Amber, that sounds much more reasonable than many of the "actual diets" I see or hear about. My mom does this crazy thing where she will go on Atkins gung-ho for a couple weeks before a vacation, so she can eat whatever she wants on vacation. I don't think it does her any favors, she looks fine but it affects her moods something awful -- and she doesn't need much help with the crazy mood swings!
I'm up super late because Lyzzie was out all day at Worlds of Fun with her friend & friend's family. They said they would be staying until closing but I didn't realize the park was open until midnight!
And then of course she was very chatty when she finally came home -- super smelly with wild hair, a bag full of crap from the arcade that I don't usually let her get, and all her clothes were wet. She must have had a fantastic time.
I'm still waiting for mail from unemployment with my determination! I'm going on 7 weeks now with no payments
and it's killing me. I apparently should be getting some child support soon for Emma too, but haven't seen anything official about that either.
(and a big ol'
NOT a thumb!)
Eh, I typed out a long story here but it's boring so here's the short(er) version: Lyzzie forgot to water the hermit crabs, despite my constant "helpful reminders." Emma's dead crab was discovered late tonight. It is Lyzzie's fault, but she feels only "sorta bad." She has to tell Emma tomorrow but doesn't have to tell her what happened. Emma may choose to buy a new crab which Lyzzie has to pay for, and in which case the crabs will move to Emma's room. Emma will be heartbroken. Lyzzie is sad that Emma will be sad, and feels horrible, but I'm pretty sure still doesn't "get it." I had to throw away the dead crab and am completely skeeved out.
In happier news -- my folks were over this morning and we all sat the girls down and told them about our upcoming trip! Lyzzie is excited and Emma is over the moon and wants to leave NOW!
They are already talking about ADR's and swimming and shopping... and my parents are definitely on the same page with me about splitting up for at least a while every day. I don't want them to think we are ungrateful because they really are being very generous, but we all know how things go when we all travel together and we want it to be a NICE vacation, with no do-overs.
So far, so good. Now if I could only get my dad to quit telling me about his coworker who insists that he has NEVER stayed at the hotel he's paid for but ALWAYS gets upgrades to deluxes or moderates, and all he does is call every few days and "schmooze for 10 minutes then ask for an upgrade code." Dad keeps pressing the issue, I said "Huh, interesting" and he got p.o.'ed that it sounded like a "heck no I'm not doing that" (which it was). Of course he won't do it either. He also insists that there is a buy 5/get 3 offer you can combine with
free dining, but can't remember where he saw it but I need to magically switch us to that "coupon." If there is a next time, I think Dad can do all the planning and I can do all the b!t**ing for a change of pace.
Ashley: Good luck finding a Yankee Candle! I used to love them, but with the cats (especially goofball clutzy Jonas) I am afraid to have anything on fire in the house.
Maybe I'll have to go sniff some Vanilla Lime next time I'm at the mall, it sounds divine. ahhhhhh!
Lyzzie is very happy about her new glasses, she likes her old ones but was hoping to get some new frames and just happened to love the loner frames, they were exactly what she had in mind. In fact, all the other ones she was trying on, she was comparing to the loaners so it worked out great. They will be ready next week with her new lenses in so I will take pics then. She still gets to keep her old ones too (in new replacement frames, yay for warranty!) as backup, and the Rx isn't too far off so she can even switcheroo if she feels like it.
Morning will be here before I know it, better try to sleep and quit yakking all your ... erm... eyes? ... off.
hoot
PS - do any of you who have used the online ADR site know if you can split your group? Like if Mom & Dad want to have dinner one place while the girls and I go elsewhere? Also if anyone has TGM for our dates (9/05 - 9/13) I'd love to see the recommendations from there.
Just give different phone #'s for the reservation if the ADRs are for around the same time so there isn't any confusion. 
I made ambrosia salad for lunch, it was in a Paula Deen kids' cookbook that Emma got for Christmas, and nobody liked it -- but Lyzzie's crab ate it! It was pretty neat to watch it eat, we never saw the old ones eat anything but this one gobbled up the pineapple like it was going out of style. Of course it also tried to eat its yarn leash so I don't feel so great about my cooking. 
I can't imagine how you must feel. What a horrible thing for a person to do (not letting you say Goodbye). That's all I'm going to say about your Mom because I am trying to be polite. 
