"Double Dip Delight" Alternate Western 09/27/08

[LadyShiva]

There's no water or electricity yet. It's pitch black inside because all the windows are covered with crude oil. All I can think of is the Dr. Suess book, The Cat in the Hat, when it says, "This mess is so big and so deep and so tall, we cannot clean it up. There is no way at all." At this point, we are just trying to salvage what we can, and inventory the rest. It is so hot, that we can't do too much at a time. We still don't know if they will condemn the building or even let us rebuild there.

Brandie

 

[nenner1]

Hadley, what a nice story about Marika. WHat you and your family has done for D is very inspirational!!

Speaking of inspiration, that was a fantastic article, Erik! It gave me warm fuzzies!.

Chris, I am so sorry to hear about the flood. Here's some thoughts and prayers for you and your family and community.

Kimberly, I always knew you were the FE goddess, now everyone else knows too! You do such beautiful work!!!

Erica You are just trying *really* hard to get me to use my Play-3-Days passes before I'm supposed to!!!! Loved the people mover (YES! I STILL CALL IT THAT TOO!) pic and can't wait to see more! Between your WDW trip and your upcoming cruise, you are sure living it up right now!!!

Deanna and everyone else who has joined us lately:



I haven't done that in a while.....

 

[lenzs4]

Hello all!
It has been many pages since I last posted. We have been very - VERY, busy here in AZ.
I may have mentioned that we are building a house. We bought the lot in Sept of last year, got all the permits ready by January and have been working to have it completed as soon as possible. Well, it is done and we moved in on July 12 (my 33rd birthday!!!) Well, I am fudging on the done part but we really did move in. On July 11 - no electric but that did not stop us from moving all of our stuff. July 12, electric but AC is not working (but it was only 115 that day - so I guess we were lucky ) For the next 3 days we had some AC (the kitchen and media room worked but that was it) Today - all of the house has AC - YEA!! You might think that was the only hold up - OH NO - that is only one little snag in amongst many....
See, the plumber messed up the plumbing in all the showers so the tile had to be ripped out of each shower (it has not been replaced so I currently have holes in the showers - no showers for us ( luckily the master tub works - yuck) OH, and the gas has an issue from the street to the house - so no gas which means no hot water, no stove, no dryer. We moved in with no mirrors in, no towel bars, incomplete garage, no TV's, incomplete fireplace (not really worried about that one just yet).... The list goes on and on. BUT WE ARE IN THE NEW HOUSE Everyday three or four things get completed and it feels so good to have them done but we have so much more to do.

This is the second house we have built ourselves. The last one was actually finished before we moved in but my DH could not wait any longer to get out of the rental house and into ours so we moved in about a month earlier than we should have.

Oh, I have not told you about my family. My name is Shirley. I am a kindergarten teacher. I love it. I especially love to see children when they realize they can read. My DH, Bobby, is a police officer. He is actually a detective/financial crimes investigator. He loves it. We have two kids DS Trenton is currently 9 and DD Emily is currently 6. Trenton loves soccer and basketball while Emily loves dance and piano (her aspirations in life include being the balloon man at parties).

I love reading your tales and look forward to the many stories to come in the upcoming months.

Shirley

 

[Scoobypop]

I still have no idea how to do the multi quote thing, so I'll try to remember what I can from 3 pages since my last reading.

Hadley--I'm sorry for not mentioning Deanna before--we were all SOOO busy on the Med cruise as you WELL know, and with the other Deanna that was onboard with us, who was so spectacular herself, it was easy to forget everything from the "real world" for 2 weeks. You are high on the friendship list, I promise!!

Kimberly--Awesome job, and I can't believe you made THAT many fish extenders in a weekend. hehehe You should consider a side business there.

Erica--thanks for posting the WDW photo. Someone mentioned they "still call it the Peoplemover too". Is it not that anymore? I have only been to WDW twice, last time in 2004. I will be going in November this year and can't WAIT. I would love to take the same pic you took. I have the classic attractions poster hanging all over my house, and the Peoplemover is one of my favorites, so I have to get on that!

Chris--sorry to hear about the mishaps. Wishing for all to go well for you.

Erik--I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO proud and happy to call myself one of your great friends. I feel like I'm a better man just because you are in my life and we are friends.

All else is well--even if I'm not posting I'm still reading every day or 2. Thanks all for your daily posts!
Chris

 

[Buckeye Gal]

Shirley, it's great to see you again!! No doubt you're completely pooped, yet one happy and excited new neighbor!!

Kimberly--Awesome job, and I can't believe you made THAT many fish extenders in a weekend. hehehe You should consider a side business there.

Hey thanks! There actually are more that got completed and several that are "almost" done or pieces and parts are in progress. I actually find it relaxing to just get quiet time thinking about nothing but sewing a straight line!

 

[jcemom]

Oh my! And here I am hoping I manage to complete one fish extender before the cruise, LOL.

 

[LuvtheEars]

Hello all! I managed to grab a few minutes on the computer to catch up.

I hope I don't miss anything -

Chris - My prayers are with you! Please take care of yourself while you are taking care of everything else!

Eric - Great article! Kudos for all the wonderful things you are doing for your community!

Hadley - Awsome Marika story! Is D back home now?

Kim - Great FE's!!! I agree with Eric about changing them out each day! Love the pirate ones!

Welcome new families!!! We are taking over the boat!

Erika - I want to be there! Instead I am stuck inside on a cold and rainy day (make that two days now and the forcast is for rain through Sunday).

I'm not sure who posted the idea of hitting the (more) button for the icons - but - I guess my blonde roots are showing now. . .

I know I missed something, but I had 4 pages of posts to catch up on - and the threads about the speakers were priceless - I want to see the hairy eyeball too!

I might be able to get back on here in a day or two since we had to cancel our camping trip - due to the rain. The kids and I are having fun though and it's nice to see friends and family that live so far away.

Have a nice day everyone - I'm wishing everyone better weather than we are having!

 

[DINKERBELL]

Wow!
Chris and Rob warned me about how fast the posts pile up!
Thank you all for such a warm welcome!
To clarify the confusion in regards to my last post....
This November I am going to WDW for the first time since I was 7. Chris, Rob, and my boyfriend Jason are going as well as a few other friends.
In Feb, I am going on the Magic's 7 day western cruise with Jason. Chris and Rob will also be on this crusie as well as my Mother and Grandmother!
For the Double Dip--it will again be Jason and I. With also Chris and Rob; in addition my Mom and Dad be on it this time (no grandmother).
I'm sorry it was so confusing!

Erik and Jason--I have been let onto the fish extender! I love it! I never knew such a thing had existed and now I must have one! As well as the custiomized door magenets--I'm gonna be busy! Also...I wonder now how much you have heard about me! LOL!

Hi Kimberly!
Jason and I will be in our own cabin and my mom and grandmother will have thier own cabin.
As for the Double Dip will be in our own cabin plus my mom and dad have thier own cabin. I guess 2 cabins for m immediate family. I'm not sure of my parents cabin number yet. When I know I will get back to you!
Thank you SO SO SO much for organizing all this and being in charge of so many DIS'ER's!


Have a great weekend everyone!

~Deanna

 

[nenner1]

Erica--thanks for posting the WDW photo. Someone mentioned they "still call it the Peoplemover too". Is it not that anymore? I have only been to WDW twice, last time in 2004. I will be going in November this year and can't WAIT. I would love to take the same pic you took. I have the classic attractions poster hanging all over my house, and the Peoplemover is one of my favorites, so I have to get on that!

Yep, that was me. No it is not called the Wedway People Mover anymore, now they call it "Tomorrowland Transit Authority" or "TTA" for short. But it still is and forever will be the "people mover" as far as I'm concerned !! (They haven't changed the ride at all, just the name and the spiel.) It is one of my favorites, too. It was so crazy busy when I was there this spring, can you believe it had a LINE?!?! A LINE...out into the plaza and wound around by the Astro Oribter queue !!! It actually took about 10minutes to get on!! That's the first time I ever saw anything like that!!!

We're going in November too, (just barely, the 30th) for MVMCP.

 

[zweihund]

I still have no idea how to do the multi quote thing, so I'll try to remember what I can from 3 pages since my last reading.

There's a little icon right next to the "quote" one at the bottom right of each post. It should be the one in the middle. When you click it, it turns orange. Click as many as you want, and then when you hit "reply" at the bottom of the page, it will bring up every post you clicked on. It's great!

Erica--thanks for posting the WDW photo. Someone mentioned they "still call it the Peoplemover too". Is it not that anymore? I have only been to WDW twice, last time in 2004. I will be going in November this year and can't WAIT. I would love to take the same pic you took. I have the classic attractions poster hanging all over my house, and the Peoplemover is one of my favorites, so I have to get on that!

Yep, that was me. No it is not called the Wedway People Mover anymore, now they call it "Tomorrowland Transit Authority" or "TTA" for short. But it still is and forever will be the "people mover" as far as I'm concerned !! (They haven't changed the ride at all, just the name and the spiel.) It is one of my favorites, too. It was so crazy busy when I was there this spring, can you believe it had a LINE?!?! A LINE...out into the plaza and wound around by the Astro Oribter queue !!! It actually took about 10minutes to get on!! That's the first time I ever saw anything like that!!!

Yep, what she said
I will always call it the People Mover. Every time I want to go on it, Lionel rolls his eyes.....but he still lets me. It reminds me of mychildhood!

Ok, here are today's pics:

Us at the Tree of Life.....well, at least we think there's a tree back there somewhere, it's kind of hard to tell.

This is a self-portrait at Finding Nemo: The Musical. The funny story behind this one is that after four tries, we still could not get it right. For the first try, we had the macro on and got a closeup of the bottom of Lionel's face (which has us in stitches for the rest of the pre-show). After that, we could not get one with Sarah's eyes open. So, this is what we ended up with:

They can't all be winners.

And, finally, this is me and Sarah with the Iguanadon at Dinosaur!

Today is Epcot, dinner at the Rose and Crown, and Illuminations!

 

[Scoobypop]

Yep, that was me. No it is not called the Wedway People Mover anymore, now they call it "Tomorrowland Transit Authority" or "TTA" for short. But it still is and forever will be the "people mover" as far as I'm concerned !! (They haven't changed the ride at all, just the name and the spiel.) It is one of my favorites, too. It was so crazy busy when I was there this spring, can you believe it had a LINE?!?! A LINE...out into the plaza and wound around by the Astro Oribter queue !!! It actually took about 10minutes to get on!! That's the first time I ever saw anything like that!!!

We're going in November too, (just barely, the 30th) for MVMCP.

That's crazy!
Okay, this is my first "Multi Quote" attempt. And it looks like. . .

There's a little icon right next to the "quote" one at the bottom right of each post. It should be the one in the middle. When you click it, it turns orange. Click as many as you want, and then when you hit "reply" at the bottom of the page, it will bring up every post you clicked on. It's great!





Yep, what she said
I will always call it the People Mover. Every time I want to go on it, Lionel rolls his eyes.....but he still lets me. It reminds me of mychildhood!



Today is Epcot, dinner at the Rose and Crown, and Illuminations!

It should work when I post this. Thank you SO very much for the info on the Multi Quoting! If this works, then I'm so happy I just learned it thanks to you.

How was dinner and the show?! Illuminations is my very favorite fireworks spectacular at all of Disney, and I've only gotten to see it twice so far.

 

[Buckeye Gal]

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE!!!

Erica, Lionel, and Sarah...I'm soooooo jealous! So give me more please!!

It will be another busy and creative weekend away from home for these Buckeyes (oops...sorry Hadley...think pink dress...think PINK DRESS). Lots of scrapbooking and a little more "fishing" to do.

My best friend for the past 32 years and I are spending 12 hours on Saturday at a scrapbooking event. Of course we met 8 years BB (before birth). That's traditionally followed by another 5 hours of talking into the wee hours of the morning. I'm heading up to her place early tomorrow morning as I have all my scrapbooking packing to accomplish yet. Let me tell you...that's no easy feat! Can you smell banana bread baking in the oven??? I hope I do, too, tonight!

If I don't make it on the boards later today, I'll say "have a great weekend" now, and I'll look forward to catching up Sunday night!

TTFN

 

[zweihund]

That's crazy!
Okay, this is my first "Multi Quote" attempt. And it looks like. . .



It should work when I post this. Thank you SO very much for the info on the Multi Quoting! If this works, then I'm so happy I just learned it thanks to you.

How was dinner and the show?! Illuminations is my very favorite fireworks spectacular at all of Disney, and I've only gotten to see it twice so far.

Yay!

Dinner was great! Nothing like English comfort food on a rainy night. The rain cleared up before the fireworks, but unfortunately Lionel was feeling under the weather so we ended up leaving before the show. Caught some of it on the way out of the park. We're planning on making a night of it in October when we do the mini cruise, conveniently during the food and wine fest

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE!!!

Erica, Lionel, and Sarah...I'm soooooo jealous! So give me more please!!

It will be another busy and creative weekend away from home for these Buckeyes (oops...sorry Hadley...think pink dress...think PINK DRESS). Lots of scrapbooking and a little more "fishing" to do.

My best friend for the past 32 years and I are spending 12 hours on Saturday at a scrapbooking event. Of course we met 8 years BB (before birth). That's traditionally followed by another 5 hours of talking into the wee hours of the morning. I'm heading up to her place early tomorrow morning as I have all my scrapbooking packing to accomplish yet. Let me tell you...that's no easy feat! Can you smell banana bread baking in the oven??? I hope I do, too, tonight!

If I don't make it on the boards later today, I'll say "have a great weekend" now, and I'll look forward to catching up Sunday night!

TTFN

Have fun scrappin' and yappin'!

I'll post some pics from Epcot when we get them off of Sarah's camera. I think I have a drink in my hand for most of them

 

[NHdisneylover]

Hello All,
I have been a bit absent from the boards lately. I was trying to reclaim the house after D left (two little boys=one big mess) and also spend some time really focused on my kids (who needed a bit of extra attention for themselvse after sharing me for two weeks). By the time evening would roll around I felt too tired to do anything but lurk on the boards. But, now I am back!

I promise this will be my last D post. If you are sick of hearing about him, by all means just zip right on past this post.

My last actual D story has to be about Martin Luthehr King:
The background here is that my geeky children amuse themselves by quizing each other on all kinds of stuff all the time. You know stuff like "Pop quiz--what was the first Mickey Mouse cartoon" (Plane Crazy) or "The answer is, this star's name means armpit of the giant" ( What is Betelgeuse? ) Yes, they do this all the time--and yes they phrase things like that Eventually, one day in the car, D felt compelled to jump in with his own trivia question: "Who died a long time ago in New York?" Hmmm, now that is a toughie. We did all have to give up on that one. The answer was Martin Lutehr King! He told us Martin was a really wonderful man and that he was shot by a white guy. Totally true. We all agreed that Dr. King was an amzing man and yes, tragically, he was shot by a white man.
"D, you are little confused though. He didn't die in New York City, he died in Memphis, Tennesse. Did you know that is Dr. King on your shirt?"(he was wearing the same shirt he had been wearing on the bus when he came--his brand new for this trip shirt). Yes he knew that, that is why he picked the shirt.
"Awesome D, then you might like track 5 on the CD because it is about Dr. King. It even has his voice at the begining from when they recorded him giving a speech." All of a sudden, from that moment on the American Heroes and More American Heroes CDs (by Jonathan Sprout and really good) that D had proclaimed "baby music" and booed for days became his favourites (and he could sing along to most of the songs by the time he went home about 5 days later).
When we got home we pulled out several of our books on Dr. King. Everything from kids picture books to a good biography which has lots of photos (including that famous one in Memphis). I didn't even say much, the kids told him so much about MLK message and about Rosa Parks and the civil rights movement in general. I did not conect the dots for him (he's bright he can connect the dots) but it was great for this very agressive little boy to realize that his hero was such an opponent of violence (while still being a strong man and a momentous force of change).
One other interesting note was that at some point D excitedly poitned out that there were white people marching in one of the photos. He said something along the lines of it not making sense because white people were the bad peopel back then (and no I do not think anyone tried to intentionally teach that idea--if mom felt that way she would not have sent her little boy off to us--I just think it is an easy assumption for a kid to make). I didn't dwell long on it but I just said something along the lines of "yes, there were a lot of terrible people who were white who had made these bad laws and treated black people wrongly, but there were also many white people who felt the laws were wrong and wanted them changed and fought to have them changed right alongside many black people. The color of someone's skin doesn't really tell you what they believe." Marika was all set to launch into a discussion about how not all Germans were Nazis and current civil rights struggles, etc. but I reigned her in as D already had more than enough new info. to chew on at that point.

Okay, as to why we are all so exhasuted here this week, here are the NEW things D experienced for the first time in the two weeks he was with us:

-riding in a car and wearing a seatbelt
-swiming in a lake (4 times)
-going to a science museum
-picking blueberries
-wading in a stream
-climbing on rocks (and through caves)
-going to the top of a mountain
-eating at a sitdown restraunt (3 times)
-living with a fmaily whose basic rule is "we treat each other with kindness and respect" (I have never felt like more of a broken record)
-having an ENTIRE bag of popcorn (at Target) to himself
-riding on a steam train
-going to a karate class
-going to a gymanstics class
-weaving on a loom
-building volcanoes on the beach
-mini golf
-using water color paints
-swinging in a tire swing
-picking rasberries
-seeign a planetarium show

We also did things he had done before like bowling and the arcade (rainy day) and watching movies and playing games. We also went to a BBQ.

I bet he slept well when he got home!

As a final note, after I got him settled in on the bus (and yes he cried and said he'sd miss us ), the area director for the program told me that the chaperone for the bus ride up (who has been doing this nearly 2 decades) had told her D would be sent home before a week was out because he was such a handfull! It was good to hear because I was starting to wonder when I lost the ability to cope with other kids.
Overall it was a good and eye opening experience for us all. And, we will probably invite him back next year--he was a sweet kid overall but just had never had rulse like ours and did not know how to adjust, but other than in the ER he adjusted fairly well and fairly quickly. After the ER incident I had thought 'well, that's it we can't have him back' (must protect my own babies) but Marika wants to invite him again next sumer (though she says she is glad it is a whole 11 1/2 months away!). I figure if she can get over it, I guess I had better!

Okay--I PROMISE no more stories abotu D on this thread from me (for at least 11 1/2 months anyway--boo hoo to the cruise being even further away than D's next visit).

Have a great weekend everybody.

 

[Buckeye Gal]

Hadley, I just want to say that I've greatly appreciated you sharing your experiences and D's experiences during his time with your family. You and your DH are very special people to have gifted him with not only with fun things to do, but moreso to expose and plant the seeds within him of the important things to life like love, respect, open minds, and values. It's so unbelievable how "we" take for granted what we have in life.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Kimberly Thank you!

Chris (Scoobypop--there are two Chris's which is so throwing me for a loop right now). You know I was kidding about hte whole Deanna thing right? See, I should NEVER attempt to be witty because it is always just that--an attempt. I am looknig forward to meeting this Deanna however

Erica--I am getting through your photos and posts only by reminding myself that I will be there in Spetember (yes, this year). It sure looks like fun.

 

[Hoagie Pie]

Hey everyone - I have missed you all. We have been busy dealing with life and tomorrow we leave for Orlando! Eric - I haven't read the article, but I packed it in my carry on for the airplane, but I know I will be proud of you from everyone's elses comments. Hadley, I also took your story about your little house guest. I will need some smiles on the plane. Glad Marika is feeling better - loved the story and what a warm heart she has - but we knew that. Shirley - I don't know where you live in AZ, but if you are close, I'd love to meet up and talk "DCL!" Good luck with the house and air conditioning in this letter. Buckeye Gal, you always do a great job on the posts and keeping us up to date. Chris, sorry to hear about the flood. Hope things are improving and you will be in our thoughts. Scoobypop, I know we did the transatlantic, but I am blessed knowing that I have another chance to get to know you better. I hope we can hang out more. I am on my way to packing the bags and saying goodnight all. I will be back next weekend and keep your fingers crossed that my husband gets this job so I am closer to WDW and all of you when you come to visit!!!!!! OH! I forgot to mention that I was sitting in the ortho office with my daughter and this lady noticed my Barcelona purse and said that she was going to Barcelona in 3 days on a cruise - of course, I asked Disney and it was!! She was very excited, but heard that Disney wasn't really doing well or wasn't really enjoying the Med. The reports weren't that good. Has anyone else heard this?

 

[zweihund]

Hadley, what a great experience! Number one, what a wonderful family you have to share with this child who might not otherwise get to see life from another perspective, and number two, how wonderful that you get to share your love and see it make a difference in a youth who seems to be at risk. I think this will not only go a long way to touch D, but I'm sure you learned alot about yourself and your family that you might not have discovered. Bravo!

I might be posting a little mini trip report of Sarah's visit on my Geeks on a Budget thread.....will let you all know if and when.

Happy Saturday!

 

[LadyShiva]

Hadley, I have enjoyed the "D" stories, too. Thank you very much for sharing!

*wave* Fiona's awake, so I need to get moving!

Brandie

 

[Stargater]

Ok,
This has been a very trying two weeks for us here at stargater home.

Due to an increase in our private school tuition of 400 more per month!!
So, we called up the local school district to see what they could do for us. Well, we have a wonderful (NOT) feature called choice schools where you can choose which school to send your child to. That sounds great, but all the good schools are taken early. Since this increase was just announced less than a month before school starting, the only place still available is a school that is 25 miles away and it is rated a c school! DD 9 would be on a bus for 2 hours per day....that is not cool. She would have to get up at 5 to be ready for the bus at 6, and then not get home until 4:30. That is a long insane day for her let alone for what kind of education. Also found out that if we did put her in public school we would have to go infront of the school board everytime we wanted to take a vacation over 3 days...YIKES that is a lot for us. They would get so sick of seing us. We take about 3 vacations per year usually during school becuase the prices are lower and the weather is nicer.
This is not really a viable option for us.

Was wondering how many of you homeschool and how difficult is it? DH works nights and is home all day....was just wondering if this could work for us.

PS. The adoption with Ashley is not going as planned, the two girls just are not getting along and it is causing some other concerns in the house. So, I am not sure how that is going to work. I am so saddened but the girls have entirely different personalities and that is just killing me and DH.They bicker over everything and anything.

OK enough about my rant, thanks for letting me vent .