<p>^ eddie - that’s my laugh of the day!</p>
<p>H got home on time, house is picked/cleaned up, food is as ready as we can get it. One couple is coming early and we’ll be going to dinner first.</p>
<p>Shaw, that seems like a crazy long time! When on earth are they going to be finished?</p>
<p>So, too funny but all my life I’ve felt like a parental failure because I never took my kid to Disney Land. Back in single mom days, I could just never manage the time off it seemed, and had the joint custody sked always mucking up plans too. So a few years back, I’d tried to set up an adult-version of a trip to Disney with mch and mcson. Mch wasn’t in love with the idea because he’d already done Disney to death, and mcson wanted instead to go to San Franscisco. So mcson and I did a San Fran getaway and had a great time and he fell in love with the city (before meeting his gf ;)</p>
<p>So now he’s in his favorite city with his favorite gal meeting her folks and where are they going tomorrow? Disneyland! (But the Anaheim one.)</p>
<p>So I guess I’m the only one in the family now who’s never been to Disney! (But hey, I still have Spain!) Too funny how things work out.</p>
<p>I bet he’ll enjoy the ride if they take the scenic route along the coast. I’m jealous!</p>
<p>Disney is over rated, fun once.
I’ll take Spain anyday.
Shaw I was thinking the same thing, so much work and going on so long.
ately have had no filter, its getting me nervous so owi am offically putting it back on.</p>
<p>We took the kids to Disney once and while we had a great time, neither one has been interested in returning. They love the rides but would rather go to Busch Gardens or HersheyPark. </p>
<p>I am reading today. I have to. Am in the middle of a library book and got a call on Thurs that 2 more of the books I am in the queue for are in. Now I got another call and 2 more are in. Looked at my account on line and 2 more are in transit! I’m a fast reader, but I don’t think that I can pull this one off.</p>
<p>FallGirl, I will have a similar day - I have a book from the library that’s due today. I had to wait to get it, and I can’t renew it because someone else has reserved it. I have another book that came in I had reserved earlier, so my plan is to finish/get through as much as this one as I can, and return it and pick up the other one. By 9 pm.</p>
<p>kmc and DTE, most of the work has been done, though they have to come back for the floors. Painting was finished mid-week, but ShawWife is having allergic reactions to the house (plus perfume, …). We didn’t move out earlier and I think the combination of dust, chemicals has heightened her allergic sensitivies – she always has been allergic to lots of stuff. We’ll have to move out for a month probably when they do the floors. I’m thinking we’ll do that when she’s spending a month in Italy.</p>
<p>Had a nice breakfast, went to the ICA for a couple of interesting art shows, lunch overlooking the water at Legal Seafoods, then ShawWife went on to the opening of another friend and I went back to the hotel to do some work. Now it is time to head home to see how bad the house is.</p>
<p>Late on Friday afternoon, a senior at our HS apparently jumped from the third floor of the HS to his death. (I say apparently because the official reports aren’t in). I don’t know the family, and neither of my girls do either. But it’s so very sad for all.</p>
<p>Zetesis, how horrible! </p>
<p>shawbridge, hope you can move back in to your home eventually!</p>
<p>Got my library book finished and returned to the library in time. D called tonight, too. She got to attend a dinner honoring alumni, and was seated at a table with one of the honorees. Received career advice and thoroughly enjoyed the conversations. </p>
<p>S is coming home for spring break Friday night, so time to get things back in some order. We’ve been terrible about picking up the clutter. In January before S left, we weighed his suitcase and it was a bit over, so he decided to leave behind a pair of shoes. They are still sitting in the spot where he left them. </p>
<p>At least we got the Christmas stuff put away!</p>
<p>spent 4 hours with H cleaning out S’s room. This is already the second pass and literally could fill a pick up with the many things he did not purge. So far have $700 of charity logged with pictures for next years taxes and more to come. He wa always working on something and has so much electronic stuff even H does not know what some of it is.
The dust was awesome.
Z-- jsut awful and sure hope it was not connected to college acceptance stuff.
My H is on the phone returning an old GF’s call. She called about 10 years ago and wanted to get together for coffee. Invited me too but I declined and H somehow never got it together to go. He was sweating bullets returning her call tonight.Made me laugh and I told him that he could tell her that his wife would not accept it. I simply would not have returned the call if it made me anxous.</p>
<p>Planning this trip to Spain is becoming exhausting. My GF is from Madrid but I have just realized that while she has good advice she also goes home and then travels for a weekend. If anyone has any advice it would be appreciated. I did post in the cafe and the responses have been great. We were planning on arrival at 7:30 a.m. after a direct flight from Boston ( staying with D for two nights to try to alleviate some of the jet lag).
Then 4 nights in Madrid --a day trip to Toledo and visiting some with her family. Then car or train to Granada for 3 nights and then flying to Barcelona for 4 nights. Someone suggested 3 nights (2.5 days) is too much time in Granada and could do one night in Cordova or Sevilla. Help! But looking forward to it as well as getting back on the travel horse. Main trip have been visiting kids at college or looking at colleges for too long.</p>
<p>^that depends on where you’re going from Granada. I’d likely aim for Andalusia, I personally love the coastal area between Malaga and Marbella, though while staying in Marbella, we’ve made accommodations more affordable by staying in a weekly condo right on the med, which of course made it enormously fun. Ad hoc hotel nights in Marbella might be mind blowing in terms of expense, eg 800 euro a night. 
The ferry to Tangiers by hydroplane is a great day trip and there are guides available. So I could EASILY spend 3 days with Granada as a home base – just not in Granada. Another day trip from the Marbella/malaga area would be Ronda to check out the ancient bullfighting arena (in this case a museum) and some interesting ancient architecture (like a 1700s bridge that spans a 300 foot gorge) and was the last stand of the moores. The drive up the mountain is a wee bit harrowing in a rented car, but hey, it’s an adventure ;)</p>
<p>The Alhambra, as you’ve likely been warned, is ridiculous in terms of wait time during high season – that can eat a day even if you have reserved. </p>
<p>Barcelona is to my mind the cats pajamas, so you’ll have no trouble entertaining yourselves. My best advice is to leave yourself lots of unstructured time and talk to the locals for guidance on the best places to go, things to see, and ways to see them, IMHO. We just hopped on and off the tour busses (that run constantly) whenever something struck our fancy. Be sure to have paella on one of the restaurants on the beach, and checkout the beachfront nightclubs ;)</p>
<p>Jeez…not jealous of mcson at Disney anymore…now jealous of the Oregon fam!</p>
<p>The snow is here and the wind is blowing. Supposed to get about a foot of snow today through tomorrow. Guess I need to get out and grocery shop!</p>
<p>Went to check on the cabin construction this weekend. More progress but they lost a few days as the cold temps had the compressor (or something like that!) freeze up. Weekly trips have me excited to finish this project. Can’t seem to get a definite finish date though. Windows are supposed to go in this week. </p>
<p>This is the first spring in over 25 years that we don’t have a vacation planned due to the cabin construction. I will definitely need one after the project is finished!</p>
<p>I’m impressed that the cabin is moving ahead so well in the midst of winter – you must grow some really hardy construction types up there, NM.</p>
<p>Oregon…Spain sounds exciting…and tiring. But in a good way.</p>
<p>Zetesis – how incredibly, horribly awful. </p>
<p>Shawbridge – what kind of finish did you get on the floors? We’re having ours refinished while we’re away for graduation, and were led to believe that there would be little to no odor/VOC within 24 hours after the job was done.</p>
<p>I tried to utilize every moment this weekend and did a good job of getting a lot done. Stager works on a flat fee per hour, which is really quite reasonable. She pulled this very large wicker “bowl” that I typically only use for holding Christmas ornaments so they don’t roll all over the place and put it under this glass coffee table. Amazing what one little change can do to warm a room. She also grouped things from all over the house and so now it looks much more cohesive. Honestly, I wish I had hired someone like her years ago! And it only took FOREVER, but the master bath update is finally done… I hung the towel bars myself! Pretty proud of that because there are two and of course, they had to be perfectly in line and perfectly level. It took the better part of the entire morning yesterday… measure, level, measure again, level. With newly painted walls, I could ill afford “mistakes” that would need patching. They are, dare I say, very sturdy and PERFECTLY level. Now I am off to pack up all the stuff she “edited” out. Some makes me sadder than others but I just keep thinking how much fun it will be when I unpack!</p>
<p>My sister went out to visit younger D this weekend… and while I appreciate her perspective in that she was a coach herself, she definitely has a lot of strong opinions on D’s team etc. I tried to say that she’s been coaching at a DI level for some time and successfully so, so there must be something she’s doing right, but mostly I just hope she is being mostly supportive. I go out on Friday morning… of course, it was in the mid 50’s this weekend. I checked the weather forecast and it’s supposed to snow while I am there. WTH?</p>
<p>H got better as the weekend progressed, mostly because he saw how much better the house was looking. And the better the house looks the better it will be to sell! Duh</p>
<p>Z, how terrible about the senior jumping. </p>
<p>Just a little gloat for all of you facing snow…the trees are budding out and it is supposed to reach 85 degrees today. Of course, a cold front is coming in and it’s supposed to drop by 30 degrees overnight, but still wonderful today.</p>
<p>My mom said that they got snow last week, it melted, then refroze - Friday night there were two multi-fatality accidents on the same road, about an hour apart, about 2 miles from her house…black ice.</p>
<p>The NCA All Star Championships are always in Dallas…officially the largest cheer competition in the world. Something like 21,000 athletes, 39,000 spectators, teams from 39 states and 6 countries. I always wonder why our gym even goes because D’s team has never even had a top 4 (in its division) finish. D’s first year of all star cheer, we moms were literally praying that they woudln’t come in last. (And they didn’t - they came in 11th out of 12.)</p>
<p>Anyway, this year D’s team won. The little team that could. First day counts 25%, second day 75%. The first day they dropped a stunt, so we thought “typical.” Then we saw the rankings and they were sitting in 2nd, even with the big deduction. That is when I felt like throwing up - knowing that if they had a perfect routine on Sunday, they could actually win. And they did. Watching them, my knees were weak and I thought I might faint. (Granted it was 3 pm and I hadn’t really eaten all day.) </p>
<p>Since it’s the “Premier” competition, they are so well organized. We all went to this ballroom, where they had a small stage set up, then they were “announced” and came out in their jackets (nice ones, with leather sleeves) and huge trophy. Pictures there, then ushered off stage, but lots of backdrops around the room for photo ops. (And of course, “National Champion” shirts for sale.)</p>
<p>This was D’s last cheer competition and it is not possible for it to have had a better ending.</p>
<p>(Bonus [that you will only get if you watch So You Think You Can Dance]): D took part in a master hip hop class taught by Napoleon and Tabitha [NappyTabs]. She was over the moon).</p>
<p>End of cheer brags!</p>
<p>missypie, congrats on the cheer win.</p>
<p>Moda, I’m jealous on the stager. We definitely need to get a decorator in who is paid an hourly fee and not a percentage of what she sells to us.</p>
<p>Z, sorry to hear about the high school student.</p>
<p>For all you readers, please share names. I am always looking for ideas. I am on the second book in the Game of Thrones series right now. Light, easy reading. I started The Forever War and while well written decided it was too depressing to want to finish it.</p>
<p>wow, missypie, what a way to end her cheer career! congratulations to your D and to you. and the bonus of a class taught by Napoleaon and Tabitha - way cool!</p>
<p>z - how horrible, whether you knew the young man or his family or not. I think I mentioned in December about a HS girl here who ran head on into a tree while sledding. we don’t know the family at all so hadn’t been keeping up with her progress. heard last night that she is paralyzed from the neck down. so sad and it happened in the blink of an eye. </p>
<p>oregon - we were in Spain last summer. our itinerary (all by train) was Madrid (2 nights), Seville (3 nights with a day trip to Cordoba), Granada (1 night), then back to Madrid for the last night. Seville was our favorite city - could have stayed there longer. Cordoba was the smallest city we visited and the only place where everything truly shut down in the afternoon. that caught us by surprise as it hadn’t been the case in Madrid or Seville, so plan accordingly, i.e., don’t plan to do historical sights in the AM and shopping in the afternoon like we did. The Alhambra was magnificent. we bought tickets ahead for an early afternoon time, which enabled us to stay on the grounds for several hours after our tour. just make sure you show up at the entrance at or before your tour time - we saw them turn people away who had tickets, but for the previous hour.</p>
<p>we never took the kids to Disney World either. I once said something about thinking they weren’t interested because they never mentioned it, to which D1 replied: “you mean we had to TELL you?” oops. we did manage to get them to Disneyland for a day a couple of years ago.</p>
<p>TA: I read all of the Game of Thrones books. Not usually my genre but I enjoyed them! Books I have read recently:</p>
<p>The Kitchen God’s Wife by Amy Tan…finally got around to this one about mother/daughter relationships and understanding how a mother’s past affects a daughter’s future</p>
<p>The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom… I liked this one. Deals with slavery and indentured servants in the south.</p>
<p>The Round House by Louise Erdrich…Also like this one. Won some big awards and is timely dealing with violence against Native American women.</p>
<p>Train To Nowhere by Colleen Bradford Krantz…very interesting nonfiction story about illegal immigration.</p>
<p>The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh…captivating story</p>
<p>A Lady Cyclist’s Guide to Kashgar by Suzanne Joinson…different, not one of my favorites.</p>
<p>Guilt by Jonathan Kellerman…mindless crime solving
Victim by Jonathan Kellerman…same as above</p>
<p>The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher…guilty pleasure ;)</p>
<p>If you are looking for feel good books have you read any of Kristen Hannahs’ ? Firefly Lane was good. Several of my friends read these but I have only read this one.</p>
<p>We have been to Disney several times. H and I spent a day there on our honeymoon! We took the girls when D1 was 4 and D2 an infant and then returned when D1 was in middle school and D2 in grade school. D1 was at California Disney her freshman year of college with her soccer team. We have fun there but don’t have an urgency to make that a vacation destination.</p>
<p>Regarding books, I finally read Water for Elephants. Both TJ Maxx and Marshalls have a lovely trade paperback version on clearance for $2.99.</p>