Tag Archives: Walt Disney World

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Deconstructing Christmas

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Day 161 in my chores to get ready to meet Mickey

Today’s plan was to take care of my least favorite task of the year.  Worse than figuring out our taxes, worse than scrubbing the toilet, worse than driving to or from work in a blizzard.  Today I took down our Christmas decorations.  It’s always a drag.

I love the colors of the Christmas tree lights and my special light-up wreath on cold winter evenings.  I love the emotions that they elicit in me.  When I come home from work and put on the lights, I am in one of my happy places.  *sigh*

Now I need to focus on another of my happy places, so I keep on keeping on getting ready for Florida in October.  I have a physical reaction when I get into our room at Disney’s Old Key West Resort.  It is a home away from home, and I can feel the stress of daily life ebb away once I’m there.

So goodbye Christmas, and hello New Year, new me.  (Well, I’ll still be me, but you know what I mean.)

Meet you at the Kingdom!

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Same Ol’, Same Ol’

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Day 160 in my rambling on as I wait to meet Mickey

True confession time: it’s one of those days when I am seriously UNinspired.  I’m not blue or struggling or giving up.  I just can’t seem to give a rip today.  So my plan is to stay sugar-free, eat healthy, balanced meals and move around as much as possible.

See, I told you, nothing new and exciting today.  Just the same ol’, same ol’.

So I’ll share a memory with you.  It’s one that comes back to me often, so it had a profound impact on me at the time.  Our family was visiting some family friends at their camp.  I was about 10 years old at the time.  I was swimming with their daughters and having a wonderful time in the river.  When we came up to eat lunch, I overheard someone say to my mom, “Donna has quite a little figure developing.  You’re going to have to keep a close eye on her.  She’ll be getting all sorts of the wrong type of attention.”  Now at 10 years old I had no idea what “the wrong type of attention” was, but it didn’t sound good, so I made sure to wrap a towel around myself to cover up.  Was I doomed?  Was there no way to avoid this “wrong type of attention”?

Well, I don’t know, but I do know that I sabotaged that figure before the “wrong type of attention” could kick in.  🙂  It’s so strange to think about how powerful words can be, hey?

Meet you at the Kingdom!

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…Early to Rise

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Day 159 in my meal planning to get ready to meet Mickey at the Magic Kingdom

Today’s plan was to get up early and prepare a crock pot meal before I left for work.  I put together a pot roast: potatoes, carrots and water in the bottom, the browned, seasoned roast next, onions on top.  I can hardly wait to get home and open my front door.  I know it will smell delicious!  I’ll serve the meal with a salad and whole grain bread.

I like the challenge of balancing what is on my plate: half vegetables, one quarter meat (about 4 ounces), and one quarter grain/potato/rice, etc…

The tonight I want to do some more Disney research.  It pumps me up and makes me want to stay the course.  🙂

Meet you at the Kingdom!

BTW: I lost a dear friend yesterday.  She valiantly fought a voracious cancer.  She is in glory, and I am thrilled that she is beyond pain and suffering.  But, Betty, you will be missed!

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Planning for Success

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Day 158 in my tasty travels to meet Mickey at Walt Disney World

Today’s plan is to get back to some serious menu planning.  I need to get back to lean proteins, whole grains,  lower glycemic index choices, fruit and many, many vegetables.  So tonight I will plan out the next week, looking through my (low sugar) recipes.  Then I’ll put together a shopping list for this weekend.

On the menu for tonight: Weight Watcher’s Chili.  This is an old recipe that I picked up back in the 70’s.  🙂

Ingredients:

  1. 1 pound of ground turkey (or chicken or beef or soy mince)
  2. 1 small to medium chopped onion (depending on how oniony you like it)
  3. 2 to 3 cloves of chopped garlic
  4. 1 large can/bottle of tomato juice (I always pick low sodium or no salt added for juices and veg)
  5.  spices to taste (I use chili powder, red pepper, black pepper, oregano, basil, marjoram)
  6. 1 can dark red kidney beans
  7. 1 can black beans
  8. 1 can wax beans
  9. 1 can French cut green beans
  10. 1 can bean sprouts
  11. 1 can diced tomatoes
  12. 1 small can mushrooms
  • Brown the onion and garlic in a little oil
  • Add the meat and brown.  (If you use soy mince, add it after the tomato juice)
  • Add the tomato juice
  • Season with your spices of choice
  • Drain all canned veg (except diced tomatoes) and add to soup
  • Bring to a boil.
  • Then simmer for 20 minutes to an hour.

It’s so tasty!  And even better the next day.  It freezes well, so it makes several meals for Mike and I.  Yum!

Meet you at the Kingdom!

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Magic Band and Fastpass+

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Day 157 in my researching my way to meeting up with Mickey

Today I am going to research Magic Band usage and the Fastpass+ system.  It all seems so complicated to me.  I will scrutinize the internet for articles on the Magic Band, and I found a wonderful article in WDW Magazine titled “The Perils of FastPass+”, and I plan to read it this evening. Then I want to figure out how to link our Magic Bands to our reservation.  I would like to get that done!  Then I want to find where I put our Fastpass+ choices and map out a strategy for scheduling them.  I know it’s not so important to do them in order.  It’s more important to do the busiest ones first.  I’ll have to try for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Toy Story Mania, and Kilimanjaro Safari as soon as I possibly can, because they go so quickly.

So that’s on the docket for today.

Meet you at the Kingdom!

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Embracing the Journey

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Day 156 in my delightful quest to meet Mickey in healthier shape in nine months and two days…at the Magic Kingdom!!

Today’s plan is to live in each moment and embrace every part of this day.

  1. We had the opportunity to wake up early and travel to the church for a 7:30 am Damascus Road rehearsal.  Then we played the 8:30 am worship service.  Mike and I and our son Jake plus five other bandmates.  It was such a blessing!  The service was about The Baptism of Our Lord.  It was a renewal of our own baptisms, always a wonderful experience.
  2. Then we got to have breakfast at The Full Moon with Jake.  It is so nice to get to sit and visit with our son over a warm meal.  We couldn’t be prouder of him.
  3. Next we picked up a few more groceries for tonight.  I even enjoyed the sights, smells and sounds of Heinen’s grocery store.  And the list was short, so…winning!
  4. As soon as I finish this blog, it’s nap time.  Thank you, Jesus!  A snooze in front of the TV in a cozy house on a lazy afternoon, there’s nothing like it.
  5. Then tonight we dine with Jake, his lovely wife Eliza, and her grandparents George and Rita.  I will embrace each moment with them, as we don’t see them nearly enough.
  6. Then to cap off this beautiful day…Downton Abbey!  Yahoo!  I can’t wait to see what the Crawleys are up to tonight.  Bring it on, Thomas!

So that’s it. I want to enjoy every minute of this day which God has given me.  God is so good…all the time!

Meet you at the Kingdom!

 

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Taking Care of Business

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Day 155 in my walk towards Mickey

Ahhh..there is nothing like a day off.  I slept in.  Then when I finally woke up I laid in bed and read my newest book on Kindle for an hour.  Sheer bliss!

My plan for today is to take care of things around the house.

  1. I started a huge pile of laundry, which I haven’t gotten to for a month.
  2. Then Mike and I put together the “Christmas Eve” spaghetti to have with the kids tomorrow.  On Christmas Eve we were spread across the country.  So then we planned to have it on New Year’s Day, but Mike and I were so sick we couldn’t even think about it.  So tomorrow is the day.  We will throw caution to the wind and have Christmas Eve spaghetti and New Year’s Eve Egg Nog.  Not calorie friendly, but a once a year indulgence.
  3. Load two of laundry coming right up.
  4. Then I will straighten up and vacuum the living room for tomorrow.

When that’s done, I may just watch a movie or go up and read more of my book.  It’s getting pretty good now.

Meet you at the Kingdom!

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Energized at Last

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Day 153 in my efforts to get healthier to meet Mickey

My plan for today was to do the big grocery shopping on my own, after work, in subzero temps.  And I did it.  It took me over an hour to get all the things on the list.  And the good news is I had energy to spare.  I felt great.  My knees didn’t ache.  My hip wasn’t screaming.  By back was fine.  I have to tell you 37 pounds ago, that would not have been the case.  Thanks to this journey I’m getting my life back, and I like it!

Once I got the groceries put away, I prepared lemon-pepper shrimp with brown rice and steamed broccoli for dinner.  People, it was delicious!

Meet you at the Kingdom!

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Winter Wonderland Woes

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Day 152 in my trek to meeting Mickey

Today’s plan was to batten down the hatches and make it through this impossibly wintry day.  The temperatures this morning were subzero with wind-chills in the ridiculous range.  Then it warmed up to above zero at about noonish so the snow could begin.  At 2:30, my boss said to go home before the weather got any worse.  So I drove through whiteout conditions on ice covered roads.  I literally inched my way home  To quote a cartoon that I saw on Facebook this morning, “My face hurts.  Why do I live in a place that makes my face hurt?”  I know there has to be something wrong with being so crazed about driving in this weather.  It points to a lack of faith…or…is it common sense?

Anyway I made it through, and I am home.  I can heat up some roasted red pepper and beef soup for dinner with a nice crunchy bread.  And then just because we have them, I will boil us each (Mike and I) a Vollwerth’s natural casing hot dog or two.  Oh, yeah, we are comforting eating tonight.  Plus we’ll have plenty of fresh veggies to compliment the meal.

Jarvi, out.   Meet you at the Kingdom!

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Things Are Looking Up

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Day 151 in my trek toward Mickey

1) Fever…gone!  Hallelujah!  I still feel exhausted, but the fever has not returned.

2) Stomach-still some issues.  But it is definitely getting better.

So my plan for today was to go back to work, stay sugar-free, eat healthy and put some extra steps in my day.  Mission accomplished.  Mischief managed.

It is several degrees below sanity outside here today.  It’s the type of day that just getting up and out the door, making your way to work, putting in your day, hitting the grocery store for a bit, and traveling back home feels like a MAJOR accomplishment.  So I feel good about this day.

I had to hit the grocery store, because we literally had nothing in the house for dinner but three bread crusts and a half stick of oleo.  🙂  It’s lousy to be sick for so long.  You eventually run out of food.

Anyway…things are looking up here at the Jarvi household.  Slowly, but surely, we are feeling better.  PTL!

Meet you at the Kingdom!