The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

[betty rose]

Now, I'm really out!

 

[catmom46]

For some reason, her name came immediately to mind when you mentioned the books. (Little Women had also been made into a movie back in the 40s or 50s, and then 1 or 2 more remakes--the last of which starred Wynona Rider in the early 90s. I liked the old June Allyson version the best.)

There were tons of other books I liked as well, but I bet I couldn't name any of the authors now.

The June Allyson version is my favorite as well! It just seemed to embody the spirit of the book more than the others. Or at least June played Jo exactly how I pictured her to be. And can't forget Elizabeth Taylor as Amy either!

 

[donaldtoo]

Today was brilliantly warm and sunny. We drew pictures with sidewalk chalk. I haven't done that in years.

Funnnnn!
When the kiddos were little, we used to pull the cars outta' the driveway and go nuts with that stuff...!

 

[donaldtoo]

Except my car AC can barely keep up!

Yep, many of those systems are strainin' down here this time of year.
The one in the car I'm presently driving does a pretty good job, though.
Funny thing is, I took my old ride (that we keep as a spare), "Lilly Dimples" , out for a jaunt this weekend 'cause I hadn't had her out in a while, and the A/C in her still blows colder...she's 18 years old and has never any ANY A/C work done, whatsoever...!

 

[catmom46]

You know, I was watching Disney Fireworks videos and stumbled on this.



I never seen the "watercanon" firework seen at 7:45 in the bottom row on all the video.
creating a "wave" of fireworks similar to those watercanons in fantasmic.

That is a really cool effect! I liked the "squirmy worms" at 2:30, "snowflakes" at 2:55, and "swirly twirly" at 9:29 (I'm sure there are technical terms for these effects, though )

Definitely a spectacular show. If Wishes is supposed to cost $60k, then I can't even imagine how much this one cost!

 

[donaldtoo]

For a weather/heat update down here in the lovely south.. We had a heat advisory today from 10am-7pm because our heat indexes were going to be 108-110. Our actuall temps have been 95-98 for 8 days straight and no real end in sight for the next 10 days and may see real temps of 99/100 next week. Would not live anywheres else though!

View attachment 102201

Yep, that weather sounds VERY familiar...!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I loved Astro! (Of course--he was the family's dog!!)

The show was so much fun. I liked how George Jetson would hop in his Aerocar, and off he'd fly every morning to his job at Spacely Sprockets. I used to think that I'd even like my job if I could fly in an Aerocar like his!

I also liked Rosie and how they could press a button and WHAM...there was dinner or when they would go in a machine and it would wash and dress them. But the flying car was the best!

 

[sxeensweet]

Yep, that weather sounds VERY familiar...!

Haha! I bet! Today we got some relief as it only reached about 90 but it will be back to 97+ they said the next 7-10 days. Tomorrow heat indexes will be about 107-110. Your used of this as well I'm sure.

 

[donaldtoo]

Haha! I bet! Today we got some relief as it only reached about 90 but it will be back to 97+ they said the next 7-10 days. Tomorrow heat indexes will be about 107-110. Your used of this as well I'm sure.

Oh yea.
The high today here was 97. Right now, it's still 93 with a heat index of 100.
Couldn't fine any info in a quick search on what the heat index was at 97, but, it musta' been up there pretty good.
By this time last year (and so many summers previous) we'd already had many days over 100. It really started to feel like a true summer really late this year for us, and that just feels weird to me.
But, it feels like it's finally startin' to get here...!

 

[catmom46]

I have a question about cars and kids. How many think that they should buy their kids a car when they get old enough to drive? I know I'm old school, but, I always helped my girls buy a car and I may have even let them borrow the money from me to get a down payment and signed for a loan as well, but, it was always their first major purchase and I was not about to pay for them to be on the highway all the time. Probably, just me. Oh, I made sure that whatever they did buy was safe and reasonably reliable, but, it was still their purchase and responsibility. The cars were always in my name and covered by my insurance (which they also had to reimburse me for), but it was their car and I expected them to pay for it. I, fortunately, never had to deal with what I would have done if they didn't pay me, but, I am pretty sure that it would have been sitting in the yard until they did pay.

Now that I read this, I'm starting to feel pretty mean, but, I never heard a complaint from them even to this day. To lighten the burden a little, as each of them graduated from college what ever balance was remaining was forgiven and I signed the title over to them. Which makes me kind of a nice guy since I gave them the car that they had paid for. Now I feel mean again. Not enough, however, to make me think that I would do it any different today. The part that tells the whole story is the thought that I used to have involving the fact that they had to get a job to pay for the car that they could drive to get to their job so they could pay for the car. But, in a way, I guess that is what we all do.

This is a delayed response, but I definitely don't think you were mean making your girls contribute toward their cars. I think more parents should be that way, in order to instill a sense of responsibility and work ethic. Having said that, my parents weren't that way at all and pretty much gave me whatever I wanted or needed. I did have jobs as a teenager, but it was mainly for spending money and not big-ticket items, so I never learned to budget my money until after college. Even so, I'm not much of a saver (my husband is way worse than me, though) and only started a savings account for DD a few years ago. I'm very fortunate that my employer contributes to my 401k, but I still have yet to contribute myself. I definitely would've benefited greatly from your financial parenting!

 

[sxeensweet]

Oh yea.
The high today here was 97. Right now, it's still 93 with a heat index of 100.
Couldn't fine any info in a quick search on what the heat index was at 97, but, it musta' been up there pretty good.
By this time last year (and so many summers previous) we'd already had many days over 100. It really started to feel like a true summer really late this year for us, and that just feels weird to me.
But, it feels like it's finally startin' to get here...!

Same here it's kind of late. Started I say first week of Julyish and usually we see this at least by the beginning of June.

 

[donaldtoo]

that doesn't make any sense.
why punish someone for a return that you didn't sell?

Yep, never made any sense to us either.
But, that's the kinda' crap (yes, CRAP) that all to often comes from corporate, brain-sharing, suits.

 

[catmom46]

yeah, but still hurts when you have to leave WDW for your real home

Agree! I'm still feeling the pain…I was reading this thread while on the Magical Express just so I wouldn't see WDW drift farther and farther away.

 

[MinnieM123]

Yep, never made any sense to us either.
But, that's the kinda' crap (yes, CRAP) that all to often comes from corporate, brain-sharing, suits.

Somewhat along the same lines, I was discussing with someone about those gas gift cards. Sometimes, they run out of them at the gas stations, and that always gets my goat. If people want them, then why not keep plenty in stock? So this other person was saying that there might not be much incentive for the gas station owner to stock enough.

The reason was that even if the $50 was paid in cash at their register, the card may not necessarily be used at that particular gas station. It could be used around the country at other stations. I dunno, this is all kinda backwards logic to me, but just thought I'd throw the idea out there. Maybe someone else can make heads or tails of it.

Anyway, my brain is obviously fried at this hour, so goodnight to all!

 

[catmom46]

wow, how bad was the whole thing to cause such damage?

in the good side.. you wont be killing anyone with THAT THUMB horst Style.

Ah, another favorite movie! Especially 2:27 of the escape scene (sorry, couldn't find a shorter clip!):

 

[donaldtoo]

Never stayed at either, although theming looks very nice at both of them. I have heard many good reviews for PORS.

Just thought I'd mention (at least for the first year they were open), AOA had some guest complaints regarding the a/c in the suites. (During the summer months in particular, this could be a deal-breaker for some.) WDW has cut back on the a/c in a number of their hotels, by the way. But I specifically remember comments about AOA, because they were the newest property on site, and their new, energy savings a/c didn't go over well with some of the guests.

Anyway, it might be helpful to check out the hotels forum to see what others think of AOA. Maybe things have improved.

I can for sure say that when we stayed in a Cars family suite at AoA, in July of '12 for a week, we never had one issue with the A/C.
But, I have also seen some posts regarding problems, as well.
Could be, though, that we were in the room only during the morning and night, and not during the heat of the day.
Anyway, we didn't have any issues with ours in the Cars section.

 

[Goofyernmost]

This is a delayed response, but I definitely don't think you were mean making your girls contribute toward their cars. I think more parents should be that way, in order to instill a sense of responsibility and work ethic. Having said that, my parents weren't that way at all and pretty much gave me whatever I wanted or needed. I did have jobs as a teenager, but it was mainly for spending money and not big-ticket items, so I never learned to budget my money until after college. Even so, I'm not much of a saver (my husband is way worse than me, though) and only started a savings account for DD a few years ago. I'm very fortunate that my employer contributes to my 401k, but I still have yet to contribute myself. I definitely would've benefited greatly from your financial parenting!

I really don't feel mean at all. Like most parents, I did things the way that my parents did them. I was allowed to have my own car at 16. It was not a sports car and could barely get out of it's own way, but, it was transportation and I was one of a very few that had one. I always had to pay first, drive later. That went for everything, the car payment, repairs and especially insurance. I once had to park it out back until I could come up with the insurance money, while doing that I was doing some engine maintenance and back in those days the batteries were held down with brackets. I had removed one to get to something and forgot that I had done that. I got into the car and started it up only to hear this awful sound coming from under the hood. When I started the car up, the bracket that I had forgotten to put back in place fell into the fan and was promptly slung through the radiator. Guess what? That added another month to the problem because I had to pay to have the radiator repaired (thankfully not replaced). Here I was making payments on a car that was perfectly able to be used, insurance actually paid by my Father, but unable to do so until I paid him for it. I truly wasn't happy about that, but, it didn't take me forever to realize that he was teaching me the way that life is and not to take anything for granted plus always cover your butt. I'm 67 now (or will be very shortly) and I have never driven an uninsured vehicle in 51 years.

When my daughters were old enough I had almost an obsession of determination that they would know about cars and mechanical things. I didn't want them to be conned into things on the car because they didn't know anything about them. I also, like I stated earlier, required them to pay for their cars and insurance, etc. Today, they are both very responsible financially and very savvy about budgeting and getting the most for their dollars. That makes me proud of them and me, because I feel that my being "hard" back then, made them aware of what responsibility really was.

There was a news item the other day where a college student found herself without the money to pay her tuition for a semester. She had been given the money, but, spent it on just about everything she saw. She publicly blamed her parents for not teaching her to budget. Apparently, no one had taught her math either.

 

[FutureCEO]

There was a news item the other day where a college student found herself without the money to pay her tuition for a semester. She had been given the money, but, spent it on just about everything she saw. She publicly blamed her parents for not teaching her to budget. Apparently, no one had taught her math either.

That was a horrible article. I feel bad for the parents but then again, they made her that way.

 

[donaldtoo]

Somewhat along the same lines, I was discussing with someone about those gas gift cards. Sometimes, they run out of them at the gas stations, and that always gets my goat. If people want them, then why not keep plenty in stock? So this other person was saying that there might not be much incentive for the gas station owner to stock enough.

The reason was that even if the $50 was paid in cash at their register, the card may not necessarily be used at that particular gas station. It could be used around the country at other stations. I dunno, this is all kinda backwards logic to me, but just thought I'd throw the idea out there. Maybe someone else can make heads or tails of it.

Anyway, my brain is obviously fried at this hour, so goodnight to all!

At The Disney Store, when It came to gift cards, we never got credit for selling/loading (at one point, anywhere from $5-$1500) the actual gift card itself. In other words, it didn't count for us in our hourly sales figures that we recorded on our KPI (Star Card) sheet.
But, when someone used it in a purchase at our Store, we got the hourly sales credit.
So, no particular Store/location got credit for the sale of the card, but, whichever Store, resort, Park,etc. Guests redeemed amounts of the card at did get the sales credit.

 

[catmom46]

I really don't feel mean at all. Like most parents, I did things the way that my parents did them. I was allowed to have my own car at 16. It was not a sports car and could barely get out of it's own way, but, it was transportation and I was one of a very few that had one. I always had to pay first, drive later. That went for everything, the car payment, repairs and especially insurance. I once had to park it out back until I could come up with the insurance money, while doing that I was doing some engine maintenance and back in those days the batteries were held down with brackets. I had removed one to get to something and forgot that I had done that. I got into the car and started it up only to hear this awful sound coming from under the hood. When I started the car up, the bracket that I had forgotten to put back in place fell into the fan and was promptly slung through the radiator. Guess what? That added another month to the problem because I had to pay to have the radiator repaired (thankfully not replaced). Here I was making payments on a car that was perfectly able to be used, insurance actually paid by my Father, but unable to do so until I paid him for it. I truly wasn't happy about that, but, it didn't take me forever to realize that he was teaching me the way that life is and not to take anything for granted plus always cover your butt. I'm 67 now (or will be very shortly) and I have never driven an uninsured vehicle in 51 years.

When my daughters were old enough I had almost an obsession of determination that they would know about cars and mechanical things. I didn't want them to be conned into things on the car because they didn't know anything about them. I also, like I stated earlier, required them to pay for their cars and insurance, etc. Today, they are both very responsible financially and very savvy about budgeting and getting the most for their dollars. That makes me proud of them and me, because I feel that my being "hard" back then, made them aware of what responsibility really was.

There was a news item the other day where a college student found herself without the money to pay her tuition for a semester. She had been given the money, but, spent it on just about everything she saw. She publicly blamed her parents for not teaching her to budget. Apparently, no one had taught her math either.

Oh, I would never blame my parents for how they raised me! Well, I did as a teenager, but then realized I'm the only one responsible for my own behavior and actions, and my parents only raised me the best way they knew how, just as I'm trying to raise my own daughter. And while I do believe parents are responsible to an extent to how their kids turn out, there is a point when the "kid" needs to realize that even with bad parenting he/she has the ultimate responsibility for their own behavior going forward. Unfortunately our world is filled with people who simply refuse to take responsibility.