Movies ~ Hurricane Party

I threw myself a Hurricane party for one today.

Photo by Anant Jain on Unsplash

I watched the rain literally hit every window in my house.  ("Note to self" - must clean every window now.)  I also watched the wind whip tree limbs and leaves in all kinds of distorted ways.  (Another "Note to self" - glad I hadn't raked yet.)

I've Laughed, Prayed and Eaten my way through today.  Watched a long list of Christmas movies.  Finished a jigsaw puzzle too - that will be a post for another day.

Photo by charlesdeluvio on Unsplash

I also shed a few tears as I went through my day.  Tears for what I miss (my great, big guy that hated the commercial side of Christmas).  Tears for what I have (family and friends that mean the world to me).  Tears of thanks (I'm very thankful for all I have in my life).

I feel like my insides were washed today while the outside got a good washing from Mother Nature as Nicole passed through my area.

Photo by Austin Kehmeier on Unsplash

I feel refreshed and renewed.  Ready to fight another day.

Thanks for visiting ~ Reia

Nov. 7th ~ Movie... Christmas on Holly Lane

I have my favorite Christmas Movies.  You can read about some of them on previous posts here.  Some haven't been written about yet.  I was pleasantly surprised to add a new movie to my list of favorites.

Christmas on Holly Lane

It was warm, inviting and showed how the love of three friends could overcome multiple obstacles.

Watch the Trailer on YouTube here.

I was reminded that opening up your home to those you love might mean squishing up some but the rewards are tremendous!

Check it out.  It's on Freevee right now.

Thanks for visiting ~ Reia

Nov. 6th ~ Savings - Thanksgiving and Ibotta

Ibotta released this year's "Thanksgiving" Rebate.  They changed it in several ways this year and I think I like the change.  The biggest change to me was we could shop at other stores and not just Walmart this year.

This year - the rebate is in 3 stages.

Stage 1 - buy/redeem the required number of offers (I had to redeem 16 offers but I found yogurt, chips, etc. to make it doable.  Several of the chips were BOGO so that made the offer even sweeter - or - saltier).

Stage 2 - completing stage 1 unlocks your FREE Butterball Turkey.  (Free 3# Frozen Butterball Turkey Breast or $14 cash back towards a bigger Butterball Turkey.)

Now you buy/redeem 4 more offers.

Stage 3 - completing stage 2 unlocks your FREE sides.

It felt like a scavenger hunt and now I'm really stocked up on some good items.  Next stage for me...I'm off to redeem my FREE offers.

If you haven't tried Ibotta out, you really should.  (Just click the + sign of the offer you want to redeem, buy the item, redeem your receipt through the app and you've made some $ back.)

Thanks for visiting ~ Reia

Nov. 5th ~ Puzzle Completed Day

There wasn't a "National Day" that clicked with me today, so I decided to post my latest completed jigsaw puzzle.  Entitled "Holiday Shop" - 2000 pieces and made by the CEACO company.

It was really detailed.  I mean really detailed.  I kept finding heads, bears, ornaments, cookies - all kinds of things in the pieces.  I really loved this puzzle because it took me awhile and a whole lot of thought to get it together.

Toward the end of a puzzle, I like to put all of the remaining pieces in shape order.  Makes it easier to choose the right piece.  Even with all of the pieces laid out it was days before they all found their way to their correct home.  Whew!  I loved it!

This puzzle was a true puzzle treasure!  It's staying on my puzzle table for a little longer and later I'll bring it out again.

Thanks for visiting ~ Reia

Nov. 4th ~ National Easy-Bake Oven Day

 What a fun day and subject to research!  Easy-Bake Ovens - I had one as a young girl and the miniature cake boxes fascinated me.

Here's some history...the Easy Bake Oven was invented by Ronald Howes after watching street vendors in New York City use light bulbs to keep food hot.  

Not only has the Easy-Bake Oven been around for over 50 years.  More than 150 million little packages of food have been sold.  That's a lot of little packages of food!

Here's a 1963 Easy-Bake Oven commerical I found on YouTube.

Walmart has a present day Easy Bake Oven.  Plus - there's even a cookbook!

What a fun walk down memory lane!  Thanks for visiting ~ Reia

Nov. 3rd ~ National Sandwich Day

I'm a sandwich kind of girl!  Just enough good things in the middle of some good bread and I'm a happy camper!

Photo by Mae Mu on Unsplash

I read some history on the sandwich, but nothing was concrete, so I'll just let you know my favorite places to get a sandwich and what that sandwich is.

Photo by Monika Grabkowska on Unsplash

Arby's Corned Beef Reuben - I used to make these but it's a lot easier to swing through Arby's.

Subway - anything at Subway and with all of the toppings!

Panera - same as Subway - pretty much any of their sandwiches.

5 Guys - Burgers - totally their burgers.

My Ginger - she makes a mean Grilled Cheese Sandwich.  I've never eaten one as good as the one she makes.

What about you?  What are your favorites?

I'm off to the kitchen to make a copycat of one of my favorites.

Thanks for visiting ~ Reia

Nov 2nd ~ National Advent Calendar Day

Apparently Aldi created "National Advent Calendar Day" in 2020.  It's to be celebrated on the first Wednesday in November.  You can see their Advent Calendars for 2022 - released today - here.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

National Today has this graphic showing the history of the Advent Calendar timeline.

I really liked the history and the pictures of previous Advent Calendars I found at "An Historian Around Town".

I found my own display of Advent Calendars and they made me smile.  They were beautiful and different.  A lot of choices.

Today's "National Day" makes me happy.  There's something special about a countdown and Advent Calendars count down to a very special event.

May today's "National Day" remind you of things that give us hope and encouragement...something to look forward to.  We could all use a reason to look forward to tomorrow and a reason to smile.

Thanks for visiting ~ Reia

Nov. 1st ~ National Authors Day

We all have our favorite authors.  I have more than I can list.  My book loving daughters have even more, I'm sure.  I'm especially proud of the author I birthed.  I told her for many a year that she was a writer - I was absolutely right.  Books are pouring out of her right now.

So today I'm focusing on the author I raised.  Her genre right now is Young Adult / High School.  I'm counting on her to give our youth of today some high standards and let them know that we understand what they're going through on their life's journey.

We all gather baggage as the years roll on.  I know I've spent a lot of years discovering and healing as I examine and toss my baggage.  Ginger's books have helped me do just that.

I laughed and cried my way through this book.

You can follow Ginger as she writes on Wattpad.  You can purchase her first published book at Amazon ("The Summer List" on kindle and paperback).

I get to read what she's writing that's not "Wattpad" or "Amazon" ready - perks of birthing the author no doubt.

She's back to blogging too and I'm thrilled about that!

So - kick back and read some of Ginger's works.  You won't regret it!

Thanks for visiting ~ Reia