Can't We Just Travel by Map? Oct 2013 PTR

[DMGeurts]

You are just a planning and saving guru, D~!!! We actually spend less for souveniers now too, since we plan to go back every year. I fully intend to visit Target to pick up my first gift card as soon as I hit $100...which should be after this weekend.

Hardly a guru... Just addicted.

Well, I know how much we all love you and your "ramblings", but I never realized how much you must love yourself...

Pfft...

So, oh mighty savings guru...is your money making money now and you just can't keep up with all of it?

Nope - not really... Remember - I have to spend $$ to make $$...

I am on my knees right beside you praying for that FD...

Yup..

I hope everyone is having a good week. Brian and I got I-phones this week. Yeah, we were still stuck in the 90's with our phone technology... I have been downloading new apps for the last few days. I really like it a lot and can't wait to use it for line apps when we go back to Disney next year! Hopefully by then I will have learned how to use the Disboards app and I will be able to do live updates on here as well. I did post some things on Facebook last time we went. I now have a twitter account. I haven't been posting on Twitter as much as just following other Disfriends on there. Yeah, this ole mama has hit the big time with social media now!

This Saturday night is our next MOVIE NIGHT!!! The movie for this weekend is Toy Story. I have more than one activity, so we may do kind of a marathon with all three movies randomly throughout the day Saturday, depending on what else comes up. I have one pretty difficult project for it that Brian may end up doing the bulk of... But when finished, it will add a great decoration for the table!

The funny thing about this theme is that the weekend it was plucked from the movie night theme jar the kids had been sick all weekend and we had ended up staying in our jammies all weekend and having a Toy Story movie marathon...then Gabe picked the movie from the jar the next day. I asked if they wanted to draw a different one from the jar and Brian the kids decided they wanted to just do it anyhow. I am looking forward to it. I have come up with a fun menu, fun decorations and really neat activities to go with it.

Guess, I need to get some work done now. I hope ya'll have a good day and if I don't "see" you tomorrow, have a great weekend!

That was a sucky weekend when you were all sick... I felt so badly for you all. But some of the best weekends are when you can all cuddle on the sofa and watch good movies.

Looking forward to your Toy Story marathon... That really is the best movie out there... Ok - one of them anyways.

D~

 

[solana131]

Connie, I just love your movie nights! What great memories for your kids. I wish I could pull things together enough to do that...maybe someday

 

[Chicago Mo]

Did you get an invite from SW Rapid Rewards to do E-rewards? That is how I got started. I was just curious if it truly is "by invitation only" as they stated it was...

I honestly don't remember! But i only have 30.00 in there so far..

 

[oopsiDAISY]

Hardly a guru... Just addicted.
Pfft...
Nope - not really... Remember - I have to spend $$ to make $$...
Yup..
That was a sucky weekend when you were all sick... I felt so badly for you all. But some of the best weekends are when you can all cuddle on the sofa and watch good movies.
Looking forward to your Toy Story marathon... That really is the best movie out there... Ok - one of them anyways.

D~

Yes, I believe I become a bigger Toy Story fan every time I watch one of them. Unlike some of the other movies, I just never get tired of them, and they ALWAYS make me smile.

Connie, I just love your movie nights! What great memories for your kids. I wish I could pull things together enough to do that...maybe someday

I just love having another outlet for my Disney obsession...plus it keeps my family Disney obsessed too with these monthly reminders...

I honestly don't remember! But i only have 30.00 in there so far..

Well, I have been doing it for two weeks and I have $20 in there. So, if I continue to make $10 a week, I will have made over $400 by the time our trip comes up...no bad in my book! I just hope they keep sending those higher dollar surveys on a consistent basis!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And speaking of my Disney savings...it's Monday- time to check in everyone!

As for myself...not so great this week. Groceries were a bit more with our movie night, so I only ended up with.... $1 to put in the Mickey jar...yep, you read that right, ONE MEASLY DOLLAR!

savings Balance 11/12/12: $97

How about all of you? Did you do better than I did?

 

[DMGeurts]

I reallly love your survey idea!

I agree about the TS movies - they are my favorites... Monster's Inc too. TS is among one of the few movies out there that didn't wreck the original by making a sequel... The sequels actually improved the previous movies.

I am not sure I want to say how well I did this week... I have my auctions going on, so I have managed to add about $650 to my trip fund, not including my regular customs sales. But these auctions are the main source of income for this trip, and I really have no other way of paying for it... I would like to have the trip paid in full by the end of the year - but I just know that isn't going to happen. Especially when I need to keep digging $$ out of there for other things... Sigh.

D~

 

[oopsiDAISY]

UM~Photobucket is completely different now...you can't do this to the likes of me. I am a slow learner.... Let's see how this works out...

This past Saturday we had our Toy Story Movie night. I had a good time planning this one. Brian and I decided to have a little fun with the invitations, so we made them into paper airplanes:

Gabriel had colored these pictures MONTHS ago and asked me to save them for when we had a Toy Story movie night:

Jillian used some of "Andy's" artwork that I printed off to create this wall:

I had every intention of borrowing some Potatohead toys from some friends to put on the table. I had even called her to make sure I could pick them up Friday afternoon...but I forgot! So my table decorations are, shall we say lacking? I did the best I could with what I had, and the kids were just fine with it.

There is a little paper Toy Story play set there that I printed off from the Disney Family Fun website, and some little green army men.

The food:

While I was cooking, the kids made "Galactic Hero" playdough:

This stuff turned out great, and they played with it all weekend. We have it in a ziploc bag, so it will keep for a while.

The last activity for the night, which Brian "helped" with was a DOOZY! This thing was small and difficult. I didn't ask for any "turn around and smile" shots since everyone was pretty concentrated:

I wanted Brian to be in the "finished product" shot since he ended up having to do a great bulk of the work, but he wanted to just let the girls do the picture (Gabe didn't help with this one at all):

And a close-up:

Our movie night was yet another success! We didn't draw for our next movie night theme since it will be December, and December is always packed with Christmas fesitivities and preparations. We do plan to catch quite a few of the ABC Family 25 Days of Christmas movies, and I have a couple snack and drink ideas to go with a few of them. But there will be no dinner menus, activities or full on decorations to do for those. We will pick the Disney movie nights back up at the start of the new year...which is only 7 weeks away, can you believe it!?!?

 

[oopsiDAISY]

Dear Disfriends,
My heart is breaking today. I have an Uncle (my Dad's brother) who has been in nursing home for a few years. He has not been able to recognize or know anyone for over a year. Today his daughter made the decision to have his feeding tube removed.

At the very same time, my Mom and Aunt (her sister) are faced with the decsion whether or not to have a feeding tube placed in my Grandma (who lived with us the entire time I was a teenager). Grandma has also been in a nursing home for about two years, but she has remained relatively healthy...until last week. She got a UTI, and her health failed quickly. She no longer knows or recognizes anyone, and she has stopped eating. The nurses feel that she has forgotten how to swallow.

If you believe in God, I ask you to please pray for my Dad as he has to say goodbye to a dear brother. He was able to personally lead his brother to Jesus two years ago, so we know Uncle Bobby is going to finally be free from the prison of his failing earthly body.

I would also ask you to pray for my Mom and Aunt as they make the very difficult decision to put the feeding tube in to assure QUANTITY of life or whether to forgo the feeding tube since Grandma will no longer have QUALITY of life.

My Grandma has been a Godly woman and put her complete faith and trust in God for as long as I remember. I vividly recall three years ago when her health was really beginning to decline and she was sort of complaining about it, I made the statement that "it beats the alternative" to which she quickly and adamantly replied "Well, I don't know about you but I have a better alternative!"

Thank you all in advance for your thoughts and prayers. I promise to keep you updated.

 

[LadyBeBop]

Thank you all in advance for your thoughts and prayers. I promise to keep you updated.

What a horrible dilemma. Thinking and praying for you your family.

 

[cogero]

Just read your entire PTR so sorry about your Grandma sending prayers.

I am booking our October trip whenDH gets up so I can discuss our accomadations. This will be our first time going in OCtober.

 

[DMGeurts]

Oh Oopsi... I am so sorry for the struggles your family is facing right now. Please know that all of you are in my prayers.

D~

 

[disny_luvr]

I'm sending prayers your way as you are dealing with your loved ones' illnesses. Back in 2010, my aunt (only 58 years of age) passed away from a heart attack. She was on life support for a very brief time but after a few days her husband and children decided to "pull the plug" as they were told she was brain dead. It was the hardest decision that they ever made and we were heart broken. We had peace knowing she was/is in a better place than us, but we needed lots of prayer to get through that hard time. Please keep us updated.

 

[MrsBearcat]

Prayers going up!

 

[Chicago Mo]

Your Family is in my prayers...
I'm very sorry...


What is it with the past couple of months?
There have been some nasty Ju ju going on!!!

 

[oopsiDAISY]

What a horrible dilemma. Thinking and praying for you your family.

Just read your entire PTR so sorry about your Grandma sending prayers.

I am booking our October trip whenDH gets up so I can discuss our accomadations. This will be our first time going in OCtober.

Oh Oopsi... I am so sorry for the struggles your family is facing right now. Please know that all of you are in my prayers.

D~

I'm sending prayers your way as you are dealing with your loved ones' illnesses. Back in 2010, my aunt (only 58 years of age) passed away from a heart attack. She was on life support for a very brief time but after a few days her husband and children decided to "pull the plug" as they were told she was brain dead. It was the hardest decision that they ever made and we were heart broken. We had peace knowing she was/is in a better place than us, but we needed lots of prayer to get through that hard time. Please keep us updated.

Prayers going up!

Your Family is in my prayers...
I'm very sorry...


What is it with the past couple of months?
There have been some nasty Ju ju going on!!!

Thanks everyone for your prayers and kind words! Just spoke to my Mom and Grandma is actually doing better. She has actually started eating on her own again! She is not eating as much, but she IS eating. She is also talking and responding to people. She still does not recognize anyone, but at least she is responsive. This has been a very emotional week for all of us, and we will take any good news we can get. Once again...THANK YOU! I am truly blessed to have such wonderful Disfriends!

 

[solana131]

I am so sorry I missed this whole post Connie.... I can't even imagine dealing with these decisions. I'm glad to hear your grandma is doing better and I hope it continues. I'm so sorry, I have been completely sunk in my own petty problems....please know I am thinking of you all at this time.

 

[oopsiDAISY]

I am so sorry I missed this whole post Connie.... I can't even imagine dealing with these decisions. I'm glad to hear your grandma is doing better and I hope it continues. I'm so sorry, I have been completely sunk in my own petty problems....please know I am thinking of you all at this time.

Suzi, please don't feel bad! We all have IRL stuff we have to deal with, and it tends to get in the way of our Disboard activity at times. I am just so happy to see you back on here!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And for some Disney related news that is completely RANDOM: I got an I-phone last week, so I just HAD to have a Disney cover for it...and it makes me smile every time I look at it:

 

[oopsiDAISY]

As you all know by now my parents will be joining us for this trip. They won't spend as much time in the parks as we do, but they have many other things to keep them busy for the entire week. We have family that live in Orlando. My parents pastored a church in Central FL for years, and still have friends in the area that they visit each time they are in Orlando as well.

Mom and Dad own a timeshare, not through Disney but another company. Well, I was on the phone with Mom a few weeks ago, and was surprised to find out that the company they own through has access to rooms in some of the DVC resorts! She began naming the resorts to me that were listed in their timeshare "catalog". This is what lead me to the title for this installment of my PTR, Wouldn't It Be Great If... Mom and Dad stayed at:

Wilderness Lodge
Old Key West
Boardwalk
Yacht Club or
Saratoga Springs?

Seriously? Wouldn't it be FANTASTIC if they got to stay on property? Do I seriously think this will happen? Unfortunately not. She says she will TRY to get one of these places, but she and I both know the chances are slim to none. It sure was nice to dream about it though.

They have every intention of getting a two bedroom wherever they choose to stay so that the kids could stay with them for a night or two if they wanted to. And Mom said that she and Dad will take care of the kids one night while we are all there so that Brian and I can have a date night at the Food and Wine Festival!!!!! So even if they have to stay off property, it will still be great to have them there!

 

[solana131]

Love the new iphone cover! The only thing that makes me want to get an iphone is the cool accessories....nothing cool like that for my phone Love that view of the castle.

That would be awesome if by some luck your folks do get to stay on property! I'll keep my fingers crossed. Having a date night would be wonderful!

 

[oopsiDAISY]

Friends, please pray for my Grandma again, her name in Martha. My mom and aunt got a call from the nursing home last night that she was having seizures. After taking her to the emergency room at the small local hospital, doctors think it was a heart attack. My mom and aunt made the decision to have her taken by ambulance to a larger town an hour away. They are on their way there now.

 

[LadyBeBop]

Mom and Dad own a timeshare, not through Disney but another company. Well, I was on the phone with Mom a few weeks ago, and was surprised to find out that the company they own through has access to rooms in some of the DVC resorts! She began naming the resorts to me that were listed in their timeshare "catalog". This is what lead me to the title for this installment of my PTR, Wouldn't It Be Great If... Mom and Dad stayed at:

Wilderness Lodge
Old Key West
Boardwalk
Yacht Club or
Saratoga Springs?

Seriously? Wouldn't it be FANTASTIC if they got to stay on property? Do I seriously think this will happen? Unfortunately not. She says she will TRY to get one of these places, but she and I both know the chances are slim to none. It sure was nice to dream about it though.

They have every intention of getting a two bedroom wherever they choose to stay so that the kids could stay with them for a night or two if they wanted to. And Mom said that she and Dad will take care of the kids one night while we are all there so that Brian and I can have a date night at the Food and Wine Festival!!!!! So even if they have to stay off property, it will still be great to have them there!

I'm assuming your parents own through RCI.

What's their home resort? If it's in Orlando, then they won't let you access the DVC resorts. In fact, I think if your home resort has their corporate headquarters in Orlando, then they won't let you access the DVC resorts. Over in the Wyndham Bonnet Creek thread, there's a horror story about a family who wanted to stay at a DVC resort, but couldn't because the parent company of their timeshare was in Orlando. Even though their timeshare was in Colorado. So be careful.

If they want to stay at DVC, I would do a continuous search now. Keep in mind, it takes a little more "TPUs" to get DVC over one of the other Orlando timeshares. I think the DVC inventory will open up sometime in February or March. However, they get snapped up almost immediately.

A good alternative might be Wyndham Bonnet Creek. It's surrounded on three sides by Disney grounds, and it's closer to the parks than some of the DVC timeshares. That's where we are looking to stay next year. We own two timeshares. One of them is Wyndham, so we should be able to use our Wyndham points to get into WBC.

Friends, please pray for my Grandma again, her name in Martha. My mom and aunt got a call from the nursing home last night that she was having seizures. After taking her to the emergency room at the small local hospital, doctors think it was a heart attack. My mom and aunt made the decision to have her taken by ambulance to a larger town an hour away. They are on their way there now.

How horrible. She, and your family, are in our prayers.