A Much Needed Trip for the Mominators...10/12 NEW! Much Ado About Nothing! #80

[PrincessV]

Originally Posted by sharkB8HooHaHa

Cinnamon was last seen at the county court house having her name legally changed to Nutmeg in an effort to keep her job with MS.

Originally Posted by Lauralee131

V and I have become very dear friends over the last few years.

LY/MI!

Ok, ok...so it's an older picture. What can I say...I look awful in the ones from this year...

NOT true, but I happen to absolutely love this pic of us! And dude - look how curly my hair was! WTH happened?!

It's like Honey I shrunk the drunk girl...

[QUOTE]She (Kate) guided us through crowds and had drinks with us…she was there in spirit with us and although we missed her terribly, she was never far from our thoughts and hearts.[/QUOTE]
SO very true.

Disney World is better with MissV and Leo in it. Truly. We have never had more fun than we’ve had when they’ve been with us.

And in case you didn't already know it - the reverse is absolutely true, too; WDW just isn't the same without you guys! We even loved hanging with the extended Mominator family, lol!

Of course, some days Mads prefers Leo.

LMAO!

Here's Michael pulling the old yawn-and-stretch on Maddie last year...

He's soooo smooth!

And lets not forget the kids…Tony’s a big hit with the kids. An overgrown pool toy if you will.

[cmp1111]

Hi, LL! See, I somehow missed a lot of your moving issues... You needed this break more than I even realized!

Great start.

[Lauralee131]

Originally Posted by cmp1111

Hi, LL! See, I somehow missed a lot of your moving issues... You needed this break more than I even realized!

Great start.

Oh CE...you haven't even heard the half of it yet...

I deserve more stinkin' DVC points and not just one measly little vacation...just sayin'....

[Lauralee131]

Ok, when we last left off, it was April and Michael had already been in one daycare, which he hated because the local kids here were still in school so he was trapped like a rat all day with 4 year olds.

We moved into a furnished apartment in LaGrange, about 2 or 3 miles from the job. The daycare was another 2 or 3 miles from the jobsite in the other direction so it was pretty convenient all around. I opened a PO box and had my mail forwarded to LaGrange so for a long-term temporary assignment, it was all ok I guess.

Have any of you been to LaGrange? Well, it's uhhh...different. It's really close to the Alabama state line - you can be there in about 15 minutes...it's that close. Well, it's a relatively small town and has a bit of everything...a ghetto section (sadly just about where we were living) and then there's the plantation mansion section where LaGrange College is. OMG - some of the most beautiful Southern mansions you've ever seen are in LaGrange.

The rest of LaGrange though is pretty scary. Someone from Alabama once told me that even Alabama won't claim LaGrange...Oh - and we had the state's first case of swine flu at the hospital we were working at. Lovely. Welcome to Georgia Lauralee...

Anyway, my company's bidding on a very large project further South in Georgia and I'm slated to go there if we get it so they told us not to buy anything. After the maternity leave girl comes back, I'd be going to a job in Atlanta.

Since Tony would continue working on the job in LaGrange and I'd be working in Atlanta, we looked for an apartment in the middle...a city by the name of Newnan. It's actually a great place - 30 miles SW of ATL...there's lot of shopping, and traffic, but it's got a beautiful downtown that time has forgotten and the outskirts of town is gorgeous...horse country. We loved it.

We found an apartment and it's in a great location. The elementary school is fairly new and is literally within walking distance and it's close to shopping, etc...they had a great top floor unit with arched ceilings and a huge soaking tub in the master bath and huge closets...it was cute and it was affordable. We'd have to rent furniture and buy all new kitchen stuff, etc as all of our stuff was home, but we took it and could move in on May 10th.

Rather than pull Michael out of daycare, Tony would take him back and forth to the place in LaGrange since he'd be working down the street and the little guy wouldn't have to suffer the trauma of another change. We'd keep the mailbox in LaGrange too and Tony could just stop on his way home and get the mail. Easy peasy as my friends would say.

So we found the place and had a plan. I took an afternoon off of work, signed the lease, picked out the furniture and we were good to go. We could move in as early as May 9th. Finally things would be smoothing out for us. The last month had been insane. It'd be nice having a nicer place for a temporary home.

I had one more week to go and I'd start the next job in Atlanta and I could stay there until they found a permanent assignment for me. Smooth sailing from here...

Until I got back to the apartment in LaGrange that night.

Tony's boss had called. They needed him in Florida.

For 2 to 3 weeks.

He had to be there on Monday.

It was Thursday afternoon that they dropped this little nugget in his lap.

OH

MY

GOD...

Panic had officially set in.

LaGrange was 40 minutes SW of Newnan. I had to work 35 miles NE of Newnan. What about Michael? What about daycare? What about the mail?

Tony kindly took the next day off and searched high and low for a new daycare in Newnan for Michael and found THE ONE. It was awesome. The summer camp program was fabulous...they had a big inground pool and swam 3 days a week. They went to Six Flags once a week, the movies once a week, an ice cream truck came on Fridays...the place ROCKED.

Even better...they had an opening. Tony signed him up and we forwarded the mail from LaGrange to the apartment in Newnan and got to packing.

We literally dropped the boxes of our stuff on the floor of the new apartment that weekend and off he went.

And then there were two...

Michael and I did the best we could to get ourselves settled in and prepared for what would be coming ahead of us...single parenting and the unknown of basically all the rest of life in general.

So if you're counting, we are now in our 3rd temporary housing and 2nd daycare.

Heard about Atlanta traffic by any chance? Yeah, it's awful. I have to be at work by 7 and luckily the daycare opened at 6 so I could drop M off and hit the road.

This is how our typical days have been from early May until the first week of August...

I get up between 3:30 and 4 and have coffee and get in the shower and get ready for work. I wake Michael up at 5 so he has time to wake up and have breakfast and get dressed and we're out the door by 20 minutes to 6. I race across town and drop him off and hop on the highway. On a good day I can make it to work in about 50 minutes. Yep - 35 miles in 50 minutes. Not bad considering the amount of traffic on the road at that time. Did I mention the construction? Good lord, the entire highway system in and around Atlanta is under construction. The speed limit is 50 and the traffic is bumper to bumper, but at 85 miles an hour. Literally...you need to 85 to keep up. It's crazy.

And I work right downtown on the Georgia State University campus. I drive literally next to Turner Field to get to work...and by a quarter to 7, I-85 is a parking lot. Luckily I cut thru downtown so it's not so bad for me. In the morning.

The ride home is another story. I leave at 4 and it takes anywhere from 1 to 2 hours to get home depending on traffic. It goes from bumper to bumper at 85 mph to a parking lot in the blink of an eye and then back again. It's nuts.

I pick up M anywhere between 5:30 and 6 and we race home, fighting the Newnan traffic to get home in about 25 minutes from daycare. I immediately put dinner on the stove, put Michael in the tub, run back to the kitchen and check on dinner, unload the dishwasher and put the dishes away, stir dinner, run to the bathroom and check on Michael, run back to the kitchen and check dinner, throw a load of laundry in, get M out of the tub and in his jammies and then get dinner on the table.

By then it's anywhere between 6 and 7. We eat, relax until 8 and then he goes to bed and I go about a half hour later so we can get up and do it all again the next day.

Yep - that's been our life for the last 3 months.

I'm worn out. Flat out exhausted. My butt's getting wider. My belly's getting bigger...I look haggard. And my poor little boy's not in much better shape...he's got little dark circles under his eyes and on more than one occasion has woken up in the morning and proclaimed, "I really don't like my life"...

He and I lived for every other weekend for Tony to come home and our upcoming vacation...which we really needed.

I registered Michael for school only to discover...

The first day of school was Friday, August 7th.

Yep. August freakin' 7th...

Remember my vacation dates gang? The 2nd thru the 8th. Nice and early this year so we wouldn't have to rush back for school. Oh crap.

Obviously I needed to change my dates.

And then I got that itch...

You know the one...caused by too much stress and that little goody called "addonitis"?

Well, sadly it's past my bedtime...3:30 comes way too early...YAWN...but at least we got the "backstory" out of the way...

And if you're still counting...

3 temporary housing places and 2 daycare places.

In 3 months.

Up next...what do you mean you don't transport? And I've got an itch that Cortizone just won't help...

Finally! Bring on the trip report!!! More "life" changes and trip changes...lots and lots of changes...

Could I be on that blacklist now?? Is my name right next to V or have I bumped her from the top of the list???

[Disneyland_Mama]

Oh honey! I knew your life was hectic, but when you put in it in black and white.... O.M.G. You needed this vacation... NO, you deserved this vacation... all of you!

[askelton]

No idea it was that insane! Definitely you need another vacation. But you get to drive by Turner Field every day? Seen any Braves hanging out?

[PrincessV]

I know I've sent and given about a bazillion of these over the past 6 months, but I don't think it'll ever be enough. You're doing a FABULOUS job in the face of insane conditions - you ROCK my friend! Love ya babe.

Originally Posted by Lauralee131

It goes from bumper to bumper at 85 mph to a parking lot in the blink of an eye and then back again.

This is the best description of ATL traffic I've seen - it's so true! Here, it's just a parking lot. No joke - I manage the 5 miles home from work... in up to 45 minutes.

You know the one...caused by too much stress and that little goody called "addonitis"?

Is that the one that keeps calling "Labor Day Weekend!"???

Could I be on that blacklist now?? Is my name right next to V or have I bumped her from the top of the list???

Uuuummmm....

YES!

[sharkB8HooHaHa]

Originally Posted by Disneyland_Mama

Oh honey! I knew your life was hectic, but when you put in it in black and white.... O.M.G. You needed this vacation... NO, you deserved this vacation... all of you!

Originally Posted by askelton

No idea it was that insane! Definitely you need another vacation.

Originally Posted by PrincessV

I know I've sent and given about a bazillion of these over the past 6 months, but I don't think it'll ever be enough. You're doing a FABULOUS job in the face of insane conditions - you ROCK my friend! Love ya babe.

Oh L...what they said! EXACTLY what they said.

[Lauralee131]

Originally Posted by Disneyland_Mama

Oh honey! I knew your life was hectic, but when you put in it in black and white.... O.M.G. You needed this vacation... NO, you deserved this vacation... all of you!

Awww...Thank you my friend And right back atcha...yeah, I guess when you see it in B & W it looks really bad...good thing I made it the short version, otherwise we'd all be in tears...

Originally Posted by askelton

No idea it was that insane! Definitely you need another vacation. But you get to drive by Turner Field every day? Seen any Braves hanging out?

Yep - I get off on Exit 246 which goes right along side of the stadium and then make a right on Fulton to Capitol so I go by the Blue lot, and by all the Olympic torches/statues, etc going toward Grant Park and the Zoo...Haven't seen any Braves...I'll keep an eye out for ya though. Usually when I go by it's dark except the outside lights and the giant spinning coke bottle, but one morning on a day there was a 1pm game, the whole stadium was all lit up - Turner Field sign and all...it looked awesome against the dark sky but I didn't have my camera. I must admit, it's a nice looking stadium...I keep saying I'm going to bring my camera one morning pull into the blue lot and take some front-on pics of the stadium, etc...

Originally Posted by PrincessV

I know I've sent and given about a bazillion of these over the past 6 months, but I don't think it'll ever be enough. You're doing a FABULOUS job in the face of insane conditions - you ROCK my friend! Love ya babe.

Thank you sweetie...you've been a rock for ME all these months...all three of you girls have I wouldn't be able to do it without my greatest cheering section.

Originally Posted by PrincessV

This is the best description of ATL traffic I've seen - it's so true! Here, it's just a parking lot. No joke - I manage the 5 miles home from work... in up to 45 minutes.

It's ridiculous!! And it's amazing how 5 minutes can add 30 to my commute...I fill up just about every other day and my nice new car - well, 1-1/2 yr old car...now has 22,000 miles on it...my poor baby...it'll never last as long as the terms of the loan, that's for sure

Originally Posted by PrincessV

Is that the one that keeps calling "Labor Day Weekend!"???

That very one indeed. M keeps saying he wants to go home that weekend though. I tried pushing the HHI Reward deal...OMG, cheap cheap cheap, and far closer than home is, but he wants to see his friends and sleep in his own bed and play with his toys...

Heck...me too...I'm terribly homesick here. More than one occasion have caused Tony & I to discuss just going home and getting local jobs. I don't want to give up my job though. They'd have to lay me off first...crossing fingers that doesn't happen though...just sayin'....

Originally Posted by sharkB8HooHaHa

Oh L...what they said! EXACTLY what they said.

Thanks Kate...Love you!!

[Sleeping*Beauty]

You guys really needed this vacation! I can't wait till we get to the happy ending of this story!

[Lauralee131]

Originally Posted by Sleeping*Beauty

You guys really needed this vacation! I can't wait till we get to the happy ending of this story!

Thanks! That which doesn't kill us, right? At least that's what I tell myself...

[Lauralee131]

Originally Posted by Disneyland_Mama

But now, I'm all verklempt... AGAIN!

Talk amongst yourselves...

I'll give you a topic...

Guinea pigs are neither Italian nor pork...

Discuss....

Sorry - I know I've used that one before, but I'm on my way out the door to see G-Force...seemed appropriate...

[sharkB8HooHaHa]

Originally Posted by Lauralee131

Thanks! That which doesn't kill us, right? At least that's what I tell myself...

Ummm, doesn't that go "That which doesn't kill us makes us....book a trip"? That's how it goes in my house.

[lazydoxy66]

LL, I can see why you, T and V get on so well! You are too funny.

I am sorry about all the stresses for you this year. I can't wait to read about your much needed vacation!!!

[puggymom]

Just sent you a PM, let me know if you have any ????

Ok, wow what a ride your real life is huh? you really did need an escape!

Atlanta traffic

My college roommate moved there several years ago and closest I can tell the only time there is no traffic is about 3 am and even then it is a carp shoot. I refuse to drive in that town, though I have had lots of fun, just make sure someone else is driving!

ETA, I love the binder!!!!!!