Here we are, one day before we are in Orlando. We are anxious, fearful, worried, depressed, and frustrated.
This current state of affairs has nothing to do with our precious trip, it is because we experience one of the worst week's of our lives!
I had the week planned out. First mistake. My husband's two week business trip was now on week 5. The trash was piling high. I was losing kids in the jungle that was once my nicely manicured backyard.
Plus we had the last of the school activities. I need to read all these room mother request and volunteer forms before I sign them.
Wednesday was to be my switching gears day. You know, when you can seriously get into pre-vacation mode. I had the kids drinking all the milk in the frig, had the last of the bags packed, started the last of the laundry...
That's when the trouble began!
I was comfortably sitting in front of the computer. Pouring over the latest trip reports and TGM advice, when my daughter says...
"I smell a fire."
I tell her she is only smelling my trusty George Foreman Grill that I had plugged in for our last home cooked meal before vacation.
Other daughter "No, it really smells like fire."
Then....the smoke alarms start going off!!!!
I start running around the downstairs screaming for the kids to run out to our family tree. I turn the corner past the laundry room and see the dryer ablaze!!! Fire is shooting up 7 feet in the air!
I run to the stove and grab my filled pasta pot off the stove and throw it in the dryer. This immediately sends thick, dark, black smoke throughout the house. I start running around trying to collect my kids and make sure they are outside. When everyone is accouted for, I head inside to call 911. The fire alarm is beeping so loudly I can't hear anything on the other line. I just keep screaming fire and our address into the speaker phone. I run and fill another pot and spill it over the dryer. I reach and unplug the washer and dryer and open the french door next to them. I run and fetch the garden hose, but it doesn't reach past the door. I just start spraying anything I see in the laundry room. I go back inside and fill another pot and dump it on the fire. Thick smoke fills my lungs and I feel like I'm going to pass out.
The volunteer fire fighters arrive first. (women...you go girl!! Woot!) They run in and push the dryer out through the door. They spray it with the garden hose and it is out in seconds. Meanwhile three engines and about half a dozen volunteers are on site. The open all the windows and doors and are using fans to get out the rest of the smoke.
The fire marshall thinks the chenille blanket I was drying caught fire in the drum of the dryer!!! He says it must have fallen apart in the dryer and those tiny pieces plugged the vents. He says we are very lucky that we put out the dryer fire before it got to any wall or other surfaces.
My kids and I sit under our family tree in the front yard and watch 3 of my nextdoor neighbors gawk at the chaos, but no one stops and asks for help. I couldn't believe how indifferent they were to our situation. Luckily a woman who I had never met before from down the road came and offered to help me watch the kids. I had to get some oxygen from the paramedics because of the smoke inhalation.
We were VERY lucky. We were able to go right back inside and spend the night. The damage was minimal. Thank God. Dryer...
I was finally able to reach my husband in Chicago. He could get any flight out, so he grabbed a company car from a fellow employee and drove 14 hours overnight to get home. What a relief to have my Prince home! My lungs were burning and everyone was so shaken up.
The next day I'm off to get some cleaning supplies, when our van breaks down. Luckily my husband is here, but when the day is done we have put $1400 of our Disney money into the van.
Now my husband is starting to act like his is possessed by the ghost of Clark W. Griswald! We are going on this vacation! No matter what! I'm starting to have my doubts over the fact that I'm now a nervous wreck about leaving the house for so long. Esspecially since I've seen how responsive my neighbors are....would they just stand there and watch it burn to the ground??? Plus my lungs are fried. I'm wheezing and coughing, not the greatest condition to be fighting the masses at MK.
We all conclude that we NEED this vacation now more than ever! The house can wait. The new dryer can wait. (like I'd ever use a dryer again...it's
for me!) My husband has to drive 2 hours to home office to drop off the company car and pick up his. I load all the kids up in the van for their final day at school. Grab my keys and quick discover that my van key wasn't on my fob. My husband must have taken it off to give to the mechanic. Surely he left it somewhere in the house......not. Both van keys are safely inside his pocket.
The kids are crying because they are going to miss "beach day" at school. I don't get to do my last minute shopping trip. My husband now has to change around all of his plans so he can get home at a reasonable hour. The kids are hungry and I have tuna helper in the pantry, but no tuna.
My mother thinks I'm crazy for not heeding the "signs"
and cancelling our trip. I'm starting to thinking I'm nuts also, but darn it, in 18 hours we will be on the road to Disney!!!!
What else could happen????
Don't even think it!
Third, our van breaks down two days before departure, eating $1500 out of our vacation budget. 
I guess Publix is not the place to be on a Saturday night. There were no carts. The tickets at the deli section were gone and there had to be at least 20 people waiting. Aisles were crammed with families fighting for the last bunch of bananas. I actually had a woman say a few nasty words to me when I grabbed the last squeezable bottle of grape jelly. I felt like I was at the mall right before the closing on Christmas eve! It was a madhouse! It took us longer to get through Publix than eat at Rainforest Cafe! And I only bought $80 of groceries! 
can't wait for more.
