UPDATE 7/16 TR Link Posted! The "I-Must-Be-Crazy" PTR - July 2012

[Simba22]

Where did you get the app?

It's on my iphone...I went through the app store and just typed in Disney Countdown. It's just called WDW Countdown

 

[KatMark]

It's on my iphone...I went through the app store and just typed in Disney Countdown. It's just called WDW Countdown

Thank you. I see 4 on my phone:

Days to go WDW

Disney World Countdown

Disney World Vacation Countdown

and

WDW Countdown

 

[Simba22]

Thank you. I see 4 on my phone:

Days to go WDW

Disney World Countdown

Disney World Vacation Countdown

and

WDW Countdown

It's the last one! It should be a purple icon with the castle and a gold clock face

 

[Simba22]

As of yesterday.....

We can officially do the Double Digit Dance!

​

To commemorate this momentous occasion, I made a couple of purchases.

From the Disney Store:

And from Walmart (I thought I would use this in the scrapbook)

And, I lost a whole 1.2lbs last week!

In other news, Lumar loves his new job! It's another call center job, but there are only 9 people in his department as opposed to 500 like in our old call center job. His entire company comprises of about 25 people max. The smaller, more personable, environment is really making it enjoyable for him.

That's about all for now....Still waiting to hear back on my sister's results for the bar exam... Keep your fingers crossed for her!

 

[Nermel9]

Yay for double digits!!!

I got that Lion King shirt too! And the Ariel one...have you seen the Ariel one? I LOVE it!

Congrats on your weight loss! I actually lost 1.5 pounds last week, woo hoo!

 

[Simba22]

Yay for double digits!!!

I got that Lion King shirt too! And the Ariel one...have you seen the Ariel one? I LOVE it!

Congrats on your weight loss! I actually lost 1.5 pounds last week, woo hoo!

I don't remember if I saw the Ariel one or not! I think I did but they didn't have it in my size (figures). I REALLY need to pay bills this week and then if I have any money left over, I'll see if I can buy some more online!

Congrats on your weight loss!

I have not exercised at all this week...I keep saying I'm going to and then I don't. And today and I did SO bad on my points! We went to Applebee's for lunch where I always get the chicken strips...I thought getting a burger would be better because it's not fried .... yeah....TWENTY SIX POINTS! I was so mad about that! Here I thought I was making a good decision!

Last time I did WW, I researched the menu for every place around that we go to eat and I saved all of the point values to my phone. Now that I have the WW app, you can save it directly to that, but I think I'm going to do that again. The WW app has a LOT of restaurants listed already, but hardly anything from around here and the ones that ARE listed don't give you a FULL menu! So at least I can know what the point values are before I order something. Another thing I started doing is printing out the nutritional values for the different restaurants that we go to and keeping them in the car. That way, if we go somewhere to eat and what I want isn't already loaded in the app, I can figure it out pretty quickly!

All together, since I started WW back in February, I've lost 3.2lbs. It's definitely less than I was hoping for but it's losing so I'm OK with it. If I maintain a loss of 3lbs per month, I should lose another 12lbs by our trip which won't get me to my first 5% goal, but it will help my pants fit a little better!

I'm so jealous you're going back next month!! I still have 97 days!!!

 

[Simba22]

Today was our 90 day mark! I can't believe how fast the days are going! Our trip will be here before I know it!

I did my weigh-in for Weight Watchers yesterday morning and not only did I lose 2.2lbs last week, but I have finally hit my 5lb goal! I've lost a total of 5.4lbs since February 20th...which is a slower pace than I wanted to be at, but I am happy that I'm LOSING and I'm happy to have met a goal! Overall, my first primary goal is to lose 5% of my starting weight and I have another 15.5lbs to go before I meet that... but I think over the next 90 days I can at least come pretty close to accomplishing that!

In other news, I made another ADR change on Sunday! It was a spur of the moment thing but I'm happier with it! We had originally planned to go to Captain's Grill on our DHS day for lunch. We thought it would be a nice way to break up the day since it will be July and it will be hot. Well, I was thinking about it and I realized that it made NO SENSE to LEAVE the park with 8 people in our group. That's just a waste of time and added walking...in the heat.... Soooo... I changed us to lunch at Mama Melrose's instead! Lumar and I love it there and we know everyone else will enjoy it, too! Plus, we won't have to leave DHS to get there!

I know there was something else I wanted to share but I forgot what it is now....

 

[Simba22]

We're down to 72 days to go and as you can probably tell, there hasn't been anything really going on around here lately! So obviously I have nothing trip related to report however.....

MY SISTER PASSED THE BAR EXAM!!!!!!​

Now we can all officially relax, start our pre-trip shopping, and wait for our DME packets to arrive!!!

 

[Simba22]

So, I don't know if anyone is actually still reading along with this PTR but I had such a bad day yesterday, I needed to vent!

Lumar and I only have one car that we share. I'm not working so it's not too bad for the time being. But it's been needing some work so I made an appointment to bring it in on Thursday.

Thursday morning, I dropped the car off at the shop and they gave me a free rental car to use. They called me Thursday night and said the car needed more work than anticipated so they were checking everything over and writing up an estimate, to keep the rental overnight and they would call me Friday.

Friday afternoon, they called me with a "partial" estimate...$1274 and they still had to check on two other possible issues. They told me to keep the rental another day and they'd call me Saturday.

Saturday came and went and I never heard from anyone.

Now, our apartment complex requires residents to have a parking sticker in their car in order to park in the "resident" lot. If you don't have a sticker, you need to park in the visitor's lots. So Friday night, I had parked in the visitor's lot, because I honestly wasn't anticipating NOT getting our own car back right away so it never occurred to me to take my sticker out. By the time I heard from the shop on Friday, our leasing office was closed for the weekend so I couldn't get a temporary sticker.

By habit, I parked in my regular spot on Saturday night. At 1:15am on Sunday morning, we're awoken by loud noises outside....turns out, it was the sounds of our rental car being towed. Someone actually called in our car for being in the lot without a sticker! Of course, by the time I got downstairs, the truck was gone. And of course, they're not towing it somewhere LOCAL...oh no....they're towing it 23 miles away.

Come to find out, they charge an $88 flat fee for towing it, a $4 gas fee, and then $4.75 a mile. So $200 later...I get my FREE rental car back.

The whole experience was annoying and it was an expensive lesson to learn but it's over with now and I'm just hoping to get our own car back today!


70 days!

 

[DisneyFirefly]

I'm still around, I just don't comment as much anymore I'm glad your trip is getting so close, but omg what the heck is wrong with your car that it's costing so much to fix? Also, that's really awful about the rental being towed

But yay for your sister passing the bar!

 

[Nermel9]

I'm still here, don't worry!

Congrats to your sister! And yay for 70 days!

Ugh, that car nonsense sounds annoying...I can't believe you got your rental car towed! That is insane!

 

[Simba22]

I'm still around, I just don't comment as much anymore I'm glad your trip is getting so close, but omg what the heck is wrong with your car that it's costing so much to fix? Also, that's really awful about the rental being towed

But yay for your sister passing the bar!

I know how you're feeling! lol when I don't have a trip coming up, I avoid The DIS like the plague...it makes me feel horrible that I won't be going any time soon! Thanks for continuing to read along though! I really appreciate it!

Basically, we've had the car for 2 years and never did any kind of maintenance on it except for oil changes. We have 30-40 minute commutes each way to and from work so the car gets A LOT of wear and tear. We needed new brakes, new drums, rotor resurfacing, our turn signal switch shorted out and was causing smoke into the car through the steering column, we needed a new air filter, and some kind of work on our rear shocks but I don't remember exactly what. Between all of the parts and all of the labor...

I'm still here, don't worry!

Congrats to your sister! And yay for 70 days!

Ugh, that car nonsense sounds annoying...I can't believe you got your rental car towed! That is insane!

Thanks! So glad to know that I have still have readers! I was beginning to think that because the start of this PTR is so confusing with all the people, and then the lack of interesting updates, that everyone had jumped ship!

BTW - hope you're feeling better! I can't believe you're leaving for WDW again in a few days!!

The worst part about the car issues is that this has been going on for 3 weeks now! I brought it to one shop, that has been THE place we have gone to for YEARS. They had our car for EIGHT HOURS and all they did was an oil change!! I was SOOO mad when I went to pick it up. THEN my mom tells me that she stopped using that place like 2 years ago because she had like $700 worth of work done, drove all the way down to North Carolina, and her car broke down again...she brought it to a place down there and found out that all of the work the place here in Stratford had charged her for, was never actually done! I wished I had known before I wasted an entire day with them! So I decided to take it to a place here in Naugatuck (they actually did my emissions test and they were really nice), and that's who is working on it now. I brought them the paperwork from the other place and when they called me Thursday night (the day I dropped it off) they told me that the first place - oh heck it was Midas in Stratford! - had marked off a bunch of things that "needed work" that actually DIDN'T...but had NOT checked off a bunch of things that DID need work...like the rear shocks and the brake drums!

So the rental getting towed was just the icing on the cake. In reality, the $200 aside, it really wasn't THAT big of a deal...just a hassle for people who only have that ONE car to rely on... And between the $1600 for OUR car and the $200 for the rental....this is tapping into my Trip Fund!

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Ahhh how am I so far behind????

I'm so glad Lumar likes his new job!!! And congrats to your sister!!!

UGH I'm sorry to hear about your car frustration!!! That's so frustrating. I hope your car is fixed soon!!

 

[Simba22]

Ahhh how am I so far behind????

I'm so glad Lumar likes his new job!!! And congrats to your sister!!!

UGH I'm sorry to hear about your car frustration!!! That's so frustrating. I hope your car is fixed soon!!

I'm just glad you're still reading!

I'm glad he likes his job, too! It stinks because he doesn't get any paid time off until he's been there for 90 days...which will be June 26. My sister's Swearing-In Ceremony is May 21st in South Carolina...so we can't even go down there for it! We're going to try to go visit over Memorial Day weekend (since he's off on that Monday) but I don't know if I'll be able to find someone to watch my animal herd on such short notice.

I finally got my car back today! We drive a Saturn Vue and the rental car was a Ford Focus....We've had the rental for 5 days so when I got back into our car today I felt like I was driving a bus! It's so weird to switch from a small car to a big one!

 

[KatMark]

Ali, I'm back.

Your trip is getting closer.

Congrats to your sis on passing the bar.

And that is absolutely AWFUL about them towing your rental car. That is just ridiculous!

 

[Simba22]

Ali, I'm back.

Your trip is getting closer.

Congrats to your sis on passing the bar.

And that is absolutely AWFUL about them towing your rental car. That is just ridiculous!

Hi Kathy!

It IS closer! 67 days (not counting today!) Is it OK that I started packing already!?

My sister is so relieved! She said that when she read the news, she cried! I can't blame her...she really busted her butt studying for 10-12 hours a day for 2 months straight! Even on weekends! If any of us deserve this vacation, it's certainly her!

What REALLY stinks about the whole rental car situation...is that when I went and picked it up, they asked me if I wanted the added coverage on it for $20. Sure! Why not? Better to be safe than sorry, I always say. Well...when they called me this morning to close out the account, they told me that I wasn't getting my $100 deposit back because that added coverage is $20 PER DAY. I had the car for 5 days. I swear, it just NEVER fails!

However, on a positive note, my brother has FINALLY paid me the rest of the money he owed for his part of the trip, which was for his airfare and his park tickets. Of course, I had already purchased the airfare, just needed him to pay me back...but that was $300 so it's good to have THAT. And now I can finally go ahead and ORDER his park tickets!

Now if I could just save up some money so that we can actually afford to EAT on this trip...

 

[Simba22]

I definitely started packing on Saturday night....

63 days to go...




That is all.....

 

[KatMark]

I definitely started packing on Saturday night....

63 days to go...




That is all.....

I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Simba22]

I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lumar was out with his brother, so I was home alone and BORED! What better way to fill the time than by preparing for DISNEY!?!?

It's actually working out really well to be getting ready so early because now I know I still have 8 weeks to go out and buy some things that we'll need!

Hopefully this year, I'll remember to pack Lumar's socks....

 

[vyse22]

I just read your TR last night and hopped on over to your PTR. Loved your TR btw. I have been wanting my whole family to take a trip to WDW ever since I went the first time in 2006. Reading this PTR makes me wonder how difficult that would be.There are a lot of us and a lot of kids.

Yay for reaching double digits. I'm still 140 days out and can't wait. Never read the passporter before, always read the unofficial guide and loved it.

Anyway just wanted to say hi and not be a lurker. Can't wait to read more.