July 2, 2005 - WE ARE THERE!!!

[vetswithpets]

Sue my dad says were up for the meet just give us a date and make ur famous drink! it was really nice meeting all of u on the cruise U R ALL GREAT PEOPLE!! FRAN TELL KELLY I SAY HEY!

It's been a long day andit became even longer when we decided to string some fence after work to give the sheep a larger place to live after they went visiting sshile we were cruising. I guess I have forgotten that it is hard work.

Now we are relaxing in a airconditioned house working on the schedule.

At a glance were are availible on Saturday August 20, 27 or Labor Day We ar also availible on Sunday August 28 Then we start band

Ron was suggesting that we have a Disney theme complete with Disney Partyware and Disney Recipes. Everyone should bring their pictures to share . We might even want to discuss a long weekend to meet at Disneyland. Let us know if anyone is interested. I will have to check with Bevmo and see if they carry enoufgh Bicardi Limon

Let us know
Ron and Sue

 

[mokehil]

At a glance were are availible on Saturday August 20, 27 or Labor Day We ar also availible on Sunday August 28 Then we start band
Let us know
Ron and Sue

I'd to join the party and august 20 & 27 could work, although Labor Day Weekend is out. I do doubt that I would have our scrapbook done by then, but there is hope because all four kids start school next Tuesday! Ugh! It should be a crime to have to go to school when it is 100 degrees. No flipflops at school, what kind of dress code is that? No tank tops? My middle schooler and high schooler got their schedules today. highschooler will be fine but middle schooler did not get one teacher or the elective she wanted....Putting on Mama Bear costume now....how to get what we want.....

Sorry been so out of touch but have been trying to enjoy these last few days of doing NOTHING. My illness is gone. I felt yucky and was exhasted for over a week with nasty sinus infection and 5 day headache. finally had a drink tonight. It was blue and yummy! Cheers

Darcy

Darcy

 

[tchrmom]

I'm bummed.............all this talk about a DIS meet, and there is NO WAY that we can attend!!!!

Kim..........name the date, and we'll pick you up at the airport!!!! Kelly would be thrilled, since she thinks she's 10 going on 16 when she hangs around with you! Bring your sunscreen. You will get burned!

Who else wants to visit?????

Fran

 

[Vanvmom]

Fran, can we visit when we do our Nov 2006 cruise? Maybe you guys could even meet us at WDW? Who knows!

 

[gymbugL7]

Wendy.......sounds good to me! WDW or here in Tampa. (There is also a great place to eat by the port, called Grills)

Quick question...................we have had conflicting answers.

When you tiled you house, did you remove all of the baseboards first, or did you leave a 1/4" space between the tile and the baseboard??????

Fran


Oops......logged in under Kelly's name!

 

[needalatte]

When you tiled you house, did you remove all of the baseboards first, or did you leave a 1/4" space between the tile and the baseboard??????

The builder recommended that we remove baseboards first, but that was way too much work and the baseboards were large enough (not the tiny 1 1/2 inch ones) so we just tiled up to within 1/4 inch of them and then grouted against them. They look fine. That was in October and we have yet to caulk and put the trim back around the cabinets, but that's on our to-do list. I think if you have the small, standard builder-supplied baseboards you would want to take them off and replace them, anyway. It also depends how many linear feet of baseboards we're talking about. We did 5 rooms, so there was no way we were messing with all those baseboards.

 

[wdw1014]

Fran,
All this talk of tiling makes me shudder. My brother and I tiled my sunroom and kitchen last year. We did remove the baseboards, but that was the easy part. The whole job was not hard to do just took a lot of muscle. Maybe it is just me and I am a sissy, but when we finished every muscle in my body ached. Cutting the tile and putting it down didn't seem that bad, but the grouting was one of the worst jobs I have ever done. In the end I felt like my house had turned into a big sandbox. Although, the tile looks great and I am really glad that is what we chose to use. (just keep Dave's drink glass filled and maybe he won't notice how bad he feels)

I loved visiting DL, but can't wait to get back to WDW.

Have fun with the tile.
Angie

 

[AOPI57]

Fran- good luck with the tile job. My DH did one tile job- then we called the pros! I'm sure Dave will do a great job.


We've been home 8 days and I still Haven't caught up with everything. My sister and her family are coming on Sat. from Virginia to visit for 4 days. The following weekend my brother-in-law ahd his daughter are coming from Mass.and then my sister-in-law and her family of 4 are coming from Mass. also the beginning of Aug. along with my son's friend who is flying up from Fla. She'll driving back down there with him as my son will have a car at school this year. So we'll be taking 2 cars down this time.We'll hit WDW a few days before moving my son and his friend into the dorms.

I think after these next few week I'll need another cruise!

 

[Vanvmom]

Tile up to and then grout along the baseboards is fine if you plan on never replacing the baseboards. Use caulk between the tile and the door frames instead of grout. As Betsy said, we tiled A LOT in her new house. At our place we've tiled the laundry room, front entry, and our fairly large back patio as well as a 16" high wall/seat surrounding a planter area near the house. The whole tiling process is so time consuming that we decided to do wood laminate throughout the rest of our house instead of tile as orginally planned.

As for hiring a pro... I've seen a lot of faulty "professional" tile work before (more often now that I know how to do it myself). If you ever hire someone, ask to see examples (in person) of other work they've done. Even I was offered a job laying tile once by a general contractor, so don't assume just because someone is being paid that they are a pro (they could just be someone like me). Now that's a scarey thought isn't it?

 

[Vanvmom]

On another (actually Disney related) note... what are the crowds like at WDW right before Thanksgiving? The next cruise we are going on is not until Nov 2006, but we will be arriving back from the cruise on Nov 18th and would like to see some of WDW. What are the crowds like, how many days should we plan to be there, where is a reasonably priced place to stay? Wendy & Anna, you've stayed where we stayed once in DL and know what my opinion of Fairfield Inn was like, so the quality we're looking for is a little roomier and more personal than the Fairfield. Suggestions?

 

[AnnaS]

Hi everyone -

Wendy - I am not sure about the crowds for Nov. - you might want to ask on the theme park/attractions thread. The last time we were there in November was about 14 years ago. Wendy and I both own DVC - for about 5/6 years now and only stay at the DVC resorts - home away from home resorts. (They range from a studio which accomodates 4 to a grand villa which accomodates 12. We have added though a night here and there in one of the moderate resorts. Do you want to stay on-site? In DL - for our short stay, we did not mind being outside - it's hard to compare DL's hotels to WDW hotels - (FRAN helps us out) - WDW are huge in comparison and they are all themed to reflect a certain area. Old Key West - Key West, FL, Saratoga Springs, Saratoga, NY, etc. We love staying on site. You need to compare prices for a moderate and a deluxe and see which way you want to go. If you are looking for space, you might want to consider a deluxe or one of the DVC resorts. Also, some of the resorts you can travel by boat, car, bus - one or all to get from one place to another. It is huge compared to DL. I would definitely recommend staying on-site even if you have to stay in a moderate. The value resorts are much smaller and might not have as many amenities as the other resorts. I have not stayed in any so can't comment. How many days you need? How many can you stay, lol. Seriously - you would normally need at least a week and you still can't do it all. Be realistic - do you have the time, the money and do you plan on coming back anytime soon and determine your stay. WDW usually offers some great packages. You can book on your own, all separate or go with a package and make your life easier. I could go on and on - you have time to do some research, compare prices, hotels, look at the different pictures in all the websites. Email me if you need to - see getting carried away - WDW can be a bit more overwhelming. igs23cb@aol.com

 

[AnnaS]

On another note - I am all caught up with everything. Back to work, schedules and reality.

Our dry cleaning establishment has new owners and they have "lost" my son's brand new suit and one of my outfits. Luckly, I did get all the "mens" dress shirts and two other tops I had. I am afraid to ask if they will pay me in full. I would much rather have our clothing back. I still have the Macys receipt for son's suit.

Has anyone had any experience with this? I was once reimbursed a long time ago for a shirt that was actually sent out (laundered - the place caught on fire), $25. I believe the shirt was at least $40 - did not have a receipt though.

 

[AOPI57]

Wendy- if you stay a couple of days after Thanksgiving you could see some of the Christmas decorations. We go to the DVC resort at Hilton Head and they actually start decorating the day before Thanksgiving.


You definitely need at least a week. We usually stay at a DVc resort but do add on nights at the moderates. We always stay at POFQ which is a very small resort- we love i t there- or POR which we also like but is much bigger. POR sleeps 5- there's a trundle bed in the room. Also the moderate resorts have a food court style restaurants that are great for breakfast and late night snacks. POR also has a sit down restaurant. We.ve also stayed at the Contemporary- the rooms are bigger than the moderates and they do have a food court but we like POFQ and POR.

There were also coffe makers in the rooms when we stayed last summer at POFQ which they never had before.

We're actually staying at POR and POfQ at the beginning ndt end of our DVC stay AT BWV in Aug.

As AnnaS said the value resorts rooms are much smaller and more bare bones

I'll be glad to help if you have any more questions.


I think it's great that you can tile. We were lucky when we had our kitchen tiled last year- the guy who did it came highly recommended and did a wonderful job. However, we were not so lucky with a bathroom 3
years ago. You know- friend of a friend who does great work-tiling bathrooms for the city of NY-well, that should've been our first clue! When our kitchen tile guy saw the bathroom he thought my DH did it- he couldn't believe we actually paid someone to do the work.

Are you doing a 7 day cruise- eastern or Western? We rebooked a 7day July 06 but will change to 07.

 

[tchrmom]

Thanks for the words of encouragement!!! I think we will leave the baseboards od..........since it the whole house we are doing, and they are the larger kind, about 3 1/2" wide. Cross your fingers!!!!!

As for staying in Orldando......my only suggestion is to STAY ON SITE!!!!!!!!!! When we want to cut cost, the All Stars are nice and affordable! We have also stayed at the Port Orleans. It was OK, but I hear they have done a refurb. on it. Animal Kingdom Lodge was nice.......but not my favorite. When it is just Dave and I, we stay at the Wilderness lodge. (You know............more time in the room.... )

Dave and I have also stayed at the Marriot World Center. It is off prop. but very nice. Let me know how else I can help you!!!!

Fran

 

[vetswithpets]

I'm bummed.............all this talk about a DIS meet, and there is NO WAY that we can attend!!!!

Who else wants to visit?????

Fran

Fran we will just have to call you after a few drinks. We have free nationwide long distance.

We will be visiting Orlando in May 06

Tomorrow Ron and I took the day off.

We are going to San Francisco to have Cocktails with Debbie Reynolds. The kids are staying with Ron's Parents.

More Later
Sue

 

[Zebramom]

I had four pages of chat to catch up on.

Dave - your dog Tinkerbell is a cutie, what breed is she?

Glad we weren't in Cabo yesterday - two people died when they were swept out to sea by one of the storm waves. Terrible news.

Sherry - yes, Recollections is where we have been scarpbooking, except on my side of town, off the 101.

Arizona get together - I vote for Sherry's house or Dave's suggestion of Sassi's. Is it an expensive or super dress-up place? I have a client who has been wanting me to go there to see the building and interiors.

I love the story about the child charging $ 145 dollars at the arcade. It was a good laugh. I wasn't the one who had to pay the tab, so I could laugh.

Sue - I wish my scrapbook was done. You are lucky yours was finished by Ron and you had no mess to clean-up.

Fran - What kind of tile is Dave laying for you? Ben and I make a good tile laying team. We have done approximaately half of the flooring in our house in tile so far. We have also done the master bathroom - we completely gutted the whole thing.

Baseboard issue - Well of course I have to put in my two cents worth. Now remember I design homes for a living - I work with builders and architects. But, it is best to remove the baseboards, lay the tile and reinstall the base. Sure it is more work - but the results are well worth it. We live in an older home (built in 1959) so much still needs to be done. Come September we are gutting the kitchen. Let the fun begin.

Betsy and Wendy - congrats on your tiling accomplishments.

Darcy - Glad to hear you are feeling better.

Anna - The dry cleaner should pay you for replacement value of your clothes.

Well, It's well after 11pm. More later.

Vickie

 

[Vanvmom]

Ron & Sue, As for the CA get together, we are available the 27th (DH is in China from the 15th through the 25th, so might like the time to hang out). The 28th would also be an option. We are busy until almost 1pm, but nothing after that. Let us know.

 

[Vanvmom]

Glad we weren't in Cabo yesterday - two people died when they were swept out to sea by one of the storm waves. Terrible news.

Vickie

Vickie - Where did you hear about this sad story?

 

[Disneynut1955]

I had four pages of chat to catch up on.

Dave - your dog Tinkerbell is a cutie, what breed is she?

Arizona get together - I vote for Sherry's house or Dave's suggestion of Sassi's. Is it an expensive or super dress-up place? I have a client who has been wanting me to go there to see the building and interiors.

Tinkerbell thanks you for your comments! Tinkerbell is a long haired Chihuahua. As of Wednesday evening, we have a new addition to the family. We just got a Chinchilla named "Mickey". Photos below...

As for the Arizona get together, Sassi is a wonderful place and a nice location and good atmosphere. Monica and I don't cook so our opinion on what is expensive may not be all that relevant. My typical meal at Sassi is:

Antipasti
Prosciutto $9.00

Primi
Orecchiette con Salsiccia $18.00

Secondi
Spiedini Di Salsiccia Alla Lucanta $18.00

Dolce
Tartufo $7.00 (split with the wife)

As for dress, most of the places we dine at are business dress, but during the summer you can get away with anything. I have worn shorts and a polo this week to both Donovan's and Capital Grille and felt fine.

I would be happy to email the website address to you as well (they won't let me post URL's on here).

Hope everyone is well!

David

 

[AnnaS]

David -

How adorable -

I see you like sausage from the menu I can still read some Italian. The menu you listed sounds delicious.

Is your wife holding your new addition "Mickey"? I want to see those rings enlarged please. I am jealous.