Disney Every Day - Update 10/21 – 1, 2, 3! We’re Leaving for Orlando Tomorrow!

[micandminforever]

Everything sounds great, let the countdown begin.. I always over budget then the money left over goes for souvenirs or starts a Disney fund for my next trip.

 

[-Hope-]

Yay!! I'm so happy for you!! I do the same thing with food money, I figure it's better safe than sorry. : thumbsup2

 

[Alysa]

That's fantastic that you re still able to go! I am so happy for you!!!!
And I do the same thing with the dining budget. Kindred spirits!

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

The title of this was supposed to be “45 Days” because I intended to post yesterday, but work was crazy – as usual! I know I owe you guys replies from two posts ago, so I will have the replies up right after this, I promise! Things are completely insane at work because the big project we have just started. By the time this vacation rolls around, I will definitely have earned it! So, I don’t have anything to update, but I will let you know how much this trip is sneaking up on me. On Monday, July 1, True asked me something about “our vacation next month.” I said, “We aren’t going on vacation next month. We’re going in August.” Then I paused and said, “We are going on vacation next month, aren’t we?” True just looked at me like I was crazy and nodded

So, remember how I said that I really hoped that my sister’s BF knew that Disney would be the perfect place to propose to her? Well:





Isn’t the ring beautiful?!? He did a great job picking it out! She loves it! Let me tell you guys how it happened. They were in Disney World for a few days and they were having a great time. One night, they went back to their room at POR and he said he had a button for her and he wanted her to put it on. She said she didn’t want to put on a button right then because she already had some that she got earlier that day. He asked for her to PLEASE let him put on the button ( ) and she agreed, When she looked down, she saw that the button he put on said “Just Engaged”. She said that she was so confused about what was happening because she just couldn’t believe it. She said that she even asked, “Huh?” but then he got down on one knee and proposed to her. She was crying, but she managed to say yes!



The next day, she sent this tweet:




I am so happy for her and her boyfriend… I mean fiancée!!! Ash said she wouldn’t mind if I shared a few pictures from their trip:

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

Ah, Erin! We came back at the same time!

I'm hopelessly behind and have no hopes of catching up so I'm just jumping in here and saying I'm glad we're both back!

I’m glad we’re both back, Hope! I keep meaning to do the chapter links, but I don’t know when I will ever get around to it!

So exciting!

It’s been so long since I posted replies, that all of your questions were answered in my last update Sorry! I have to keep up here on the boards! But, yes, it has been an exciting time for my family the last few months

Hi Erin. I am keeping my fingers crossed for you that everything works out job wise, so you can definitely make it to Disney this year. It is hard to believe how quickly our vacations are coming. At least you have a new man to occupy the days until the vacation.

I think crossing your fingers worked for me!

Now that you've updated I feel guilty about not updating mine! I'm at 55 days now. Woo Hoo!!!!

You were right that I needed to let my DIS friends know about my relationship status! FB gets all of the updates first, so I guess that’s not fair, huh? You all knew the other big news first, too! At least I get to share the pictures on the DIS, though! I didn’t want to embarrass my future brother-in-law with the pictures on FB

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

YAY!!!! MY BUDDY IS OFFICIALLY GOING!!!!

DISmeet!

YAY!!! I'm so glad it's official! LOVE your spreadsheet. I don't use a spreadsheet, but I do go through and overestimate prices to see what I need! More for souvies if I don't spend it! (but I usually spend it on drinks.)

I am so glad it is official, too! I really need to do a girls trip so I can spend the extra money on drinks, too!

What a relief for you! I am so glad you get to go.

It is a relief!!!

Everything sounds great, let the countdown begin.. I always over budget then the money left over goes for souvenirs or starts a Disney fund for my next trip.

Thanks, micandmin! Over budgeting seems to be the way to go!

Yay!! I'm so happy for you!! I do the same thing with food money, I figure it's better safe than sorry. : thumbsup2

Thanks, Hope! I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one who pads the food budget!

That's fantastic that you re still able to go! I am so happy for you!!!!
And I do the same thing with the dining budget. Kindred spirits!

Thanks, Alysa! I’m so happy, too! I should have known everyone on the boards would be able to relate to my food budget plans!

 

[PracPerfPatricia]

Hey remember me? Life has a way sometimes of getting in the way of Dis-ing... shame really...

I've been following all of your good news on facebook and decided to drop on by...

You wouldn't happen to have some coffee would you?

I'm so happy for you... graduations, engagements, vacations, new boyfriends...
all awesome stuff...

Well I'm heading off tomorrow... for our Southern Road Trip/Disney Trip... so hopefully I'll get things going for you in the parks...

Let me know if you want anything before your trip... I'll be there next Tuesday...

 

[-Hope-]

That's so exciting about your sister!! The ring is beautiful and it sounds magical.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

OMGOSH!!! I almost missed the ring/proposal b/c I didn't see it on the previous page, just your responses on this page to your last post! I'm glad Hope noticed it or I wouldn't have known! CONGRATS to your sister! I LOVE the way he proposed, perfect!!

 

[micandminforever]

The ring is beautiful, and Disney is a great place to get engaged. I love the button idea, now creative on his part. I also believe Disney is the perfect place for a honeymoon.

How exciting your trip to Disney is just next month. I know this trip is all planned out, but have you looked into the program Disney has for homeschool students for your next trip? I understand it is a great program with several good discounts.

 

[Alysa]

Awwww - congrats to her! Love that shot where he is giving her a kiss. She looks so happy!
So, think you can talk her into holding her wedding ceremony there?

 

[OregonMomToWDW]

Hi Erin. Haven't heard anything in awhile. Are you still able to go? Are you doing the Magicbands testing? Should be 12 more days.

 

[-Hope-]

Your ticker says 1 week!

 

[Alysa]

It says on your ticker three days till your trip! Are you just so busy you can't see straight? Hope all is well and so looking forward to hearing about it!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

2 DAYS Erin!!!!!!! I hope you all is well and you are packing like a maniac!

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Are you in WDW now Erin? If so, I hope you are having an amazing trip!

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

Hi, guys! I am so sorry that I haven’t kept up AT ALL!!! I have so many things to update about – my job, the man in my life – but first things first. I postponed the trip again. If you all stop reading at this very moment, I won’t blame you! I am sorry I didn’t let you guys know this sooner, but I didn’t officially make the decision until Sunday. I was holding out hope until then. But then I saw that it just wasn’t realistic and I postponed. I messaged a few of you on Facebook to let you know what was going on, but not all of you. It wasn’t anything personal, believe me! I was in a rush and I just included the people that had commented on my wall or inboxed me about the trip. I am sorry that the rest of you had to wait until just now to find out that I postponed! For the sake of time, I am going to copy and paste what I messaged on FB:

I was trying to get a chance to write while I was still at work. I'm not going to make it to Disney. AGAIN. Long story short, I had a serious financial emergency and I had to use my Disney fund to fix it. I'll have to write more on the PTR but I'm devastated. My kids are Poed (edited for the DIS). I'm ashamed that this has happened again because I had everything ready to go for this trip and I was trying everything I could to make it work. I finally gave up on the trip yesterday. I've rescheduled, but I'm not even excited about it because I am so depressed about this. This is another one of those times where being a sole breadwinner for a family sucks! But I could go on and on. I'm just upset and I need to vent. Anyway, I don't want to depress everyone else because of how pathetic I am I know the trip will happen soon, just not as soon as I would like. Right now, I am looking at the week after thanksgiving. I am very sad that I don't get to meet you, though, Ann! And I hope you have a wonderful trip! I already saw some of the pictures you posted! I'm so excited for you and I am sorry we didn't get to meet.
Anyway, I hope you guys will not think less of me for cancelling yet another trip. It's to the point of being ridiculous now and I wouldn't blame any of you if you just stopped believing that I will ever get back down there. But I had to do what was financially responsible. I'm not where I need to be with my finances - otherwise, this financial emergency I had wouldn't have dealt such a strong blow. But, it's taken care of now, and I do believe we'll take the trip in November/December, but I just can't get excited about it right now.

So, just to elaborate a bit, I had a financial issue that cropped up and I had a payment arrangement to take care of it. Well, remember the extra pay I was supposed to get for taking on more responsibility at work? Only two out of my last six paychecks have been right! My company didn’t pay me the adjusted amount for several weeks in a row and it wreaked havoc on my budget. Stupidly, I thought I could count on my paycheck being correct! So I budgeted according to what I thought my salary was going to be. When I didn’t get that extra money for two pay periods in a row, I wasn’t able to meet the obligation of the payment arrangement that I made and the bill all came due at once. My pay was eventually corrected, but by that time, it was too late because I had already robbed Peter to pay Paul and there was no way of fixing that. I was playing catch up all over again. One other thing that I didn’t let you guys in on (or my kids) was that I was planning on getting Annual Passes because I had every intention of taking the kids back to Disney within the next 12 months. So I had only paid for the resort and I was going to get the APs a few weeks ago. So, since my budget was all screwed up, I wasn’t able to get the APs. I tried switching back from a room only ressie to a package (there was still a discount available) but my budget was so messed up that it really wouldn’t have been responsible for me to take what was left of my savings and spend it on a vacation. I was miserable. Well, I still am kinda miserable because we were supposed to leave for Disney/UO tomorrow, but I am not as bad as I was before. When I sent that message to a few people on FB, they all rallied around me and helped me to realize that there was nothing wrong about doing the right thing for my family’s financial wellbeing. I truly appreciated that! I’m still not at the point of being excited about the trip I am planning for Thanksgiving, but I am getting there. The last time the kids and I went to Disney the week after Thanksgiving, we had a blast, so I know we will have a good time this time. But I just don’t have faith in myself right now that we will make that trip either. I don’t want to count how many trips I have cancelled because it is so discouraging. But, the good news is that I took care of that financial issue, so I don’t have to worry about that interfering with budgeting a future trip. So, I don’t know. I’ll get excited, I’m sure Maybe once I make a few ADRs I will feel different. Whew! ADRs are going to be hard to come by this late in the game! Oh well!

So, my financial issues weren’t actually the reason I have been off of the boards. I have still been insanely busy at work. You guys will not believe what happened, though! My boss resigned in mid-July! I was in total shock! I just hope that he has found something that he enjoys. His health is much better and he seemed to be happy, so I was surprised when I found out that he was no longer with the company. I haven’t spoken to him since then, but I think he must be doing well because I see his wife on FB all of the time and she seems to be in good spirits. Enough about him, though! Let’s get to how this affects me! No, I haven’t been promoted to manager…YET. But his workload has obviously been dumped on me because of his departure. That means I get to keep the bonus in my check (I certainly hope they can keep paying me accurately from here on out!) and I am getting groomed for the manager position. It isn’t going to be posted until later in the year or early next year, so I hope to have more managerial skills under my belt by then. My boss’ boss is now my direct supervisor and she has really taken me under her wing since my boss left. We have talked a lot about career development and she is aware that I want the manager position. She is mentoring me and she is helping me to take my ideas for developing my department and turning them into reality. My department has taken some big strides since my boss left (I guess I should stop calling him “my boss” since he isn’t any longer!). I don’t want to give the impression that he didn’t want to develop the department more, because he did, but he just didn’t have the time. In any case, I am happy with the way things are going, but I have been completely overwhelmed! So they gave me the authorization to hire a temp. The temp will take over a lot of the responsibilities I used to handle and I will focus more on the big picture. I’ve been interviewing candidates for the last three days and I have one more interview with someone tomorrow. I’m going to have the temp in place by next week so that I can at least take a couple of days off to spend with my kids. We may not be going to Orlando, but we will do something in the area!

OK, enough about work! Wanna hear about the man in my life? Well, there’s good news and bad news. I’ll give you the bad news first: I broke it off with Captain America! Don’t cry for me just yet, ladies! I had good reason! He was very sexist! He used to make these sexist comments that I thought were jokes, but after a while, I realized he was serious! He would say things about how women shouldn’t be in the military, specifically in combat, and I would blow it off because a lot of people think that. But one night we got into it because he said that women shouldn’t be in leadership positions at work! I took offense to that because he was basically saying that I shouldn’t have my job! His “logic” behind women not being in leadership roles was because women rule too much with emotions instead of their heads! What?!? Oh, man! I laid into him! When we were arguing about this, I realized that the sexist things he used to joke about weren’t really jokes! Then , during this argument, he finally admitted that he had a problem with me homeschooling my kids. Um, I didn’t realize that he had a right to an opinion about me homeschooling! So between that and the fact that he was showing his true colors about his views on women, I decided I needed to end it. I couldn’t have a man like that around my kids. I have a daughter to raise and I don’t want her to ever feel that she is “less than”. I want her to know that she can do anything she wants and she can be successful in anything that she pursues! And I have a son to raise and I will be darned if I let him grow up to think that women are subservient! My son is respectful of women and a good guy, so I don’t want to mess that up! So, I guess maybe breaking up with Captain America was good news!

The other bit of good news is that I am seeing someone else! Yes, I keep a man! Just kidding! This is the most I have dated in YEARS! So it was a pleasant surprise when I started dating someone else right away But…uh…here’s the thing: I work with this guy. Yeah, I went there! I broke a cardinal rule! This guy is someone that I have known for the past year working here, but I never paid him any attention because I don’t date guys who work in the same company as I do. That is just a no no. So he and I have always enjoyed a little innocent flirtation, but nothing more. Then one day, out of the blue, he asked me to lunch. I still tried not to think anything of it because we were coworkers, but I will admit that I was excited to spend some time with him outside of work. We had a great lunch and we talked for a long time. Then he asked me to go to the movies with him that night after work! Yes, he is very spontaneous! So, I went out with him that night and we just connected. We never made it to the movies, but we had a few drinks and we talked. We still haven’t made it to the movies, and we have been seeing each other for about two months now! We’re keeping it a secret at work because we don’t want people to know our business, and that is kind of exciting! I mean, there isn’t a company policy against dating in the workplace – we don’t work in the same department anyway – but we both think it is better to keep it hush hush. So, I can’t share any pictures just yet because you never know who might be reading this! It’s been fun, though, seeing him in the hallway and giving a casual hello, but then meeting him later on the train to go hang out! I haven’t introduced him to my kids yet, and I don’t plan on doing that any time soon, because I can’t deal with another True vs. Captain America situation! I met his daughter, sister and mother (and a lot of extended family) about two weekends ago. They were all very nice and welcoming to me. His daughter is a cutie pie and about the same age as True. His family reminds me a lot of my family because we have the same type of background – African American and Native American. In fact, I have labeled his number as “Squanto” in my phone and that was what I told True his name was! Of course, she didn’t believe me, but it was funny. So I will call him Squanto on here, as well. OK, I have a few minutes before I have to leave work, so let me wrap this up. Oh, wait! One other important thing about Squanto is that he loves to travel, too! He actually asked me to go to Puerto Rico with him for his birthday in October! Of course, I said yes! I just got the flight confirmation in my email a few minutes ago! I’m really excited, but I also feel bad because I am going on a trip without my kids, knowing that I just cancelled Disney on them Plus, I am going to Vancouver for almost a week next month. I feel so guilty! So, I have to make our next trip to Disney a really special one! So, I will try to get excited about this trip and I will try to update once I get a temp in here to take some of this pressure off of me! I know I will get excited about the trip soon, and the kids will too. And now, going the week after Thanksgiving can be a tradition!

OK, I will have to post replies later because I have GOT to leave. Thanks for reading my novel!

 

[micandminforever]

I am sorry about your trip, but hang in there and keep the hope. After Thanksgiving is my favorite time at Disney. I love the Christmas decorations and the cooler weather. Plus the crowds will be lower.

 

[-Hope-]

Wowzer, so much going on!! I've already said but I'll say again, a trip without a financial cloud hanging over your head will be MUCH better for you AND the kids! And the week after Thanksgiving sounds great- Disney will be all decked out for the holidays.

I'm glad you saw CA's true self before you were in any deeper. It can be so hard to believe that people actually still think this way. Yay for meeting someone new though. I hope the only surprises he springs on you are good ones.

And I know you do so much with and for your kids, and not just WDW. They've traveled and will again soon so a trip without them is nothing to feel guilty about.

I'll be back with pics of UO next month so if you're not excited by then maybe I can help.

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Having to cancel Disney stinks but it happens! Finances blow. They really do.

Congrats on the new man Erin! Woot woot! I know you will get back to Disney. Don't apologize here at all! There is nothing to be sorry for. Life happens.