Life is too short for self-hatred and celery sticks: updates 5/24 p.85&86

[franandaj]

Jenny, the baskets are GREAT! Glad to hear you got some stuff accomplished! I really didn't tick much off my to do list, but seemed to be running all day! i can't believe it's coming up so quickly. I wish I was meeting you at F&W on Monday. But since we canceled our trip I have another excellent opportunity you'll hear about in my PTR/blog.

ajf1007, I'm so glad you had a good trip! I remember we talked when you first booked and you had some worries.

[rentayenta]

Originally Posted by franandaj

Jenny, the baskets are GREAT! Glad to hear you got some stuff accomplished! I really didn't tick much off my to do list, but seemed to be running all day! i can't believe it's coming up so quickly. I wish I was meeting you at F&W on Monday. But since we canceled our trip I have another excellent opportunity you'll hear about in my PTR/blog.

ajf1007, I'm so glad you had a good trip! I remember we talked when you first booked and you had some worries.

I wish we were meeting too. Exciting opportunity you? I don't believe it. You have one cool moment after the next. Can't wait to read about it.

I think the basket turned out perfect. Betsy was great. She allowed me to have some of the items sent to her and then she added some.

Originally Posted by ajf1007

Hi Jenny! Our trip was great! Everyone had a great time and the look on my nieces faces when they saw the castle was priceless! There was no screaming or yelling - just mouth wide open and eyes as big as saucers! It made me cry! They had a great time at the Bippity Boppity too, then we had lunch right after at the castle. My youngest - Natalie - had her Snow White dress on and when Snow White came to the table, she just about passed out! It was incredibly awesome! Even with the large group we still managed to like each other at the end of the trip

I'm so excited for your trip! I was just catching up on your plans, wow! I can't wait to hear all about it. I'm interested in your thoughts too at the AoA. It looks so cool and I hadn't heard about the underwater sounds in the pool - how cool!! I love the baskets, what a great idea! You have made this a trip of a lifetime with such wonderful memories in the making!

I just booked today our trip for next year. We are going with my other BFF and her family, but they are staying off-site in their RCI share. We aren't planning on being together every day so it will be nice and relaxing. Jay and I are in a 1 bdrm Std View at AKV (which is our home resort) but I'm contemplating moving it at 7 mos to possibly the BCV or BWV's. We'll see. There are two things on our agenda though, for sure - the Backstage Magic 7 hour tour and the Wild Africa Trek.

How are you coming with all of your To Do's?

Amy. Glad to see you! I am so glad your trip was wonderful. You put so much work into it. Did your mom do BBB too? I'd love to see pics. And first time castle faces cannot be beat. I'm glad everyone is still friendly.

This time next year? BWV! I can live through you. I really wanted to stay there for a night or two. But I do love AKV. You can't go wrong either way. Is the Wild Africa Trek just for AKV guests? Is it a concierge thing? I haven't heard of the Backstage 7 hour Magic Tour?

Love traveling with BFFs. Are you going to do the newsletters again? You're very creative.

Originally Posted by eandesmom

The baskets are adorable! I have the 4S as well, the ios5 update wasn't an issue but based on your experience, going to hold off on the 6 until after the trip. Can't deal with the phone freezing on me between now and then or worse, there!

Thank you. I'm very pleased with how they turned out. I spent more than I had planned per usual but I'm happy. They should be too.

Don't upload the update. My phone wasn't freezing but the wifi turned grey and wouldn't turn to the on position. It wasn't fixable so they had to replace it. I repeat: don't do it.

Kids have school today however we had bus drama today. Evan only takes the am bus on Monday's and I swear it's something every Monday morning! Today it was a sub bus driver who apparently was lost. Poor kid was having a total melt down.

evan had a meltdown? Was the driver late? Poor kid.

I PM'd you my number on FB.

I got it. It's in my phone. I'm so looking forward to meeting. We're meeting Jennifer on the 15th too. Getting to meet some of my favorite friends here is icing on the cake. We're going to blow up the FB.

It was a spontaneous road trip on Sat. Kind of neat, I had sat out my other girls trip and was a little bummed. Friday my parents had their annual Oktoberfest party which we were thinking about skipping (as we'd be the only ones with kids), ended up going and had a wonderful time. Sat, as we were picking up Evan from his trombone lesson and commenting on the gorgeous day, his teacher mentioned he was going on a road trip with his mom and girlfriend.

Jeff goes

"we should go on a road trip"

And so, we did!

We hadn't been to our cabin in a couple of years and it was really nice to sneak away there for a night, very relaxing.

How do you have a cabin and not visit for years? I'm an escapist. Yu couldn't keep me away. Sounds like a fun spontaneous mini getaway. I saw the fire, did you cook too?

The computer thing has been a nightmare, had major printing issues last night with kids homework. UGH! That was the printer, not the laptops. I hear you on needing multiple laptops for kids. Ours have to share one MacBook as well and Jeff and I have PC laptops that are barely limping along. An iPdad won't really meet our needs but we are hoping that the Surface, the pro version, when it comes out, will. Question is if we can wait until then.

I'm so sorry. I hate when the easiest of tasks turn into a colossal pain in the butt. Seriously. And it's always when 100 other things are going on. I really don't like Mr. Murphy and his smarmy law.

Fridge is dead. DEAD. They can't come out until tomorrow. Couldn't call to schedule until this morning of course as they were closed yesterday. I did find our extended warranty. If it is fixable, it's covered. If not...we will get some $$ towards a new one but not enough to cover a new one. Pray it's fixable. I think it's the compressor but we will see. Thank goodness we have a backup one in the garage.

Yikes! Good thing you have another in the garage. Did you lose a lot of food? Crossing my fingers for a fix! One of the kids, cough cough Chloe, left the basement fridge open for 2-3 days when we were in Nantucket and my beautiful lamb meat had to be all thrown out. Sorry veggie heads. We're lamb lovers and Michael can cook the hell out of a leg of lamb. We had one left.

[PrincessInOz]

Originally Posted by rentayenta

Thank you! If they don't enjoy the baskets, I'll keep the baskets and ship the kids your way. Its chock full of goodness too. Personalized blankets for the kids, vinylmation, bracelet for Gab, sketch pads for the girls, coffee mugs for DH and I, Halloween plush....should be a good time. They're getting them when we check into AoA. I thought about not giving them until our first THV villa night but I like giving an arrival gift.

I'm doing a solo trip......


Kids? What's that?

[rentayenta]

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[rentayenta]

Originally Posted by PrincessInOz

I'm doing a solo trip......

Kids? What's that?

Haha! Lucky lady, I know your trip is solo. I meant I'll ship my kids to you if they don't like the basket. Keep the basket, ship the kids.

Do you love solo Disney trips? I took one for Disneyland's 50th. I didn't exactly love it. Could have been the friends I was with or that I missed my kids. I think now though, I could do a 2 day solo trip and have a blast.

[Pixiedust530]

Hello! Stumbled upon your report and I'm hooked. Love your sense of humor and all the pics. Sounds like you are going to have a fabulous trip. I can't wait to hear more.

[rentayenta]

Originally Posted by Pixiedust530

Hello! Stumbled upon your report and I'm hooked. Love your sense of humor and all the pics. Sounds like you are going to have a fabulous trip. I can't wait to hear more.

and Should be a good time. We're super excited. There's also bound to be a meltdown or two so stay tuned for that. I may even lose it before we leave. At the rate of this Tuesday morning it could happen within the next 5 minutes.

The weather is looking nice if not almost on the hot side. That means more pool time for mommy! I dig my midday pool breaks. It's nearly impossible to tear DH out of the parks for a break unless its hot. Lets hope for warm temps.


I received our YES ticket email today and it says we can pick up our tickets on 10/14..... well we're thinking of hitting up MK's EMH on arrival night which is 10/13. I've called the YES folks and left a message. I have a feeling that this may be one of those things thats left up in the air until we arrive. I've heard the YES peeps are difficult to get a hold of. Fortunately my dog-with-a-bone personality may come in handy.

[eandesmom]

Originally Posted by rentayenta

evan had a meltdown? Was the driver late? Poor kid.

He was freaked out. It was a sub driver, his regular one (same one since K!) is NEVER sick. Driver did the route BACKWARDS, as if it was after school instead of before. While he was waiting he saw it go by, in the wrong direction. Then another kid and his mom drove by, saw Evan there and picked him up. He'd have made it there eventually (which is why I was not jumping away from my desk, driving home and taking him myself lol) but that entire bus route was significantly late to school.

Originally Posted by rentayenta

I got it. It's in my phone. I'm so looking forward to meeting. We're meeting Jennifer on the 15th too. Getting to meet some of my favorite friends here is icing on the cake. We're going to blow up the FB.

I'm sad I'll miss Gussy. We will blow up FB! LOL

Originally Posted by rentayenta

How do you have a cabin and not visit for years? I'm an escapist. Yu couldn't keep me away. Sounds like a fun spontaneous mini getaway. I saw the fire, did you cook too?

Well, it's not just "ours" if it was, we'd probably be there more. It's a shack really...historically with an outhouse (recently upgraded to a composting toilet!) and water that we pump up from the river, or bring in. I love it. You really feel "away" while you are there. It's funny as over the years it's been built up a lot but right where the cabin is, it looks the same as it did when I was a little kid, going to the one next door to ours which belongs to another side of the family. My parents and uncle co-own it so you never know who might be there. My uncle and his wife use it a lot, as does my cousin and her DH and while I like all of them...not folks we want to spend a weekend with and so we are a bit less likely to do spur of the moment things than we used to. It is sad though and we should go a lot more. Used to and life has just been so busy and we get a little bogged down iwth what we'd need to haul up there and back for a night. We escape a lot to the lake instead...which is 5 minutes. LOL!

I did cook, but not over the open fire. It's a bit of a pita as you have to boil water to do dishes by hand etc. In our haste I forgot to pack the buns so we had bunless burgers. It was funny.

Originally Posted by rentayenta

Yikes! Good thing you have another in the garage. Did you lose a lot of food? Crossing my fingers for a fix! One of the kids, cough cough Chloe, left the basement fridge open for 2-3 days when we were in Nantucket and my beautiful lamb meat had to be all thrown out. Sorry veggie heads. We're lamb lovers and Michael can cook the hell out of a leg of lamb. We had one left.

UGH! This kind of stuff always seems to happen when you are out of town. I had a garage fridge die once, while out of town. Lost SO much meat it made me ill. Hundreds of dollars. Thankfully this time all I think I lost were 2 packets of spinach...which might have been toast already. Only found out when I tried to use them last night. And a pitcher of ice tea.

Repair guy is here now, it needed a new control board. Thank heavens for the extended warranty, would have been $400 to fix.

Oh well, easy to clean it now.

[rentayenta]

Originally Posted by eandesmom

He was freaked out. It was a sub driver, his regular one (same one since K!) is NEVER sick. Driver did the route BACKWARDS, as if it was after school instead of before. While he was waiting he saw it go by, in the wrong direction. Then another kid and his mom drove by, saw Evan there and picked him up. He'd have made it there eventually (which is why I was not jumping away from my desk, driving home and taking him myself lol) but that entire bus route was significantly late to school.

Poor kid. That's such a scary feeling for sure especially when you're used to a routine. Hopefully that poor bus driver won't be back or will get more route info next time.

I'm sad I'll miss Gussy. We will blow up FB! LOL

We're so blowing up the FB. I'm super excited to meet her. And you. You'll love Jenna too.

Well, it's not just "ours" if it was, we'd probably be there more. It's a shack really...historically with an outhouse (recently upgraded to a composting toilet!) and water that we pump up from the river, or bring in. I love it. You really feel "away" while you are there. It's funny as over the years it's been built up a lot but right where the cabin is, it looks the same as it did when I was a little kid, going to the one next door to ours which belongs to another side of the family. My parents and uncle co-own it so you never know who might be there. My uncle and his wife use it a lot, as does my cousin and her DH and while I like all of them...not folks we want to spend a weekend with and so we are a bit less likely to do spur of the moment things than we used to. It is sad though and we should go a lot more. Used to and life has just been so busy and we get a little bogged down iwth what we'd need to haul up there and back for a night. We escape a lot to the lake instead...which is 5 minutes. LOL!

If you've got access, it's yours enough. Sounds fun though but I agree, there's not a ton of family, I could spend the weekend with. Okay, I have no family I could spend the weekend with. I come from a fractured gene pool that's for sure. I'm the sane one. Or at least the one who thinks she's sane. It's all about perspective. Clearly, I've worked on a lcoked psych unit for far too long.

Life does get busy.

I did cook, but not over the open fire. It's a bit of a pita as you have to boil water to do dishes by hand etc. In our haste I forgot to pack the buns so we had bunless burgers. It was funny.

Cooking over an open fire is a big pita for sure. I like bunless bunless burgers. Did you have lettuce? I prefer mine wrapped in a nice big icebard leaf. We do these foils dinners over an open flame that turn our great. That and brats/dogs.

UGH! This kind of stuff always seems to happen when you are out of town. I had a garage fridge die once, while out of town. Lost SO much meat it made me ill. Hundreds of dollars. Thankfully this time all I think I lost were 2 packets of spinach...which might have been toast already. Only found out when I tried to use them last night. And a pitcher of ice tea.

And it's totally gross too. All that smelly bloody raw meat, gag! And the clean up is painful. And why it happens when we're gone? Because it can. Damn Murphey.

Repair guy is here now, it needed a new control board. Thank heavens for the extended warranty, would have been $400 to fix.

Oh well, easy to clean it now.

Glad your warrany is good and you found it. Nice outlook. I'm going to add you mine and Alison's Pollyana list.



I just got our AKV Mix and Mingle invite. I think I'm going to try and make it. I need to look at my loose itinerary and see if we'll be anywhere near the villa on our AKV Wednesday.

Joshua woke up today bouncing off of the walls singing:

4 days until WDW!!!

The whole house is buzzing. Between paying bills early, taking care of the house stuff, winterizing the boat, homework, and life in general, we are Spun with a capital S.

I'll be back in a few with today's pictures.

[rentayenta]

These are some of my favorite pics from our 2009 trip. Our second trip was as magical as our first but in different ways. We went with our dear friends and we bought DVC.







The kids at the OKW pool

























Last day blues:

[pooh'smate]

Followed you over. I can't believe your trip is this close (finally)!!!!!! I am tired just reading your to do list!!! If I don't get on before you leave have a magical trip!!!!!

[rentayenta]

Originally Posted by pooh'smate

Followed you over. I can't believe your trip is this close (finally)!!!!!! I am tired just reading your to do list!!! If I don't get on before you leave have a magical trip!!!!!

girlie! I know right?! Longest countdown ever! I should be embarrassed but I'm too excited.

Made my last trip to Walmart tonight. And I was strolling down the aisles, it occurred to me that I may have gone a teensy bit over board in the grocery department. Hope bell services is hungry!

Am I the only one who likes new toothbrushes and shampoo and toothpaste and conditioner when I go on a long vacation? I hate packing wet bottles and used toothbrushes.

Michael just said to me: let's watch something Disney! You know the trip is close when DH is inhaling the pixie dust.

[PrincessInOz]

Originally Posted by rentayenta

Haha! Lucky lady, I know your trip is solo. I meant I'll ship my kids to you if they don't like the basket. Keep the basket, ship the kids.

Do you love solo Disney trips? I took one for Disneyland's 50th. I didn't exactly love it. Could have been the friends I was with or that I missed my kids. I think now though, I could do a 2 day solo trip and have a blast.

I don't mind travelling solo....or the way I do it. I have the days to myself and get to catch up with DH after he finishes work.

And the two "solo" trips I've done or am doing to Disney - both of them involve meeting awesome DisFriends. The one in Oct 2010 to WDW, I met up with DisneyFirefly and we pretty much spent the entire trip together. This one coming, I'll be doing DL with Alison.


And I'll take the basket...you can keep the kids.

[eandesmom]

Love the pics of the kids, they look so little!!!

You can send me the baskets if they don't want them.

LOL!

Originally Posted by rentayenta

If you've got access, it's yours enough. Sounds fun though but I agree, there's not a ton of family, I could spend the weekend with. Okay, I have no family I could spend the weekend with. I come from a fractured gene pool that's for sure. I'm the sane one. Or at least the one who thinks she's sane. It's all about perspective. Clearly, I've worked on a lcoked psych unit for far too long.

Sadly, our decrease in use of the cabin does coincide with my uncles 2nd marriage. We like her...just in small doses. Like 1-2 hours at a family event, of which we have plenty so see her probably 1x a month as it is. They are up there a LOT. Still, we do miss it and every summer talk about how we need to get up there. It's a bit pathetic and I do blame it on the lake, we just go there most summer nights instead.

Originally Posted by rentayenta

Cooking over an open fire is a big pita for sure. I like bunless bunless burgers. Did you have lettuce? I prefer mine wrapped in a nice big icebard leaf. We do these foils dinners over an open flame that turn our great. That and brats/dogs.

No lettuce. I like it on a bun but have never really warmed to the idea of lettuce as a replacement for the bun. Generally I don't care for iceberg anyway but Evan loves it on his sandwiches so we often have it around. The funny part is we chose burgers because we had just 3 left in the house. 2 turkey and one regular, perfect. And some buns which I almost never have around (we like those slims instead) but I'd made pulled pork sandwhiches ealier in the week and the kids prefer regular buns. So this would have been great to use them up.

Except I forgot them.

I like a good polish or italian but am not big on brats and dogs. Which was a bit difficult when I lived in Chicago and any event has...brats. For some reason tacos are our default dinner at the cabin but we were using stuff up so didn't do that. Foil packets are fun, we have done those though not in a long time.

Originally Posted by rentayenta

Glad your warrany is good and you found it. Nice outlook. I'm going to add you mine and Alison's Pollyana list.

Fridge is FIXED and clean! Purged, reorganized and all that rot.

Failed control panel.

Praise god. Seriously. I swear, I missed getting water out of the door as much as the actual fridge. I just can't get it that cold out of our pipes (which is another issue we need to look into, sigh).

Originally Posted by rentayenta

Made my last trip to Walmart tonight. And I was strolling down the aisles, it occurred to me that I may have gone a teensy bit over board in the grocery department. Hope bell services is hungry!

Am I the only one who likes new toothbrushes and shampoo and toothpaste and conditioner when I go on a long vacation? I hate packing wet bottles and used toothbrushes.

Michael just said to me: let's watch something Disney! You know the trip is close when DH is inhaling the pixie dust.

LOL, maybe a little bit on the food. I will be VERY curious to see what you guys end up having leftover. I suppose you can pack back all that stuff you are bringing, right? That's where I struggle, things like PB. Won't go through a whole container on vacation but then I don't want to haul it back so I try to minimize when I can.

What did you watch that was Disney?

I'm too cheap to buy new toothbrushes for vacation but do have to have a holder for them or it grosses me out. The kids always just use what is in the hotel/villa/resort but I pack my own travel bottles so I have my good stuff.

Still fighting with the Mac/printer, going to have to get this resolved or Jeff might kill me from stress when I get home from the trip, trying to deal with it!

[Misskitty3]

Love your gift baskets!! What a fun tradition!

Only 4 days.......YAY!!!!!