Chicago area Diser's - check in here Part 4

[slo]

Slo- You just need a Starbucks nearby! There is one in the plaza where I work. It exhibits a gravitational pull! I try to hold it down to twice a week, but it is not looking good for this one! Peppermint Mocha yesterday, Gingerbread Latte today!
Debbie- Nice pics! What a great way to kick off the holiday.
Hersey- We are going to see Fred Xmas tonight. We want to see Enchanted soon, too, but ds might not want to. It is for girls!
Tiggern- DD has three dances in her winter recital. Luckily, the winter one is informal, so they just have to dress in holiday clothes. The deposit is due for the spring's costumes, though. Three dances there, too, as she is doing hip-hop as well as tap and ballet!

I have been so busy! My family is coming down on Firday. I have been trying to get my shopping done at off times, like right after I drop the kids off. I have to work at 10:30, though, so I am not left with much time! I got all my groceries, though, so I can avoid those places the next few days.
I am enjoying my newish job as a waitress. I quit the coffee job. I amke much more in tips where I am at. I also get to talk Disney all the time! Every time I run a Dis Visa, I end up chatting with the owner. I have met lots of nice people!
Okay! Going to dinner before the movie!

I don't have a Starbucks in my plaza, but I do have a Pops Italian Beef in my plaza, and that draws many many people. I'm hoping that many of those people start coming into my store
**I'm glad that you are enjoying your new job I always talk Disney with my customers too whenever I see an opportunity to

My son is an EAGLE!!!!!!!
Tonight was DS#1 Eagle Board of Review.. and as of tonight

He is an EAGLE!!!!!!


I am so proud of him, he has worked so hard and accomplished so much...

so tonight I am an EAGLE SCOUT"S MOM...

CONGRATULATIONS GEOFF!!!!!!
This is such exciting news - Please tell him that I said congratulations!!!



Well, it's time to get STephanie up for school
Have a good day today everyone!!

 

[SamIAm21]

Well, let me tell you! It's been a busy couple weeks catching up here at work! But today, is bliss. Very quiet, no one around. You could hear a pin drop and it's so quiet, Megan is here sleeping next to my desk. They had the week off. She was with her Ivy League group on Monday and Tuesday and she went to see Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium yesterday and said it was very good, but some parts were sad. I think we will go see Enchanted on Friday. I managed to finagle that day off. I wanted to take her to State Street to see the windows today, but with this weather, I guess it will have to be another day.

So, I guess I should say HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!! as I'm sure I won't be around tomorrow. So, the holidays are here already. It's amazing how fast time goes by. It really doesn't seem that long ago that it was summer and I was complaining about how hot it was and now...winter. Well, this too shall pass. We have a trip in March down to WDW to look forward to! I know I learned one lesson from this cruise, 1/2 the stuff you think you are absolutely going to need, you won't, so don't bother dragging it all with you! So, I'll be packing more lightly from now on! We had to rent one of those carts at the airport just to drag all our stuff a couple weeks ago!

One of the coolest parts about this thread is, especially for Slo, she has nearly a journal like record of her daily life. You can go back to last year and read what you were doing. What you did nearly day to day! Well, that's enough reminiscing for now!

Hey, here's the biggest news this week, I was talking to a friend about DVC and Dan didn't even object. She recently bought at the AKL! I told her I was holding out for Contemporary.

Have a wonderful holiday EVERYONE!!

Sam

 

[Tiggerrn2]

Morning all. Kids are off from now til next Monday. My DSIL called Mon night and now DH side has decided to fix some food and go to my inlaws after all for Thanksgiving. So, I am glad I don't have to eat buffet food for Thanksgiving, but I now have to brave this awful weather and go grocery shopping for the dishes I have to make. I think I will call Bakers Square and see if I can order 2 pies. Hopefully, they won't laugh at me calling at this late date.
geffric, congrats to your DS on becoming an Eagle. What an accomplishment!!! That takes a lot of hard work.
Paint, I do not envy you in all those costume purchases. Those things are not cheap. I get off easy this year. Nutcracker costumes were all borrowed and given back to the dance theater. All I had to supply was a beige leotard and pink tights. Kellie already had the pink slippers. I did have to buy a black pair.
Next year, however, will be Winterdance. Those costumes I have to purchase. And they are not cheap. She will probably be doing 2 or 3 dances for that show. And 2009 is our Orlando trip. Better start my ballet saving account Jan. 1st.
Slo, hope you get to enjoy a little of this week with your employee home. I hope to get the Turkey decor down and Christmas decor up this weekend. I think I want a 4 ft tree to put in our bay window upstairs this year. I have to have it off the floor. That dog's tail is a weapon. I see flying ornaments in my future.
Well, better run. If the weather ever clears a little, I am off to Walts.
Anyone hear from Bunchkin? It's been a long time since we've heard from her. I know some of you speak on the phone. Sandy, is she OK?

 

[rmom50]

Hi! Happy Thanksgiving Chicago friends! Hope everyone gets to be with their family tomorrow. I'll be going to my pholks with pie in tow. Thanks Tiggerrn for the Bakers Square idea - love their pies. My two sons & husband go up to Lake Geneva to his sister's house every year, so there are only four of us at my mom's. My sister is single and will be there too. I enjoy the break quite frankly - hahah.

Geffric - congratulations to you and your Eagle scout! That is almost as much work for mom as for son. Good job. He will always be an Eagle now.

Debbie - great pictures. I see your pics posted on POTD too, and they are just fabulous! So fun to see other people's pictures. One of these days, Slo - I'll take the time to have you teach me. My picutres aren't too great anyhoo. Do have good software though that does wonders for them.

DMM....how is the baby? Remember I'm a phone call away if you ever need emergency help. You know where I live - easy to entertain them in my neighborhood!

Dreaming of Disney. Think next year I will go about this time of year. Would love to see the castle all lit up! Sam I Am....hope you get your dream of DVC this coming year!

Have a great day everyone and thanks for letting me part of your thread!

 

[HERSEY]

Sam Do I hear a Christmas present in the making?

Tig I talked to Bunchy yesterday she is fine just very busy.

Wow it's getting cold outside. Glad we are in for the evening. I have pies to make for tomorrow. I love thankgiving almost as much as Christmas.

Is anyone going to brave the stores on friday. I was going to stay away but some things I was looking at are at a pretty good price so I'll be up early.

 

[Debbie6221]

Have a wonderful holiday tommorow...........................

 

[Becky2005]

Debbi -- Loved the pictures!

Becky...good luck with the parent/teacher conferences! You brought back some fun scouting memories for me when you mentioned the Raingutter Regatta...both of my boys were in scouts...do you also do the Pinewood Derby?

Yes, we get the Pinewood Derby too -- that happens in January but DH will have to deal with ALL of that. Their Pinewood Derby is on the same day as I have tickets for High School Musical on Ice. Always happens like that -- either 50,000 things going on or nothing.

He is an EAGLE!!!!!!

Congratulations!!!

I need to clean tonight because I'm hosting Thanksgiving but for some odd reaosn DS-4 is freaked out tonight about going to sleep. He has literally been up screaming various times -- this is *so* unusual for him. Has totally thrown a wrench in my plans. I had fully intended to clean while he was sleeping -- his not sleeping isn't helping me! I'm going to have to wake up super early! The only good news is the living room is picked up but the big dining room table needs to be cleared (it tends to be our catch-all) and I have to bake cookies tomorrow (luckily, it's just throw in the over & bake dough).

So, here I sit at the computer instead of cleaning because it's right outside his room & I convinced him to at least go to bed & I'd be on the computer, so he wouldn't start crying/screaming. I have heard a couple times "Is it time to get up yet?" -- Umm...No! However, I know if I leave this spot too early, he's going to start screaming (He was quiet, I got a phone call so went to my bedroom, next thing I know he's screaming. *sigh*).

The only difference is today we did go into the city to the Museum and see the Star Wars exhibit so although he kept telling me it was cool, I wonder if something spooked him out there. You wouldn't have known it at the time if it did but man, I'm not taking HIM back there if this is what I get as a result. We were late getting there because we got a late start and of course, traffic. We had to take a slight detour because the way we normally get to I-88 had a cop basically telling us we can't go that way. So, we went out of our way. We had tickets to go into the exhibit at 10:15 and we were in line at the Member Services desk to exchange our tickets at 10:20! I'm glad we reserved our tickets though as they had a sign up saying they were sold out for today. Except after I got up there I know that at least 2 more tickets should have become available. For some odd reason they had me down for 8 people -- we only have 6 in the family & that's all the vouchers I had. I will say the exhibit gets hot. I ended up carrying everyone's coats because we were already late, I was going to go to the coat check but there was a long line there too -- I didn't want to be any later than we already were -- so I was lugging 4 coats along.

As for my opinion of the exhibit, it was nice to go through once & DS-10 sat and watched every video so we were in there for I think nearly 2 hours!!! (estimating -- going in around 10:30 & it was about 12:30 by the time we got to the exit). I know DH would have been done faster & I know someone else who was only in there 45 minutes, so I guess it depends on how much you want to do. Since our entire purpose to visit today was this exhibit (and the Christmas trees), I figured let the kids do all they want.

They have this hover car type of thing you can ride, lots of the aircrafts & costumes (not everything) to look at it, read about & see videos about. I thought the one that was talking about how they made differnet sound effects was neat. I thought how they ended up getting the rumble sound was quite funny. They went to get one sound they thought would work that didn't but ended up with another unlikely source.

They had 3 interactive stations -- 2 of them didn't work so well -- one was with a computer download & it didn't seem to want to connect real well.

They take your picture when you first enter & I realized this is the first family picture we have had since DS-4 was about 6 months old. It was cool though because you are in front of a green screen & then in the pictures C3PO & R2D2 are added. Of course, I bought those, because it doesn't take much to get me to buy pictures.

That's my review for you. I know it's kind of generic but I didn't want to give anything away. It was fairly crowded there today (something we expected) and the drive home was crazy.

It took us about 3 hours & a lovely "scenic drive" as I call it because we ended up on an exit we didn't want to take but couldn't get over. I tell you -- I REALLY need a GPS. Considering we had just been talking about it before we took our detour. The only thing that saved me this time is all of a sudden I realized I was on Oak Park Drive (or whatever it's called) and that is the road I take to get to Shriner's for DD, so as soon as I saw what road we were on I knew we could get to Harlem Ave & get back to 290 -- it was just a matter of hitting a cross street that sounded familiar -- so we did go a wee bit out of our way! The funny thing is, we decided it might have been actually FASTER than the 2 miles/hour we were going on 290.

The bummer part is DD lost a bracelet there that she had recently got. We did fill out a form at lost & found but I'm fairly sure we will never be seeing that bracelet again. It was one from the Premier Designs jewelry party we had. She was near tears before we left but I talked her around it. It had a magnetic closure plus she pretty much took charge of DS-4 all day so was holding his hand nearly all the day & he was doing a lot of pulling/twisting, so who knows where it fell off (or since there was a lot of magnetic stuff in the Star Wars exhibit, who knows where it attached too.)

All's quiet here so do I dare leave my desk to attempt a LITTLE bit more cleaning before I have to get up early to finish it? Or will I have a crying child? Let's hope he's finally fallen asleep (but I'm not about to actually LOOK in the room to know for sure because that would most certainly wake him up!). As I was reading through this I hear a "Mommy? Can I wake up now?" Ummm...No! See...it's the power of knowing I was even *thinking* about moving from this chair to go clean.

 

[slo]

I was hoping to be home more yesterday, but that ended up not happening I did leave work by 3:30pm, but then I had to take Katie to the doctor because she has, what I suspected, a small staph infection on her face. I've been taking care of the sore for a couple of weeks (looks like a pimple), but now that it's not going away, I was starting to get concerned. The doctor confirmed that it is a form of staph, and said it's nothing to worry about, and for me to continue doing what I'm doing, which is putting Bacitracin on it, and it will go away. She said it's not MRSA, because if it was, the sore would have gotten much much bigger by now - so this was good news!!!!


Then after coming home from that, we all went out for Mexican, because I wasn't in the mood to cook I had my first Flauta dinner, and it was yummy!!!!! Then we came home, and I cleaned, and baked brownines until about 10:30pm I decided to watch some tv when I was done with my work, and I probably shouldn't have, because I was up until 12:30am watching 8MM - weird movie!! I have seen it before, so the shock value wasn't there this time, but it's still weird.


So now I'm up early to DIS before I start getting ready for church - which is at 9am. I still have some last minute things to do around the house, and then I need to start cooking when I get home. My responsibility's are sweet potatoes, corn pudding, I already made the brownies, the rolls, and Kevin is making the turkey Then all the company comes over at around 1pm


Sam - I never thought about this thread as like a diary - you are so right!!!! There are some things I would read that would be fun to relive, and there are other things that would be awful to relive, like my Grandma dying in March 2006 Thanks for bringing this up!!!!
**I hope Dan continues to not object to DVC - I know how much to would like that!!!!

Tiggerrnnnnnnn - I've been meaning to call Nicole, but I always think of it in the morning, and then when I get involved with my day, I get distracted, and I forget I have to call her to make sure she's alright - I miss her!!!!
**Kevin preordered pies from Bakers Square last week, and his designated pie pick up time is 9am (given by Bakers Square). Even with this time, I think he's going to have quite a HUGE wait from what I heard from other people that's picked up pie on THanksgiving day I hope you are able to get your pies today - what are you ordering? We ordered a pumpkin pie, and a French Silk pie

HERSEY - Thanks for giving us an update on Nicole I need to call her!!!

Debbie -

Becky - thanks for telling us about the Star Wars Exhibit I'm sorry to hear about your DD's bracelet I can imagine how sad she was, because I know how my girls are when they lose somthing special.



Well, I better go and start getting ready for church.
One of the things I give thanks for this Thanksgiving is all of you here. I am so happy to be associated with this wonderful group of people I just love you all!!!!!
I hope you all have a wonderful, and memorable, Thanksgiving!!!!!

 

[geffric]

Morning... I was up at 4:45 am to wait in line at Miers ( sp) for a zune for Eric... but they sold out before it was my turn... did some last minute grocery shopping and then came home and ordered it online at TRUS for the same price..

well off to cooking and baking.. Have a happy Thanksgiving..

 

[DonnaW]

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO MY CHICAGO FRIENDS!!!

​

I am so thankful for many blessings in my life, *including* the opportunity I have had to get to know you all! I hope everyone has a wonderful day today!

 

[Tiggerrn2]

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!
Slo, we have the same taste in pies. I ordered the same. Our pick-up time is 11. I hope DH isn't there too long. Our lunch is at 1.
I have brownies to bake, cheesey potatoes, and shrimp for shrimp cocktail.

Hersey, glad to hear all is well in the Bunchkin house.

Becky, thanks for the Star Wars review. DS wants to go there. Hopefully we will get there over Christmas break.

Well, I had better get moving. Much to do.

Have a great holiday everyone.

 

[Crissup]

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!

 

[Disneynut71]

Hello all

Just wanted to stop by and wish everyone a very


Happy Thanksgiving


I hope all is well with everyone.

I will be going to WDW for my birthday next week . I can't wait. I have never seen Disney at Christmas.

Have a great day

 

[roseprincess]

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Just got back from seeing Enchanted. It was awesome!

Going to Thanksgiving dinner later on.

 

[macraven]

good thursday evening chicagoland homies.


didn't cook today and about to do a run thru burger king's drive thru.




just wanted to drop in and let you know i am so thankful for many things.
i love all of you inside this box. i hope you all had a very good family time today with your loved ones.

and when tomorrow rolls around, i'll still be loving all of you ...........




and, bunchkin better have a very good note this time!

 

[Crissup]

i love all of you inside this box

Ummm.... Mac... It's time we tell you this...

We're not really inside that box on your desk. We're really sitting inside our homes chatting across the internet with you.

 

[piglet too]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

I am out of work per drs orders until at least Dec 18th. I am starting to get a bit stir-crazy and wish my knee would heal faster than it is.

Becky ~ Thanks for the Star Wars revies. We are thinking about going and will be getting a membership if we do. Are ther free tickets for the exhibit with the membership??

 

[Becky2005]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!! I hope everyone had a wonderful day.

I will be out shopping tomorrow but not at the really, really early times. I'm supposed to go to my mom's around 8ish and then we are off. I'm leaving DH in charge of the kids -- who knows what time I'll return.

Becky ~ Thanks for the Star Wars revies. We are thinking about going and will be getting a membership if we do. Are ther free tickets for the exhibit with the membership??

Yes, they do have the vouchers you can get depending on how many you need, etc... We have the PhD membership so we get 6 free vouchers for all the traveling/temporary exhibits. I timed our membership so that we got vouchers for both the CSI one & this one. I know there are several different levels & that will determine how many vouchers you get. The exhibit will be there until Jan. 6. I do have some pictures once we get them from the camera to the computer I can share.

There is a part where you listen to C3PO talking about different types of robots (i.e. a robot designer? builder? is talking via a screen to C3PO). I thought that was neat & probably my favorite part.

I HIGHLY suggest if you go, definitely call ahead and get your ticket reservations done. The museum opened at 9:30 the day we went and they were sold out for the day when we got there by 10:15-20. I don't know when they became sold out but definitely early. Of course, they were only open until 4 that day when for example, tomorrow they have extended holiday hours until 7 pm but I'd still get the tickets ahead of time!

We didn't do the Millenium Falcon thing because we just didn't have time to go & run and get our timed tickets for that ahead of time (OK...I'm not so smart, you know I didn't think to ask when I was picking up my tickets if I could do that there!) I was going on the advice of someone else who told me that as soon as we arrive, we should head to the Millenium Falcon, tell them what time we were seeing the Star Wars exhibit & then get tickets for say 1 pm. So, I was thinking you had to get those tickets AT the entrance to that. However, since I knew we were late, I didn't want to take any extra time -- figured we can maybe do that another day. If not, then oh well. By the time I figured out where it was because I practically ran into it, there was a sign up saying the tickets were gone for the day. That is open to all museum visitors for free -- it's seperate from the Star Wars exhibit. It's over by where the trains are located.

 

[HERSEY]

Good morning everyone! I hope everyone's thanksgiving was good.

I went to my Aunt and Uncle's for our little get together. Our meal was good as usual. And as par for the course when cleaning up we discovered we forgot something the cranberries. It is a standing joke in our family, we always forget something no matter how many lists we make.

Well I going to jump in the shower and head out into the maddening crowds, crazy I know but I need to get some people done since we are getting together in 2 weeks for our Christmas exchange.

 

[slo]

Well, Kevin is already gone to try and get Stephanie's Wii - I hope he's successful (fingers crossed). The kid at Game Stop told him to be there at 7am today, but I forgot, and he didn't leave the house until 7:15am - thank goodness it's a stone throw away - I'll give you the Wii update later.


Yesterday was a wonderful day
All the food was wonderful, and the company was great - a very nice day!!!!


Today I will be going into work for awhile, and then I was to start getting the Christmas decorations out. Kevin and I were chuckling last night because after I cleaned up the table, I brought out the Christmas runner out and put it on the table, and I said to Kevin, "Merry Christmas, Thanksgivings over!" It gave us a little laugh



Tiggerrrrrrrrrn - How did the pie pick-up go? Kevin didn't have to wait at all - he said it was great!!!! He said there were a ton of people waiting for pies that didn't reserve, but he got his immediately. He said his pick-up time was like a fastpass at WDW

geffric - What's a zune? I never heard of that.

Disneynut - How fun that you get to be at WDW for your birthday That'll be awesome!!!

Rose - Thanks for letting us know about Enchanted. I really want to take Stephanie to see it . Do you think this is a movie Katie would like, or do you think it not good for a 4yr old?

piglet - I"m sorry you can't work until the 18th I hope your knee gets better soon

To everyone that's shopping today - good luck!!!

To everyone else -





Well, I better go and get ready for work
Have a good day today!!!