! The weather this year is supposed to be warm and no rain is in sight.

Here is one of the pictures from last year. She was Sleeping Beauty then as well.