I apologize that I don't have time to respond individually at the moment...
I am so exhausted... We have had intense storms for 2 nights in a row and I have not slept well at all. Thankfully no damage here - I have been in 2 tornadoes in my lifetime, and I am quite scared of storms. So, I was up most of the last 2 nights making sure we didn't need to go to the basement.
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So, this is going to be one big huge Bag/Trip ramble and how they all tie together.
I am still in a little bit of shock over how well my auctions did. I honestly did not expect everything to sell. I had a certain goal I had to make to pay off our trip, and I made extra items to sell so I would make that goal.
My bare minimum goal was to make enough to pay off our trip - which right now is booked as a room/dining trip only (no park tickets). My second goal was to pay off our trip and make some $$ to go towards our park tickets.
When I added up all of my sales from the auction, I made enough to pay off our trip AND purchase the entire balance of our park tickets + $10 to spare!

To say I am thrilled is just an understatement.
As I am sure that Suzi and Mo will tell you - I have been nothing short of a maniac for the last few weeks, stressing over this auction and if anything will sell... I am not sure I will ever do an auction again where my final trip payment is dependant on it - it was just too stressful for me.
In the end - I could not be more thrilled with the results and I am still shocked that EVERYTHING sold... That in itself is almost a bigger accomplishment...
There are a few items that went a LOT higher than I thought they would. And there are a few items that went a LOT lower than I thought they would. But it all came out in the wash...
So... My trip plans over the next few weeks...
On Thursday - bff and I are going Gift Card shopping (and grocery shopping) - Where I will purchase a TON of GCs - enough to pay off our trip and purchase our park tickets. My pay off date for our trip is July 6th, but I need to have it done before 4th of July week...
The next items on our list to purchase... in this order...
*Photopass +... $150.00
*OOP food... $250.00 (I know that sounds like a lot, since we are on
DDP - but remember we are doing CRT and I have to pay for 2 TS meals OOP)
*Tips... $100.00
*Baggage fees... $150.00
*Dessert Party... $75.00
*Water Park... $150.00
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Total... $875
So, I still have a TON of $$ to come up with... I figure I might be able to pull about $300 out of our budget. I also have July's auction - I don't know how much that will bring in (or even what it is yet) - but I usually average about $150-$200 on those... August's auction another $150-$200 (which it looks like I will have to do)... and my City pay check - which should be about $200. Which gives me... $800.
A lot of the above mentioned items can be paid for with Disney GCs... So I should JUST BARELY come screeching in under the wire for finances. It is going to be close. I am very glad that my auctions did as well as they did - as I think I am just barely going to make it.
If I wanted to... I *could* put this on a credit card, but IMO - that defeats the purpose of a vacation - I have never come home from vacation with debt from it, and I hope I never have to do so.
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Rather than posting a water bottle photo today - I have decided to do something a bit more fun...
The other day - Mo asked me how many Dismeets I have done. Well - quite honestly Mo - I have no idea... But I have speant the last few days trying to assemble all of my Dismeet photos - because you know... "A Dismeet didn't happen if you don't have photos to prove it..."
So.... Here we go...
Would you believe, I did not meet my first Diser until our trip last March? And guess who the very first Diser I ever met was???
It was Liddy!!! Some of you may remember Liddy? She doesn't post here very much any more, but she is due to have a baby in August... The girls and I still chat with her on FB all the time. Anyways - I don't have any photos of that first Dismeet, but I do have a photo of the Dismeet we did the following night...
Lidian,
OopsiDaisy, me, and
Corrine1973
Through out our March trip - we had several other Dismeets...
Lovethattink and her little boy (Ani)
Tinkbelle13 and her DH - they had just driven down from Canada this day...
There were 3 other Disers I met on my last WDW trip.. But sadly, no photos...
Childatheart82 (whom we met at 50's PT),
MerissaAndMomLoveDis (she approached me in the food court because she recognized my bag), and
April (MinnieVanMom).
Then, last August - I flew out to Charlotte, NC for a HUGE Disboutiquers Dismeet and a weekend of Fabric Shopping... On this trip - I met soooo many Disers, I am not even sure I will get all their Dis names right? I also became very close with a few of these Diser too...
Marianne (
MPhalens), Liz (
babynala), Beth (
Blyssful)...
We met
Blessedmom4,
VBAndrea &
mommy2mrb... Also in this photo - their kids and Marianne, Liz, Beth and I...
Then the following morning we met... Ummm... Everyone??? L to R: Marianne (
Mphalens),
Jill (not sure of her Disname), Nicole (
mommyof2princesses), Kristen (
mkwj), Jennifer (
DisneyTeacher01), Liz (
Babynala), Mr. Charlie, Jessica (
Jessica52877), Tammy (
Disname?), D~ (
Dmgeurts), Kim (
The Moonk's Mom), and Beth (
Blyssfull).
Then - this is where it gets a little fuzzy... Maybe Liz can help me out??? The following photo has the above people + a few more??? I know Amber (
ambergreenawalt) is added in this group - otherwise, I think everyone else is named above somewhere.
This one is L to R: Kristin (mkwj), Liz (babynala), Marianne (mphalens), me, Beth (blyssful)... So - all of these people are named above, but it was a cute pic, so I had to post.
Then I met Flora (
PurpleEars) at the MOA before Christamas...
And I also met Rachel (
Mom2_3girls) at the MOA...However, we were in a lot of the same parks on the same days in March 2012, but we could never coordinate a meet...
Then, of course... Suzi (
solana131) and Mo (
chicagomo)...
So, I think that's it? I know it seems like a lot - but I know of so many people who have met many more Disers... I am so excited that I have more planned for this trip.
Which brings my final count to:
26??? If I counted correctly?
D~