The Best $50 We Have Ever Spent

We have a small zoo in our house. I spend a lot of time cleaning up animal hair- sweeping the hardwoods, washing and re-washing sheets and blankets, lint rolling my dress pants before work, etc. It's another full time job. I wouldn't have it any other way though. 

However, we decided to suck it up and buy a FURminator. Yes, $50 is a lot to spend on a dog brush, but dude I think the dog brush is going to be a lifesaver. We've already brushed all three dogs with it (and the one cat we could catch) and ended up with a huge pile of hair...that Sierra had to run through and roll around it several times. Nice. I'm cool with spending the money if it will save my sanity.

I think I'm in love.

How Not to Roast at Disney World in the Summer

Sweat-wicking shorts and top. Chaco sandals. Bathing suit underneath on days we visit a park with water rides. LOTS of sunblock. If I'm not wearing the aforementioned clothes, I'm wearing a tiny sundress with flip flops. It kills me to see people wearing long pants. It's freaking Florida! In June! I let my hair dry naturally in the morning, and it usually ends up in a ponytail by the time we get on the bus to the parks. I only end up using sunscreen on my face and go sans make-up the entire time. I'm just not a pretty sweat-er, and make-up running down my face would be even less attractive.

Obvious Tips for Dealing with the Heat
1) Start your day early (like 8 am early). You'll see more in the parks before the mob of people get there, and you'll enjoy the cooler not as insanely hot temperatures.

2) Purchase a Camelbak or other hydration type backpack to carry into the parks. Fill it up for free with ice from the resorts/hotels and water. Ta da! You won't buy a bottle of $3 water every 30 minutes. Just put your camera in another bag. The coolness of the hydration bladder (yes that's what it is called) will cause your camera to fog up every time you pull it out in the heat to take a picture.

3) Don't wear jeans. Wear natural and/or sweat-wicking fabrics. And if it's cool when you start your walk to the bus/car, for the love of all that is holy, don't dress for that temperature. It's going to get hotter!!!! It's Florida. Duh.

4) Take a break for lunch and head back to the resort (if your're staying on property) for lunch, rest and a dip in the pool. If you can't leave the park, find a shady spot or restaurant to eat and relax in. Trust me. It will be worth it.

5)

Source

Source

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Enough said. 

Have a magical day!

Every few months or so, I wander off and explore the big world of the internets. And then I retreat back to this cozy little spot, because I just can't deal with the other drama out there. This past week I've seen an attack on a healthy living blogger and her good deed of riding for charity go from whatevs to just ridiculous and some crazy, close-minded rant on one of the Disney boards I read. Good grief people. Pull your head out of butt and act like a grown up. If you have nothing better to do than attack others in a public forum (or their own dang blog), you need a life!

RANT OVER.

Anyways, work is going swimmingly. I'll be attending my third NeoCon in Chicago next month. Always a good time. I don't look forward to flying AT ALL. I must find an authentic Chicago-style hot dog to eat while I'm there.

Vegetables are planted...in one of our boxes at least. The mosquitoes are already out in full force. I had three bites on my feet/leg even though I wore bug spray.

Dogs are shedding. Cats come in every day dirty, covered in prickly things, and tired after romping around for hours. Kevin is almost out of school for the year, and Sean is trying to decide on summer classes (and big life decisions). It.never.stops.

A Very Late Disney Recap

It's been a crazy month since we went to Disney World in March. I jumped back into school and work as soon as we got home and haven't stopped since. I thought I would finally recap the trip while I'm doing my volunteer hours at a very empty teen center at the downtown library. (Pictures will be added later...when I finally download them from the cards.)

I'm too lazy for anything put a list format right now so here we go...

1) Crowds - OMG. We were there the same weekend last year and didn't remember it being this crazy. Everywhere you turned there was a dance/cheerleading team, sports team, senior trip or Spring Break group. Teenagers EVERYWHERE. We thought we were smart by staying in a Moderate resort, thereby avoiding the large groups that stay in the Value resorts. WRONG-O. We just suffered in the parks. So we're not sure if we'll go back the same weekend next year. We are picky about the rides we stand in line for. No ride is worth more than a 40-50 minute wait time. 

2) Transportation - We decided to eliminate the Disney bus transportation from our agenda this trip. (Side note: Two wrecks/incidents involving the buses recently. 8 injured. 1 dead. What?!) We drove my super sweet car to each park - free parking with on-property resort stay - and used the monorail as needed. It did sort of suck having to drive from one end of the property to the other on some nights, but it was so worth not having to stand in line (and on the bus) with a ton of other people.

3) Food - We tried two new restaurants on this trip: Sanaa @ Kidani Village and Rose and Crown @ Epcot. Both were...eh. Too expensive for the amount of food we received. The best part of Sanaa was their bread service. Sean and I split three breads- Naan, Onion Kulcha, Paneer Paratha. And three sauces- Red Chile Sambal, Cucumber Raita, Roasted Red Bell Pepper Hummus. The Rose and Crown meal looked like a frozen meal they plopped on a plate. The tastiest thing I ate there was the Raspberry Vinaigrette. Lame.

We did the usual- enjoyed our favorite rides, bought too many pins, trudged through Florida rainshowers monsoons, renewed our annual passes and generally had a great time. We've learned to take our trips a little slower, because we know it's not going anywhere! I feel sorry for those families that drag their little ones through the parks and miss naps and normal routines. Cramming everything in doesn't make the vacation anymore enjoyable. And getting your money's worth with the Dining Plan just makes you miserably full. 

And we're going back in June.

Are We There Yet?

We're in this:




Eating this:

Listening to this:

Going to see this:

2 DAYS!

I am Liz Lemon?

Sean and I are usually the last people to start watching great television shows. Mad Men and The Office were two shows everyone told us we just had to watch, and we stuck with Food Network reruns and football/basketball/baseball/every.sport.know.to.man.

We've FINALLY caught up with the times and purchased Season 1 and 2 of 30 Rock on dvd. (An aside: I prefer watching the shows on dvd one right after another anyway. I can wait a few months until the dvds come out. I'm weird, I know.)

Season 1 of 30 Rock started out a little slow for us, and I thought I was going to lose Sean to boredom. Then we started cracking up every now and then. Then I started to do my annoying out loud laugh.

Then we started to notice something.

IT'S SCARY HOW MUCH I AM LIKE LIZ LEMON.

1. I'm a brunette with glasses.
2. My world revolves around food. Most of it is junk food. 
3. I like to fall asleep beside my husband while he plays Halo 3. (He's not a tool like Dennis.)
4. The fear of choking on food while I'm alone. (Shut up.)
5. The not-very-girl clothes. No bi-curious shoes though. (I really love every outfit Liz wears.)
6. Awkward geek that severely lacks social skills.
7. I love Star Wars.
8. "I just want to go home and watch that show about midgets and eat a block of cheddar cheese." (Um yeah that needs no explanation. I LOVE Little People, Big World and cheese.)
9. "Gay dudes should be allowed to adopt kids and we should all drive hybrids." ( I drive a clean diesel- it was prettier than the hybrid.)

We're not through Season 1 yet so I'm sure I'll add to this list. I'm hooked on the show already and can't wait to turn it on at night.

If you'll excuse me, I'm going to put on some sweet pajamas and turn on my humidifier. My husband is killing monsters.