Tonya - We have enough gifts for two more. Try to talk them into posting on here and introducing themselves!
Cari - Thanks for the picture of the grass-filled pool. Now how am I supposed to explain to Emma that she isn't supposed to go in her little pool? She'll say, "Why not? Denver does!" Maybe for a FE gift someone should give you an inflatable fire hydrant to put on the grass.
Dave - Another disappointed Chargers fan here. They could have gone 14-2 and won the Superbowl but this season would have still been a disaster because they were swept by the Raiders. Gates is too valuable to be taken out of the country. Too many unforeseen things can happen to him. Now if you want to pack their Special Teams in your carry-on, I'm sure no one would object. And be glad your wife only packed you a parachute. My wife packed me a cinder block and some chain. She takes her old school Italian heritage very seriously.
Two more excited planners here Cathy and Cari. We just bought Emma another adorable dress today. I think she'll wear it on the Golden Mickeys night. It's gold and will look beautiful having her picture with Minnie in her gold gown before the show. I hope they still have them in front of the Walt Disney Theatre for pictures before the show.
We bought the dress at Sears. See, we weren't planning on going to Sears the day after Christmas but our washer kinda broke yesterday. Amy washed a small load and the water never drained. After I scooped out all the soapy water by hand, I don't know why I got the bone-headed idea to try another load right away but rather than taking the chance of ruining some clothes or, I don't know, running it empty, I ran a load with nothing but towels.
Sure enough, it never finished the cycle and now I had a full tub of water and 7-8 large towels swimming around I now had to wring out by hand before putting them in the dryer. It took four 80-minute cycles to finally get them dry and my arms are still sore from all the wringing.
Anyway, I thought I had all the water emptied out of the washer before I disconnected the hose between the tub and the pump. Nope, there was more water. Lots of it. It quickly rushed out of the 2" hose and took maybe a second to fill the 2-cup Tupperware bowl I had sitting under it to catch any drops that may have fallen. The water then flooded the bottom of the washer and then our laundry room floor.
I let out a very un-Disney-like expletive as I tried to get up off of the floor before I too got soaked. Fortunately Emma wasn't within earshot as she is quick to tell me to go to timeout whenever I screw up.
Amy came running in offering to get me towels but I think they were all still in the dryer. Besides, I wasn't about to get them all wet again. Fortunately I was able to get out the shop vac and clean it up quickly enough and only a small amount of water got on the carpet.
So anyway, after doing a bunch of research online, I'm pretty sure I narrowed the problem down to the pump. I'm ordering a new one online and it will be here in a few days. Hopefully that does the trick as I really don't want to have to blow any excursion money on a new washer right now!
So if you see us in port having a good time with umbrella drinks, you'll know the $38 pump worked. If we are staying on the ship on port days having free fountain drinks on Deck 9, ask us if we went with the Kenmore or Whirlpool.
-steve
