Friday, April 11, 2008

We are at 22 days! PRE-TRIP REPORT #1

Well, we are 22 days from our trip to Disney. Our Magical Express tags arrived at the end of March and there was much rejoicing. That quickly ended, though, when I told Johnnie he could not have the tags. Then there was much bitching and whining.

My annual pass voucher came a few days later, then Johnnie's ticket from Undercover Tourist (I am upgrading him at the park to an AP). Again, much rejoicing until he could not get his hot little hands on either one.

I found out I can buy the tickets from UC and then upgrade them, so we will be doing another order for Mom, John, and Gainey. Then, after a day or two at Disney, we are upgrading to DVC APs for everyone but Mom. Since she does not live here, she has to get a full price AP. Still a savings for her, since she will be using it in May, October, and next March.

I called DVC today and made sure our names were all correct on the reservation, added the dining plan, and requested a crib for Johnnie. We are staying at Old Key West and I cannot wait. I have wanted to stay there since we bought into DVC, but kept getting overruled. Not this time!

I also emailed Animal Kingdom concierge today with our list of reservations for our trip in October with all the kids, Mom, and Avis.

It has been a busy week. In addition to my normal 40 hours of typing, I worked 3 days at the hospital. That is going very well. I absolutely love the job. The nurses and aides I work with are fantastic and really, everyone at the hospital is extremely friendly. The job is pretty easy. Sometimes busy, but nothing I cannot handle.

Last Sunday, Johnnie woke up with retractions. We tried a nebulizer treatment, but he was retracting again within a half hour. So, I packed him up and took him to the ER at Children's. Avis was off, but they took good care of him. He had 2 double albuterol and Atrovent neb treatments and a dose of prednisolone and the wheezes cleared up. He had to take 4 more days of steroids and we got him a supply of albuterol for the neb here. Next week, I have to take him into his pediatrician for a followup and to get a script for an inhaler with a spacer to take to Florida just in case. Poor guy. I really think they are going to eventually diagnose him with asthma, but since he is only 3, they won't do that for a while. He is doing much better, although still coughing a bit at night.

I finally found out what to do with the 3 huge Rubbermaid totes of Gymboree that the kids have outgrown. The stuff is almost all like new and we have so much. I thought about a garage sale, but we are so far out in cow country that I didn't think that was a great idea.

Well, there is a HUGE consignment sale on April 26th and 27th at the Hamburg Fairgrounds this year. I applied to be a seller and was accepted. I have to drop everything off on the 25th, with tags and hangers and looking pretty and ready to sell. So that is the project for the next week for Gainey and I. We are going to sort, wash, and hang all this stuff. I am also selling the double stroller that we used ONCE and Johnnie's high chair, which looks like it just came out of the box. The sale is not a bad deal. I get 60% of all my sales, I MUST price everything over $4.00 (so with things like onesies, they say group a couple together to make the total over $4). If I volunteer 3 hours, I would get 70%. Considering I am working 78 hours the week before the sale, and working 64 hours and packing for FL the week after, I decided to just take the 60% and be happy. They also deduct $10 from your final total for fees, which is fine with me. If you live in Western New York, they have a website for the sale:
http://www.mothertimemarketplace.com/

If you want to go shop, all the info is there. If you want to sign up to sell, please drop me a comment or email and I will give you my seller ID# (I get credit for referrals!).

I am going to print out some flyers and take them into work. I am pretty excited. Hopefully I can make some decent money on this. I should. Everything is in really great condition, some of it looks like it has never been worn at all.

I have also started my lists for packing. When I pack, I make 170 lists of stuff to pack. I check it off. Then I make another list and recheck that I have it all in the suitcases. There is a method to it all. I have a huge packing compulsion, most likely exacerbated (LOVE that word) by my fear of flying. It gives me something to obsess about other than dying. I am sure a therapist would advise me that it is not healthy. I am sure I don't care.

So that is where we are now. Packing lists have started....my bed is covered with the shorts and T-shirts I pulled out for packing, and I am working my ass off.

Mom left yesterday for Burbank, CA to see my big brother. He works at Warner Brothers and refuses to visit Buffalo in any month other than July. So she just goes to see him. She is there until the 23rd of this month, then back to work for a week, then she is leaving with us on May 4th for Disney. And I think she is loving every minute of it!

I think this qualifies as Pre-trip report #1! I promise I will try to make more than 1. Now it is back to work and watching Sam Brown's Disney Favorites on the Travel Channel with 1 eye and listening with 1 ear.

Tomorrow I have to go to Kmart to get the hangers that the very nice Michelle from KMart Customer Service is saving for me to use at the consignment sale. Gainey and I may start our sorting this weekend, as well. Courtney is here this weekend, so I may try to put her to work too, although I am sure that will just involve much eyerolling.

I have also decided the laptop is definitely coming to Disney and I am going to try to do live reports and even include pics!! Woohoo for me! How that will go is anyone's guess, but I think I can do it. I am going to park my butt out on that nice big Old Key West porch everynight with the laptop card and blog. I think!

Until next time......

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