How Cascade Platinum Makes my Life Easier

Summertime is the time of staying up late to catch firefliess and sleeping in the next day.  Its the time of swimming, lounging in the sun with a good book and catching up on all those movies you've wanted to watch all year.  Summer means barbecues, grilled veggies and fresh garden treats.

It also means more laundry, more messes and more dishes.

Yup, with all that fun comes a whole bunch of extra work for a mom.  We go from eating 2 meals at home to eating 3 here every day.  That means 3 more plates, cups and silverware to wash each day (Tim still eats his lunches away at work every day).  Plus there are added snacks which generate even more dishes to clean.  Needless to say, our dishwasher fills up a lot more often in the summertime.  We go from running it every 2-3 days during the school year to running it every day in the summer.

So when Mom Central Consulting asked for bloggers willing to try out a new dishwasher soap, I jumped on the chance.  Free dishwashing packets in exchange for an honest review?  Yes, please.  Sign me up.  Just so we're all clear:  I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Cascade. I received a product sample to facilitate my review and a promotional item as a thank you for participating.  All opinions are my own.

During those long, leisurely summer days,  I want to go have fun with the rest of the family and do the least amount of work possible on dishes.  That's where Cascade Platinum Pacs come in.  I have used Cascade in my dishwasher for years.  More recently, I have used Cascade dishwashing packets to make running the dishwasher so quick and easy.

So when I heard there was a new kind of Cascade Pacs that used triple cleaning action, eliminating the need to pre-wash dishes and leaving them super shiny, I was ready to jump right in and try them.  Cascade Platinum Pacs offer more than my previous Cascade variety by preventing hard water buildup on both the dishes and on my dishwasher walls.  East Tennessee is known for its hard water so anything to help out with hard water stains is a plus in my book.

Let's run through a typical day in our crazy household.  The kids get up first and are hungry.  So we all use plate #1 for our breakfast and maybe, bowl #1, because we can't have anything touch, you know.  Then it's time to run around and play until midmorning when, once again the natives are hungry.  So it's bowl #2 for each for snack time.  After some screen time, I tear them away for lunch - plate #2 for each and bowl #3 (fruit can't be anywhere near our sandwich or the juice might touch it so we must use extra dishes to prevent this horrible situation).  Are you getting the idea?  By bedtime, our dishwasher is full of dishes that look like this:

Does anybody rinse these babies off?  Uh, no, not usually.  They just get thrown in like they are.

Then it's time for the magic, that colorful little Cascade Platinum Pac just gets slipped in the dispenser and closed and...

Voila!  Sparkling clean, shiny dishes!

I love how quick and easy it is to use Cascade Platinum Pacs.  I love that I can be as lazy as I want and just stick those dishes in without prewashing them.  I love that Cascade Platinum helps prevent that hard-water film build-up that so common around here.  And I love how clean and shiny all my dishes look after I've used Cascade Platinum.

Since people eat with their eyes as much as with their mouths (just ask my son, who refused to eat a perfectly good meal because "it looked yucky"), food critic, Gail Simmons has partnered with Cascade to show just how important presentation is.  Gail states, "The easiest recipes pop with unexpected, gourmet presentations.  Drizzle bright sauces on sparkling white plates or layer desserts in crystal-clean glassware.  Keep your presentation sparkling with Cascade Platinum, which keeps dishes perfect for anytime entertaining and impromptu guests."  Visit the Cascade YouTube page for more advice from Gail.

Here are some things to know:

• You can buy Cascade Platinum Pacs in both Fresh scent and Lemon Burst scent.
• You can connect with Cascade on Facebook or on Instagram at #MyPlatinum.
• You can enter the Cascade "My Platinum" contest on Instagram where each week two contestants will be selected to receive a brand new Whirlpool dishwasher!  One lucky grand prize winner will receive a Platinum kitchen makeover!  Check out all the details here.  (Hurry, the contest ends on June 30.)
• Visit the Cascade YouTube page for more information about their partnership with Gail Simmons

Hope your summer is long, leisurely and full of easy dishwashing.

eShakti.com dress review

Clothes custom fit for my body?
Yes, please.
Oh, and I can get those without leaving my house?
Even better.

Last week I introduced you to eShakti.com, an online store that creates customized clothes for women.  Since I can't sew worth a lick much less create something custom to fit my body, I was super excited when eShakti asked if I would be willing to do a product review for them.

I'm one of those people who, proportionately, have much bigger hips than I do waist.  Sadly, I also have a very small bust.. sniff, sniff.  So sometimes it's hard to find clothes that fit right.

And don't get me started on dresses...
It is so hard to find nice, modest dresses anywhere in a brick and mortar store.
But, guess what, now I don't have to.  I can shop for beautiful dresses, shirts, skirts and jackets from the comfort of my home, ones made to fit just me.

Once you start browsing on eShakti, you'll find the hardest part about shopping on their site is that there are so many pretty things to choose from.  I immediately decided I wanted to get a dress, but I was really torn about which one to get.  There are sooooo many gorgeous ones on there and so many options to choose even after you choose the dress.  You can order items in standard sizes (with a size chart provided on the site) or you can have them custom made to your measurements.  On some items you can choose how long you want the sleeves to be, what kind of neckline you prefer and/or how long you want the garment to be.  With every dress, you enter your height so the dress-makers know how long to cut the skirt.  These are some dresses that instantly drew my attention.

I absolutely love this black toga dress!

This one is fun and flirty for the summer.

But the one I chose, was this dandelion dress.  I am just in love with the draping on it, the wrap style of the bodice and the dandelion embellishment.  I adore the dandelion embellishment.  (You can choose not to get the embellishment on any garment, if solid is more your style.)

When the dress arrived, it was folded nicely in a plastic bag inside of a really sturdy box.  It was not all wadded up like clothes I've gotten from some other online stores.  Maybe that's a little thing, but I really like that attention to detail.  The dress was a little wrinkly even with its great packaging and I don't like to iron so I hung it up in the bathroom to let the shower steam relax all the wrinkles.  Like most items on eShakti, this dress is washable so I could have stuck it in the dryer for a few minutes to pull out the wrinkles as well.

It fit very well, almost perfect.  The first time I put it on, I noticed that it was slightly big in the bust.  Luckily, to put it modestly, a change of undergarments fixed that problem.  Score!  And the dress is so very comfortable, one of the most important criteria in clothes for me.

The dress zips on the side.  It's easy to put on and fits snugly to my waist.

The dandelion embellishment is just as pretty in real life. 

The eShakti website shows the back of every garment too.
I always love to see how the back of an item looks.

The things I love about eShakti and my new dress:

• I love that the details make it completely unique and I love that it is refreshingly modest.  
• The dandelion embellishment on the front is just gorgeous.  It's what first drew me to the dress and it's still what I love most about the dress. 
• I love that most of their clothing is washable.  That's a big plus for everyone but especially for moms.  
• The details are subtle, making it easy to accessorize with jewelry, shoes and sweaters.

Even though I chose boots,
this dress could easily be paired with cute pumps or sassy heels.

The things that need improvement:

• There are no half inch measurements listed in the drop down boxes on the custom order form.  Some of my measurements were only a half inch different from the measurements near them.  When you round them up, it looks like I have no difference at ll in those areas, but I do.  Adding the half inch increment would be nice.  
• It would be nice for eShakti to have a video on their site or link to a video showing the correct places to measure.  Even with the pictures, I wasn't confident I was measuring correctly.
• The items they have listed on their website change very quickly.  If you see something you like on there one day, it may not be there the next.  You have to order it while you can.

My personal experience?  I was so impressed with my new dress, that I ordered two more from their site.  They haven't arrived yet, but when they do, I'll be sure to post pictures.

If you have ordered something from eShakti, I'd love to see pictures when it arrives.  Just post them onto my Facebook page.  Make sure you "like" it first.  Happy shopping!

** Remember, just for my readers, eShakti.com has provided a promotional code that will get you 20% off of your order up through March 25.  Just enter TNSTYNTHEC in the promotional code box. **

A complementary product was provided by eShakti.com for an honest review.  All opinions are my own.

Review: Stretchmark Minimizing Cream

Earlier in the week, I posted a review of Scar Booster Repair serum sold by Maternitique. Luckily for me, I actually got two products to test, not just one.

After seeing this description online:

"Want to fade stretch marks? Trust Stretchmark Minimizing Cream from Belli Motherhood.

Use Belli Stretchmark Minimizing Cream on stretch marks of any age from any cause to:

• Reduce stretch mark length and irregular surface area by up to 52%
  
• Reduce stretch mark depth by up to 72%."

I decided I just had to try out the Belli Motherhood Stretchmark Minimizing Cream.   What sold me on trying it?  The phrase "stretch marks of any age" because, y'all, my baby is turning 6 tomorrow and I can still those darn stretch marks.

The bottle says "Apply to stretchmarks morning and night for 4 weeks and then once daily until desired results are achieved."  Once again, I didn't quite follow directions.  I just applied once a day for about 8 weeks.  (I just can't seem to remember to do this stuff at night as well as the morning.  I guess I'm just too tired.)

The cream is kind of a lotion consistency but it's a little stickier.  I did feel like I needed to wash my hands after applying it or I would stick to things all morning.

So how did it work?  Well...I, personally, didn't see a difference in my stretch marks.  I will be honest, I didn't leave a control group this time, like I did with the scar serum, so I can't guarantee that they didn't change.  However, I have had these stretch marks for a while and they looked the same to me afterwards.  My guess is that this cream would work better on new stretch marks instead of old ones (that doesn't mean I'm volunteering to get new stretch marks just so I can try it out).

If you are pregnant or have recently had a baby, I think this would be a great product to try out.  Even if it didn't reduce your stretch marks right away, it's very soothing on your skin.

Review: Scar Booster Repair

Way back in April, I got the offer to review anything I liked from Maternitique.  Seeing as I haven't had babies in a while, I didn't think there would be anything that I needed, until....

I saw the Scar Repair Booster Serum.
Remember this post?  About my ER visit and surgery?  It just so happened that I had a nice, recent scar from an incision that very much resembled a C-section scar.  (I actually have 3 scars but only one is nice and big.)

And, with swimsuit season upon us, I was ready to do anything to reduce the appearance of that scar.
So I snatched that puppy up and started applying.

According to the directions, to get maximum results, you are supposed to apply the serum twice a day for 12-14 weeks.  In an effort to retain full disclosure, I need to confess I only used the serum once a day for about 9 weeks.  Anyway, with that in mind, here are my findings.

As the true analytical mind that I am, I couldn't help but think that there's no real way to see if the scar booster repair serum worked unless you have a control group.  Bear with me for a second, I'll explain.  When you do a scientific experiment you leave one group unaltered so you can compare the altered group to it.  So to get myself a control group, I decided to only put the serum on the big 2" scar on the left.  I let the smaller 1/2" scar on the right just heal on it's own.

What I observed was that after 9 weeks both scars look about the same amount healed.  Does that mean the serum didn't work?  I think it means the opposite.  My gut (not any kind of scientific data) tells me that a 2" scar would not heal at the same rate as a 1/2" scar.  But it did.  So I'm convinced.

While using the serum, I noticed a big change immediately after putting it on.  It lightened up right away.  Of course it would get a little darker as the day wore on, then lighten up again after the next application.  The one thing I didn't like was the consistency of the serum.  It was very runny and was kind of like putting olive oil on your skin.  That just made it a little hard to go from bottle to my hand to my skin.  It ran all down my hand.  But I managed to figure out to make it work.

The real question, though, is will I keep using it?  Yes, I will.

(Incidentally, I did take before and after pictures.  However, when you get an ovary taken out, the incision is pretty low and I decided I didn't really want that picture out there on the internet for all to see.  So you will have to just take my word on it.)

Chili's Shout Out to Eat Out Review and Giveaway

I LOVE to eat good food.

What would you eat if you could pick any three foods to put together on one plate? 

That was the question posed to me.  And it's hard to choose, let me tell ya.  There are some really good foods out there that make my top 10 list.  But since I had to pick, here we go:

1. Macaroni and cheese - the ultimate comfort food
2. Steak - juicy but not bleeding
3. cinnamon rolls - they never specified if dessert was allowed, so I allowed it 

What about you?  Have you ever wondered if your favorite foods came together on a plate?
At Chili's they can!


Today I got to take my awesome husband on a hot lunch date to try out Chili's new Triple Dipper combo.  What is the Triple Dipper, you ask?  It's 3 appetizers and 3 dips on one plate that totally fill you up and give your taste buds a variety of flavors to choose from.

Go on over to Chili's Shout out to Eat Out site and create your perfect trio.  You will be entered to win a Chili's gift card.  Every day one person will win a $20 gift card.  One grand prize winner will win a $333 gift card.  It could just be you. 

The Triple Dipper menu has 9 appetizers to choose from.  Almost too many good ones to choose just 3, but...I chose fried cheese sticks, loaded potato skins and hot spinach and artichoke dip.  The cheese sticks came with marinara sauce, the potato skins with sour cream and the spinach dip with, well, spinach dip (chips too).

Tim decided to get 3 totally different options on his combo so we would have a variety.  His choices were big mouth bites (mini hamburgers), southwestern egg rolls and wings over buffalo (bone-in chicken wings).  The burgers came with ranch dressing, the egg rolls with avacado ranch dressing and the buffalo wings had bleu cheese dressing.

When we were ordering, we were a little worried that the Triple Dippers would not fill us up.  But they really did.  In fact, Tim was so full that he didn't even eat much for dinner!  I couldn't eat all of my food, but I thought the portion sizes were very good.  I almost ate all of it, which in this day and age of supersizing everything, speaks a lot to the correct portion sizes offered us today.

Our empty plates

My favorite out of the 3 was the fried cheese sticks, but I have always loved good cheese sticks, so that was no surprise.  I went out of my comfort zone a little bit with the spinach and artichoke dip, but it was excellent!  My only complaint is that the chips broke too easily.  It was hard to scoop up the dip because they kept breaking.

Tim's favorite was the southwestern egg rolls.  His words were: "You can get burgers and chicken wings other places too, but these [southwestern egg rolls] are only found at Chili's.  And they are good!"

We ate there for lunch but I think the Triple Dipper would be wonderful and completely filling at dinner too.  We contemplated trying to share one, but I'm glad we didn't.  As a main course, one Triple Dipper would not have filled both of us up.  Besides when you order two, you get twice as many foods to sample and eat.

Want to try out the Triple Dipper for yourself?  Well, it's your lucky day.  One reader will win a $20 gift card to Chili's.  Here's how to win:

Your mandatory entry:

Visit Chili's contest entry site here and enter "Stay in the Car Mom" as the name of the blog hosting the giveaway.  Leave me a comment so I know you did that.

Additional extra entries that increase your odds of winning (please leave a separate comment for each):

1. Tell me your 3 favorite foods you would like to have all on 1 plate.

2. "Like" Chili's on Facebook

3. Follow @Chilis & @Shoutout2eatout on Twitter

4. Create your terrific trio located www.shoutouttoeatout.com and comment with the URL link

5. Opt-In to Chili's email club here (You'll receive a free appetizer certificate too!)

6. Tweet out this
"At @Chilis Good Things Come In 3's! Check out @2Wired2Tired http://bit.ly/linkyrave for 200 chances to win in the #tripledipper linky rave!”

7. Write a post on your blog about your 3 favorite foods you would like to have all on 1 plate and mention the Shoutout2eatout.com

This giveaway will run until June 12 at midnight.



I was provided with a complementary $20 gift card to Chili's to try out the Triple Dipper combo.  The honest opinions are all mine.

I'm a Frito Lay fan

Several weeks ago I applied to be in the Frito Lay Fan program.

Why?
Because, really, I love Frito Lay chips. 

OK, OK, I know I have to share them. 
So here's the truth, we all love them.

Not only was I accepted, but I was one of the lucky ones who got picked to get a free Frito Lay snack pack in the mail.  My kids eyes just lit up when we opened that box.  In it was:

• Tostitos Scoops! tortilla chips
• Tostitos Restaurant Style with a Hint of Lime tortilla chips
• Lay's Classic potato chips
• Garden Spinach Dip mix
• Insulated Frito Lay tote bag

As usual Frito Lay delivered.  Can you say YUMMY!!!

So here's the rundown on our sampler pack.  (By the way, the chip bag in the picture is not one of our free ones.  We ate both out of that bag - dipping strips - and out of our new bags.)

• Tostitos Scoops! tortilla chips - Always wonderful!  The kids like to eat them plain.  Tim and I prefer them with either salsa or dip.  They were really good with the dip mix that came in our snack pack.
• Tostitos Restaurant Style with a Hint of Lime tortilla chips - OK, the truth is I really didn't like these.  It really wasn't the lime that I didn't like.  They seemed too salty.  But Tim liked them pretty well.  It was nice to try something new, though.
• Lay's Classic potato chips - A family favorite.  Once again, the kids eat these plain (by the handfuls).  Tim and I had them with our dip.
• Garden Spinach Dip mix - Very easy to make.  You just pour the mix into sour cream and stir.  Goes great with chips :).
• Insulated Frito Lay tote bag - Free bags are always great!!

As your summer begins, make your life easier.  Make your meals easier.  Go buy some Frito Lay chips! 

Want some dip to go with your chips?  Check out these easy recipes: Garden Lime Dip or Mango Salsa Chutney .

Chips, dip and recipes provided complements of Frito Lay.

Book Review: Surrender the Night

Surrender the Night by MaryLu Tyndall



Surrender the Night is the second book in the Surrender to Destiny series by MaryLu Tyndall.  This book can be read as a stand-alone novel.  I have not read the first book in the series and I had no trouble following the action in this book.

The year is 1814 and living in Baltimore has been rough during the British siege of the Chesapeake Bay.  Young farm girl, Rose McGuire, prefers to stay on her farm with her animals and not get involved in things of the war.  Much to her dismay the war comes to her.

While feeding her animals in the barn one night a rogue British naval officer attempts to assault her.  Thinking her virtue is as good as gone, she is surprised when another British naval officer, Alexander Reed, comes to her defense and gets wounded in the process.  Feeling obligated to the enemy who rescued her, she must now save his life as she hides him from everyone around.

Without meaning to, the two start to fall in love.  Will their love survive the war?  Can Rose get past thinking of Alex as her enemy?

My Thoughts:

Surrender the Night was interesting to me right off the bat because it was about the War of 1812.  In my mind that's one of those forgotten wars in American history.  We all know it was between us and the British but I don't have any idea what started it or what we were fighting about.  So the fact that Tyndall wrote a book set in that time period was already intriguing to me.

The book has so many fully developed characters that I just couldn't pick my favorite.  Rose is the opposite of the headstrong, don't-need-a-man type of heroine that I've seen in a lot of other historical romance novels.  She is timid, scared of everything and unsure of herself.  Yet she is loveable.  Her uncle, another of my favorite characters, is an unrefined, thief-turned-pastor who is just delightful in the novel.  He also provides some much-needed comic relief.

Overall the action in the book is engaging.  There are a few times that the dialogue and action seemed a bit melodramatic.  But, hey, I can put up with a little melodrama if it helps out the romance in the book.

After reading this book, I'd love to read the first book in the series and have already put it on my wish list on Amazon.

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.
  
I was provided with a complementary Kindle version of this book by NetGalley.  The opinions are all my own.

Review and Giveaway: Math Blaster by Jumpstart

We love Jumpstart!

Jumpstart uses technology that your kids are asking to play with all day and secretly turns it into learning fun for them.  Last summer we got the privilege of trying out Jumpstart.com's learning website for kids and posting this review.

Now Jumpstart is at it again with a new learning site called Math Blaster, focusing on learning math through interactive games.

Just like the Jumpstart website, on Math Blaster you can create and customize your own character.  You even pick a cool spacey name like David Magnetic Mercury.  Your cadet then moves up through the ranks by playing games.  The games all have a space theme and involve blasting dangerous aliens or foreign virus-like creatures.  And, oh yeah, they also sneak math problems in there along the way.  David's favorite games are HyperBlast and the Galaxy Grand Prix ("You get to create your own track!!")




After choosing a game, you get to choose the math lesson to focus on - addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, etc.  Then you choose more specifically what level you want - adds to 8, adds to 10, etc.  You can also choose easy, medium or hard.  So there are a LOT of ways to customize your child's experience.

If your child needs a little hand-eye coordination help or some extra math help, he or she can always visit the academy.  There you practice your shooting skills in a shooting gallery type game, or have your character climb up a mountain all while brushing up on math skills.



I, personally, played around a little on the site and even as an adult, it was a little addicting.  You want to answer those math questions faster and get a higher score.  The more games you play and the higher your scores, the higher you get ranked.  And who doesn't like to have their ego stroked a little bit by getting rewards, even if they are just virtual.

I think this is a wonderful site.  David is always asking for "screen time", as we call it at our house, and I definitely feel less guilty about letting him play the computer if he is playing educational games.  Also, as a little Star Wars fan, he loves the space theme to the game.  Julie enjoys being able to expand her skills by practicing multiplication and division, things she won't "officially" learn until next year in school.  But, don't take my word on it, take theirs.

Just for reading, on lucky person will receive a 6 month membership to the Math Blaster website.   To enter:

1. Visit Math Blaster's blog and leave me with a comment of the name of your favorite article on there.
2. Extra entries - Follow me on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway for 2 extra entries.  Leave the link to your tweet in a comment.
3. Extra entries - Follow my blog and blog about this giveaway for 2 extra entries.  Leave the link to your post in a comment.

 That's it!  The contest ends a week from today on Thursday June 2 at midnight.  Good luck!
Update:  Due to commenting problems the contest has been extended to Sunday June 5 at midnight. If you have trouble leaving a comment, please email your entry to catwoman522@gmail.com.

“Disclosure: I was provided with a membership good for Math Blaster and Knowledge Adventure at no cost by Knowledge Adventure in order to test the products’ abilities and give my own personal opinions on it. The opinions I have given are mine and may differ from others but were not influenced by the company or the free product provided.”

Disney: Making up our Touring Schedule

What I Learned Wednesday is taking a little break this week.  It has been preempted by more DISNEY POSTS!!!  Yay!!


OK, so maybe I'm the only one excited about that, but it's my blog so I can do what I want on it :).

As I said in my previous Disney post, I am all about the Unofficial Guide to Disney and their corresponding website, touringplans.com.  (Touringplans.com is a subscription service; however, if you buy the book, you get a free 1 year subscription.)

In the book, they have some nice, pretty graphs that show crowd levels over the whole year.  You'll see that crowds are highest over Spring Break, followed closely by mid-June through mid-August.  Holidays also draw big crowds.  But the first week in May - not crowded at all.  That is the main reason we decided to travel when we did and to take our kids out of school - to miss the crowds. 

After you determine the dates you're going, flip over to the touringplans.com and look up each individual day to see the predicted crowds by park.  For example, our first touring day would be May 2.  On May 2, it shows that the overall crowd level for all of Disney World will be 6 out of 10.  If a 10 is the most crowded it's ever been, May 2 will be 60% as full as that day.  Broken up by park, Magic Kingdom (MK) is predicted to be a 7.7 out of 10; Epcot (E), a 2.8 out of 10; Hollywood Studios (HS) a 2.3 out of 10 and the Animal Kingdom (AK) a 4.6 out of 10.  (Both the book and the website go into a lot of detail about how they get these numbers.  I won't bore you with that here.)  Obviously, if you were picking parks based solely on crowd levels, you would pick either Epcot or HS for May 2.

Armed with all that information, we made up our schedule: Epcot on Monday (2.8), MK on Tuesday (2.7), swimming and shopping on Wednesday, HS on Thursday (2.6) and MK again on Friday (5.4).  Please note, if you choose to go the lowest crowd option like we did, you will probably have to give up some things.  For instance: Fantasmic, the nighttime show at HS was only shown on Tuesday.  We went there on Thursday based on crowd predictions.  Because of that we had to give up seeing that show.  But that was something we were OK with.  You'll just have to make that decision for yourselves.

Now that you know where you are going on which days, you get to pick your touring plan.  This is the best thing about touringplans.com.  For each park, they have done extensive research to find out the optimal order to ride/see every attraction to minimize wait time.  There are many touring plans to choose from.  You can choose plans for parents with young children, with tweens, with teens; plans just for adults, or senior citizens.  You can also choose plans that are based on what type of attractions you want to see, i.e. princess plans, pirate plans, character plans.  You can also customize your own plan by entering in the attractions you don't want to miss.  The website will then tell you what order to visit those to minimize your wait time.

For example, for the Magic Kingdom we chose the 2-day touring plan for Junior Pirates and Young Adventurers.  It was written with 4-8 year old boys in mind; however, it had every ride that my daughter really wanted to ride as well.  The plan has a map at the top labeled with each step so you know where you go next.  This is how that touring plan starts:

Magic Kingdom Entrance - Arrive at the entrance to the Magic Kingdom 25 minutes prior to opening.
Peter Pan's Flight (FP) - Ride Peter Pan's Flight in Fantasyland.
Mickey's PhilharMagic (FP)- See Mickey's PhilharMagic.
The Haunted Mansion (FP) - See The Haunted Mansion in Liberty Square.
Splash Mountain (FP)(40") - Ride Splash Mountain in Frontierland. Obtain FASTPASSes if wait exceeds 30 minutes here or at Big Thunder (whichever is longest).

It continues on with 15 steps for Day 1 and 9 for Day 2.  "FP" tells you that a ride has Fastpasses available. "40" " tells you the height requirement for that ride.  Armed with your optimal touring plan, your visit is really easy.  You just do everything in the order they tell you, cutting out the things you don't want to do, and you'll hardly have to wait in any lines all day.  This worked out beautifully for us.  We only had to wait in one attraction line that was longer than 10 minutes and that was for Soarin' at Epcot (with a Fastpass no less).  Several attractions we rode multiple times but by using our plan, we didn't have to wait in line for any of them.  It made our visit so much nicer.

I will tell you one caveat though, and that is the character lines.  We always had to wait in line for characters.  They pretty much run the lines so that you are guaranteed at least a 15 minutes wait to see a character, so just be prepared for that.

If you want to check out touringplans.com and see which plans we used, we went with the tweens plan for Epcot, but amended some of the more rigorous rides.  We also did the tweens plan for Hollywood Studios minus the Rock 'n Roller coaster and the Tower of Terror.

I am a HUGE planner, if you hadn't already guessed.  Some of you more spontaneous folks may think this is going overboard, but I can't stress how much I think theses plans helped our trip.  Waiting in lines with bored kids is the worst and it was my biggest fear on this trip.  How much will they fight?  How will we keep the whining down?  After our plan worked so well on the first day, I was completely hooked!  I HIGHLY recommend going into Disney with a plan.  If you don't choose touringplans.com, find another book or site to help you.  It makes your trip so much more peaceful.

No, touringplans.com didn't reward me in any way for this post.  I wish they had.  But I will recommend their product wholeheartedly whether I'm being paid to do it or not.

Book Review: Rest in Peace

Rest in Peace by Frances Devine


Victoria Storm, who owns a boarding house for senior citizens, is once again thrown into a murder investigation when she discovers the body of Clyde Foster, the local pet store owner, in a pool of blood in his store.  While searching down clues that seem to involve a World War II jewelry theft, Victoria's life is threatened and one of her seniors, Miss Aggie goes missing.  Will they find the murderer in time?  Will the 60 year old hidden jewelry finally appear?

Rest in Peace is part of the Hometown Mysteries collection and is the third book featuring Miss Aggie from the Misadventure of Miss Aggie Mystery series.

My Thoughts:

This was a quick read, but I felt it was just an OK book.  There were a lot of characters in the book and at times it was hard to keep them all straight.  Even though the book seems to tout itself as a murder mystery, it seemed more like the murder was a side plot.  Most of the mystery elements in the book involved Miss Aggie's disappearance and the mystery surrounding emeralds stolen from the Jews in World War II. To me the final solution to the murder was very anti-climactic.

I enjoyed reading this book; however, it's not one that I will gush over to my friends.  I just feel like the story could have been developed a little more.  I was also a little disappointed that this book pretty much told you everything that happened in the first two Miss Aggie books.  I would have liked to read those two books, but I feel like I'd be wasting my money now because I know who did it and why.

I give this book 4 stars out of 5.

Thanks to netGalley for providing me the Kindle version of this book to read.