One became SEVEN?!? How did THAT happen? 4/24 UPDATE

[blessedmom4]

Holy guacamole!! And you need that van to fit everyone! That just stinks. I how it's fixed for good now.

We do need the van to fit us all. Pete had a loaner car (I understand he just about lost it when they told him the price) for the day, which rarely happens. WE had plans, but the vehicle only fit five, so I stayed home to work on medicines for the week and wash clothes, etc....we didn't want to take two cars, too much gas.

about your van and vehicle repair bills this month. Praying that it's the last for a long, long time! How nice that you were given free tickets to see the Miracle on 34th Street play. Glad that David went with the family.

Just finished making the pecan tarts. Had to give you a heads up if you want to try the recipe. Wait more than 2 minutes before taking them out of the pan. They were still too warm and a few had the bottom stay in the pan. We got to sample those though.

Giving thanks for the many blessings that God has brought us through this year. It hasn't been an easy one. Just filled with more faith to trust in the One who has everything under control. Thankful for the many wonderful friendships and support made on Judy's threads!

The strangest thing Gail, I had a notice you had signed the PTR and what you wrote was COMPLETELY different than what I see here...and it was about 3 hours earlier too! That is so odd!

The problem with our vehicles is that although they are only 10 and 12 years old (well, the one we donated to MAW was 15), they have LOTS of miles from all of the driving we do. That makes them vulnerable, I guess (that is what the mechanics tell us). If we could afford new cars, few miles it would help. Alas, that isn't in the future, we still need a vehicle for Pete and with ours doing the work of that extra vehicle, I am afraid that it is a perpetual vicious cycle. I pray we are good for a while myself, I am at my wits end on it all.

The play was just proof of all of the GD things that happen for us! It was good to go and laugh together a a family.

Thanks for the heads up on the pecan tarts! Were they yummy?

You HAVE had a tough year! It has been very difficult to see what you have gone through, but so thankful to see you push through faithfully, knowing God was in control! You have been an incredible friend and support to us, never abandoning me, even when I can't always be the friend you deserve. We love you, Billy and Tiffy and for about the millionth time yesterday I heard how the children wished you could all come for Thanksgiving at our house....some day!!

The Disney Quest pictures are great. Brings back memories for me of when Grumpy was a little boy. We use to eat there when it was the cheesecake factory express. That cupcake looks pretty and very chocolatety. We actually stopped going to Disney quest when the food changed. We've only gone a few times since.

That's wonderful that your kids get along so well and are each others friends.

I just love remembering the children when they were little and all of the fun we had together, I am happy thinking of DQ did that for you! Cheesecake...YUM! My first trip to Disney wasn't until 1998 (Yes, I lived a deprived life until then). I am not sure if I even knew DQ existed then, we didn't have Internet and my sole source of info came from a newsletter that came out quarterly and my in-laws, who we found out really knew nothing (they told us we would HATE Epcot and it is one of our faves) ...but it made Disney a GREAT adventure! I don't think I would go to DQ for the food now, but it was convenient for the kids (we had told them they could eat anywhere they wanted at DTD...they didn't want to leave, they were having so much fun)! I bet if they had thought about it , they would have gone to EoS. But to be fair, they LIKED the food!

I am blessed they get along almost 100% of the time, it helps. When they don't they are convicted (in their hearts) almost immediately. Lets face it, I don't get along with people 100% of the time either! We are working on a project in the house and trying to get rid of a bunch of junk. Pete had to go pick up my van, then run to the store. While he was gone, we were in the attic dormers, cleaning a bunch of junk out (15+ years worth). We took advantage of Pete being gone, he is quite the "hoarder", he always had that tendency, but since our fire he doesn't want to let go of anything. The laughter and fun we had doing all of that work was priceless, watching the children work together as a team. Poor David was crawling on his belly to get these bins out, it was dusty and Rachel kept thinking spiders were going to attack him (thankfully it is cool so most aren't around). Lisa would hurl things down stairs to Christian who loaded his car (twice) and went to Good Will before Pete could say no, not that...I really can't explain it, we were just laughing and having so much fun and it hit me again how very blessed I am. What could have been a tedious chore, was actually a great memory for us. And Pete was fine with it, because he didn't have to see the items and have angst about about parting with it. We ARE keeping him out of the garage, we have at least two more loads to go! Not sure why I just shared all of that except it is a fun memory for me...probably one you had to be there to really enjoy, but oh well... you know me, miss chatty Judy.

 

[blessedmom4]

I wanted to share a photo from the theater night. They had a booth called Tapsnap, where you could take a photo pre-show. It was funny, because it was a green screen and anybody wearing green disappeared there. Rachel and Christian both had on their shirts that Chiara and Andrea made for Lisa's wish trip. Lisa had on her Hello Kitty shirt. ...I wish we had all worn green you will see why.

I must run right now, I will be back later. I hope you all have a truly marvelous Sunday!

 

[gopherdame]

We are back home in freezing Minnesota at 10°. It was a little warm and humid in Florida for us, but I wish I was back there right now. It was a little boring driving home and we hit snow and freezing rain in Iowa. There were cars in the ditch and an overturned semi. A little scary but we made it through it all.

I went to see the movie Catching Fire yesterday morning with the grandkids and the temp was 6° and it was windy. I was so freezing walking in. It was the first movie I've seen in a theater in years. It had the nicest recliners and luckily it was early or I could have fallen asleep.

Sorry to hear about more car repairs, ouch! I remember those days of only having one car or maybe two and one needed repairs. I didn't work then and remember walking a mile to the dentist with 3 kids, usually pulling a wagon. We had some good news on our health insurance going down almost $100 a month. My dh was a bus driver and we can still get insurance through them and it's a really good policy. We are always afraid when there's a new union contract that they will drop retirees so were thrilled to see it go down.

 

[p00h4me]

Hi Judy, The pecan tarts were yummy especially after I put them in the freezer and tried one after dinner.

Our youngest vehicle is almost 11 years old and the other two are 16 years old. We don't put the mileage on them like your family does though. Two of them have less than 100,000 miles. The older truck is the one we use to take trash to the dump and has a lot of miles on it.

Glad you all had a chance to do some cleanup around the house. Love the picture and a great memento from the play.

Forgot to add that we would be honored to join you all for Thanksgiving. Yes, maybe one day!

We woke up to snow on the ground and it's still coming down. Went outside to measure how much we got. It was 4 inches! Poor Tiffy took one look outside and turned and came back inside the house. She did not want to go out but I knew she needed to go. I found her booties and got her jacket. Forced her outside and she finally walked out into the snow. Did what she needed to do and wanted back inside fast. It's 28 degrees here. brrrrrr

Earlier this month:

This morning:

I'm sure most of it will start melting off when it starts to warm up later today or tomorrow. At least we won't be able to work outside much until things dry out.

 

[scdak]

Good morning everyone! I hope everyone has a great Sunday - I think its Sunday, I never know what day of the week it is! Thanks goodness I have a calender on my computer that tells me what day it is when I turn it on, and the "dumb phone" I have also has the day and date on it when I open it or I would never know what day it is.

Seeing the snow pics made me happy I live in the south, although it can snow here, heck, Judy said it was snowing at her house recently! But snow in the south is a disaster waiting to happen, these folks can't deal with it at ALL! The world stops revolving and everything grinds to a halt for most people yet there are people that insist on going out in it for nonessential reasons and that's when the trouble really starts..........car wrecks galore, falls causing injuries, heart attacks from people shoveling snow..............it won't be there long and I am sure that the mail and newspaper can wait ! Some of the stories I hear in the ER about how they got hurt make me just scratch my head

 

[lovethattink]

ROFL, that picture is great!

Sounds like a fun time eliminating junk. Too funny about the spiders. Glad they didn't get him. Did you see any bats or remnants left? Has the bat situation gone away? I'd be more worried about finding them than the spiders!!

I think each one in my family can relate to Pete. We have too much junk. JJ has everything ever given to him from anybody. He is emotionally attatched to each and every piece. Yesterday dh started weeding through the junk and he threw away several trash can's worth of papers JJ was hoarding.

 

[Restrasz]

I LOVED that picture! How fun!

 

[KatMark]

I'm glad the older kids enjoyed their time at DQ (or as I like to refer to it...the place I told my kids closed after the first year because it wasn't successful ). Glad they will be able to go back with Lisa.

it is very easy to see that your kids "genuinely" like each other.

As for you, Pete and Tracy, there is always some wonderful "adult" beverages at Raglan Road.

 

[happybelle]

Judy, I can't even imagine how many miles you must drive in a week. I am sure that adds to the wear and tear of your vehicles and it is even more since Pete still doesn't have a car.

On the positive side, I love that picture, even the missing body parts. How fun. It is evident you all like each other, often a rarity in families today.

 

[bushdianee]

Love the picture! This has been one busy weekend. on Friday I picked up my 2 nieces and took them to Girl Scouts and then dinner. This is our usual Friday evening routine, just the 3 of us girls. Then since my 7 year old niece Shayla is leaving for 2 weeks on Tuesday to visit her mom's side of the family in Vietnam, she spent the night with me and helped me make pies for an early Thanksgiving celebration with our family and my sister in law's family. Then on Saturday I took my 3 year old niece Jenna to see Disney Live and then straight to the Thanksgiving celebration. Then today my sister and a few friends went to see Elf the Musical.
I was so proud of Jenna at the Disney Live show. It was the show about the 3 Princess stories so her 6 year old brother wasn't interested in going so I bought him the Turbo DVD he wanted. Jenna was really good and hadn't asked for a single thing during the entire show so I told her I would get her one of the toys (even though they are SO overpriced). She then asked if we get something for her brother since he didn't go with us. She then picked out his before she picked out her own. I also let her get her picture taken with the cardboard cutout(I wish they a real person but then the pictures would be even more expensive!) of Cinderella since she had on her Belle dress. I was glad that I had done that because when we got to the the Thanksgiving dinner she took the picture and showed it around to almost everyone, she was so proud of it. Those shows are so expensive but watching her face was worth it. Would you believe that they charge $12 for a bag of popcorn that comes with a little Mickey tote bag!
There ended up being round 100 people at the Thanksgiving dinner and 6 tables of food. This was for my brother who died last month. We had to rent a hall! We thought getting both families together would be good for my sister in law as she is naturally having a rough time yet.

 

[GrammyJudy]

I have been off the dis this week. I lost a dear friend to colon cancer lay night. She was diagnosed in Oct. Hand it was an unbelievable aggressive cancer. I am still in hock. We leave for Disney this Thursday and I have a lot to do for that. I hope to catch up before I go but regards to you and your family.

 

[ladylyons]

That did turn out the be a great picture!! Fun!!

I could imagine you guys laughing and having a good time going through stuff. Wish I could have that happy upbeat attitude when I'm going through stuff.

 

[blessedmom4]

I have a raging headache after a really busy day, I will have to do responses later, but I have to say GAIL the children LOVED your snow pics! Stay safe and warm! Judy so sorry about your friend.

Praying for all of you my dear friends and Thank you for being one of my blessings, Glad you were entertained by the photo!

 

[DisNorth]

I like your idea of shopping or getting beignets...of course if we do THAT, I will not be able to tell Rachel! She is obsessed with al things New Orleans, etc and I KNOW she wants to see Port Orleans..oh Tracy, I think we will have to do that with the children.

That does sound like a good idea

We had a wonderful family night last night. As many of you know, the girls are in the School of Theater Training at our local Children's theater. We were gifted 6 tickets to the opening night of Miracle on 34th Street and it was FABULOUS! Even David who doesn't care for the theater, enjoyed it. He almost didn't join us, but because everybody else was going he didn't want to miss out on Family time. I am glad he didn't as well.

Pete has my van at the shop, praying it will not be too expensive. We have much to do today. Before I take off in many different directions I wanted to take a moment to reflect on my blessings, which include those of you here on the DIS who are TRUE friends, through thick and thin. I try to count my many blessings daily, not just during the month of Thanksgiving, and I hope you do as well. Life is fraught with many challenges, but with folks to commiserate with, to ask for prayers and to share our blessings...it makes the journey so much easier.

Why not log in, say hi and let us know you are part of the thread. It can be a simple...I am new here, a wave, whatever...shouldn't take you more than 2 minutes...there are LOTS of you reading and lurking according to my PM box, please don't be shy to join in. We don't bite...well, at least not TOO hard!

How nice that you got to have a family night out!

I do hope the lurkers say hi, it's nice to know who is reading and everyone is welcome here!

$1,800 to fix my van...AGAIN. That makes almost $4,000 this month alone on vehicles...Still counting my blessings!! Counting them even HARDER now!!!

Goodness, you've have not had a good time with vehicles lately.

Yes! I am taking a break from a paper right now and thinking about how I'd much rather be in Orlando. I am doing my best to not have to bring any homework with me to Disney but I may have to do some reading on the plane.

A girl after my own heart, I love love love cupcakes. I had a delicious red velvet one today. It is wonderful how far she has come from having so much trouble chewing to loving her turkey legs

Oh yes, Rachel would not be happy if you went without her! I would definitely recommend visiting. I stayed at Riverside a few years ago and will be back in a few days!!! It's beautiful, lots of nice mansion-type buildings. I visited French Quarter two summers ago when my sister had a dance rehearsal near there. That is a very fun resort, more Mardi Gras-themed and that is where you get the beignets! When I went one order came with three beignets so you can grab a couple orders to split! I know there is also a very fun performer named Bob Jackson who does FREE comedy/music shows at Riverside Thursday through Sunday nights. Not sure if we will see him because it is a quick trip but I just read a TR that talked about him and apparently he is fantastic!

I understand thinking that you rather be in Orlando
Hope you are able not to take any homework on your tip - you'll be too busy for homework
Thanks for the tips about port Orleans!

I wanted to share a photo from the theater night. They had a booth called Tapsnap, where you could take a photo pre-show. It was funny, because it was a green screen and anybody wearing green disappeared there. Rachel and Christian both had on their shirts that Chiara and Andrea made for Lisa's wish trip. Lisa had on her Hello Kitty shirt. ...I wish we had all worn green you will see why.

I must run right now, I will be back later. I hope you all have a truly marvelous Sunday!

Funny photo, that's cool but weird

We are back home in freezing Minnesota at 10°. It was a little warm and humid in Florida for us, but I wish I was back there right now. It was a little boring driving home and we hit snow and freezing rain in Iowa. There were cars in the ditch and an overturned semi. A little scary but we made it through it all.

I went to see the movie Catching Fire yesterday morning with the grandkids and the temp was 6° and it was windy. I was so freezing walking in. It was the first movie I've seen in a theater in years. It had the nicest recliners and luckily it was early or I could have fallen asleep.

Sorry to hear about more car repairs, ouch! I remember those days of only having one car or maybe two and one needed repairs. I didn't work then and remember walking a mile to the dentist with 3 kids, usually pulling a wagon. We had some good news on our health insurance going down almost $100 a month. My dh was a bus driver and we can still get insurance through them and it's a really good policy. We are always afraid when there's a new union contract that they will drop retirees so were thrilled to see it go down.

Glad you made it home safely!
Hope the move was good, that is one that I want to see.
Whoohoo that your insurance is going down!

Good morning everyone! I hope everyone has a great Sunday - I think its Sunday, I never know what day of the week it is! Thanks goodness I have a calender on my computer that tells me what day it is when I turn it on, and the "dumb phone" I have also has the day and date on it when I open it or I would never know what day it is.

Seeing the snow pics made me happy I live in the south, although it can snow here, heck, Judy said it was snowing at her house recently! But snow in the south is a disaster waiting to happen, these folks can't deal with it at ALL! The world stops revolving and everything grinds to a halt for most people yet there are people that insist on going out in it for nonessential reasons and that's when the trouble really starts..........car wrecks galore, falls causing injuries, heart attacks from people shoveling snow..............it won't be there long and I am sure that the mail and newspaper can wait ! Some of the stories I hear in the ER about how they got hurt make me just scratch my head

I hope you had a great sunday too - even if you didn't know it was sunday
Snow can cause problems when you aren't use to it! We have enough of the stuff here, though.

I have been off the dis this week. I lost a dear friend to colon cancer lay night. She was diagnosed in Oct. Hand it was an unbelievable aggressive cancer. I am still in hock. We leave for Disney this Thursday and I have a lot to do for that. I hope to catch up before I go but regards to you and your family.

I am sorry for your loss.

I have a raging headache after a really busy day, I will have to do responses later, but I have to say GAIL the children LOVED your snow pics! Stay safe and warm! Judy so sorry about your friend.

Praying for all of you my dear friends and Thank you for being one of my blessings, Glad you were entertained by the photo!

I am sorry you have a headache, Judy. Hope you get some rest and feel better



Gail, I lost your quote - but nice snow photos - stay warm

 

[p00h4me]

It stopped snowing before noon and it started to melt away on the concrete and driveway. No more snow or rain for the rest of the week. We live in the desert Southwest and when we moved here, we never knew it would snow here. Maybe a dusting but not inches at times. We might get snow a couple times during the winter.

Praying for a safe journey to all those traveling this week! Sorry for the loss of your friend GrammyJudy. Bushdianee, glad you had some fun with your nieces and nephew. What a nice Thanksgiving celebration in honor of your brother. Keeping your sister-in-law in prayer.

Judy, praying that your headache is gone this morning and that you are feeling better.

Please keep Billy in prayer this morning as he goes to in to have his right eye checked out that it has improved enough that there's nothing else that needs to be done for it. Thanks!

 

[mickeystoontown]

I didn't Dis at all this weekend....a bit of medical drama on Friday and then busy Christmas shopping and painting was thrown in. Judy, you raised those kids right, otherwise, they wouldn't have remembered to take food pictures.

UGH! I hated reading that you had even more auto repair issues. I haven't gotten used to having a second car note yet and every time I pay it, I

 

[happybelle]

Praying you are feeling much better today Judy.
Hi Tracy, I hope your week is off to a great start too.

 

[happybelle]

I found a few things to do in Orlando besides the Disney Parks and thought of you.

Christian might like this.

Do you like Barry Manilow?

I remember you said David collects coins.

 

[redomni]

Just wanted to say hi. My family is doing okay so far. my brother is going to cook thanksgiving dinner for the first time ever so we will spend thanksgiving at my dad's house with him and my step-mom, stepsister, and niece. Unfortunately my dad will probably still be in the hospital. I probably won't make it back before than so I hope that everyone has a great thanksgiving week.

Marilyn

 

[kayrosek]

Just dropping in to say hi. Hope your headache went away. When you get a chance I sent you a pm. Nothing real important just random musings and question.