Packing for a Disney Trip

Our family has just booked our first Disney trip. It was supposed to be January 2021, but obviously COVID disrupted our plans. When it was time to book in 2020, the parks weren’t even open yet. My son turns 6 in January, which is the reason for us choosing that time. I am a planner by profession, so I have already started an Excel spreadsheet for park reservations and which hotels to eat at. There are plenty of blogs, even podcasts devoted to the subject. I found a great YouTube channel Here with the Ears (no affiliation) to see what each type of hotel room looked. I watched the video again to see how many outlets/changing ports there were. Before deciding on a character meal during COVID, I watched Mermaid Nina’s video on that specific subject. Suggested by our travel agent, Jenn with Gateway to Magic, the Disney Food Blog has tons of helpful videos (free) and guides (not free). Along the way, I found a “list of things to pack” article, which really got me thinking about what I needed to pack.

Before we get started, I want to explain that I am a Venture Member with Wink Naturals, so I do get a commission from sales from my website.

Ipod Nano 4th Generation, Wink Naturals Adult Sleep Quick Melts (old packaging labeled as Zen Melts), and a sleep mask.

My husband can sleep anywhere. When we were in the hospital having our son, he slept on what I would have classified as a church pew. I, on the other hand, need complete darkness, and background noise; an audiobook, podcast, or old time radio show. When traveling, you’re on a whole different schedule, so I add the Wink Sleep Melts to my routine.

2. Wink Energy and Fitbit

Even if you are sleepy soundly using the items above, you still need lots of energy to make it through the parks. Waking up before 7am to get your best chance at Lightning Lane selections on Genie+, getting to the parks before rope drop. Then walking around all day. My best day on my Fitbit (I have been wearing since Christmas 2019) was 16,000 steps at the Columbus Zoo. Can’t wait to beat it walking to and from transportation and all around the parks all day long. I’m hoping to get my “high tops” badge for 20,000 steps.

3. Llama lotion. With all the hand washing/hand sanitizing you’ll be doing, keep a good lotion on hand. While its not a bug repellant, bugs don’t like the citrus lavender scent

4. Immune + Cough

My kid goes to school, so we already have this in our routine, but flying on an airplane to a state with high COVID numbers, we’ll take any added protection we can get.

5. Zen Drops

Before we even get to Disney, I’m keeping my Zen Drops close at hand at the airport. While some people use them everyday, I only need them occasionally, like when I go to the dentist, or in this case, flying on an airplane. Once we get there, they might also help the children from having a tantrum/meltdown at the parks. With only 4 ingredients, the active one being passionflower extract, its easily mixable in a drink or even oatmeal.

Of course we’ll be packing things like water bottles and sunscreen, although hopefully won’t need ponchos :fingers crossed: in January.

Best Fireworks Playlist

Fourth of July is my favorite holiday because I love fireworks.  I’ve written other blog posts on fireworks, so this time I’m focusing on the “Best Firework Playlist”.

How about starting with American Woman by The Guess Who (covered by Lenny Kravitz), or Breakfast in America by Supertramp.  Or just a song by the band America or The American Breed (a personal favorite). 

Following this theme, how about songs about different parts of America.

States: California Dreaming or Hotel California, Sweet Home Alabama,  Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota, 

Cities: My Kind of Town (Chicago), New York, New York, I Left My Heart in San Francisco, Viva Las Vegas, Walking in Memphis, El Paso.

Country songs are usually patriotic.  Independence Day by Martina McBride sounds promising by its title, but this story song is about a battered woman taking her revenge, or “independence”. 

I’ve often heard Spirit in the Sky by Norman Greenbaum at these celebrations.  This song is not about fireworks, it is about Jesus.

But no playlist is complete without a tune or two from John Mellencamp.  Growing up in Illinois, right next to his hometown, somebody always puts on his greatest hits.  Pink House, Cherry Bomb, Jack and Diane, or definitely R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.

What is more patriotic than Boston Pops playing the Sousa march Stars and Stripes Forever with fireworks reflected on water.

The Straight Man

Bob Newhart’s Facebook page (because I’m pretty sure he doesn’t do it himself) told me to watch the Primetime Emmy awards Sunday night, I hoped it was because he was getting a lifetime achievement award.  And even though I only watched 5-10 minutes of the show, I did get to see Mr. Newhart, but in a montage of other celebrities discussing how their quarantine was going.  However, it seemed like a perfect time to discuss a little something I like to call “The Straight Man”.

Wikipedia defines straight man as, The straight man is a stock character in a comedy performance, especially a double act, sketch comedy, or farce. When a comedy partner behaves eccentrically, the straight man is expected to maintain composure. Whatever direct contribution to the comedy a straight man provides usually comes in the form of deadpan.

In an interview with Conan O’Brian, Newhart explained his first show, the Bob Newhart Show, where he is the psychologist, was set up that way because he could be funny listening to other people’s stories.

Even Bob Newhart’s Wikipedia page identifies his comedy as a solo “straight man”.  Newhart’s routine was to portray one end of a conversation (usually a phone call), playing the comedic straight man and implying what the other person was saying.

Even when the premise wasn’t as tight, say in Newhart, there were still plenty of crazy characters, like two brothers named Daryl who didn’t talk.

Here are some modern examples.  My favorite being King of the Hill.  Hank Hill just wants to sell propane and propane accessories, then come home to eat a steak and drink a beer.  He’s a pretty relatable everyman.  But every other character on that show is completely bonkers.  Just look at the three friends he drinks beer with.  Bill is depressed, Dale is a conspiracy theorist, and Boomhauer is a womanizer no one can understand. 

I like to say Seinfeld, but Jerry has just as many quirks, but they are overshadowed by how crazy specifically George and Kramer are.

While Newhart didn’t invent Straight Man comedy, previous examples are Abbott and Costello or Martin and Lewis, or couples like George and Gracie or Lucy and Ricky, but his staying power, like continuing to be featured on the Emmys is reason enough that I would vote for a Bob Newhart Lifetime Acheivement Award. In looking for other examples, I came across a Reddit-like post on http://www.sitcomonline.com called “Bob Newhart: The Best Straight Man Ever?” so it sounds like somebody out there agrees with me.

My Birthday Month Freebies

September is my birthday month. On the first of the month, I received emails from Kohl’s for $5, Family Express (local gas station) for a free fountain drink, Red Robin for a free burger, $10 off at The Body Shop.

A couple days later I got free bread sticks from Pizza Hut, and a message from my car dealer.

A week before my birthday, it was Portillo’s chocolate cake, Nothing Bundt Cakes, and Ben’s pretzels. These are only good for a week’s time.

I really thought this would be a longer entry. Hoping I get more on my birthday. What are some of your favorite businesses to reward you on your birthday?

For lunch today I had a free Red Robin burger and 2 cakes from Portillo’s and Nothing Bundt Cakes.Then I splurged and ordered a Body Shop Advent Calendar with my reward.

Wink Summit

Last July, I bought a ticket for the Wink Naturals Convention, referred to as Summit.  The early bird deadline was coming up, you got a “free” pair of leggings, and the customer service ladies who were on the live that day asked “what’s stopping you?”  I didn’t have a good answer. I had vacation time from my full time job.  My husband and parents are still available to watch my son.  We had money for travel to Utah.  And if I was going to commit to this venture, that I had been at a year, I should go.

So I bought my ticket. I waited on booking my airfare or hotel, just in case I backed out, I was only out $149.  Eventually I got a flight, from South Bend to Dallas, Dallas to Salt Lake City and returning through Chicago.  I tried to room with another lady, but she couldn’t go for medical reasons, but the hotel also wouldn’t transfer her rate to me, so I ended up at the hotel across the street.  I thought I had another roommate, but that too didn’t pan out.  (Hey, that gives me an idea for another blog.  See future post about My Trouble with Roommates.)

I have an upline, my college roommate, hilariously enough based on my previous statement.  She has an upline, and there were a few other ladies on our “team” that I had connected with through Facebook.  But when the time came, I knew no one else that was going.  I wasn’t afraid.  I am in my mid to late 30’s and I have traveled by myself before.

And I wasn’t expecting to happen upon someone wearing a Wink hoodie at the train ticket machine, but that was my first stroke of good luck.  Her name was Beth, she was from Montana, and we made the hour or so ride chatting.  Oh, this light rail system was one of the highlights of the trip, being a city planner.

 

 

When the train arrived in downtown Provo, we still had a healthy 6 block or so walk to the convention center to check in.  We get to the building only to find out they are on the third floor.  We are running up the stairs yelling, “we’re here” because we don’t want them to leave.  We split to check in at our respective hotels.  I wonder over there later, but not everyone is as nice as the first person I met.  I find my own dinner at a pizza place and go next door to make my own soap.

Friday morning the convention begins.  Now I’m wearing my Wink swag while taking advantage of the free breakfast at the hotel.  This time someone approaches me.  Her name is Julie and she is from Pennsylvania.  She’s got her baby with her, so we don’t go over to the convention together, but we do meet up over there.  We sit with a nice couple from Louisiana.  The husband is a doppleganger for someone I went to high school with so I hope he doesn’t thing I’m creepy as I continually glance at him.

We are introduced to new products, new business tools.  I’ll be honest, I remember the least about the speakers.  It might have been overwhelming.  But the personal relationships have been lasting.  We break before dinner and I walk around downtown Provo to get my Fitbit steps and play PokemonGo.  At the dinner I meet a mother/daughter team.  I was initially drawn to the daughter’s dress, an ode to Disney’s Tiki Room attraction.  The president of the company choose to sit at our table and asks for our opinion on some new product bundles.  Remember, I am not a top seller for this company.  I can sell over $100 to keep my manager rank, but can’t get to that $650 mark to level to director.

Saturday starts with more social options.  Everyone I have met so far chooses the hike at Bridal Falls.  But we learned we have to get there ourselves.  The couple has rented a car, so they take me and the mother/daughter team. I am not a hiker, but I did it.  We were all there together.  Dogs, babies in strollers, etc.  Plus several people had purchased the Comfort Patch product already and were using those to assuage migraines or general aches and pains.

Next was a scavenger hunt in downtown Provo amid their Farmer’s Market.  Having seen these when I first got to town, we learned they were faster to get around.  Again the city planner in me had already sent a photo to my co-workers to compare to our LimeBikes.  I still have a $7 credit on Spin.

Our afternoon sessions were breakouts.  Most of our group got to be in the same group, based on the color on your nametag.  So we kinda stuck together.  There was learning to tell your story, making care packages for a local college, and maybe a third one, that I can’t remember.  I really loved the service portion.

Saturday night was Casino night, but dinner was on your own.  Julie and I found a restaurant, but then drove to this waffle place for dessert, and maybe ran an errand to buy a phone charger at Walgreens/CVS/Target.  We weren’t playing for money, but entries into a raffle.  I did a couple hands of blackjack, waited around to get in on roulette, but most people were around the craps table, which I didn’t understand.

Sunday, I took a SuperShuttle back to the SLC airport for my return trip home.  I cried when I saw my 3 year old with a “Welcome Home Mommy” sign.

I tell you all this to get to my point.  The deadline for Wink Summit 2020 is July 31.  Don’t worry, its virtual, so we won’t be gathering.  There also won’t be the travel expense.  And I have been discussing getting together with my upline (it is the week after our birthdays) to experience it with someone again.  But I have already known her for almost 20 (gasp!) years.  In the end, I realized I enjoyed connecting with other folks in the same boat at me.

But I will miss this moment.

How many of you have hugged your CEO?

 

I HEART Voice Actors

One of the highlights for me at C2E2 is the voice actor panel. First you ask them questions like a regular panel, but the second half they overdub a classic movie, like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off as different characters, selected by the audience.

Have you ever watched a cartoon? Then you’ve heard a voice actor you probably never knew what they looked like. Sure, there are famous people who do voices. For instance, Luke Skywalker AKA Mark Hamil has been the voice of Joker in several Batman TV series and video games, but also done work in on Spiderman and Transformers.

Look up some of these people on IMDB, which is open on another tab as I type. A big crowd favorite is Tara Strong, best known to people my age for her work on Rugrats (Tommy Pickles) or Powderpuff Girls (Bubbles) but she shows up on our son’s favorite show Puppy Dog Pals. Next up is Jim Cummings, the voice of Winnie the Pooh since 1990. He mostly does work for Disney, as Pete on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Big Bad on Goldie and Bear. Watching an old episode of Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers, we were able to pick out his voice.

Maybe my love for voice acting goes back to my love of old time radio. All you had were the voices. Did you know Mel Blanc, voice of Bugs Bunny, got his start doing voices on the Jack Benny radio show?

My favorite show, Dragnet, eventually became a TV show, as well as many others, but the same person could be more than one character on radio and no one would know it.

Some of my favorite old time radio voices, Virginia Gregg and Peggy Weber, were introduced to me via Dragnet, but they show up all over the place. Just last night, I was listening to an episode of Have Gun Will Travel, a western, and they were both in the episode. Peggy Weber is often typecast as angry landlady.

As an adult forced to watch kids cartoons, I am constantly looking up who is doing that voice to try to keep my sanity.  Do me a favor.  Go to IMDB.com and search for your favorite cartoon.  Click on any of the voice actors and see how many credits they have.

I Googled the top grossing voice actors, and 6 of them are from the Simpsons.

If this topic is at all interesting to you, I suggest the documentary I Know That Voice.

A League of My Own

This weekend I fell into the trap of watching a movie on TV that I own.  John Mulaney has a bit about that.

To my defense, I only own this movie on VHS, which means I can only watch it on the basement.

The movie was A League of Their Own.  When I turned it on, they were at the part where the bus driver, Lou, quits, prompting Tom Hank’s character Jimmy Duggan to ask “Who’s Lou?” I can recite most of the dialogue.

In college, I was supposed to write a persuasive paper for my Comp 101 class.  I chose a letter to Roger Ebert at the Chicago Tribune about why American Beauty should win the Academy Award for best picture.  Or maybe it was to the Academy itself and Ebert’s review was a source.  I didn’t do great on that assignment because everyone already thought it was going to win based on previous award shows, so who cared what I have to say.  Maybe I should have written about how a movie made was in 1992, but set in 1942, still holds up.

Photo Credit: IMDB

Even if the characters themselves didn’t exist, the situation certainly did.  And whoever wrote it did an excellent job.  This isn’t just about baseball.  

Feminism: Initially the scout won’t take Marla because she isn’t pretty enough.  Even Rosie O’Donnell’s character Doris only stays with her boyfriend because he doesn’t make her feel bad about being athletic, but as she sees now, she’s not the only one.  Women are still fighting to be in sports.   Yes, we have the WNBA, but they pay is nowhere near the NBA and Woman’s Soccer, is suing the league about their accommodations.  Almost 80 years later, and it was a bid deal to have a woman coach in the Super Bowl.  

Race: In what appears to be a random scene, a group of African American ladies are walking by when a foul ball lands near them.  One picks it up and throws with such force, the catcher shakes her hand out.  Showing this woman had what it took to play baseball, at least to throw, but wasn’t even considered.  World War II was 5 years before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier.

Glass Ceiling: When David Strathairn’s character Ira Lowenstien, who is tasked with running the league for Mr. Harvey (read: Wrigley) realizes that the owners don’t want to continue because the “boys” are coming home from war, the same thing will happen in the factories.  Women were asked to jump into the workforce, more than the teachers and nurses usually reserved for them, when they were needed, but when they weren’t, it was back to the kitchen for them.  Because of COVID-19 situation, I have spent the past month as a SAHM, and I am not cut out for it.  How must it have been for those women to be given a chance at something more, then to have it taken away just as quickly.

Maybe I care more about this movie than I should.  I was a South Bend Blue Sox for a 1940’s themed Halloween party.  The History Museum has a great collection of AAGBL memorabilia, and the Single A baseball club always has a day to commemorate these ladies, and a couple are even on hand.  I realize there are fewer of them around each year.

Me: Halloween 2010

I’ve just checked IMDB to learn it wasn’t nominated for ANY Academy Awards.  This seems like an injustice I’ve got to write to someone about.

My favorite Goalies

Are you missing sports?

I had a crush on my entire high school hockey team.  Hockey was one of the things I had in common with my husband.

So here is a short list of my favorite guys in my favorite position in my favorite sport.

1. My husband.  When I met him, he played roller hockey one night a week.  He used one of his goalie pictures on his dating profiles, so I would kid him that I couldn’t see what he looked like under the mask.  That commute being too long, he recently transitioned into ice hockey.  I was really proud he stuck with it because the transition was not smooth.
2. Martin Brodeur.  When I was in high school, I had a poster of Marty in his Heaton gear.  I have no idea where I got this poster. It appears to be promotional  Other posters I got because my grandma sent in UPCs from Fruit of the Loom products, but where would she have gotten hockey equipment? Even according to Wikipeida, “Heaton was known for its goalie equipment, which was worn for years by Martin Brodeur.”
3. Marc Andre-Fluery.  He is my go to in fantasy leagues.  When he got traded in the Las Vegas expansion, I wasn’t sure.  He was old and could he start over.  But the team made to the playoffs both years.
4. Cal Peterson. A Notre Dame goalie who left college early to join the pros.  Before the postponement of professional sports, he is listed as the back up goalie, and had gotten to start several games for the Los Angeles Kings because of injury of first string goalie Johnathon Quick.  Peterson was quickly added to my fantasy team too.
5. Whoever the back up goalie for the Chicago Blackhawks is.  Even though his stats are comparable to some of the best goalies out there, I just can’t get behind Corey Crawford.  Give me a Ray Emery (RIP), Scott Darling or Antti Raanta any day.

4 year old’s birthday weekend trip

This weekend we celebrated our son’s 4th birthday.  We did not have a kid party because no one enjoys having other kids at our house.

Saturday, just before noon, we head down to Indy.  We stopped at McAlister’s Deli in Kokomo for lunch. There is nothing special about this restaurant, but we like what they have and it also breaks up the drive. 

Our first stop in Indy was a framing shop that specializes in Rush album art. This is actually a side trip for my husband.  But the exhbit is only there for another month, and one of the band members just passed away, so I let him have this. While he’s in the frame shop, Barry and I walked down to the Entemann’s discount store where we got a whole box of donuts for a $.  This was a deal because the husband bought a book of all the album covers for $100.  This was cheaper than buying any print for $4,000.

There is enough time to swim at the hotel before we have to leave for the Indy Fuel game, where we met my husband’s parents, brother and his wife. 

We drive through not a great section of town to get to the Indiana Fairgrounds. 

Our seats are near the guys with the cowbells.  We picked this particular game because it was Blackhawks night (we had a Blackhawks themed wedding).  Jim Corneilson sang the anthem, and Tommy Hawk (mascot) and the Ice Crew (girls in skirts) were there.    Since we bought the tickets on Ticketmaster, they were $37.50 each, including all the fees.  As a minor league sport, there is a lot of extra entertainment.  Blimps, t-shirt toss, etc. There was also a proposal during the Kiss Cam.

But the food prices were major league.  For a hamburger, pretzel and 24 oz drink, I paid $21.  This only feed me and the kid.  My husband went back for a chicken strip basket, which was at least another $8.

On the way back to our room, we made friends with two drunk girls in the elevator.  They specifically commented on how blue our son’s eyes were.  Leaving on Sunday, in the same elevator, the maid asked how old he was, said her kids was turning 4 too.  When I said we were going to the Children’s Museum, she said we should come back in the summer and do the outside stuff. 

Sunday we woke up a little late, but was still willing to go swimming again before leaving, but this little guy had his heart set on dinosaurs, so we went to the Children’s’ Museum of Indianapolis.  We had gone here last summer, but it was a lot more crowded.  (It was the Sunday of MLK weekend, so maybe people were taking advantage of the long weekend, or looking for an indoor activity when it was 10 degrees out.)  Our tickets, bought two weeks ahead of time, cost $75 for the 3 of us.  Parking is free in the parking garage which is connected by skybridge.

We started with dinosaurs, but he didn’t like the “thunder” rumbling even though he knows its fake.  We asked the paleontologist a couple questions and my husband could have stood there for an hour.  I guess boys never grow out of liking dinosaurs.  They also have dinosaurs to play with.  Our son wants no part of other children, but my husband always makes new friends. 

Next was trains.  They have a full size locomotive, you can walk thru a caboose, and lots of setups.  Pushing a button on the wall will turn on a light or make a flag wave.  And again, toy trains to play with.  Fun Fact: The gift shop has this train set up too, but it is much less crowded than the one at the train exhibit.  They also had magnetic blocks available for free play. All these toys played with by many little (read: germy) hands makes me carry hand sanitizer and make sure we have had our dose of Immune. 

Another cool thing for the adults (read: my husband) is they had some props from the Indiana Jones movies before you went down the elevator to the archaeological dig. You could choose from Egypt, Chinese terracotta soldiers or shipwreck. 

On our previous visit, we remembered the food not being well stocked, so I had a purse full of peanut butter balls, dried fruit, granola bars, etc.  I had also investigated leaving for lunch, but there was no place close to get food.  However, on this trip, we were pleasantly surprised to find a sandwich line, a pizza/pasta line and a grill line.  For less than $20 we got 2 pieces of pizza, a pasta dish, apple slices, milk, and a fountain drink.  This was less than at the hockey game.  

After lunch, we went back to the Pond ecosystem to watch a fish feeding.  Also on that level was the mirror maze.

The museum gift shop wanted $7 more for a Lego than Target did, so I ordered it online and we picked it up before going home.  It was a Jurassic World, so it went with our dinosaur theme.

When I totaled up all our costs, it came to around $400.  Which is probably more than we would have spent on a party, even at Chuck E Cheese.  But this was all about our family and what we wanted to do.

Now back to planning next year’s 5th birthday party at Walt Disney World with both sets of grandparents and hopefully some friends too.

ReplyReply allForward

Kick Off Word Sprint

Before NaNoWrimo officially kicked off, everyone took a challenge from the hat and wrote for 15 minutes.  My challenge was “write a flashback in another genre”.

Looking down from the spaceship as it leaves the remains of Earth., Cassidy remembers the first time he saw the sunrise over the horizon.  It had been after a long night of writing, and the prospect of seeing Odessa again kept him awake.  He rode his bike to her apartment and climbed up her fire escape with flowers.  As he sat there on the seventh floor fire escape he saw the sun start over the horizon in downtown Manhattan.  The hustle and bustle of New York City melted away when he saw the sun.  He always equated the sunrise with Odessa’s face through the kitchen window, so surprise to see him out there.

“I thought you were working late,” she gushed while she opened the window for him to climb through.

“I finished early.  You’re worth staying up for.”  This ended the conversation with a passionate kiss, and he didn’t see another sunrise for quite some time.

But the last tine he saw Odessa’s face it was a spaceship window separating them.  Him on the inside, being whisked away to safety, while her face raged with the plague that eventually killed the Earth itself.  The planet was no longer inhabitable and he was one of  lucky few that could start a new colony on Mars.  Lucky, right, Cassidy thinks.  He doesn’t want to go on without her, but there is more on the line than his feelings.  The fact that he was able to be saved, especially with Odessa infected, makes him lucky again.  What was it about his immune system that kept him from getting the disease after living in such close quarters with O.  Is he already part of a superior race?  What will they be starting on Mars?