Quarantine and chill and kindness chatty clubhouse: Jump in and join the conversation! All is welcome!

[Judique]

Good morning everyone! Hope all in Florida - @Bianca and Bernard are the ones I know for sure - have a safe day and stay dry.

Tomorrow, Friday, was my original departure day. However when the drive down started to look wet and windy, my good friend and I talked and decided that Saturday would be a more pleasant day to start our trip. I went every which way in between, trying to make a decision.

Thought about driving to south of Richmond or to Roanoke Rapids or even to Fayetteville, which is about 5-6 hours away. But in the end it seemed best to forego all rain. I dislike driving in rain intensely and having to deal with windshield wipers back and forth in front of me all day. I do have to get new ones as these are now squeaking. Friday has rain all day along the 95 corridor, looking at the hourly forecasts. Yuch.

Saturday we will drive almost 500 miles and then finish the drive Sunday morning.

I still haven't canceled my first night at Boardwalk Villas, but I can do that online. I also need to do online check in and tell them what time I intend on arriving.

Sunday was supposed to be our first park day but that will now change. Haven't looked at that yet. No dinner reservations to worry about. There's nothing they have that makes me want to plan ahead and go anymore. I dislike being locked in to restaurants and expect we will eat at a lot of Food and Wine booths.

Well, actually I do have a couple of ideas. I want to try the thanksgiving sandwich at Earl of Sandwich for a lunch. I'll probably drop in to Terralina in Disney Springs as I get a free dessert there, but that's a maybe. I do eat there most trips as it was usually a quiet place to go. And there are a couple of spots in Celebration that I enjoy.

I was also able to get my on the road hotel changed to Saturday night. Thankful for this as I only want certain hotels.
The essential is a dry road and day time sunlight. Don't want to drive in the dark either. I can see just fine, but I take safety seriously whether driving or stopping at rest areas. As I've gotten older my habits have evolved and I have a pattern. I stop and walk a bit every couple of hours, go to the restroom anyway, stretch and take a tiny break.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Sounds like a good plan, @Judique !

On Tuesday, we fly to Knoxville for three nights at Dollywood. We’ll be with friends for two nights. We’ve celebrated Christmastime at Dollywood a bit every year since 1998, except last year when Tom had a lung node removed.
2018, a rainy evening! I love the lights!

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

Good morning everyone! Hope all in Florida - @Bianca and Bernard are the ones I know for sure - have a safe day and stay dry.

Tomorrow, Friday, was my original departure day. However when the drive down started to look wet and windy, my good friend and I talked and decided that Saturday would be a more pleasant day to start our trip. I went every which way in between, trying to make a decision.

Thought about driving to south of Richmond or to Roanoke Rapids or even to Fayetteville, which is about 5-6 hours away. But in the end it seemed best to forego all rain. I dislike driving in rain intensely and having to deal with windshield wipers back and forth in front of me all day. I do have to get new ones as these are now squeaking. Friday has rain all day along the 95 corridor, looking at the hourly forecasts. Yuch.

Good plan. It's pretty ugly out. Ian was worse, at least here, but it's still no joke out there.
St Augustine is flooding.; if you've been to the Castillo de San Marco, the water is coming up over the walls around the walkway outside. Bridge of Lions closed because the water is coming up to the bottom of it.
The A1A is closed around Flagler county on up.; parts have washed out.
I'm not in danger of flooding, unless the retention pond behind my house gets 4+ feet, but the storm drains out front are struggling to keep up, and I have about half an inch of water in the bottom of the driveway. Very windy here, outside of Jax. I'm not sure if they have closed the bridges; they only do so with sustained 40mph winds, (gusts don't count).; DH is working from home today.

Saturday we will drive almost 500 miles and then finish the drive Sunday morning.

I still haven't canceled my first night at Boardwalk Villas, but I can do that online. I also need to do online check in and tell them what time I intend on arriving.

Sunday was supposed to be our first park day but that will now change. Haven't looked at that yet. No dinner reservations to worry about. There's nothing they have that makes me want to plan ahead and go anymore. I dislike being locked in to restaurants and expect we will eat at a lot of Food and Wine booths.

Well, actually I do have a couple of ideas. I want to try the thanksgiving sandwich at Earl of Sandwich for a lunch. I'll probably drop in to Terralina in Disney Springs as I get a free dessert there, but that's a maybe. I do eat there most trips as it was usually a quiet place to go. And there are a couple of spots in Celebration that I enjoy.
The Tday sandwich at Earls is amazing. It's my go-to sandwich.
I was also able to get my on the road hotel changed to Saturday night. Thankful for this as I only want certain hotels.
The essential is a dry road and day time sunlight. Don't want to drive in the dark either. I can see just fine, but I take safety seriously whether driving or stopping at rest areas. As I've gotten older my habits have evolved and I have a pattern. I stop and walk a bit every couple of hours, go to the restroom anyway, stretch and take a tiny break.
Same here; we stop every 90 minutes-2 hours. Truck stops or rest areas are our preferred stopping points, but will stop at a fast food restaurant or a gas station in a pinch. I avoid driving in the dark as much as possible. I have astigmatisms (sp?) and the halo effect makes it hard to see; add in bad depth perception and it's not a good driving situation.

As I said above, it is really really windy and rainy today. Yesterday, I kept the windows open all day, until the rain started spitting; it was so windy. Felt amazing. The cats really went nuts playing yesterday evening; they usually do when the windows have been open. I'd like to get them a tower in a cage of some sort, outside, that they can get to through a doggie door/window.

Got a message my Hello Fresh box may be delayed; I'm ok with that, as long as they haven't packed and shipped it yet. If they did ship and it's sitting at UPS, I'm going to have to get a refund and go buy food for the 5 meals I will be losing. Those packs keep the food mostly cold, for about 8 hours (for the bags on top) and the meats cold for about 12; at least here in FL. I won't accept it if it's been packed and waiting for 24 hours. I have an order from Walmart coming today too, via FedEX, but it's just coffee; NBD if it is delayed. I have enough for 4 or 5 more pots.

DH is going in tomorrow to Mayo to meet with endo team (annual Diabetes check) and is getting his flu shot and the new Covid booster (this will be his 5th Covid shot since they started doing vaccines). His doctor said to get the Shingrix one (sp? the nonactivated shingles) after we return from our trip in January, in case he has a reaction. Once he gets his shingles shot, I can go get mine. (I need to do the new Covid booster too, but I wait for him to get his, for his safety.) Then the only shots we aren't current on are the pneumonia ones (he has had it in the past, but the doc said to not get it right now while he is getting covid shots, in case he has an issue) and the MMR (which is a 'live' vaccine, and he can't get it).

Well, I think we'll have leftover pasta fagioli for dinner, if the HF box can't get here; if it does, we'll have the soup for lunch and freeze the rest for later in the month. I do the pasta separately, so it doesn't get mushy.

Y'all have a good day!

 

[footballmouse]

Happy Thursday morning!

Just saw the weather forecast and today is the last of the 70's for us, I thought it was yesterday. Won't be able to take advantage of it. I work today in the office and then I picked up a shift for tonight at my other job so when I get home today I'm going to try to get a couple of hours of sleep before I go to the next one. Luckily yesterday I picked up a couple of new chew toys for the dogs. I'll give them their new toys when I leave tonight.

Yesterday Evan called and said I was allowed back in the NICU to see the baby . I told my boss that I'm taking a 1/2 day and headed over. She is so tiny. I just kept sitting there trying to imagine my kids being 3x's her size. They took her off the c-pap last night so she just has her IV in for her medicine and a feeding tube.

Stopped at Kohl's yesterday after I left the hospital and used by Kohl's cash on a new Mickey t-shirt. I was trying to find something that equaled the Kohl's cash so that I didn't have to pay extra and I can always use a new t-shirt.

Trying to stay awake this morning. I don't know what is going on that I'm so tired lately . I watched Survivor and The Amazing Race last night and stopped at Chicken Salad Chick for my free birthday sandwich. I also got a scoop of another kind of chicken salad as my side and that is my lunch for today.

Judique - sounds like you have your backup plans all laid out for your trip. Good planning!

DisneyMommy - glad your family is safe in a resort. I just read this morning that they closed the parks a little early last night and are delaying the parks opening today, makes complete sense.

That's it for me. Have a great day!

 

[Judique]

As I said above, it is really really windy and rainy today. Yesterday, I kept the windows open all day, until the rain started spitting; it was so windy. Felt amazing. The cats really went nuts playing yesterday evening; they usually do when the windows have been open. I'd like to get them a tower in a cage of some sort, outside, that they can get to through a doggie door/window.

Got a message my Hello Fresh box may be delayed; I'm ok with that, as long as they haven't packed and shipped it yet. If they did ship and it's sitting at UPS, I'm going to have to get a refund and go buy food for the 5 meals I will be losing. Those packs keep the food mostly cold, for about 8 hours (for the bags on top) and the meats cold for about 12; at least here in FL. I won't accept it if it's been packed and waiting for 24 hours. I have an order from Walmart coming today too, via FedEX, but it's just coffee; NBD if it is delayed. I have enough for 4 or 5 more pots.

DH is going in tomorrow to Mayo to meet with endo team (annual Diabetes check) and is getting his flu shot and the new Covid booster (this will be his 5th Covid shot since they started doing vaccines). His doctor said to get the Shingrix one (sp? the nonactivated shingles) after we return from our trip in January, in case he has a reaction. Once he gets his shingles shot, I can go get mine. (I need to do the new Covid booster too, but I wait for him to get his, for his safety.) Then the only shots we aren't current on are the pneumonia ones (he has had it in the past, but the doc said to not get it right now while he is getting covid shots, in case he has an issue) and the MMR (which is a 'live' vaccine, and he can't get it).

Well, I think we'll have leftover pasta fagioli for dinner, if the HF box can't get here; if it does, we'll have the soup for lunch and freeze the rest for later in the month. I do the pasta separately, so it doesn't get mushy.

Y'all have a good day!

I'm probably going to sign up for another Hello Fresh in my name after DD's promo is over. We've been getting 3 meals at a time which is right for us as it leaves a little freedom to do what we want. I'm impressed that HF is actually less expensive than my normal shopping and keeps me out of the stores a bit.

Last night we had Italian Chicken & Pepper sandwich with chipped potato wedges and tangy garlic sauce. It was very good but in one sense not a great choice as we do something similar with steak sandwiches and oven fried chipped potatoes. I would avoid that in future only because we do it just as well ourselves. I like trying things that are different than what normally gets prepared. However I LOVE that DD is doing most of the cooking and seems to enjoy doing it.

 

[lynxstch]

Good frosty morning. 32 here now, but sunny and heading for upper 60's.

So happy for all of you that are planning trips,getaways, etc @Judique glad you are able to change your plans to avoid the rain. Our niece, nephew, and 2 daughters are at WDW now,,and said almost everything was too rainy to do yesterday. They said a lot of rides were shut down, and Downtown Disney was too crowded to even try getting to.

@footballmouse --How wonderful that you were able to get in and see Mia. Sounds like she is making great progress!

@flyingdumbo127 -good luck at your Dentist appt today

Boys texted last night that they finally made it home around 9 pm. Got stuck behind an accident before they had to go over the Bay Bridge, and and they had to sit there and wait for quite awhile.

Will be off to do errands and grocery shopping soon

Have a nice day all

 

[PollyannaMom]

On Tuesday, we fly to Knoxville for three nights at Dollywood.

Dollywood is definitely on our "trips to plan" list!

I'd like to get them a tower in a cage of some sort, outside, that they can get to through a doggie door/window.

I would love to do that for mine, too!

...and stopped at Chicken Salad Chick for my free birthday sandwich

and how wonderful that you got to see Mia!!!

 

[Maple Moose]

Hello all!

@frog3101 Sounds like a tricky situation. If there are kids involved then I'd want/need to know what could be affecting them, but to a point rather than every detail. Assuming the kids are safe and not endangered, I'd focus on what I could control and filter out the noise of someone else's behavior since that is out of my control. Having said that, I want to recognize what a tough spot you are in.

Happy birthday @footballmouse ! SO happy to hear about Mia! She sounds like a strong one.

I've never tried HF or similar meal delivery services, but we do get our weekly groceries delivered. I strongly dislike grocery shopping so this has been working well for us. I like reading about the meals you all get/make -- it's great inspiration for my own dinners!

@DisneyMommyMichelle Glad you all were able to get to a hotel to ride out the storm. I'd also enjoy seeing your decorations when you get settled back to the Fort.

@Judique Wishing you and your friend safe travels! My daughter and I like the Thanksgiving sandwich at Earl of Sandwich. Yum!

Enjoy your trip @bobbiwoz ! Thank you for sharing the photo, so festive!

 

[Judique]

Yesterday Evan called and said I was allowed back in the NICU to see the baby . I told my boss that I'm taking a 1/2 day and headed over. She is so tiny. I just kept sitting there trying to imagine my kids being 3x's her size. They took her off the c-pap last night so she just has her IV in for her medicine and a feeding tube.

Amazing how resilient a little baby can be! Can't wait until you are sharing pics!

Boys texted last night that they finally made it home around 9 pm. Got stuck behind an accident before they had to go over the Bay Bridge, and and they had to sit there and wait for quite awhile.

As it gets closer to Saturday I'm getting a bit excited!

So happy for all of you that are planning trips,getaways, etc @Judique glad you are able to change your plans to avoid the rain. Our niece, nephew, and 2 daughters are at WDW now,,and said almost everything was too rainy to do yesterday. They said a lot of rides were shut down, and Downtown Disney was too crowded to even try getting to.

If it is warm, I don't mind rain in the parks or, let's say I used to not mind it. I've not had a rainy park day in many years.

Sunday is supposed to be my Animal Kingdom day. Now it's also arrival day. I guess I'll switch to Monday or Wednesday. Friend has a 3 day ticket and I've got lots of tickets. Normally I'd have a park plan for everyday whether I would go to a park or not.

I would have avoided the Disney Springs crowds also. We are going at least once on our trip and probably over to the outlets also.

Dollywood is definitely on our "trips to plan" list!

I would love to try Dollywood some time. Other neighbor friend planned a trip there and canceled out. She has a timeshare near there somewhere.

@Judique Wishing you and your friend safe travels! My daughter and I like the Thanksgiving sandwich at Earl of Sandwich. Yum!

Good to get a good review on the sandwich! I didn't want to talk it up to friend, but now I'll tell her people like it. Anything with gravy, cranberries and stuffing is up my alley!

 

[Judique]

Doing lots of laundry today. I'll have to take a mixed season wardrobe so have decided to hang things in my car. I'm cleaning clean stuff to get them fresh and wrinkle free. Have decided on a basic color scheme of a lot of black tops (the thin ones that I wear under shirts and sweaters), jeans and a couple of past the knee pants from summer. Layers. It will feel cold on the return trip. I also have cotton tees for in the parks. Shoes in park for me are Crocs flip flops. That's what I almost always wear.

Bought some new puma tennis shoes and wore them one day. Not enough support for me for the parks - too squishy but fine for driving and walking into rest areas.

 

[lynxstch]

@footballmouse

 

[Judique]

I'm debating on suitcase size. I have the small bag that can hold toiletries, underwear, pj's, computer, etc that has wheels. Also have a matching medium bag that would hold all my clothing. I like the idea of traveling light and living out of the car. I guess I'll pull out everything and see what it amounts to.

Older DD brings a ginormous suitcase that always drives me nuts! The girls also have their carry ons that they wheel along. So much stuff.

 

[Judique]

Happy Birthday @footballmouse - I've kept forgetting to say it!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Judique, you would probably not enjoy traveling with me then! I have a huge suitcase and then I have to use some of DH’s for my shoes! He is a whiz with all the electronic stuff, he has a whole bag just for chargers and the like. It’s a miracle we can stuff everything into the car! Enjoy your trip, and stay safe. You too Bobbiwoz! PS We have a place we regularly get turkey sandwiches from w mayo, stuffing and cranberry sauce and they are so good! I brought my hairdresser one last month after missing a few appts due to being sick, and she loved it.

Disney Mommy Michelle, I hope your stay at ASMu was nice (the first place we stayed at Disney. I wanted to get back there for a visit for our 20 yr “anniversary” for old time’s sake; thought the kids would get a kick out of it since they were only 3yrs old when we stayed there and only remember bits and pieces, mostly from pics. Such a magical trip for us!) Hope you’re settled back in at the Fort (also a love!). Say hi to the horsies for me!

So glad to hear about happy trips and healthy babies and the like. Hope those in FL do ok in the storm. Always praying for those going through rough times. Thinking of Kirby’s family, dazed, Snowysmom and frog.

I think on the “Do you look for information on them” question, my feeling is, once someone screws me, I really don’t give two craps about what they’re doing, and that is what I am going to project to them. Moving on is a show of strength, I think. (Even if you don’t really feel that way.) Someone I knew had a good saying for that: “I wouldn’t give them the steam off my ”. That about sums it up for me, lol.

Man, I had a headache yesterday, it was awful. In the same area as my Covid headaches were last month, almost exactly the same. Was wondering if it was a migraine, which I’ve never had before. Took me a long time and a lot of medication to get rid of it. Still there, but not as bad. (Hoping the nerves there weren’t affected. )

I never made it grocery shopping so I managed to throw some things together for dinner last night while everyone was off doing things. I literally emptied out the vegetable bin in the fridge and made a sauce with olive oil, chopped red onion, fresh garlic, eta a couple of packages of grape tomatoes that I smushed with the potato masher, mushrooms, red pepper flakes, spinach and parmesan cheese, and it turned out pretty good. DS said it was one of my best ever, lol. (He must’ve just been hungry!) There was a little left I may just have it for lunch.



Thank heavens for spaghetti, right?

Well I hope everyone has a nice Thursday!

(Oops, edited because I forgot to say I used grape tomatoes in the sauce, too. Duh!)

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

I'm debating on suitcase size. I have the small bag that can hold toiletries, underwear, pj's, computer, etc that has wheels. Also have a matching medium bag that would hold all my clothing. I like the idea of traveling light and living out of the car. I guess I'll pull out everything and see what it amounts to.

Older DD brings a ginormous suitcase that always drives me nuts! The girls also have their carry ons that they wheel along. So much stuff.

I like to use wheeled bags if at all possible. I'm tired of carrying stuff, lol. I take a lot, but we drive, so I can just leave it in the car if I don't want to haul it out...but I'd rather have the extra couple pairs of shoes to change into after a wet day!

Happy birthday @footballmouse !!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Going through my pictures I realized I’d taken some pics to show you guys last month and I forgot to post them. Just to show how many leaves in our yard. Pretty, but also a pain to clean up - took a whole day last weekend. I think the limit they will take away, too, is just eight paper bags. We have a mulcher on our mower, thankfully, and DH puts some out for ground cover for the winter, too. Our neighbor keeps his lawn spotless so we always feel bad if our leaves blow over there and try to get them cleaned up as best we can, but it’s a huge job, and even when you do, more leaves blow over to our side from across the street so it’s endless. At least we try.







If you don’t get them off the cars and out of the hood/wiper area, it causes leaks inside the car during the winter! Found that out the hard way with my mother’s car. Took two new windshields to figure it out, too!

Just thought it might be interesting for those of you who don’t have this type of thing. (Though I’m sure you have your own seasonal headaches, and would enjoy hearing about those, too!)

Forgot to say, Happy Birthday @footballmouse!

 

[bobbiwoz]

Happy Birthday @footballmouse

 

[footballmouse]

Thank you for the birthday wishes.

This is the best picture I was able to get of Mia yesterday.

 

[Judique]

There's work I just don't want to do today!

Judique, you would probably not enjoy traveling with me then! I have a huge suitcase and then I have to use some of DH’s for my shoes! He is a whiz with all the electronic stuff, he has a whole bag just for chargers and the like. It’s a miracle we can stuff everything into the car! Enjoy your trip, and stay safe. You too Bobbiwoz! PS We have a place we regularly get turkey sandwiches from w mayo, stuffing and cranberry sauce and they are so good! I brought my hairdresser one last month after missing a few appts due to being sick, and she loved it.

My son used to get the turkey sandwiches at Wawa! (gas station/convenience store). They were inexpensive and he was working at Target then, before he finished school.

like to use wheeled bags if at all possible. I'm tired of carrying stuff, lol. I take a lot, but we drive, so I can just leave it in the car if I don't want to haul it out...but I'd rather have the extra couple pairs of shoes to change into after a wet day!

I throw every shoe I want in the back of the car. They fit in the little spaces. Sometimes they are under seats. Have to have wheels on luggage.

I can also take most stuff since I'm driving but our trip is fairly short this time - just 8 nights away. Sometimes I'm gone for 2 weeks.

I just counted my Disney gift card money and I'm good to go!

 

[PollyannaMom]

Thank you for the birthday wishes.

This is the best picture I was able to get of Mia yesterday.


View attachment 717842

Oh, she's just precious!!