~~ A Celebration of Life-long friendship ~~ Sew Sweet 16 ~~ Now N' Thens 3/11

[Chicago Mo]

I'm here..

checking in on everyone. I do hope she gets better soon. It's just he pits.

 

[ljcrochet]

I hope A is feeling better and can make it through the whole day of school.
How are you from town?

 

[sewmess]

May this be all that January flings (you know, like the stuff monkeys are know for flinging) this year.

Anytime I hear Prednisone I cringe. I've heard horror stories from Cale about his experiences with it. Even though it did get him to where he is today, he swears he will never NEVER take it again. Hopefully Allison will not have the long term prescription he had - the longer it's taken the worse the side effects, apparently.

Uhm - we can tell it's getting brighter earlier here down closer to the equator, but January is our worst month for what we consider cold and snow. So far this year *knock on wood* we've just had a couple of nights below freezing and yesterday was the first sign of "wintery precipitation" For you who live in northern climes, it means we had a little sleet mixed in with our rain.

Cale mentioned that we may actually be going with some friends to Disney this year!! It'll be strange to have people to keep up with, rather than just our guest stars.

 

[Texan]

Good afternoon Miss D - Allison is such a trooper - she has really had a rough spell; hope she has a restful long weekend.

I have to laugh about your phrase "trips to town". That's what we always say and people just don't get it. Its about 20 miles from our driveway to the Super Target strip center; and a little further down to the PetsMart/HEB strip center; and then even further if we want to head to the mall; that's what we get for living out in the sticks right? The worse would be when the kiddos had ortho or dermatologist appts and I would take them to school; go to work; go back to school and pick them up; go to the appt; take them back to school; and then I would go back to work; whew. It takes a lot out of you. I was so glad when the kiddos started driving and it made my trips easier. Allison doesn't have much longer!

Hope your Whole30 is going okay - It was so hard when Tyler went through his 30 day Primal diet through CrossFit and it became harder as the time went on; they even had to weigh their portions; it was crazy; he said he would get so hungry. I have been trying to hunt down new healthy recipes this week; I really need to stock up on some more Primal basic cooking ingredients. I am so tired of cooking the same thing each week. Even Mark Sisson's recipes call for a lot of things I don't have.

Praying that all of ya'll stay well and have a good weekend! More prayers and good juju sent Allison's way!

Love and hugs, Carol

 

[DMGeurts]

Crossing my fingers that Alli is able to be at school all day.

I hope you get to finish what you didn't finish yesterday in your sewing room.

Thank you Lillian! Alli was able to be at school most of the day on Friday.

And I just "kept at it" in my sewing room and finished the bag on friday - which was nice, because now I get the weekend off.

I'm here..

checking in on everyone. I do hope she gets better soon. It's just he pits.

Thanks Mo... Alli is doing much better!

I hope A is feeling better and can make it through the whole day of school.
How are you from town?

Thanks! She almost made it, I picked her up an hour early.

We are about 20 minutes from town... So, by the time I warm the car up, drive, wait to pick up whoever I am picking up and drive home, it's an hour - for sure. Which adds up when I am doing 3 trips per day. Sigh.

May this be all that January flings (you know, like the stuff monkeys are know for flinging) this year.

Anytime I hear Prednisone I cringe. I've heard horror stories from Cale about his experiences with it. Even though it did get him to where he is today, he swears he will never NEVER take it again. Hopefully Allison will not have the long term prescription he had - the longer it's taken the worse the side effects, apparently.

Uhm - we can tell it's getting brighter earlier here down closer to the equator, but January is our worst month for what we consider cold and snow. So far this year *knock on wood* we've just had a couple of nights below freezing and yesterday was the first sign of "wintery precipitation" For you who live in northern climes, it means we had a little sleet mixed in with our rain.

Cale mentioned that we may actually be going with some friends to Disney this year!! It'll be strange to have people to keep up with, rather than just our guest stars.

LOL - Yes, it's that type of January here for sure.

Yes, Alli didn't like the prednisone... She only took one dose of it - and she is still feeling side effects. The good thing, so far, that one dose took down her swelling and it hasn't come back yet... Hopefully she doesn't need anymore doses.

I know - it's nice that the days are getting longer... I am so ready for spring and shorts. I have always disliked pants - so as soon as I can tolerate the cold while wearing shorts & flip flops, I do. LOL Which, most of the time - I get some pretty strange looks - but...

Oooh - I sure hope you get to plan a trip to Disney this year. I know that I am hopefully, for sure (did you get that? LOL) going with Allison for her graduation trip in March of 2016... So, in a few months I get to start planning for that. She really wants to stay at GF, but I priced it out the other day and OUCH! Rack rate is 6K for a 5 night trip... Yah - I hate to burst her bubble, but she is going to have to pick a Mod resort.

Good afternoon Miss D - Allison is such a trooper - she has really had a rough spell; hope she has a restful long weekend.

I have to laugh about your phrase "trips to town". That's what we always say and people just don't get it. Its about 20 miles from our driveway to the Super Target strip center; and a little further down to the PetsMart/HEB strip center; and then even further if we want to head to the mall; that's what we get for living out in the sticks right? The worse would be when the kiddos had ortho or dermatologist appts and I would take them to school; go to work; go back to school and pick them up; go to the appt; take them back to school; and then I would go back to work; whew. It takes a lot out of you. I was so glad when the kiddos started driving and it made my trips easier. Allison doesn't have much longer!

Hope your Whole30 is going okay - It was so hard when Tyler went through his 30 day Primal diet through CrossFit and it became harder as the time went on; they even had to weigh their portions; it was crazy; he said he would get so hungry. I have been trying to hunt down new healthy recipes this week; I really need to stock up on some more Primal basic cooking ingredients. I am so tired of cooking the same thing each week. Even Mark Sisson's recipes call for a lot of things I don't have.

Praying that all of ya'll stay well and have a good weekend! More prayers and good juju sent Allison's way!

Love and hugs, Carol

Alli is hanging in there and doing well - I will do a bigger update on her below, but she is a trooper for sure.

LOL - Yes... Trips to town are so hard, and it's a LOT of running all of the time! I've gotten pretty good at consolidating trips - but most times, you just can't. There is only SO much you can do in town. LOL

My whole30 is going really well... I'll update below - but today is day 21.

Thanks for all the well wishes for Allison, I appreciate it so much!

**********************************************************

First... Thanks all for your prayers and well wishes for Alli, she is doing remarkably well. She only took that one dose of prednisone, but it was enough to bring her swelling down to a tolerable level - and it has yet to come back to that. So, our fingers are crossed that the worst of that part is over. She almost made it through school on Friday... I picked her up an hour early... She is resting this weekend (for the most part) and trying to prep her body to make it through finals this week. She is going to have to push through it, but since the pain of the swelling is gone - she just has to push through the tiredness. Prayers that she will be able to are very much welcome.

Her and I snuck out to the MOA yesterday, we did one loop - and enjoyed ourselves immensely. She was able to do her exchange and we were out of there in an hour. It was nice to get out with her... She slept the whole way home though, so little jaunts like that tire her out quickly - but we knew that going in, so we were sure to only do one loop.

We are still trying to pick out the "right red" for our kitchen... Sigh - it's not easy. Since we can't perfectly match our old red (sigh), we have to paint the entire kitchen... I think we've settled on the color we want - I hope. It's more red than what we had before - which was a bit more rust colored.

Today is Day 21 of my Whole30, and I feel like it's going great. I did an update about in on my blog the other day, if any of you are reading there? I really enjoy eating like this... I've given it a lot of thought lately, and I just cannot imagine going from the way I ate 2 years ago, to eating this way over night... I don't know how anyone could succeed doing it "cold turkey" like that. But since mine was so gradual, eating in a Whole30 way has been very seamless for me, and the "side effects" have been very minimal - if any at all. Counting down to only have 9 days left, is really not a countdown for me at all... I fully believe I might take this on for another 30 days (much to Josh's disappointment... He is sick of my "diet")... But what he doesn't realize and see for himself are all the benefits - not necessarily from doing this particular Whole30, but all of it combined over the last 2 years - it's really been a profound thing for me. To be honest, nothing in my life has changed from doing the W30... Everything is exactly the same... However, my waist has definitely gotten smaller in these few weeks, and my complexion has definitely cleared up even more, and I've learned that I can drink coffee "black" and it won't kill me (I don't enjoy it as much, but I am still alive)... So, I'd like to continue on for another "undisclosed" time frame to see if it can sweep me closer to my goal in time for summer clothes.

Today... I think we are painting... And hopefully getting that last little piece of linoleum laid in front of the front door...

Josh is smoking a bunch of meat on the smoker, and his cousin Matt (the hockey player) and possibly one of his team mates are coming for dinner tonight.

I'll be making a few trips to town, because both girls have final projects they need to do at different times with different people... Sigh.

I want to do an update or two here this morning... I am getting a little anxious to get this TR done and start a PTR for Allison's graduation trip... After all - it's only 15 months away.

I hope you all have a wonderful day! Prayers and good thoughts to all of you!

D~

 

[Sweetly]

So glad to hear Alli is doing better. She has been such a trooper. Hope you get the painting done. I thought this afternoon we would go bowling then have everyone here for dinner, but the ice coming down has changed those plans. Accidents all over the place. We will be in till tomorrow. Excited about a possible update!! Gets me into my planning warrior mode for our trip. Just a few more things to decide on. We have stayed at the GF, yes it was a beautiful place to stay. However, it is costly unless you get a deal(which happened once for Christmas week many years ago) it's always nice to wish and see if you can. Plus we stay at the GF only if my parents come (they are elderly and I do it so it's more convenient for them to get back. Have a wonderful day!

 

[DMGeurts]

Monday, August 25, 2014... Epcot.

Today is supposed to be the HOTTEST day of all our days... It is also supposed to be the hottest recorded temps in Fl. in a decade...

I was awake at 5:25... Of course, I had to do my morning ritual of coffee/FB/Disboards...

We were all down to the bus stop by 7:10am... We were greeted by our old pals... Julie and her family. By now, we are fairly used to bumping into them, so we took a quick photo of today's bags...

And a photo of all of the girls and I...

We boarded the bus to Epcot at 7:20 for our 8am breakfast reservation at Akershus... We have never eaten breakfast here before.

Our first glimpses of Epcot...

Making our way back to Norway...

Allison and Olivia...

Attempting to photobomb again...

The check in line was a little long, but we didn't wait too long to be seated. First things first - Photos with Belle...

So, did we enjoy our first breakfast at Akershus?

Link to Day 6 Part 2

D~

 

[DMGeurts]

After we took our photos with Belle, we were seated...

We were kind of put in a dark dreary corner...

And because of Olivia's egg allergy, we had to wait for the Chef to come out and give us the low-down...

Our Chef was Chef Jay... And he was awesome, just awesome. Even though Olivia was the "allergy child" Chef Jay latched on to Victoria (perhaps it was because of her slight grouchiness this morning?)... So, Chef Jay also brought V her own "special plate"... and every time he walked by, he made sure her food was to "her satisfaction"... Hehehe... Just what she needed that morning... LOL Someone to put her in her place, yet make her feel special. Chef Jay received a letter of recommendation from me upon our return home - he was great! I always feel bad for our breakfast servers, because - unbeknown to them, they get tasked with trying to turn V's frown upside down - which is no easy feat.

My food...

Hmmm... Lots of fruit, lots of salmon... but I just cannot imagine myself taking a donut, but I must have? I remember the fruit and the salmon was delicious.

Before we knew it, the characters were coming fast and furious...

When our meal was over, Chef Jay brought the girls their own special cupcakes to celebrate their birthdays...

We settled our bill, and we were off... The plan this morning... Ride Test Track while we were waiting for our Soarin' FP time to come around...

Standby for Test Track was 45 minutes long, and by then, our FPs for Soarin' would be expired. So we did what any educated Disney person would do... We rode TT single rider.

I would put our TT ride photos in here - but it's 5 different photos and meh... We've all seen them before - there's nothing special about ours.

We all enjoyed our TT ride... When we were finished, we made our way to Soarin'...

As usual, we asked for front n' center, and this ride did not disappoint. Olivia and Robyn had never ridden it before - and they enjoyed it.

Did we survive the heat of Epcot today? Stay tuned...

Link to Day 6 Part 3

D~

 

[DMGeurts]

After we finished Soarin', the girls really wanted to ride Living with the Land... It was walk on, so that's what we did - we had a bit of time to kill before our next FP window anyways... And we preferred to stay inside to beat the heat for as long as we could.

When we were done with LWTL, it was time for our next FP window... The Character Spot... Which required a dress change for Victoria...

I was sad to learn that Donald was no longer doing meet n greets here... My guess... Disney probably fired him when he wrecked my Donald bag...

But we were happy to meet up with the rest of the characters...

And Minnie... Who adored my outfit...

All of the characters loved V's dress too... It was pretty cool.

Once we were done there, V changed back into her regular clothes, and the girls rode Mission Space in the standby line - 5 minute wait.

At this time, I texted Chiara... I was super excited to meet her - she has been one of my first Disboard friends, and to finally be able to meet her in person was such an honor! Thankfully it worked out for her that she could meet up with us a little earlier... So, we started to head clockwise around World Showcase, and she started heading our direction...

Yay!!!! We finally meet!!!! It was wonderful! Chiara and I started sewing right around the same time, and both of us have been on a journey to better our health for quite some time now... She is one of those people who continue to inspire me every day, and I was awesome to finally be able to meet her and her family! And check out Jimmy's adorable outfit - it was so cute!

And, of course, V had to hold adorable Sami...

We were right at the entrance to meet Donald (Hmmm... That's what Disney did to him...) - so we decided to chat for a while and meet Donald... I don't know why we didn't meet him together, but we met him separately...

Needless to say - he loved all of us...

I am not sure how it happened, but we managed to kick Donald out of the picture...

We said our good-byes to Chiara and family and we parted ways... We continued clockwise around WS...

Link to Day 6 Part 4

D~

 

[Terkina]

Sounds like you had a great start at Epcot. Chef Jay sounds like a great CM. Looks like you had a great breakfast.

How great that you got front n' center at Soarin.

 

[Clio]

Sounds like a great day at EPCOT. I'm glad the chef was able to brighten V.'s day.
Liz

 

[THiiNKTiiNKx0]

Love all the updates! Wayyyy too much to comment on because I fell behind oops lol. But I have to say that the 2 pics of Donald proposing are beyond adorable, hilarious, cute, etc. Love love love !

 

[ljcrochet]

Oooh - I sure hope you get to plan a trip to Disney this year. I know that I am hopefully, for sure (did you get that? LOL) going with Allison for her graduation trip in March of 2016... So, in a few months I get to start planning for that. She really wants to stay at GF, but I priced it out the other day and OUCH! Rack rate is 6K for a 5 night trip... Yah - I hate to burst her bubble, but she is going to have to pick a Mod resort.

D~

Have you looked into renting DVC points to stay at GFV? First 2 weeks of March it is 23 points a night for Sunday through Thursday for the standard view and 27 points for the weekend. You most likely can rent them for $12-13 a point. I think the last 2 weeks of March it is 31 and 36 a point but I figure up won't go then because it is during Easter.

 

[Texan]

Howdy there D - thank you for the birthday wishes! One year past 50 - YIKES! You are such a young chickadee - I feel so old around you youngsters

I love, love, love Epcot, it is hands down my favorite park. I have fallen in love with it more than MK. You made my lunch hour have a big smile on my face. The pics are toats adorbs! I love the Minnie Mouse hug - ya'll looked so cute together - you and Minnie are fashionistas!

BTW - the breakfast looked to yummy - how was it compared to your other breakfast experiences?

I have to laugh - we discussed the SAT and ACT and when Allison would be taking it - I sent you a PM with hints - but then it really hit me - she is going to graduate next year - I started to well up a little - that is such a hard transition for a mom - I bawled buckets at both kiddo's graduations. But, I am so excited to see there will soon be PTR reports for the mom/Allison graduation trip! I am so looking forward to them!!!

Here is one more Dorine inspirational moments being passed along - you should see my coffee lately - not black (ACK) - but very little half and half and very little agave - I am getting use to it! You inspire us all!

Good to hear Allison is in less pain. She is going to have to rest, rest, rest.

Hope you have a wonderful week - prayers always and big hugs. Carol

 

[STLMickeyMom]

looks like you had a good start to your day! we liked our lunch there when we tried it. I don't know why I noticed (i'm weird.... ) but i'm surprised at the amount of people wearing flip flops in your pictures. my feet would be KILLING me!

all your character meet pictures are so cute! I wanted to meet Mexican Donald when we were there a year ago, but he was on a break and my family didn't want to wait....next time!

V's dress is so cute!! did she make it?

 

[DMGeurts]

Sounds like you had a great start at Epcot. Chef Jay sounds like a great CM. Looks like you had a great breakfast.

How great that you got front n' center at Soarin.

Yes, we did... Chef Jay was awesome! And breakfast - from what I remember - was delicious.

Yes, we always request it... I figure we've come that far, we might as well wait the extra 10 minutes and get the "perfect flight".

Sounds like a great day at EPCOT. I'm glad the chef was able to brighten V.'s day.
Liz

We did have a really good Epcot day. And Chef Jay was hilarious!

Love all the updates! Wayyyy too much to comment on because I fell behind oops lol. But I have to say that the 2 pics of Donald proposing are beyond adorable, hilarious, cute, etc. Love love love !

I know - I hate doing that many updates at once for that very reason... But I figure that I need to get them done sometime. LOL

Yes - That particular Donald was one of the best we have had. He was awesome!

Have you looked into renting DVC points to stay at GFV? First 2 weeks of March it is 23 points a night for Sunday through Thursday for the standard view and 27 points for the weekend. You most likely can rent them for $12-13 a point. I think the last 2 weeks of March it is 31 and 36 a point but I figure up won't go then because it is during Easter.

Thanks for the suggestion - I am now looking into renting point at GFV... It's still very expensive - so we'll see. Alli's spring break is over Easter weekend that year - sigh... So, yes, we might have to go then. I have not decided yet - there are a few potential times we can go. Thanks for the idea though.

Howdy there D - thank you for the birthday wishes! One year past 50 - YIKES! You are such a young chickadee - I feel so old around you youngsters

I love, love, love Epcot, it is hands down my favorite park. I have fallen in love with it more than MK. You made my lunch hour have a big smile on my face. The pics are toats adorbs! I love the Minnie Mouse hug - ya'll looked so cute together - you and Minnie are fashionistas!

BTW - the breakfast looked to yummy - how was it compared to your other breakfast experiences?

I have to laugh - we discussed the SAT and ACT and when Allison would be taking it - I sent you a PM with hints - but then it really hit me - she is going to graduate next year - I started to well up a little - that is such a hard transition for a mom - I bawled buckets at both kiddo's graduations. But, I am so excited to see there will soon be PTR reports for the mom/Allison graduation trip! I am so looking forward to them!!!

Here is one more Dorine inspirational moments being passed along - you should see my coffee lately - not black (ACK) - but very little half and half and very little agave - I am getting use to it! You inspire us all!

Good to hear Allison is in less pain. She is going to have to rest, rest, rest.

Hope you have a wonderful week - prayers always and big hugs. Carol

Yes, I hope you had a great Birthday Carol!

I am glad to have made your day with our Epcot adventures... I do enjoy that park, but sadly - not as much as the others.

I am looking forward to the girls' grad trips too... It's going to be a CRAZY 2 years for us though... Seriously - I will talk about it more below.

Yay for black coffee - or almost black coffee... It's so hard to drink it that way, but I haven't died yet. LOL Great job Carol!

I am taking Alli in to school later when I go to Target today, so she will get to sleep in a little bit this morning. She is still tired, but the swelling hasn't come back yet, and praying it doesn't.

Thank you - same to yoU!

looks like you had a good start to your day! we liked our lunch there when we tried it. I don't know why I noticed (i'm weird.... ) but i'm surprised at the amount of people wearing flip flops in your pictures. my feet would be KILLING me!

all your character meet pictures are so cute! I wanted to meet Mexican Donald when we were there a year ago, but he was on a break and my family didn't want to wait....next time!

V's dress is so cute!! did she make it?

We did - we enjoyed it - not sure we will do it again? It wasn't a must-do for us (I don't think?)...

Hehehe... If you noticed in those pictures - I do a shoe change mid-day... But BFF and I both wear Orthaheel flip flops - which are supportive - they are flip flops with orthotics built into them... Pretty ex*****ve, but I buy a new pair every summer - I love them! Even though they have orthotics built in, I still can't do a whole day in them.

That Mexican Donald was particularily good - Probably one of the best Donalds we have had in many trips.

Thanks - no, I made V's dress, right after we got home from our 2013 trip - it was modeled after the one Erin made for her little Victoria - my V saw it on our 2013 trip and HAD TO HAVE IT... I was a TON of work for me, and she wore it for 20 minutes... It was fun to make though - and I am glad I could do it for her.

**********************************************************

I wish I could say we finished our kitchen over this long weekend - but nope, didn't even touch it... Take that back... We did do some paint samples on the wall to try and figure out a new red color... so now we have paint squares of different reds on our wall. We'll get it finished - eventually - I hope.

I accomplished NOTHING else this weekend. I was a total bum!

I am starting to go into *frantic* mode...

I was starting to look at dates for Allison's graduation trip in 2016, and one of the potential dates is less than a year away. I really need to get a move on these trips...

Here is how the next 2 years stacks up for trips for us...

June 2015 - Maine for our annual Birthday trip with Suzi and Mo
June 2015 - Mt. Rushmore family trip
July 2015 - The lake for 4th of July week
Jan/Feb/Mar - 2016 Allison's graduation trip to WDW
June 2016 - Allison's graduation trip to Europe (we are paying for flights - she is paying for the rest)
July 2016 - Annual 4th of July trip to the lake
Fall 2016 - potential Van trip (this is not set in stone yet, as these other trips take priority)
October 2016 - Victoria's Grad trip to WDW (she wants to go during halloween decoration time)
June 2017 - Victoria's grad trip to Europe

Mt. Rushmore and the Europe trips take precidence over everything else - those must be paid for first.

Then the girls' graduation trips to WDW.

The lake trips are a given, and happen every year no matter what.

Sadly - this puts the van trip at the very bottom of the priority list. If anything - it might have to wait another year... I would still want to do it at some point.

I was just telling Josh - I will be doing auctions for the next year non-stop probably... Which is good for you guys - and exhausting for me. But someone has to pay for all of these trips - and you know me... Trips are CASH only.

In other news...

Today is Day 23 of my Whole30... It's still going well, very second nature at this point. I feel like I am getting smaller/narrower in my waist area...

Here I am this morning - all freshly woken up for your guys... Crappy hair and puffy eyes... LOL But I liked my waist - so I had to take a picture... And it is Disney related...

With the progress I have made so far, it's really keeping me motivated to continue on and do a Whole60 or Whole90. We'll see... but I am almost certain that I will go beyond the 30 day mark.

Allison is doing well... The swelling from the Mono has yet to come back... So she is feeling really good - just tired. She is sleeping in a little bit this morning, and I will bring her into school when I go in to Target this morning.

I hope you all have a wonderful day! Prayers and good thoughts go out to all of you!

D~

 

[Chicago Mo]

you will be the seasoned traveler!

Love ya.

 

[Chicago Mo]

I LOVE the updates!!!
Epcot has turned into a favorite of ours! and a adore the PP photographers! YAY for meeting Chiara! That's fantastic!!!

Did i say i love your outfit? Especially the sunglasses!

YAY for Aker-RUSH. Good times! Fun to walk in before crowds!!!

I know you have a ton of PP... Just sitting PATIENTLY waiting to see them all!

 

[WDW2012]

Glad Allison is feeling better. Can't wait for the rest of the Epcot updates. We were there the SAME day! I do remember it being pretty hot. I can't remember where we where and when but I know we went to Le Cellier for lunch around noon ish.

 

[OregonMomToWDW]

Wow, that is a lot of trips. You look great. Keep up the great work. I am really glad that Alli's swelling hasn't come back.

We had an orthodontic appointment for Chelsea. She needs headgear and the braces. So, in 2 weeks, she will be getting those on. Then Marissa, has been having jaw issues, so she needs a device. $800 and insurance doesn't cover it. So, it appears much of my trip planning is going into their mouths right now.