So… I think I need you all to help me out here.  How many of you have been to Disney World?  On the Disney Cruise?  BOTH?  Can ya help me out?  Because we’re going on one of these fantabulous Land/Sea Vacations later this summer and I’m, quite frankly, freaked out about it.  Partially because I have become a hermit and am uncomfortable leaving the confines of my own cozy abode and partially because it’s Disney and everything is SO. VERY. MAGICAL.  You will have fun or you WILL DIE, damnit!

That’s a lot of pressure.

Firstly, I’m worried about the plane trip.  I still don’t know which airline we’re taking, though I’m leaning towards Southwest.  But I do know that I will have to get myself, my husband and three kids through security and on a cross country trip that will take the better part of a day AND our sanity.  Oh, and we’re planning to come in the day before and spend the night at the timeshare my parents are staying at so we’re there for the park the next day from the word go.

Any tips for flying with children?  One who is nine (going on TEN, so help me God), one who will be a newly minted THREE (again with the help) and a 16 month old.   We’re planning on bringing on car seats for the two little ones.  Good plan?  What do I need to bring, entertainment wise?  How much alcohol do you think it will take to dull the pain?

The next issue is strollers.  I think I’ve narrowed it down to two choices.  We will either a) bring something with us which means we’ll have to BUY something as our double stroller is definitely not the sort you want to travel with, but bringing it would mean we’d have it in the airport or b) rent one from an Orlando stroller rental company that delivers to your hotel for you so it’s there when you arrive.  While it would be nice to have a stroller in the airport, we would also have to deal with it on the cruise and I’m not sure how I feel about that.  Is having a stroller on a Disney Cruise a pain in the arse?  Plus, you know, we’d have to buy something.  The stroller I’d really like to have (coincidentally, the same one the stroller rental company provides) is muy expensive and way out of our league.  We’ve talked about a fold up wagon with umbrella but that would be neither comfortable for the kids if they wanted to nap in the park(s) or easy to get on and off transportation.  A cheapo side-by-side double?  Are there any cheapos that recline?  OY.

You can see why it’s an issue.

Also: Dining.  What to do?   Do we get the Disney Dining Plan which allows us to eat pretty much at will for the duration of our stay in the park?  CAN we get it, since our room is already booked and it seems to be tied to your room rate?   Or do we just save up our clams and expect to pay out the arse for food?  My mom thinks we should buy peanut butter and jelly and make sandwiches in our room.   Not a bad idea but I am not going to subsist on peanut butter and jelly for THREE DAYS.  I don’t care what it costs.  This IS a vacation, after all.  I need information about this.  What have other people done?  What has worked?  What hasn’t?

If that weren’t enough:  the heat. Who planned this thing for AUGUST, for pity’s sake?  I will surely melt.  What is central Florida like in August?  Give it to me with both barrels, folks.  I can take it.  What do I need to do to ensure we don’t all die of heat stroke?

I find I’m less concerned about the cruise (though that has its own set of issues including the fact that Liam cannot go to the children’s activities because while he will be three, he will not be potty trained and therefore is stuck with us which means we are stuck with HIM and that severely limits our fun quotient).  At least there will be air conditioning on the cruise.  And the food will be included.  So there’s that.

What do I need to know?  I need your help, oh wise internets!  Give me your experiences and tell me what I should (and should NOT) do/bring/think/say/expect, etc.

I’m scared.

Once upon a time, we rented a house in the northwest section of our town.  Not an ideal situation, of course, but it served us well while we were preparing to purchase a home for the first time.  It was convenient to Kile’s job and lots of faboo shopping.  There were issues, of course (there always are), but for the most part, I loved living there.

Our mail was delivered by lunchtime every day and I would strap Harry into his high chair (damn, that was a while ago, huh?) before going out to check the mail in the box at the curb.  Life was good.

We moved out to the sticks into our very own home and no longer did we have a mailbox at the curb.  There was a bank of boxes down the street and around the corner in which we had a little box.  Inconvenient, to be sure.  But the mail was generally delivered by noonish or so.  Sometimes it was more like 3 or 3:30 and those days were odd because DAMN, the mail is LATE today!  But… whatever.

Fast forward to today.  Same house out in the sticks.  Same stupid bank of boxes.  Except instead of getting mail at noon, or heck, even 3pm, we’re lucky to get the mail by 5.  I went to check the mail at 5:05 and WOW.  NO MAIL.  SHOCKER.

…

(insert much fuming)

…

According to the USPS website, mail delivered after 5pm is considered LATE.  If that is the case, our mail is late every single day.  Well, except Saturday.  On Saturdays, our mail is delivered around noon.  Why?  I reallllly wish I knew.  I have my suspicions though.

See, several times in the past few months when I have received packages that are too large for the package locker (a larger box that they cram boxes that don’t fit into our teeny boxes and then lock with a key which they then put in our teeny boxes), instead of coming to the house and ringing the doorbell or even just leaving on the porch, we have recieved a pink notice that says “Sorry I missed you!” and that you can go to the post office to pick your package up tomorrow.

You know, cuz it’s SO EASY to just pack up two small children and cart them to the post office to pick up a package that the stupid mailman is supposed to deliver.  Because you know what?  I WAS HOME.  I AM ALWAYS HOME.  I NEVER LEAVE.  I HAVE NO LIFE.  Just get off your lazy ass and bring the damn package up to my door. GAH.

So my theory is: my mailman is an idiot who thinks that everyone (or at least everyone who “counts”) works 8-5.  Why bother taking all that time to go to a specific house to deliver a package when you KNOW that there’s no one home?  Cuz they’re all at work?  And why bother knocking yourself out getting the mail there before 5pm when everyone works until 5 and it’ll be nearly 6 before they’re home anyhow?  If the mail is delivered at 5:30, they won’t know any different, right?

Nevermind the people, like me, who work at home and sort of count on the mail getting to them by a reasonable time.  Because, you know, they may need to connect with someone on the east coast about it and if the mail isn’t delivered until 5:30, that person might not be at work/online anymore because DUDE, that’s like 8:30 for them and maybe they’re putting kids to bed or watching TV or enjoying their lives as they should.

Let’s face it.  The mail is supposed to be delivered by 5pm for a reason.  A reason my mailman either a) doesn’t know about or b) doesn’t care about.  Which makes me want to go down there and kick his ass.  You know, if I could.  But I’m stuck here watching two little kids all day.  And when I take the time to load them both into the stroller and walk down to the stupid bank of boxes after 5pm only to find that the mail hasn’t been delivered yet?  AGAIN? For like the umpteenth time in the last month?  It makes me feel a little stabby.

Listen, I know budget dollars are stretched and sacrifices have to be made.  But sending something USPS still costs some money (more and more all the time, it seems), and as such, customers should be able to expect reasonable service.  Getting my packages delivered to my home when I am actually AT HOME and getting the mail regularly delivered before 5pm is what I would consider reasonable service.

USPS?  YOU ARE ON MY LIST.

Yesterday, we roused ourselves out of bed at 6:30am.  On a SATURDAY.  We put on warm clothes, purple shirts.  We got the kids out of bed.  We packed them all into the van and drove off towards the Sparks Marina, after only having a few sips of fabulous, life-sustaining coffee.  We stood around in the chill air before subjecting our lazy, inert selves (okay that may have just been me) to a long but scenic walk around the marina.

It was all for Maddie.

Well, it was for premature babies in general, yes.  But Maddie was my focus.  Maddie was the reason I got up at 6:30am on Saturday and subjected myself to all of that.  If not for her, I’m not sure I would have had the motivation to do it.  I’m not sure I would have had the drive.

I didn’t raise much money sadly.  Or, you know, really ANY.  But my good friend Jenn, who joined us with her young son for the walk, did raise some money so that is something.  Every little bit, right?

We joked that it should have been called a Munch n’ March for all the goodies there made available to us.  Lots of granola bars.  Lots of water.  Fruit.  Juice.  Yogurt.  Muffins.

We joked but the entire time, Maddie’s smiling face remained clear in my mind.  I was doing this for her.  Because she couldn’t do it herself.

_{(so it’s a day late… so sue me)}

Hmm. I see a lot of people writing posts today about ways they and their families are trying to be more environmentally consious and I feel a little guilty because I’m not doing anything besides what I normally do. It takes me a minute to realize it’s been about a year since I started using clothdiapers, and hey, maybe that counts as being environmentally conscious, no?

Yer darn tootin’ it is.  At least as far as I’m concerned.

So yeah.  We’re still cloth diapering  And I’m still loving it.  I maybe even love it more than I did last year when I first started out with my bumGenius pockets and gDiapers.  And from where I’m sitting, I can’t believe I didn’t try this before.  I have a good amount of misconceptions I’ve made in my life and the hassle associated with cloth diapering is DEFINITELY one of them.  But you know how it is.  It’s always easy to fear the unknown and I had no way of knowing that cloth diapers wouldn’t be any hassle at all until I went ahead and just DID IT.

People who are anti-cloth diapering (and who would these people be, besides disposable diaper manufacturers and their families??), always like to argue about the water/energy required to clean diapers.  I always roll my eyes when I hear that because, SERIOUSLY?  That is somehow worse than sitting in a landfill, poluting the ground water, for 500 years?  REALLY?  And, just so’s ya knows, Kile says our water bill hasn’t gone up at all in the last year since I’ve been cloth diapering.  And I wash about every other day without fail.  So you tell me.  Our electric/heating bill?  No different either.  HMM.  ISN’T THAT INTERESTING.

Anyhow.  I’m actually kind of sad that we’ll be taking disposable diapers with us this summer when we take our Big Trip to Disney World and Beyond.  I know it’s not feasible to cloth diaper on that trip and we’ll need less hassle (A LOT LESS HASSLE) instead of more but… dangit.  I kinda like my cloth diapers.  I’m gonna miss them for the week we’re gone.  YES, I’M SERIOUS.

I can’t tell you how glad I am not only to not be buying package upon package upon package of diapers each month, but not to be dragging out bags of dirty disposable diapers to the garbage all the time.  For the month that we had two in disposables, I honestly felt that not only was I literally throwing away money, but that I was single-handedly contributing to the problems our Earth is facing.

I’m a practical gal and I will ALWAYS prefer the option that is easier on my pocket book.  When I’m out of diapers, I just run a load of laundry.  And voila, I’ve got diapers.  It’s SO much nice to be able to REUSE something rather than continue the cycle of purchasing, using and throwing away.  And when I’m done with a diaper or want to try something different, I sell the old diaper (there are HUGE communities online for this and you can get quite a bit back on your investment, depending on the diaper) and use that money to buy something new.  I don’t have a single diaper now that I had when I started out a year ago.  And I’m selling off some of my (once beloved) Goodmama diapers and am getting four square into Bagshot Row Bamboo diapers.  It’s like crack man.

And Kile loves not seeing the constant drain on the bank account too, I’m sure.

And if it weren’t for cloth diapers, I would have never discovered knitting the way I have.  And I wouldn’t be making some decent cash knitting up pants, shorts and skirts the way I am either.  So there’s that.

Cloth diapers, man.  They aren’t the prefolds and plastic pants your mother used (though you can do that too, if you really really want to).

`

Remember when I won a Pioneer Woman giveaway?  And how the heavens opened up and the angels rejoiced and there was peace across the land as a result?

Those were good times.

Anyhow, I thought you’d like to know that the measuring cups have landed.  And if possible, they are more adorable in person.  I don’t know how I’ll actually USE them (who am I kidding? how KILE will actually use them), I may just line them up on my counter and gaze at them.

So anyone who doubts that these giveaways are legit need only look here.  Yes, the measuring cups themselves weren’t a $1500 camera, but when you consider that TEN people won them, well, that sorta adds up.  Many kisses to Pioneer Woman and her prize wrangler.  Yep, she has a prize wrangler!  Wouldn’t you if you were Ree??

She was super nice to work with and I would have had the measuring cups earlier but wouldn’t you know it, they were sold out!  So they were backordered.  Still, I wasn’t expecting them for a few weeks yet and was pleasantly surprised when they showed up on my doorstep on Monday afternoon.  Yay!

So there.  A little sunshine in your otherwise drab day.  You’re welcome.