Happy Mother's Day

My kids.

It's Mother's Day and a beautiful one at that. The sun is shining, the grass is green, the trees are budding, the temps are mild and all is well on the ole' farm here in the north woods. After spending a week in Orlando with all of the traffic and noise it is truly delightful to be home where it is quiet and calm. As Susi put it in her last comment 'there is no place like home'.

We enjoyed every minute of our vacation, well almost every minute excluding the barking dog at 11 PM, and will go back again in October to the hustle and bustle but oh how good it feels to be back in my own bed and with my own things surrounding me. Noodles, Munchkin and Morris were glad to see us, they have hardly left my side since I walked in the door. Morris can't get up on the bed anymore due to old age but the other two slept with us snuggled right in.

You'd think I had been gone a month the way I am talking.

We took a gazillion pictures but I promise I will only post a few! I guess my favorite thing we did was the Dixie Stampede dinner show and we went to that twice. They wouldn't let you take any pictures there unfortunately but it was beautiful with the riders costumes all lit up in red, white and blue during the finale. The horses looked fit and well cared for which was a relief for me as I go into a slump if I see something amiss with animals.

The crowds weren't all that bad except at Sea World and it was mobbed there. We did get into all of the shows and the grands loved them. I am having some serious knee and foot problems so had to ride a scooter the whole time there. The first day I felt embarrassed but after that it didn't bother me at all and I was glad that it was available or I would not have been able to go much. The grandkids thought it was great and fought over......no let me rephrase that...... cheerfully took turns riding with me. heehee!

D's teddy bear got a rip in the seam so I got to do some sewing while there.

T. wanted her hair braided and it lasted almost all week. It took about a half hour to do.

Everyone slept most of the way home. D. was as snug as a bug in a rug!

Well that's it for today. I hope you all are as fortunate as I am to have your Mom on this Mother's Day but if not I hope your memories are sweet and give you pleasure in thinking of times gone by.

Home Again

We arrived home at about 3:30 this afternoon. We left the resort at 7:30 and arrived at the airport in plenty of time to hit a few more tourist traps before we left. I'm glad I took an extra suitcase with me folded up in my regular one. I'm catching on after all these years of travel.

The grandkids were so excited as their other grandparents were at the airport waiting when we got there. They just ran for them, it was so cute! Our luggage was a half hour coming off the plane, some kind of glitch somewhere I guess. Everyone was tired and ready to go home and there we stood waiting for that conveyor belt to start. It finally did and all luggage was there and accounted for which is always a relief.

It looked so good driving home. Everything has really gotten green since we left just 8 days ago. The trees have budded out and you could see where lots of lawns had been cut. Snowbird #1 had gotten our front lawn cut and it looked and smelled so nice! I just love the smell of freshly cut grass. Some of my perennials have started up and the daffodils are ready to blossom. What a nice feeling walking into ones own home. We are so blessed and after being away for a week or so it makes me enjoy my own home even more.

The cats were here and I guess they had kept everyone busy while we were gone. The two young ones that is! Old Morris just sticks to the sofa and that is about all he wants to do. That's about all I want to do right now, I am tired from the travel and will hit the bed early tonight.

Guess I'd better go unpack but think I will catch up on a few of your blogs before......first things first ya know!

Final 30 Day Organization Challenge Post

We are down to the wire and I'm sure everyone is excited to see who is going to win the big contest! I know I am, this has been fun and no matter who wins we all are winners as we have these newly organized spaces and rooms in our homes to enjoy! Now to answer the five questions, I feel like I am back in boarding school getting ready for the big test! lol!

1. The hardest part for me was actually getting started! I was so overwhelmed with the mess ahead of me that I almost didn't do it. We're talking about three years of accumulation since we built my sewing room. What helped me overcome it was the excitement and support from all of the others that decided to take the challenge. It was contagious and it gave me the courage to dive in!

2. The habits I have put in order to maintain my new order are 1. to put things away immediately after I am finished using them and not allowing a build up of clutter. 2. not to hang onto things that I know I will never use again. For example when sewing, I have little scraps that are not big enough for any future project so now they go into the trash! Why hang onto this stuff that takes up precious room when you know it is useless.

3. What did I do with stuff purged? I gave away things that were still usable, for example we have a group of home schoolers that meet at our church every Thursday and I gave them a huge bag of fabric that was still perfectly good but the colors just weren't what I would ever use again. I felt they could use it to practise on. I also threw out 6 bags of stuff that wasn't any good for anything. Why do we keep a gazillion boxes? That is what the TRASH MAN is for!!

4. The biggest lesson I learned was not to be a pack rat. Now before I put something on my newly organized shelves I ask myself 1. will I use this? 2. when will I use it? 3. is it really something that I want taking up my space? STOP AND THINK that is my motto now!

5. How has this made a difference in my life? I find that I am much more productive in my sewing now that everything is where it's supposed to be and I am not spending time hunting for things all of the time. It also has made me want to have the rest of my home as organized as this room is and I am working on that. It also has made me think of my own life and the 'clutter' that I need to get rid of. Just one example is wasting time watching too much television when I could be using that time doing something much more productive. It's all a matter of organizing my time in a manner that is goal oriented. Once I set the goal of meeting the Challenge and accomlished it I felt I could go on to other things and succeed!

Now for the 'Before' pictures: BOO!!!!!HISS!!!!!!!

NOW THE 'AFTER' PICTURES! Drum roll!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Laura for hosting this wonderful challenge!!!!!!!

The final day

I should be packing but here I am on the computer checking some of my mail. I just can't seem to go very long without seeing what's going on with everyone. Went to Red Lobster for dinner tonight. Now wouldn't you think that coming from Maine where there is the best sea food in the world we wouldn't like Red Lobster but it's not the seafood it's the cheese biscuits!!! DIL and I love those things and would give up our first born for them, well not really but close! ha!

If you are a horse lover and you haven't been to Shepler's you've really missed out! That place has everything under the sun that a western riding person could ever dream of. Husband got some great looking jeans and boots, I got shirts for T.'s riding lessons and new boots for D. I got some Leaning Tree cards in boxes of 20 so that should last me awhile. DIL doesn't ride so didn't need anything but had fun picking out shirts for D.

Speaking of DIL she is one brave chick! We were at Universal this morning and they were looking for participants in the Fear Factor Show. My son was all set to do it but was two pounds over the limit so was rejected. poor baby!:() ( Then they spied DIL and asked her to sign up and with a bit of urging she did. Now this is a gal that works out regularly at the gym with a personal trainer that cracks the whip so we knew she would be okay......BUT..... she was up against four MEN there weren't any other women that were willing to do it!

After changing into the obligatory spandex outfit complete with disposable un*dies she was taken to a ramp 40 FEET HIGH! They all had safety cables on them but it was rather unnerving seeing the mother of my grandchildren that far in the air! Then the ramp went out from under them and they were to hang as long as they could hanging onto a metal rod. I could tell she was having trouble with her hands sweating and sure enough they slid off and down she came on the cable!

We cheered her on anyway and I got some pictures to prove that she did it. They are a bit blurry due to being so far up but I will post one or two anyhow when I get home. I would've needed more then the paper un*dies if I had been up that high, probably more in the Depends line!

So now we get ready to leave Kennel Row here at The Hard Rock. Checked out a couple other resorts while we were here so I would imagine this will be our last time here. It's very nice, lots of luscious foliage plants around and very clean, just very noisy. I'm going to leave my little box of new earplugs on the dresser for the next unsuspecting tourist!

Vacation Continues

It's been a few days since I have written as we have gone from dusk till dawn trying to squeeze every minute into our fleeting vacation days that are left. Doesn't seem possible that we go home day after tomorrow. We sure have done a lot and the grand kids have been excellent. Son and DIL went out for a date night a couple nights ago so we had the grands all to ourselves. We went over to Universal and caught a few rides before they closed for the night. They close early this time of year where it isn't prime time. So by 7 everything in the park shuts down but there is a big place with shops and restaurants you can walk around and find a place you want to eat. We went into the Nascar Restaurant and had a nice meal and then brought the grands back to the rooms for baths and jammies. We have a pull out sofa that we don't use but that night we did pull it out for them as I felt better having them right in our part of the suite and not in their room till their parents got home.

Yesterday went to Sea World and they put on a great show for everyone. One in particular is a show with cats, dogs, rats, ducks and a few other furry creatures running around. It is just adorable and is something new since we were there last. Of course the star of the park is Shamu and that show is always incredible to watch. How those trainers interact with something that weighs three ton just boggles my mind.

We went to the Dixie Stampede and again it was just a joy to watch. You don't have to be a horse lover to appreciate the training that goes into these beautiful animals. They go at breakneck speed in this arena that is totally dust free and do the most incredible tricks. We just absolutely loved it, so much in fact that went again tonight! We requested the same waiter and our grandkids got chosen for the chicken race which was a hoot. You're not allowed to take any pictures or video or I would have had them to post. They took two youngsters from the South and two from the North and they chased four chickens to see who could get them over the line first. T. got hers over first so the North cheered for her. All four got medals which was nice. The food is great, a whole small chicken, potato, corn on the cob, biscuits and apple turnovers for dessert. Just a great show, I would recommend it to anyone. A lot of viewer participation which makes it even more fun.

Went to a water park today also. Typhoon Lagoon. Now let me tell you something, you will see some sights to behold there. It never ceases to amaze me the get-ups people will get on to go out in public. You see everything and I mean everything! I have seen every stretch mark, surgery scar, pierced belly button, you name it I've seen it. Now a pierced belly button doesn't bother me in the least but when said belly is hanging almost to the knees it is a little gross. Time to hang up the belly button ring!

Found a great designer outlet mall and have hit that a couple of times. Found some pretty good buys, DIL found some school clothes for T. at 70% off.

Ate at a cute restaurant at Universal one night called Bubba Gumps after Forrest Gump. Lots of shrimp dishes naturally.

More dog barking last night until after 11 o'clock. I just put in the new ear plugs and went to sleep but husband kept hearing people on the house phone outside our suite calling security. No barking tonight. It must be the one chance only policy.

Would I stay here again, no, but it is very convenient to the two parks and all the other things around International Drive. IF I did decide to give it another whirl I would ask for the back side of the building away from the pool area and I would certainly insist on not being on the Kennel
Wing as we fondly call it now.

Tomorrow is our last day and haven't decided what is on the agenda. Saturday we leave here at 7:30 am and will be home around 3:30 in the afternoon. It's been a great time and I wouldn't trade these precious times with my kids and grandkids for the world. There's something about those two little cuties coming in and getting in bed with me in the morning for a snuggle and a story that just can't be beat.