Books, TV, Shopping and Our 'Hunted Plan'

1.) Well! WalMart must be pretty serious about their new 2-day delivery policy, for twice they've sent me a $5 gift card because parts of my order took longer than 2 days.

Gotta love that, certainly, especially when hey! Waiting four days, five, or longer for my WalMart orders was no big deal, especially being from the 'please allow 4 to 8 weeks for delivery' generation. Back then we just felt giddy-grateful when the items arrived. Imagine.

But anyway, woo hoo! Ten dollars off my next WalMart order online--the stuff of dreams for us penny pinchers.  

My friend, Robin, made this for me and inside I keep a list of stock-up non-perishables. How easy to just refer to this list when shopping online!



2.) Wow, it's been weeks (and weeks!) since I've trudged through visited the supermarket. That whole prepper thing changed my life, as has ordering non-perishables online. How fun to walk along my own shelves upstairs,  or in our office and basement with plastic shopping bags, instead.

Oh, sometimes Tom shops on his way home for items on his own list and occasionally (like today) I'll walk to 7-11 for eggs, milk or bread. But to me, it all feels rather like cheating. Like not stealing time or energy from our so-loved, relaxing weekends.

This 'non-shopping shopping' is simpler, a pleasant change and how pleasant to be pushing 60 but still be discovering ways to leap outside of worn-down old ruts.

Mix it up sometimes, ok? It does a body (and mind), good.

3.) Oh wow. This book --

-- transported me to a winter we're not having here (it's the warmest Buffalo February ever!). It scooped me away to a family, their housekeeper and visiting nephew inside an old farmhouse back in 1961. The mystery, the minute-by-minute details truly gave me that 'fly on a wall' feeling. Super-highly recommended for those who appreciate vintage kids' novels, especially mysteries.

How'd I discover this book? From a list on the back cover of another similar novel. It's weird, but I often forget to check-out the backs of books(!) Though currently, I'm retraining myself to examine all new books, back and front, after tearing away the mailer packaging.


4.) Did anyone else cry when Bones killed off one of their cast members? Sigh. It's their final season so who knows who'll be next? :)


5.) Oh! And only fans of Hunted will like this last part, so feel free to move on to your next blog if you wish.  See you next time!  :)

What's Tom's and my brilliantly simple plan if we won a spot on Hunted?  

****(Wait-- I need to add here that *no way* would we ever actually apply to be on the show! We just wanted to outsmart those guys in our heads. heh.)****

a.)  In 2015 Tom bought our latest hutch via CraigsList from a kind, older woman, Anna, who lives 10 streets away. She came over here when the hutch was delivered, we've spoken with her at estate sales, Tom has toured her large, beautiful home and she keeps asking when I'll come see it.

I've never mentioned her online. Until today, that is.

b.) Before applying to Hunted (and after securing Tom's necessary days off from work), we'd drive over to Anna's and ask if she'd let us stay with her the 28 days (she has 8 adult kids and often they've, for various reasons, lived with her). We'd promise her at least $15,000 if we won the $250,000. And if her kids find out what we're doing? We'd promise them rewards if they keep our secret and if we win.

For us, it's not really about winning the money. It's more about fooling those FBI and CIA folks who think they're sooo smart. Ha!

c.) If Anna agreed, we'd sign up with Hunted. Even without knowing whether we'd be chosen, we'd tell Naomi about the possibility that we might be--and how she'd not be able to contact us for 4 weeks. We'd give her Anna's phone number only for a real emergency.

We'd then ask Sue across the street if she'd care for our cats and bring in our mail (as she has before). Sue's a dear--she'd do this for us and we'd also promise her a few thousand dollars.

d.) We'd pack the majority of what we needed, then drive the bags (including groceries) over to Anna's and leave them.

e.) Then if we were contacted by Hunted and given an hour to hide? Assuming we were both at home, we'd gather our last minute items, leave a message with Naomi, then I'd zip over to Sue's house and let her (or Sally) know we'd been chosen and then leave the house keys with them.

Oh, and I assume we'd now have a cameraman with us. 

Tom would call a taxi and ask them to pick us all up at least one street away, then we'd leave his cell phone, our car and computers at home. We'd walk to where the taxi would pick us up, then tell the driver to take us to an address two (residential) streets away from Anna's home, pay with cash, wait till he leaves, then walk to Anna's. Like all our older neighborhoods, it's rare that people have house cameras.

f.) Then once the three of us were inside Anna's house? We'd just stay there. And offline. We'd sit around like slugs, basically, in Anna's beautiful, antique-filled home.

Of course, we're talking some very boring film-making for the show! All that sitting around watching tv, eating crackers and chips or reading--yawn. But hey, I really do believe we have the perfect plan. Except that with 4 weeks of constant togetherness time, Tom and I would probably strangle each other.  (And the cameraman would be so bored he'd cry and just go home.) heh.

Oh, and if the Hunted folks somehow discovered us early? For us, there'd be no running out the backdoor. Uh, no. We're too old and that would just look ridiculous. Instead, we'd smile and say, "Well, we tried!" Then we'd go ahead and pay Anna and Sue something for their trouble.


So what do my fellow Hunted watchers think of that plan? Did I overlook anything? :)


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