Mothering Sunday

As y'all know, today is Mother's Day so I shall forgo my disney blog and tell y'all about my mother.

My mom's a nurse and she worked all over the hospital, often working her fingers to the bone. Before she delivered my brother she worked at the post partum, and I recall her working in the D.R., E.R., O.R., I know she worked in Geriatrics because I have been warned many times never to choose a career with old people involved. She worked as a visiting nurse in the field that she has finally settled with, neonatal intensive care or in NICU.

And I remember she would come home tired. This is during the times she switched from working day shift to night shift and we'd come home from school to find her fast asleep, getting all the rest she could before getting up and going to work from 7 to 7 am. This was most of our childhood and goes on even today.

What I remember most is that when we would come home from school, we'd go have lunch around 4 and this is the time she usually awoke to have lunch as well. She'd sit and talk with us while she ate and then we'd follow her to bed and sit on the bed while she drifted off to sleep.

But not before a story.

"Mom! Tell us the story of the old vampire/witch who almost got Papang (grandpa) but he knew her name and she got all embarrassed when he made fun of her hair."

"Mom! Tell us the story of how you saw your grandpa's ghost in the doorway and the moonlight came pouring through his body."

"Mom! Tell us how you used to daydream in school about catching fish and selling it to the Chinese man in the market."

"Mom! Tell us about how much of a tomboy you were and how you'd get into fights with boys who'd make fun of your younger nieces and nephews."

"Mom! Tell us about the time you picked up a rock but it turned out it wasn't a rock and began dripping down your arm when the rain started."

"Mom! Tell us..."

Inevitably she'd drift off to sleep in the middle of telling us the story and we'd wake her up, "finish up the story," and she'd end up repeating herself up to the point where we just heard and then drift off to sleep again. I think to this day I mix up the ends of stories and find that I've started another one in the process. But it was because of this and her encouragement that I read many stories that I love to hear them, read them, write them and make 'em up. I remember her favorite story that I told her as a kid was "Stone Soup" which I had read from the library and I'd tell her and my brother the story.

That was one of the things, as a kid, I told myself to keep on with my children. That was the time I connected with my mom and connected with my family history. I always feel as if I know my mom's side of the family more because of the stories she'd tell us over and over again. I don't know if my brother remembers many of the stories but I do and maybe someday I'll write a book of stories from all the tales she told me. I'll dedicate it to my mom because she deserves it. She also deserves a wonderful Mother's Day.

Happy Mother's Day mom!

Me.

As you can see we've breached the barriers and entered Epcot. (All right, all right, Rich bought us tickets). As you can also see from this picture there is an impending cloud above us but as everyone knows, Disney has a magical force field around it, from which you can view the bad weather but never be one to experience it. Rich's mom says that there had been a thunderstorm by the house but we were none the wiser. yay Disney!

I'll continue my "Disney on a budget" series later on today, I just wanted to post this pic up because it's so nice. haha.

Me.

Hey all, I'm gonna be, hopefully, working on my blog today. I've finally gotten around to getting my earthlink account set up and junk.

But to tide you over here is a picture of our bathroom mirror. Remember me writing about it and how it reminded me of the Ring mirror. I tried to take it while it was still dark, with no flash, so it's a little unsteady, but use your imagination and pretend you're me, early in the morning, bleary-eyed, a foot still in dreamland, and looking up into the eerie eye of our mirror.

Lovely.



Me.

"Disney World On A Budget": Disney's Marketplace and The West Side

Welcome to my "Disney on a Budget" post. Oh man, I'm gonna rack up counts on my sitemeter for this one. heehee.

Shall we begin?

First off I'd like to say that Disney World not only consists of the numerous theme parks but offers luxury hotels, dining, entertainment and shopping. There are a myriad of activities to choose from outside of the actual parks. The employees are sunny and friendly, willing to cater to your needs.

We started our little venture with suggestions from people who've been around the Disney area. We had wanted a little place to "explore" and they sent us to Downtown Disney's Marketplace:

This little area offers an array of shops and restaurant. It's nice to stroll around looking into the various stores. They have a huge toy store, a store dedicated to anything Christmas, there are a few clothing shops, like "Summer Sands" which sells beach clothing and "World of Disney" which a big store that sells apparel and knickknacks and it's cool interior is a welcome reprieve from the heat of the day. There is also an art store and a LEGO store, from which I've posted up pictures. And for those on a "budget" there is a tiny stand called "Mickey's Mart, which sells everything for $10 and under.
There are many places to eat as well but if you want a good deal and a great sandwich, go to The Earl of Sandwich. We recommend "The Full Montagu". All sandwiches are $4.95 and they use homemade breads. We've returned there time and time again, and we've only been here a month. Or if that's too expensive, they also have a McDonald's. Everything else is a little pricey. If you're not in the mood for shopping or eating, then ride the carousel, or sit by the lovely fountains and people watch, or rent a boat and explore the Village Lake, or on weekends, there are various performances at the "ampitheater" at the center of the Marketplace. Yesterday they had a jazz band perform. (We're not sure on boat prices.)

Further down from the Marketplace, you will pass Pleasure Island and come into the West Side's restaurants and stores. The "West Side" offers an AMC movie theater, a magic shop, a guitar store, a Virgin Mega Store, candy shop, and a store that offers more magnets than you can believe. Here you can also purchase tickets to that evening's Cirque du Soleil performance, which is located at the end of the West Side.

I think I'll stop it here for now. I've a lot more to write about but this way we'll keep it to one particular area at a time. Also this is a good place to comment and add. Til tomorrow.

Me.

Quiet Please

One of my favorite things to do on a Saturday morning, while the hubby is still asleep, is to go to apple.com/trailers and watch all the new trailers that I've missed seeing because I haven't stepped foot in a movie theater in months. It's like watching Saturday morning cartoons without the cartoons and it's just the commercials commanding kids to buy stuff. I love it.

If they are done well enough, I am actually led to believe that I am willing to pay x amount of dollars to see a spring-y, romantic comedy. Like there's this new one called "The Perfect Man" with Chris Noth, playing his famous version of "Mr. Big"; of a confirmed Bachelor, living in Manhattan. Okay, maybe it's just the model of the perfect New Yorker... and the he plays against Heather Locklear and the romance ensues.

And I am a sucker for documentaries. haha. There's one called "Mad Hot Ballroom" that sold me as being funny and cute and fun. Alright, it's a buncha kids dancing but ya gotta see it. heh.

And then there are the foreign films, which I sometimes adore and sometimes I abhor. And I wonder whether it's too bad they don't have our kind of advertising or whether it's wonderful that they dont.

And then there are the horror movies. I'm a big fan of frightening movies but it seems that they never make it well enough. I think it's because they make it over the top. It's always something stupid, like Jason and Freddy in outerspace. It's not simple. What makes it a good, scary movie, is that most of the time it's not scary but when it is, it is. I dunno, maybe I'm describing it wrong.

Oh I gotta click on one more. See y'all later.

Me.
p.s. I know someone requested my "Disney on a Budget" post and I will work on that tomorrow, but for now... shhh. The trailers are starting.

Warning: The following post contains graphic material which may not be suitable for queasy stomached individuals.

Last night I had one weird dream. I was in my house, in the downstairs basement bathroom, but since I've been gone my parents had (in my dream) renovated. There was now a tub, sink and toilet and was more roomier, rather than what it really has, just a toilet and sink.

I had taken a poo and flushed the toilet and exited the room. My brother called me back later to tell me that he had flushed the toilet because my first flush didn't do anything and the poo had come spilling out. So I went back down to inspect the damage and yes indeed there were little turds on the floor as well as a squishy wet floor.

Well, not having learned the first lesson I peeked into the toilet and there were still a few piece of poop floating around so I gave the toilet another flush and saw, with fascination that, because the lip of the seat was so low, and the water tended to rise with a flush, the little piece of poo would spin around, get caught on the lip of the seat and with momentum come flying out of the toilet. For some reason, my brother had left his school backpack in the room, so the flying poo flew out of the toilet and landed in that little area in front where you keep pencils and such.

Now, as I ran around, picking up my pieces of poo that were being launched around the room I was trying not to puke at the same time, but suddenly, from another room the tv started blaring. It was like a bad scene from poltergeist. But funny enough, the show that was playing was Perfect Strangers, you know, with Cousin Larry and Balki? So they start the music and I'm like, oh my god! I know that show and even in the dream I think to myself, I gotta remember the lyrics so I can sing it to Rich.

Then I woke up and I tried to remember the lyrics and all I could get was:

"Standing tall, on the wings of my dream.
Rise and fall, on the wings of my dream.

The rain and thunder
The wind and haze
I'm bound for better days.
It's my life and my dream,
Nothing's going to stop me now."

-------------------------------------

What a great dream!!
Just kidding.
I think it's a metaphor for cleaning up the mess I made. Nice huh? The theme song comes from me singing the "Who's the Boss" theme song yesterday and the pencils was from me winning a pencil at the arcade.

K' gotta run. erm... walk
Me

Compromises and Substitutions or Better Luck Next Time

In the drudgery that is known as Florida there is hardly a decent supermarket. I have substituted my self-service aisles of big, clean, spacious Stop and Shop, for the dank, gloomy, smelly, tiny quarters of Publix Supermarket. I do however, like the people that work there. What I don't like are the prices of food, the terrible selection on everything (I have to buy my zucchini pre-packaged rather than being able to pick which ones I like) and the fact that they no longer carry Krispy Kreme donuts in my nearest supermercado.

In the drudgery that is known as Massachusetts, while we lived in a very nice town, there never was a feeling of community. Now we live in an enclosed little area and I've met a few people who are cheery and gossipy and have kids! I'm expecting a big turn out for Halloween, especially since I've had my costume in mind for awhile now. I wasn't sure if I'd see any kids but on the day of the picnic it seems as if they crawled out from every rock, tree, nook and cranny there was. There were more kids than adults. Hopefully they'll be good kids and not the punks/brats in Massachusetts.

In the drudgery that is Florida, well ok, it's a peninsula but where we live there is no sign of the ocean nearby. I miss the feeling of endlessness, of humbleness when looking out onto an eternity of water and knowing that it connects me to someone miles and miles away. Here, we are the Land o' Lakes. Lakes everywhich way you go. Small, big, medium... all full of alligators.

Speaking of Land o' lakes, I've slowly devoured the rest of my Mass. stash of goodies. One was this butter that was homemade and delicious. I didn't make it at home, someone else did and marketed it to the local supermarket and in a blind taste test it won hands down. We've looked around and I found this butter that was from Denmark and it's a pretty good substitution. Bad substitution and lousy compromise is the water. Bleh. No crisp, clean Poland Spring. Although the Fiji water isn't bad. But it's expensive. Another stash was my cat's food, the dry kind, which they only seem to like to sell in "wholesale" mode, meaning I have to buy a twenty pound bag of it as if my cat's gonna go on a seafood diet/ see-food.

I've left behind a "community bathroom" for one in my own room, which is a one up, but I've left behind two rooms to the one that we have now, which is a downer.

One thing that isn't a substitution and one I'd miss dearly is Ray's New York Bagels, which they sold at my supermarket. I cried out an "alleluia selah" when I saw those at our local one.

Well in a world of compromise, I'll take any creature comfort I can find.

Me.

P.S. I forgot to mention that we finally got a new mirror for our bathroom. In our old one, we had two so as a couple we could brush our teeth without banging elbows with one another. The only problem is that our mirror looks like that "The Ring" mirror. You know, the one where the weird woman is brushing her hair in. Well, to make matters worse I like to use the bathroom in the wee hours of the morning and my eyes are still light sensitive so I don't turn on the lights, but the mirror is directly across from the toilet, just a few inches up so you don't catch a glance of yourself on the bowl. I leave the door a teeny bit open and the other mirror reflects light into the mirror that I am staring at and it creates an eerie little glow in the mirror and as I pee last night's water, I am covered in goosebumps from my wicked imagination.

And there is your "too much information" for the day.