2012? No Problem...but when?

[babynala]

I am jealous that you have your tree undecorated. Your Christmas sounds perfect. Your January sounds crazy, you will be sewing like crazy.

Can't wait to hear about your trips. Are you doing one 16 day trip?

 

[DMGeurts]

I got a lot of my holiday stuff done today too...

I was able to get all my China and Silver put away. Yay! It's been on my kitchen counter since Thanksgiving, because I needed it for both occasions.

Now... We need to get to work on the tree...

I can't wait to hear about your trips for next year!

D~

 

[NiniMorris]

I am jealous that you have your tree undecorated. Your Christmas sounds perfect. Your January sounds crazy, you will be sewing like crazy.

Can't wait to hear about your trips. Are you doing one 16 day trip?

Tree is undecorated...but will probably remain in my living room until husband can get it out next week!

I got a lot of my holiday stuff done today too...

I was able to get all my China and Silver put away. Yay! It's been on my kitchen counter since Thanksgiving, because I needed it for both occasions.

Now... We need to get to work on the tree...

I can't wait to hear about your trips for next year!

D~

In 2013 we will do two trips...one in August to celebrate the Princess birthday (5 days then a beach trip added on the end to make up for her missed trip last year); and then a 10 or 11 day trip after Thanksgiving so we can see all the Christmas decorations.

Originally, Miss B was not going to go with us on the August trip, and the expense wasn't going to be too bad. Now we have to add an adult to the trip. She was worried about missing a week of school, but we decided to go the week before school starts. She will still miss a week and a half with the December trip.

Unless of course, we decide to home school. I really don't think I have the time or patience to home school all three of them, but she is having a real problem with a bully. The problem is bad enough that when my husband spoke with the school resource officer (that is the deputy assigned to be at the school all day long), he knew exactly who he was referring to without having a name! So, I am inclined to believe this is not a case of pre-teen drama!

I some how think it would be easier to deal with if it was physical bullying. But this type of berating her because of things she can't control is beyond frustrating for me...so I can only imagine how bad it is on a kid.

When I was in middle school, being in the advanced classes and making good grades made us immune to the bullying. It seemed to only happen in the other classes. Now days it seems like the bullying is worse the smarter the kids are!

Anyway... back to Disney! The Princess has added another three dresses to her order...which brings her to a total of 6 or 7...I actually lost count!

So...spam me with your favorite restaurants! I need to think of enough places to give us a good choice. We have talked about putting different places in a hat and drawing them out at random! We seriously want to try some new places this time!

 

[NiniMorris]

I am directly blaming D~ for this!

I started pricing my trips. I looked at every variation possible for the August trip. With dining, with free dining, using military discount on room, staying at AKL, POFQ and even in the Mermaid rooms.

I even tried to guess my commission on each so I could figure my net costs on each (a bit of a problem there since the TA site is experiencing some technical difficulties).

I was actually planning on booking today. Now I am looking at all the different possibilities and am having a really tough time with it! The different options range from 1900 to 4500. Of course, then we have to add the beach vacation to the end of it, which will bring it up another thousand or so.

The December trip is pretty much set in stone, it is just the August trip that is driving me crazy. Since this is a shorter trip than we normally take, I was hoping for the AKL Savannah room. It is much cheaper to go on a short trip than on a long one... but I am not sure I can be fiscally responsible and still pay that price!

Of course, hubby and I have talked about going down for a long weekend, just the two of us. We could stay at AKL then...of course, the main reason for going then is the two nights comp room we have!

I guess I better get back to cleaning up the studio!


Nini

 

[babynala]

LOL. Definitely D~s fault. AKL for you and hubby only sounds like a great plan. A short trip is better then no trip and you have December to make up for anything you miss.

We did Whispering Canyon for dinner a few years back and had a fun time. You can take the boat from MK to the resort. I didn't take the boat because my parents took the kids over while I got the car and drove to the resort so we wouldn't have to go back to the MK after dinner. We have also enjoyed dinner at Kona cafe.

 

[NiniMorris]

So the August trip is off. Of course, I still have it booked, and will probably just change it to December in a few days.

I had a feeling my son and his wife would back out. As of right now, the beach trip is still on...but who knows about that one!

I just hope they hurry and make their plans, because the deposit on the beach house will be non refundable!

Great times!


Nini

 

[DMGeurts]

Oh no... I hope they make up their minds soon... I hate indecisive people (Sucks that I am one of them)... LOL

D~

 

[cogero]

This is one of the reasons I hate traveling with people.

 

[NiniMorris]

Let's see...August Disney trip is off...August beach trip is still on...and growing by the minute! Now it looks like my daughter and her husband (not to mention my new 2 month old grand child ) will also be going with us! I expect within the next week someone will realize that I still have one son who won't be going...and the plans will change yet again! LOL

The December Disney trip is on...but I really think if Free Dining is not released it might be off, or at least really scaled back. When the Disney trip is in the $3000 price range I can justify it...with it in the $5000 range it is really hard! Free Dining would save us $2000, while the 35% off military rate will only save us $642. While that is not a sum to sneeze at...it still puts it in the high $4000 range.

If I plan on going to Disney...I need to get sewing and marketing...(I hate marketing!)


Nini

 

[DMGeurts]

I know, I feel the same way... I like our trips to be under the $3k mark... I don't know how I did a nine night stay last time for only $1800, I must have figured wrong? Or I am remembering wrong, because I just can't wrap my mind around the fact that an 11 night is twice as much and not including park tickets. Ouch!

Lets pray for Free Dining for everyone! LOL

D~

 

[NiniMorris]

Last year our trip was one day less and cost only $2800 after free dining...somehow the price increase this year seems to have been more than I remembered it to be!

When it was first announced I thought to myself that our trip would increase by about $450... Somehow it feels like a lot more

Nini!

 

[aboveH20]

Sounds like you're having fun planning trips, and maybe not so much fun replanning, explanning, unplanning and deplanning.

I've been using SEU for the limited amount of embroidery I do. Apparently it will no longer be free in coming months. How do you like Embrid (or Embird, I can never remember which it is.) For how little I do, I hate to spend the money unless it's perfecto.

 

[NiniMorris]

Sounds like you're having fun planning trips, and maybe not so much fun replanning, explanning, unplanning and deplanning.

I've been using SEU for the limited amount of embroidery I do. Apparently it will no longer be free in coming months. How do you like Embrid (or Embird, I can never remember which it is.) For how little I do, I hate to spend the money unless it's perfecto.

At least I love planning!

I LOVE Embird. (its symbol is a flying bird!) I used the free version for the first 30 days and then purchased the full version. When I first got it last year I knew I would only use it to add names and simple things, but I played around with it and discovered there is lots you can do with the basic part. I think it is $149...or something along those lines. By far the cheapest software you can find, and I find it very user friendly...there are a lot of add ons you can get...and I will probably get one new module each year...this year I bought the Iconizer (because there was a free program that did the same thing but it messed up a lot of other things in my computer and never really worked the way it was supposed to)...

I guess it depends on what you are going to use it for... I think it is the same software that Heather uses to digitize (with an extra module). I know last year she spent a fortune on a different program and hated it...so much so that she returned it and is still using Embird.

I know where my talents lie...and digitizing is NOT it...but for what I use it for it is perfect...


Nini

 

[aboveH20]

At least I love planning!

Nini

Me, too. Looks like my senior son will be joining me on my annual 'solo' trip. Unbeknownst to him I upgraded to the Polynesian for the three nights he will be with me, then I'll move to Pop. I thought he would find out when the Magical Express tags arrive, but I guess they'll be sent to me, so I'm trying to decide how to share the news. I made reservations at Ohana the last night he's with me -- I've never eaten there before. Kona, yes, Ohana, no.

I LOVE Embird. (its symbol is a flying bird!) I used the free version for the first 30 days and then purchased the full version. When I first got it last year I knew I would only use it to add names and simple things, but I played around with it and discovered there is lots you can do with the basic part. I think it is $149...or something along those lines. By far the cheapest software you can find, and I find it very user friendly...there are a lot of add ons you can get...and I will probably get one new module each year...this year I bought the Iconizer (because there was a free program that did the same thing but it messed up a lot of other things in my computer and never really worked the way it was supposed to)...

I guess it depends on what you are going to use it for... I think it is the same software that Heather uses to digitize (with an extra module). I know last year she spent a fortune on a different program and hated it...so much so that she returned it and is still using Embird.

I know where my talents lie...and digitizing is NOT it...but for what I use it for it is perfect...


Nini

Thanks for the reply. I checked a couple youtube videos. It looks like it could be a lot of fun. On the one hand, I don't know how much I'd use it, on the other hand, who doesn't like toys?

 

[DMGeurts]

Me, too. Looks like my senior son will be joining me on my annual 'solo' trip. Unbeknownst to him I upgraded to the Polynesian for the three nights he will be with me, then I'll move to Pop. I thought he would find out when the Magical Express tags arrive, but I guess they'll be sent to me, so I'm trying to decide how to share the news. I made reservations at Ohana the last night he's with me -- I've never eaten there before. Kona, yes, Ohana, no.




Thanks for the reply. I checked a couple youtube videos. It looks like it could be a lot of fun. On the one hand, I don't know how much I'd use it, on the other hand, who doesn't like toys?

(Nini - I hope you don't mind me hijacking for a minute...)


Hi Cheryl! I haven't seen you in a while... Just wondering how you are doing? And when your trip is?

D~

 

[aboveH20]

(Nini - I hope you don't mind me hijacking for a minute...)


Hi Cheryl! I haven't seen you in a while... Just wondering how you are doing? And when your trip is?

D~

Far be in from me to hijack, either.

I'll head over to your PTR to give you all the gory detail of my dates.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

 

[babynala]

I bought Embird a while back and I like it too. SEU was driving me crazy and I really bought Embird to be able to combine two designs and to use all the fonts Nini made me buy from Five Star Fonts, well she didn't make me - just "enabled" me.

Nini - what other cool features do you use in Embird? Also, do you know if the iconizer will show you pictures of the embroidery files if they are in zipped folders? I usually keep all my embroidery files in the zip files.

Are you going back to Tybee Island for your beach vacation?

 

[NiniMorris]

I bought Embird a while back and I like it too. SEU was driving me crazy and I really bought Embird to be able to combine two designs and to use all the fonts Nini made me buy from Five Star Fonts, well she didn't make me - just "enabled" me.

Nini - what other cool features do you use in Embird? Also, do you know if the iconizer will show you pictures of the embroidery files if they are in zipped folders? I usually keep all my embroidery files in the zip files.

Are you going back to Tybee Island for your beach vacation?

Let's see...I haven't use any of the other features... my son in law wants me to buy the party that lets you digitize...because he wants to play around with it...but I doubt I will any time soon.

Using some online tutorials I have been able to re-order the way the stitches are done...because some designers like to do things in a strange manner...but you could easily do that just by remembering which order to stitch them... you can mask some areas of the design...so if you are adding one on top of another you don't have the heavy stitches...things like that. But nothing really special. Although I think it is so cool that I figured out how to put the letters in an arc...THAT is the only thing in SEU that was easier than Embird... but now that I have that one figured out I am happy!

Have you tried 6 claws and a Paw? Love their fonts!

Since I unzip as soon as I get them I am not sure if it will show you them that way or not...I put them on the external hard drive, so I don't have to worry too much about the amount of storage they take up. (just checked...they do not show in zipped files...only unzipped)

Our beach vacation this year will be in Destin. This is the place we are staying at...http://www.vrbo.com/79019

I can hardly wait.

Nini

 

[DMGeurts]

WOW Nini - that beach house looks amazing! I can't wait to hear all about that trip!

D~

 

[NiniMorris]

WOW Nini - that beach house looks amazing! I can't wait to hear all about that trip!

D~

LOL! We will see...it is much smaller than what we were looking for...and no view of the beach like we all said we wanted...and about $700 cheaper than we were expecting to spend...

When we started searching, this one wasn't even on the list...but my son in law found it, the owner liked him and cut the price by quite a bit! (making it an even better deal than we thought it was!) Then we found out the owner is going to be there the week before us, and is leaving some baby items there to use...like a swing, a small sun tent, and some other things I can't remember...seems they have a bay that will be turning one at about the same time our little one is born.

Makes it easy to not have to take so much stuff with us...

I am not sure how to take a vacation when you don't have to plan anything... my daughter in law and son are in charge of the cooking... I am only planning on staying at the beach all day... the guys are planning on going fishing... this could be really fun...oh, and no computer?


Nini