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A Comment on Costumes

Drama Mama Does Disney, Kids, LifeWrite a comment

I had planned on doing a very helpful and informative post about making travel arrangements for your Disney trip, including airline choices and use of Disney’s Magical Express, but it’s been a long couple of days and I’m tired – and we’re going to the Museum of Science and Industry in the morning to see You-Know-Who.

Really, we are. There’s a big Harry Potter exhibit currently at the museum, I think it will be a lot of fun. Once we get past the whole driving into the city and parking thing.

So back to today’s Disney post  – I also planned to talk about packing – what I found to be the most useful, what never ended up getting unpacked, space saving ideas – etc. But again, I’m tired, and I have 2/3 of a book left that I need to finish before Monday night’s book club meeting.

So I just want to say 1 thing.

If you are packing for a trip to Disney World, and are fretting over whether or not to pack the costumes – let me make this easy for you…

DO IT.

It is so worth it, and if you’re like me and bought a lot of the princess and fairy costumes at clearance prices, the money saved vs. buying them at one of the shops at the resort could take you on a whole ‘nother vacation.

I do want to spend some more time talking about the whole packing costumes thing – but for now, I just want to say thank you to a special friend who let me borrow her daughter’s Mary Poppins’ costume. When she first offered, I was skeptical because I had planned on taking quite a plethora of costumes with already – and really, Mary Poppins is nice – but she ain’t Cinderella. Plus, the costume was huge, with layers upon layers of white silk and a big red sash. But it fit in Miss A’s suitcase (remember, you saw a picture?) so I took it with.

Thanks to the handy dandy dining reservations my travel agent made – we had breakfast on our first full day of vacation at 1900 Park Fare in the Grand Floridian.

While having breakfast,  Tigger,  Pooh, Alice and the Mad Hatter visit you – and so does Mary Poppins. The dining hall was filled with girls dressed as  Belle, Aurora, Jasmine, and there were even quite a few Alices.

But only Miss A looked like this:

mini Mary

What you can’t see in this pic are her sandals…it was hella-hot during our trip (this is freakin’ Florida after all) and there was no way Miss A was going to suffer through wearing that hot costume all day – so we made Miss A’s Dada suffer instead by stuffing it into his backpack. Miss A had on a cute little sundress that we threw the costume right over while waiting for our reservation  in the air conditioned heaven of the hotel. And then I ended up making Miss A suffer anyway while I forced her to pose for pictures (hey, this was my vacation too).

rollin eyes at more pics

When Mary arrived at our table, she was so excited to see a mini-Mary!

2 marys 3

She spent a great deal of time with us, and Miss A glowed from all the attention.

2 Marys 5-7-09

I think it’s fun for the performers too (I mean “cast members”), it can be kind of depressing to feel like you’re always 2nd fiddle to a girl who cleans house for 7 short dudes.

Lil' G was fascinated by Mary's hat (we ended up not packing that).
Lil' G was fascinated by Mary's hat (we ended up not packing that).

The whole dining room watched and smiled along with us as Mary and Miss A chatted and posed.

2 marys best smaller

Despite my initial misgivings, taking that costume along was totally worth it. It kicked our first full day of Disney off to a truly magical start, and made for some wonderful memories.

Mary with the family smaller

So there’s the Drama Mama Disney advice for this week:  find costumes for some of the “lesser known” Disney characters that your children enjoy (Miss A does really like Mary Poppins alot, especially when she sings that “Super-Pickle-ishish” song) it is likely to score your little ones some great extra time and attention.

Thanks again to my wonderful friend who let us borrow the costume in the first place!

The English Teacher in Me is Ashamed

Life, Ooops MomentsWrite a comment

I don’t know what is happening to me…it it old age? An inundation of poor spelling and grammar via texts and message board posts?

I’m not sure what it is, but I know I don’t like it.

Several times now, I have caught myself misusing the forms of “there and their” Srsly? I spent hours teaching high school students a simple trick to know the difference, yet I have caught myself using the wrong one a few times recently…often in a blog post where I can’t go in and edit my comment – so the error is THERE for the whole world to see. Like my panties the time I tucked my skirt into my nylons.

Another one I recently caught myself screwing up was “then and than.” I’d hit my head against the desk in shame, except for the fact I’m worried I’d cause more damage to what appears to be an item already in a precarious position.

Next thing you know I’ll be using “loose” in place of “lose.”

At that point, I’ll know it’s over.

Somedays Just Start Out Crappy…Literally

General Suckitude, Kids, LifeWrite a comment

This morning Lil’ G wakes up with a particularly nasty diaper. So I clean her up, change her, and get her dressed for the day. No biggie.

By the time I finish getting ready for the day, Lil’ G managed to produce another craptastic diaper…soaking through her clothes.

Argh! Really? Insert giant sigh here and move on with the day. Hopefully it turns out to contain less crap.

Inspiration Keeps Coming My Way

Monday MuseWrite a comment

I mentioned that last week’s Monday Muse, Jennifer DesAutels sent me a few suggestions on other websites created by wonderfully artistic women. I have been checking them out here and there, and definitely found a few keepers!

This week I want to tell you about artist Bella Sinclair.

Artwork by Bella Sinclair
IF Parade by Bella Sinclair

She just moved back to the states after living in Tokyo for awhile (the above illustration was inspired from watching Japanese children walking to school in their uniforms).

Miss A and I spent an enjoyable afternoon perusing her gorgeous, whimsical artwork. Like this piece (one of Miss A’s favorites). There are many more adorable prints, but you should go visit her site and see them for yourself.

Amandine & Beatriz by Bella Sinclair
Amandine & Beatriz by Bella Sinclair

Reading Bella’s blog I felt an instant connection with her – based on the simple fact she is a “stay-at-home mom” raising two daughters. I guess it’s sort of an extended version of that instant connection pregnant women feel when encountering each other in a grocery store. Despite being perfect strangers – there is an instant familiarity.

So after poking around her site I actually read the most recent entry, and my heart just dropped. Tucked amongst all the delightful drawings, the notes and pictures about various Japanese landmarks,  the comments about preparing to move back to the states, Bella informs her readers that her loving husband passed away suddenly.

Maybe it was because of the aforementioned connection I had subconsciously created, but despite having never heard of this woman til this week, her news hit me really hard.  The phrase is overused, but it fits: my heart went out to her.

She hasn’t posted on her blog since that entry in late June, and I can’t begin to imagine all that she’s going through.

Stop by her site, find some joy in her work, and perhaps leave a comment hoping to offer a little joy to her.

My new love and I have had our first fight

Cool Stuff, General Suckitude, Ooops Moments, ProductsWrite a comment

It’s been smooth sailing and sweet sweet reading bliss since the moment my test drive with the Sony PRS-505 e-reader began nearly a month ago.

Until today.

Today, I am a sad Panda.

Like I have done many times in the past few weeks, I lace up my Nikes, strap Lil’ G into the jogging stroller, turn on the e-reader and head out for a great summer afternoon of sunshine, fresh air, exercise, and reading time. I am a multi-tasker, the need to be doing more than one thing at a time is in my bones. Even before the e-reader arrived I would take a book along for a walk – wrestling to hold it still on the handlebars of the stroller as I knocked off a few miles.  The e-reader has made what some might view as a bizarre habit even easier, and I’ll take such long walks now that the husband is worried I’m sneaking off to have an affair. Yeah, right – in my nasty yoga pants and a sweaty tank top…and don’t forget I bring the kid along with me. No, the only affair is with my e-reader, and is has been wonderful – until today.

Which brings me back to the point of my point –  my e-reader is no longer perfect. When I went to turn it on today, nothing happened. The power button is a sliding tab at the top of the device, and looking closer at it, it appeared to be jammed. It still slid, but not smoothly, and of course, there was the whole not turning on thing. Quelling my panic, I put the brakes on Lil G’s stroller and ran into the house to plug the e-reader into the computer – it was still working fine, and once plugged in, everything was normal. So I popped it back out, and went for a very nice long walk while reading Make Me Yours by Betina Krahn (which is turning out to be a great read, thanks to all the fellow test drivers who suggested her!)

I’m trying to figure out if it was something I did set the reader off, I like to walk while reading a chapter, then I toss the reader into the basket under the stroller and run for 5 minutes. Wash, rinse, repeat, until Lil’ G gets crabby or I start getting blisters. I don’t think I damaged it tossing it into the basket, it’s protected in there, and besides – it flipped out before I started my workout that day, not during or after.

Once I got back home I tried the power button again. Still nada.  I showed it to the husband, and he said…yep, that’s jammed. He offered to unscrew the back and start poking around…but I’m just not cool with violating something I don’t own. I have considered using the Uncle Fester method: hit something repeatedly until it starts working again…but  there’s that whole not owning it thing.

Doing some web-digging, I found a few others with the same issue, and the same band-aid solution. Which really isn’t so much a solution as it is a way to keep using the reader without use of a working power button.

I’m hoping the reader is just being a fickle wiener and when I test the button again in a few days it will play nice. Until then, I turned off the Sleep Mode and plan to charge it daily and leave it on.

So, like noticing your lover snorts when he laughs or chews really loudly (don’t worry H, you don’t do either of those) I have discovered that the e-reader has its flaws.

I just hope this doesn’t completely spoil our relationship…there’s still a lot of summer reading lovin’ to be had.

How Does Your Brain Know?

Family, LifeWrite a comment

Last night I woke up from a dream. I was in my grandmother’s old house, with several other family members, and a tour guide of some sort was walking us through the house and describing changes and updates that had been made – only it wasn’t the sort of stuff you would expect like a new bathroom or new floors – she was showing us actual items that belonged to my grandmother and describing how they had been modified…it was all just very weird.

I love this picture of her: the dress, the clutch, the cars...what a great era.
I love this picture of her: the dress, the clutch, the cars...what a great era.

I woke up and lay in bed pondering it for awhile before realizing what the date was  – 5 years ago this week my grandmother passed away. When I nudged my husband and began to describe my dream to him he sleepily mumbled, “You always dream about her this time of year.”

Fishing in a halter top...saucy lady!
Fishing in a halter top...saucy lady!

It’s true..before I consciously take note of the date on the calendar, my brain somehow acknowledges the anniversary of my Nanny’s death – and each year since she passed away, I have all sorts of dreams involving her and her home. Sometimes they are memories of past events – sometimes they are very real, and very much in the present, and I can clearly recall that as I’m dreaming of having a conversation with her, my mind is simultaneously telling me not to wake up, because as soon as I do – she’ll be gone again.

nanny and mom with me in 79

Lil’ G is almost the exact age Miss A was when my grandmother died…and I so wish she could have known both my girls…hopefully, somehow, she does.

With a very tiny Miss A.
With a very tiny Miss A.

I miss you Nanny, and love you so very much.

Planning a Visit to The Happiest Place on Earth

Drama Mama Does Disney, Family, LifeWrite a comment

It’s Thursday. You know what that means…time for me to delight you all with more Disney-ana (I made that up, does it work for you?).

As I mentioned last week, this trip was mainly planned for Miss A.  So I put quite a bit of thought into how I wanted to tell her. Our trip was scheduled for a little less than a month after her birthday,  so on her birthday weekend we gave her a Disney Princess suitcase to open: it’s very cute with rollers and a sliding handle and it’s in the shape of Cinderella’s coach and best of all it is PINK.  Why didn’t I save myself some time and just show you a picture?

princess suitcase

So I had this great plan to stuff the suitcase full with Mickey Mouse balloons and shout.” You’re going to Disney World!” when Miss A unzipped it. Only a bunch of balloons didn’t fit…I managed to squeeze 2 in there safely. When the big reveal happened it took some time for the excitement to set in – you see, Miss A has been wanting to go to Disney for more than half her life (which granted given her age is not that long) and we  told her we would plan a trip when she was 9 or 10 and Lil’ G was 4 or 5 (I didn’t want to go to Disney with a baby…and while I’m very glad we took Miss A now, my instincts on this issue were spot on…more about that some other time). So when I told her she was going to Disney World, she was like, “Ok – sure, fine I know, whatever.” It took awhile for her to realize she would be going in 3 weeks, not 3 years. Once she figured that one out, she started the belated happy dance. Of course, the rarely used video camera had been put away by then.

Part of the fun of a trip like this is all the anticipation and the build up of what’s to come…like Christmas with a giant mouse instead of a fat bearded man. Like me, Miss A loves count down calendars of any kind, so making a few for her was a must do. There are some great calendar printables on the Disney website, and you can customize them and add various icons for birthdays and such…so I printed those for her to pin to the fridge. Then I went a step further and created a “Count Down” coloring book for her.

countdown binder

Basically it is a binder I filled with coloring pages printed from various websites that offer free printables. I photoshopped text detailing the days of the countdown, printed them out and organized them into the binder. It was cheap and easy, my favorite kind.

first page

In the pocket I placed various info material that our wonderful travel agent Lori (I mentioned her last week) sent us. Aishtyn loved ooing and ahhing over everything from the park maps to the hotel brochures. She would take them out again and again. You can also get a really cool set of 4 customizable maps (1 of each of the parks) sent to your house for free. Just fill out some info at the Disney site. I think you can order a set once every 6 months.

info page

I also added some other stuff Lori sent us, like brochures about the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and the Dining Plan. If it had a mouse or a princess on it, I inlcuded it. For the cover, I simply cut a page from one of the travel brochures and taped it to the front.

countdown binder cover

I left the binder on the kitchen table and every morning she would rush down to mark off her calendar and then sit to color her picture for the day…always taking a moment to count how many pages left until she reached the final page: Cinderella and her castle.

last page countdown

Of course she enjoyed passing the time til the big day by watching the corny info DVD they send you, and watching Disney movies to prime her Princess checklist…and shopping for a new Ariel swimsuit with matching hat, towel, and flip flops…and telling everyone from the bank teller at the drive-thru to her doctor to my dentist that, “Hey, guess what? I’m going to DISNEY WORLD!!!”

So if you’re planning a trip – I highly recommend you milk it for all it’s worth and build that anticipation every way you can. It’s almost as much fun as going on the trip itself.

Almost.

Check out next week when I review the whole packing and travelling angle of the trip…my least favorite part.

And if you really don’t want to spend an hour searching for free printables and making your own countdown pages, feel free to borrow some of mine – available below the fold.

Continue reading “Planning a Visit to The Happiest Place on Earth” →

Another point for the e-reader

Cool Stuff, General Suckitude, ProductsWrite a comment

Yesterday I had to do something I really detest.

Something I try to avoid at all costs.

Yesterday I made a return at Wal-Mart. Why…why is there always the line of doom stretching towards infinity at Wal-Mart service desks? So there I am, Lil’ G in the cart making faces at the old man behind us (he was making faces right back), people with frickn’ tv sets from 1982 in line ahead of me…and I’m thinking that if Wal-Mart was around when Dante was alive…well, you know where I’m going with that.

But you know what? The e-reader, tucked neatly in the front pocket of my purse, was a beam of golden light, saving me from the drudgery of my  surroundings. In seconds I went from flourescent lights and bad stretch pants to Imperial China and the Festival of Fertility. I tell you what, it was the first time EVER I was disappointed to get to the head of a line at the WalMarts.

Oh e-reader, what will I do when you are gone from my life?

A Monday Muse Finds Me

Monday MuseWrite a comment

Serendipity. Last week I went out in search of some new MM’s and lo and behold, one finds me. Turns out, she was looking for “Mama artists” too…funny how things work – so she finds my site and leaves a comment…of course, I go check out her site, and well, wouldn’t you know it – she is the perfect example of a Monday Muse!

So, I ask her if she minds if I feature her as a MM, and (this is so sweet) she asks me “What do I need to do?” Here was my response:

You already did it! Your site showcasing your talent, and your dedication to your craft, juxtaposed with life as a wife and mother are what I find so inspiring. When I started the Monday Muse thing I was really beating myself up about not balancing the demands of daily life with the drive – need – to create (in my case, working on my novel and a few short stories that are half fleshed out, though I have dabbled in watercolor and pen and ink, completely as a novice though). Looking around for other busy mothers who had managed to continue to pursue their artistic side, and do it well, gives me hope (and a good kick in the backside) to keep trying myself.

She also was kind enough to honor my request for some suggestions on other possible MM’s, which I will be checking out over the next few weeks.

SO, without further ado – let me introduce you to this week’s Monday Muse: illustrator Jennifer DesAutels (even her name is artsy, doncha think?) She does beautiful watercolors (my favorite medium) and I love how she captures her children in everyday moments and turns it into art. (The one of the 2 girls in the shopping cart reminded me so very much of my own 2 girls!!!).

She also makes adorable personalized growth charts (I am adding this to Lil G’s wish list right now). So if you are looking for a very unique gift, check it out!

Thanks for sharing your life and art with us Jenn, keep up the great work!