Oops! It's 73 sleeps, and National Margarita Day !

 So, I got it wrong yesterday, I was out by 5 sleeps - that's nearly a whole week closer 😀

And it's also National Margarita Day.  This is a cocktail which has been making people happy  since 1938.  Margaritas are a mixture of tequila, triple sec and lime juice and will absolutely be one of my preferred drinks when we get to the USA.  We're country music fans and I currently have One Margarita by Luke Bryan and 5 O'Clock Somewhere by Jimmy Buffet on my playlist.  But to celebrate in style Phil and I are drinking some of that particular nectar.

Thank goodness it's not a school night! 😋

79 Sleeps and the parks are booked

 

When clearing out my daughter's bedroom, I came across this light box we bought her.  I added some Cricut magic and now have a perfect way to count down to the start of our holiday! All I need to do now is find somewhere to put it.  

Over the weekend, we decided to hunker down in the midst of Storm Eunice and watch the Harry Potter movies back to back.  From the very second we saw Harry enter Diagon Alley for the first time, I realised that it's Universal I'm looking forward to the most.   The films were only punctuated by Molly's (allears) Best Day at Universal video on YouTube which served to further raise the excitement in our home.   There is so much which has changed, been added, or which we just simply missed the last time we visited.   And this time we are armed with the knowledge acquired from all the YouTube channels.  I literally have no idea how we managed without Molly & the gang, AJ (dfb) and Tom (WDWNT/UNT)!

That being said, we have now booked our days in all four of the Disney parks, and a second day in Hollywood Studios, just in case we can't get on Rise of the Resistance on our first visit.  I've decided to concentrate upon Disney in the first week and then Universal during the second.  We have 14 day passes for both but I wanted to save the best for last so to speak.  I'm now anxiously awaiting 60 days beforehand so we can get our dining booked - there are a few things we would really like to do, even in Disney.   I'd be more specific, but part of this plan is to be a surprise for part of our group. Fingers crossed it works!

83 sleeps and the backpack is complete

 It took longer than I hoped but I've finally finished it.

The most difficult part was getting the design in the right place.  Fortunately I bought a large enough piece to allow for me to be selective, although I did manage to still be quite frugal with the pieces and fit them in like a fabric version of Tetris!

I happened to have enough of the spotty lining fabric left over from previous backpacks, so this is also technically the cheapest I've made, although you really can't put a price on something made uniquely for someone special.

Every backpack I've made so far has been different, sometimes by design; and in this case by mistake (I forgot the piping around the base and rim 😒)  But I guess this means that they really are unique.  At least the quality is not compromised.  I'm really not a good seamstress but I guess the fact that I put in so much love overrides the lack of talent.

So here it is, the finished article.  At the very least, I got Pluto in the right place, both back and front.  And there is absolutely no way there will be anything like it when we go to Disney World in May.  

92 sleeps and a new backpack

 I was asked by another member of our travelling family to make a backpack.  And since that member loves Pluto, it seemed only fitting to buy some fabric which included him.

However, in my excitement at finding a suitable fabric at an affordable price, I neglected to read the description properly.  I've done this before - you'd think I'd learn; but no, thrill of the find took over and I bought it regardless.  It arrived today and I discovered that Pluto will pretty much be the sole image on the front of the backpack - not the end of the world, but possibly ruling out a matching face mask!

I'm still really keen to see how it turns out, and how I can make the most of the design.  Time will tell and I'll post a picture of the finished backpack when it's done.  And maybe I'll even find a way to get a suitable mask out of it too. 

Will I ever learn to read descriptions properly?  Probably not; but then it does mean things are more interesting as a result. Let's see what happens :)