Hello all. Mrs Krank here. Sometimes I feel that I have a sixth sense about things. Not only the skipping Christmas part of it. Because I still say that my decision was not just being grinch-y. But the feeling that something is just not right. A feeling that bugs you, but you just can't put your finger on it. Until you get the call and you say "I knew something was not right!"

I got the call today. My mom telling that Christmas is 100% off. We were all just going to get together for dinner because, after all, Christmas is about being with family. Not just the gifts. But today, my step-dad had a heart attack. Not a tiny heart attack either. He will be spending the next week or so in the hospital and for the most part, we will probably be there too. We will be praying for a Christmas miracle since the doctors don't sound as optimistic as I would like them to.

Have a safe and joyous holiday.

Christmas with the Kranks

Well, it looks like I actually followed through with my vow to skip Christmas this year.  People were making bets as to how long I would last.  They were sure that I would crack and give in to the holiday.  But as of today, Dec 22nd, I have yet to put up one single decoration or buy one single gift! Yay me! 

My checks have gone out to St Judes & CureSearch and those were the only items on my list. I hope that my friends and family honor my wishes and donate as well.  Although I LOVE presents, there are others that need them more than I do. 

New Years Eve seems to be going to be a very quiet one for us as well.  So far, D is not working but that can change at anytime.  If he gets called in, he will go.  Heck, we need the $$$.  What sucks is that he will have to deal with all the damage that drunk drivers leave behind.  So please, please play it safe.  Just don't drink & drive.  My girls may just be out there and I would hate for them to have to cross your path.

I wish all my bloggy friends a wonderful and safe holiday! Hugs to all!

Viva España!

In just 10 short months,if everything goes as planned, we should be boarding a plane to Spain. I am the planner, the Travel Agent, and the budgeter for all our trips. My husband just comes along for the ride. Oh, and he pays too!

I am going nuts trying to plan this trip! My U.S. based travel is easy peasy. This is our first trip to Europe and it is really stressing me out. So many things to consider! I don't know if I should even consider renting a car or just rely on transit. I'm not quite sure of how much time to dedicate to each city. We only have 7 days total in Spain. We then board the Norwegian Epic for it's Trans-Atlantic sailing back to Miami. I am also not sure how I will handle the 8 1/2 hour flight.  I'm sure that I will need some sort of sleepy time meds.


I'm going to go blind from all the research! One good thing about this trip though, is that we already speak the language! Another great thing is the Sangria! But that's not important right now. LOL

Although I pride myself on getting the most for my travel $$$, I'm having a bit of a hard time with this trip.  Stay tuned, I'll be posting what I learn along the way. Oh, and if anyone has any tips, please feel free to share

BlogHer or Bust!

Since DisneySMMoms did not work out for me for 2011, I have decided to direct my attention completely to BlogHer '11. I have been considering attending Blogher for the past two years but it never really panned out.  I am even tempted to skip this one and hope that it will be here (or somewhere on the East coast) for 2012. But why put it off for yet another year? If I can make it work, I definitely want to be there next year.  Hopefully, I can get a sponsor, since this one will cost a pretty penny.  Between airfare, hotel and the conference itself, ay chi chi, I might have to sell my first born! Or maybe both, that way the 2nd one doesn't think that she's the favorite!


If any of you are planning on attending BlogHer '11 let me know! Plus there is a code out for 20% off registration until 12/31, but the amount of times it can be used is limited ... I think.  Just enter BlogHerGift before check-out

Can anyone really skip Christmas?

Hello everyone, Scrooge here. Not really, I am the first one to say that I LOVE the holidays. I love the music, I love the lights, I love spending time with family & friends. This year, however, I am just not feeling it. Since this year has literally flown by, it feels like I just took down my decorations from last year.

My girls are adults, so Santa is just a memory. Plus on top of that, they really do not need anything. Neither do I. Plus my nephews do not want for anything as well. So this year, I have decided to skip Christmas. My decorations will not be going up. I will not be buying gifts. I will not be hosting parties. I might be baking though, because after all, I LOVE sweets!

So although I always give a little extra to charity during the holidays. This year we will give some more to a cause that we really support. I will ask our friends & family to do so as well, in lieu of gifts for any of us.

If you have been around here for a while, you know that I am a huge supporter of Childhood Cancer Awareness. I give monthly to St. Jude's and to CureSearch. So obviously they are the ones receiving our Christmas gifts as well. I have also purchased a few gifts for Toys for Tots.

If anyone is upset about this, I'm sorry you feel that way.  But I am not sorry about my choice.  No one can tell me how to spend my money.

So if you have a little something to give, please consider these organizations. They can make a world of difference in a child's life. Thanks!

In the meantime check this video out.

All dressed up with nowhere to go!

What can I say? To say that I am disappointed would be an understatement. To say that I could care less, would be a lie. To say that I don't wonder about the selection process would also be a total lie.

So as you can probably guess, I am not one of the lucky Disney Social Media Moms attendees. Not for 2011 anyway.

Let me explain how it all played out. First of all, I was at Disney World this week. I had canceled my Keys to the Kingdom tour scheduled for Thursday, just to be guaranteed Internet access for registration since it was first come, first served..The tour was scheduled to end at 2PM.  Registration was set to open at 2:00 PM. I logged in at 1:50PM and was met by what is now known as the orange circle of death. After several refreshes, I finally got the registration page. My fingers were flying, hoping for no typos, yet still thinking that it was first come first served. At 2:20PM, I printed off my confirmation and received an email immediately after. I was feeling pretty good about it considering that I got it in shortly after registration opened. I even stuck around and offered to register others when I was able to open another registration page.

So today, while at Animal Kingdom, I receive the Thanks but no Thanks email. I literally felt my heart sink. I had such high hopes, that I guess it just hit a bit harder. I know, it's just a conference but a conference at one of my favorite places on earth. It wasn't even about the trip. We are AP holders and we go to Disney a lot! Yes, I did choose the full celebration option, simply because I would have to book a place to stay regardless, but I would have been content with just the conference portion. Don't get me wrong, a stay at the Grand Floridian would be AMAZING! I have only stayed there once and only for one night.  But the whole point of this is the conference.  I remember wishing that there would have been more actual conference sessions when I attended in February.

Yes, I am upset.  Yes, I am disappointed & sad. I am even a bit confused about the actual process. But no, I am not angry and no, I am not devastated.  I still will wake up tomorrow, hopefully, and Thank God for a new day and find something that is meant for me.  There's something hiding behind every corner! Think about it, how many boyfriends did you break up with and feel like it was the end of the world? Only to turn around and find your soul mate. I know it happened to me. 

Now, to address what is going on in Twitterville.  I did tweet as soon as I got the email:

Then my battery died  on my crappy iPhone and I couldn't follow the stream.  When I got plugged in in the car, I was appalled by a lot of what I was seeing. I just sat back and flinched.  Like I said, I was and am disappointed.  I still would have loved to know that it was basically an application and not a registration.  I would have also liked to know what the requirements were before registering/ applying.  I normally don't apply if I don't feel qualified. I definitely would not have canceled my tour if I had known that it really was not first come, first served.  BUT, I would never engage in some of the behavior that I have seen on Twitter.  It's all fine and dandy to voice your feelings... heck, I am....  but not at the expense of others. Personal attacks are never an option in my book.  I am happy for those that I personally know that got in. How could they not want to celebrate that victory? Let them rejoice in peace.  Put yourself in their shoes.

I was fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to attend the very first Disney Social Media Moms Conference.  I'm sure that it was sort of a Beta Test for Disney. Obviously, it worked.  As the years go by, if they choose to do it annually, they will learn from any mistakes made. When I registered for 2010, there was not as much information given in regards to accommodations and park tickets. This time everything was announced up front, including the agenda! So here's to 2012.  I hope that they choose to continue hosting the conference and I hope to one day be able to attend again.

So for those of you that are going in 2011, ENJOY! Be sure to keep us posted so that we can live vicariously through you!

T-45 minutes

As I type, it is T -45 minutes til the Disney Social Media Moms registration. I am still sick as a dog. It's no fun being sick while at Disney! I literally cannot breathe. I desperately need an aerosol treatment but my machine is at home. We've been here since Tuesday and have not been able to do much because I can't function. Fortunately, I had canceled my Keys to the World Tour for today in order to be able to register for the conference. I have a feeling that this is going to sell out faster the Cher's one of several Farewell Tour!



I need major pixie dust ...and a Comtrex or two!

UPDATE

OMG! I logged on at 1:55 PM for registration.  I sat and watched an orange spinning circle for  about 20 minutes before I actually got the registration page. My fingers were flying all over the place, so I hope the typos were minimal.  Especially with my credit card information.  Now we wait for review.  What exactly is the review? I really don't know.  I hope that it is not dependent on stats.  I'm not, by any means, a big numbers blogger.  Not yet anyways.  Like Chris Brogan said at last year's conference, "Don't rule out little bloggers, because little bloggers may become big bloggers one day". Or something to that effect.

Although I still feel like death, and have a feeling that I might need a chest X-ray when I get home, at least being able to submit my registration made my day a bit brighter. 

Good luck to everyone who is trying to get in! Maybe I'll see you in March!