EasyToBook.com provides all kinds of information on hotels in various cities. You can get discounted rates on all levels of hotels, because, the hotels book rooms directly through the Easy To Book system, and that is cheaper for them to do. You also do not have to pay any reservation fees. They give a lot of information on each hotel to help you make your decision better. They tell prices, obviously, but, they go much further than that. They let you know about all the different services and room services available, times for check in and check out, information on taxes, and even distances to popular sites nearby.

The site features two of my favorite, dream destination cities. The first one is New York. Thanks to my wonderful mother, I have actually already made this trip, but, we are both wanting to go back very badly. So I am always looking at New York hotels and sites online, planning the next trip in my head.

One of the other places that I have always wanted to go is Paris. I honestly don’t know if this trip will ever happen, but, it is so exciting to ‘plan’ it anyway! I love checking out all of the things people do when they visit Paris. With all of the maps provided on EasyToBook.com, I can get my trip all planned out!

I’m a work at home mom, addicted to the internet. I have a few hippie tendencies, but, I also have a few qualities that kick me out of the ‘hippie club’ faster than you can say ‘hippie club’. I thoroughly enjoy spelunking through my brain, surveying the territory for interesting topics, and sharing them with you. I also find ‘real’ spelunking fascinating.

Isn’t she cute, ya’ll? Don’t ya think she should have her very own cooking show?

You can check out the awesome, wonderful, stupendously fun cookbook right here:

MyVeryOwnMail.com/halloween

I recently told you about sending my nephew in Dallas a CD of songs personalized just for him. Well, I got the call I’d been waiting for - he got it! And he LOVED it!!!

My brother called yesterday and was telling me all about it! I’m so excited!

The CD came from PersonalizedStories.com and it is so cool! They didn’t have DJ, so I chose Daniel. And on the CD, like ..actually …physically - on the CD is his name. You know, on the label. So DJ knew that his name was ON the CD, but when he heard the people actually singing his name, he completely flipped OUT! So cool!!! Oh gosh, I wish I could’ve been there!

But knowing DJ so well, and hearing my brother describe his reaction, I felt like I was there!

And when more and more of the songs played - singing his name - he said,

“Dad! Aunt Lisa told ALL those people my name!”

It cracks me up just typing it! Man, I love that kid! He said another cute thing, but, now I can’t remember it - I knew I should’ve posted this yesterday!

And, I was quite amused and quite pleased to hear that his favorite of all the songs was, “You’re A Winner!” And it tickled me absolutely pink to tell Patrick that when he got home from school! Fourteen-year olds - what do they know, anyway?

I must be channeling my Spidey-obsessed nephew in Dallas - that’s all I can figure is happening. Otherwise, I might just be turning into Spiderwoman. See, the problem started about two weeks ago. And, actually, at first, it was quite funny. Now, it is getting a bit annoying, if not disturbing. What’s happening is - “Spidey hands”.

Yeah, that’s right - “Spidey hands”. I can NOT stop making them. When I want to point at something, like I’m talking to you and I’m showing you something ‘on that wall over there’ - “Spidey hands”. Or say I’m explaining something to you and I’m involuntarily emphasizing my words with my hands - yep, “Spidey hands”. When a good song comes on and I start dancing around to the music - yep, you guessed it - “Spidey hands”.

You know, you know - when he does this little number:
This is the weirdest thing. I could see it maybe if it started happening right after we got back from Dallas, because, I did spent lots and lots of time with DJ while we were there.

But for it to just come up out of the blue like this and afflict me so strongly - it’s odd. Just plain odd.

I wonder if I’ll need some kind of antibiotic for it or something?

We’ve discovered lots of really neat things out here in our new town. One of the things that thorougly interested Mark, my knife-addicted man, is Bear Cutlery. He has been so excited to have a knife manufacturer so close to us - and I, of course, have been so nervous. I tell you, if there is one thing that man can spend money on - it’s knives! Eeks! We may be living in a box under a bridge - filled with knives - before too long! The tidbit about that business that I found so interesting, was that Swiss Army actually bought Bear Cutlery at one point, but, one of the original owners of Bear Cutlery, recently bought it back from Swiss Army. I would love to know the details of how that all went down. I think it’s time for me to go on a Google journey - I can spend half a day tracking stuff like that down! The internet has turned us all into private investigators, huh?

Yes, we do the High School Musical thing in this house. Two of my kids really like it, my daughter, especially. She and her friends will wander around the house all day singing the songs and doing the dances that, yes, they have memorized! The other night I was in her room waiting for her to change into her jammies, so I could tuck her in. The next thing I know, she is standing in front of the closet doing what looked to me to be a cheer. We have been going to all of the at-home football games and she and her friends like to watch the cheerleaders and do the cheers with them, as best they can. So I figured that is what she was doing. But nope, it was a dance from the High School Musical.

We live right across the street from the college theater - it is literally like three houses over from me, with the theater being the ‘third house’. It would be so cool if the college would put on a production of the show. Man, if I told Sammie I had High School Musical tickets, she would literally FLIP!

This is just really strange. We all have to get checked out like common criminals just to get our cold medicines, because, amateur chemists like to do funny things with them. But the funny thing is that they (the amateur chemists) turn them into uppers. But, when I take them, they turn me into the zombie queen. (A zombie queen who should just maybe, refrain from writing… ah well!) Anyhoo, the Sudafed I usually get doesn’t usually zombie me out too badly, just a touch, but, my husband accidentally picked up the wrong one. The reason he didn’t notice that it was the wrong one is that it only has two little, bitty letters added onto the end of it. And let me tell you - them’s some STRONG little, bitty letters. Meet the ‘Blog-Posting Zombie Queen’! Yikes! This stinks.

And yet, when the rotten, creepo, street chemists tinker with this stuff, they turn it into UPPERS. Maybe I should be buying it from them, you know?

No drivers license checks, no forms to fill out, no signatures needed - and I get enough energy plus some, to clean the house, or run and play at the park with the kids!

Or maybe the ‘real chemists’ could take classes from the ’street chemists’. I mean,think of it - the pharmacists are turning us all into zombified space cadets, and the street punks are turning out a bunch of super-charged, energized go-getters!

What’s wrong with this picture?

That’s what I am - an electronics jinx. Seriously. When I was explaining all of my electonics jinxing to my mother, she was laughing so hard. Sure - she can laugh. She’s not living it! Hrmph!

I’ve got a brand new laptop, that I cannot connect to the internet - except in the dining room.

I’ve had cellphone issues for about five years now - it’s really, really pathetic. My poor brother had to call me back two or three times just in the course of our conversation yesterday. And I have to dance around the house while talking to anyone, because, a spot that has good reception this minute, might not the next. So I travel through the house, desperately trying to continue my phone conversations.

Mark just bought me a new camera - the camera is eating all of the batteries we put in it! So most of the time I have a brand new camera that doesn’t work, as we can’t keep up with supplying it batteries!

I swear there was at least one or two more electronics that I’ve succeeded in causing to malfunction, but, I can’t seem to think of them. I’m sure if my mother reads this (Hi Momma!) she will enlighten us if I have, in fact, forgotten some of them!

Mark just got back from the store with Sammie and Shawn. They went to get groceries, but, they also went looking for Halloween goodies. The kids needed costumes and we needed a little more stuff for the house. Our decorations are a bit sparse. Neither of the kids got an animal costume, but, they did get neat ones! Sammie got a Vampire Lady dress that is so pretty and she got a pitchfork and some pointy teeth to go with it. Shawn got a black hooded robe and this very cool, and long, staff - that actually has a skull inside a plastic ball that lights up and spins! I can’t wait to see how it works! Patrick is not quite sure what he’ll be doing this year, if he is actually going to dress up or not. I imagine at the last minute, he’ll throw on some kind of ghoulish makeup and go like that. Whatever he decides, I know we will all have fun. This is the best Halloween neighborhood we have ever lived in! I cannot wait!!