I want to move to Disneyland!

Forgive me if this sounds too redunant after Mare's blog, but I have to share my happy -lovey - Disney feeling with the blogging world. No Jewels, I wasn't kidnapped, but quality literature takes a while to compose! Rather than to go into great details of why oh why I love Disneyland, and anything else associated with Disney, I will simply list my Disneyland favorite things. There may be some repeats from Maryann's, but hey, that is why we travel together so well. Please keep in mind, these aren't necessarily ranked.

1. Two parks that you can walk between easily (sometimes back and forth 2 or 3 times).
2. 5 times at Buzz Lighteryear - score Janelle**3 Maryann**2. Hee Hee Hee
3. Matterhorn at night - best time to do it.
4. The sick and dizzy feeling in my stomach when getting off Space Mountain
5. Songs that stick in your head forever and ever (it's a small world afterall or welcome to our family time....)
6. California Screaming - front seat with hands up the whole way!!!
7. Spending time in Ursula's Grotto recording voice overs from songs and films.
8. Finding out that my true inner Disney character is Cinderella - although according to the official Disney princess website, I am Belle.
9. Breadbowls, Breadbowls, Breadbowls
10. Corn Dogs, Corn Dogs, Corn Dogs
11. Pretzels, Pretzels, Pretzels
12. Crazy parades called "block parties" with awesome acrobats
13. Classic parades where I can be a little kid again and wave to my favorite Disney Prince & Princess (AKA Phillip & Aurora).
14. Finding Jumba Juice in Downtown Disney
15. The end of a Disney Day means a 5 minute walk to the hotel not a 20+ minute hunt/wait for a shuttle bus on top of another 20+ minute ride to the hotel if we happen to catch it on time.
16. Peter Pan's flight - a classic in my book
17. Early admission - best time to blow through all the Fantasyland kiddy rides.
18. Giant Chocolate chip cookies from my breadbowl place!
19. Solving bad blisters by buying Mickey shoes!
20. More Character pins for my collection. (now Phillip isn't alone anymore).
21. Dancing on a music pad? (I don't know it's called) in Innovations
22. Having the Disney channel in your hotel!
23. The sight, smells, & sounds of Soarin over California
24. Stores with every piece of Disney merchandise I ever wanted.
25. The moments of being a kid again.

---and today, back to reality. Actually that was Monday on the flight home. Results of the Disney trip are as follows.
1. I am several hundreds dollars poorer
2. I am several ??? pounds fatter
3. I have two blisters on my feet
4. I am still singing It's a small world
5. I am ready to plan my next trip to DisneyWorld (I miss the big house!)
6. I just refuse to really grow up (I am Peter Pan!!)

Back to reality again...Sigh.....

Friday the 13th - Myth or Reality

I have always heard people say that strange things happen on Friday the 13th. I always said that it was just a day like any other day. That was before this past Friday the 13th, which set up a strange series of events all weekend long.

The day started off normal enough, I went to school. Although, I wasn't with my kids, I had a sub so I could do testing for report cards. The kids were louder than normal for the sub and even the good ones seemed off, but I chalked it up to the full moon and moved on.

I left school early in a trenchal down pour to get to the MBS airport for my 3:25 flight. Other than getting extremely wet, it seemed normal.

Once I got into Detroit airport, I ate a delicious meal at Chili's and went to my gate. I noticed our time for flying out changed to about 30 minutes later than before, then it changes again so that we were flying out almost 1 hour late from Detroit. After a rather not so pleasant smell coming from the man who sat next to me , I decided to kill my hour by taking a walk. I really wanted to go in the direction of TCBY but since that was the other end of the airport, I settled on Mrs. Field's cookies. After killing 20 minutes of time, I wandered back towards my gate to find that we were suddenly boarding the plane. After 45 minutes on the run way taxing (BAHHHHH) we finally took off. Granted, I love to fly but the turbulance was so bad I almost got sick. It was a bad flight.

Finally get to Chicago and I ask a lady at the help desk where I catch the shuttle buses to hotels. She tells me there is a fire in the area where we usually catch the buses and sends me on an alternative route. Needless to say, her directions stuck and I ended up wandering around outside the airport, trying to keep myself from getting killed, for about 20 minutes. I finally found where the buses were with a swarm of several hundred other people. I saw I bus for my hotel and frantically tired to wave it down as it flew past me. After 2 calls to the hotel and 45 minutes of waiting, my fingers were numb, and I was just praying "Lord, get me out of here." Help came in the form of a very nice driver from the Hyatt (not my hotel) who, after I asked him for help to find my bus, directed me into his bus and went out of his way to drop me off at my hotel. My angel (I tipped him big time!). I was in the hotel room before my fingers fully warmed up (no joke).

On the bus I met a very nice lady who's day had been worse than mine including a delayed flight, lost luggage, and being stuck in Chicago for another 13 hours because of flight problems. Suddenly my day felt brighter. So after checking in I played phone tag with Maryann, who luckily had an easier time with the shuttle than I did, until she was there safe in sound. Phew, we went to bed.

This wasn't the end of our crazy weekend, but since I am getting long winded I will shorten up the other strange points for you.

1. Maryann locking our rental car keys in the car in the parking lot of the rental place, before we had even gone anywhere - another 20 minutes of freezing while I guy who had no clue what he was doing tired to break in our car for us
2. Stopping at 4? (at least, possibly more) exits on the way down to Congerville in search of an Olive Garden or Red Lobster (we found neither) and finally settling on Bob Evans (we were desperate), Nothing is ever as good when you have to settle.
3. Stopping at 5? (possibly more) exits on the way BACK from Congerville for the same restaurants. Finally finding a Red Lobster only to be seated too inches from the smoking section with a waiter that couldn't figure out why we weren't happy and why we were keeping him from watching his beloved Chicago Bears with our complaints (needless to say, we left without eating there).
4. Having our toilet back up Sunday night in the hotel the first time we tired to use it and having the guy fixing it discover that someone shoved a bar of soap down it!
5. Our hotel room which was HOT HOT HOT and wouldn't cool off even thought the air was on full blast.
6. Watching a pay-per-view movie on Monday before check out only to have it suddenly stop for no reason 20 minutes before the end so that I didn't get to see the end of the movie!!!!!

It's a rough life

Some good things did come out of the weekend though.
1. Time with Maryann - great memories
2. Really good pizza in our hotel Sunday night
3. Really good omelets for breakfast Saturday & Monday (thought of you Jewels)
4. The Bears lost - hee hee hee, that made me happy!
5. Something to blog about!

Well, I never was a believer in the whole Friday the 13th myth before, but just try and get me to go on a plane on Friday the 13th again. I think next time it comes around, I will take a 24 hour nap!

Things I've learned (or re-learned) in the past week

Yes, I know...It's been awhile. I was in such a depression after going back to school, I couldn't even blog. But hey, I am back now with random lessons that have learned in these days I've been away.

1. Kids can really surprise you sometimes in a good way. (my class is doing awesome in reading and I am so pumped!!!)

2. Meijer's is a bad place to be when you are hungry.

3. Fritos are just as good as they used to be.

4. Snails stink (trust me, district science kit).

5. Hanging up a picture of the 2 bridesmaids dresses you have to wear this spring/summer does not inspire you to lose weight, it inspires you to buy more chocolate.

6. Puzzles are just as fun as I remember.

7. Dishes so not magically clean up themselves.

8. When you get in the groove, cleaning your basement can actually be rewarding.

9. My kids love their substitute teacher better than me. (Seriously, when I said Miss Sarah would be there 4 days this month, they about blew the building down with their cheers!)

10. The most annoying word for a baby to learn is no, because then it is the only one they will use.

11. Celebrity marriages never last (why I ever had that strange idea, I don't know).

12. Saginaw Valley has two Room 114's in the lower level of the education building -weird I know, so everyone was late for class on Monday night.

13. Did I mention that Fritos are really good? (chomp, chomp).

14. Window shades can make a lot of noise when you are trying to sleep (case in point, mine is right above my heating vent and so it hits the window constantly and is annoying - like a ticking clock annoying).

15. The WB up here actually has the nerve to play Pistons basketball rather than Gilmore Girls.

16. Kids get very excited over planting seeds.

17. It is next to impossible to get anything done before Wednesday night church.

18. Laffy Taffy's do not last forever.

19. Playing Mahjogg on the computer is addictive.

20. Did I mention that Fritos are addictive? (I should have bought 2 bags)

Let's all have a moment of silence...

Let's all observe a moment of silence in sadness for the end of vacation.



"sigh"

"boo hoo"

"boo hiss"

"is it really over?!?"

"WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"


Wishing that Christmas break lasted a month instead of 13 days.

Expect to see a very depressed blog from me tomorrow.

"sigh"