Nice view huh?

We were lucky enough to have a savanna view room. We were kind-of on the corner of the savanna, but it was still cool.

Pretty sweet view huh?

Animal Kindom - Kidani

When you walk out of the lobby towards the safari and fire pit, and turn around ... this is what you see. Very hut like. Very cool!

Animal Kingdom Villas - Kidani Pool!

Jonathan never likes swimming, but he seems to be ok with it when we're at a Disney resort.

The new Kidani pool was pretty sweet. There was a long twisty slide, and the kids play area was HUGE!

More Hidden Mickeys

More hidden Mickeys at Animal Kingdom Kidani. There were a ton of rock ones all around the pool area.

The metal one is right when you walk in the front door.

The little white one is on the chandelier in the lobby.

The large basket looking one is behind the front counter of the restaurant Sanaa.

Hidden Mickeys

I think I took more photos of the carpet than actual animals!

There were so many "hidden" Mickeys in the hallways at Animal Kingdom Kidani.

Animal Kingdom Villas - Kidani

Yesterday Jonathan and I stayed at the new Animal Kingdom Kidani building. We only stayed from 5:30pm on Saturday to 11am on Sunday, but we did a ton of stuff. Jonathan could've sat by the fire pit and looked at the animals all day.

I'll post more photos later!

Best $1 ever spent!

This lame thing was $1 at Ikea, and I'm so glad I bought it.

It's (obviously) a plastic bag holder. We re-use plastic bags for our mini bathroom garbage cans or to pad things we are putting in the mail.

It's so nice not having bags laying all over the place!

Did I mention it was $1?

Scrapbooking challenge!

I've been participating in the disboards weekly scrapbooking challenges.  

Click here to see this weeks challenge.

It's a fun way to "force" me to scrapbook.

And there are prizes ... but I haven't won anything yet.

Plus, each week somebody sets up a "challenge".  Like last week the challenge was to use 15 different things on the page.  Sometimes the challenge is to use a specific color palate (like the colors of Aladdin.)

This week it wasn't too restrictive.  We just had to scrapbook a Disney hotel.  Last year we stayed 1 night at the Caribbean Beach for Jonathan's birthday.

If you're short ...

... then your stool is your best friend!

My little friend lives in our kitchen.

DIY - Bed Skirt

I made this bedskirt!

I took my sewing machine out of the box (that it's been sitting in for over 1.5 years) and whipped this baby out in about a day and a half. The yellow top is some cheep-o fabric from Walmart (they didn't have white, so I figured yellow was fine. It's not like you can see it anyways).

The brown fabric used to be bedroom curtains.

Now I can store stuff under the bed!!!

I'm pretty darn proud of myself.

The 'suite' life!

Thanks to a friend (Katie rules!!) we got to watch a spring training game from a luxury suite at Disney's Wide World of Sports. Notice Jonathan is watching the game with a laptop. He had a fantasy baseball draft the exact same time as the game. Thankfully, he got really fast wi-fi a the stadium. He also got a lot of funny looks from other fans.

In the first inning, Donald Duck game to visit us!

More Disney photos can be found at Disney Photo-a-day!

How to make a pot holder - part 3

Next you need to stitch your opening together. I hand stitched mine. I recommend watching TV or a movie while you hand stitch!

I'm not sure you can tell from the photo, but you can see the little bit of hand stitching.

And here is the finished product!

Side note: attention everybody I exchange Christmas presents with - you will be getting pot holders for Christmas and possibly your birthday!

How to make a pot holder - part 2

Next, take the 2 pieces of fabric, and place them on top of each other. The WRONG side of the fabrics should be facing in. So the WRONG sides of the fabric should be touching.

WARNING - my photo is incorrect. My Christmas pattern is facing out, which is wrong.

Put the batting on top.

So your order is:
Pattern 1
Pattern 2
Batting

Sew across 3 sides.

Sew across the 4th side, but leave about 4" opening. You'll use this opening to pull everything into place. Since you sew everything "inside out", you have to pull it "right side out"!

Here is my hand about to pull it "right side out".

How to make a pot holder - part 1

I recently got my sewing machine out of the box, and the easiest thing I could think to make was a pot holder.

You will need fabric for the front and back. You can use the same pattern (or solid) for each side, or use coordinating pieces. I used one Christmas print for the front, and a solid color for the back.

I used an old cardboard box to cut out a pattern. You don't have to do this, you can just measure the fabric. My square is 9 inches by 9 inches.


You will also need to purchase batting. I bought this batting at Walmart for under $5.

My shelving project

Our house has this weird (but cool) mini hallway between the living room and the master bedroom.

It's actually about 4' deep (the red area). The reason it's there is to create a cave for our TV (which looks so tiny in the cave).

I actually recently put up come crown molding around the door frame. I still need to frame out the TV, or do something!

Anyway, I recently bought 1 piece of wood, cut it with my miter (mitre?) box and hung it up using little metal do-dads. The metal do-dads are actually supposed to be used for making the corners of furniture more secure, but I like that they are small and not in your face.

I was super pleased with the outcome of my mini project!

Ike Eisenmann

A couple weeks ago Jonathan and I went to see Race to Witch Mountain. But this was no ordinary movie experience ... well, it was pretty ordinary, until the end. Ike Eisenmann was in the theater with us!


Ike (who, I'm guessing is about mid 40) was the child star who played the boy alien in the original 2 Witch Mountain movies. He also has a part in the new Race to Witch Mountain Movie. When his name came up on screen (during the opening credits) we all cheered! And when he part came (he had about 10 minutes of screen time), we all cheered again.

Then, after the movie, we asked him to sign our ticket stubs and got a photo taken with him. He was so nice!


Last, and least, I made a digital scrapbook page with our photo.

Cho-chooooo!

Look how cute Jonathan is with his 2 little train sets.

The one on the left is a fairly inexpensive, plastic Disney train he found at property control.

The one on the right he recently ordered from a company in Canada. He found them when we were researching train rides to take during our Alaskan cruise. It's a replica of Walt Disney's personal train. It's very detailed!

Now that I own a circular saw, my job is to make some kind of board for trains. Who knows where we will store these things - but they sure are cute.

Shaqattack!

Have you seen these commercials on ESPN? Their new thing is the NBA analysts are driving all over the country in an RV.


Anyway, the RV was at ESPN the weekend. And inside the RV was the actual Scrabble board that Shaq is using to play (watch the commercial!)

Notice words like "Shaqattack" and "Shaqzilla".

"How'd you get so many Q's?"
"Don't worry about it."

ESPN the Weekend

About a month ago Jonathan and I went to ESPN the weekend at Disney's Hollywood Studios. I'm finally downloading all my photos from my camera.

They bring in TONS of sports stars and ESPN celebrities.  The problem is, they work them to death, so you have no chance to meet them.

Why can't it be like Star Wars weekends when you line up, get a fastpass to meet 1 celebrity, and be on your merry way?

Anyways, I was most excited to stalk Scottie Pippen.  Growing up near Chicago, all Bulls games were on WGN.  If you remember the '90s, the Bulls were very popular and I LOVED those teams. 

Every morning, driving to work, I listen to Mike & Mike in the Morning.  While I was unsuccessful in getting tickets to watch their show live, I did see Greeny doing a mini talk show up on stage.

"Rock Hoover, Rock Hoover.  Rock Hoover ... there ain't no messin' with the Hoov!"