Author Archives: Angela Shambeda

About Angela Shambeda

Angela lives in southern Maryland with her husband and three rescue pets. She often talks her poor husband's ear off about various topics, including Disney, so she's excited to share her thoughts and passions with you.

When Is It Emotional Cheating?

Last time I wrote about the importance of our friends, how they’re still so necessary even when we’re married.  I said that we can get some things from our friends that we can’t from our spouses.  That can be anything from goofy times, to a chance to talk about our relationship/our spouse (not bad mouth, but just to talk), to even filling some emotional needs. Now, I realize that this could be a dangerous line.  Emotional cheating is very real, and it’s not something to be taken lightly.  So today I wanted to point out the difference between having some … Continue reading →

What To Do about Neighbor Cats

I keep going back and forth on whether or not to let my cats outside.  Cole doesn’t have much interest, but Chrestomanci certainly does.  I know he’d be happiest as an indoor-outdoor cat, but I don’t know that I’d be happiest with him as one, and I don’t know that it’s worth the stress.  One day in the summer when we let him out with us, he wandered off.  He came back a few hours later, just as my husband said he would, but by then it was dark and I was very upset until he showed up again. Another … Continue reading →

Newsies: Big Broadway Success

It may be one of my Most Underappreciated Disney Films, but it’s no flop on the stage: The Hollywood Reporter reveals that the Broadway version of “Newsies” has already recouped its expenses.  For a Broadway show that’s fast; in fact, “Newsies” sets a record for Disney Theatrical Productions as the show that’s made back the money spent to make it in the quickest amount of time. “Newsies” cost Disney Theatrical Productions $5 million.  It made that back in nine months after opening (on Broadway; its pre-Broadway run in New Jersey isn’t being counted here).  That’s even faster than Disney Broadway … Continue reading →

101 Dalmatians Book and Movie: Always Charming

The 1956 book “The Hundred and One Dalmatians” by Dodie Smith is a very English, very droll story of married Dalmatians Pongo and Missis, and their also-married pets, Mr. & Mrs. Dearly.  You read that right: Missis.  Perhaps the biggest surprise (to me) reading the novel on which the Disney film was based, was to discover that Pongo’s wife was not called Perdita, but Missis.  Even stranger is when a dog named Perdita appears.  She’s a liver (brown)-spotted Dalmatian that serves as a wet nurse for Missis, who cannot handle the milk load required by 15 puppies. Perdita’s own pups … Continue reading →

Driver Dogs Trained in New Zealand

I can’t drive stick.  I’m all right if there’s no one around me, but the second I’m at a stop sign and there are people behind me, I stall and can’t get the car to start again. So I’m feeling rather ashamed right now, because a group of dogs in New Zealand are doing what I can’t.  These rescue dogs have been trained to drive cars.  BBC News has the report. The Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) in New Zealand capital Auckland were tired of families surrendering dogs and saying that the pooches were too hard to … Continue reading →

Benefits Cut for Disney World Premium Annual Passes

The lobby of the Grand Floridian, one of Disney World’s most exclusive hotels Walt Disney World continues to aggravate its most loyal fans, as it announced in December that discounts for premium annual pass members will be cut.  The Orlando Sentinel has all the details. Since 2010 Disney World’s been pulling back a lot on the discounts it offers various pass holders.  This time, the target is premium annual passes, which already cost around $750 (Florida residents get a discount at around $600).  Now the shopping discounts premium annual pass holders receive have been cut in half. Let’s take a … Continue reading →

Finding Support from Your Friends

We’ve talked extensively about how important it is that we keep friends outside of our marriage.  And that doesn’t mean that we have friends who can’t also be friends with our spouses.  It just means that we look for emotional connections with more people than just our spouses.  I know it’s very true for me; my two best friends give me things my husband never could, and not just things like watching the six-hour BBC “Pride and Prejudice.” It’s a real romantic notion – both in the love and in the story sense of the word – that our spouses … Continue reading →

The 1941 Walt Disney Animators Strike

The Walt Disney Corporation has such a good family-friendly image.  It really styles itself as an ideal place to work.  We can only imagine that things were even better in Disney’s golden era, when the man himself was still running things.  But that wasn’t always the case; in fact, in 1941 hundreds of Disney animators went on strike. The Business Insider has some fantastic photographs of and other images from the strike, and of the materials the strikers were circulating.  But it’s a bit lacking on the specific details of why animators would go on strike, especially so soon after … Continue reading →

Bonding With the In-Laws: The Youngest Sibling

One of the weirdest things about marrying into a large family was that I’ve been around for almost the entire life of my littlest brother-in-law.  When Jon and I first started dating, and I met the family for the first time, his youngest brother was only a bit over a year old.  While he knows most of Jon’s other siblings very well, because they all lived at home with him for years (and some still do), Jon wasn’t around much when he was growing up.  So Jon, his own brother, isn’t really that much more of a presence in his … Continue reading →

Check Out These Disney-Inspired Outfits

This season legendary jeweler Chopard has created a special Haute Joaillerie line just for Harrods of London, one inspired by Walt Disney Princesses.  The co-president and artistic director of Chopard, Caroline Scheufele, is quoted on HauteLiving.com as saying, ““The world of Walt Disney has often been an inspiration for a variety of Chopard [pieces]. I am very happy to have been given the opportunity to design the famous Princesses’ pieces of jewelry.” I’m not a fan of jewelry, I never have been.  I have no interest in wearing pieces myself.  But I think these are really pretty to look at, … Continue reading →