Disneyland Bootcamp
Sunday was a day of rest. We spent the day sitting in front my parent’s fireplace reading,
and having tea, crumpets, oatmeal bars, and dried fruit and nuts.
It was freezing cold (hence why we huddled next to the fireplace) but the sky was clear and the sunset was amazing.
Little did we know how much we’d appreciate all the relaxation when Monday rolled around.
We’d been planning to go to Disneyland for a while and since Ali and I are both off work and Maya’s school is closed, we figured, why not Monday?
Most people just drive down to Disney buy tickets at the gate and go from there. Not us. Why? Because we can never do anything the easy way.
Ali began planning and strategizing Christmas Day. He poured over a number of websites trying to find a deal on tickets (no luck), then memorized the park’s map and selected the attractions we’d be visiting, and finally put together a schedule for the day. Maya and I were just relieved it included bathroom breaks.
We were told to report at 06:00 hours on Monday morning. We were too terrified to argue about the early call time. It doesn’t happen often, but when Ali means business, he means business. So after cramming some breakfast down our throats, a la GI Jane, Ali treated us to a roller coaster simulation as we went careening down the 5 freeway. We had not only the car’s GPS telling us where to go, but Ali frequently consulted his iPhone GPS too. One can never have too many directions. Meanwhile, in the backseat Maya looked a little green but she knew deep down there were not going to be any stops, no matter what. I’m pleased to note she was too scared to throw up.
Forty minutes later Maya and I were a bit shaken but happy to be at Disneyland with no visible scars. The park was fully decked out for Christmas:
Ali wasn’t able to appreciate the decor due to his furious pace through Main Street. I could barely keep up but was still able to catch a bit of his muttering that he didn’t understand how other people had gotten there before us.
We made our way through a bunch of rides in an hour and a half because there was absolutely no wait. At that point I had to hand some kudos to Ali for making us get there early. It nearly killed me.
Pirates of the Caribbean, Teacups, Dumbo, and Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride were some of Maya’s favorite rides.
Ali stopped checking his watch to smile for this picture, but then we were a few seconds late for Toon Town.
Luckily we all agreed it was overrated so we were able to leave Toon Town a minute or two early to make up for the photo opportunity.
“No more pictures, Mama.”
Once our bootleg snacks were finished Ali and Maya demanded lunch. By this time we stopped congratulating ourselves on picking a slow day to be at the Happiest Place on Earth and started worrying that soon there wouldn’t be enough room for us to walk.
After a number of attempts to find a restaurant without a 45 minute wait or hot dogs on the menu, we found the Blue Bayou. I truly had no illusions that this restaurant would be good, after all, where can you get decent food at an amusement park?
I ordered the Cajun Salmon with rice and vegetables and am pleased to say it was excellent! The salmon was cooked to perfection and had a nice, spicy kick to it. I didn’t eat much of the rice but the vegetables were good too. Even better was that they sent the chef out to personally speak with me when I requested no butter/cheese. It was amazing that they not only accommodated my food allergies but were so nice in the process.
After lunch we headed to Autopia so Maya could drive. I wasn’t too surprised when we hit traffic.
And naturally, in that traffic we saw a girl doing her lipstick.
Again, not surprised.
We felt warm and fuzzy after visiting It’s a Small World:
We overpaid for some face painting:
Rode some germy horses:
And some of us consumed a ridiculous amount of ice cream with our germy hands:
By this time I was fading fast…too many people, too chilly, and I was way too tired. So we made one last stop to buy some new ears:
And then drove home and collapsed. I was hoping that Maya’s Disney adventure would tire her out for a few days but this morning she woke up bright and early and asked, “What are we doing today, Mama?”
I have no idea, Maya. I have no idea.
My name is Ameena and I Read Too Much
It is no secret that my favorite thing to do is read. You’d think this is a good habit to have, right? But the problem is that I would rather read than do just about anything else. Work, workout, cook, clean, watch TV, go shopping? These options are not even a close second. This poses a problem for me when it comes to time management. There is so much to do in a day and reading really shouldn’t be on the top of my list. And yet I find myself at the library on a weekly basis, collecting more books that I can possibly finish in the allotted time. But somehow I do finish them because I make them a priority! And consequently other parts of my life suffer from lack of attention.
How terrible is it that I’d rather read sometimes (a lot of times) rather than pay attention to Maya? (Now I feel doubly guilty because not only do I feel this way but I just admitted it in writing!) My mom tells me to get used to it, that having kids is the precursor to feeling guilty about one thing after another. And she’s right! I feel guilty about Maya and my lack of quality time together. I feel guilty for not giving Maya my undivided attention. I feel guilty for having so little patience. I even feel guilty for multi-tasking right now…I am writing this while she floats around in the bathtub next to me, waxing on about a chicken surfing with her rubber ducky. And yet I can’t stop writing this to ask her what she is talking about because we are going out soon and there will be no time later to write this post because when we get home tonight I want to finish reading my latest library book.
This book is ridiculously addicting.
My guilt about reading doesn’t stop at Maya though…I feel terrible that instead of doing work I will often pick up a book instead. Then there are the inevitable piles of landry….do the laundry or read a book? What a toss-up. I even feel guilty when my DVR’d shows start stacking up and there is no way I can make my way through all the recorded episodes of The Unsellables. (I miss you Sophie. I will do my best to catch up.)
Anyway, my family knows me all too well. Instead of staging an intervention they are feeding my addiction. These are a few of my favorite Christmas gifts:
From my mom – A cookbook from one of my favorite stores…I tried to make something from it this morning but our refrigerator is so empty that I didn’t have most of the ingredients. Why don’t we have any food? Because I’ve been too busy reading to get to the store.
My sister-in-law gave me this book and I couldn’t wait to start reading it. So I didn’t. And now I’m almost done with Chapter 1. It’s a vicious cycle.
But the best book I received I received was from Maya:
They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, so I opened it up.
It was the best book I’ve ever read. (Double click the picture to read the words.)
And had the cutest book jacket I’ve ever seen.
If this isn’t an incentive to read a little less to myself and more to Maya, I don’t know what is.
(I hope that I’ve redeemed myself with the end of this post. Maybe just a little bit?)
The Day After
I have this weird problem with living the in the moment. It is such a challenge for me. When big occasions come around, i.e. Christmas, I am so filled with dread for the day after that I can’t enjoy the actual day to the fullest. Ridiculous, right? And the sad thing? I notice that Maya has this problem too. On Thursday she sadly said, “no more Christmas songs in just two days Mama.” I thought I would at least get her to 5 years old before I needed to put her into therapy but apparently I excel at ruining her life!
So the first step was admitting that I have the problem. I did this right around Thanksgiving when I was nervous for it to be Black Friday. Back then I told myself that I wasn’t going to dread December 26th, no matter what. While I cannot say that I was 100% successful, I definitely don’t have that after-Christmas depression today. This might also be because I have steered clear of the shopping malls. Is there anything more depressing than seeing all the beautiful Christmas stuff jumbled together on a clearance table? (Yes Target, I am talking about you).
To make things even easier today I decided to put together a list of things I will not miss about the Christmas season:
1. Insane parking lots – I am looking forward to not playing chicken to find a parking spot at Century City Mall. I am also very pleased that I no longer have to wake up at the crack of dawn so that I can find a parking spot with a green light. I’m sorry Westfield, but were you unaware that a good third of your “”state-of-the-art electronic parking management system” doesn’t work?
2. Christmas songs – while I love Bing Crosby’s White Christmas as much as the next person, I am definitely not going to miss James Taylor. The only thing I find more depressing than a James Taylor song is a James Taylor Christmas song. My brother and I agreed that if we were ever considering throwing ourselves off a cliff, we’d just listen to James Taylor and he’d managed to help us take the leap.
3. Food – being gluten-free is challenging enough but when I have apple pie and biscuits staring me in the face, well its near impossible. Even harder is when I actually make the gluten-filled stuff myself (last night) and can’t eat a single bite of it!
4. Confusing greetings – My husband and I were discussing how it can get touchy when trying to decide what greeting to use with different people…Merry Christmas? Happy Hanukkah? Happy Holidays? The anxiety of offending someone sort of puts a damper on things.
Yes this is a sad little list. Who am I kidding? The truth is that I am sad that Christmas is over. I am sad that there I won’t hear George Michael’s Last Christmas for another year. I am sad that soon everyone will take their decorations down. I am sad that the so-called Christmas spirit will probably dissipate soon. And I am sad that it will soon be New Year’s Eve, the most useless holiday ever.
Back on the positive side, I don’t have to hear James Taylor Christmas songs for another year!
I think today is a good day after all…
While I'm not going to win Mother/Wife of the Year Award anytime soon, I haven't killed anyone yet or shot myself in the head. And that, my friends, is how I calculate success these days. 
FANCY THAT FANCY THIS 
