I've been a big fan of TCTS since I discovered them on Cape Cod over a decade ago. Only about 20% of the store is dedicated to the current "holiday" - - Christmas, Easter, Halloween, whatever - and the rest is a great mix of household stuff. The quality of that household stuff use to be a whole lot better, but I do find lots of great garden items there. I stopped in one off the NYS thruway a few weeks ago and bought a ton of seeds, all less then a dollar a pack. I also got a bunch of flexible pails (super bendable and tough with built in side handles)for weeding and mixing potting mix for a whole lot cheaper than the catalogs sell them. If you have access to a TCTS you should stop by and take a look.

Enjoyed hearing the happy stories here. We never get any trick-or-treaters up here in our mountain community. That's why we have our annual Halloween Homemade Soups & Bread dinner parties down at our friends' home in town. The party was fun and my homemade French Onion soup was a huge hit. Thank goodness I kept out enough for DH & I to have another bowl tonite, as the rest was eaten up quickly. Trail, you made me laugh out loud! I can just picture you two sitting out on your steps waiting for candy donations (LOL)! Maire cate: I know, Halloween candy is so hard to ignore!So are the cookies. My friend snuck a bag of her (delicious!) homemade ghost cookies into my empty soup pot before we left last night and they've been calling my name all morning long! Annie: hope you had a great meal last night! Deedee: oooooh, scary movies, did you watch "Signs" (my fav)??? Patty: that's the best way to celebrate ;') Fun: I know, kind of sad really. Same here. Teacats: your Halloweens always sound like such fun! The kids in your area are so lucky! Marcolo: I'm still shaking my head, trying to understand your post, and chuckling over it (LOL)! And, seriously, you "actually detest kids"?

I order from Amazon also but ran into a couple of strange things recently. I ordered a whipped cream canister which uses CO2 cartridges to whip the cream or whatever topping you want to make (similar to what Starbucks uses). I ordered both and they arrived. The canister was missing a bunch of parts. I contacted Amazon by email and they said to return it. I did, no problem. Refund. I then asked for the label for the cartridges to return. They said they were restricted and they would refund my money but to keep the cartridges. I had ordered 150 cartridges which cost $42.00. I emailed them back and said I had no use for them without the canister and wanted to return them. They responded that they didn't want them back as they would cost more to return as they were worth. A few months ago I ordered a gadget which is a skin needle thingy. I had heard about them and decided to give it a try. When it arrived the directions were all in Chinese. I wrote Amazon and they said they would forward the email to the seller. Seller writes back that instructions were on a YouTube video and it would demonstrate how to use it. I wrote back that I wanted a refund. They wrote back that the postage back to China would cost more than the price of the item. They would refund my money. So, now I have a box of CO2 cartridges and a skin thing which is all in Chinese! They did refund my credit card. Jane

Madilee, I ordered from Chewy last week because we were running low on cat litter, and I also ordered enough to qualify for the 2 day shipping. Well, it's been almost a week and I still haven't gotten confirmation that it's being shipped. I tried to get it from Walmert-but they were out at my local store. Thought I'd try Amazon, but the only litter they had that my cats will use was not only more expensive than in the stores, but it also was about 10 days out. I had also ordered some canned cat food-they kind my cats prefer was out, so I had to get a 3rd choice. I ordered some baking soda for the cat boxes-since we can't empty them, just clean them out until we get more litter, and a case of strawberry jam, because I didn't feel like going to the grocery store. The canned food came within a day, the baking soda two days later-still no idea when the jam will arrive. Meanwhile hubby has PB & Honey sandwiches. I'd ordered a new desk chair since my old desk chair was not designed to be used for 8+ hours a day-oh my poor hind end! Amazon said it would arrive in 10 days (even though it was Prime) but it arrived 2 days later. I did order some outdoor toys for my grands through Walmart-a bounce house/ball pit, extra balls for the ball pit, and a covered sand table. They all said they'd deliver between 4/10 and 4/17. The balls showed up on Monday, and the sand table arrived yesterday. Still no idea when the ball pit will show up, I've not gotten a tracking # on that, but if I go back on the website it says if I order it to be delivered to the store it will be there in a week. I'm trying to be patient, I feel fortunate that I have the means to order things on line and I can pay a premium if necessary, but sometimes it does get frustrating. I'm unable to order normal groceries on line for either delivery or pick up. And Costco.com is sold out of almost everything I need. So I'm going to have to venture in to the store. But back to the OT, I have Prime and am ok with the delays. My Prime membership also includes free streaming, so that is worth it to us since DH is running out of shows on Netflix. Finally, GS-was it you who ran out of paper towels for pet messes? I purchased a couple dozen cheap bar towels for pet messes. We were going through a lot of paper towels when our cat with IBS was still alive, and it was my preference to do laundry rather than throw out so much paper. Costco often carries them, and in a pinch you can get them at Walmart as well. Check Amazon, too. I just ordered two dozen plain cloth reusable 'paper' towels off Etsy to use in my kitchen. I have a roll that are flannel & terry that are getting so worn out-we use them all the time.