silence

I'm not sure WHY I am out of bed at 6:30am on a Sunday, but I am...
and there is a GIANT cup of coffee next to me...no refillable mug for this sister this morning...no, no...I gots me a 24oz. Tervis Tumbler full of coffee and more brewing.

The past few weeks were tough, but there were a few bright spots, so I will tell ya about those.  I booked our flights to Orlando (we are definitely "GOIN' TO DISNEY WORLD!") the community pool opened and The Pea and I were able to spend some time there, which wasn't nearly as traumatic as I had thought it would be (more on that later), and I got to "see" TheGuy.  Skype cooperated for a little while yesterday and I got a glimpse of my tanner, thinner, "grimy gross" (his words) guy.  He looked fantastic.

So on to the usual trauma that is the community pool.

I live in one of those "stepford" communities, where most of the mommies spend their days volunteering at the school, working out, getting pretty (and apparently tanning because they are all a beautiful bronze), and chatting with all the other perfect mommies.  Best I can tell there are about 10 of us working mommies, some single, like me, and we try hard (bless our little hearts) but we tend to fall just short, and are often on the other end of the "look" (which best I can tell is a mixture of pity and disdain) from the perfect mommies.  You can spot us a mile away at the school functions as we are the last ones to come running in, our hair a bit frizzy, our clothes just shy of stylish, we don't know where we are going, we don't stop to chat with every teacher, TA, or fellow mommy, and then we run out (back to work) as soon as the function wraps up, sometimes before it does.  At the pool we are even more obvious.

We are white, flabby and a little lost, and completely by ourselves.  We wander around and around trying desperately to find an empty chair that isn't rusty or broken.  We don't have "a spot" or a group of fellow mommies saving us a spot, and nine times out of ten we have forgotten either the snacks or sunscreen, and so only end up staying 30 minutes.  I always want to talk to the other mommies like me, but I never know how to start...I also don't want to interrupt what could be their only 30 minutes of relative peace in the day cuz I know there are times I just want to be left alone to watch my kid and forcing a "so which street do you live on?  what do you do? blah blah I really don't care, don't we have really cute kids?" conversation is just exhausting after the marathon that is a weekday.

This week, whether it was because I just didn't have the energy to give a shit anymore, or because all the stars were aligned, I enjoyed myself despite standing out like a Beluga and I managed to not only find a decent chair, but also remembered the sunscreen, snacks, extra towels AND ipod.  I enjoyed my 30 minutes of (screaming children and lifeguard whistles aside) peace, and The Pea got herself good and worn out before we headed home.  Yesterday was even better as all the white flabby daddies joined the mix and I fit right in (tee hee). 

Along with the new pool season, comes another...even more depressing...

Ecclesiastes 3. 1-8
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

It is time for silence.

Despite the bright spots through the weeks, the overall climate was an ugly one (family stuff, sorry, can't share) and it forced some thinking, grieving, exploring, and self exploration.  It coincided with another family's terrible loss, and after attending a double funeral, and all the emotions that it brought up, I made some decisions, one of which was to stop writing.  I love this blog, and what it has taught me about myself and forced me to face, but it is time to move on from it.  The time I dedicate to it is time better spent with ThePea, and when he comes home, TheGuy, and I have found myself in a love/hate relationship with writing, so I think it is time to step away for a bit. 

To my faithful readers: THANK YOU.

happy

Happy Saturday Y'all!

I finally figured out how to get all my links to open the way I want them to instead the way they have been (I'M very excited, of course if you never clicked on any you are probably going "huh?!"...click on refillable mug below and see what happens.)

I am drinking coffee from my refillable mug and scanning the internet for things that make me laugh...

I'm gonna jump up on a soapbox here for just a sec' cuz there is much discussion on the boards regarding the refillable mugs and some people get downright crazy, and I just don't understand.  The mug costs around $15, for that you get refills at your resort for the length of your stay.  If you are on the dining plan, your mugs are included.  Travel mugs at Target cost $15-$25, and you can't walk in to the cafe while you are shopping and fill it up (although, now I want to).  PLUS, it's DISNEY...it is one of the least expensive souvenirs you can buy.  I don't even drink out of mine very much while I am there...maybe a coffee or two in the mornings if there is time, but we are not big soda drinkers.  I like it more as something to bring home, that doesn't cost a fortune, that I can use every day to add a little magic.  Anyway, some folks seem to think you should get refills for life, or also in the parks, or that they shouldn't be so expensive (?! wha? you just spent somewhere between $2000 and $10,000 on your vacation and $15 is expensive ??) and I always wanna jump into one of those discussions and say what I really feel, but I don't, so I thought I would get it all off my chest in a forum that I control...mmmwhahahahahahaha.

Ok...enough of THAT.  Moving on, to our next day at the world and our last park day.

We will begin our day in Magic Kingdom, it should be fairly light, crowd wise, because it is a party night.  The park closes early for the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, and folks who don't have hoppers will not want to waste a day when they will only be able to enjoy it for a short while.  We, however, DO have hoppers (well, the Pea and I have annual passes and I got TheGuy a six day hopper) so we are going to take advantage and enjoy it, until they kick us out.  After a fair amount of touring, and hitting our favorites we will break for a late breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table, which the Pea is very much looking forward to.  Some folks like to take a break in the middle of the day and head back to the resort to rest, we use our meals as rest periods.  I try to schedule late breakfasts, or early lunches, so that after a few hours of grabbing FastPasses and riding rides we can recharge in preparation for the afternoon, and then late dinners (ideally with a view of fireworks or characters) to allow us to wind down before heading back to the room to sleep.  We may end up taking a few breaks on THIS trip, just because we are closer to our resorts and it will be easier, but we aren't big nappers and last time we tried that we just paced the room, talking about what we could be doing, and felt like we wasted the hour in transit getting back and forth.

Once we have had our fill of Magic Kingdom we will head to Epcot.  We plan on hitting Future World pretty hard on an earlier day, so we will head straight to World Showcase and wander.  The Pea LOVES the belly dancer in Morocco...

...and I'm sure TheGuy will too.  We will definitely hit France for a pastry, and maybe Germany for a beer, and then it's off to Mexico.  The Pea will make us ride Gran Fiesta until we drag her out of there, and we have reservations at La Hacienda to end the night.  I imagine a Margarita or two will be had and then, if my plan works, we will enjoy dessert while watching Illuminations from our table.

I still don't know how the last day will play out because I don't know when our flight will leave.  We have reservations at 1900 Park Fare for breakfast, but that is subject to change if we need to catch an early flight.

And that is it!  That is our trip...or at least the plan for our trip...it will be interesting to see how it ACTUALLY plays out.

Have a happy weekend!