3 reports + links to more- 8 days since May + conversations galore

[bumbershoot]

I'm busy printing things out for the trip, so I figured I'd drop by.

I was reading Peter Panic Attack's trip report for an '07 trip today (as well as the one he did for a trip 2 years before that on his wife, Tinkershell's, account) and I almost just want to shut down all my trip reports. Oh my Buddha he's awesome. Hilarious. Who knew you could combine prep for WDW, moleskin, and Silence of the Lambs, ya know????

But oh well, I get control over my brain by writing it out, and for some reason I do better on the computer for this sort of thing than on paper (plus, I believe I've mentioned my umpteen notebooks), so you'll just have to suffer through it.

Why do I reference these awesome writers in my reports? PPA, Marivaid....so much more amusing. Then again, they take a lot longer to finish a report than I do, so that's a benefit. "yay, it's a cruddy report, but it was quick!"

Realized I didn't get E his Earplanes or kid-sized earplugs. Ruh roh. Tomorrow, along with getting Roberto some interview clothes (amazon interviews are perhaps a bit more relaxed than, oh, say, microsoft interviews...and yes it's totally OK that I'm talking about this in a public forum; amazon knows exactly why he's interviewing elsewhere (along with 18 million interviews inside his current company)), I'll be checking prices on those things. If the cost isn't happy-making, I'll be rush-ordering them from drugstore. Can't believe I forgot them!


So yeah, he's got an interview in Redmond on Monday, wish him luck! Meanwhile I'll be toodling around with E and my brother, while my SIL has some big lawyer conference in Seattle.

Thank goodness I've been doing "flylady" stuff in the house the last 2 months (me and R, not just me), b/c the house is a whole lot cleaner and neater (not as cluttery!) than it would have been without the "flying". Yay us!


And no, interviews and pre-planned vacation don't go together; there's still a chance R will have to stay at home . He has told us we MUST go even if he doesn't. I really don't like it, but he's serious about it. Sniffle sniffle.


I want to be a Foley sound artist, dangit. R and E are watching the special features of Kung Fu Panda, and man oh man I love the whole sound effect thing.

[kaoden39]

I am so sending you and yours good thoughts about the interview.

[bumbershoot]

Thanks. We don't know the results of that yet.

My brother visited, it was nice. Nicer still to see my SIL; we never see her b/c she's a hard-working lawyer dealing with big issues, in the end of her 6th year with her international firm... She and my brother are blissfully child-free, and I love watching them with E, b/c I never ever expected them to love him as much as they do. Even as a kid my brother disliked kids younger than him...so yesterday, watching him have swordfights with Eamon was amazing...and seeing how much it was cracking him up that E had sword and shield while my brother only had, you guessed it, a balloon just made me smile.

So even though I was dreading their visit (I love them but I feel woefully inadequate) it was nice.

And I discovered that the Portobello sandwich at Cheesecake Factory is tremendously delicious!

[bumbershoot]

Yay for hubby! That's all I'm saying now.

But we can run away on Monday with a clear mind and without knots in our stomachs.

Breathing is nice...haven't really done it in a month or so.

[Daisybelle]

Exciting times in the Bumbershoot household! I hope all goes well with your hubby's interviewing. And some of us find you vastly entertaining and are always happy to see a new trippie or pre-trippie going by you. So keep 'em coming!

[bumbershoot]

Gosh I hope that being entertaining is a positive thing! (gee molly, paranoid much? )

[Daisybelle]

Yes indeed! Entertaining in a positive way. In fact, when I first stumbled upon the Dis a year ago when planning a trip, one of your trip reports was the first thing I read and you always had such good practical advice for us newbies; so when I see 'Bumbershoot' I usually go and see what Molly has to say. But not in an icky stalker-y way.

[kaoden39]

I always find it entertaining to watch no children people around kids. Don't get me wrong I love my kids but I am somewhat envious of them.

[bumbershoot]

Originally Posted by Daisybelle

Yes indeed! Entertaining in a positive way.

OK good.

Originally Posted by kaoden39

I always find it entertaining to watch no children people around kids. Don't get me wrong I love my kids but I am somewhat envious of them.

Agreed. Though I've only recently started thinking "oh those carefree people, lucky them" about my childfree friends and relatives...took awhile since I was single and kidfree for such a what-felt-like-a long time. I was telling my brother and SIL about old family friends, and how the daughter we grew up with now has identical triplets (without trying AT ALL can you imagine the shock?)...brother laughed and said "well we've been thinking of adding a third cat...but it seems like too much work"... They've never even considered having kids, so it's just entirely foreign to them. I paved the way for SIL's sister, though...she just had her first...as SIL said to me when she told me about the baby..."E's inheritance was just cut in half". Oh they are too funny.

Anyway, I think about jetting away on a moment's notice, I think about sitting at a brewpub for hours having beers and just talking without entertaining, etc... But eh, I had my single times.

I won't say that we didn't talk about when E will have his first solo trip to their house, though! SIL tried to convince me that 17 was the age for solo flights. Yeah, right...I think it's 5! OK maybe not this young. And I like San Diego too much to send him down alone.


OK I'm just blathering now. I'm really hungry, but there's a possibility of a celebratory dinner (does take-out Indian food go with a to-go order of onion rings??? 'cuz it sounds good in some odd part of my brain) so I don't want to have much food right now...but hubby doesn't get home for almost 2 hours from now...decisions decisions.


I took my rolled coin (we've been taking money out for grocery shopping, mainly b/c my debit card's magnetic stripe went kablooie and I didn't want to replace it yet) to wamu, er, Chase today and turned that in for cash, hello AP replacement charges! Since hubby lost his and E's cards last December on Screamin', we have to get those replaced, and there's a charge of 20 per. I'm hoping for some "pixie dust" from a sweet CM, but you can't bank on that, and I'm happy to say that just saving our change for a couple months has more than funded it. The extra will go for tips, and it's exciting to know that tips are covered, and in cash already.

I was so happy they took the rolled coin! When they were just Wamu, they refused to take it without a 10% fee!!!! So that's one positive of the changeover. The other positive is that the DLR ATMs are fee-free now for us.



Hubby has just agreed, via IM, with me that Indian food and onion rings does indeed go together in an undefinable way.


Sigh...Rainier is gorgeous right now. I have a view of it out the window I'm sitting next to (while watching E put on his Jedi cloak while watching Phantom Menace while also playing it out with legos and playmobil). Lovely day, went to the downtown farmer's market as well.



I'm so happy that we can really be happy for this trip now. There's just one little thing that still needs to be resolved, and once we get more info than it'll be good. That might be on Friday, fingers crossed.


And once everything is totally final then I'll stop being so mysterious. This is not in my nature!

[bumbershoot]

Oh, I meant to say....my brother is mysteriously good with Eamon. Considering that he has always disliked children younger than him (his wife is 11 days OLDER, and was one school year ahead), and he always basically ignored our half-sibs, I don't know where he got it from, but he's really good with him.

He doesn't tease E, which I like. Too many people tease children; I'm not graceful when teased, even now, so I like non-teasers.

And he has had two moments where he knew the right thing to do when I was swimming in a sea of stupidity.

E was pretty young and we went down there (probably for our first big visit with the first one day trip to DL), and we were at their fave Mexican restaurant. E got loud and restless, he was done eating (he still nursed for most of his nutrients even at 17 months so there was very little he had eaten anyway), and Robert and I were just trying to control him...my brother finally just said we should simply leave b/c no one was having fun.

The second time was in Dec '07, when I had scheduled an 8 day stay in San Diego after 4 or 5 days at Disney...but hubby left DLR to go back to work before my brother picked me and E up...so this was over a week without papa! He was just beastly for much of the trip, and my brother reminded me that this was probably too long away from Robert...he was very right.

Some people put no stock in non-parents, but my brother has shown great wisdom...I know it sounds obvious in the telling, but it was not at the time. I really thought E could be controlled at that dinner and we could have a nice time despite his noise, and I was really mystified why E was acting up so much, until my brother told me.

I'm so glad they like my little dude.

[kaoden39]

Oooh Indian food and onion rings sounds wonderful. I love Indian food, we have a World Market here in town and I love going in there and getting the different Indian sauces and seasonings. Yummy. Do you have a specific tower you want to stay in at the DLH?

[kaoden39]

Your brother and SIL seem to have it together and I respect people who know they don't want kids. Too many times people allow themselves to get pushed into having children when they really don't want them.

[bumbershoot]

Originally Posted by kaoden39

Oooh Indian food and onion rings sounds wonderful. I love Indian food, we have a World Market here in town and I love going in there and getting the different Indian sauces and seasonings. Yummy. Do you have a specific tower you want to stay in at the DLH?

It was very good! Had my usual...can never remember the name...spinach and potato dish, with the jasmine rice of course, and some raitta. (raita? yogurt/cucumber/carrot stuff) And o'rings from, of all places, Jack in the Box. Eh, they were good. Hit the spot.

I don't have any tower in mind!

Originally Posted by kaoden39

Your brother and SIL seem to have it together and I respect people who know they don't want kids. Too many times people allow themselves to get pushed into having children when they really don't want them.

They are a very good, strong couple who know exactly what they do and don't want out of life. They were pressured heavily, especially by her parents, about children. They were pressured by people...you'll change your mind, might as well have them now b/c you'll want to later, what if you decide you want them once it's too late, etc etc. But if they had kids...they wouldn't be where they are, and they LOVE where they are. Nice house, 2 cats with a good catsitter, the ability for her to go off to the NYC offices, to go to Hawaii for a deposition, for my brother to go to Australia for a month on business...they love their lives, and love being so generous with their family (SIL told me today that their "extended stay hotel" is open in June, and brother made sure I knew to have him book and pay for the airfare), it's who they want to be, and I'm so proud of them for knowing who they want to be!

[kaoden39]

Dinner sounds amazingly wonderful to me. Jack in the Box's onion rings are better than Burger Kings for sure.

[toocherie]

just found this and subbing in!