There are times when I tend to have brilliant ideas during my sleep state. I then wake up only to find that I can’t find paper and pencil fast enough to get the idea down in a concrete form. So now I have a computer ready for me at a moments notice in my room. Sometimes this works, and other times not so much. I’ve made notes, sent myself emails to my work address, just to keep these ideas alive.

Now I will admit that I have a writer stuck somewhere deep in me. I keep thinking of plots and stories for murder mysteries. Not to contain myself in just 1 genre, I’ve had ideas for the old west, 30’s, current, and some in the future. Some of my ideas for stories even contain aliens and flying saucers. My problem with all of these stories, is that the background about the time period, the crime, the actual solution (if there is one) are very strong and in depth. The characters never pan out. Let’s face it they are just plain boring. After reading 1 chapter of a story, my late wife told me she didn’t care who died or even if they all did. She was right about that. I’ve written over 20 chapter 1’s. In each case, when I visit these stories again after a time, I find the characters weak and uninteresting.

I may be a bit hard on myself, but when I read books, I usually hooked by the end of chapter 1. If I don’t find enough there to catch my interest, the book is usually put aside. There are few authors, that I know through previous works that I will go past chapter 1 if my interest isn’t peaked.

What does this have to do with late night ideas? Well most of my previous ideas were for stories, problem solving at work, or how to finish some project I am working on. So now I have this idea, it doesn’t involve a story or a problem at work or home. It could be beneficial to me. A bit early to be certain, but that is how it is. No characters to develop, no computer problems to solve at work, just a plain simple idea. Hmmm, now to make sure I remember where I put it…. My documents/mylatenightidea…..

Not so sure about the life part but the reality definitely.  I got back from Toledo Airport around 2 Thursday afternoon.  I was back at work at noon on Friday.  While there for my NINE HOUR SHIFT in which I was dressed in pants and long-sleeve shirt, I had the (mis)pleasure of purchasing a bottled version of an A&W Root Beer Float.  I was not expecting much but when I came to the bottom of the bottle, I had a remarkably queasy feeling the rest of the evening.  I certainly hope that the experience has not turned me off the real McCoy (no, not Dr. Leonard H. “Bones” McCoy).

Saturday morning, the entire town was supposed to be without power from 6AM-2PM which means that the store would not be open until 3PM.  On Thursday, the town officials announced that a generator was being installed to limit the outage to a total of two hours (one in the early morning; the other around 11AM).  This meant that the store would in fact be open for all but the hour in the middle of the day.  The people who were originally scheduled to work in the morning had made plans to be out during the outage.  So, guess who said that he would work no later than 12.  I had plans of my own.

After my shift, my good friend Megan invited me to be her guest at her brother’s wedding.  Being a Catholic ceremony I knew exactly what to expect, but since only the bride was Catholic it was not a full mass.  Mother of the groom, Carol, sang a beautiful rendition of Tracy Byrd’s Keeper of the Stars.  There was a harpist and violinist who also played beautifully.  Megan read from 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7.  Overall, a beautiful ceremony.

Along with the wedding came the reception.  I was momentarily apprehensive about all the people whom I would not know.  However, I was pleased to discover the friendliness and easy-going atmosphere generated by all.  And the Italian feast was delicious and filling.  Megan and I danced a lot and I met her father and step-mother and lots of her relatives and other friends so it was very fun.  I had to make my way out a little after 10 since I had to be at work at 8 the next morning.  I also reminded Carol of the package I asked her to deliver as she checked the pooches of the soon to return vacationers.  My only regret is that I failed to bring the camera I had recently acquired.

It’s a strange sensation; something I haven’t experienced for about a year.  Last winter I was pregnant, and due to the fact that pregnant women have 2/3 more blood coursing through their bodies than non-pregnant people, they rarely get cold.  Then I had the baby in the middle of summer, went to Florida, and now that we’re back in NW Ohio, it’s cold!  The older I get, the more I dislike the cold weather.  Not only do I dislike bundling everyone up, including myself, but I especially dislike the winter gas bills.  We have a humongous furnace that increases our gas bill by 144% in the winter months, which is why I opt to freeze a few months out of the year.  I just can’t bring myself to turn on that huge furnace for the season yet.  Every year when we get our first winter-sized gas bill, we vow to winterize the house and we talk about getting a new furnace, but somehow, we never get around to doing anything.  Maybe this year will be different, but in the meantime, I’m going to try to hold out until at least November 1.  Maybe I should check the weather forecast before I say that…

Thursday morning, I learned a very valuable lesson… ALWAYS BOOK A RETURN FLIGHT LATER THAN 8:30AM.  Not only could this provide a few more hours to enjoy the area, but you don’t have to be up at 5:30 to be at the airport at a decent hour.  So… here I got up before dawn even cracked.  After my final preparations, I left the two oldest a note in their autograph books thanking them for a fun time.  Taylor was awake Wednesday night; however, Sammie was sleeping hours before I went to bed.  I also left a note of thanks to Chris and Lisa.

At the airport, I had a few kids to buy a souvenir for.  I had already purchased for most at a discount store the other night and on my flight over in Detroit at the NBC kiosk.  I just had to get The Office game on my way because I had a longer wait going then coming back.  I also bought myself my traditional t-shirt (although when I arrived back in Detroit, I almost wish it were a sweatshirt).

As for the flight, each of them was great.  There was barely any turbulence, and the view from the window was cool.  I love to fly. Thursday morning, the ear-popping was the worst about 30 minutes away from touchdown in Detroit.  And as a certain character in Blue, Red, and Yellow has noted on more than one occasion: “Statistically speaking, it is still the safest form of travel.”

But, the reality of late-October in Ohio soon reared its ugly head.  Gone was the brilliant sunshine and 80 degree temperatures of the Sunshine State and replaced by barely 50 degree temps with wind and rain.  I got absolutely NO sympathy from those I mentioned this to.

Once again Chris, Lisa, Taylor, Sammie, Disney, and Baby Christopher thank you all for asking me along and for a great time.  Hopefully next time is even better.

All good things must come to an end.  Wednesday was my final full day in Orlando and it was just as fun as the first.  As we prepared to make our way to the Magic Kingdom, Taylor and Sammie asked me to help gather more of our slimy, shell enclosed friends.  However, I decided to stay inside and help with baby Christopher.  While waiting, I happened upon the old 1960s Batman movie.  Yes, between seasons of the camp television classic, Adam West and company made the transition to the big screen; complete with one of the most hilariously bad moments in all of cinema: the shark repellent bat spray.  Ok… enough on the caped crusader and his cinematic adventures.

After visiting Tomorrowland (and the droning voice announcing our approach to Mr. Disney’s vision of the 21st century and its catch tune “There’s a Great. Big, Beautiful Tomorrow”), it was decided that Big Chris was not going to survive the rest of the day on his feet.  So, while he and Lisa took the two youngest with them to get a wheelchair, Taylor, Sammie, and I went to Fantasyland to ride Peter Pan’s Flight.  This is a ride I actually remember from Disney Land which I visited when I was 4 years-old.  I don’t think the ride stopped in California.  However, once again I was right in the middle of a malfunction (not the wardrobe type, either).

Following the ride, I got behind the wheelchair and started pushing.  Not a problem at all… not only did it keep Chris off that toe, it probably did me some good, too.  It also aided in the lines at the rides.  With the added bonus of baby swap for those attractions that did not allow lap holding, wheelchair access allowed us to move quicker to the ride.  Not that I had wished for this to happen.

From there, we visited each and every attraction I make it a point to visit every time I visit the park.  I LOVE The Haunted Mansion and its doom buggies in Liberty Square.  Also never to be missed are Splash Mountain featuring the characters of Uncle Remus (I find it really strange that they have an attraction devoted to the stories but will never again release Song of the South on video) and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad both of which are in Frontierland.  While riding BTMR, poor Sammie lost her bracelet and when we made a quick peek to see if it fell off in our car, it was nowhere to be seen.

One of my other favorites is in Adventureland (NOOOO, not Jungle Cruise).  Pirates of the Caribbean has been updated since my last visit.  It now features the voices and likenesses of Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow and Geoffrey Rush as Barbossa.  We rode Pirates more than once and surprise, surprise… it happened again. Yo, ho; yo, ho/A Pirate’s life for me

At the end of the day, I was rewarded for pushing the wheelchair (not that the reward was necessary) with an all-you-can-eat lobster buffet.  Of course forgetting that Chris is allegic to shellfish.  On the way back to our home, his voice was getting scratchy.  After we got in and made arrangements for me to get to the airport by 7, C&L went out for a few hours to get away by themselves.  I was seriously going to make them if they had not.  Taylor and I played some Uno since the other three were sound asleep.  After Uno, T wrote out the lyrics to a song she learned with motions in music class.  I always loved learning new little songs in music class.  So, I will reproduce them as best I can:

The Long-Legged Sailor

Have you ever, ever, ever in your long-legged life

Met a long-legged sailor with a long-legged wife?

No, I never, never, never in my long-legged life

Met a long-legged sailor with a long-legged wife.

For simplicity’s sake I will supply the following: in each successive verse, you replace long-legged with short-legged, knock-kneed, bow-legged, and cross-legged, respectively.  Did I remember all the verses, Dopey?

When C&L got back, the four of us played a final game of Uno then it was time to say goodbye to the last one’s standing before going to bed.

Saturday started out with a quick trip to Wild Winds Buffalo Preserve in Fremont, IN. My youngest and I didn’t take the truck trip into the preserve, but we were able to visit the 1850’s Rendezvous and talk with a few of the ‘trappers’. The main goal of the trip was to pick up some bison burgers for a gaming night at my oldest’s house. Good food, good fun and a wonderful afternoon and late-late evening. More Dungeons and Dragons was played.

Today, I made a recipe that I submitted to our Theater’s cookbook to serve at the final production of “Kitchen Witches”. Fun little show and the audience/guests seemed to like my samples. The recipe is on page 6 of our cook book. (Just wondering if we could sell that on line? — E-Book???).

I’m going to try a recipe or more from the book, they all look pretty good to me. My oldest daughter got to be the on stage “guest judge” for the show today. She seemed to really enjoy the small bit of stage work. Another day of good fun.

And finally I see that some dear friends are all back from their Florida vacations. Someday, when I can get more than a day or two off, I will need to do something like that.

That’s all folks…

It’s been over a week since we’ve been in NW Ohio, and really, not much has changed.  There are many less leaves on the trees than there were when we left for Disney World last Friday, but other than that…  We haven’t yet had a chance to check in with friends, so hopefully all is well everywhere.  I have to admit that I was a bit scarred from our last vacation – we returned to the horrible news that my beloved kitty had passed away.  So this time, I was nervous about coming home.  I told our pet-sitter that if anyone dies this time to not tell us while we were in Florida, thinking, what good would that do…  but that decision ended up backfiring majorly because then the whole time I was worried that something had happened and I didn’t know about it becuase I had left the instructions not to call us…  But nothing catastrophic occurred, at least not to us or any of our pets, and we had a wonderful time.  Now more than ever I know what people mean when they say that they need a vacation from their vacation.  After taking 4 little kids on a 1,000+ mile road trip each way and returning with the trashed car and the dirty laundry and housekeeping catch-up for a family of 6, I could really use a vacaion!

Oh well…  we had a great time and I wouldn’t trade our experiences for the world – or all the laundry in the world.  More to come about the trip after I unpack some and get used to the fact that I did not gain an extra hour this weekend like Jill my GPS friend told me I had – guess she (along with my alarm clock – glad I noticed that before tomorrow morning) is pre-programmed for the “fall back” switch for daylight savings time.  The only problem is that Jill and my alarm clock were programmed before the daylight savings hours were adjusted thanks to President Bush.  So they are now an hour behind…  but no matter, they can stay that way for another week or two, whenever we change the clocks…  and then, I will get my extra hour of sleep – always fun!

Hello every people.  My next night in Flor-ida was a spent in a downside up building.  I a look up and I see the stairs on the ceiling.  Wooly Sheep.  It was a very strange building, I never seen anything a like that.  We a go to the downside up building to see the magic man on stage.  He was a very strange man.  Little girl person, Taylor was a called on to the stage to do a magic trick.  A few minutes later, Morat was a called up.  Magic man thought Morat say Borat.  I tell him my name is a MORAT Notboratnichkov from Liswathistan.  Magic man say he a call me Timmy.  T and I tie the hands of magic man together and pull hard on the a rope.  I a think I pull little too hard because I pull the other end right out of T’s hands.  Some people in audience say Morat was a very funny.  But they were a three sheep to a the wind.  A little bit later, Chris was a called to the a stage to do a magic trick.  I a also see a weird man person who was a on stage and a showed a huge a stomach and a large a crack.  Not a only did we a see the magic, we also a eat the pizza pie.  WOOLY SHEEEP, more a pizza.  I think we all were a sick of pizza.  NO MORE A PIZZA PIE!!!!  I a like a pizza pie but I a not like to so much so a many times.  three nights in a row is a TOO MUCH!!!  But, Morat enjoy the a magic man, he was a very funny.

I have seen High School Musical 3, and I want to see it again! It’s like Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith all over again. Only, I think I was a little worse with Star Wars. I knew how many hours and minutes to Star Wars, and I wasn’t quite that bad with HSM 3. There were many surprises in this movie and I couldn’t stop laughing. Okay, of course there were some parts that you didn’t want to laugh, but I’m pretty sure you get the idea. It’s just a fun, relaxing, and entertaining show! There are some new characters, that I think they plan on using in the next High School Musical if they do a fourth one. I don’t think I’ll want to watch anymore if there are different people. It just wouldn’t be the same! I normally don’t watch sequels if there are different people playing main characters. As I sat in my seat at the movie theater, I didn’t feel as if it was as late as it was getting. You were absorbed in the show and you lost track of time. Troy and Gabriella have three duets in this movie, and you can really see that Zac and Vanessa (for anyone who doesn’t know, those are the actors) really love each other through the way they act. You can just see it in the way they are able to act with each other so well. It must have meant so much to them when they sang those songs, and were together. I have the CD now. As soon as the movie was over, we headed to Tony’s house, so I could get my money and he took me to Wal-Mart to get the CD. I can’t wait to be able to see it again! When is it coming out on DVD?!?!

I must say that the worst part of the Universal was the transition from the two parks.  There was a huge mob of people resembling a herd of cattle waiting to be lead through the gate.  The problem being… there were only 2 people taking tickets and we picked the SLOOOOOOOOW line.  But we finally made it with plenty of time to enjoy what Islands of Adventure had to offer… LOTS.

Not only were there rides drawing from Dr. Seuss, cartoons from days gone by (Popeye and Dudley-Do-Right on which I will elaborate further), but also Marvel Superheros.  While C & L went The TRUELY AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ride, I waited with the kids to take my turn (thank heaven for baby swap).  While waiting a parade of heroes riding motorized bikes came zooming in.  I saw Captain America, Wolverine (in the traditional yellow and blue comic outfit), and Spidey himself.  This was cool not only to see them, but it also made little Dis stop and look… this was before Lis introduced me to the secret weapon.

I had a very hard time figuring out which my favorite ride was: definitely a toss up.  The Amazing Spider-Man is a 3-D marvel that puts you right in the middle of a comic-book starring everyone’s favorite web-slinging neighborhood do-gooder as he battles some of his most sinister villains: Hobgoblin, Hydro Man (not REAALY familiar with him), Electro, and Spidey’s arch-nemesis, Dr. Otto Octavius.

What theme park visit is complete with out some wet fun.  The first was definitely the worst.  You have read the disclaimer: YOU WILL GET WET ON THIS RIDE.  On Popeye and Blutto’s Bilge-Rat Barges, you not only get wet, if you sit in the wrong spot… guess who… you may not neet to shower for a day.

The second water soaker featured the melodramatic adventures of Dudley-Do-Right on Ripsaw Falls. Along the way the villainous Snidely Whiplash once again had the virtuous Nell tied to the tracks. Nowhere near as drenching as P&B’s, but good.  Not so good for Chris who was suffering from an in-grown toenail.  As I was entering the log I heard a loud howl from behind me.  I had stepped on his toe.  OMG… THE PAIN!!!!  More on that later, but I KNOW  how he felt. I felt awful.

The last thrill was one we had by-passed and said we would do if we had time remaining.  Not only am I glad that we made it just to ride, it helped in the drying process.  The Hulk is a good old-fashined green steel monster with corkscrews, loops, tunnels, and blinding smoke.  While Chris took the girls to Seuss land, Lisa and I conquered the monster twice… fast pass is great.  What a rush and it never stopped.  totally awesome.

Being led by people who know the park is a great way to see the best and by-pass the rest.