Down To The Final Decision

So last week I asked all of you if Disney Vacation Club is worth the investment.  I have spent the last week really digging into the club along with the resale market on DVC.  I have had several conversations with real estate agents, financial investors, and friends who own or know someone that owns.  After much investigation I have come to the conclusion that for my family DVC would be a good investment especially if we buy resale.  I talked with a resale company this week and was really impressed with their service and advice; the trick to making this a good investment is the following:

-Don't get caught up in which DVC resort you buy in, rather buy in at the lowest point and the resort with the lowest annual dues.  Currently Saratoga Springs in Disney World is the best deal.  The only difference in your "home resort" versus any other DVC Resort is you can make reservations at 11 months prior to your trip at your "home resort" and 7 at any other resort.  The people I talked to indicated that this has never been a problem and even at 7 months out you can usually get what you want.

-Really dig into the point values of the resorts and plan accordingly as to how many points you plan to use in a year.  I'm looking at 250 points as this would allow us in many cases to actually get 2 weeks rather than 1 based on our current travel situation (kids are small so we don't need a 2 bedroom in many instances a studio would work, and we can travel during non peak times).

- Calculate how much you spend on hotels currently during the year and make sure that you plan to use DVC yearly to get more out of your investment.  Given that I love to travel and DVC are great resorts I know that my family would use yearly.  An example is I'm looking to spend $10,000 on 250 DVC points that expire in 42 years: this is $238 per year.  In addition there are annual dues that can adjust yearly; however they have stayed pretty consistent over the years: current annual dues at Saratoga Springs for 250 points is $1107.  $1107 per year x 42 years= $46,515 in annual dues.  $46,515 + $10,000 initial investment = $56,515. The total cost per year is approximately $1,345.  If you use all your points on 7 nights that = $192.22 per night at a $400+ resort.  If you are able to stretch your points to 2 weeks you are only spending $96 per night at a $400+ resort.  As you can see by the math if you use your points you are going to save a lot of money and get away from a standard hotel room and actually get a spacious condo unit that includes a kitchen (another way to save by not eating out every meal).

-If you want to go to a nicer resort or want to have a 2 or 3 bedroom know that you can bank your points into the next year and also borrow from the next year.  So in reality I could have 750 points to use in one year if I wanted, which is a great feature.  The key is to plan ahead. 

It's pretty clear to me that DVC is a great decision for my family..now my next step is I need to convince my husband Paul.  I am confident I can convince him now that I have done the research and have done the math on the investment.  Wish me luck!




 

Weekend worth remembering!

Traveling is one of my favorite things to do, UNLESS it's raining, dark and I am traveling by myself with the boys.  Oh and also if I cannot see very well out my windshield. 

My trip to IN this last weekend was not my favorite!!  

The windshield on my car got hit by a stone a couple of weeks ago and I got it fixed Thursday.  The boys and I left later than I wanted, which as you know starts the trip off a little stressful!  

As, we're leaving town, it starts to rain harder and I can no longer see out my windshield.  YIKES!  So, I call Ry and he suggests cleaning the windshield and wipes off at the nearest gas station.  You should have seen the looks I got as I am cleaning it off.  

I explained to the guy next to me that I just got a new windshield and I was cleaning the residue off.  He said "Oh yeah."  And kind of looked around, pretty sure he thought I was crazy!!  :)

I reassured him I was not crazy and went on with the drive. 

Luckily, Abe fell asleep about 40 minutes on the road and slept the entire way!  

A trip that normally takes about 90 minutes, took me almost 3 hours!  I did not drive over 60 MPH most of the way and we even stopped at one point.

My foot was shaking and I was so nervous but thankfully Del and I prayed A LOT and we got to our destination safely!  We did come across a car in the ditch, if you take I69 and come across the Welcome to Indiana sign, I saw the car that took that out!  Thankful that wasn't us and thankful they were not hurt!

 Saturday I had mini sessions and enjoyed this as my scenery and backdrop!!

 Then my good friend, Mandy and her family came for their mini session!  Mandy and I have been friends since the 5th grade!!  She has not seen Abe yet, so she pretty much jumped out of the car and ran to see Abe!  

 Del and Justin enjoyed their band!  :)

 My friend Heather and I!!!  Thank you again SO much for letting us crash with you guys!!

 Del and Brody, Justin & Heather's son!  They sure have missed each other!!!

 Me and their new dog, Mosey!!! 

 After pictures were done, a quick lunch and a little more visiting, I got my car packed back up and we headed to Travis and Mandy's.

 Del and Taryn playing a game!

Then we headed to our final destination, visiting with my Mom and sister.  This is me and Lily, my niece! 

My sister and Del.

Abe loving the screen door and my Mom.

Thanks for a great weekend everybody!!!  I just posted a few of my favorites from the sessions on Saturday on my Still Cross Facebook page, click here to go check them out and while you're there, please "LIKE IT!"  

The trip overall was a success.  I honestly do not know what what this next year brings for my Mom, sister and I.  But I do know that as a Mom now, I love my children and I know that they love each other.  I know that my Mom, sister and I love each other and we will always be family.  So, now it's all in God's hands and we enjoy the memories!

 

Who Doesn't Love Comfort Foods?

Pizza & Chocolate Chip Cookies Anyone?

It's beginning to be that time of the year already........Planting Season!  We pray that this year's crops will be just as successful as last years!  With the hubs starting to work late hours getting equipment around and ready, I never know when he will be home.  That's when I start making easy, not so healthy dinners since most of the time they will last a while on the counter or wrapped up in the microwave until he gets home.  Or, what I like to call "fend for yourself" dinners happens more often this time of the year too.  Or when they are actually in the fields, us women tend to take turns delivering meals to the guys.......so for a month or more I feed myself and Maddie only...that's when I eat a lot of sea food because Dusty won't touch that stuff :-).

By the way, I'm never blogging about appliances again!!!!  Last week I had a post about giving my garage fridge a makeover....yah, that was a bad idea because the next day my fridge in my house {not even 1.5 years old} died!!!  Of course, I didn't have a warranty on it either :-(.  I was super sick to my stomach.  So in other words, I'm really glad we had our garage fridge for back up because I just got my new one delivered this morning--You like??  Yes, this has the new deli/snack drawer!

Ok, so back to my post of the day...comfort food.  I tend to make homemade Stromboli on occasions when I'm in a lazy mood and don't want to cook {not very often}.  They are super easy and cheap to make!

What is needed:

Rhodes Frozen Loaf Bread

Shredded Motz Cheese (1 bag per loaf)

Pizza Toppings of your choice

Homemade Pizza Sauce, recipe Here

Put as many loafs needed each on a sprayed cookie sheet {I used parchment paper}.  Cover each one with plastic wrap and set aside to rise for about 6-8 hours. 

Roll out dough to a rectangle.  I use my wonder mat, which is about 16" x 11".

Put a very thin layer of sauce, your toppings and cheese.  Today my hubs wanted just pepperoni.

Fold in sides first.

Then fold over long sides, pinching everything together.  Flip over and cut 3 slits on the top.  I brush on a little olive oil on the top too.  Bake 350 degrees for 25 min. Cut into strips.

And for dessert.......yes you always have dessert at my house.  My favorite chocolate chip cookies; I added a little m&m's today.  Of what my hubs doesn't eat tonight, he can take the rest to the farm tomorrow :-).

Sorry my friends, no recipe for these babies---this is my secret recipe BUT you can head over to my Shoppe to purchase a dozen {or more}.

Have a great weekend!

 

 

DIY Birthday Party Crafts: Part 1

In the weeks to come, I will be sharing my DIY birthday party crafts that I'm doing for my daughter's birthday party in June.  They are all not only easy but super cheap! 

 I always love seeing personalized birthday banners at parties, so that's what I'm making today. 

DIY Birthday Banner:

Happy 1st Birthday Maddie

 Things needed:

Stock Paper {many different colors}

Paper cutter

Double sided tape {or glue}

Corner Punch {optional}

X-Acto Knife

Hole Punch

Double sided sticky foam stickers

Tulle or ribbon {I used both}

Using Word, pick out your favorite font.  I used "Ravie".  I printed each letter 5" x 5" {you might have to change the format to landscape}.  I was able to put 2 letters on each pc of paper.   I did this the hard way because I didn't want to waste a bunch of paper.  I printed them on plain paper, cut them out and used them as stencils.  Obviously, you could print them right onto your stock paper you're using.



Michaels recently had stock sheet paper on sale for $.19 each.  I stocked up! 

Taking two different colors of paper, one cut at 6" x 6", and  the other 5-1/2" x 5-1/2".  Punch the corners so they are rounded.  Tape {or glue} them on top of eachother.  It should look like this.

Then take your letter stencils and trace them on the color of cardstock you want.  I traced it backwards on the opposite side of the paper, so you wouldn't see any lines.

Put a couple foam stickers on the back so it looks 3D.

Punch the top corners of each square for your tulle and ribbon.

Here is some of the finished banner.  You will have to check back in June to see the totally finished product!!

 You can see I used a cupcake clip art to separate the words.





 

 

Is it Worth The $$$??

You all should know by now that I love vacations and yes I've been thinking of where to go next.  I have seriously been thinking of trying to convince my husband of becoming a Disney Vacation Club Member as from everything I understand it would pay for itself in about 7 vacations.  I do know that my husband is going to say no, so I must have a compelling case as to why this is a good financial decision for us.  For those of you that don't know how it works,in a nutshell you buy points into a certain Disney Resort that are yearly points.  These points can be used for anytime of year and at any resort based on the number of points you have.  If you want a nicer resort and a bigger room it will  use more points.  Now there is an upfront investment which can range from $10,000+ depending on the number of points, etc and there are yearly dues for upkeep that is a fee per point.  You also can go many places in the world even non Disney Resorts, which is what I think is the best part as you are not tied down to just Disney Resorts. 

Now the question I have for all of you is do you have experience with a timeshare or know someone that does and if so has it been worth the money?  I would really like to have some input from our readers as to what they know to also help build my case with my husband.

I look forward to being able to blog in the near future about becoming a member of Disney Vacation Club. 

 

Just Roll With It

The weekend was great!  I'll blog on that later..

For now, a moment in parenthood.

As I ruffled through my purse for my wallet to pay for our haircuts tonight, I remembered that my wallet was on our desk at home.  Perfect place for it, huh?  Ry had already left to go work on something at his parents and I had the boys with me, but no wallet.  Luckily, our hairstylist is amazing and totally understood!

I ran home, well drove home, you all know me, I don't run!  :)

Drove back and paid for our haircuts.

Thought to myself that the boys are behaving quite well, so lets stop at Save-A-Lot to do some price comparison.  We get down 2 aisles and Del immediately does his potty dance.  Which means I have 1 second to find the bathroom. 

As we were leaving the bathroom, I saw that Del hadn't quite made it in time.  So, I grabbed what I absolutely needed since I would not be stopping anywhere else and we checked out.

As we were driving home, God placed EVERY slow person in town in front of us.  

By the time we got home, this is how I felt!  

 

Sometimes things do not go as planned and you learn to just roll with it.

Happy Motherhood Monday!

 

I Scream..You Scream..We All Scream For???

ICE CREAM

So all week I have been in the mood for ice cream as we have had record high weather in March; however the problem has been that all the seasonal ice cream stores are still closed.  Today I decided that I would take my girls for ice cream and we would find a place that was open.  Well...we drove all over downtown Grand Rapids and they were all closed except for the chains (I'm not much of a fan) and finally I decided to give up.  We headed back to Rockford and I decided to give it one more try and see if Rockies was open- IT WAS...well of coarse both of my girls had now fallen sound asleep and I didn't know what I was going to do as I had driven a long ways to find ice cream.  After driving around Rockies for a few minutes I found a spot right near the entry and decided to run to get ice cream while the girls were sleeping.  As soon as we pulled in at home and I had eaten all my ice cream both of my girls woke up screaming ICE CREAM- they had both missed out on the treat and were not happy with momma. After about five minutes of them screaming they wanted ice cream I remembered I had Mint Chocolate Chip in the freezer and they were so happy.  So literally not only did I want ice cream really bad, my girls screamed for ice cream giving even more meaning to the phrase "I Scream You Scream We All Scream For Ice Cream".  

I hope you all got to enjoy some ice cream!

  

On the road again

It's Friday!!  Woohoo!!!  As I type this blog post, my car is packed to the rim with the boys and I's stuff and of course my camera gear for a shoot tomorrow!!  I'm SO excited for this quick trip!  If you remember this post, this trip is a good one and a little nerve-racking, but God is good and we are thankful for His forgiveness, so shouldn't we be forgiving also?!

Praying the rain holds off and safe travels for us!!  

I will post pictures Monday!  My car is hilarious, good thing I have a huge trunk, my car that is!  

Sorry this is so short, but lets face it, it's Friday who wants to read a blog post today!  Go catch up on the house work that's been sitting all week!  or make it Family night and rent some movies!!

Either way, ENJOY!!!

 

 

Refrigerator Makeover Using Chalkboard Paint

Do you have a refrigerator in your garage or basement that is old and ugly?  If so, you probably don't care that it's ugly because all it does is hold pop, water and over flow from your fridge in your house, right?  We recently finished our garage, and I really wanted to do something different with our fridge {because it's old and ugly, lol}.......chalkboard paint??  It's a cute way to dress it up and some day my daughter can go to town on it :-). 

Items you will need:
(2) small foam roller, tray & holder
Magnetic Primer (on clearance @ Wal-Mart for $9.99!!!)
Chalkboard Paint
Spray Paint (optional for handles)

Here's what my fridge looked like before.  Opps, I started putting primer on before I took a picture!  Also, I was just going to tape off the handles as you see here, but then decided to just take them off completely and paint them!

 After 2 coats of primer.  I also did the sides but forgot to take a picture!

And after 2 coats of Paint. Finished Product:

Make sure you take off your handles to spray paint

Super cute addition to my garage.  Now, I'm thinking of doing it on my deep freezer as well!