Hi all, long time no see. Has anyone heard from Bernadette lately?
Hi Debbie!
Thanks for thinking of me! How are you doing?
Things continue to be crazy here. They've fired at least 6 people in the last couple of months. One of the VPs even quit recently. He was in his 50s, had been here over 25 years and didn't have a new job. I still feel my position is pretty stable but the atmosphere here isn't what it was 4 years ago. They are hiring a new analyst soon to take some of my workload so that should really help reduce some of my stress. After the VP quit I was a bit envious that he had the courage to quit but then I thought about it and decided I really do NOT want to leave. I am good at what I do, make a reasonable salary, the hours fit my lifestyle and I get 6 weeks vacation. I realized that I was putting some of the stress on myself and have a new better attitude toward work. Its still easier said than done about not letting things stress me.
I took Emma to Disney 12/6 to 12/13 for her last trip where I can pull her out of school as she'll be in middle school next year. We had a great time. She had never seen any of the Christmas decorations. We stayed 4 nights in a 1BR at Old Key West. Emma was all ready to move in. I loved the huge room but didn't love how big the resort is. I would stay there again. I think DH might like it. We also stayed 3 nights in a studio at BLT. LOVE that! Room was tiny but I liked it a lot. Loved the location and even though we had a lake view room we could see MK from our balcony. Hope I get to stay here again.
On the our last day of the trip I got 2 emails from Joe's teachers that he hadn't been doing his homework.
Not a great thing to come home to. He didn't even come to the airport to get us. I struggled with getting him caught back up right through Chirstmas morning. He still wasn't taking it seriously until I told him he could not come down stairs for Christmas until his math homework was complete-he still had other work to do for English, French, Social Studies and Science. Still not quite sure what is/was going on and he had no explanation.
Lizzy is a freshman this year. She's doing really well. She has joined the girls ice hockey team. She had only been on ice skates maybe twice years ago when she said last summer she wanted to join the hockey team. DH brought her to public skating as much as possible over the summer. I can't believe how good she is so quickly. She has a game Sunday. I'm sure she'll be even better than she was when I saw her a few weeks ago. The team is very welcoming. It's been really great for her.
Emma has a very strict teacher this year so getting caught back up after our trip was a huge challenge. I was trying to help her with that at the same as dealing with Joe and Joe had the stomach flu so I didn't get cards done this year. I love seeing Disney all decorated for the holidays but it is so hard to travel that time of year.
It was the first trip I had used the Magic Bands for. It all worked out well for us but this trip wasn't about rides-it was about seeing all the holiday stuff. Not sure I will love being limited to 3 FPs when I go on a "regular" trip.
Not sure what future trips we'll do. Lizzy is saying she doesn't want to do Disney this year but we've got passes good through 8/17 (Emma & I through 8/30). It seems sort of wasteful not to use them.
We are thinking about maybe doing a week at Disney and then rent a car to drive home. We would stop and do sight seeing along the way home. We'll have to get a better grip on those plans before I decide if I'm going to do a birthday trip this year.
Hope everyone is doing well. I do think of all of you often!
We spent a day at the Orlando Science Center. We really enjoyed that. We drove to St Augustine one day. We enjoyed the ride along the coast and walked around the fort for a while but it was so hot we didn't really explore the town-we'll have to go back some day. I was a bit concerned that 4 resorts would be a pain but with the washer/dryer for most nights I just packed very light and it wasn't too bad. 
