On Mother’s Day he gave me a great present – he went swimming!  It was his first time in the water in a very long time. In fact, I had given up on him ever going swimming again because he knows his limits and hadn’t wanted to take the plunge.  He knows his body best so I always just let him determine things like that.

But today, he paced around the pool and whined giving the indication he was ready to get back in again.  With some help from me and Mike, we got him onto the first step of the pool then helped him get fully in the water.  He swam around like fish – going the full length of the pool.  It was such an awesome sight to see.

I barely remember his last name or even what he looked like.

What a romantic, huh?  LOL!  It was folded in the traditional school note format where we cornered the edge into a fold. Too funny.  Why I kept it all these years – I have no idea. Now it’s timeless history that I can’t throw away.

School days….  I bet today’s kids don’t ever write notes to each other. Remember how much fun it was passing them down the row hoping the teacher wouldn’t see you?  Or writing them, folding the note and slipping into the locker through the vents?

Those were the days, my friends.

On Wednesday, which was my last official day of my summer vacation, I was headed into downtown Orlando to get my hair cut (see previous blog post) and do some errands.  I was on the 408 (for those not in Orlando it’s an East-West highway) cruising along at 60 mph when I noticed all of a sudden my tire  pressure warning light came on.

I didn’t think much of it, it’s come on in the past when the air got low. I figured I’d put some air in the tires next time I stopped for gas.

I exited the highway and drove about 2-miles when I started hearing “thump thump thump thump”.  I knew instantly what this was. I slowed down and pulled into a 7-11 parking lot to see the damage.

It’s really hard to see from this angle but the left rear tire was flat.  Very flat.

It seemed like I had just put new tires on which made me really frustrated. Turns out my sense of time was flawed, it had actually been almost 3-years ago to the day.

Anyway, I called AAA for help.  The operator said it would be 2 hours before someone could get there but the rescue man showed up within 45 minutes.

He couldn’t have been nicer and very efficient. He had me fixed up within 20 minutes and I was on my way again. (Funny, as I’m typing this I’m listening to Willie Nelson sing “On the Road Again” on Sunday Morning Coming Down on Real Radio.  Too funny!)

That afternoon I was at Sears getting 2 new tires. $$$

The next morning it was back to work. At least that was the plan. I went out to the garage at 7:50am, turned the ignition and heard “click click click”.  Ugh! You gotta be kidding me!  Yes, a dead battery.  Thank God for my handyman and wonderful neighbor, Pete.  He came over and jumped the battery so I could head back to Sears again.  More $$$.

My lessons:

#1.  Women – if you aren’t mechanically savvy, be sure you have a 24-hour car repair service at your disposal.  I’ve had AAA since high school and while there are years that go by where I never use their services, it’s a comfort to know they’re there when I need them.

#2.  Be prepared for the unexpected and don’t let it ruin your attitude.  Yes I was frustrated and upset, but it is what it is. Deal with it and move on.  I’ll probably get very frustrated again when my credit card bills come in, but that’s life.

I early voted this year.  (Love that option!)

Now, every time I get another political call I just want to scream “Hey – it doesn’t matter now. I’ve already voted. You can’t influence me.”

But that does no good.

I have to wonder just how successful these phone messages are for the candidates. I mean, I don’t ever listen to a message past the first 3 seconds – even when they get a celebrity to call on their behalf. My finger is on the delete button immediately. I have to think its mostly wasted money from their campaign funds.  What do you think?

I almost opted not to vote this time. There is only one race I feel highly confident in my candidate selection (the Orange County Mayoral race.)  In most of the other races it’s the battle of “has-been’s” versus “shady newbie”.  IMO.   But that’s a whole other blog post. Where are the truly good leaders?

Are you voting this primary?

This year I made the decision while Mike and I were camping.  I called the salon on the way back home from New York and got it done 3 days later.

No going back now – at least for many more months.

But the popularity of social networking sites has it’s “other” side, too.  It has amped the volume of people speaking their minds which isn’t bad, as long as it’s not misused.  Twitter, Facebook and discussion boards provide platforms for people to immediately broadcast what’s on their minds – “I loved it”  ”I hated it”  ”#FAIL” “Anyone out there listening?”

What do you do when one of your online friends asks you to re-tweet or re-post their anger or frustration with someone or some company?  Do you do it just because it’s someone you know?  I think it is more common on Twitter than on Facebook to see that plea “Please RT this!”  I find these requests interesting but a little unsettling. I now have to know all the facts about their story.

But there are what I call the bandwagoners – people who jump on a rant, most not knowing the full story.  Re-tweet it and re-post it multiple times and the next thing you know there’s a full online movement that may or may not be justified.  I’ve seen too many times where the noise-maker rattling the cage  is not quite so innocent as they portray to be.

The knee-jerk online reactions bother me.  I’ve been on both sides of the equation.  I’ve been the consumer with problems and I’ve been the PR side trying to fix things.  Neither side is comfortable.

I love reading consumer-centric columns and blogs that work at solving people’s problems.  Greg Dawson and Christoper Elliott are my steady reads.

So why is this today’s topic? No particular reason. It’s just something that’s been on my mind and finally put it down in writing.

Our trip started in Phoenix where we met up with our future travel companions in our group.  There were 25 in this group for the week, 19 adults and 6 kids – the youngest was 5 years old.  Interesting there were quite a few women traveling alone with their children.  Most everyone had some experience with a Disney vacation whether regulars to Disneyland or Disney World and several were DVC members.  About half the group were Adventure repeaters.

We loaded a luxury motor coach and started our 2-hour drive to Sedona where we would spend the first two nights.

The scenery in every location we went to was just incredible.

Sedona, AZ

Sedona, AZ

Me, Mike in Sedona

The Amara Resort where we stayed in Sedona. A beautiful boutique hotel.

Was this Walt’s inspiration for Disney’s Big Thunder Mountain? We were told it was.

Our last stop in Sedona was to a Vortex where we saw this stunning view of what legend has was Walt Disney’s inspiration for Disney’s Big Thunder Mountain Railroad attraction in the Magic Kingdom.  Could be!

Funny thing at the Vortex, when we arrived around 9:00am there were three women already there circled together and chanting. I’m sure they weren’t too happy to see a big tour bus show up on their quiet ritual.  We weren’t there long and we weren’t intrusive. They just kept on chanting.

Our next stop – the Grand Canyon!

DISCLOSURE:   Nothing to disclose!  I work for Disney but paid for this trip completely on my own for my summer vacation.  If I hadn’t had a good time, I would say so.

My travel life has definitely picked up in the past few weeks which has delayed me from my blogging duties.

After my annual physical earlier this month and meeting with the dietitian I’ve made a commitment to eating healthier.  And this comes after I thought I already WAS eating healthy.  With the exception of my monthly indulgence in calamari with Mike, I rarely ever eat anything fried. I seldom ever touch pizza or any kind of pasta. I eat brown rice, not white rice (rare exception of the sushi encounter).  Whole wheat bread never white bread.

The new changes in my routine will be to eat more organic in my food selections and to cut back on red meats and pork, use natural sweeteners over artificial ones, eliminate caffeine, and start eating more fruits and vegetables – organic, of course and to eat more foods rich in antioxidants.

The first step I took may seem trivial but was a major ordeal for me – giving up my morning Diet Dr. Pepper.  I did this not only because of the dietitian, but because my dentist also advised the same thing.  The dentist believes that the soda was ruining my gums.  So, it’s been 21 days since my last Diet Dr. Pepper.  I know I’ll have one again soon, but I won’t be going back to a daily routine of 2-3 day. I think God will forgive me if I have one a month.

Eating organic is definitely more expensive and harder to stick to but I’m going to give it my all.

Any of you live the organic life?  How has it impacted you?

So, after gaining a few pounds back I determined I needed to get things under control.  I have a room in my house that is totally under-used.  I call it my piano room. It also served as Mikita’s playpen when she was a puppy. I’ve turned this extra room into my new home gym. This is what I’ve been spending the past few weeks working on:

It has a treadmill, ab crunch machine, 5# 10# and 20# weights.  A bench to do flies and chest press.  A step machine.  A TV and stereo.  And of course, my piano should I just get the urge to sit down and belt out a tune or two.

I worked hard, too, to make it appealing to me to go in there.  I’ve decorated it with a black and white theme. I got the beautiful rug from Overstock.com at a great price with $2.50 shipping.  It’s one of the thick rugs, not the cheap kind you see at discount stores. I found the gorgeous curtains at an outlet store near the Florida Mall. And the photos on the wall above the bench are pictures of the ocean in Cozumel, taken during our 7-night cruise on the Disney Magic last December.

How’s it going so far?  It has only been fully put together for about a month but I’ve been faithful.  I miss the variety of equipment found at a normal gym, but this is serving a good purpose.  It’s really all about commitment.  The mirror is my motivator.