Confession

OK, so last night I was flipping around the t.v. channels when I landed on a channel with a movie just starting. That made me excited because it was 9:00 and I really could have gone for a good movie. Then I discovered it was "You've Got Mail" and I got disgusted and changed it quickly. That is when I realized that I DO NOT LIKE MEG RYAN. Yes, that is my confession. (What did you think it was going to be?) I know that she is supposed to be the all cute girl next door all sunny and bright girl, but she bugs me to no end. In every movie I've seen her in she always acts pretty much the same, which is like she is on heavy drugs. She is always loopy and weird acting, and way too perky when perkiness is not called for. And really too skinny, bony actually. The only movie I enjoyed her in (besides "When Harry Met Sally") was when she played the drunk alcoholic mother in "When A Man Loves A Woman." Now that role she nailed, mostly because she seems to be in a perpetual state of drunkenness anyway. I watched "Proof of Life" recently with Russell Crowe and the entire time I just kept thinking what a better movie it would have been if someone else had been cast in her role.

So that's it my loyal readers. Now you know. I do not like Meg Ryan. Can't stand her. That's all.

Random-ness

I'm sorry I haven't been blogging. I'm tired, and honestly I haven't been able to think of much to say. Why don't I just throw some random things from the last few days out there, shall I. We had fun camping, or should I say "trailering." We ended up getting to stay in my aunt and uncles trailer so we had the whole place to ourselves. It was delightful. My own big bed, our own bathroom. Ahhh, camping. The only crappy part was that Jack was being a pain in the ass half the weekend, he is going through a serious bratty stage that I am desperately afraid is not a stage at all but just his personality. I feel like all I ever say is "Jack, knock it off!" and I know you are supposed to love your children at all times but honestly sometimes I do not even like him very much when he acts up. And he acts up plenty. Oh and when he is especially acting up Abbey acts even more angelic so that we can all be sure to see how angelic she is in comparison. The girl is smart, way smart.

Also, I feel like all I have been doing is laundry and picking up, picking up, picking up and my house is still full of junk everywhere. I think my main problem is that I am feeling Disney-less and missing not only my vacation but planning and looking forward to having a vacation. My friend Jenna is going in August though and is letting me help plan their days out, so that is helping a bit. I mean, sure, we'll have lots of weekends away this summer and we always have an awesome family week up at the lake coming up soon, but this last vacation was a real vacation in the sense that I was completely away from my life of constant cooking, cleaning and laundry. In all honesty I don't actually cook constantly, because I don't like to cook and hate the question "what's for supper?" more than anything in the world. Oh boo hoo me, right? Sure, people have real problems and I'm bitching about not being on vacation. I'll stop now. Oh and I went back on Weight Watchers not in the sense that I am going to a meeting which would involve finding a meeting that met at a convenient time for me when I wasn't at work or had the kids, but I am writing down my points and drinking my water and thinking about going on my treadmill (do you like how I am thinking about it, like I have to psych myself up to get really back into the swing of exercise). But I hate to diet and watch what I eat and I just want to have some Tostitos and lay on the couch because I freakin' love Tostitos and I love to eat.

Another random-ness, while writing this post I dropped not 1, not 2 but 3 grapes I was munching on onto the floor where they rolled under the hutch or fell into the box that holds the printer that we still haven't hooked up, and I'm not even going to find them and pick them up. I am just going to leave them and let them turn into raisins.

A Camping We Will Go

Just in case this title misled anyone I should explain that when I say camping, I actually mean staying in my parents trailer with electricity, running water, AC, t.v., and a lovely if somewhat teeny tiny bathroom. Tomorrow we are off for the Memorial Day weekend,and we are very excited. It has been about 8 months since we were there and we have all missed it, especially the kids. Memorial Day is supposed to mark the beginning of summer, but with another 5 weeks of school left for Jack, it still doesn't feel too summery. Getting away to the trailer will really make me feel like summer is starting. I also get to start wearing open toed shoes to work, so woo hoo to that! The ability to wear sandals just breaks my work wardrobe choices wide open. I'm just happy that campground time is here, the time when we can head into the woods for family fun and togetherness. And you do understand that by togetherness I mean 7 people sharing one aforementioned teeny tiny bathroom?

Swimming Pigs?

OK, I am going to admit it, I never knew that pigs could swim. I guess I have never actually thought about it, and if I had I would have come to the conclusion that sure, if they were, you know, drowning they would probably paddle themselves to safety, but to swim for fun? Who knew. Check out Nothing But Bonfires (I love her slogan, "You say tomato, I say your saying it wrong") and see a video of real live swimming pigs. I swear. I had no idea.

Mind Reader

Can you read minds? Well if you are a mom you are thoroughly expected to. Abbey especially thinks I am a superhero mind-reading psychic. Most of the time when we are in the car together she likes to sing songs. The problem is that she wants me to sing songs with her that she is making up on the spot. "Sing with me mommy" she yells as she warbles nonsensical words in a string to an ever changing tune. When I don't jump right in with the correct words she gets completely frustrated and upset with me. "No mommy, those aren't the right words, sing the right words." I tried to explain to her that I don't know the words and perhaps she could teach me the words first, and then we could sing together but that doesn't seem to work either. She doesn't understand why I don't just "know" the words already. Usually she doesn't know the words either and is just making them up, and that tends to make a sing-a-long a little difficult. Yesterday she was singing this little Christmas ditty she invented.

I wish it was Merry Christmas

I wish it was Merry Christmas

I wish it was Merry Christmas

All through the year

Once I got the words down we sang it together about 18 times. But just knowing the words was not enough. I had to know how loud to sing it. Or soft. She kept changing which lines were loud, which were soft. "No mommy, that's too loud. Sing it softer. Not that part, sing that part loud. No, you're doing it wrong."

Ummm, OK. Sorry honey.

Pictures Pictures and More Pictures

So what did we do? We picked the Contemporary baby. Nothing says magical vacation like a free upgrade. Unfortunately, now that we have stayed in a deluxe resort we will never again be able to mingle with the common folk at the regular hotels. Sorry, its deluxe for us from here on out!

It was so great, the beds were super comfy and the room was huge. We could see the monorail out the window as well as the tip of Cinderella's Castle. Definitely the right decision. My mom told me she read that the beds in the new Pirate rooms were super hard and uncomfortable anyway.

This picture is by far my most favorite of the entire trip. Check out Abbey's awestruck gaze at Prince Charming. He was quite handsome and charming, that's for sure! After he signed her book he gave her a kiss on the forehead and I thought she was going to melt into a puddle on the floor. He barely acknowledged Jack or Dennis or I, he only had eyes for the Princess.

I'm already planning our next trip in my head. I'm thinking Fall, 2012. I'm thinking the Polynesian. I'm thinking that maybe I will lose some weight and my thighs won't rub together quite so much in the heat!

Keep looking below for even more pictures from our vacation at the "Happiest Place on Earth"

This is when we were picked to be "Celebration" family at the "Lights Motors Action" Stunt show. Which basically meant we got to sit on special chairs in the rain.

Abbey was chosen for the Jedi training show, so damn cute.

This says it all, Abbey conked out on the plane on the way home, while Jack excitedly watched lightening out the window.

Disneyworld

We are home from Disneyworld. Notice the lack of exclamation point. After 8 months of planning (that's right, 8 months) it is over. No more planning. No more Disney. I am quite sad, but we had a great and wonderful trip. A trip of a lifetime, although I am already secretly planning on going again in 2 years. Everything went fabulous and even though it did seem crowded and it was super hot, the lines were short (we waited 10 minutes or less for most rides) and there was plenty of air conditioning. My hair as usual hated being on vacation and was an unreasonable mess the entire week. I wore my Red Sox hat every single day, and actually got quite a couple of "nice hat" comments from fellow New Englanders. I'll share more tomorrow, for now I am exhausted after my long day of unpacking, doing 5 loads of laundry and a giant grocery store run. I will share this though. I had booked us a room at the Caribbean Beach Resort, a brand new "Pirate" themed room. This is considered a "Moderate" resort by Disney standards. When I went to check in, they asked me if we wanted a complimentary upgrade to the Contemporary Resort, which is considered a Deluxe. The manager told me that the room was valued at $527 a night. I thought about it, after all it is right on the monorail system and so much closer and is a nicer hotel, but on the other hand I had been dreaming about the kids faces when we surprised them with this pirate room for months (they had no idea about it). And the main pool had been recently done over in all pirate themes as well. Hmmm, what to do. So what did we decide? Fun for the kids in a great themed room? Or convenience and a bigger room with bigger beds for us?

What would you have done?

DISNEY!

What can I say. WE ARE GOING TO DISNEYWORLD TOMORROW! After 8 months (that's right, 8 months) of planning and preparing, we are really going. After all of my obsessive compulsive over planning, we are actually going. We are going we are going we are going. Disney, here we come. Everyone else, get the hell out of there!

I'll be back in a week and I'm sure I'll have pictures and stories to share. Just keep us in your prayers for a safe and healthy trip. And maybe low crowds and gorgeous weather? I won't count on that one! I hear that Orlando is having a heat wave, and the crowds so far in May have been the largest ever. Oh well, its still DISNEYWORLD!

Ready

Yup, I'm ready for our vacation. Today was a really crappy day. It started off with a call from the car rental company, we'll call them ENTERPRISE because I do not feel the need to protect them in the least. I returned the rental car yesterday that I had been driving for 10 days while the van was having the ice storm from hell damage of 5 months ago fixed. They "claim" that when they picked it up that there were scratches all over the bumper. Well that is BULL because when I left it I didn't see any scratches. This means that either (a) someone hit me and I never noticed it, or (b) it happened after I dropped it off at the body shop and before they got there to pick it up. Either way, they assure me that it is my responsibility. Grrrr. I was stressed all day, but after 6 calls to my insurance company I guess I just have to let it go. It will be investigated, there are adjustor's and agents on the case, and it is out of my hands. But my day only got better. Tonight when I went to take the Cheesy Chicken and Rice casserole out of the oven it slipped and flipped over, dumping out inside the oven, smoking and burning. Jack was at the table doing his homework and you would have thought it was him burning in the oven. "Nooooooooo" he yelled. "Not the cheesy chicken and rice!" Can you tell that my son likes to eat? Abbey was in the den and came running in after hearing the screams. "Oh no, what are we going to eat for dinner?" Panic Panic Panic. Please, settle down kids. Just don't mind me as I scrape a bit of this chicken up off the oven door, and oh yes, there is plenty of rice left in the dish for your dinner. Yup, good as new. They actually ate it with vigor and told me it was the best cheesy chicken and rice yet. Then off to the baseball field we headed for Jack's practice. The rain held out until we pulled into the parking lot. By then I knew practice would be cancelled, but it was too late to wrangle the kids back into the car, they had already sprinted into the playground where they proceeded to get drenched in their decidedly un-waterproof but still adorable Lands End windbreakers. Hmmm, I guess the name should have tipped me off that they are not for rain but are for, what else, duh, wind.

Oh, when we got home I did clean out the oven. I picked out all the bits of rice and chicken, and I then proceeded to spray it all over the inside with my Easy Off Oven Cleaner, noticing when I was done that I had mistakenly used the Easy Off Window cleaner. I then had to clean that out, and re-spray it with the oven cleaner. After that I just shut the oven door, I'll deal with it tomorrow. Either way, I'm not using that damn oven until we get back from Disney.

Underwear - Check!

Mommying, working, baseball, taekwondo, gymnastics, laundry, cooking, cleaning, dog-care, mommying (I know I mentioned it already but it takes up a lot of time) and packing. Phew, no wonder I haven't posted. Our house has been busy, but a good busy. Everyone seems healthy at the moment and I just knock on all the wood around me that it stays that way because we leave for our vacation on Saturday. Yes, after months of planning and counting down the days, we head off to Disneyworld just a mere few days away. Who would have thought that there would be a weird nationwide flu outbreak looming over our heads, but I'm just not thinking about that. I booked this trip back in October, so the wait has seemed quite

L - O - N - G!

Now it is zooming towards us and we are all so excited. As for me, I can't wait to NOT cook for a week. NOT clean for a week (Mousekeeping, you know I love ya!) and just hang out with Dennis and the kids without having to be running in different directions. Sure, we will be running towards Splash Mountain, or Peter Pan's Flight (my personal favorite) but we will be running TOGETHER. There will be no escape from each other for 7 days (uh-oh, seeing it written down makes me nervous).

We have to get to Saturday though, which involves a long week of work and school. I have clothes and miscellaneous items all over the dining room table, which is where I pack. I pack on the dining room table because my mother always did (and still does). No other reason. When I was growing up when we went away she always laid our clothes out and organized everything on the table, so I do too. Packing also lets me use my favorite skill, list making. I make lists of things to pack, things to buys, even what to pack for who. As I put things into bags I check them off, and for anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE to check things off of lists. Oh lists . . . . how I love to make lists . . . .