Day 220: Name Them One By One

Aha:
Here is a small, but sincere list of blessings from today--
  1.  I woke up right before my alarm went off and was wide awake for my first day back to work after a great vacation.
  2.  I made it through my first day back to work after a great vacation!  (So hard to go back to work!)
  3.  I was asked to make a change to the calendar by The Intimidator and right after was pulled away from my desk before I could make the change.  I totally forgot about it until a few minutes later when I had a little prompting reminding me to make the change.  Phew!
  4.  I walked home from work in 52 degree weather and saw that most of the snow has melted!!!
  5.  One of my students didn't show up for her lesson, so I had a nice little unexpected break between dinner and my next student.
  6.  I had a little extra time this evening to snuggle with Clinton and Petey!  So nice!

Ha ha:
My coworker just told me that while I was away from my desk a couple weeks ago Dr. Ditty came by and asked if her to "give Denise (aka, me) this paperwork" he had.  He had no idea what my name was!  Denise-Danielle--whatever they both start with "D"!
This reminded me of the time that he came up to me and said, "Hey..." (long pause while he looked at my name badge)..."uh...(another stare)...can you take care of this for me?"  Ha ha!  Even looking at my badge he didn't know my name and I've worked there for 2 years!  Ha!

Day 219: Hairy Situations

Aha:
Last night I took some cold medicine around 10pm and was asleep within 30 minutes.  I woke up this morning at 8:30am.  Not sure, but I think my body really needed some rest! :)  I think the best part of all this though was waking up to Peter spooning me.  That little boy was by my head all night long.  I asked Clinton if he had pulled him up during the night and he said that he had come up on his own. (Awwww!)  I felt so loved!!  I laid in bed for another half hour and snuggled my pup.  It was fantastic!
Just like yesterday, Peter has been on our laps anytime we sit down.  Even as I sit here typing he is sprawled across my lap with his chin on my arm.  I doubt it's comfortable for him, and I know it isn't for me but neither of us is complaining. :)

Ha ha:
Ladies--remember those days in high school when you were so bored with whatever the teacher was saying that you'd pull out a pair of scissors and cut away your split ends?  (Please don't tell me I'm the only one who did that.)  Well, today while I was waiting for Clinton in the car I happened to glance down and see a split end.  In a desperate attempt to get rid of it without ripping it from my scalp, I reached into the arm rest and pulled out a pair of nail clippers and hacked off the end.  Feeling totally satisfied I continued this process until Clinton came back and asked, "What are you doing?"  I told him I was trimming my ends and he just shook his head side-to-side and said, "Girls."
Oh, the things we do for beauty!  Ha!

Day 218: Happy to See Us

Aha:
Coming home after a great trip is always a little sad, but coming home to a pup that is as excited to see you are you are to see him is always great!  When we walked through the door Peter went crazy.  He jumped into my arms and gave me tons of kisses.  Then he ran out into the living room and jumped up on Clinton's lap.  He was a ball of excited energy and he brought us all of his toys to play with until he got so tired he passed out on our laps.
Anytime one of us sits down Peter is right up on our laps.  He is so happy to have us back and we're happy to be back too.

Ha ha:
During my Skype session with my sister and her kids last night, Clinton joined in so the kids could visit with him too.  I asked my niece to share some jokes with Clinton.  All of her jokes were essentially the same thing, but one in particular really had us laughing.
They went a little something like this:
Niece:  Knock, knock.
Us:  Who's there?
Niece:  __________(fill in with any object)
Us:  ________ who?
Niece:  (holding up a drawing of the object coming out of a pair of pants and a speech bubble that said, "Hello, my name is _____ pants!")
She'd start laughing and would get up again and again to recreate her joke with some new object.  The one that really had us in stitches/really concerned was "Banana Pants".  Let's just say we were all glad there was a speech bubble on that one!

Day 217: Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures

Aha:
This should come as no surprise, but I SOMEHOW contracted a cold during our trip.  Fortunately for me, we were able to buy some cold meds and I felt almost as good as new and was able to enjoy our last day and a wonderful afternoon at the Clear Water Beach.  Here is a little list of the blessings I/we experienced on Saturday.

• Cold meds
• A WARM day at the beach (coming from the Pacific NW, this is basically unheard of)
• I was craving some beef jerky and happened across a little store that had some for super cheap! (not a common occurrence in a touristy area)
• Got to sit in the sun and feel oh-so-toasty warm while munching on my beef jerky
• Got to walk hand-in-hand with my HB for a few hours while we soaked up some sun

Ha!  It was a little windy, as evidenced by Clinton's hair.

Ha ha:
On our way out of town we saw this car repair shop and promptly began laughing.

"Waxin' Willys"

As many of you may guess, our minds went straight to something much less manly and much more...metrosexual.  I think Willy should have thought this through a bit more.

Day 216: Some Fresh Oranges and a Couple of Old Prunes

Aha:
I told Clinton before we left Wisconsin that while we were in Florida I wanted to pick real Florida oranges.  So, we hopped in the car and drove up the road a ways to a U-Pick farm.  We had a blast picking oranges together and it was so nice to have some down time during our trip too.

 I think this is what you call "double picking".

Ha ha:

We went to the grocery store to see if they had some fresh Florida oranges...ya know, in Florida, and found these instead.

After dinner we came back out to our car to find this.  We're pretty sure these were from the elderly couple having dinner across the way from us.  I thought this was too funny not to share.

Day 215: Aren't You Only Supposed to Get Wet on the Rides??

On the ferry boat on our way to the Magic Kingdom

Aha:
While Clinton was in line to watch the Country Bear Jamboree, I took a trip to the loo.  There were seagulls flying everywhere in the hopes of getting some spare food and I was nervous they were going to poop on me so I walked looking up instead of down.  And it's a good thing too!  Right as I was about to walk to my right I noticed a seagull above me starting to poo, I quickly jumped to my left.  As I jumped, a man walking in my direction saw me leap and did the same thing.  In the exact spot where we both would have been landed a giant splat of seagull poo.  I looked at the man, he looked back at me and at the same time we both said, "Phew.  The was really close!"

 Here I am trying to get a shot of us on the teacups...oh, and I'm also trying not to puke. :)

Ha ha:

Clinton and I were standing in line to go to the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor (this was my favourite part of the Magic Kingdom--hilarious!!) and the room was super crowded with other people waiting to go in.  We were sardined in next to this other couple and all was good until I heard the man beside me sneeze and say, "Uh...uh...uh...".  I turned in time to see a three inch snot string hanging from his nose and connecting with his right hand.  I turned back to Clinton and said, "Oh, my gosh!  Oh, my gosh!  That guy's got a giant snot string hanging from his nose (gag, gag)!"  One wouldn't know it was possible but I managed to squeeze in even closer to Clinton. (shudder) 

A few hours later we were sitting on the ground in front of the castle waiting to watch a musical production with Mickey and the gang.  I was talking with Clinton when all of a sudden the man standing up next to me turned my way and sneezed. right. on. me.  To add insult to injury, he did it again, only this time I felt it too.  That's right.  I was totally sneezed on by a stranger and had physical evidence in the form of spray on my face.  I turned to Clinton in pure disgust and he just started laughing.  Really?  (Shuh-der!!)

Day 214: Paying...A Compliment

Aha:

EPCOT!  We had an AMAZING time walking around the park today.  The weather was unbelievable and seeing all of the cool exhibits for all of the different countries was a blast.  We finished the day off with fireworks and a light display.  FANTASTIC!

When we walked up to purchase our tickets the lady behind the counter asked if we'd ever been here before.  We told her this was our first visit...about 20 minutes later we'd heard about her grandchildren, her health (dental and physical), her family, the Make-A-Wish Foundation and how they work with patients/families at Disney World and just how wonderful the parks at Disney are--I'm thinking, how's about you give us a chance to get inside those pearly gates to see for ourselves??--and then her eyes welled up and she talked about how she hoped that we too could experience our own "Happily Ever After" moment.

Suddenly my heart changed a little bit and I truly began to feel the Disney spirit.  This lady, who was a complete and total stranger 20 minutes ago, had opened her heart to us and I knew her wish for us to find happiness extended beyond the attractions and festivities of Disney.  What a sweet lady and what a wonderful way to start our adventure!

 Here we are in EPCOT's Mexico with our favorite, Donald Duck.

 In Morocco, we went to a delicious restaurant.  The atmosphere was so cool and the food was great!

 The grounds were absolutely beautiful as the sun was setting

 I think this next pic was during/after the fireworks.  So much fun!!

Ha ha:
I got a picture with my favourite Disney princess, Aurora (Sleeping Beauty)!  Yes, I think I was the only adult in line, but who cares, right?  Anyway, as I approached her, she turned to me, took a graceful bow and said (in her princess voice), "Oh my!  Aren't you a beautiful princess?  And what a lovely...(stroking my shirt)...outfit you're wearing."  Ha!