October 15, 2005 anyone?

[BABYJOSIE98]

I got my suitcase out this weekend and started packing. A lot of things I am still wearing everyday so I just packed new stuff.
Very exciting though! Everytime I walk in my bedroom and see my suitcase I get butterflies!!


These Hurricanes are worrying me! The better be done by October!

 

[llyolf]

These Hurricanes are worrying me! The better be done by October!

and if they aren't done.... maybe our Eastern cruise gets converted into a Western...

I just love sitting here watching these jokers news people out in the hurricane... they obviously put the fuzzy lens on the camera for more "effect" and what you do see of the guy is at a 45 degree angle. (because he's standing that way for "effect")... what did I hear this morning as a description??? oh that's right... "The wind here in New Orleans is blowing SO hard that the rain feels like shards of glass hitting my face!" I'm sorry... but if shards of glass were hitting your face.. you wouldn't be saying a dumb statement like that....

I have 0% of our packing done.... we are staying at a holiday inn express (in Buffalo) on the night before the day before the cruise...

Later,
Paul

 

[shmoogrrrl]

you may think you have the cutest dress but just you wait! (evil laugh )

Hehehehe! Maybe we should both just agree that our little ones will be the cutest kids there and call it a draw.

How old is your wee one again?

 

[shmoogrrrl]

nancy...i am so jealous! i want to be packed...i have begun to gather the clutter up into one big bag and i need to start sorting and putting outfits together in ziplocs.

Why ziplocks? Do you do that with adult clothes too?

I can't pack because it is still hot enough here to wear summer clothes! We are taking our formal wear to the drycleaners this week, and I have started a toiletry bag, but that is about it.

I need to find more ofthat Coppertone spray sunblock. We LOVE that stuff!

 

[shmoogrrrl]

Okay, your gals may win cutest girls on the cruise, but my DS will no doubt be the cutest boy on the cruise with these outfits...

I LOVE eBay! Although I think DH is going to kill me when he sees these. And DS is going to kill me when he's old enough to know how I dressed him... I figure I have to do it now while he still lets me dress him. This may be the end of that!

OMG! Those are so adorable! I LOVE the last one (the Green sailor outfit). I think he very well may be the cutest little boy on the ship, but I should warn you that boh of my friends that are traveling with us have little boys and they are two cute kids.

I can see your DH not being so fond of those outfits. I don't think that my DH would consider them his favorite either. Of course, when they are little, *I*think that little boys look adorable in stuff like that!

 

[oybolshoi]

Watching Katrina's progess this morning...very sad to see the pictures of the damage coming out of New Orleans and the Gulf Shores. New Orleans, especially, breaks my heart...it's such a unique, lovely place (once you get past the vulgarity of some of the Bourbon Street stuff...which oddly enough just adds to the city's charm) and those poor folks are going to have a rough time of it for a while. Sometimes, I suppose, there are advantages to being stuck in the boring midwest.

On a purely selfish note...I do hope all these storms blow themselves out by the second week of October. I'd like our cruise (that's a collective our...I'm not just speaking of DH and me) to be as perfect as possible. We deserve it after all the dental work we've had to endure this year!

Hey Michelle...what did you think of the Melting Pot???

 

[BABYJOSIE98]

It was fabulous! We all loved it so much. I really enjoyed the "Carmel Turtle fondue"! Yum!

I was so stuffed when we left there....We started at 5:00 pm and finished at 8:00 pm.. Did not seem that long at all. We had a blast and our Boss loved it.Glad we chose that place for her going away party.

We are over half way through the list of Hurricanes. I heard "Lee" may be forming now???

I saw that USA Today stated that the Pass port deadline is officially moved to 2008.(on another thread posted??? ) That is good news for me. I did not want to have to get DD and I a Passport yet.
Someone posted that the cruise lines may enforce their own rules??? I can't see how they could do that if it is not a law yet? I can't imagine they would want to lose the business??? I am booked on RCL for the week of 4th of July next year and they told me that they would only enforce if the Gov changed the rules. Guess we will see?

 

[PearlandPaige]

Aw man, why'd you have to go and mention the Melting Pot? Now I want to go there. I can just taste the Cookies and Cream Marshmallow Dream... Of course, convincing DH to eat there is about as easy as convincing him that he and DS should wear matching sailor suits on the cruise. He's not a fan of having to cook his own dinner when out at a restaurant.

 

[oybolshoi]

we did the Yin / Yang fondue for our dessert... dark chocolate and white chocolate, and then we added a shot of amaretto to it for some extra dessert decadence.

Think we can convince DCL to add fondue as a dessert option??

 

[txaggie94gigem]

ooooh...DCL fondue! that would be great, especially at Palo. We do not have anything like the Melting Pot here but it sure would be nice!

I survived the dentist's office but my mouth is so sore and i will not be able to eat real stuff for a day or two i think....

Smoo...you know i am teasing about our girls! and Paige those outfits are too cute! I am jealous! my hubby lives on ebay and buys our princess enough clothes for triplets...i swear we could honestly do laundry for her once every 2 months and she would still have clothes left over!!! it kills me how much he spens on clothes she will only wear a couple times! at least i have him buy them at least 1 size too big so she can get a couple years worth out of them!!!

 

[shmoogrrrl]

Aw man, why'd you have to go and mention the Melting Pot? Now I want to go there. I can just taste the Cookies and Cream Marshmallow Dream... Of course, convincing DH to eat there is about as easy as convincing him that he and DS should wear matching sailor suits on the cruise. He's not a fan of having to cook his own dinner when out at a restaurant.

Do it at home! We do fondue a lot at home (although I admit that the Melting Pot is better just because there is no preperation or clean up!

Actually, one of the things that we've done at home is that we get together with two other couples (Both going on the cruise with us) and each couple brings a course. We have cheese, Meat and Chocolate, of course!

 

[txaggie94gigem]

for anyone who needs to do last minute shopping! Disneydirect.com is running a special where all their summer stuff and some of their fall stuff is 50-75% off plus free shipping...i actually got some xmas gifts for the kids!

 

[llyolf]

the subject says it all!

I just joined a Community thread labelled: Homework on the first day of kindergarten?

I put my flame-retartand BVDs on... haven't been flamed yet... :-D

I have officially not packed anything yet.... and probably won't start for a couple of months... errrr I mean weeks...

I was looking on the yahoo group... we have a group meet list from when we 1st thought it would be a lunch type meeting... think it's ok to remove it?

what else have I thought of?? anybody else's kids in school yet? (may have already been discussed... having a blond {nothing against blonds} moment).
Lily's 1st day of K was last Thursday.... I went in to eat lunch with her... she was sitting with all the tough boys... was kinda funny... I got to be the entertainment.. "Lily, your dad's goofy!"

man I keep seeing this guy in Louisiana that lost his wife in the storms... sad stuff!!! a little taste of the tsunami I guess...

Later,
Paul (not to be confused with Palo)

 

[oybolshoi]

Paul (not to be confused with Palo)

Don't you mean Palu? I think we could ask DCL to rename the restaurant in your honor.

As for the DISmeet... could we modify it somehow so that we still have something that lists those people who plan on meeting up at the Promenade Lounge on Sunday afternoon? And did we want to have post-tag meet? Anyone...?

This hurricane footage is strangely addictive - I'm especially concerned about the flooding in New Orleans... they don't have drinking water and the flood waters are really contaminated...add that into the climate this time of year and worst case scenario you could be looking at a major cholera outbreak. Who would ever have thought something like that could happen in the US in the 21st century? Of course, I do tend to take a pessimisitc view, but those poor people are in a very bad way right now.

And gas prices....

We are supposed to drive up to Milwaukee this weekend for a family visit...and roundtrip to fill our camry is probably going to run us in excess of $200. Ouch! Of course, we may not go because my husband's company has a branch in Mobile and if they don't have power back by Thursday his weekend off will be canceled anyway because he'll be doing their job here in St. Louis. I won't complain if we end up not going...but you didn't hear me say that.

 

[PearlandPaige]

No kidding about gas prices. I just drove past a gas station here where regular unleaded was $2.67 a gallon - and that's in Texas where we pump the gas straight from the ground into the gas stations! When I moved here in 1998, gas was $.78 a gallon. Last night it was $2.47 at the same station. Seems like gouging to me, but I'm far from an economist so I can't really comment.

Complaining about gas prices seems petty when I think about all those poor folks suffering from Katrina. Paul, I know exactly the guy you're talking about who lost his wife when his house split apart. The poor reporter was even crying. I can't even imagine. I just don't understand why people try to ride hurricanes out. I'm one of those people who makes the whole family (cats and all) spend the night in an interior closet if there's a bad thunderstorm now. You can bet I'd be the first one out of town at any hint of a hurricane headed for me.

 

[BABYJOSIE98]

:sad2 Yes it is amazing all the things going wrong in this country! It is getting very depressing. I am just happy to be alive and healthy....
I really feel for all of them and I did see that poor man this morning. It is just so sad.

We finally decided what we are going to do when we get off the ship. We booked a late flight cause it is always so depressing to go home that day!
So we decided to take a drive to Downtown Disney for a few hours and then a got a PS for Lunch at the "Whispering Cannon Cafe". My best Friend and I have always wanted to check out the Wilderness Lodge and so this will be our chance to do that. We also may jump on the boat and ride it over to MK even though we can't go in!

Then around 4:00 pm we will head to the airport...Wwwwwahhhhhh!
Crying all the way.......

 

[oybolshoi]

I'm one of those people who makes the whole family (cats and all) spend the night in an interior closet if there's a bad thunderstorm now. You can bet I'd be the first one out of town at any hint of a hurricane headed for me.

I'm with you on that one...the cat and I always run for cover during the tornando warnings that seem to crop up around here on a daily basis during the spring...my husband just laughs at us. There's no way I'd try to ride out a hurricane, especially one like Katrina. Life is way more valuable than the house...people can always replace property (but it's funny in a sad way how many of us tend to forget that).

I'm certainly no economist, but here in the financial world in St. Louis there is a lot of concern over long-term gasoline / oil prices and natural gas prices and heating oil prices through the winter - primarily the effect that $3 a gallon gas combined with a predicted 20%-30% increase in heating oil / natural gas is going to have on the overall economy thanks to the damage that Katrina did down in the gulf. I don't mention it to be petty, but to point out from a financial perspective how much all of us around the entire country will be impacted by this storm. It's tremendously significant because very few storms, even Andrew or the cluster of hurricanes that have pummeled Florida in the last twelve months, create more than a blip on the national economic radar...this one is definitely going to create some ripples.

Having said that, I'll take the financial impact over losing family, friends, and home any day.

You know what I find frustrating? We're too far away to really do anything useful to help - I called our local red cross chapter today and was told to write a check and donate blood. I'll do both...would have anyway, but when something like this happens I always feel like I should be doing more. I'm not sure what "more" is supposed to be...

 

[wayneg]

Hi everyone, back from Amsterdam had a fantastic time. When we arrived they gave us an upgrade from executive room to an apartment. Had everything we needed an more, video recorder, cd player, washing machine. Should have been about $600/night
Went to our favourite eatery. Staff were glad to see us again, almost gave us as much on the house as we spent. Insisted on a glass of beer for the road each night before we left, would have been insulting to refuse
I don't think they get a lot of repeat customers being in a city centre, we have visited them about 8 weekends in the past 4 years.
Kept my eye on the hurricane, what a mess. Thoughts are with everyone in that area. Just been watching some of the rescue stories on TV.
Don't get me going on the gas again. Nearing $8 a gallon here. If anyone has jobs for a Florist & Nursery Nurse we will be out there on the next plane.
Wayne

 

[shmoogrrrl]

Later,
Paul (not to be confused with Palo)

If there were two of you, would you be Paulos?

 

[oybolshoi]

Now that is funny...Paulos...

I like it - Let's lobby for a name change!