ABC's of Trip Planning (Oct 10-20), Vol. 2- Z is for: Zippidee Doo Dah!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Splitting 4 cords of wood today, but wanted to pop in here very quickly to say that Dad was released today. After a full work up, we got very good news that it was likely a vagovagal syncope episode- the best outcome we could have hoped for. We're SO thankful that he didn't hit his head on the way down! This really could have been a trip changer, because as much as I love Disney, I love my family more. Family first. Always.

Thanks for your good thoughts and wishes all! It means a lot to me....

Now... back to splitting that oak. An entire 80 foot tree.

Sooo, they finally have a solid diagnosis for my dad. They found a sizable kidney stone and is on around-the-clock morphine for pain. He keeps having bouts of nausea and vomiting, and has been a very rough few days. They are waiting for the nephrologist to show up and I'm really hoping he gets a Fast Pass to the litho machine. Wish I was there to be with family...

Glad that your dad is "okay" but ouch on the kidney stone! I have seen so many suffer from those. The worst being a 37 week pregnant lady.

 

[Flossbolna]

Three weeks!!!


(this should 21, one for every day of three weeks)

(I have also started to count weeks until my trip - not saying the number since my BF thinks announcing travel dates on the internet is horrible... - but it is significant more than three, but low enough to count weeks, not months anymore).

Hope your father is improving. I am so happy to hear that it was nothing worse. But it does sound very painful!

I hope your Well will get very rich after your trip!!

 

[mom3sonstt]

Three weeks and 2 days doesn't have quite the same ring to it but celebrating in the Midwest too!

 

[franandaj]

I know how you feel on the coutdown! Yesterday was my one month day, so it's getting close!

Yay for three weeks!

 

[Steppesister]

Had hoped to get to replies tonight, but I can hardly function in this messed up house right now. No room to move, so I went to bed with my phone and it's probably a good thing. Picked up 6 more hours at work tomorrow starting quite early, so that's 4 days this week. Gotta put all the hours I can in before the trip so I can pay for that, this new floor, the Keys part and start saving for the granite countertops before Thanksgiving.

You guys are great! To those who've stuck with me, an extra big hug and thank you!!

 

[addictedtothemouse]

Hooray for three weeks! 11 days for me!

 

[irene_dsc]

Ah, the problem between needing to work and needing to declutter the house...

At least you won't be able to see the house clutter while you are on vacation!

 

[DonnaBeeGood]

.

 

[Steppesister]

I'm still here! Trying to occupy every free morsel of time for the next 9 days so I don't drive myself crazy with excitement!

Three weeks to go for you! When you're in the thick of it those seem like the longest days but I'm sure it will go by fast.

Glad to hear they got a solid diagnosis for your Dad. I'll continue sending good thoughts to you and him so that everything stays a-ok.

It's so hard to wait at this point! But I'm actually managing pretty well. Work keeps me SO busy and the floor going in has made this an incredibly stressful, but FAST week. I'll be posting pix in a little bit. I'm actually starting to panic just a little about packing as it's just going to keep being really busy and full right up until we go. We still have the whole house to put back together BEFORE Cynthia arrives on Saturday (YAY! and overnighter DISser Friend!) I'm working minimum 3 days for the next 2 before the trip, and we're going to get tickets to our first ever Oregon State Game for the 8th. My kids have never been to ANY football game of any type, so we're gonna baptize them with fire and do the whole thing: tailgaiting and all. Should be fun. But we leave on the Sunday morning after to make our way up to Seattle to catch our flight that night- so yep, busy right up until time to go.

Dad is doing fine, need to call Mom and get the latest, but he's out now and out of pain too, which is a definite improvement.

Glad that your dad is "okay" but ouch on the kidney stone! I have seen so many suffer from those. The worst being a 37 week pregnant lady.

OH MAN! That is just about the worst case scenario I can think of. Poor lady! I think the worst pain I've seen is a good old pancreatitis. Holy crap that guy was in pain!

Three weeks!!!


(this should 21, one for every day of three weeks)

I LOVE them!!! I imagine each one of them heading off to WDW ahead of me, until there are none left here. I'm sure they're having fun without me.

(I have also started to count weeks until my trip - not saying the number since my BF thinks announcing travel dates on the internet is horrible... - but it is significant more than three, but low enough to count weeks, not months anymore).

I suppose if you live alone, and don't have anyone staying at your house, that's wise, but our home won't be empty (Mikki and Mike will be here), but how exciting that a trip is coming up for you too! I guess I didn't know that...? I wonder if a little Christmas trip is coming your way.

Hope your father is improving. I am so happy to hear that it was nothing worse. But it does sound very painful!

Since it's a mostly stationary stone they won't do anything, and the minute it starts moving it will hurt again. A lot. I guess it's wait and see.

I hope your Well will get very rich after your trip!!

As I was going through all the Mickey Head wishes I'd made, there are several that went out the winder early on. The Edison, BTMRR at night, MSEP, RoL (still a minute chance on that one), and some others. I'm kinda sad about so many....

 

[Steppesister]

Three weeks and 2 days doesn't have quite the same ring to it but celebrating in the Midwest too!

YOu're only a couple days behind me and LOOK! You're past the 3 weeks mark now too!!!! WAHOOTY!

I know how you feel on the coutdown! Yesterday was my one month day, so it's getting close!

Yay for three weeks!

I KNOW!!!!SQUEEEEEE! As I told Cindy, I'm actually starting to panic some, though. I have SO much to do, and our calendar is pretty full, and we're stupid enough to actually add more. Keeps my mind off of waiting though.

Hooray for three weeks! 11 days for me!

You're SO CLOSE!!!!! Are you packed?

 

[Steppesister]

Ah, the problem between needing to work and needing to declutter the house...

At least you won't be able to see the house clutter while you are on vacation!

OH, I tell you what, Sister... this house had BETTER be put back together WAY before then! The grout is going in today (waiting for the installers to show up even as I type) so we can put all of our appliances back in tomorrow. I have really missed my kitchen! The stove has to be hard wired back in, my washer and dryer are in the dining room, my toilet is off and on the front porch. I could go NUTS! I did manage to tackle my junk room a week or so ago, and feel a lot better about that. I found Shelob and chased her out, but she apparently, really likes it here and I'm sure will move back in soon. At least the Christmas decorations are up in the attic again (after being there all year, because my kids are too lazy to put them where they should have been 10 months ago.)

Ugh, I am not sure if I would trade my broken big toe for a kidney stone. Back to my ibuprofen and calcium cocktail, but yay for the fantabulous trip getting closer and closer!

Broken toes hurt! No lie! I've had plenty of those (1). My 3 broken ankles hurt a lot worse though. Never done the kidney stone thing though, but have seen plenty of patients writhing in pain from them. NO THANKS! Keep up the ibuprofen, it should be pretty good in a few weeks.

 

[Flossbolna]

BEFORE Cynthia arrives on Saturday

Yay!!! Give her a big hug from me!! I miss her! Haven't seen her on the DIS for ages (even though she did send me a lovely little note a while back...).

 

[Steppesister]

Yay!!! Give her a big hug from me!! I miss her! Haven't seen her on the DIS for ages (even though she did send me a lovely little note a while back...).

I will!! I don't know if she's completely ditched the DIS and gone to another Forum altogether, or taking a break, or...? I will ask. I really enjoy her company and I"m sure we'll do a lot of catching up!

 

[Steppesister]

U is for Unimaginitive, but Good Enough (Mousekeeping Envelopes)​

I had to get up today.

Well, technically, I didn't HAVE to get up, but ya know. Another day, another opportunity to get stuff done. All by myself.

No one else is going to make my bed. (And, well, technically, neither am I. Although I am a TON better at getting it done with the new pillows and comforter set.)

But don't you just wish that some days, the Housekeeping Fairy would sweep in unceremoniously and just do it. All of it. The dishes, the beds, the dusting. And Gawd, especially the bathrooms. I would probably risk Hannibal Lechter coming in if he would just do the bathrooms.

I won't lie, this week has me longing for a Fairy more than ever! ALL of my appliances are in my living room (who doesn't want a refrigerator next to their coffee table?), so not only can I NOT cook, I can't do any dishes, and the laundry has reached epic proportions! I suppose I could do a throwback to our Crapistan days and do it all in the tub, but nah.

So here's something for you: I come home after a late day from work, and find my family eating... food (can't remember what it was), on dishes. The paper plates I had gotten for this week were sitting on the table right next to them. THINK, PEOPLE!! On the bright side, it's looking GREAT and what a difference!









Fed up, tired, and ready for a vacation, I'm going to a place where the housekeeping is renowned. It's so uber cool that it even has a special name for a special group of people. Of course bureaucratic stupidness has messed that up a bit, from what I hear, but someone ELSE is going to be doing this gal's bed-making for a spell. Those special bed-making, toilet cleaning, vacuuming, dusting, mostly non-towel-animal-creating, people are the MOUSEKEEPERS!

Can I gush a little more about how much I love these people?

I love them so much I made up some fairly un-imaginitive, but good enough Mousekeeping Tip envelopes. Nothing fancy or extravagant, but enough to hold a modest tip for each day. (The money you see may or may not be what I'm tipping- this isn't meant to start a debate on the amount a proper tip includes.) On the back on the Mickey head I'll be writing From the XXXX Family, Salem, Oregon.



Now, on a completely separate note, I have a few miscellaneous, random things to share on the trip front:

Anara decided on her Halloween Party costume, and we've been very busy ordering and gathering the items for it. Let me just say, I'm SUPER jealous and am sorta second guessing my Nursing Costume now. She's utterly adorable in her Steampunk Alice costume.

She's got some SUPER awesome accessories lined up too! Some are a bit dicey on the arrival date though. Kinda just hoping at this point on whether or not they arrive. Still need to get a black wired ribbon for her hair and make up her "Drink Me" bottles. Oh gotta craft a belt too.....

I have started doing some packing as well.

If I bogued out on being creative on the Mousekeeping Envelopes, I made up for it with this pretty cool packing hack:

I am using the clear, zippered bags I got with my bedskirt (yes, I actually have saved them JUST for THIS trip!) and new sheet set for packing up all of the little pieces to our window decorations, my DISMeet gifts, my Halloween Costume, and other things that I want all kept together. Seriously, it's pretty slick. I can easily find it all and pull it out quickly when we get there to set everything up.

I also made the executive decision on my park bag. I'm going with the VERY basic, cross-body style bag that I used for my last trip as it's the perfect size for the very few things we carry- not big and bulky and very light. It's big enough for my camera with 1 lens, so I'll actually have to choose A (as in ONE) lens for each day and concentrate on that type of photography. That's ok, it'll challenge me to work with what I've got, right? My wide angle lens arrived, and so far, I'm kinda in love with it. Here is the very first picture I took with it.

My husband came running into the bedroom this morning, and told me I needed to get out there as I was missing the "photograph of the century". I"m not convinced it's the photograph of the century, but it was lovely this morning the Autumn fog, the sun just coming up and this dew-laden web. Just beautiful!

Well, that about covers a few miscellaneous things for today. Been wonderful catching up on everyone's reports on this great day off. Need to get the NASTY sides of all the appliances cleaned off so they can go back into place truly clean. WHERE IS MOUSEKEEPING?!?! Need to fix my grad cap too as some of the bling fell off- time to pack!!!!

 

[franandaj]

All this talk of Mousekeeping reminded me that this will be only my second trip in 8 years to Disney where we will actually receive a full Mousekeeping. With DVC it truly is just like home, no one comes in your room when you're gone. The bed is just as messy as it was when you got out of it in the morning. Your dirty dishes stock up in your sink until you wash them or run them through the dishwasher.

On day 4 you get Trash and towel service. Normally we don't even stay this long in one location. On day 7 you get a full cleaning, so it does save on the tips.

I hope you get your situation at home all fixed soon. Remodeling is such a pain and even worse when you're living in it! But your floor will be lovely when it's all done!

 

[Steppesister]

All this talk of Mousekeeping reminded me that this will be only my second trip in 8 years to Disney where we will actually receive a full Mousekeeping. With DVC it truly is just like home, no one comes in your room when you're gone. The bed is just as messy as it was when you got out of it in the morning. Your dirty dishes stock up in your sink until you wash them or run them through the dishwasher.

On day 4 you get Trash and towel service. Normally we don't even stay this long in one location. On day 7 you get a full cleaning, so it does save on the tips.

I'm not so sure I wouldn't expect/want at least a quick cleaning for all the dues and fees associated with DVC. I admit I don't know a whole lot about the DVC in general, but it's out of my price range. But wow, not even a bed making? Hmmm.....

I hope you get your situation at home all fixed soon. Remodeling is such a pain and even worse when you're living in it! But your floor will be lovely when it's all done!

I was finally able to walk on it just now, so did up my dishes and started putting stuff back in order. The appliances can't be put back until tomorrow after the grout sets, but we're on our way. My neighbor has offered to come let me cook a roast at her place, so I'll be going over there for one more night of inconvenient cooking. But you're right; I absolutely LOVE the floor! It changes the whole look of the house! YAY!!!!

 

[irene_dsc]

The floor is gorgeous! I love it!

But, I could also use Mousekeeping at my house...

 

[cinderkelly]

I'm actually starting to panic just a little about packing as it's just going to keep being really busy and full right up until we go. We still have the whole house to put back

Wow you are one busy lady! I'm working 6 out of the next 7 days so I know how you feel. At least I'm not trying to go through a remodel at the same time!

But we leave on the Sunday morning after to make our way up to Seattle to catch our flight that night- so yep, busy right up until time to go.

Best plans! Stay super busy so you can sleep on the plane!

Dad is doing fine, need to call Mom and get the latest, but he's out now and out of pain too, which is a definite improvement.

So glad to hear that!

I would probably risk Hannibal Lechter coming in if he would just do the bathrooms.

Ha! Me too

On the back on the Mickey head I'll be writing From the XXXX Family, Salem, Oregon.

You are so creative! I just used the notepad in the room and wrote " for mousekeeping...thank you!"

She's utterly adorable in her Steampunk Alice costume.

Love it!!

but it was lovely this morning the Autumn fog, the sun just coming up and this dew-laden web. Just beautiful!

Stunning photo!

 

[orangecats2]

Awesome Alice costume!
Your Mousekeeping envelopes are way better than mine.
I always wish for a maid, cook, housekeeper, gardnerer...

 

[addictedtothemouse]

I'm kinda packed lol. I have things gathered and this weekend I'll go through and pick outfits for each day and throw in a couple extra long sleeved shirts and jeans for cooler weather.
Your new floors are BEAUTIFUL!
Mousekeeping envelopes! gaah, I would have forgotten if you hadn't posted about yours.