Sorry all - that I haven't been back to do replies... It's been a crazy week here! I'll work on a few replies today - and more over the weekend to try to catch up.
I'm so sad to see this trip report coming to an end and no new PTR started
It has been so fun getting to know you through your reports here on the DIS and it was really fun meeting you at MOA 1 1\2 years ago.
I'm so sorry to hear about your dad. I'm glad to hear he is fine now.
It can't be easy being so far away from him.
How fun that you found an old photo of your house.
Crossing my fingers that you will find airfares for V's trip that aren't too expensive.
Awwwh - I"ve truly enjoyed our friendship... I'll be back to writing again soon - I am sure... It may be a few weeks or it may be a few months - but I won't be gone forever.
Yes - he is home and doing well now.
That was neat to find - I've been searching forever for old photos of our house - they just don't exist.
We have airfare now... It wasn't terrible - not as low as it was a few weeks ago, but not as bad as Allison's was either.
Just thankful to have that done.
Awwww I'm so sad to see your report come to an end! I am like you, I know a trip is in our future, but I have no real idea what the dates will be, so no pre trip report for me either. I hope you'll be able to start one soon, though. I've enjoyed hearing about your healthy living and seeing all the great pictures!
Thanks! I do hope to start one soon... I just know it will be a bit... For sure, a few weeks - but it could be longer. We'll see...
I am glad you've enjoyed reading about our travels and our lives.
Sad to see the trip report end, but what a blessing to have these memories with your girls. Uggggh about the airfare. I was waiting for cheaper airfare for my 17 yo son's trip this summer, and it just increased. Crossing my fingers it drops again. I also need to buy airfare for Orlando in October but I'm not sure the best/cheapest time to do that. Thankfully I have enough reward points for 3 tickets if I can find the right price. Thanks for all your updates. You have been such a positive influence to me over the past few months.
Me too - it's so hard to not have anything to write about... I hope to start a PTR soon, I just don't know when that will be...
I was able to purchase airfare for V on Tuesday morning - it wasn't as low as it was when I'd seen it in Feb... but it wasn't as terribly high as Allison's was either - so I was happy with that. And it was under budget - so I was able to chuck a little bit of the remaining at debt.
Win/win!
I am not sure that there is a "good time" to buy airfare to Orlando... That is just something I watch constantly and load it several times per day... and I buy when it's an acceptable price for me.
That's awesome that you have enough points for a few tickets!
You are very welcome - I hope to be back to writing soon!
It's so sad seeing your trip report coming to an end. I'll miss 'talking' to you.
I remember me last trip with my daughter before she got married. It was so much fun as we have similar touring styles at Disney. We both like to get up early. Her husband likes to take his time. That's not bad, but I'm used to moving faster and doing more.
Is V. going to college in the Fall? Eight weeks is still a nice long visit with family. It's hard to believe that Thomas is starting school already.
To answer your question, yes I'll still be in electronics. Right now, they schedule me 2 or 3 days in wireless and the rest in electronics. In May, it'll be all electronics.
How cool that you found those old pictures of your house. I do have wonder what the person that cover up the window and door was thinking. It's a wonder the whole wall didn't collapse.
Have a good day.
Liz
I know - I am missing all of you already... It's difficult!
These last trips have been amazing - I hope to continue them one day...
I am 99% sure that V is, for sure, waiting until Spring to start college... Possibly the following fall... We kind of learned our lesson with Allison and now she is having to pay for it - literally - so this time, instead of forcing her to go to college right away, we are giving her some time to save $$ first... As, even though they only have to pay for their "spending" portion in Europe - it's still an expense for them.
I am happy that you get to stay in electronics, I miss it for sure!
Yes - those pictures are cool! No kidding! That's what we thought too - it's a miracle that it didn't collapse... The way our house was built, is that the 2x4s go from foundation to roof... There was originally 12 of them that did the entire span... Once they did all of their cutting - there were 2 left!
We were very lucky! Now it's fine though - Josh rebuilt the entire thing, and it's likely better than new.
Thanks Liz - same to you!
I love the pictures of Victoria through the years. I also liked the house pictures. I know I've seen some before but I don't remember the window with the duct tape. I have heard many stories about things that are found after inspections. It's kind of scary and you are really lucky to have Josh.
Sorry to hear you won't be chatting with us anymore. I will hope that you can go again and that way we can continue to watch you and your girls take trips together. It would be interesting to hear how you paid off all your debts too. Keep up the good work.
I decided to rent that house for 2 weeks in March. I talked my husband into moving and told him maybe they won't be able to rent that year and we could still get it. I liked what you said about saving the best house for last. And since it will be spring break and busy, if my daughter's family can't come we will just relax and swim our last week.
Glad your dad is ok. My dad took a trip to the hospital while we were in Florida. He fell and his friend couldn't get him up. But they checked him out and sent him home. He is 87 and does pretty well most of the time.
Thank you for all your trip reports and I hope to see another one in the future.
Robyn
I am glad you enjoyed them!
Yes - that was crazy... And that was the first wall we did... So, at that point, we feared that the rest of the house was the same way... Thankfully - that was really the worst of it... We found other problems through out the project - but that really was the worst.
I'll likely still be doing replies for a week or two - LOL - so I won't fade into oblivion quite yet.
I've been thinking about starting some sort of private group on Facebook to follow our debt pay off progress... I haven't decided how I am going to do that yet - but at this point, I am not sure I want our entire family knowing about this - yet I want to inspire. So, we'll see.
Yay!!
I am glad you got that house! It will be a fun trip for sure!
Oh no!! I am relieved to hear that your dad is OK - it's so scary when that happens!
Thank you - I've very much enjoyed writing them and developing some wonderful friendships here over the years - I sure hope it won't be too long until I get back to writing again.
I really enjoyed reading your trip report & all of the old pictures. Thanks for sharing your family memories with us.
Awwwh!
I am so glad you've enjoyed them! Hopefully I will be back to writing soon!
I have truly enjoyed following your trip reports. You are really good at writing interesting posts. I'm sure that you are not finished taking trips to Disney with your girls. They loved them, too.
Give us a heads up if and when you start another trip report. I look forward to reading them again.
Awwwh - thanks Sue, sometimes I wonder how interesting I really am? I just "talk" after all. LOL
Oh no - we aren't done... We are just taking a break. I truly do hope to be writing a new PTR within a few weeks... It may be slow going at first - but I am sure I'll be back soon!
I will definitely try!
I will miss you all, for sure!
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I didn't mean to fall off the face of the Earth quite so abruptly... Life just kind of got away from me this week!
I've been working out and eating well... Doing quite decent with my "no grains for Lent"... I am feeling pretty good about my health these days. It's been nice enough - barely - for me to get out and walk... And since my workload has been manageable over these last weeks - I have committed to walking a few afternoons per week. Although - my shins aren't exactly liking me at the moment - hopefully they shape up soon.
Work has been going well too - I am staying busy there. I have a really good schedule these days - now that I am not going to Target/Starbucks/Chipotle nearly every day - I've been able to get a lot accomplished, and it feels great!
Debt pay off is going really well too... Even though we haven't had any pay days... Sticking to the budget in between pay days is just as important to the process - if not more so. As I said above - I am thinking of starting a private group on FB to follow along on our debt free journey and inspire those who wish to be inspired... If this is something that interests you - please let me know and I'll see about doing something along these lines... We are on schedule to pay off another debt this week - so the snowball is rollin' quite nicely at this point.
Along those lines - we were able to purchase V's airfare for Europe on Tuesday... The flights weren't nearly as cheap as they were in Feb, but we were able to find one that worked for just a bit more... So, it was less than we budgeted and we were able to throw the excess towards debt.
So, it's official - V is going to Europe this summer... And I will be home crying. Again.
The amount of "found money" that we've been able to locate since really planning out our budget and sticking to it is quite scary... To think - for months & years - we've always had that $$ and have no idea where it went... Well, except for Disney - a good portion went to them.
But the rest... No idea... Nothing to show for it. Sad.
That's about all...
Looking ahead...
It's Dad's 70th birthday on Monday... I've managed to coordinate a VERY SMALL surprise party for him this coming weekend... I wish that more people could come, and I am sort of bummed that many of them who were invited cannot... but there will be a few special people there - and hopefully he will enjoy it.
The girls are doing well... I haven't said anything here... Along with working and taking care of her financial self - Allison and Gus are dating again.... Though we don't feel this is the best choice for her at this time, we trust her to make her own decisions - and if this is what she wants... Well, she is 18... As long as she is able to stay committed to her plan to get things paid off and go back to school - then we will support her decision.
V is doing great! She is saving like crazy for her trip to Europe this summer... She is putting away the entirety of every pay check and just living on her tips. She will have a good amount of cash to go over with and she will get to do a lot of great things while she is there. She is also really enjoying having the freedom to drive - it's been really good for her... This weekend - we are working on "Jeep driving lessons" - since it's a manual transmission, and we believe that everyone should have this skill.
That's it! Pretty boring - as usual.
I am missing all of you and promise to be back tomorrow to work on more replies.
Prayers and pixie dust to all!
D~