Updated Page 1...Madly Making Memories Multiply in Mediterranean Mickey Mode-Pre-trip

[Angelica]

"So today, when I realized only 1/2 his work had been completed but he had plenty of time to play Wii....I pulled all the games (16 of them) all the controllers, fit board, and took a picture and put my first item up for sale on ebay. Now, all is not lost, "


That's very tough with a Xmas holiday coming up without new presents and previous year's gifts sold with the proceeds shared at your sons expense. It
was such a never to be forgotten action. Anyway, maybe the grand parents may come across with a gift or two from Santa.

There was a great article about kid control recently in either Time or Newsweek.

 

[shushh]

"So today, when I realized only 1/2 his work had been completed but he had plenty of time to play Wii....I pulled all the games (16 of them) all the controllers, fit board, and took a picture and put my first item up for sale on ebay. Now, all is not lost, "


That's very tough with a Xmas holiday coming up without new presents and previous year's gifts sold with the proceeds shared at your sons expense. It
was such a never to be forgotten action. Anyway, maybe the grand parents may come across with a gift or two from Santa.

There was a great article about kid control recently in either Time or Newsweek.

Ouch...maybe that's just a little harsh? The wiii wasn't taken away without good reason, and there are bigger issues here than getting christmas presents. But not here to start a debate on child-rearing. Each to their own.

 

[lmhall2000]

That's very tough with a Xmas holiday coming up without new presents and previous year's gifts sold with the proceeds shared at your sons expense. It
was such a never to be forgotten action. Anyway, maybe the grand parents may come across with a gift or two from Santa.

There was a great article about kid control recently in either Time or Newsweek.

Angelica! Welcome to the Dis! When people put more value on a game system than on honesty, integrity and responsibility, which needs to go out the window? In our family we choose to put a very high value on those traits that will help them lead productive blessed lives than those that will cause them grief. We also know that the kids will be getting an Xbox 360 for Christmas (dh won it at a raffle) so this step with the Wii was to make a statement that we treasure character above things...and to enable our children to learn how to make those important choices in life is our greatest responsibility. Parenting can be tough, but it's tougher if we don't make those choices when it matters.

Mrs. T

 

[lmhall2000]

The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing.

I'll just call this the 'off' week...everything was off.

My nagging knee pain (3 weeks after twisting it in a hole grazing the horses) took me to the doctor...he says he believes it's a torn miniscus..had an MRI done yesterday...it is horrible to have to lay there knowing you can't move your leg and listening to sounds of the ocean/birds playing...everytime the MRI would knock louder the music would get louder... I'll know next week what the verdict is, but it put a damper on my exercise, which put a damper on my will to stay on diet, so hopefully I've maintained this week..I haven't overeaten but I haven't exercised either..

The folks buying our house made it tough for me this week...they wanted to move in next week before we close (4 weeks away)...our sale is contingent upon their sale..my mom, a former realtor, said absolutely NOT, my Dad said, they seem sound (amazing what you can find out about someone on the internet!)..it was back and forth on details for days...when it came down to it, they said they did not want to pay anything extra for moving in early, HUH? I guess they just wanted to raise the price of the house?? Remember, these guys are paying cash for our house...it really was just a ploy b/c we refuse to let them store their hardwood floors inside the house..we allowed them to store them in the garage..but they want them INSIDE to climatize...I had to call an attorney, talk back and forth to realtor, mom, dad, oh why can't I make a decision on my own at 42..and why can't everyone be in agreement on that said decision!

With the bum knee (which actually is feeling so much better, just feels like something is loose in there and scraping against my bone!) and all the stress from the house, the good notes are that a warm front is coming through ( no more breaking ice in the horses' trough), the house does look like it will close, the Wii is over $300 which gave me enough to run out and buy the kids some presents to wrap under the tree (I know, don't count the chickens before they're hatched, but it helped with the stress and I did save all that money rebooking the cruise, oh I can rationalize spending any day..) I just paid the last mortgage (impending closing) on our other house this week! I just made our annual Christmas card...usually it's elegant and inspiring...this year it's this...

It has been a CRAZY year! 'Ariel' was an Oompa Loompa for Halloween, so that's why she looks like that, I left off 2 cats, I still can't claim them although we feed them...and they left me a rat carcass outside my back door last week...it was HUGE!! YUCK!!! Barn rats are the only reason I tolerate cats here...

Waiting for that airfare to include my dates so I can officially book them and start all the rest of the planning..until then, life goes on and gets more crazy....Hope you all are having a joyous season of celebrating and being with family!

Mrs. T

 

[lmhall2000]

Gleefully greeting this gift horse!!

I'm not sure I'll believe it before I see it..but little blessings just keep popping up with this cruise!!

I got $25 per stateroom credit for booking online

$50 per stateroom for charging with Disney Visa

$250 per stateroom for moving my ressie to DU

then the cost per person went down to $999 with kids sailing free....

and now this gift horse has delivered a notice to us that EVERYONE in our traveling party receives $100 OBC..that's $700 more!!

I'm wondering if you can use OBC to upgrade the room!!! We really need a cat 4 so my parents won't have a child in their room (right now I think we assigned Goofy to their room... Goofy's great and all but a 14 year old teen will not make for a romantic 48th anniversary cruise!) At the rate they're marketing this cruise, maybe we'll get a letter that they've chartered a plane for all us stateside travelers!

Here's to Disney for making this very tough financial year a bit more tolerable!! WE LOVE DISNEY!!!!

Mrs. T

 

[shushh]

Isn't it fabulous news! I know someone on our sailing has received "the" letter. I am still awaiting ours...don't know know long the mail will take to reach downunder! Don't want to count my chickens before they hatch.

$700! Woohoo!!!

 

[lmhall2000]

Before I forget....


Something happened and my husband, son and youngest daughter were unable to get on the plane. My mother went to check on them and came back to the plane with my grandmother, her maltese named "Lucky", my father and two 20 somethings named Dan and Nil. I didn't ask any questions, just happy to get to Barcelona.

We arrived in Barcelona, check in was a breeze, arrived in plenty of time to board the ship. So we decided to tour Barcelona, it was beautiful! The architecture, the weather, everything was going smoothly. Then I see a set of 100 steps and am thankful I did all those workouts the months before. I make it up the steps and there is my husband, I ask no questions, we just start running through exploring Barcelona. Meanwhile, my mother decided it was best to get a hotel room for the day so my grandmother could rest and she could 'freshen up'...we make it back to the hotel room and there she has laid out a spread of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Everyone is eating casually and I question how can we not get empanadas or something local to Barcelona?? Then I realize it's 5:30 and last check in on the ship was 5:00..we RACE packing up all the luggage, I question whether I even packed our passports and fly to the check in.

There were still 5-6 families in line, recognized one of the Dis'ers and wanted to shout "HEY!" but then I realized I was still trying to check in my grandmother's "Lucky" and I better not bring attention to our group. I hand over 3 passports (husband's, mine, daughter's) and my mother looks at me and says, "We needed passports? You never said that"...my mind flashes back to the dozen or so conversations we had confirming my parents had their passports..so she throws me her driver's license and I humbly pass that to the check in guy..he shows no issues with it so I think we're okay, then the jet lag catches up with me and WHAM, my head hits the counter and I'm fast asleep. The check in crew takes pity on me and although I'm deep in sleep I can hear everything they're saying and am thankful that this narcolepsy might get us on board sans passports. (Not to mention the other three passengers gave NO ID) It works, they tell us our category 12 has been upgraded and we'll all be in one cabin (a category 11...7 people in a category 11...I just can't see how that will work?)...I ask no questions.

Then as we're lugging our luggage onto the ship, I can feel the ship disembarking...YEAH!! We're about to take our first cruise!! Then I hear a bark..what? Lucky! Lucky is on the edge of the pier barking madly, I know my grandmother will have a breakdown if we leave her precious pooch in Barcelona to fend for herself for 10 nights! I start yelling at the pier laborers in what Spanish I can muster, "Perro!! Perro!!" I point and wouldn't luck have it there are two perro's running together, one is a black and white border collie and the other is my grandmother's white maltese that suddenly has turned black and white...I then yell, "Perro, perro, negro y blanco!!" They grab the border collie and I say, "Nein, nein!!" (Rosetta German jumped in there).."Las Otros Uno!!" A kind little boy, grabbed "Lucky" and raced to the moving ship...Maybe just maybe he can toss Lucky up to us. I lean over the ship's deck and he tosses me up 2 cans of dog food, I'm thankful for his consideration but I scream, "Perro perro!!" Then he looks alerted and realizes his mistake and tosses Lucky up to me...she falls back into the Mediterranean Sea!! AAAAGH!! I see some fishermen's nets and my McGyver skills kick in...I start hoisting the nets up pulling fiercely..there coming out of the foam from the ship's waves is Lucky, looking like a sea rat. But I see the smile on my grandmother's (mamaw) face and I know all is good.

Let's just hope the cruise in May is much altered from the first cruise I had in my dreams...any dream interpreters out there? I'm sure if you put Lucky and Kentucky Fried chicken together, you'll come up with something profound. I will add that EVERYONE we met in Barcelona was extraordinarily friendly! And I later realized (in my dream) that Dan and Nil were cast members...don't know where my mom found them!

Tara

 

[lmhall2000]

Just added a great summary of transportation for DIY'ers in Rome from Civitaveccia! It's on the Rome Day at the start of my report. I owe special thanks to RoninRome for the information...thank you!!!

Mrs. T

 

[lmhall2000]

Toes in the Water, Toes in the Sand, Not a worry in the world a cold Mickey bar in hand...

I've been playing with some graphics to make my parents their very own travel guide..hope to get it finished today...lots to do! Here's two pages I've completed...just more fun to make this more fun! A huge thanks to Jordak for passing me the Mickey/Minnie graphic!!!

Life is good today!

One little "won't let it go" grumble...I am trying to hire a driver for 1/2 a day in Rome...these folks have a right to earn money but not TAKE it..I have written to two reputable services and explained that we are taking the train from the port to the Vatican ON OUR OWN...but we would like a driver to take us from the Vatican (around noonish) to the rest of Rome. I have read plenty of trip reports that this is exactly many tour guides 'route'...meaning they drive them to the Vatican spend 3 hours there then move on...my point is why would I pay a driver to sit there for 3 hours when I can just hop on a train that is less than a mile from the port and pay 28 euros (not 250..that's at least half of the whole day tour) to get our tails to the Vatican? I know the last leg of the trip (seeing the Coliseum, Pantheon, Trevi, etc. would be helpful to have a driver...esp. with my parents going along....they might like the convenience) but they are writing me back saying, "It wouldn't be worth it with so little time in the day, why don't you do a full day tour?" Granted, they're only asking, but why not price out what I asked?? I've asked 2x...do they think I'm a waffle brained bimbo who will just say, "Oh, of course, take my $500 to wait in a car while we walk around the Vatican for 3 hours"...okay, knock it down some, but ya get what I mean? There are plenty of travelers who wouldn't think twice and book it that way, so here I go again trying to explain for the 4th time to these companies that I just want half a day picking us up at Vatican....ugh. Let me see if I can find an ugh smilie... I guess this one is close.

Mrs. T

Tara

 

[lmhall2000]

W.I.S.H. on Disboards has me singing "I have confidence in Sunshine, I have confidence in Rain...besides what you see I have Confidence in ME!"

W.I.S.H. is a great segment of Disboards that offers encouragment and creative challenges to help Dis'ers stay healthy (We're Inspired to Stay Healthy = W.I.S.H.)...well today I found out about a Biggest Loser Challenge that will fall right between the dates before my cruise!! I know I could do okay getting this extra weight off on my own, but I can do GREAT with W.I.S.H. Something about those folks just keep me from unwrapping that leftover rolo in my stocking...I opted for a walnut instead!

So thanks W.I.S.H. and all those folks who are helping us all lead ahealthier lifestyle! I have walked 4 miles each day the past 3 days!! I went to my annual check up today and found that since Thanksgiving I have lost 12 pounds!! YAHOO!! Even with all the holiday feasting, I still managed okay, and I didn't walk for 3 of those weeks due to my knee injury...so I have HIGH hopes for the next 15 weeks.

I'm a math kind of person and figured if my body burns 2500 calories a day at this weight, and I'm burning 500 calories a day walking 4 miles on the treadmill (not counting the strength training/push ups/situps I do for 20 minutes on top of that) and if I eat less than 1500 calories a day (this is the big "IF" part...working on portions!), math goes to reason that I could lose a good chunk of weight...I won't give the number because you other mathites might be able to use a bit of algebra and calculate my current weight!

So with all this walking I should be able to master those trails on Cinque Terre and maybe not even hire a tour guide in Rome, we'll just book it by foot to all the hot spots...I do have to wear my knee brace while doing the 4 miles, afraid I may have to take it with me on the trip and how much extra it will add to my luggage allowance! EEK! I found out this week that Delta charges $175 EACH way for going 1 pound over limit or 1 inch over bag measurements of 62 linear inches...I need to go measure all our luggage and weigh each one, making sure it will be 5 pounds less than 50!!

On a "not letting it go" note..we went to our old house to remove the stuff we were too tired to pack up 2 years ago(china/all that junk stuffed above the fridge and oven cabinets...) what I thought would be one truck load was one stuffed truck load and one stuffed van load, it just kept multiplying!! But what I found was that the 'buyers' had started pulling up our carpets!!! I had given permission for them to paint, well, their 'painters' removed carpets from one room and half another...while I feel fairly confident they plan on closing, it's still contingent on the sale of their home and in today's economy, you can't be sure...so I was NOT happy to see them doing with OUR house what they wanted to..they apologized and said they would certainly make sure the carpet was put back if they couldn't close...but just another blip on this smooth transaction...will be rejoicing when 1/8/10 passes!!

Airfare is just about there, Delta announced Ny-Barcelona for flights departing prior to March 30-returning May 15....I just need that departure date to hit up to May 5 and I'll be set!!! It was posted at $219 each way!!

Tara

 

[shushh]

Well done on your great progress Tara! And best of luck with flight prices!

 

[lmhall2000]

TRIP Is paid in FULL!!!

I am so very excited to say that our cruise is now paid in full! It's just such a great feeling to know that all engines straight ahead!! The only lacking element is the airfare. Why oh why won't they just make life easier for me and ring my cell the instant it drops?? I hate to think of the hours I've spent shopping all the airlines for that never again rate that seems to happen only a few hours one specific day that I have to find! I feel pretty confident so far, the planes I want are still 75% empty so that's a plus. Or I guess it could mean they'd be cancelled, that would be a non-plus.

My Dad still has not sent off for his passport...this man is the type who will work till 6:00 on the day he was supposed to have taken off for a family vacation...trying to get him to do something non work-related is a challenge. I may just have to drive the 3.5 hours up there on a week day and kidnap his body to the post office....I think he's holding out for some major terrorist attack that will convince him he never need travel out of his county again. Funny how we get older we worry about those things and not the much higher risk of stepping into that car and hitting the American roads everyday.

Which reminds me, how many of you have a dh who does not tell you they got a ticket?? I priced out switching our auto insurance, neither of us have had a ticket in our 17 years of marriage...we've had great rates, until I find out he had a ticket last March for overtaking a vehicle (aka passing in a no-passing zone)....aaaagh!!! Safe driving is a stickler in my book and now I can claim I am the safest driver in this house....poor fella, I know he didn't want me to ever find out that little ticket..cause I will never let him forget it!! Remember, he's the one who reminds me that I can never let things go...that's a good thing and a bad thing....

The good this week is I have successfully walked 28 miles in a week!! YEAH!!! Only 17 more weeks of that and I will be FIT and ready to take on the MED!!! The knee brace on my bum knee has been a saving grace...my goal is to make walking 4 miles a daily routine and when I hit my goal weight I'll cut it back to 2 miles a day to maintain...it's very doable...I'm hungrier, but know my body is being more efficient and watching what I put in....nothing like a Mediterranean cruise to keep your eyes on the goal!!!

Off to do my walk and dream of ocean sounds!

Mrs. T

(Thanks Shussh! Your encouragment is GREAT!!)

 

[lmhall2000]

Anticipation!! Anticipay ay aytion!!


Snow!! Snow!!! Little white fluffy wonderfulness may RUIN my poor husband's week! It all started when I took the initiative to trade in our truck for a Prius..we potentially could save over 5-7k a YEAR on gas! the numbers prove that it's a responsible thing to do...but alas my Grumpy turned 43 today and called me and in his most pitifullest voice, "I really liked that truck"...my heart sank...but I had hope that with the house closing on Friday, he would be picked up with joy by the end of the week.

Well, now there is SNOW. Alabama and SNOW are like the 1960's and the Cuban Missile Crisis...Alabama gets in its highest state of readiness by closing ALL schools for TWO days before the first flake has even fallen!!! What?? So now that means folks will be convinced they can't make it to work tomorrow, all those closings that are scheduled for tomorrow will need to be pushed to our closing day of Friday and we may have to wait till next week!!!

Please, please let our closing not be pushed off...It's kind of like fourth quarter football with Auburn....if anyone watched their bowl game this year, they won 3x, but NO! They fouled 3x..so each 'win' was called back and ya just never knew if that overtime was going to result in a loss....just need something to work easy this go round....

Speaking of easy, airlines are not giving me many sales...turns out my flight I really want on the return is already over 50% booked and I need 7 seats! Am I worried, oh yeah, just a smidge...I'm still checking every night, but no seats from my city under $1000 a seat..choke, cough, sputter, splat!!

Here's to all that pixiedust that Disney manages to produce in multiples! Thinking positive that this 1 inch of predicted snow will not shut down our city...that we WILL close on Friday, that airfares will plummet this weekend and all those warm fuzzies will fill our home..the only fuzzy I've had all day is seeing that ecomode on the Prius and realizing we're not filling up the tank 8x a month!!

Off to the treadmill...working out some of this angst!


Update: Snow accumulation for our county is a whopping .13 inches...okay maybe .08 inches...what little snow actually accumulated on our pond is being blown away by the wind coming through...the biggest flake I saw was about the size of half a dime well okay a quarter of a dime...amazing..hopefully this means our closing will go through tomorrow!!



Mrs. T

 

[cj'smom]

Oh my goodness, AL sounds as bad as GA! My husband and I always laugh because everyone here buys tons of groceries and fills up their cars if there is even a mention of snow in the forecast. You'd think the forecast was for a huge blizzard but in reality we are supposed to get the great depth of ...1 inch! (Can ya tell I'm not from GA originally?) We have school tomorrow but I bet they will cancel school on Friday. We so rarely get snow that my kids will love the chance to play in it.

I hope your closing will be able to proceed as scheduled.

 

[lmhall2000]

Winter Weather Advisory!!!

CJ's Mom!! Watch out for a dangerous front moving in from your neighboring state of Alabama, this front is producing drifts as high as 2mm and has cost the state of Alabama more than 2 million in school and business closures, I believe we are now petitioning FEMA for relief..prepare yourself for the picture you are about to see!!

Mrs. T (trying to dig her dog hairs out from under this avalanche)

 

[cj'smom]

And breaking news from just outside ATL - A grand total of about 10 flakes have been spotted. (And, for this great blizzard they cancelled all after school activities.)

Wow, those are either really large snowflakes or you have a really hairy dog.

Edited to add:
Well, after hours of waiting we did get a light dusting of snow. Just enough to make everything look pretty but not enough to make a snowman. Of course, they cancelled school. My kids are all enjoying their tiny taste of winter wonderland.

 

[lmhall2000]

CJ's mom! So glad you got to see snow!! We are still having flurries but no accumulation..it is pretty but soooooo cooooold!!

Money, Money, Money, Mo-ney....

Why is it that it is so easy to be ruled by money? You would think that the last 31 months of paying two mortgages would help ease that condition...we should all view money just as we do a pile of rocks in the yard..it's all about the value it holds I guess.

We CLOSED on the house!! We for a brief moment (until I need to start paying down all the credit card bills) have money in the bank. I put all the contracting expenses (framing/drywalling/new kitchen/floors etc.) for our current house on cc's with no interest thinking our home would have sold in 6 months and we'd have the equity to cover all those expenses...well, juggling those cc's for 2.5 years has been a challenge, especially with all the mess that our government started by trying to 'protect' the consumer in August and the impending bill expected to take effect February. A card that was at 2.9% for good just jumped up to 20%!! I called immediately, they said because I had not charged anything on the card in 6 months and I only paid a little over the minimum (never late on any payments) each month they jumped my rate up!! No chance to opt out..so you know which card I'll pay off first!! But here I am trying to be a responsible card carrier and they do this....another card also tried something similar by telling me my 0% offer would end and it would go up to 29% because of what Congress had passed in August, but I never got a letter stating that I could opt out, so it took 3 months of haggling, but they finally removed over $1000 in finance charges!! And restored me to a 4.9% rate...better than I could get by consolidating loans to pay them off...but what a struggle...so many are not as diligent as I and this issue alone is going to send many people into a pit of money woes. I should have all bills completely paid off in 3 months so I feel better, but I'm almost tempted to pay it off in 6 just so we always have a cushion should the economy tank even more. I still have paid less in interest had I taken out a home equity loan, but the hassles!! The good news is my credit score is great with all these credit cards I pay on time! Too bad they're all going to be cut up and they'll never see another one of our dimes, well, I guess until I have 3 kids in college...

But I say all this to comment how money can rule our actions or in the least affect our day to day decisions...it shouldn't....we should be able to let our desire to improve ourselves/our community/be a neighbor override it all...utopia I guess.

And the price of those airline tickets!! I expect something to happen this week to enable me to book the seats I need...amazing how money for a ticket can cause such

Oh, and that Wii system I sold on ebay (first time ever selling something on there)..well the sweet man who bought it received 2 of the 3 packages in 2 days, for the past 20 days no one can find the box that has 16 games in it!! So, I've been calling postmasters in 3 states trying to track it down, it has a tracking code but somehow it disappeared for 13 days and now we think it's in Atlanta on it's way to Memphis (no scan yet there) to eventually get to the receiver state of North Carolina. Hey, I say USPS is great for letters, but I will NEVER NEVER mail a package through them again...Fed Ex you've got my MONEY from now on....

Money, money,money....

And the beat goes on.....

Mrs. T

 

[shushh]

Congrats on the house Tara! Now shovelling pixie dust on you for flights...

 

[grlzmom]

Great Pre-Trip report!

We are on the MED and TA before you and every day we get more excited!

 

[lmhall2000]

Dove possiamo comprare i biglietti?


We really won't be able to use our new found Italian phrases if we can't find airline tickets!! Now come on, January is almost over and still no workable flight deals yet!! EEK!! I don't even want to look at seat availability!

Some people thrive on calm seas, I seem to thrive on choppy noreasters! Call it madness or desperation or making your dreams happen, but somehow with the house selling, I've been in overdrive trying to get the Looooong list of to do's accomplished ASAP...I compare having 2 house payments to being wound up like a horse at the gate...now that the gate is open I've got to finish this race! The race in this case is turning our farm into a working summer camp for foster kids. A big part will be offering swimming lessons, well, we need a pool....well, pool contractors gave outrageous bids (even by standards of other contractors) so I buckled down the last few weeks and somehow pulled it all together, got my permit yesterday....and somehow I think it's going to work out that we'll have it finished BEFORE the cruise!! The next 8 weeks are going to be maddening...but somehow I thrive on pressure...so many things to juggle, but it's somehow going to work out, I just know it...

Another thing that is starting to work itself out...USPS has found 4 of the 16 games I sent to that family who bid on our Wii! They PROMISE me they'll find them all...I'm convinced some were snatched by employees...I had them all bubble wrapped TOGETHER and taped up so the only way they would have fallen out is if someone cut open the package!! And that's after they somehow discarded the box with all the tape on it! I hate to be so pessimistic, normally I'm not, but after 45 calls to 15 different post'masters' I have little encouragement to think otherwise.

So come on tickets,

Mi puo indicare una bella spiaggia??

Mrs. T