I love credit cards so much! v2.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[havaneselover]

Offer for Kroger on my CSP today. 5% back, $3 max (lol). I'll still take it.

My fancy and expensive elliptical was delivered yesterday. I went to get on it last night... only to see it wasn't configured right and the control board isn't working properly. So now a tech has to come back on Thursday or Friday. At least DH will be home because he's off. It annoys me tho.

Going to hometown for Christmas later today and staying the night. I'll probably be on here again later. I get bored.

When my stairmaster dies (it's 21 years old) I want an elliptical (although the stairmaster takes up less floor space). Hope it gets fixed Thursday and you love it!

And I got the Kroger offer too. I know others got 10%.

 

[Alexle2007]

Goals for today:
- Try the VIP Lounge in Punta Cana (why did I never think to check for this before)
- Try the PP restaurant in FLL

Thanks CSR for the free meals today!

 

[3 DD love princesses]

Staples offer on CSR. Hoping other cards will pop up with the offer soon. Def could use more staples cards right now

 

[3 DD love princesses]

Cookie talk-
Made oreo peppermint, gingerbread, andes mint, eggnog, and smores cookies. Gave 2 of our neighbors big trays with ~30 cookies and still have like 30 left. Always give cookies to people who will come cut the head off of the copperheads in your yard, thats my life motto.

Disney-
Was going to budget most of our non-point $$ on character meals but ny husband was nervous we didn’t have enough MK time so now we are doing less meals (still some, just less) and changed our tickets to park hoppers. Fastpass day next week eep!

Churning/Travel-
Getting ready to book our Dec 2020 flights soonish (as soon as they open in Jan anyway). I think my options are Delta by way of MR or AA by way of BA by way of MR. Our local airport has a direct flight, but I’m not paying United 25k points per person when Delta has flights for 10k per person if we just drive to the big city airport. I feel like my MR go so quickly haha

What’s your Oreo cookie recipe If you don’t mind sharing. Not making cookies till mid Jan but those sound good

 

[MickeyMouseCD524]

I've never heard of Fakespot but it sounds like something I should check out.

It's just a spot where you put the link to a product in and it tells you if it thinks the reviews and or product are fake.

Also boys and girls! NORAD reported this morning that Santa has left the North Pole! I repeat Santa is on the way!

....And I hope he leaves a little coal in the Airline Grinch's stocking!

 

[MKTokyo]

Santa is coming to our house next!!!

Merry Christmas, everyone

 

[miztressuz]

Staples offer on CSR. Hoping other cards will pop up with the offer soon. Def could use more staples cards right now

I finally got it Only one card as well, CFU.

 

[tink1970]

4- some other combination or addition?

Late to the party but DM makes the best cookies (she always gifts them for hs graduation-2 dozen a month for the freshman year) with peanut butter (protein), oatmeal (fiber) and chocolate chunks. They are really good and very popular One young man received them throughout his entire West Point career and was very appreciative.

 

[Alexle2007]

This is our first time flying SW International with a connection. Will we get our connecting flight boarding pass in the departure airport?

 

[wendow]

Merry Christmas Eve! Adios Esmeralda! We’ll be back! Now on to part 2 of vacay in Orlando!

Beautiful!! Where did you stay? Have fun on part 2 of your vacation!

 

[Alexle2007]

Beautiful!! Where did you stay? Have fun on part 2 of your vacation!

Our usual resort- Bahia Principe Esmeralda In Punto Cana. With this stay, we now get 10% off of our stays. It’s kind of Christmas tradition to come here.

 

[StephPlum]

Updating my spreadsheet for 2020! How do you track when a card falls off your */24 status? Applied for IHG last March, see it hit my credit report in April. So does it fall off in March or in April? Also is this day specific (ie falls off 3/15 or is it just the beginning of March)?

 

[Jax1023]

I finally got it Only one card as well, CFU.

Don’t forget to combine with retail me not! 10% back on staples online today.

 

[amcc]

My 7 and 13 year olds made chocolate chip cookies yesterday. The 7 year old immediately confiscated them and set up a “Free Cookies” stand outside. The FedEx, UPS, and Amazon guys all jumped out and grabbed some and the neighbors came over. It was a really nice idea he had (but the 13 year old was left wanting cookies).
For Hispanics, Christmas Eve is the main celebration. We actually celebrated last night so that the in-laws could enjoy on the 24 without other family conflicts. Dinner was traditional, pork, yucca, beans and rice and a salad. Tonight will just be us, my parents, my aunt and cousin here from Spain, and my husbands parents at our house.

 

[apollodi]

Will she drink whole milk chocolate milk? DD doesn't eat a ton (her weight is fine but she's on the light side) but we found she will down a full glass of chocolate milk (has to be Tru Moo brand for her). The calcium is good for her and the way she eats the extra calories and fat probably are too.

Sadly, last time I tried she wouldn't drink that either. It's worth trying again, though, since her tastes are changing all the time. At daycare, she drinks carnation breakfast drink mixed in with her milk. Her teacher used to be a dietician at a children's hospital, so she's been a big help. I've tried it at home and she won't drink it at home. No idea why because I tasted it and, mixed in with whole milk, it's delicious. At home, she drinks whole milk with heavy cream mixed in, lol. She's all about the dairy fats.

 

[elgerber]

Sad to see that no new award flights (for the third week in November) are showing on United's site yet. I was hoping they'd show up today since it's Monday but I wonder if they're taking a whole week off of posting new ones because of Christmas. Just waiting... waiting...

Finally talked (guilted?) my husband into trying Disney+ for me for Christmas, so we watched 4 episodes of The Mandalorian last night. Interesting so far!

We also watched Logan and Deadpool (back to back) the night before last and all I can say is good grief, I've never seen so much gratuitous violence! Don't need to watch those again.

I made about 13 dozen cookies over my weekend so I brought most of them to work so we wouldn't eat them at home.. but guess what. I'm at work with them so that was not the smartest thing I've done recently...

Here is an informal poll I put on my FB page:

When eating oatmeal cookies, do you prefer them:

1- plain
2- with chocolate chips
3- with chocolate chips and nuts
4- some other combination or addition?

Where is oatmeal scotchies on the list? I made those last week and they didn’t last long. I actually don’t think I’ve ever had oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips.

This this this this!!! Scotchies are the only way to eat oatmeal cookies !!!! My favorites. No raisins...in anything...ever...

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to all! Dh and I returned from our amazing India trip last night---so much still to process about what we saw and did, but I am so happy that we were able to travel with our friends.

Some things potentially related to redemptions:

• Lufthansa from PHL-FRA-DEL (and reverse) in business was wonderful. We had the upstairs 747 cabin on the PHL-FRA legs. It was such a relaxing experience, very quiet with great service. The FRA-DEL legs were on an A380 which we had never flown before--so smooth! We were able to sleep several hours on all 4 legs---lay flat seats rock. Dh is now asking how the Air Canada and United biz seats for Australia will compare
• Lounge report: PHL Centurion lounge was just as good as it was when we flew to Rome. The Frankfurt business class lounge (Z gate area) was excellent with loads and loads of seating, hot and cold foods, sweets and baked goods, bowls of fruit everywhere, self-serve beverages of all kinds, and multiple fancy coffee machines. Bathrooms were constantly being cleaned, and there were many, many shower rooms (the waits were at least 1 hour so book those right away). The wifi didn't work well in the far corner on our outbound visit but it was fine on the homeward visit. We used a Priority Pass lounge at the Delhi airport, the Plaza Premium in the Lounges B area. It was SO crowded between 1:30 and 2:30 am with all the international departures, but we managed to find seats for the 7 of us. Interesting note---they allow unlimited guests per PP holder! We were prepared to pay for one entry because 2 of us had PP but didn't need to. Dh and I didn't get any food though our friends did (they weren't flying business). Drinks were abundant as was bottled water.
• Leela Palace hotel in Delhi is on Amex FHR--highly recommend this property. Great food, almost over-the-top service, beautiful room. It definitely spoiled us for the vast majority of the places we stayed the rest of the trip!
• ITC Mughal (Luxury Collection) in Agra, a Marriott cat 2 and available with UR)---not recommended. Our room and those of our friends were on the lowest level and smelled musty. Had we stayed there longer than 1 night we would have asked to switch rooms. Food wasn't very good at the lobby restaurant (v late dinner) and was extensive but just ok at the included buffet breakfast.
• ITC Rajputana in Jaipur, Marriott cat 3 and on UR portal---recommended. Service was slow (why did it take 30 minutes to check in and 15 to check out??) but attentive, food was quite good yet pricey.
• Narhargarh Ranthambhore near the Ranthambhore National Park and Tiger Preserve, on UR portal---highly recommended. It's in the style of a fort/palace, with every room different. Just gorgeous! And the staff was great, very friendly and helpful. It's full-board, not just breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but tea/coffee/biscuits before and after everyone heads out for their early game drives. The bar was great and decently priced too. And the same-day laundry service was SO cheap, 1/10 of what all the other hotels were charging. I had read about this on Tripadvisor so had planned ahead. I would stay there again should we return to India.
• JW Marriott near the Delhi airport (Aerocity location), Marriot cat 5 and on UR portal---recommended for first/last nights. We used rooms from 5pm to midnight before heading to the airport for our 3:30a flights (worked out, took a bubble bath/showered, ate at one of the restaurants, and napped). The standard rooms are very nice, service was good, and the 24 hour lobby level restaurant was excellent and a good value.

And then some things related to the trip itself:

• We had a great time! I had always wanted to visit India but dh did not. The opportunity to travel with friends, including one who is from India, was one we could not pass up.
• We discovered that we are NOT group travel people but that's really the only way to go in India. One couple in the group tended to lag behind (the group was only 9 people lol) which was frustrating. We hadn't met them before the trip (all the others are friends, and we had previously traveled to China with one couple)--perfectly nice and well-traveled just sorta wander-y.
• Traffic is insane everywhere including in the countryside. Lane markings are only suggestions. So much honking everywhere, usually to indicate someone passing. We saw bikes, motorcycles, horse- and camel-drawn carts and tractors even on toll roads!
• The food, omg the food
• Trash is everywhere, except in national parks and historic sites.
• Indian people are so friendly. We had children on field trips come up to us to practice their English everywhere. Sometimes I felt like I was reciting English 1 dialogues
• I forgot how much my blonde hair would stick out. I was very uncomfortable at points. Lots of avoiding eye contact. However, I was happy to take pictures with school kids and young women while we were touring historic sites. It got to the point that our friends would take pictures of those encounters lol
• My favorite city was Delhi (even though the air quality was not good). My favorite touring occurred in Agra (horrible air quality) with Agra Fort (aka the Red Fort) and the Taj Mahal. Our guide for those days was just excellent. My least favorite city was Jaipur---it's in a drought-prone area so it was very dusty and there were no green areas at all. Plus, it was the only place we experienced in-your-face street hawkers and vendors. We saw amazing wildlife at Ranthambhore including 2 female tigers just feet from our open vehicle and at a bird sanctuary elsewhere in the countryside (so much so that I started a Life List).
• Clean water and clean air are precious gifts everyone should be able to access.

 

[hsmamato2]

Goals for today:
- Try the VIP Lounge in Punta Cana (why did I never think to check for this before)
- Try the PP restaurant in FLL

Thanks CSR for the free meals today!

FLL open again? I know they had flooding on Monday... I never got to the lounge (wrong terminal) but the burger place by the SW gates is good

 

[3 DD love princesses]

Sadly, last time I tried she wouldn't drink that either. It's worth trying again, though, since her tastes are changing all the time. At daycare, she drinks carnation breakfast drink mixed in with her milk. Her teacher used to be a dietician at a children's hospital, so she's been a big help. I've tried it at home and she won't drink it at home. No idea why because I tasted it and, mixed in with whole milk, it's delicious. At home, she drinks whole milk with heavy cream mixed in, lol. She's all about the dairy fats.

Starbucks vanilla bean with coconut milk! Helped DD gain some weight

 

[havaneselover]

Sadly, last time I tried she wouldn't drink that either. It's worth trying again, though, since her tastes are changing all the time. At daycare, she drinks carnation breakfast drink mixed in with her milk. Her teacher used to be a dietician at a children's hospital, so she's been a big help. I've tried it at home and she won't drink it at home. No idea why because I tasted it and, mixed in with whole milk, it's delicious. At home, she drinks whole milk with heavy cream mixed in, lol. She's all about the dairy fats.

My parents have a good friend who is a cardiologist and taught at a major university. He swore skim milk was a bad idea for kids because it doesn't leave them feeling full so they overcompensate. Which makes me wonder if full fat dairy may be counterproductive in getting kids to gain weight.

Until now this has never been a concern of mine. I had chubby babies who outgrew carriers at 4 months. My family (on dad's side but is true of me and my siblings) stay near ideal weight. But we were never thin (well I was but that was not natural). My ex looks like a football player. I remember once being asked if my kids' dad was Samoan when we went to the pool when they were little.