ANOTHER Adventure in Autism (4/15) A Taste of What's to Come...

[Hedy]

Now, while we had been waiting for the Fantasmic crowd to thin, I had been fussing about trying to zip over to Tatoonie Traders. We had a DIS-meet scheduled the day after next with mrsksomeday and YodaK, and I really wanted to pick up a little something that was Star Wars-related. Finally, Ed told me to take Tricia and go while he would walk with Billy and AR toward the main exit. Tricia and I took off in a trot…naturally, she soon began to get too far ahead of me for comfort, and I called to her to slow down. Usually the stores are open a little past the official closing time, but we had to cross practically the entire park. The further we got from Echo Lake, the darker and less populated it became. It felt a little creepy, actually!


We made it over to the themed gift shop and, luckily, they were still open. Several guests browsed the store, but I knew exactly what I wanted…pins! Happily, I found what I was looking for… Mickey as Luke Skywalker and Minnie as Princess Leia. We had only two people ahead of us in line, so we managed to procure our loot quickly and we were off to join the others.

Saw these pins in Tracy's PTR, and thought of you guys. I hope all is well.

 

[mousescrapper]

ditto all the well wishes....have thought of you alot lately as I've been recounting my memories in my TR. Hope all is well

 

[KathyRN137]

Okay, so you know how when you arrive v-e-r-y late to church or to a show or, well, whatever, you try to ease in on tip-toe very slowly and very quietly hoping that no one will notice??

Yeah, right!

After taking a *cough* seven month hiatus from the DISboards, I thought I would just casually pick up where my report left off... in May of 2008 ... and with any luck (heh-heh) no one would realize that I had been gone so long.

Well, POOPS!

My abandoned report, although far from completed, has been moved to the Completed Trip Reports board, thus dashing my visions of a stealth return. Ah well.

DIS-friends, I will try my best to finish the job... despite the fact that I have lost all my trip notes (having moved lock, stock, and barrel twice in the past 6 months).... and despite the fact that all the trip pix I had painstakingly uploaded onto Photobucket have mysteriously disappeared!

Over the course of the next few weeks, I will go back and put the pieces together from memory and pictures stored in my computer. Thankfully, I took a whole bunch!!

That is my New Year's Resolution.

I've put it in writing, so now I've got to stick to it!!

For anyone who cares to read (or re-read) Part One of this report, kindly click on the link in my siggie, below.

Hugs to all,

Kathy

 

[OhMari]

I can move it back Kathy and I'll merge it with this.
OhMari

 

[Hedy]

So good to have you back!

 

[tiggerbell]

OK - Kathy - CREEPY!!! I was just thinking about you TODAY!!!

I can't wait to hear more - I was hoping all was okay with you and your family -

 

[KathyRN137]

I can move it back Kathy and I'll merge it with this.
OhMari

Thanks! That's so nice of you!!

Now all I need to do is PM a peep who can tell me how to do that Link-To-Just-the-TR Posts trick!!!

Regards,

Kathy

 

[OhMari]

Thanks! That's so nice of you!!

Now all I need to do is PM a peep who can tell me how to do that Link-To-Just-the-TR Posts trick!!!

Regards,

Kathy

I know how to copy the link, I just don't know how to rename it.

 

[whgrn]

Hey Kathy! Welcome back! Thought you'd dropped off the face of the earth. I'm so glad we'll finally get to finish the saga of your trip.

Looking forward to catching up!

 

[preschoolmom]

Welcome Back!

(I've eaten 7 months of popcorn - Where's the Diet Coke icon?)

 

[Halloweenqueen]

Wow, I'm so happy to see you around the boards again.

Welcome back!

The trip report can wait! We want details about your moves. How are dh and kids? Your dear aunt?

Any WDW since April?

 

[irish dancer]

Yeah! I'm so glad you're back! I've wondered how the moves and construction were going. Both must have been tough and I've wondered how Billy handled it all.

Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip and hopefully a little of what you've been up to the past few months.

 

[eyeheartgoofy]

Cool, you're back!!! I'm still wondering how that studio at OKW worked out after all the 2 bedroom vacations!

Hope all is well and that you are settled into a newly remodeled home!

 

[jess98ac]

Welcome back! Can't wait to start reading again!

 

[whgrn]

Welcome Back!

(I've eaten 7 months of popcorn - Where's the Diet Coke icon?)

Here ya go!

 

[DisMomAmy]

Or should I say "Welcome Back"!!!!!!!!!!

I know there are a lot of us here who are so happy that you have returned & can't wait to hear about how you are all doing and how the house project turned out!

Thanks for coming back!!
Amy

 

[KathyRN137]

Thanks for all the warm welcome back wishes!!

So, for those who need a quick update, here is what's been happening with the KathyRN family:

I began falling off on my DIS-ing back in the Spring when plans for our complete home renovation began in ernest... at first, it was simply a matter on not having the time. The entire process was very absorbing.

Then Ed started making noises about how "we won't have any money to go to Disney this year"....and then, "we probably won't be able to go next year either"... and, well, I just felt like I had to put WDW completely out of my mind.

It was kind of like an addict going cold turkey.

And so... I just stopped completely, choosing to focus my attention elsewhere. I don't know about the rest of you, but once I get on this board and start getting hooked on everyone's reports, it's like being involved with soap stories... in fact, its even more addicting than soaps, because its stuff that is happening to real live people with whom you really start to connect on a personal level.

To all my DIS-Friends: I missed you and am so glad to hear from you again! I will do my best to get caught up with you all!

So, where was I? Ah yes, our house!

Well, we seemed to squeak in just before the mortgage crisis really hit and we scored a construction loan so that we could expand our domicile. We actually did more re-structuring of the floor plans than adding actual square footage.

Not to get into too much detail... but frankly, if I have to send PMs to you all, I will never get back to this report!! (And a "form letter" PM sent to multiple people just seems so cold).....

We put a small addition on the back of our L-shaped Cape that squared it out, moved my itsy-bitsy 1940's kitchen from the front of the house to the back of the house and opened it up to the living room, moved the bathroom from one side of the house to the center, moved the master bedroom to the front where the kitchen was, put a home office behind the garage, added a small deck, dormered out the 2nd floor to enlarge the kids' bedrooms and get rid of the sharply pitched ceilings upstairs, added a bathroom and a laundry room upstairs, re-roofed, re-sided, re- ...... Well, you get the idea! Sheesh, I'm getting exhaused just typing all that!

Naturally, we couldn't continue to live in the house, so we moved out at the end of May. And I mean completely moved out, because the whole house was being gutted. Then, after a very trying summer, we moved everything back into the new-old house in October. October 31st, to be exact!

Why, you may ask, did we choose to move on Halloween?? Well, because it took two months longer than expected for "the boys" (as we lovingly refered to the contractors) to complete the job. Almost complete the job. Complete the job enough for us to get approved for a Certificate of Occupancy, anyway, because we had to be out of the rental so new renters could move in November 1st!!

And all this during the time of year that I would normally be preparing for our annual WDW trip!!

Of course, it takes time to unpack and settle in... especially when everything is completely different in the house! Then, before you know it, the holiday season was upon us and I got all wrapped up in that!

Whew! I guess even if I had tried, I wouldn't have had time to DIS!

Tricia and Billy have handled the transistion well. It was hard for them because they had to share a bedroom all summer, so they are both happy to each have their own space again.

You may recall when I was last posting that Billy was having some issues with handling frustration (hitting and biting). He is doing so well that the behavioral team at his school has discontinued his "behavior management plan" and his doctor cut the dosage of his medication last week. He is back to his old cheerful self.


So now, everything is settling back to normalcy. As is our tradition, we watched the WDW Christmas Parade on TV after opening presents Christmas morning and I began longing for another trip. (Perfectly natural, right??)


And so.... somehow, I absentmindedly found myself looking at the calendar to see when "Jersey Week" would fall in '09. Hey! Its early this year! That first Saturday is actually October 31st..... wouldn't it be really cool to be able to trick or treat at WDW this year??? That led to casually checking airfares for that week "just to see if the drop in oil prices have affected them". Hmmmm. Even this far out, they're much better than last year.

And so that led to me going to the DVC website to check on our points availability for this year. While I was at it, I began reading about the new DVC projects and general DVC news. (Remember, its been about 7-8 months since I've sought out any Disney news.) It was like pouring water on a dry sponge!

I soaked up every little tidbit of info. I took virtual tours of the villas at AKL and the BLT at the Contemporary.

Ahhhh! The Contemporary! I may be able to use this to my advantage.

You see, Ed has always had this thing for the Contemporary. He has often said how much he would love to stay there, just once. Staying at one of "the original" Disney resorts on the monorail line, to him, is just the ultimate. I decided to test the waters.

"Honey, come look at this," I said the other day as I sat at the computer. "Its a 360 degree virtual tour of the new DVC villas at the Contemporary!"

"Come into my parlour," said the spider to the fly.


(To be continued....)


Kathy

 

[askelton]

"Honey, come look at this," I said the other day as I sat at the computer. "Its a 360 degree virtual tour of the new DVC villas at the Contemporary1"

Very smart woman! Your house sounds great. Hope to see some pictures.

 

[mrsksomeday]

You may recall when I was last posting that Billy was having some issues with handling frustration (hitting and biting). He is doing so well that the behavioral team at his school has discontinued his "behavior management plan" and his doctor cut the dosage of his medication last week. He is back to his old cheerful self.

This is fantastic news!!! This is wonderful, thank you so much for telling us.

You see, Ed has always had this thing for the Contemporary. He has often said how much he would love to stay there, just once. Staying at one of "the original" Disney resorts on the monorail line, to him, is just the ultimate. I decided to test the waters.

"Honey, come look at this," I said the other day as I sat at the computer. "Its a 360 degree virtual tour of the new DVC villas at the Contemporary!"

"Come into my parlour," said the spider to the fly.

You my dear are brilliant!! Great plan, I hope it works out for you.

The house sounds great, your family deserved it .

 

[DisMomAmy]

"Come into my parlour," said the spider to the fly.

Glad to hear that Billy is doing so much better!