Animal Crossing and Pins, Oh My!

It's been pointed out that I haven't posted in a while. We haven't really done much lately that I expect would be of interest to anyone but us but, hey, you asked for it!

Wayne and I have been busy with projects in the last couple of weeks. His: creating a usable Animal Crossing inventory list. He's so far completed the inventory sheets for the shirts, accessories, fish and bugs, and carpets and wallpaper. He still needs to finish the furniture, songs, specialty items, fossils and gyroids. Those of you who play the Animal Crossing video games will understand the absolute necessity and priority of his endeavor. For those of you who don't, just trust us. You gotta have an inventory list!!!!

Our latest Walt Disney World vacation included some intense pin trading sparked by Chris providing us with pins, hints and instructions. Let me just say that Matt turned out to be an intrepid pin-trader! Impressive, most impressive, but you are not a Jedi yet! But I digress. Wayne and I have pins that we have collected over the years. We've never been into trading, but I'll admit it was fun and I may be the tiniest bit hooked. Thanks, Chris....

Anyway, I returned from our trip determined to organize and catalog our pins. It has turned out to be a bigger job than I anticipated. (Picture our entire living room floor covered in 1 inch pins!)
On our Panama Canal cruise, we purchased the Tomart's Guide to Disney Pin Trading and I've put it to good use. The first step was to locate our pins in the book. That took all of one weekend and a few evenings. The second step was to categorize the pins for organized storage in several pin collection and display bags. Now the pins are in several large Ziploc bags labeled with such titles as characters, theme parks, cast exclusives, commemmoratives, etc. Oh and one large bag of those that I didn't find in the book. The third step was to catalog the pins in a database on my computer. That took half of one weekend, a few evenings and all of another weekend. I just completed that step last Sunday. I should mention here that I've only entered those pins that I've located in the book, a total of 344 pins! I was shocked, SHOCKED, I tell you, at the number of pins we've collected without even trying! I haven't yet counted those that I haven't entered yet. (Maybe I don't want to know...) The next step is to check the pins I couldn't locate against the book one more time and catalog those that I missed on the first comparison. Then I will enter those I still can't find in the database, but will need to value them from another source. There are several on the internet. Lastly, I will need to affix all of them to the display pages in the various pin collection bags. We currently own 3 bags. Somehow, I don't think that will be enough and I'll need to purchase a couple more. Sigh....

Yes, I know: NERDS!

So, that's what we've been up to. You're probably sorry you asked. :-)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WAYNE!

Today is my husband's birthday! He is a wonderful husband, a great father and the best man I know. He's my best friend, my biggest supporter and the source of my strength.

Wayne, you are my heart and the love of my life! Happy, happy birthday, my love!

Happy New Year!

Well, I'm back to reality after a very nice holiday season. For those of us in finance, reality is an uncomfortable place to be in this economy but, hey, it's home. Every day offers new challenges (read: problems), but our staff has been great about assisting our troubled borrowers to the extent that we can and trying to snatch up what little business is out there.

We enjoyed a nice Christmas with the family and rang in the new year at Epcot! It was insanely crowded as we expected. I'm glad we did it once but, in the future, I think we'll stick to our usual times at WDW. It was fun showing Matt all the little secrets we know in the parks and resorts. I think the kids really enjoyed staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. What's not to like when you wake up to zebras, giraffes, etc. right outside your window? We led them to believe that we would be at the Beach Club Villas like usual, so the AKL was a big surprise!

It's been pretty cold in Vegas, but over the next few days, the highs look to be in the high 50s and low 60s, much closer to average for this time of year. We're not used to hats, gloves and scarves, but it's been fun to have a chance to finally use them!

To all our friends and family, I wish a happy, healthy and prosperous new year!