(UPDT: 2/21) Losing The Glass Slippers to RUN like a Princess! Serial-PTRer report!

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Karen, have to run but go the Community Board. See what I just nabbed.

Will return.

I cannot believe you scored PINK tickets the day of the concert!!! I almost went when she was in Saint Louis but I decided I needed to save my moohlah.

Don't know I'm ready to call myself a runner as of yet....maybe still in the "wanna be" class but trying!! You keep me motivated Where are you going to stay when you go for the race? Have any of you stayed at POR? I'm thinking of booking (when the deals come out, ofcourse) for Dec 2014 trip. Have a sunshiny day (we need it in NC to stay warm - kindof cold today)

If you run, you are a runner! Seriously! I consider myself a runner, even though I am not very fast and haven't been running as long as some people or finished a half or full marathon (yet!). I run, therefor I am.

We are staying at Pop! I have not stayed at POR, but have heard good things and I've been to POFQ, which is it's sister resort and it was beautiful. The boat ride to DTD is awesome!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

77 DAYS and counting!!!

I have been crazybusy since Thanksgiving and now it's slowed down just a tad before the Christmas craziness ensues. It's Disney money that I'm making, so no complaints here!

We also had COOKIEDAY, which is a tradition for us. My sister cannot roll sugar cookies to save her life and apparently I have a gift for it. She makes all kinds of cookies and gives them in boxes as gifts (another tradition my mother started years ago) so she NEEDS this one kind done and can't do it herself. She mixed up a bunch and drives 100 miles out to my house with family in tow, so I can roll them. This works great for me, I roll/cut them and then she gives me a bunch. Totally worth getting covered in flour!

We had a great day, my mom was there and we got hundreds of cookies baked.

The cookies do not get decorated on cookieday, however. That we have to do later. Soooo, being the genius I am, I invited Savannah's friends over to decorate them! Notice how I always find a way to really do none of the work myself?

The girls had so much fun, they have been decorating them for a couple years. One of their friends is gone for the winter, so they pulled up her picture on the computer so she could be with them.

I love this shot, they were having so much fun and Kya had said something funny about the snowman she just decorated.

Since Eleanor was over, the girls pulled off another large chunk of their chain. This is what 78 days looks like!

It's getting REAL now, especially since my mileage is going up now and not coming down! I ran 7 miles this week for my long run. Over halfway there!

I cannot believe it's Christmastime, it seems like we have been counting down and the fall just flew by!

Since we're talking Christmas, here's our tree!

and Lisa's favorite picture, one I took the other night when I sat down with a nice glass of wine (which I wish I could report was lovely, but instead gave me a headache, dehydrated me, and made me nauseous. It's like I can't drink anymore! WHAaaa!) At least it was pretty.

I have $300 left on my balance and hope to get that paid with my Christmas petsitting! Then it's just food for 2 of our days and souvenirs! Oh and I am also excited to already be planning a meetup with some runner friends on Friday afternoon! It's all coming together now!!!

 

[annmarieda]

Love the cookie making tradition! I myself have done it for years, but the last couple have been so hectic.... I am hoping to this year still. I am sure my neighbors will love me more if I do.

Pics are, as always, amazing! I love the tree in the back behind the glass of wine. Very festive!

And it is getting close... once we get through Christmas it will be here in no time at all!!

 

[Trentmom]

Making cookies looked like a lot of fun.

Looks like girls had fun decorating

Love all your pics

The one with the tree and wine glass is my favorite

Great job on your running distance increasing)

 

[Victoriasmom98]

You are at 72 days today!!! Yahooooooieeee!!! I'm so excited for you. I'm even more excited to see how you navigate the MDE site to schedule your FP+. I wish they would let us play around with it first before trying to make our choices!!!! Your cookie day looks amazing. I wish I had people to share in stuff like that. You are very lucky, although I may have to bake some cookies and invite some of Victoria's friends over to decorate. That's if they would want to.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Love the cookie making tradition! I myself have done it for years, but the last couple have been so hectic.... I am hoping to this year still. I am sure my neighbors will love me more if I do.

Pics are, as always, amazing! I love the tree in the back behind the glass of wine. Very festive!

And it is getting close... once we get through Christmas it will be here in no time at all!!

Less than 2 weeks now!!!

Making cookies looked like a lot of fun.

Looks like girls had fun decorating

Love all your pics

The one with the tree and wine glass is my favorite

Great job on your running distance increasing)

Thanks!!

You are at 72 days today!!! Yahooooooieeee!!! I'm so excited for you. I'm even more excited to see how you navigate the MDE site to schedule your FP+. I wish they would let us play around with it first before trying to make our choices!!!! Your cookie day looks amazing. I wish I had people to share in stuff like that. You are very lucky, although I may have to bake some cookies and invite some of Victoria's friends over to decorate. That's if they would want to.

I have just tried to read up as much as I can on other people's experiences. I know that many people get bumped off the webpage with an error for EVERY SINGLE FP+ SELECTION but when they go back and reload the page, the FP choice is there. That sounds like fun. not. I'm pretty sure I have an good idea of what our choices will be, I hope it's not too time consuming.

 

[Tinker326]

Cookie making looks like a great success! And the best part is all the help you got! My kids are begging to make gingerbread cookies and I bought all the stuff but I keep thinking.. 'it's SO MUCH WORK'.

Congrats on the 7 miles! Woo. I havn't run since the 1/2... and sad thing is- with the holiday treats- I've been putting the pounds back on. I have (LIKE HAVE TO!) get back in the gym and do something!!!

I also find that as I'm older I can't drink anymore either. It's so sad.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Cookie making looks like a great success! And the best part is all the help you got! My kids are begging to make gingerbread cookies and I bought all the stuff but I keep thinking.. 'it's SO MUCH WORK'.

Congrats on the 7 miles! Woo. I havn't run since the 1/2... and sad thing is- with the holiday treats- I've been putting the pounds back on. I have (LIKE HAVE TO!) get back in the gym and do something!!!

I also find that as I'm older I can't drink anymore either. It's so sad.

It's terribly sad. I didn't drink when I was younger b/c I had little kids and either didn't have the time or didn't feel like I could when I was responsible for these little lives 24/7...

now I can drink and my body says NO.

I'm due for 8 tomorrow but I'm waiting until Monday. It's not ME that is having trouble with the miles, it's the WEATHER. We keep getting freezing rain/ice/snow on my long run days! Argh! I can run on the TM for shorter runs, but I use different muscles outside on pavement and really need to do my long runs outside. Monday it's supposed to warm up, so I do it then, I guess. When is winter over???

 

[Tinker326]

It's terribly sad. I didn't drink when I was younger b/c I had little kids and either didn't have the time or didn't feel like I could when I was responsible for these little lives 24/7...

now I can drink and my body says NO.

I'm due for 8 tomorrow but I'm waiting until Monday. It's not ME that is having trouble with the miles, it's the WEATHER. We keep getting freezing rain/ice/snow on my long run days! Argh! I can run on the TM for shorter runs, but I use different muscles outside on pavement and really need to do my long runs outside. Monday it's supposed to warm up, so I do it then, I guess. When is winter over???

I was the same- I didn't drink when I was younger either- little bit in college but never like many college kids. And now when I drink it's like I've been run over with a truck for days... I find it's generally not worth it....

I made sure I ran all my long runs outside too because of that same reasoning (the pavement, the hills, ect). I think for that reason alone, I would have found it hard to train for the Princess. My 'long runs' for Wine and Dine were in Sept/October which was, dare I say, PERFECT running weather. It's -16 here today. So.... yhea, not sure how anyone could run in that? It's much better weather to stay inside and eat cookies. Hence my current problem of gaining weight and not working it off.....

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

I was the same- I didn't drink when I was younger either- little bit in college but never like many college kids. And now when I drink it's like I've been run over with a truck for days... I find it's generally not worth it....

I made sure I ran all my long runs outside too because of that same reasoning (the pavement, the hills, ect). I think for that reason alone, I would have found it hard to train for the Princess. My 'long runs' for Wine and Dine were in Sept/October which was, dare I say, PERFECT running weather. It's -16 here today. So.... yhea, not sure how anyone could run in that? It's much better weather to stay inside and eat cookies. Hence my current problem of gaining weight and not working it off.....

Yes, I didn't really think about the winter weather, mostly b/c it's gets cold here but usually the snow/ice does NOT stay on the ground long, it usually melts in a day or so. Naturally this year would be different. I can handle bundling up, but I will slip and break a hip or something if I try to run on snow/ice. It's been much colder for December than usual and the snow and ice is not melting! It's so annoying!

 

[Trentmom]

Less than 2 weeks now!!!



Thanks!!



I have just tried to read up as much as I can on other people's experiences. I know that many people get bumped off the webpage with an error for EVERY SINGLE FP+ SELECTION but when they go back and reload the page, the FP choice is there. That sounds like fun. not. I'm pretty sure I have an good idea of what our choices will be, I hope it's not too time consuming.

The website sucks and crashed after each FP selection.

I switched to the app and it was a breeze.

 

[Victoriasmom98]

totally off topic here but: do you just use regular frosting in a can to decorate your sugar cookies and then just add food coloring for different colors? Your decorating day looked like fun so Victoria and her friends are coming over on Saturday to decorate. Wouldn't the frosting smear if you put them on top of each other? Just some minor questions......

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

The website sucks and crashed after each FP selection.

I switched to the app and it was a breeze.

That is what I heard! I will definitely try the app. 5 more days and I can book them!

totally off topic here but: do you just use regular frosting in a can to decorate your sugar cookies and then just add food coloring for different colors? Your decorating day looked like fun so Victoria and her friends are coming over on Saturday to decorate. Wouldn't the frosting smear if you put them on top of each other? Just some minor questions......

Yep. My sister says it's awful that I do that and don't make it homemade, but I use store bought icing and just put food coloring in it! It's so much easier. They don't usually put too many different colors on top of each other, we have lots of sprinkles and decorations to put on them. Easypeasy!

Tomorrow is the Nutcracker! We'll be gone all day and then petsitting picks up for the holiday, but I'm planning to update in 5 days when I make my FP+ selections!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

60 DAYS!!!!



Soooo, we're at 60 days this morning and I can do a proper update! It's good timing too, I'll be pretty busy the next couple weeks with work, petsitting is busiest over the holidays! I'm close to paying off my balance as well, so that's exciting!

Let's see...first off, we had a week or two with ice/snow on the ground. Made for some hard mileage. I tried to run in it, but that was a big fail, so my longest run (8 miles) was done suffering on the TM. The run wasn't that bad, but I was pretty sore and down for a few days afterwards...I run faster on the TM and can't really slow myself down, so I think it was just pushing the speed too much. Anyway, it looked like THIS outside:

luckily it finally melted and warmed up a bit, just in time for the Nutcracker! This is a yearly tradition for Savannah & her friends. We always have a good time. A shot of me and my girly:

They were missing 2 of their best girlfriends this year, but held up pics of them on their phones, so they were there in spirit.

Here's a shot from the first year they went and then last year to compare. Look how little they were! Eleanor had the cutest gap where her front teeth were missing, but you can't really see it with how small the pic is.

We went to the mall since we don't have one out where we live. It's cute, I grew up hanging at the mall, so it's funny to see how excited these girls get to shop at a mall! Me, I just get excited about the Starbucks.

Ok, so now that we are all caught up, it's time for the actual DISNEY update! LOL. I made our FP+ reservations this morning. I put an exclamation mark there first and then removed it to put a period b/c I am not THAT excited about it all.

First off, everything I had read was correct. The site times out EVERY.SINGLE.RESERVATION.YOU.MAKE. Since I was expecting it, no biggie, I would just go right back and login. It actually didn't make me LOGIN, but I would have to go back in my bookmarks to the MDE page and back into my reservations. Not really a big deal, but I cannot imagine how frustrating it would be for people that didn't know that the MDE site sucks.

I didn't use my phone because I really hate navigating on phone apps, I figured I would prefer to deal with the timing out. I was not happy with a lot of the selections it gave me, but also knew to choose the closest to what I wanted and then go back in and edit each. This worked out pretty well and I got most of the times that I had planned to get.

Now...this is not to say I'm pleased, the tiering really ruins DHS and Epcot and we are getting ONE FP+ at each park that is of any value. I do not need a FP for Living with the Land or Figment, but I have them regardless b/c that's what I had to choose.

Here is an example of our first day choices (screenshot from the app).

Yes, these are morning FP+ but there is a reason for that. This is the day before the race and we are ONLY going to be in the park in the morning, so I made FP's for that time. The rest of our days the FP's are usually in the afternoon. We also have a couple days at MK, and no tiering there (YAY!!!) so I was able to get a variety of MK FPs.

I'm happy that at least I was able to get FP+ times where I wanted them, if not all the rides I wanted b/c of the tiering and I think the best part of all of this is that I won't have to run for FP's or crisscross around the parks. Hopefully we will be able to hit rope drop and get some of the other rides (example: Test Track on the day we have a Soarin' FP) out of the way without extremely long lines.

So, that's it folks! I have a 9 mile run, the longest I have ever run, coming up Saturday and I'm excited/nervous about it. I'll be pretty busy with Christmas and work until then, so hopefully not too much time to get in my head about it! I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!!!

 

[Tinker326]

Congrats on getting your FP booked. Yes, that site is extremely frustrating beyond belief. But at least it's done!! And now- you just sit back and enjoy the final countdown!!

Hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas! You have some fun yearly traditions. My oldest DD is a ballet dancer and had danced Nutcracker in the past (and plans to audition next year again for it) so that ballet has special meaning for me! Your girl (and her friends) are getting so big! Time moves too quick!

We got our Christmas present last night- a new dog! So if you want to drive 5 hours north- you can petsit her anytime. Hahahaha!!!

Have a great holiday!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Congrats on getting your FP booked. Yes, that site is extremely frustrating beyond belief. But at least it's done!! And now- you just sit back and enjoy the final countdown!!

Hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas! You have some fun yearly traditions. My oldest DD is a ballet dancer and had danced Nutcracker in the past (and plans to audition next year again for it) so that ballet has special meaning for me! Your girl (and her friends) are getting so big! Time moves too quick!

We got our Christmas present last night- a new dog! So if you want to drive 5 hours north- you can petsit her anytime. Hahahaha!!!

Have a great holiday!

Oh how awesome that she got to dance in the Nutcracker! One of Savannah's friends (that was on the phone in the pic) has been in the Nutcracker twice, not the one we go to though...and that's actually why she couldn't make it, she is on a dance team and could not miss practice to come with us into St. Louis!

New dog!!!!! You know, I can't drive 5 hours, but 2 1/2 isn't too far, I think someday in the future we should plan some sort of meetup half way. I don't normally meet people from online in the middle of nowhere, but you seem pretty ok.

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Awesome update as usual!!! Thank you so much for your details of scheduling the fp+. I'm on day 87 so it's coming right up for me, too!!! We are currently having that lovely ice storm that made its way across the country. Just lovely. The roads aren't bad, it's just my steps and driveway that take some talent to get across. Today is the Christmas party at work, so that should eat up a couple of hours.

As for meeting Nicole, I don't know ---- you can never be too safe, right? I mean it's not like sharing the same hotel room with us??!! Ok, fine, we are not sharing the same room, but you know what I mean!!! Just kidding, Nicole!! I'd love to meet you sometime, too!!!

 

[Trentmom]

Love the girls comparison pics. Such a big difference. Kids grow up way too fast.

The website sucks . Glad you were able to get pretty much the time you wanted. I hate tier system too and have a figment fp too because I was forced to pick something.

Good luck at your run.

Hope you and your family have a wonderful Holiday!!!!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Awesome update as usual!!! Thank you so much for your details of scheduling the fp+. I'm on day 87 so it's coming right up for me, too!!! We are currently having that lovely ice storm that made its way across the country. Just lovely. The roads aren't bad, it's just my steps and driveway that take some talent to get across. Today is the Christmas party at work, so that should eat up a couple of hours.

As for meeting Nicole, I don't know ---- you can never be too safe, right? I mean it's not like sharing the same hotel room with us??!! Ok, fine, we are not sharing the same room, but you know what I mean!!! Just kidding, Nicole!! I'd love to meet you sometime, too!!!

Right?!?!

Love the girls comparison pics. Such a big difference. Kids grow up way too fast.

The website sucks . Glad you were able to get pretty much the time you wanted. I hate tier system too and have a figment fp too because I was forced to pick something.

Good luck at your run.

Hope you and your family have a wonderful Holiday!!!!

Yep, pointless FP's for things like Figment, Living with the Land, Star Tours and the Great Movie Ride?!?!!!! Insanity. I would actually be pretty pleased if I could choose whatever rides I wanted (even duplicates, possibly) without the tiering. I think we can handle three a day pretty well with rope drop, but this 1 a day thing is for the dogs!

 

[Tinker326]

New dog!!!!! You know, I can't drive 5 hours, but 2 1/2 isn't too far, I think someday in the future we should plan some sort of meetup half way. I don't normally meet people from online in the middle of nowhere, but you seem pretty ok.

As for meeting Nicole, I don't know ---- you can never be too safe, right? I mean it's not like sharing the same hotel room with us??!! Ok, fine, we are not sharing the same room, but you know what I mean!!! Just kidding, Nicole!! I'd love to meet you sometime, too!!!

Sweet - crazy diss'ers meet up! You know- just sayin'- Chicago has a lot to do!!! And I'm a mere 25 miles from the city!

We should meet halfway... and do a race! You know- when I start running again- since I havn't run A SECOND since my 1/2........