Princess Tiana and due out dirties.

I met princess Tiana! It's been awhile, but I feel it noteworthy. Travis, Sarah and I went to the Magic Kingdom to see the new boat parade and ended up waiting in line to get out picture taken with the newest Disney Princess and her Prince. The show was impressive and it was adorable to see the few random people (old couples mostly) they let on the boat to wave hankies.

I'm starting to get the hang of things at work. In the morning I meet with my manager and she gives me my board- the paper that tells me what I need to do in each of the 16 rooms in my section. It was learned quickly that I do not want to see many blue "due out dirty," otherwise known as a checkout :), columns on my board. The other thing I don't like to see is pink "linen change" columns. I would take 16 white "occupied dirty" columns though! :) All I have to do is clean the bathroom, vanity area, make the beds, replace the towels, take out the trash, clean out the coffee maker and give more coffee, cups and glasses, dust, and vacuum. I have all the radios in my rooms set to my station and all so I can clean to music :) It is hard work, but I'm learning how to do it more efficiently, which is always a plus. Another plus is the tips I get. I made 48 dollars in tips the other day. That is almost as much as I made on my paycheck for the day. I have a greater appreciation for people who leave a dollar or two on their pillows. Or people that don't scatter their trash all over the room. I don't need a tip. It's not a tip position, but if you are going to trash the room everyday and leave poop in the shower, that's going to make your housekeeper fall behind in her schedule and she isn't going to have time to make you a towel animal. They are pretty cool.

New Friends

I love it here in Florida. There are many fun things to do and see. The problem is that I need to find new friends to do things with and that is difficult when I can't go to church on Sunday because I have to work. I don't speak creole, so I can't communicate with over half of the people I work with, and most of them are older with families to keep them busy. I'm thinking of taking some kind of class or volunteering somewhere to help me with a social life. I don't know. I've started volunteering with the name indexing, but since that is on my own computer at home, it doesn't get me new friends, though it helps a lot with feeling productive. While Travis is wonderful and spends a lot of time with me, I can't expect him to spend every minute he has off work entertaining me. It's healthy to have a balanced life.... any ideas?

My Marine

The classic pose :)


Travis invited me to a ball in Georgia, but I had to work the day of it. It was quite sad, but being the great man he is, he let us still get all dressed up last night. We went for a walk around the Boardwalk and found a classy joint to eat at (Taco Bell). I felt beautiful and special being able to be with my Marine dressed up in his dress blues. There were many things that really impressed me last night, but one was the strangers thanking him and shaking his hand. Another was the fact that Travis felt uncomfortable with the recognition. It made me adore him all the more for his humility, because in my opinion, he deserves it.
It was really late when we went out last night, so this morning we got dressed up again, and went to Sarah's house. She was great and took pictures of us, so this girl could FINALLY have a picture with her boyfriend in his uniform. It was a great 24 hours :)

Work is work

One thing I've learned the last seven days as a mousekeeper at Disney World: It is some freaking hard work! It is doable though..... as long as my managers only give me the amount of rooms they are supposed to and not a bunch more like they tried to. Around 2 in the afternoon my feet start throbbing and I start moving slower than in the morning. One sad fact is that the first day my feet hurt the whole time, even after I went home. I woke up in the middle of the night and my first thought was that my feet didn't hurt anymore. It was exciting :) I'm gradually catching on to it and everything will work out.

In happier news I went to Mickey's Christmas party last night. I was exhausted, but couldn't help getting excited for the fun. We went on rides, our picture from Splash Mountain was awesome, and we watched a show and a parade. Not to forget some delicious food! It was a great night and I completely crashed. Now why am I up at 7:10 in the morning on my day off???

Hmm... I've seen better.

The colors don't show up too well in these pictures. The skirt is blue and the top is green checkered. Not the most flattering costume, but when I'm gross and sweaty from work, who will care?? :)

Thank you Grandma Helen!

Today was the housekeeping core class. Meaning that I sat through eLearning and classes all day and then got to make beds and clean bathrooms for the last two hours... yeah. I made ONE bed and cleaned ONE bathroom all in an hour. It was pathetic, but the other newbies were right there with me. Who knew there was more to making a bed than throwing a fitted sheet on a mattress, followed by the flat sheet and a comforter?? Making beds is a science, especially when you don't use a fitted sheet! Talk about some mad hospital corners. I was thanking Grandma the whole time I was doing the bed. I remember being in the front room of their house and she showed me how to fold one side in and then lift up and tuck, fold, etc. I may have been slow at a lot of things today, but I sure have those corners down! Thank you Grandma Helen.

It's Official!!

Yep. I know you all have been wondering when it would finally happen, and today was the day.....

I got my ID card for Disney! Wahoo!

Mickey himself came and gave us our name tags, part of the class was spent in the Magic Kingdom, and Cinderella's Prince Charming was in my class (I say Cinderella's Prince Charming because my Prince Charming was working hard over at the Boardwalk).

I have a few days of more classes and then start housekeeping at the resort on Wednesday. I'm excited for the first two weeks to be over with. I'm not a fan of new jobs, but this one sure has its perks!! :)