5/27/06 "Il pochi il fiero i blabbermouths" We *will* sail again Part 3

[dzneprincess]

WOW I just noticed I am coming up on 5000 posts soon...wow!
Well we had a nice weekend in Destin. We didn't end up leaving until about 12n on Sat. A lot later than I had intended to. I was going to call my brother and cancel, but I am glad we didn't. The beach was just perfect. The water felt like bath water, and we did not know about the shark attack until we got to my brother's house later on that evening. We basically used my brother for his house this weekend. ( I know I know bad sister) but I knew that we were heading back down this weekend. Si I explined to my DB that we would "visit" this upcoming weekend. He had to work all night Sat night so he was okay with that. I dont know if I told you all or not, but I have decided to take my 3 yr old neice with us on the drive to CO. I know I know I must be crazy, but eh what are big sisters for, right??? RIGHT?!?!?! LOL I will have 5 kids with us on a 24 hour drive...I may finally be pushed over hte edge into insanity by the time we arrive! We will see......
Since my DB has a very small house, and is just starting out in life, he did not have a bed for us to sleep in, so I stopped in at the local Kmart and bought a very good quality air matress ( or so I thought). The thing was $60! and had a built in pump and everything...do you believe that darn thing was ot of air by midnight? I had to get off the floor and kick my son off the couch! SO does anyone have a really good quality air matress with out having to spend an arm and a leg on it???? I would lvoe to get an aerobed but they are just soooo much money...I hate to spend that much money on something that will sit in my utility closet for most of the time......Ok OK I am going to bed...someone please reply to my post I feel like I am being ignored...

 

[Dancind]

Since my DB has a very small house, and is just starting out in life, he did not have a bed for us to sleep in, so I stopped in at the local Kmart and bought a very good quality air matress ( or so I thought). The thing was $60! and had a built in pump and everything...do you believe that darn thing was ot of air by midnight? I had to get off the floor and kick my son off the couch! SO does anyone have a really good quality air matress with out having to spend an arm and a leg on it???? I would lvoe to get an aerobed but they are just soooo much money...I hate to spend that much money on something that will sit in my utility closet for most of the time.........

Amanda, I hope you returned it! Sounds like you just got a bad mattress. You ought to be able to get a decent one for $60! Maybe check and see what Target has.

 

[justmestace]

Amanda, Target should have some good Coleman's for less than that....the Eddie Bauer's at Target, I think, are way too expensive. But Coleman has worked for us.

 

[justmestace]

Some of us 10 dayers purchased, through Shirley, a Spode Christmas tree complete with lights and ornaments. It added a nice Christmasy touch to the stateroom.

Weelllll......SOME people were FLYING home and had NO way to get their beloved tree home. SOME people were DRIVING home and had extra room to haul other people's trees home!

And SOME of us flyers DONATED our trees to our room stewards! (Where's the little pokey-sign so I can poke Virgil???)

 

[WDWLVR]

Good morning cruisers!


Happy Wednesday!

I finally feel like I'm up to date at work. Now I have to get caught up at home! I've been working on a room sign for our September cruise, updating that cruises photo gallery, and I need to do print outs of some of the pictures we took at the wedding a couple of weeks ago.

 

[WDWLVR]

Time for a top!

Couldn't let that one pass me by.
Have a great day everyone!

 

[dobelover]

Hi again, Susie - I just returned from an Alaska cruise. I took my niece for her hs graduation. As we were cruising a glacier my Mom and I were outside for 2 hours (sleet, rain, wind) so we could drink in the splendor. Niece was napping, gets up and comes out for 5 minutes, sees glacier, hears calving thunder, sees BIG growlers, then says 'I saw everything you did and it only took 5 minutes'. Back to a nap!


Sue

 

[WDWLVR]

Sue - got to love these younger folk. Yes she didn't get the full experience, but you have to admit she did get the highlights. If I had to choose between rain and sleet and a nap I think I might pick the nap as well.

 

[CajunGirl2]

Good morning everyone. I get the Disney Insider email and the feature article today is on the Magic. Here's a link. I haven't gotten a chance to read it yet.

http://disney.go.com/inside/issues/stories/v050628.html

Angie

 

[ohiominnie]

Being in NY doesn't help when most of you live close enough to WDW to drive there. That must be a great feeling. When I first starting posting or lurking on these boards, I couldn't get over how many times a year some people visited WDW or cruised. I thought how the he** do they afford that? Then

Maria,
We live in Ohio....but still manage to get to WDW a couple of times a year for at least 1 1/2 weeks, if not longer. Plus we sneak in a cruise as part of one of those trips whenever we can.

How do we afford that? We don't do anything else exciting! No fancy cars. Our house is a normal house---no museum quality pieces in it (for heaven's sake we have a JACKALOPE for decoration!) I don't do expensive jewlery. We don't gamble. Our biggest money sucker this past year was Maggie!! We've made family time a priority and what better place to do it than WDW?

Plus having DVC "forces" us to go back again and again.

 

[kikipug]

We basically used my brother for his house this weekend. ( I know I know bad sister)

That's not abnormal for Florida... I think this weekend is the first of the 4 races, 2 Bike Weeks and 2 Biketoberfests since we've been here that there's no one sleeping in our spare beds, on our sleep sofa, or on our floor. But hey, I'd rather have them come here than to have to go up to the frozen tundra in the winter!!

Though, I'm desperately trying to figure out where I'm going to put 10 extra people at once for Christmas... they're all coming at once for the first time. Maybe we'll be in a larger house by then... who knows. (But I still won't have extra sleeping space for 10... I'm not in the market for a resort hotel.)

 

[kikipug]

We live in Ohio....

I had to laugh... I was watching my favorite summer TV show, "Rescue Me" (Denis Leary) last night, and he's on the phone with his daughter, who's been kidnapped by her mother... the conversation goes like this:
"Where ARE you"
"London"
"London, England"
No, London OHIO"

(So then he went to London Ohio looking for her...)

Of course, the minute they say this, I burst out laughing, saying "Mickey and Minnie live there." (Ray looked at me like I had 3 heads...)

See... there's your minute of fame for London, Ohio!!

 

[WDWLVR]

Maria,
We live in Ohio....but still manage to get to WDW a couple of times a year for at least 1 1/2 weeks, if not longer. Plus we sneak in a cruise as part of one of those trips whenever we can.

How do we afford that? We don't do anything else exciting! No fancy cars. Our house is a normal house---no museum quality pieces in it (for heaven's sake we have a JACKALOPE for decoration!) I don't do expensive jewlery. We don't gamble. Our biggest money sucker this past year was Maggie!! We've made family time a priority and what better place to do it than WDW?

Plus having DVC "forces" us to go back again and again.

Karen - we are very much like you. We try and have one WDW trip and one DCL trip a year. Vacations are important to us.

We don't eat out, we don't drink, we go to maybe 5 movies out a year, we have a very basic house that is paid for.

There is a post over on the community board asking how often you remember 9/11. It doesn't pop into my mind every day, but it does pop into my mind often enough to remind me to enjoy every day of life I have. So trips to WDW and on DCL - especially when there are friends involved are important to that.

 

[whnim64]

That's not abnormal for Florida...

So, DH and I have been talking about moving to FL or GA in the next few years. This morning he tells me that the older he gets, the less he can take the heat, that maybe FL and GA would be too far south! Just because it's been in the 90's here for the last 10 days with no rain. Just wait until it's 10 below with 2 feet of snow. I can gripe more in the winter than he can in the summer. WE are wondering if we would be able to afford home owner's insurance in FL. How bad has it gotten?

 

[dobelover]

I used to make a trip to WDW every year, then I discovered DCL. So I managed to do WDW and DCL once a year. Then I discovered HHI. So I managed to do WDW, DCL and HHI once a year. Then I cruised on RCI and enjoyed it. Then I retired and discovered I can't do it all in one year. Must get a budget and schedule together.




Sue

 

[CajunGirl2]

So, DH and I have been talking about moving to FL or GA in the next few years. This morning he tells me that the older he gets, the less he can take the heat, that maybe FL and GA would be too far south! Just because it's been in the 90's here for the last 10 days with no rain. Just wait until it's 10 below with 2 feet of snow. I can gripe more in the winter than he can in the summer. WE are wondering if we would be able to afford home owner's insurance in FL. How bad has it gotten?

I can't speak for those in FL, but here in GA the home owner's insurance is not bad. We pay less than $500/year. It used to be $350 but think it went up close to $450 recently. Our property taxes are WAY lower than what folks up north pay. When DH was going to be layed off from Motorola, we had the option to relocate to Champagne, IL. Property taxes were way more there than here. He opted to be layed off & stay here. Besides, I could never deal with IL winters!!!

Angie

 

[whnim64]

Karen - we are very much like you. We try and have one WDW trip and one DCL trip a year. Vacations are important to us.

We don't eat out, we don't drink, we go to maybe 5 movies out a year, we have a very basic house that is paid for.

There is a post over on the community board asking how often you remember 9/11. It doesn't pop into my mind every day, but it does pop into my mind often enough to remind me to enjoy every day of life I have. So trips to WDW and on DCL - especially when there are friends involved are important to that.

I'm all for WDW and DCL more often, but DH balks at spending the money. We don't drink (although we did have a couple of bottles of Banfi that we stretched over a month), probably go out to eat more than we should, but not more than once a week, and have only been to 2 or 3 movies in the last year. My dad died at age 68 after 2 years battling cancer, so didn't get to 'enjoy' his retirement. My aunt, his sister, died at age 68 as did both of their parents. I told DH that since I take after my dad's side of the family, I'm going to live like I only had 18 more years (age 68) and enjoy life. Some days he agrees with me and other days he worries about spending too much money.

 

[WDWLVR]

I'm all for WDW and DCL more often, but DH balks at spending the money. We don't drink (although we did have a couple of bottles of Banfi that we stretched over a month), probably go out to eat more than we should, but not more than once a week, and have only been to 2 or 3 movies in the last year. My dad died at age 68 after 2 years battling cancer, so didn't get to 'enjoy' his retirement. My aunt, his sister, died at age 68 as did both of their parents. I told DH that since I take after my dad's side of the family, I'm going to live like I only had 18 more years (age 68) and enjoy life. Some days he agrees with me and other days he worries about spending too much money.

I hear you Sandi - I think part of what makes it easier for us too is that we are DINKS (dual income no kids). We have a decent enough in retirement funds (but are always worried it isn't enough). I have a real fear that some day I may lose the pay level I'm making now and we would have to really scale back. For now we are doing ok.

Our other blessing is that while small (two bedrooms/one bathroom) our house is paid for. That is because of money we got when my mom died and we sold her condo. Would I love a bigger home with a master bath and a walk in closet? Sure! Would I love a great big kitchen with nicer cabinets and countertops? Sure! Am I willing to go into debt for those things right now? No. It is a choice we make.

Everyone has to make choices and one persons choice might not be right for someone else. Plus there is that "the grass is always greener" thing.

 

[whnim64]

I can't speak for those in FL, but here in GA the home owner's insurance is not bad. We pay less than $500/year. It used to be $350 but think it went up close to $450 recently. Our property taxes are WAY lower than what folks up north pay. When DH was going to be layed off from Motorola, we had the option to relocate to Champagne, IL. Property taxes were way more there than here. He opted to be layed off & stay here. Besides, I could never deal with IL winters!!!

Angie

I know that we pay way too much in real estate taxes compared to other states, and our homeowners insurance is over $800/yr! The only thing keeping us from moving now is DH's job and benefits. The utility company that he works for has changed hands twicein the last few years. His job is union (I won't comment on the unions here, even though we are forced to pay union dues every month for the 'privilege' of DH keeping his job) and not likely to be eliminated like the 150 IT jobs like I used to do. But if anything did happen to his job, we'd be packing up the same day.

 

[whnim64]

I hear you Sandi - I think part of what makes it easier for us too is that we are DINKS (dual income no kids). We have a decent enough in retirement funds (but are always worried it isn't enough). I have a real fear that some day I may lose the pay level I'm making now and we would have to really scale back. For now we are doing ok.

Our other blessing is that while small (two bedrooms/one bathroom) our house is paid for. That is because of money we got when my mom died and we sold her condo. Would I love a bigger home with a master bath and a walk in closet? Sure! Would I love a great big kitchen with nicer cabinets and countertops? Sure! Am I willing to go into debt for those things right now? No. It is a choice we make.

Everyone has to make choices and one persons choice might not be right for someone else. Plus there is that "the grass is always greener" thing.

Like you, our house is paid off from my mom's estate money, but when I lost my high-paying job and went to the minimum wage, part-time job I have now, that really got us thinking about our retirement funds. We have to learn to balance our fun money and our retirement plans. I'd love to do DVC, but would never convince DH that it would be worth the money.