Weekend Update: We’re Ba-aack!

Us, waiting to board “It’s a Small World.” Note that there is still some life left in our faces, as we had not yet heard the song approximately 2.3 million times in 20 languages. Oy!

News in brief: we got back to our house around 5 p.m. Saturday. The trip was great. We had a lot of fun. More detailed reports to follow this week, but for now I offer these tidbits:

Biggest Thrill: Tower of Terror. I rode a lot of great rides at Disney, but this one has to win as my favorite simply because I had never ridden any ride like it before, and it was very well done. A whole new, very intense experience for me! Wheeeee! I screamed. Hard. Like a girl. The man who sat in front of me is suffering hearing loss now, I am sure.

Biggest Disappointment: Near complete lack of character sightings. Not that we are “in” to all that stuff, really (after all, I have 10- and 12-year-old boys). But come on… I figured I might see Mickey or one of the “main” characters walking around somewhere on Disney at least ONCE during my week-long stay in “the World.”  The only characters we caught glimpses of out and about were that blue genie from “Aladdin,” and the Power Rangers (oh, PLEASE).

Best Food I ate this week: The grilled chicken salad at Roaring Fork Cafe in the Wilderness Lodge. Mind you, we did not do any table service dining (we were on the Quick Service meal plan) so we were not eating any gourmet food anywhere. But, wow! That salad was outstanding! I need to figure out how to recreate it at home. Yum!  And also, yum.

More details next time!

Weekend Update: In which I speak of many things which interest few people.

Updates have been sporadic recently, for no good reason. Here is an attempt to get everyone who cares caught up on the goings-on at our house…

We’re going to Disney!

Yes, we are actually going away for Spring Break this year, on a real vacation to a real destination. One week from today we will be in Walt Disney World. Our plane lands in Orlando at 4:08 pm, and I fully expect to be on some sort of thrill ride by 4:09. 🙂

We have looked forward to this trip for many months now, and it would not be happening except for the fact that my parents couldn’t decide what to get us for Christmas last year, so they said “how about if we send you guys to Disney World?” For the record, Mom and Dad… we are very grateful! And you are now off the hook for birthdays, Christmases, or any other gift-giving occasions for all of us Doolittles, indefinitely. We love you and we couldn’t be more thrilled about the upcoming trip.

We will be staying inside the park at the Wilderness Lodge for 7 nights, flying back home on April 4th. We’ve got park hopper passes, water park access, meal plans, the whole bit. And we are not planning to bring a laptop with us, so we will essentially be “going dark” while we are down there. As I warned some of my clients recently when I reminded them of my upcoming vacation… I will have my cell phone with me, but I’m not likely to hear it ring over all the yelling and carrying on that is sure to be happening.

I intend to thoroughly inundate the blog with vacation photos and stories when I return.

Help, I’ve Registered and I Can’t Give Up!

I’ve gone and done it again. I’ve forgotten that I am 41, overweight and out of shape… and I’ve signed up for another organized bike ride. After managing to get through the Bike Trek to Shakertown last fall, I thought I’d up the ante this summer and sign up for Bike MS 2009… a 2-day ride that begins at Churchill Downs in Louisville and ends at Keeneland Race Track here in Lexington.  Glenn has ridden this one before, but I have not. Whereas I rode a total of about 85 miles in two days on the Shakertown ride, the MS ride routes that I intend to take should bring me to a total of 110 miles — And that is with me opting for some of the shorter routes!

So, we’ll see how it goes. A couple weeks ago I got on my bike after the long winter months off and rode over 20 hilly miles through the countryside near where I live. I thought that was a pretty good start. This evening Glenn and I took a shorter ride of about 14 miles. I would like to work toward getting some 30 and 40 mile weekend rides under my belt over the next several weeks.

We Still Need to Hire Someone to Fix Some Things

The ice storm back in January left us with some things to fix around the house. Our roof, although virtually unscathed on the outside, has several rafters that need to be fixed/reinforced/repositioned . Our brand new deck needs to have a 15-foot railing replaced. The gutter along the back roofline needs to be replaced. And at some point, I need to either repair or replace my gas grill.

Ah, the grill! I miss it already. We have had a few pleasant days recently when I would have loved to throw some chicken or steaks on the grill for supper… but alas, this is what my grill looks like right now. Glenn tells me that we can still use it. I… don’t know. But we may have to try to fix it up, because… guess what? In a lovely turn of events that confirms the stereotype that insurance companies are out to get you, and you always must read the fine print… the damage to the grill was NOT covered by our insurance. You see… there is a clause somewhere in our policy that says that if weight of snow and ice causes a tree to fall on my house, then any personal property that is outside the house is not covered if it is damaged. OK, well, I guess that’s fine. But the funny thing is, if WIND had caused the exact same tree to fall on our house and deck, and smash the same grill in the same way… then the damage to the grill would have been covered. Funny, no?  I’m laughing on the inside.

That about sums things up for now… Stay tuned until next time!

Weekend Update: Aftermath

We got hold of a tree service today and had them come by to take care of the limbs that have been on our house since the wee hours of Wednesday morning. Around 11:30, several guys showed up in our yard, waving chainsaws in the air and eager to get to work. It was still very cold, but the sky was a beautiful blue…

They made quick work of the huge limb, scrambling all over our icy deck and putting themselves in precarious positions with seemingly no thought for safety. For example:

Here are more pictures from the morning:

As you can see, in addition to repairs that will be needed for our deck, roof and gutter, I will also need to get a new gas grill!  But the grill’s sacrifice does not go unnoticed… I am fairly sure that it absorbed a lot of the impact from the falling limb, and actually lessened the damage to our brand new deck. So, thank you, big fancy Brinkman Grill… I will fondly remember the many fajitas I made with you!

Weekend Update: What I Did My Whole Life

This little exercise is circulating on a few blogs by people I know. If you want to play along, just copy this list to your own blog and highlight the things you have done. Then, be sure to leave a comment here so I know you posted your list!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world **(not yet, but happening in March!)
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise (does a day cruise count?)
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing (but not with a bunch of ropes and carabiners… just climbing the rocks at Red River Gorge or Great Falls or something)
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Gotten flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check (not knowingly!)
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy (or all of them?)
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book (some of my photos were published last summer!)
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (does fish count? then, yes)
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee