2015 YEAR IN REVIEW

Regardless of the fact that I live an incredibly boring life, I am going to attempt to review my 2016 to, I guess, highlight how boring my life is.  

January

We returned to Wisconsin from our Christmas in Florida and I had a difficult time missing everyone

My D-I-V-O-R-C-E was finalized and I became a person I never wanted or thought that I would be. 

I had the privilege of watching the Packers experience the worst collapse in history to miss their opportunity to go to the Super Bowl (they certainly aren't getting there this year) 

Zack turned 16


February

If the Packers couldn't make it to the Super Bowl, at least the Seahawks didn't win.  

In Gator basketball, we endured the heartache of one too many buzzer beaters

The weather finally took it's toll on me by the end of February, which is normal. 

March

March started out on a fantastic note with a visit from Jon

Then ended on a bad note when he was diagnosed with pneumonia in the ER

I received my new doll which I still haven't been able to part with...but I'm getting close 

April
I took Zack on a vacation to Mt Rushmore and the Rocky Mountains
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We spent a great day in Madison with our friends

May

We celebrated Mother's Day while my mom was visiting

I put a deposit down on an apartment in Orlando

C.J. also came for a visit and to help with the move. I had a very full apartment in May.

I said goodbye to the best job I ever had, at the best school, teaching some of the best kids in the world.  It was the best!

We took one more trip to Iron Mountain

And stopped for a last visit to Lambeau Field (for a while at least)

We attended the graduation dinner and ceremony of a very special friend

We packed up to move to Orlando
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And arrived in our "paradise" 

June

We settled into our new apartment

I bought a new car - which I later traded in 

Zack enjoyed some night swims - until they started invoking the "pool closes at 8:00" rule..which is kind of dumb in the summer when it's not even dark yet at 8:00 and still as hot as Hades. 

We enjoyed some Universal evenings

Saw Jurassic World in Imax

I was hired at Universal Studios

July

We enjoyed many more evenings at Universal (usually once a week)

I began working at the Comic Strip Cafe in Islands of Adventure

Celebrated C.J.'s birthday

Sadly, we lost a very dear friend

August

We went to Sea World for the first time

We also went to Animal Kingdom

I experienced one of the most frustrating days of my life trying to get Zack registered for school and still a week later he was not registered.  I finally decided to do home school.

September 

Zack and I went to the Magic Kingdom

I purchased a weekday annual pass for Zack and me


I was able to make one of Zack's dreams come true by taking him to a football game in the Swamp. We were lucky they pulled out the win.

We celebrated mom's birthday

I experienced my first night of Halloween Horror Nights. Little did I realize then, how much I would fall in love with it. 

And Gator nation rejoiced an undefeated September 

October

Halloween Horror Nights continued and I loved it!

C.J. and I went to EPCOT for the International Food and Wine Festival

We had a visit from my aunt and uncle and went to the Magic Kingdom with them

My poor baby was diagnosed with a severe skin infection

November 

We started the month by saying goodbye to Halloween Horror Nights....sob sob

We celebrated Jon's birthday

We went to Tampa Bay for a Lightning game

I spent most of the month dealing with car issues until Chevrolet came to my rescue

We celebrated my birthday with the longest drive to Daytona Beach ever

December 

Zack and I went to Disney Studios for the Osborne Spectacle of Lights

C.J., Zack, and I went to Sea World to check out their Christmas decorations

Mom and dad came down to Orlando and we went to Universal Studios

We spent a family night at Dave and Busters

I got to see Mannheim Steamroller at Universal

Zack and I went to Gainesville for a Gator's basketball game

We experienced a warm December and a record breaking end of December.  5 out of the last 6 days in December Orlando set record high temps. 

After a miserable Christmas Eve, we had a nice family Christmas Day 

Cannot wait to see what 2016 has in store for me.  

Happy New Year

Two Down Five to Go

One cannot comprehend the number of people in Orlando this week.  If I wasn't here to witness it firsthand, I don't think I would believe it.  Work has been crazy. In a way busy is better.  The time goes so much quicker when we are busy.  And overall things run pretty smoothly. The kitchen staff all but ignores their order screens and just make a ton of everything and put it under the heat lamps for the grabbing.  BUT, there are always people who need to be difficult and have a "special order" that requires time to prepare.  
Here are some of my favorites of the day:

- always one of my favorites is people who want their cheeseburgers plain.  If they are ordered that way then we give it to them plain. But there are always a certain number of people who, when the cheeseburger is placed in front of them, ask for it plain.  It is served with an open bun and with lettuce, tomato, and pickles.  If you want the burger plain all that is required is to grab those three items with your pincer grasp and throw them out.  But you would be surprised the number of people who make us remove the burger from the tray and haul it back to the cooks so that they can remove those garnishes with their pincer grasp.  One of these times I would love to just remove the stuff right in front of them and throw it away to show them how easy it is to do yourself - but, of course, I don't and never would.  

- Had an order for a coffee today but when I served it the conversation went something like this:
Lady: "Oh, no.  That is not what I wanted."
Me: "Okay, what did you want? Did you want tea or hot chocolate?"
Lady: "No. I wanted a latte.  You fill the bottom 1/4 of the cup with coffee and the rest with milk."  
She must have us confused with Starbucks. 
My team captain was standing next to me and we both stood there in disbelief. After a couple minutes we just decided to give her the full cup of coffee, a bottle of milk, and an empty cup so she could make it herself. 

- Had an order for two cheese pizzas today. Our pizzas are the size of a paper plate and are cut into four equal slices.  Except, for some unknown reason, this lady did not want her pizza cut! So nevermind that there were seven cheese pizzas for the immediate taking, it took 5 minutes to cook new pizzas for her. 

- Had an order for a fish sandwich.  Except the sandwich and the fries each had to be cooked in separate oil.  Now, I understand it was probably for either food allergies or religious reasons and I would never begrudge anybody either of those things. It's just frustrating when, again, there are baskets of fish for the taking but I have to wait 10 minutes for a special order.  

Tomorrow off and then right back at it. 

Orlando Forecast, Shopping, Driving, and Work

Our forecast for the next 5 days is temperatures between 84-87* before cooling down to the average temperature of 73* by Friday.  I have only had my air conditioning off 1 day since moving here at the end of May.  If I had to pay for air conditioning then I would be telling a different story but since power is included in my rent...why not?  

I HAD to do my grocery shopping last night.  These images are from Google but they accurately depict what the Orlando Wal-Mart looked like. 

One young (maybe 12) girl passed me and said, "it looks like it's Black Friday."  True Dat!

Then there were the two times I was forced to slam on my brakes to avoid accidents on the way home.  Both times the drivers were switching lanes at the last minute without even looking first.  For the next week the only time I am driving is to and from work! 

Tomorrow I begin a stretch of working 7 out of the next 9 days.  After two months of working only a handful of times, I am grateful for the hours and am hoping that with the South American tourist season stretching into January I will be able to get some consistent hours. 

Outtakes

We tried to set the boys up for a picture - they weren't having it. But the outtakes are hilarious. 

I thought I had finally gotten a good picture but, unfortunately, Jon's eyes were closed. 

Mini Vaca Day Four - and We Are Home

After last night's disaster I really did not have much hope for today. The issue my mom is dealing with is not something that is going to go away overnight.  

But we did manage to have a good day.  I think even my mom had little spots throughout the day when she enjoyed herself.  

I believe we just missed setting a record high today by 1 or 2 degrees. Anyway, it was in the mid 80's...hot.

That did not stop the boys from playing their annual Christmas football game.  Action shots are the best.

We had a great dinner of turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, cranberries, and bread. 

Opened some presents - which I did not get pictures of but my darling boys gave me this:

Oh how I love me some Starbucks.  

Then we took pictures of almost every possible combination of people present.

I am so disappointed this is blurry

We decided to drive home tonight. A combination of the tenseness in the house and the fact that it was so darn hot sleeping in that bedroom.  We were packed in there which did not help.

Miraculously the drive home was very uneventful - hallelujah. We passed this precious dog sleeping with his head out the back window. So cute.

Once we pulled into our complex Ollie knew he was home. Crazy dog.

Christmas 2015 is in the books. 

Mini Vaca Day Three

Oh this day!!! Complete fail!

First of all...the weather = crazy!  It was definitely a shorts kind of day with similar temps in the forecast. I'm not complaining.

The day started okay with our usual breakfast at Cracker Barrel 

And, of course, we had an extra passenger on board

Once we got home I wrapped some presents while my mom and watched White Christmas and took Ollie for a walk because he was looking at me like this:

Then...nosedive.

I won't go into detail except to say my mom was in a mood and made it her mission to make the time miserable for everyone around her.  She succeeded in dramatic fashion.  

My sister ended up canceling (for a different reason) and the whole night was pretty much a flop.  

At least the tree looked good

And so did the dog

We finally decided to open some presents but it was really only a half-hearted attempt to have fun.

We ended the evening by finishing White Christmas.  I was hoping this would be relaxing but, unfortunately, my mom decided to to not watch it and instead spent the entire time complaining about her church.

Here's hoping for a better tomorrow

It can't get worse, right?

Mini Vaca Day Two

Well---to start with no one slept well last night.  Ollie was very restless and jumped on and off my bed at regular intervals. Usually when I finally managed to drift off to sleep.  Then there was the fact that we were sleeping in a room that could have doubled as a fireplace.  We are currently in the middle of a record warm streak and, while my parents had the air conditioning on, it apparently does not vent into the room we were in.  Lesson learned - tonight we are keeping the door open.  

This morning (really more towards noon) we went to Walgreens where I scarfed up four more boxes of Black Forest fruit snacks.  I think they are discontinuing them because I have cleaned out all 5 Walgreens stores in Orlando and the are not restocking.  So I plan to hit up the other store in Palm Coast before I leave and also the one in Daytona Beach on the way home.  

After scoring the fruit snacks and picking up a couple items at the Dollar Tree, we went to McDonalds where my mom and I took advantage of their all day breakfast menu while Zack had his staple chicken nuggets and fries. 

Of course Ollie had to come along while we ran these errands because of course he did.  Don't even try to leave without him!  He makes sure to barricade the door.

At night we went to Manny's for pizza and then walked around the Twi-Light Motel light display.  The lights and decorations are unbelievable.  And because it was so nice out - hello 80*- it was packed with people.

Before going home we took a ride through Sugar Mill - a development next to my parent's community - where every house is worth at least a million dollars and 95% of the houses have lights and decorations.  

They were all very nice but then we saw this:

So so cool.