Vegan mom takes on Disney..... Dec, 2011 PTR

[veggiemama]

Once again my life just got more interesting

I think the good Lord knows I need stress and excitment in my life because....



All of a sudden.....



We might be.....



Buying a NEW HOUSE!!!!



We had absolutely no intention of ever leaving this place. it's home..... I just finished painting my kitchen 2 days ago!! How in the world did I get into this new fix????


So here's the story


We love our house. We have been here 5 years and it had almost everything we ever wanted. A few minor things that we decided we could live without as they were luxuries not necessities.

Then a year ago i decided to start teaching music full time and suddenly an oportunity opened up to teach a group lesson program out of my home as well. I jumped on it. That meant renovating our basement (which desperately needed it) So we carpeted, and painted and I moved 7 keyboards into half of my basement. The other half (devided by a wall but no door) is the tv room. Both kids have their rooms in the basement. so this meant that whenever I am teaching no one can come into the basement. A bit of a pain but we made it work. It was only one night a week so in the end it was not a huge issue.


So on Sunday we saw an AD for a house for sale in our town. Ok, not a big deal, there are tons of houses for sale because it is a growing community. BUT this is on a street that almost never has houses for sale.

So my interest was peaked.....

Then I went online and started reading.... hmmmm

I notice that the house was used for a home business.... hmmmmm

We decided it was worth checking out. Did n't really thing it would turn into anything, how could it? we have very, very specific things that would need to be in a house to make it even worth our consideration.

Last night we saw the house.... IT'S PERFECT!!!

Everything we said that we would want in a house is there. Even the minor little things.

Like:
More natural light
Central vac
Complete on suite in Master, and walk in closet
Finished basement
large yard (it's 1 acre) but still in town

And get this.....

The studio. It is like it was built for me! They built a room behind the attached garage which in the beginning was for their winter toys, then they renovated it and made it into an extra room. So this room is the perfect size, has it's own entry from the side of the house and to top it all off actually has a door in the hallway that closes it off from the main house!!

I couldn't ask for anything more. I can teach in the studio and my kids and DH can still move around the house, watch tv, be in the kitchen or rooms etc etc.


I'm sooooo excited I can hardly sit still.... can you tell from the verbal diarrehea that I'm excited!

Here are the issues:

We need to sell our house which means I have to CLEAN!
They have one offer on the house subject to selling of their home
We will be putting the same condition on our house. It would be to subject us selling ours. That means the race is on for who sells first. Don't know the others selling (we do know the real estate agent and the family that is selling - small town ) but I do know what area they are selling from and we definetely have the nicer home. In fact, the agent stated that our house would be perfect for this other couple..... I was lead to believe that the house we want is a little out of their price range.


So tonight we put in the offer to this house and see if it is accepted, then this weekend we start showing our house!

If this all happens, I could be moving in 5 weeks. Oh My!


See, told you.... life is never boring around here!

 

[momabaarjo]

I booked our flights! I booked our flights!

WAHOOOOOO!!!! So I am a couple days behind...but I am still excited!

 

[momabaarjo]

Wishing you lots of magic with the house situation!

 

[annmarieda]

Oh my goodness!!! I hope all the house stuff goes smoothly. Sounds like it will. Sometimes when things are meant to be they just happen..and it sounds like this house was just meant to be. I can't wait to hear more...and hopefully you will share with us your moving journey.

 

[veggiemama]

WAHOOOOOO!!!! So I am a couple days behind...but I am still excited!

Thank you. I'm very happy to have that piece of the puzzle completed. I was stressing way too much over it.

Wishing you lots of magic with the house situation!

Thanks. It is a bit surreal at the moment.

Oh my goodness!!! I hope all the house stuff goes smoothly. Sounds like it will. Sometimes when things are meant to be they just happen..and it sounds like this house was just meant to be. I can't wait to hear more...and hopefully you will share with us your moving journey.

I know, it's totally crazy! There are so many "ifs" in the situation but it still have a 50/50 chance of actually happening

 

[veggiemama]

Ok, here's where I'm at:

Regarding Disney:

I made my CP dinner ADR on the 26th. Thanks to Ann posting about booking hers and reminding me that I needed to book that day! I had totally forgotten

We are booked into Coral Reef for 5pm on the 13th of December with seating for the 8:15 show. I am very happy about this. It is the exact time I wanted, we won't have to rush our dinner and we have plenty of time to see Epcott. My boys are not overly excited to be going to Epcot but B and I love this park. We may even end up coming back ourselves to this park on the Friday when we don't have any set plans.

The only thing we don't know is who the narrator will be. I'm a little sad that we will miss Neil Patrick Harris but I just couldn't make it work in the rest of the schedule. so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the narrator will be someone we know/like. Not that it really matters in the end. I know we will still enjoy CP but it sure would be nice to see someone 'famous' (other than Mickey of course! )

This means that all my ADR's are booked and all my tickets (other than Disney quest are bought!)


The REVEAL:

When: This Saturday
How: stay tuned I have great plans but who knows what will happen come Saturday. It could get MORE elaborate or end up very simple. Can't wait to tell them though. I'm sure my DD will be priceless with her comments of 'knowing' that we were going to Disney


NON - Disney: THE HOUSE

We put in an offer last night. Because there is another offer on the house right now we are in the queue. Basically once there offer expires - in about a week - than we can move forward. OR the sellers can invoke a 48 hour clause meaning that the other offer must meet the requirements or withdraw their offer.

It means that right now we still have to wait. I can't say that I like that necessarily since I don't 'wait' all that well BUT there is a really good chance that the other offer will not happen. We will still move ahead with putting our house on the market and if the offer does go through, well then we will just take our house off the market and continue on before this little blip happened

It is really hard to get excited right now. I want to fall in love with this house but I feel I can't yet. There is still a chance that we will not get it and I don't want to be heart broken if that happens.

As I said before, the house is perfect for us. It makes sense financially and it has everything we want in a house. Now I just get to play and new waiting game.... as if waiting for Disney wasn't bad enough!!

 

[momabaarjo]

Can't wait to hear about the reveal...

 

[annmarieda]

Cant wait to hear about the reveal.. and crossing my fingers for the house

 

[Monknmom]

WOW a lot has been going on for you too! I am catching up so some of your old writing is going to be mentioned!

Congrats on the flights!!!! Very happy that you got to book them on the day you did! YIKES airlines are finicky!

I am at the same free dining debate as you are! I want to change my dates to fit the so called "free dining dates" (why don't they just let me have the first week of December?) and change to the pirate room at POR, BUT if I change the dates and the room and free dining doesn't come out I'm going to be up a creek without a paddle! So I am waiting to hear back from the travel agent on that!

Oh the plans look nice! We have some of the same restaurants! I can't wait to taste the yumminess of the food!

Ann's right we are getting pretty close I am so excited!

And I'm happy for you that you found the perfect house! It may seem like a lot to do to get ready for it, but it'll be worth it! I hope that everything works out and you get the house! Wouldn't that be nice if the other offer likes your house more and makes the offer so you sell your house, you get the house that fits your family AND the other families win too!

Oooo.... hopefully you takes lots of pictures of the reveal!

 

[annmarieda]

I am at the same free dining debate as you are! I want to change my dates to fit the so called "free dining dates" (why don't they just let me have the first week of December?) and change to the pirate room at POR, BUT if I change the dates and the room and free dining doesn't come out I'm going to be up a creek without a paddle! So I am waiting to hear back from the travel agent on that!

I wouldn't change until it is official. Even if you did change... you would still have to rebook with the new code then anyway... so re-booking early (I don't' think) gives you anything other than peace of mind that you have a room where you want (but just not at maybe the price you want)

 

[swwake]

Followed you over from Shocky's PTR and now I have to catch up! Subscribing and looking forward to reading about your plans.

 

[shocky5]

The suspense is killing me.... cannot wait to hear how the reveal went and if there are any housing updates. How exciting!

I think about how much so many of us who have been following along with each other's lives since the beginning of the year and we've all kept each other excited with 'what's next' from week to week!

Here's some positive vibes for the house and I just am so excited to hear about how your kids responded to the reveal!!

 

[veggiemama]

no time to do a big long post right now, just a quick update...

We told the kids on Sat.... Reveal went fabulous!! So much fun I took lots of pictures so I will post those when I have more time.

One of the things that came out at the Reveal was that the kids DID want to do Character breakfasts! Sheesh!!!! Remind me NOT to listen to my DH when it comes to planning ( memeber those lovely conversations with him about the kids not really being interested in this type of stuff?!)

So on Sat I tried to book for Akershus princess and Chef Mickey. And much to my shock I was able to get both of these on the days I wanted and even the times I wanted!! I will post my new 'official' plans soon

The other thing that my DD really wanted was to go to HP world. Well, if you remember, on the Friday we have no official plans. DH and I are thinking that we may end up going to HP that day! I then did some checking and we have enough 'air miles' to get 4 free day passes!! Now I just need to check how to get there, taxi or rent a car?

Also saw that FD looks like it's coming out tomorrow, right during our time! We are going to be there a day early so that means booking one night as a room only night and the rest as a pkg night if I am reading things correctly. Because of the savings ($1700!!) AND not paying for the passes at HP I think I may try to book AKL for one night!! Can't tell you how excited that makes me! I have always dreamed of staying there but it has been out of our price range, but one night, we can do one night! My DD would be ecstatic.... she also has dreams of seeing the giraffes outside our room. Giraffes being her absolute all time favorite animal!

so tomorrow I will be on the phone and seeing what new kind of magic I can make happen Have I mentioned before that I LOVE planning!




As for the house.....

Our house went on the market on Friday. No showings last weekend because it was a long weekend in Canada but our agent did get a few calls and we will be showing the house Wed and Thurs this week.

ALSO: the other offer, still on the table as far as I know BUT we noticed that the dropped the listing price for their house..... hmmmmm could mean good things for us!

Gotta run, clean house, finish painting, just got back from bringing puppy to the vet and the kids have eye apointments this afternoon.


Lot of fun stuff going on.... OH and just for fun My SISTER is thinking of buying my house!

 

[swwake]

Wow you have a lot of great stuff going on! Glad the reveal went so well and you got your ADRs for character meals. Harry Potter for FREE?!?! That's awesome. We went last Sept and you will not be disappointed. Check into a town car service instead of a cab. It might actually be less expensive, and you can schedule it and feel like you're getting the VIP treatment. We used Quick silver last year.

 

[annmarieda]

So many awesome things! I don't know where to start but to say

Your trip will be amazing.

 

[shocky5]

no time to do a big long post right now, just a quick update...

We told the kids on Sat.... Reveal went fabulous!! So much fun I took lots of pictures so I will post those when I have more time.

One of the things that came out at the Reveal was that the kids DID want to do Character breakfasts! Sheesh!!!! Remind me NOT to listen to my DH when it comes to planning ( memeber those lovely conversations with him about the kids not really being interested in this type of stuff?!)

So on Sat I tried to book for Akershus princess and Chef Mickey. And much to my shock I was able to get both of these on the days I wanted and even the times I wanted!! I will post my new 'official' plans soon

The other thing that my DD really wanted was to go to HP world. Well, if you remember, on the Friday we have no official plans. DH and I are thinking that we may end up going to HP that day! I then did some checking and we have enough 'air miles' to get 4 free day passes!! Now I just need to check how to get there, taxi or rent a car?

Also saw that FD looks like it's coming out tomorrow, right during our time! We are going to be there a day early so that means booking one night as a room only night and the rest as a pkg night if I am reading things correctly. Because of the savings ($1700!!) AND not paying for the passes at HP I think I may try to book AKL for one night!! Can't tell you how excited that makes me! I have always dreamed of staying there but it has been out of our price range, but one night, we can do one night! My DD would be ecstatic.... she also has dreams of seeing the giraffes outside our room. Giraffes being her absolute all time favorite animal!

so tomorrow I will be on the phone and seeing what new kind of magic I can make happen Have I mentioned before that I LOVE planning!




As for the house.....

Our house went on the market on Friday. No showings last weekend because it was a long weekend in Canada but our agent did get a few calls and we will be showing the house Wed and Thurs this week.

ALSO: the other offer, still on the table as far as I know BUT we noticed that the dropped the listing price for their house..... hmmmmm could mean good things for us!

Gotta run, clean house, finish painting, just got back from bringing puppy to the vet and the kids have eye apointments this afternoon.


Lot of fun stuff going on.... OH and just for fun My SISTER is thinking of buying my house!

Everything is moving along so well for you! Positive vibes to you on the house showings this week! Unless sister beats them to it...

Can't wait to see pics from the reveal... my kids are getting pretty vocal about wanting to know when we are going back to WDW... and with school beginning next week... I think they have lost hope. Which secretly makes me happy that we might pull this surprise off... but makes me also want to tell them sooo much!

 

[momabaarjo]

no time to do a big long post right now, just a quick update...

We told the kids on Sat.... Reveal went fabulous!! So much fun I took lots of pictures so I will post those when I have more time.

WAHOO...

One of the things that came out at the Reveal was that the kids DID want to do Character breakfasts! Sheesh!!!! Remind me NOT to listen to my DH when it comes to planning ( memeber those lovely conversations with him about the kids not really being interested in this type of stuff?!)

Figures...husbands!

So on Sat I tried to book for Akershus princess and Chef Mickey. And much to my shock I was able to get both of these on the days I wanted and even the times I wanted!! I will post my new 'official' plans soon

Wahoo...more to celebrate!!!

The other thing that my DD really wanted was to go to HP world. Well, if you remember, on the Friday we have no official plans. DH and I are thinking that we may end up going to HP that day! I then did some checking and we have enough 'air miles' to get 4 free day passes!! Now I just need to check how to get there, taxi or rent a car?

Coming over the the dark side of Orlando with me! I have a email for a town car service that is supposed to be awesome from all the reviews and pretty fair.

Also saw that FD looks like it's coming out tomorrow, right during our ALSO: the other offer, still on the table as far as I know BUT we noticed that the dropped the listing price for their house..... hmmmmm could mean good things for us!

Wow...what a great post full or great happenings!

 

[momabaarjo]

Everything is moving along so well for you! Positive vibes to you on the house showings this week! Unless sister beats them to it...

Can't wait to see pics from the reveal... my kids are getting pretty vocal about wanting to know when we are going back to WDW... and with school beginning next week... I think they have lost hope. Which secretly makes me happy that we might pull this surprise off... but makes me also want to tell them sooo much!

Pure evil Shocky!

 

[veggiemama]

Followed you over from Shocky's PTR and now I have to catch up! Subscribing and looking forward to reading about your plans.

and welcome along! The more the merrier

Wow you have a lot of great stuff going on! Glad the reveal went so well and you got your ADRs for character meals. Harry Potter for FREE?!?! That's awesome. We went last Sept and you will not be disappointed. Check into a town car service instead of a cab. It might actually be less expensive, and you can schedule it and feel like you're getting the VIP treatment. We used Quick silver last year.

Thank you, I love being able to post some great happenings. It hasn't been the easiest of years so it's really nice to have good things to think about.

Thankyou, Thank you! for the tip on Town car service. i will check it out....

So many awesome things! I don't know where to start but to say

Your trip will be amazing.

Thank Ann! I'm getting more excited by the day!

Everything is moving along so well for you! Positive vibes to you on the house showings this week! Unless sister beats them to it...
House showings... Have one tonight and one tomorrow with a couple more on the maybe list. In the end I don't care how many showings we have I just need one GOOD offer!
Can't wait to see pics from the reveal... my kids are getting pretty vocal about wanting to know when we are going back to WDW... and with school beginning next week... I think they have lost hope. Which secretly makes me happy that we might pull this surprise off... but makes me also want to tell them sooo much!

Still don't know how you are managing to keep it to yourself! More detail of the reveal coming.... trying to get all my photos uploaded.

Wow...what a great post full or great happenings!

Thanks! It's sure nice to post some happy positive things!

 

[veggiemama]

THE REVEAL - With PICTURES!!

Took a bit to get all the photos uploaded But now they are so here it is in all it's fun detail.....

BACKGROUND: as you know there has been much discussion going on with my dh and I about how to tell the kids. From the very, very elaborate to waking them up the morning of and telling them to back their bags - I vetoed that one! I know there was no way I could keep it from them that long.

So in the end it ended up being simpler than I orginally planned but I think that was better. Simpler because of the house and getting it ready meant I didn't have as much time to prepare.

So on Sat my DH took the kids out for Breakfast. While they were out I flew around my house getting the cupcakes baked, cooled (in the freezer!) and decorated and decorated the kitchen, doors, table etc. I had to tell DH to stay out longer because I needed more time.... In the end they went for breakfast, went to the thrift store, the hardware store and drove around town 'looking' at houses. There were no other stores in our small town for them to go to!

So I was busy doing this....

That's our back door coming into the house from the garage.

On the floor was this.....

Leading up to the table.

I had found this great Mickey cupcake stand

And I very quickly made cupcakes. I even cooled them in the freezer because I was running out of time!

Don't you just love the Mickey Heads!!!

No idea how many pics I've used.... Will continue in the next post