I haven't blogged in a long time, so time to get that and my finances back together.

We're back from a too short trip to Florida and enmeshed in another snowstorm!

I cannot believe this winter.
We had another 11" of snow so far today, and more is on the way.
I guess we're saving gas by not going out of town for Easter, so I'd better venture out for Easter groceries tomorrow.

We did pretty well not spending too much in Florida, especially considering Orlando seems to be a big spendfest--especially at Disney and downtown Disney. At no other place in the world would I even consider spending $4 on a ballpoint pen! But our condo was great and having the kitchen and pool made meals easy and relaxing. We loved every minute of it.

I thought I'd leave it up to all of you to determine a decent metaphor for this winter.

I have the February grumpies again. The Child is ill, so DH and I have been tag-teaming her care. I had to go teach this morning, but came home early, so he could head off to work. Half my students have this same kind of bronchial crud that the Child has.

But the only thing I spend money on lately is parking. It's too cold to walk 6 blocks and then have to pay for frostbite treatment!

I spent the weekend visiting my mom and brought her lots of treats and supplies.
I flew for free with my NWA airmiles, and abstained from the airport food. The plastic-wrapped sandwiches were nearly $7!
Yikes! Someone should do an article on airport food prices. The captive audience thing has gone too far, especially with the no-liquid rule. I usually bring an empty water bottle with me to refill, and boy was I glad. Bottled water was $2.50.
That delicious combo of water and a day-old sandwich would've set me back $10 with the sales tax, Outrageous!

and trying very hard to figure out a way to get out of Tundra-land for spring break.
I was hoping for somewhere warm and nice, preferrably Disneyworld for the sake of the young'un (thanks Disney Steve for the fab rental advice), but even with all my plotting, with 3 days worth of Disney tickets, we're scraping close to $2000.

I just don't see that happening when I stare my other goals in the face. I think I need to get my head around that, but I'm such a stubborn brat that I've spent most of the day plugging in air miles, travel vouchers and everything else I can think of to make it happen.


Perhaps we should settle for a long weekend in Chicago at a nice hotel with a pool for the child? A pricelined cheap but fabulous one? Perhaps I should grow up?