fighting a little something. kinda have that “pre” sick feeling. sore throat, chest congestion, sinus headache. but not bad. just enough to make me want to type in all lower case.
heating up the dry sauna in the garage so I can fake a fever and burn some germs, sweat out some toxins, clear my sinuses and my pores.
a little bummed because I want to have 5 minute morningstar burritos for lunch and we are out of black bean patties. don’t really want anything else. wanted them for dinner the other night too. have to go to the grocery store on the way home from after school pick up and get some or I’ll still be craving them tomorrow.
it’s dreary today. went to my personal trainer’s complex to do strength training this morning. raining too hard to walk outside, so on the way back from working out, I went by a health club that I haven’t been to since I started working out with my trainer. of course, I’ve been paying them $10 a month all this time anyway. got a new membership card and walked on the treadmill while it rained in sheets outside. but I had to. because I’m holding myself accountable on the internet.
worked a little today.
invoiced for January yesterday. this is a huge deal. I have a little problem with invoicing. I neglect it. I hope this action item (invoicing on time) sticks. it’s not like I can’t put the money to good use. i really need to keep on top of this. I got a little ahead and filled in february’s invoice with the hours I’ve worked so far this month.
I don’t want a brownie. I just thought I’d tell myself that.
I want to wear my sick pants tonight. what? you don’t have “sick pants?” everybody should have sick pants. flannel sick pants.
So, ten things I love that start with (the letter she assigned me) the letter “H” are:
I love my HUSBAND. He’s my best friend. The bonus? He loves me back.
I love my HOME. Because it is within our means and a cozy, memory making, safe, happy, comfortable blessing. I am SO thankful, that a few years ago, when the real estate market was going crazy, we didn’t buy a house we really couldn’t afford. Our daily lives would be very different. Our house would own us.
I love TheHallelujah Chorus. Every year, I have to go to EPCOT for the Candlelight Processional and get my annual Hallelujah Chorus fix. I try to go when Marlee Matlin is narrating. The year before last, we sat in the front row, near the musical sign language interpreter. Marlee, front and center, signing the Christmas story and an extremely talented sign language interpreter practically right in front of me, signing the music. INCREDIBLE.
I love the song “Hip to Be Square” It’s my ringtone. It’s my motto. What’s a motto? Nothing. What’s the motto with you? (movie trivia again. where’s it from?)
I LOVE the sound of Happy Children. Especially my own. My daughter. Singing at the top of her lungs. Her own made up songs. Without a care in the world. My son. Singing to whatever is on his itouch. When he thinks I’m not listening. If you are out somewhere trying to shush a loud child, don’t ever do it on my account. I knew kids were loud before I had them myself.
I love my Honda Odyssey. Because it’s paid for. And it starts EVERY time I turn the key. Do I want a different/new vehicle? No. And again NO. Because I would have to pay for it.
I love strong, tight Harmony. The harmony that comes when people are perfectly in tune. When they know and sing their own unique part, smooth and steady, while at the same time, they listen and adapt to blend . . . just right. I LOVE harmony. Musically and otherwise. I prefer harmony over unison. Musically and otherwise.
Heat. DRY heat. Specifically, the 6 x 4 foot cedar sauna in my garage. I bought it on eBay over 6 years ago. Someone won it at a home show and didn’t want it. I was digging my heels in at the expense, but FirstHusband strongly encouraged it. I haven’t gotten tired of it. I used it today. And I’m already planning on using it tomorrow.
Health. I’m so thankful for it and I’m not taking my health or the health of my family and friends for granted. I do NOT want a handicap sticker for my car. NO THANKS. I’m getting stronger. I’m walking. I’m eating healthier.
I got stuck here at the end. Do I cheat? Something like, “Honkin Big Pile of Books” or “Huge cup of coffee?”
I asked FirstHusband what he thought. He immediately said “Hope.” I asked him what he meant and he said, “Whenever you run across someone who is in, what they believe to be, a hopeless situation, you don’t accept that the situation is hopeless. You encourage them to consider an option or a path they hadn’t considered before. You love hope.
He’s right. I can be annoying that way. I was talking with FavoriteSon just yesterday about a problem he had and I clearly remember saying:
“I’m not saying I know what you should do. I don’t have the answer right now. I just believe there IS one.”
Want to participate in this meme? Write about ten things you love that begin with the first letter of your MIDDLE name. Then come back and comment on this post and link up to yours!
It’s funny but each post very clearly represents where we are in our parenting stages with each child.
I like my kids. They make me smile.
p.s.
1. I hated Despereaux – the book – haven’t seen the movie. Hated it. Skipped parts.
2. Any teenage texting/cell phone rule suggestions other than the ones in the Commotion post?
Check out my recent purchase! $29.99 for both the desktop and mobile platform! And the license allows me to load the desktop software on both my laptop and desktop computer.
I’m a LONG time Palm girl, so the mobile version, on my Centro, looks like this:
It even has an interactive shopping list and menu planner! My favorite part? Adjustable serving sizes that modify ingredient amounts! I can edit ingredients, add photos, assign and filter by multiple food categories and search by up to three ingredients.
It comes with over 1200 recipes. Most look pretty good (and easy), but I’ve already deleted 60+ I knew I would NEVER make. Like “Potted Tongue.” This software has everything I can think of, in an intuitive and clean interface. I’m already loving it! Check out some more reviews
I get most of my PDA software from http://www.handango.com and they almost always have an active promo code. If the ones below are expired, search for “handango promotion” and you’ll probably find one.
“APPSWELIKE” expires tonight at midnight and saves you 15%
“SAVE20NOW” saves you 20%, but I’m not sure when it expires.
Walt Disney World in the summer is HOT. And I mean REALLY Hot. If you can go ANY other time of the year, do it. You will not miss the melting, the heat rash or the dehydration. And I am not exaggerating.
Expect the lines to be long. And I mean REALLY long. 120 minutes for Space Mountain is normal. It is possible to spend 12 hours at a Disney theme park and ride only 5 or 6 attractions. If you see a 45 minute line, be thankful. You will NEVER see this:
That’s Pirates of the Caribbean in February of 2008. Three days ago we waited 12 minutes. (February is a GREAT time to go to WDW.)
The heat and the lines aside, we’ve vacationed there in the summer for years. Even though we live 45 minutes from Walt Disney World, we’ve stayed in the resorts. Due to school schedules, we had to go in the summer just like everyone else. But we learned a few things about going to Disney in the summer:
We try to go when surrounding counties are still in school or back in school. Since we’re in private school, our calendars are sometimes off from public school by a week or two. For instance, the last day of school for Osceola County, where WDW is located, is June 4, 2009. Surrounding counties get out on June 3rd. Our last day of school is May 21st. The public schools begin again on August 24th. We begin on August 13th. So THIS year, if we were to go to Disney for a week, we would try to go at the beginning of the summer so we wouldn’t have to contend with locals so much.
Extra Magic Hours. Each day, one of the four theme parks at WDW has Extra Magic Hours. Resort guests – DISNEY resort guests – are allowed admittance into one of the parks one hour early and can stay inside that same park an extra three hours after closing. (You can leave and come back. You don’t have to stay the entire time.)
We NEVER take advantage of MORNING Extra Magic Hours. For example. Today, Sunday, February 15th, Magic Kingdom has extra magic hours. If we were staying on property we would NOT go to Magic Kingdom MORNING Extra Magic Hours because Magic Kingdom would be MOBBED with resort guests. We would instead, go to one of the OTHER parks because MOST of the resort guests are at Magic Kingdom.
Exception to the Morning Extra Magic Hours? Animal Kingdom. By far, the hottest of the parks. Not a lot of air conditioning at Animal Kingdom. If you want to see the animals, go EARLY. Leave when it gets hot. Come back in late afternoon or early evening. When you are on the safari and you see the animals lounging in what seems to be the perfect Kodak spot, it’s no accident. There’s an air conditioning vent out there to make that spot more attractive to them. The animals get air conditioning. You don’t. For years, we flat out skipped Animal Kingdom in the summer. It’s better in February.
We ALWAYS take advantage of the EVENING Extra Magic Hours. Even when PinkGirl was little. She adjusted to the change in schedule very quickly. Sometimes FirstHusband or I would take her off into a nook somewhere so she could nap in the stroller, but for the most part, she was right there with us, having fun.
My FAVORITE Extra Magic Hours are at Typhoon Lagoon on Saturday nights. A water park in the dark is FUN. Blizzard Beach doesn’t do Extra Magic Hours.
Water to Drink, Water to Spray.
Drinking. A bottle of water is $2.50. And it’s Dasani. We either bring our own bottles of spring water or buy ONE bottle of Dasani and fill it up at water fountains. We invested in the Disney bottle straps and either wore them around our neck or hung them on the stroller when PinkGirl was younger.
Spraying. Disney sells bottles of water with battery operated fans attached. For $17.00 each. Because they have Disney characters on them. Walmart sells similar bottles for about $3.99 each. No Disney characters. (A few years ago – the price is probably higher now.) We have both, but I got my Disney “misters” at garage sales. (okay, except for one. I bought ONE for $17.00 one year.) FirstHusband rigged up a fan and mister for PinkGirl that attached to her stroller canopy.
Sunscreens and Hats. Waterproof sunscreen. Nowhere near a baby or toddler’s hands. They WILL rub it in their eyes. That only happened to us once. Once was enough. Hats or visors means sunscreen isn’t needed on the forehead – which means it won’t run into eyes. Sunscreen in the eyes: BAD.
Extra Change of Kids Clothes. There are various places in the parks that kids can get squirted with water. And it is a GREAT way to cool off. But later? Wet socks can lead to blisters. Wet clothing can lead to chaffing. We kept a change of clothes for each kid in a a Ziplock bag. Wet clothes went in there after the kids got soaked. I’ll write another post on our “best practices” with regard to clothing, but let me say here – denim is NOT moisture wicking and when it gets wet, it can take a while to dry, no matter how hot it is.
Take a Break During the Heat of the Day. When PinkGirl was little, we would take a break during the heat of the day. If you’ve read ANYthing on Disney vacations, you’ve seen this before. DON’T IGNORE THIS ADVICE if you have little ones. We stayed at the Yacht and Beach Club resorts, for 3 summers. They are within walking distance to the back gate of EPCOT. From EPCOT, you can take a boat to Hollywood Studios or a monorail to Magic Kingdom. So it was VERY easy for FirstHusband and I to split up during the day. One of us would take PinkGirl back to the room for a nap while the other would take FavoriteSon on some “big kid” rides. It was wonderful. One grown-up got to rest with PinkGirl and the other got one-on-one time with FavoriteSon. (We were able to stay at these resorts because we had friends and family who got us what is called a “Friends and Family” rate, but there are less expensive resorts in that same area, still within walking distance from the back gate of EPCOT.)
But our BEST strategy for going to Disney World in the summer?
We Went Nocturnal. When PinkGirl got older and didn’t need naps, we adapted again. We went nocturnal. Here’s the typical schedule:
Sleep in.
Spend the heat of the day at (1) Typhoon Lagoon, (2) Blizzard Beach or (3) the resort pool.
Take showers and get washed up for an early dinner (between 5 and 6pm)
Go to a REALLY nice dinner on property. (Character dinners are GREAT!)
Right after dinner, go to whichever park has Extra Magic Hours.
Stay for extra Magic Hours after the park closed for regular guests.
Leave that park around 2:00 a.m., getting back to the room and in bed around 3:00 a.m.
This is a GREAT summer schedule. By the evening, most of the resort guests who were at the theme park gate bright and early for Extra Magic Hours have long since left that park because they’re exhausted.
I’ll be writing more on our Walt Disney World “Best Practices” and I’ll list them under the “peace.love.mickey” page above, so check back!
This song was sung at my wedding. Surprisingly, the clips shown during this particular youtube video are from a show that FirstHusband and I both very much enjoy. It’s called Farscape and we own the entire series on DVD.
For more Saturday music, check out Then Sings My Soul Saturday every Saturday hosted by Amy at Signs, Miracles and Wonders.
So FirstHusband and FavoriteSon are in Washington DC for FavoriteSon’s 8th Grade Washington trip. Some of you already know I don’t post about travel until it’s over, but in this case, it’s almost over. They are traveling home tomorrow. Anyway.
I took PinkGirl to Disney’s Magic Kingdom today because her dad was on a field trip with her brother . . . on the day the 2nd graders were hosting a Father’s Breakfast, complete with poems and songs and Valentines. After discovering the conflict, she said,
“But . . . I can’t sing songs and say poems to everybody ELSE’S dad!”
So I said, “Well, how about we go to Magic Kingdom that day? Just you and me?”
“okay!”
That was the situation today. FirstHusband and FavoriteSon, in Washington DC and PinkGirl and I at Magic Kingdom. Here’s the text message string:
FirstHusband: “Standing in front of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.”
Me: “Standing in line for Small World, waiting on a Big Thunder Fastpass.”
Now that is just wrong. FirstHusband told FavoriteSon. “We are standing in front of what are, after the Bible, the three most important documents in the United States. Your mom is standing in line for Small World.”
Not a very creative post title, but this “action” thing is seriously working for me.
Clearing the Inbox. 510 emails in my email inbox down to 32 and still going. There are 13 email accounts coming into that thing. Mine, hubs, kids, business, etc. Subscriptions, confirmations, devotions, discount offers . . . not to mention the “real” emails I get. I wrote Outlook rules, I color coded, I unsubscribed, I filed, I deleted, I took ACTION. (and if you think it’s funny to email me right now to congratulate me . . . I’ll have a pizza with extra anchovies delivered to your door in less than 30 minutes.)
Got my $26.00 Back. Consumer Reports renewed my subscription even though I never updated my credit card expiration date. Intentionally. I didn’t WANT to renew because the last few times I’ve researched something the info has been out of date. The nice lady who spoke to me today said that since they didn’t hear from me, they processed the renewal anyway and it went through. She quickly and graciously refunded the subscription.
The Exercise Log. Totally working for me. Like now. I do NOT want to stop being a blogging bum and go walk right now. But I will. Be back later . . . I’m back. Already logged today’s workout.
No More Dead Cell Phone. My cell phone battery went dead again today. It seems I am incapable of charging my phone. I’ve known this about myself for years. It’s why I don’t have a bluetooth headset. I would have to charge it. I instead have a corded headset. Two, in fact.
To overcome my “charging challenged” self, I have owned two batteries and a battery/phone combo charger for my cell phones for years. When my battery goes dead I switch it out. Works GREAT for me. In December I FINALLY took the much needed action to upgrade my phone. However, I didn’t buy an extra battery or a battery/phone combo charger for my new phone. Did that today. $31.99 for both. Free shipping on eBay.
Now, in all fairness, I have to admit that I bought FirstHusband a tape backup drive one year for Valentine’s Day. And he bought me printer memory one year. But we were newly married. And broke. And we couldn’t print anything but text.
This video is really great – completely worth the 4 minutes, 45 seconds to watch it! I love subtle, smart humor. The folding, the recorded message in the background, the lunch menu.
. A few years ago, I got a 
for Mother’s Day. 
